Timeline 1961
Return to home
1961 Jan 3, The
United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba after Fidel Castro
announced he was a communist. The US Guantanamo Bay base remained under
US control.
(AP, 1/3/98)(HN, 1/3/99)(MC, 1/3/02)
1961 Jan 4, The Danish barbers'
assistants strike ended after 33 yrs. It was the longest strike on
record.
(MC, 1/4/02)
1961 Jan 10, Dashiell
Hammett (66), author, died in NYC from throat cancer. In 1983
Diane Johnson authored his biography. His books included “The Maltese
Falcon” and “The Thin Man,” both of which were turned into films. He
wrote “The Maltese Falcon” while living in San Francisco at 891 Post
St., which was also given as the address of detective Sam Spade.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0358591/)(SFC, 6/7/04, p.C2)
1961 Jan 11, There was a race riot
at the University of Georgia.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1961 Jan 15, The Supremes signed
with Motown Records.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1961 Jan 17, In his farewell
address, President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the
military-industrial complex."
(AP, 1/17/98)
1961 Jan 17, Patrice Lumumba (34),
the 1st premier Congo, was murdered after 67 days in office. Pres.
Eisenhower allegedly approved the assassination of Congo's Patrice
Lumumba. The US and Joseph Mobutu were implicated but no conclusive
proof has emerged. Sidney Gottlieb (d.1999 at 80), a CIA deputy,
carried a deadly bacteria to the Congo that was used to kill Lamumba.
In 2000 the Belgium Parliament opened an inquiry into possible
government involvement in the killing of Congo’s Premier Patrice
Lumumba. This followed allegations in the new book "The Murder of
Lumumba" by Ludo De Witte. In 2001 the inquiry found that King Baudouin
knew of the plot but did nothing to stop it. The Katanga government did
not announce the death until Feb 13. Moscow charged that UN Sec. Gen.
Dag Hammarskjold was involved.
(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(PCh, 1992, p.979)(SFC, 5/17/97,
p.A14)(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/9/01, p.A1)
1961 Jan 19, The 1st episode for
"Dick Van Dyke Show" was filmed.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1961 Jan 20, Francis Opulence's
"Gloria," premiered in Boston.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1961 Jan 20, Pres. Kennedy made
his inaugural address from the steps of the US Capital. In 2004
Thurston Clarke authored “Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy
and the Speech That Changed America.” In 2005 Richard J. Tofel authored
“Sounding the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural
Address.”
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.M2)(WSJ, 8/24/05, p.D10)
1961 Jan 20, Poet Robert Frost
recited his poem "The Gift Outright" [The Outright Gift] at the
inauguration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Frost, born in San
Francisco on March 26, 1874, was the first poet to participate in a
presidential inauguration. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize four times, most
of Frost's work drew on themes from rural New England life. He died on
January 29, 1963. Although 86-year-old Robert Frost had composed a new
poem, titled "Dedication," for the inauguration of President John F.
Kennedy, he was unable to recite it at the ceremony because he could
not read his own typewritten manuscript. A dim typewriter ribbon
conspired with Frost‘s failing eyesight and bright glare on a sunny day
with snow cover, making it impossible for the poet to read the poem
written especially for the occasion. Instead Frost recited from memory
his famous poem "The Gift Outright."
(HNQ, 9/12/98)(HNQ, 1/21/00)
1961 Jan 22, A Portuguese ocean
liner, the "Santa Maria," was hijacked in the Caribbean with some 600
passengers aboard; the drama ended eleven days later when the ship
docked in Brazil.
(AP, 1/22/01)
1961 Jan 24, A B-52 carrying two
nuclear bombs near Goldsboro, North Carolina encountered a violent
gust. The giant plane rolled completely over, came upright, and
continued rolling inverted a second time before whipping into a vicious
flat spin and breaking up.
(www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/Broken_Arrows.html)
1961 Jan 25, Walt Disney's "101
Dalmatians" was released.
(MC, 1/25/02)
1961 Jan 25, President Kennedy
held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and
television.
(AP, 1/25/98)
1961 Jan 26, Wayne Gretzky, NHL
great scorer (Oiler, King, Rangers), was born in Brantford, Ont.
(MC, 1/26/02)
1961 Jan 26, "Are You Lonesome
Tonight?" by Elvis Presley peaked at #1.
(MC, 1/26/02)
1961 Jan 26, Janet G. Travell
became the 1st woman personal physician to the US President (JFK).
(MC, 1/26/02)
1961 Jan 31, Chimpanzee Ham landed
safely and became the 1st primate in space after a 16 minute flight
aboard a Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket.
(AH, 2/06, p.14)
1961 Jan, Janio Quadros took the
oath as president of Brazil.
(WSJ, 4/6/06, p.D8)
1961 Jan, Nepal’s King Mahendra
introduced the indigenous Panchayat System (village council). Early in
1961 the king set up a committee of four officials from the Central
Secretariat to recommend changes in the constitution that would abolish
political parties and substitute a "National Guidance" system based on
local panchayat led directly by the king.
(http://countrystudies.us/nepal/19.htm)
1961 Feb 2, The hijackers of the
Portuguese ocean liner the Santa Maria allowed the passengers and crew
to disembark in Brazil, 11 days after seizing the ship.
(AP, 2/2/07)
1961 Feb 5, The Soviets launched
Sputnik V, the heaviest satellite at 7.1 tons.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1961 Feb 5, Anthony G. de
Rothschild (73), British philanthropist, died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1961 Feb 6, Sargent Shriver
adopted a document, “The Towering Task” by Warren Wiggins (1923-2007),
which helped shape the mission of the newly proposed Peace Corps.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.B8)
1961 Feb 7, Jane Fonda made her
acting debut in the NBC drama "A String of Beads."
(MC, 2/7/02)
1961 Feb 9, Grigory Levenfish
(70), Int’l. chess grandmaster from Russia, died.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1961 Feb 10, Niagara Falls
hydroelectric project began producing power.
(MC, 2/10/02)
1961 Feb 15, 73 people, including
18 figure skaters from the United States, were killed in the crash of a
Boeing 707 in Belgium. The skaters were en route to a world meet in
Czechoslovakia.
(HN, 2/15/98)(AP, 2/15/98)
1961 Feb 16, The United States
launched the "Explorer Nine" satellite.
(AP, 2/16/01)
1961 Feb 16, Wilbert Ridieu (19)
robbed the Lake Charles, La., Gulf National Bank. He walked out with
$14,000 and 3 hostages, 2 of whom he shot and left for dead. Rideau
stabbed to death Julia Ferguson on a rural Louisiana road following the
bank robbery. He confessed and was sentenced to death 3 times. Rideau
escaped death in the 1970s when the death penalty was outlawed. In 2003
his case was still in court. While in prison Rideau became a
self-educated writer and elevated the prison magazine, the Angolite, to
national acclaim. In 2005 Rideau was set free for time served after a
racially mixed jury found him guilty of manslaughter.
(NW, 1/13/03, p.52)(AP, 1/16/05)(SFC, 1/17/05, p.A5)
1961 Feb 16, China used it's 1st
nuclear reactor.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1961 Feb 20, Percy Aldridge
Grainger (78), Australian-US composer, pianist, died.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1961 Feb 22, British Foreign Sec.
Douglas-Home said in a "Top Secret" letter to Defense Minister Harold
Watkinson that, "It must be fully obvious to the Americans that Hong
Kong is indefensible by conventional means and that in the event of a
Chinese attack, nuclear strikes against China would be the only
alternative to complete abandonment of the colony." The document was
made public in 2006.
(AP, 6/30/06)
1961 Feb 25, Paul Bikel climbed to
record 14,100 meters (8.8 miles) in a glider.
(MC, 2/25/02)
1961 Feb 25, John F. Kennedy named
Henry Kissinger national security adviser. Years later, Kissinger was
President Nixon's envoy for secret negotiations with North Vietnam.
About this time Kennedy also named Adlai Stevenson as ambassador to the
UN.
(HN, 2/25/98)(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A19)
1961 Feb 26, Mohammed V ibn Yusuf
(51), sultan, King of Morocco, died.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1961 Mar 1, Cellist Jacqueline du
Prés made her debut in Wigmore Hall.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1961 Mar 1, President Kennedy
established the Peace Corps. The first volunteers were sent to Ghana.
(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(SFC, 8/7/96, p.A15)(AP,
3/1/98)(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A13)
1961 Mar 2, "13 Daughters" opened
at 54th St Theater NYC for 28 performances.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1961 Mar 3, King Hassan II, the
17th of the Alawite dynasty, ascended to throne of Morocco. He
succeeded his father Mohamed V.
(SFEC,11/16/97, p.A21)(SFC, 7/24/99, p.A9)(SC,
3/3/02)
1961 Mar 4, Paul-Henri Spaak
resigned as Secretary-General of NATO.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1961 Mar 6, 1st London minicabs
were introduced.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1961 Mar 7, Max Hymans (60), WW II
resistance fighter, head of Air France, died.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1961 Mar 8, Jean Kerr's "Mary,
Mary," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 8, US nuclear submarine
Patrick Henry arrived at Scottish naval base of Holy Loch from SC in a
record under seas journey of 66 days 22 hrs.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 8, Max Conrad circled the
globe in a record time of eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes in Piper
Aztec.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1961 Mar 8, Thomas Beecham (81),
English conductor (Last Night of the Prom), died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 9, Supremes released "I
Want A Guy" & "Never Again."
(MC, 3/9/02)
1961 Mar
9, Korabl-Sputnik-4, also known as Sputnik 9, was launched with a dog
named Chernushka (Blackie) on a one orbit mission. Also onboard the
spacecraft was a dummy cosmonaut, mice and a guinea pig.
(www.spacetoday.org/Astronauts/Animals/Dogs.html)
1961 Mar 9, A mine cave-in in
Japan killed 72.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1961 Mar 10, Olga Ivinskaya
(d.1995 at 83), the woman who was the model for Lara in Pasternak’s
"Dr. Zhivago" wrote a letter to authorities in her own defense while a
prisoner in a Soviet gulag. She was arrested for smuggling foreign
currency shortly after Pasternak’s death and served 4 years.
(SFC,11/27/97, p.B3)
1961 Mar 13, Pablo Picasso (79)
married his model Jacqueline Rocque (37).
(MC, 3/13/02)
1961 Mar 15, South Africa withdrew
from British Commonwealth.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1961 Mar 16, "The Agony and the
Ecstasy" was published by Irving Stone.
(HN, 3/16/98)
1961 Mar 17, The U.S. increased
military aid and technicians to Laos.
(HN, 3/17/98)
1961 Mar 18, The "Poppin' Fresh"
Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1961 Mar 25, "Gypsy" closed at
Broadway Theater in NYC after 702 performances.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1961 Mar 25, Elvis Presley (26)
performed live on the USS Arizona, a fund raiser for a memorial. Col.
Parker, Presley's manager, came up with the brilliant idea to have
Elvis Presley give the benefit concert in the 4,000-seat Bloch Arena
next to the entrance to Pearl Harbor.
(Internet)(MC, 3/25/02)
1961 Mar 25, Sputnik 10 carried a
dog into Earth orbit; later recovered.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1961 Mar 26, John F. Kennedy met
with British Premier Macmillan, in Washington to discuss increased
Communist involvement in Laos.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1961 Mar 29, The 23rd amendment,
allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote for president, was
ratified.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1961 Mar 29, In South Africa
Nelson Mandela was acquitted on a treason charge after a 4 year trial .
(MC, 3/29/02)
1961 Mar 30, P.J. Melotte,
discovered Jupiter's 8th satellite, Pasiphae, died.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1961 Apr 1, Jim Bakker, TV
evangelist, married Tammy Faye.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1961 Apr 2, Wallingford Riegger
(75), US composer (Bacchangle), died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1961 Apr 3, Eddie Murphy, actor
(SNL, 48 Hours, Beverly Hill Cop, Raw), was born in Brooklyn, NY.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1961 Apr 7, Tad Szulc (d.2001)
wrote a front page NY times article on anti-Castro forces training to
fight at Florida bases and predicted a probable invasion on April 18.
The invasion took place Apr 17.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.C4)
1961 Apr 7, Marian Jordan (62),
radio comedienne (Fibber McGee and Molly), died.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1961 Apr 9, Zog I (65), [Ahmed
Zogu], King of Albania (1925-39), died in exile in France. His son,
Leka Zogu, was sworn in as king by the government in exile.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A16)(MC, 4/9/02)
1961 Apr 11, Folk singer Bob Dylan
performed in New York City for the first time, opening for John Lee
Hooker. [see Sep 26]
(HN, 4/11/01)
1961 Apr 11, Israel began the
trial of Adolf Eichman in Jerusalem. He was accused of World War II war
crimes.
(WSJ, 4/28/97, p.A17)(HN, 4/11/98)
1961 Apr 12, Douglas MacArthur was
offered baseball commissioner position but declined.
(HN, 4/12/98)
1961 Apr 12, Yuri Alexeyevich
Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, experienced the weightlessness of space for
108 minutes. He orbited the Earth once before making a safe landing.
The Russians rocketed Yuri Gagarin, the first man into space. His ship,
Vostok I, was guided entirely from the ground.
(SFEC, 2/16/97, Z1 p.6)(AP, 4/12/97)(HN,
4/12/98)(NPub, 2002, p.20)
1961 Apr 13, "Carnival!" opened at
Imperial Theater in NYC for 719 performances.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1961 Apr 13, US Army Private John
A. Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted
murder of an Austrian girl (11) in 1955.
(SSFC, 7/9/06,
p.A5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Bennett)
1961 Apr 13, The U.N. General
Assembly condemned South Africa for apartheid.
(HN, 4/13/98)
1961 Apr 14, Cuban-American
invasion army departed Nicaragua.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1961 Apr 14, The Soviet Union made
its first live television broadcast.
(HN, 4/14/98)
1961 Apr 15, "Music Man" closed at
Majestic Theater in NYC after 1375 performances.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1961 Apr 15, US CIA pilots knocked
out part of the Cuban air force.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, p.A19)
1961 Apr 16, Selena, Latina singer
(Grammy-1994), was born in Texas.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1961 Apr 16, In the 15th Tony
Awards: Becket & Bye Bye Birdie won.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1961 Apr 16, Fidel Castro declared
that Cuba is now a socialist state. Pres. Kennedy called off the CIA
air strikes in Cuba. The message did not reach the 1,511 commandos
headed for the Bay of Pigs.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, p.A19)(SFC, 2/202/08, p.A3)
1961 Apr 17, In the 33rd Academy
Awards "Apartment," Burt Lancaster and Liz Taylor won.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1961 Apr 17, About 1,500
CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion
of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel
Castro. The US clandestinely invaded Cuba in the Bay of Pigs operation
and the operation failed completely without any of the promised air
support from the United States. Cuban forces killed 200 rebels and
captured 1,197 in less than 72 hours. 26 survivors were rescued after 3
days of fighting. A single copy of a CIA report written by inspector
general Lyman Kirkpatrick was made public in 1998. The operation, which
had been devised during the Eisenhower Administration, was nonetheless
endorsed by the new president, John F. Kennedy. In 1979 Peter Wyden
wrote “Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story.” Portion of the 1961 Taylor
Report was made public in 1977 and 1986. Most of the report was made
public in 2000 and it showed that the CIA knew that the Soviets knew
the exact date of the attack. In 2009 Guadeloupe apologized to Cuba for
allowing the CIA to train Cuban exiles on its soil.
(AP, 4/17/97)(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(SFEC, 2/22/98,
p.A19)(HNQ, 4/11/00)(SFC, 4/29/00, p.A7)
(AP, 2/18/09)
1961 Apr 18, Pamella Bordes,
British parliament prostitute, was born in New Delhi, India.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1961 Apr 18, Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev sent a letter to Pres. Kennedy with an "urgent call" to end
"aggression" against Cuba.
(SFC, 3/23/01, p.D5)
1961 Apr 19, Howard Anderson was
executed in Cuba after being convicted of arms smuggling to
anti-Communist rebels.
(WSJ, 9/15/06,
p.A1)(www.cubanet.org/CNews/y02/jan02/09e5.htm)
1961 Apr 19, Cuban forces shot
down a B-26 bomber piloted by Captain Thomas Ray north of Larga beach,
an area they controlled. Ray was flying the bomber from Nicaragua while
on contract to the US CIA. In a 2004 trial in the US, forensics on
Ray’s body proved that the cause of his death was a small bullet entry
thru the head.
(WSJ, 9/15/06, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/kzeh2)
1961 Apr 20, American Harold
Graham made 1st rocket belt flight.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1961 Apr 21, The French army
revolted in Algeria.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1961 Apr 21, James Melton (57),
opera tenor died.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1961 Apr 22, An uprising of French
parachutists was led by Gen. Salan/Challe in Algeria.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1961 Apr 24, President Kennedy
accepted "sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
(HN, 4/24/98)
1961 Apr 25, Robert Noyce patented
the integrated circuit.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1961 Apr 25, Mercury-Atlas rocket
lifted off with an electronic mannequin. An unmanned Mercury test
exploded on launch pad.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1961 Apr 26, French paratroopers'
revolt was suppressed in Algeria.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1961 Apr 27, United Kingdom
granted Sierra Leone independence.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(SFC, 3/11/98, p.A10)(HN, 4/27/98)
1961 Apr 29, ABC's "Wide World of
Sports made its debut.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.38)(MC, 4/29/02)
1961 Apr 29, The diesel-powered
aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk was commissioned at the Philadelphia
Naval Shipyard. In 1976 the ship was drydocked in Bremerton, Wa., for a
year-long overhaul.
(AP,
8/5/05)(www.kittyhawk.navy.mil/history/history.html)
1961 Apr 30, Willie Mays of the SF
Giants hit 4 home runs in a game with the Milwaukee Braves.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A18)
1961 Apr 30, Eastern Airlines
began the 1st shuttle flights began between Wash DC, Boston and NYC.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1961 Apr 30, Premier Fidel Castro
of Cuba received the Lenin Peace Prize.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1961 May 1, A Pulitzer prize was
awarded to Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
(MC, 5/1/02)
1961 May 1, Fidel Castro announced
that there would be no more elections in Cuba. Radio Havana was founded.
(HN, 5/1/98)(WSJ, 6/18/02, p.D9)
1961 May 4, A
group of 13 CORE civil rights activists, dubbed "Freedom Riders" left
Washington, D.C., for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation on
buses and in bus terminals.
(AP, 5/4/97)(HN, 5/4/98)(MC, 5/4/02)
1961 May 5, Astronaut Alan
Bartlett Shepard Jr. (d.1998 at 74), a Navy commander, became the first
American in space as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in the
Freedom 7 Project Mercury capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The spacecraft reached a maximum altitude of 116.5 miles.
(AP, 5/5/97)(HN, 5/5/98)(SFC, 7/23/98, p.A1)(HNQ,
7/11/99)
1961 May 6, George Clooney, actor
(Dr Douglas Ross-ER, Batman), was born in Lexington, KY.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1961 May 8, Carmel Snow (b.1887),
Irish-born fashion editor, died in New York. In 2005 Penelope Rowlands
authored “A Dash of Daring,” a biography of Snow.
(SSFC, 11/27/05,
p.D1)(www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=17435)
1961 May 9, In a speech to the
National Association of Broadcasters, Federal Communications Commission
chairman Newton N. Minow condemned television programming as a "vast
wasteland."
(AP, 5/9/97)
1961 May 10, "Beyond the Fringe,"
premiered in London.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1961 May 11, Pres. Kennedy
authorized American advisors to aid South Vietnam against the forces of
North Vietnam.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1961 May 13, Dennis Rodman, NBA
forward (Chicago Bulls), was born.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1961 May 13, Gary Cooper (60), 2
time Academy award winning actor (High Noon), died.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1961 May 14, A bus carrying the
1st group of Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama.
(HN, 5/14/98)(MC, 5/14/02)
1961 May 15, 36 Unification church
couples were wed in Korea.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1961 May 17, Cuban leader Fidel
Castro offered to exchange prisoners captured in the abortive Bay of
Pigs invasion for 500 bulldozers.
(AP, 5/17/01)(MC, 5/17/02)
1961 May 18, "Donnybrook!" opened
at 46th St Theater in NYC for 68 performances.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1961 May 18, Henry O'Neill, actor
(Lady Killer, Nothing But Trouble), died.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1961 May 20, A white mob led by
Claude Henley attacked a busload of "Freedom Riders" in Montgomery,
Ala., prompting the federal government to send in U.S. marshals to
restore order.
(AP, 5/20/97)(HN, 5/20/98)(SFEC, 9/19/99, p.A3)
1961 May 21, Governor Patterson
declared martial law in Montgomery, Alabama.
(HN, 5/21/98)
1961 May 22, The 1st revolving
restaurant, Top of The Needle in Seattle, opened.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1961 May 24, The 27 Freedom
Riders, civil rights activists, were arrested in Jackson, Mississippi.
(HN, 5/24/98)(MC, 5/24/02)
1961 May 25, President Kennedy
asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of
the decade.
(AP, 5/25/97)
1961 May 25, NASA civilian pilot
Joseph A. Walker took the X-15 to 32,770 meters.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1961 May 26, Civil rights activist
group Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee was established in Atlanta.
(AP, 5/26/98)
1961 May 26, A USAF bomber flew
the Atlantic in a record of just over three hours.
(AP, 5/26/98)
1961 May 28, Amnesty
International, a human rights organization, was founded. It won a Nobel
Prize in 1977.
(HN, 5/28/98)(MC, 5/28/02)
1961 May 29, Melissa Etheridge, US
singer, songwriter, guitarist (Never Enough), was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1961 May 29, David Palmer, heavy
metal drummer (ABC, AC/DC), was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1961 May 29, Uuno Kalervo Klami
(60), composer, died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1961 May 30, Rafael Leonides
Trujillo Molina (69), Dominican Republic dictator (1930-61), was
murdered. In his final years he had installed Joaquin Balaguer as vice
president and then as president. Balaguer fled to exile in NYC
following the assassination.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)(SFC, 7/15/02, p.B6)(MC,
5/30/02)
1961 May 31, South Africa became
an independent republic.
(AP, 5/31/97)
1961 Jun 1, R.C., "Surrender" by
Elvis Presley peaked at #1 on the U.K. pop singles chart.
(DTnet, 6/1/97)
1961 Jun 1, FM multiplex stereo
broadcasting was 1st heard. (MC, 6/1/02)
1961 Jun 2, George S. Kaufman
(72), playwright, director, Pulitzer prize winner, died.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1961 Jun 3, JFK and Khrushchev met
in Vienna.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1961 Jun 4, A Soviet K-19 nuclear
submarine with 139 crew members experienced a nuclear accident. 22
later died from radiation poisoning. In 2001 the US film "K-19: The
Widowmaker" loosely depicted the accident.
(SFC, 4/20/01, p.A14)(WSJ, 4/3/02, p.A20)
1961 Jun 6, Swiss psychiatrist
Carl Gustav Jung (b.1875), one of the founders of modern psychiatry,
died. In 1997 Richard Noll published "The Aryan Christ: The Secret Life
of Carl Jung." Frank McLynn published "Carl Gustav Jung, A Biography."
In 2003 Deirdre Bair authored "Jung: A Biography." In 2004 Sonu
Shamdasani authored “Jung and the Making of Modern Psychology.”
(HN, 6/6/98)(SFEC,10/19/97, BR p.3)(SSFC, 12/7/03,
p.M6)(Econ, 3/13/04, p.84)
1961 Jun 7, Robert Griffith,
producer of Pajama Game, died.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1961 Jun 11, Norm Cash became the
1st Detroit Tiger to hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1961 Jun 16, Dave Garroway was
fired as Today Show host.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1961 Jun 17, Soviet ballet star
Rudolf Nureyev (d.1993) defected from the Soviet Union at the Paris Le
Bourget airport while traveling with the Leningrad Kirov Ballet. In
1998 Diane Solway covered this event in her biography: "Nureyev."
(WSJ, 10/1/98, p.A20)(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A17)(AP,
6/17/08)
1961 Jun 19, R.C., "Little Egypt
(Ying-Yang)" by The Coasters peaked at #23 on the pop singles chart.
(DTnet, 6/19/97)
1961 Jun 19, R.C., "Peanut Butter"
by The Marathons (The Vibrations) peaked at #20 on the pop singles
chart.
(DTnet, 6/19/97)
1961 Jun 19, R.C., "Rama Lama Ding
Dong" by The Edsels peaked at #21 on the pop singles chart.
(DTnet, 6/19/97)
1961 Jun 19, The U.S. Supreme
Court struck down a provision in Maryland's constitution requiring
state officeholders to profess a belief in the existence of God.
(DTnet, 6/19/97)
1961 Jun 19, Kuwait regained
complete independence from Britain along with Qatar, Bahrain
(NG, 5/88, p.662)(DTnet, 6/19/97)(HN, 6/19/98)
1961 Jun 24, Iraq demanded
dominion over Kuwait.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1961 Jun 25, Jazz trio Paul
Motion, drums, Bill Evans, piano, and Scott LaFaro recorded a
performance at the Village Vanguard in NYC in which each man functioned
as an equal rather than as an accompaniment to the leader. The
recording changed the idea of the piano trio.
(WSJ, 1/24/06, p.D8)
1961 Jun 26, Greg LeMond, US
bicyclist (Tour de France winner-1986, 1989, 1990), was born.
(MC, 6/26/02)
1961 Jun 26, A Kuwaiti vote
opposed Iraq’s annexation plans.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1961 Jun 30, Lee de Forest (87),
inventor (Electron Tube), died.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1961 Jun, Producers Albert
Broccoli and Harry Saltzman purchased rights to adopt most of Ian
Fleming’s novels and short stories into films. In the 1970s Saltzman
sold his rights to MGM. Dr. No, their 1st Bond film, came out in 1962.
(WSJ, 11/18/06,
p.A1)(www.sylvanmason.com/thunderball/thunderball-years.htm)
1961 Jul 1, Carl Lewis (Olympic
Gold Medalist: 100 meter & 200 meter sprints, long jump & 4x100
meter relay [1984]; 100 meter in 9.93 seconds, a world record, long
jump, 4x100 meter relay [1988], long jump and 4x100 relay [1992];
Olympic Hall of Famer; AP Male Athlete of the Year [1983, 1984]), was
born.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1961 Jul 1, Diana Frances Spencer,
the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. She died
August, 1997, in a car crash in Paris at age 36.
(AP, 7/1/98)
1961 Jul 1, British troops landed
in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1961 Jul 1, Louis-Ferdinand Celine
(b.1894), French physician, author, anti-Semite, died. His books
included “Journey to the End of Night” (1932).
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lfceline.htm)(WSJ, 9/23/06,
p.P8)
1961 Jul 2, Jimmy McNichol, actor
(Fitzpatricks, California Fever), was born in LA, Calif.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1961 Jul 2, Novelist E. Hemingway
shot himself in the head at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. Boozing and
physical trauma led to depression, electroshock therapy and suicide. In
1964 his novel "A Moveable Feast was published. In
1974 Jose Luis Castillo-Puche published "Hemingway in
Spain." His novel "True at First Light" was based on his 1953 safari in
Africa and was to be published Jul 21 1999, the centennial of his
birth. His book "The Garden of Eden" and "Islands in the Stream" were
also published after his death. His novel "Dangerous Summer" was based
on the rivalry between two matadors, Antonio Ordonez (d.1998) and Luis
Miguel Dominguin. In 1976 his son Gregory (d.2001) authored
"Papa: A Personal Memoir."
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.A11)(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(AP,
7/2/97)(SFC, 8/5/98, p.E3)(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A2)(SFC, 12/21/98,
p.B5)(WSJ, 6/18/99, p.W13)(SFC, 10/6/01, p.A18)
1961 Jul 7, James R. Hoffa was
elected president of Teamsters.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1961 Jul 11, China and North Korea
signed the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
(www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/yzs/gjlb/2701/default.htm)
1961 Jul 14, Pope John XXIII
published his encyclical Mater et magistrate.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1961 Jul 15, Spain accepted equal
rights for men and women.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1961 Jul 17, Ty Cobb (74),
baseball great (Detroit Tigers), died of cancer.
(MC, 7/17/02)
1961 Jul 18, In Spain ETA’s first
violent action tried to derail a train carrying supporters of dictator
Gen. Francisco Franco.
(AP, 3/22/06)
1961 Jul 21, Capt. Virgil "Gus"
Grissom became the second American to rocket into a suborbital pattern
around the Earth, flying on the Mercury 4 Liberty Bell 7. The Mercury
capsule sank in the Atlantic, 302 miles from Cape Canaveral and Grissom
was rescued by helicopter. The space capsule was recovered in 1999.
(AP, 7/21/97)(OGA, 11/24/98)(SFC, 4/17/99,
p.A6)(WSJ, 7/21/99, p.A1)
1961 Jul 23, Woody Harrelson,
actor (Woody Boyd-Cheers), was born in Midland, Tx.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1961 Jul 24, Roger Maris hit 4
home runs in a doubleheader.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1961 Jul 24, A US commercial plane
was hijacked to Cuba and began a trend.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1961 Jul 25, Katherine Kelly Lang,
actress (Brooke-Bold & Beautiful), was born in LA, Calif.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1961 Jul 28, Scott E. Parazynski,
MD, astronaut, was born in Little Rock, Ark.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1961 Jul 31, Ireland formally
applied for membership in the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1961 Jul 31, Israel welcomed its
1,000,000th immigrant.
(MC, 7/31/02)
1961 Jul, Len Kleinrock wrote a
paper on packet switching at MIT where he analyzed the so-called
store-and-forward systems.
(SFEC, 3/16/97, z1 p.3)
1961 Jul, A French law guaranteed
populations in France's overseas territories free exercise of their
religion and respect for their beliefs and customs as long as they are
not contrary to general principles of law.
(AP, 9/23/05)
1961 Aug 3, Britain’s Parliament
adopted the Suicide Act of 1961, which decriminalized suicide in the
UK, but made assisting one punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
(Econ, 6/6/09,
p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Act_1961)
1961 Aug 4, Barack Obama, later US
Senator from Illinois, was born in Honolulu to a black Kenyan father
and a white American mother. He lived most of his early life in Hawaii.
From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia with his mother
and Indonesian stepfather.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama)
1961 Aug 7, Soviet premier
Khrushchev predicted that the USSR economy would surpass that of the US.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1961 Aug 9, The United Kingdom
applied for membership in the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1961 Aug 10, Denmark formally
applied for membership in the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1961 Aug 12, Pete De Freitas,
rocker (Echo and the Bunnymen-Heaven Up Here), was born.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1961 Aug 12, Roy Hay, guitarist
(Culture Club-Do You Really Want to Hurt Me), was born.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1961 Aug 12, East German troops
began stringing barbed wire around East Berlin. In 2004 William F.
Buckley authored "The Fall of the Berlin Wall." [see Aug 15]
(WSJ, 3/18/04, p.D10)
1961 Aug 13, East Germany closed
the Brandenberg Gate sealing off the border between the city's eastern
and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees. Two days
later, work began on the Berlin Wall.
(HFA, '96, p.36)(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(AP,
8/13/97)(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F4)
1961 Aug 14(15), An East German
soldier, Hans Conrad Schuhmann (Schuman), jumped a 3-foot barbed wire
barrier to West Berlin to join his family. His photograph made int’l.
headlines. He committed suicide in 1998.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A25)(SFEC, 10/31/99, Z1 p.4)
1961 Aug 15, East German workers
began building the Berlin Wall. [see Aug 12]
(AP, 8/15/01)
1961 Aug 16, Martin Luther King
protested for black voting rights in Miami.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1961 Aug 16, Some 250,000 West
Berliners demonstrated against East Berlin.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1961 Aug 17, The Kennedy
administration established the Alliance for Progress.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1961 Aug 18, Learned Hand
(b.1872), Chief judge of US court of Appeals, died. Stanford Prof.
Gerald Gunther (d.2002) later authored the biography "Learned Hand, the
Man and the Judge."
(AP, 12/13/97)(SFC, 8/2/02, p.A27)(MC, 8/18/02)
1961 Aug 20, East Germany began
erecting a 5' high wall along the border with the west to replace the
barbed wire put up Aug 13.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1961 Aug 23, East Germany imposed
new curbs on travel between West and East Berlin.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1961 Aug 24, Johannes Vorster, a
former Nazi leader, became South Africa's minister of justice.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1961 Aug 25, Brazilian
president Janio Quadros resigned. He was replaced by vice-president
Joao Goulart.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)(WSJ, 4/6/06, p.D8)
1961 Aug 26, The official
International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto.
(AP, 8/26/97)
1961 Aug 27, Francis the Talking
Mule was the mystery guest on "What's My Line."
(MC, 8/27/01)
1961 Aug 30, President John F.
Kennedy appointed General Lucius D. Clay as his personal representative
in Berlin.
(HN, 8/30/98)
1961 Aug 30, A UN Convention on
the Reduction of Statelessness opened for signatures. It entered into
force on Dec 13, 1975. By 2007 only 34 countries had signed it.
(http://tinyurl.com/2tdgb6)(Econ, 12/1/07, p.75)
1961 Aug 31, A concrete wall
replaced the barbed wire fence that separated East and West Germany, it
would be called the Berlin wall.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1961 Aug, The Soviets launched
Vostok-2 with cosmonaut Gherman Titov (d.2000 at 65). He circled the
planet 17 times in a 25-hour flight.
(SFC, 9/22/00, p.D7)
1961 Sep 1, The Soviet Union ended
a moratorium on atomic testing with an above-ground nuclear explosion
in central Asia.
(AP, 9/1/01)
1961 Sep 1, Eero Saarinen (51),
Finnish-US architect (Dulles Airport), died.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1961 Sep 4, US Congress passed the
Foreign Assistance Act, which reorganized US foreign assistance
programs including separating military and non-military aid. The Act
mandated the creation of an agency to administer economic assistance
programs. On November 3, 1961, President John F. Kennedy established
the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
(www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html)
1961 Sep 5, President Kennedy
signed a law against hijacking. It called for the death penalty for
convicted hijackers.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1961 Sep 8, Frank Rosenthal
(1929-2008), friend of Chicago mobsters, appeared before a Senate
hearing on gambling and organized crime. He invoked the Fifth Amendment
38 times.
(SFC, 10/17/08, p.B8)
1961 Sep 10, Jomo Kenyatta
returned to Kenya from exile, during which he had been elected
president of the Kenya National African Union.
(HN, 9/10/98)
1961 Sep 13, An unmanned Mercury
capsule was orbited and recovered by NASA in a test for the first
manned flight.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1961 Sep 13, Battles took place
between UN and Katanga troops in Congo.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1961 Sep 15, The US resumed
underground nuclear testing. Operation Nougat began a series of 45
nuclear tests conducted (with one exception) at the Nevada Test Site.
(SSFC, 6/9/02,
p.F4)(www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Operation_Nougat)
1961 Sep 17, The situation comedy
"Car 54, Where Are You?" premiered on NBC. Al Lewis (d.2006) played
Officer Schnauzer opposite Fred Gwynne’s Officer Francis Muldoon. The
series ran to 1963.
(AP, 9/17/01)(SSFC, 2/5/06, p.A2)
1961 Sep 17, In Turkey PM Adnan
Menderes (b.1899) was hanged following the 1960 military coup.
(Econ, 6/14/08,
p.65)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adnan_Menderes)
1961 Sep 18, Dag Hammarskjold,
Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern
Rhodesia (now Zambia). He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the
Congo.
(TMC, 1994, p.1961)(WUD, 1994, p.1684)(AP, 9/18/97)
1961 Sep 19-20, Betty (d.2004) and
Bernard Hill returned home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from a trip in
Canada and seemed to have lost memory of 2 hours of the drive. Under
hypnosis 3 years later they recounted being kidnapped and examined by
aliens. Their story led to the 1966 book “Interrupted Journey” by John
G. Fuller.
(SFC, 10/19/04,
p.B6)(www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/hill.htm)
1961 Sep 20, James Meredith was
refused access as a student in Mississippi. [see Sep 20 1962]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1961 Sep 22, President John
Kennedy signed a congressional act establishing the Peace Corps. The
government-funded volunteer organization was created to fight hunger,
disease, illiteracy, poverty, and lack of opportunity around the world.
(HN, 9/22/98)(MC, 9/22/01)
1961 Sep 22, Marion Davies,
actress (Not So Dumb, 5 & 10), died of cancer at 64.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1961 Sep 26, Roger Maris hit HR
#60 off Jack Fisher, tying Babe Ruth's record.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1961 Sep 26, Nineteen-year-old Bob
Dylan made his New York singing debut at Gerde’s Folk City. [see April
11]
(HN, 9/26/00)
1961 Sep 27, Hilda Doolittle
(b.1886), American poet, died in Zurich. In 1984 poet Barbara Guest
(d.2006) authored the biography “Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her
World.”
(SFC, 2/20/06,
p.B3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.D.)
1961 Sep 28, "Dr. Kildare,"
starring Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey, and "Hazel," starring
Shirley Booth, premiered on NBC TV.
(AP, 9/28/01)
1961 Sep 30, A bill for the 1773
Boston Tea Party was paid by Mayor Snyder of Oregon. He wrote a check
for $196, the total cost of all tea lost.
(MC, 9/30/01)
1961 Sep, The US Federal Hourly
Minimum Wage was set at $1.15 an hour.
(http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blminwage.htm)
1961 Sep, Yevgeny Yevtushenko
(b.1933), Russian poet, published his poem “Babi Yar” at the height of
the Khrushchev thaw. It recalled the 1941 massacre of over 33,000 Jews
at ravine in Kiev, Ukraine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar)
1961 Oct. 1, Roger Maris of the
New York Yankees hit his 61st home run off of Tracy Stallard during a
162-game season. It compared to Babe Ruth's 60 home runs during a
154-game season. The ball was caught by Sal Durante (19) who offered it
to Maris. Maris declined and Durante sold it for $5000 to a
restaurateur named Sam Gordon, who donated the ball to the Baseball
Hall of Fame.
(AP, 10/1/97)(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.B1)(MC, 10/1/01)
1961 Oct 2, The medical drama
``Ben Casey,'' starring Vince Edwards and Sam Jaffe, premiered on ABC.
(AP, 10/2/01)
1961 Oct 3, "The Dick Van Dyke
Show," also starring Mary Tyler Moore, made its debut on CBS.
(AP, 10/3/01)
1961 Oct 6, JFK advised Americans
to build fallout shelters from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear
exchange with the Soviet Union.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1961 Oct 7, "Bye Bye Birdie"
closed at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 607 performances.
(MC, 10/7/01)
1961 Oct 8, The US Constellation
crashed at Richmond, Virginia, 74 die.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1961 Oct 9, US members of
communist party were obliged to report themselves to Police.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1961 Oct 9, Volcano eruptions
continued on Tristan de Cunha in the South Atlantic. [see Oct 1]
(MC, 10/9/01)
1961 Oct 11, Leonard "Chico" Marx,
comedian (Marx Brothers), died at 74.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1961 Oct 14, "How to Succeed in
Business" opened at 46th St NYC for 1415 performances.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1961 Oct 15, Pres. Kennedy called
out military reserves in the wake of the Berlin crises. Football star
Jack Kemp was exempted due to a shoulder injury. He went on to lead the
San Diego Chargers to a division title passing for 2,686 yards and 15
touchdowns.
(SFC, 8/18/96, p.A10)
1961 Oct 17, NY Museum of Modern
Art hung Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau" upside-down It wasn't corrected
until December 3rd.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1961 Oct 17, Paris police beat and
killed dozens of Algerian demonstrators and threw some bodies into the
Seine. The police were commanded by Maurice Papon. Papon said some 30
bodies had been recovered from the Seine but that they had been killed
in fighting between rival Algerian nationalist groups. In 1999 France
agreed to open its archives on the issue. Police killed 210 Algerians
who were protesting against police oppression and the curfew imposed
against their community in Paris.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A15)(Econ,
2/24/07, p.99)
1961 Oct 18, Wynton Marsalis, jazz
and classical trumpeter (Grammy 1983), was born in New Orleans, La.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1961 Oct 18, Sigurd Varian
(1901-1961), co-inventor of the klystron tube with his brother, Russel,
died in a small plane crash in Mexico. Sigurd and Russel had founded
Varian Associates in 1948.
(www.geocities.com/neveyaakov/electro_science/varian_sigurd.html)
1961 Oct 18, An emergency crisis
was proclaimed in South Vietnam due to a communist attack.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1961 Oct 21, Bob Dylan recorded
his first album in a single day at a cost of $400.
(HN, 10/21/00)
1961 Oct 25, Peter Jensen (75),
co-inventor of the loud speaker, died.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1961 Oct 27, The 1st Saturn launch
vehicle made an unmanned flight test.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1961 Oct 27, Outer Mongolia and
Mauritania become the 102nd and 103rd members of UN.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1961 Oct 28, Ground was broken for
Municipal (Shea) Stadium for NY Mets.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1961 Oct 30, The Soviet Union
tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at
about 50 megatons. This was the largest explosion ever recorded and
broke a 3-year nuclear test moratorium.
(AP, 10/30/06)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A22)
1961 Oct 30, The Soviet Party
Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of
Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.
(AP, 10/30/97)
1961 Oct 30, UN unanimously
elected U Thant acting UN Secretary General.
(MC, 10/30/01)
1961 Oct 31, A US Federal judge
ruled that Birmingham, Alabama, laws against integrated playing fields
were illegal.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1961 Oct 31, Augustus Edwin John
(b.1878), Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher, died. For a short
time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in
England. In 1974 Michael Holroyd authored the biography: “Augustus
John.”
(WSJ, 1/21/07, p.P9)
1961 Nov 1, Pres. J.F. Kennedy
signed executive order 10971 creating a board of three members to
investigate a dispute between TWA and certain of its employees.
(www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/jfkeo/eo/10971.htm)
1961 Nov 2, James Thurber
(b.1894), humorist (The Male Animal), died at age 66. In 1975 Burton
Bernstein authored "Thurber: A Biography." In 2003 Harrison Kinney and
Rosemary A. Thurber edited "The Thurber Letters."
(MC, 11/2/01)(WSJ, 8/1/03, p.W10)
1961 Nov 3, President John F.
Kennedy established the US Agency for International Development
(USAID). [see Sep 4]
(www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html)
1961 Nov 3, New Braunfels, Texas,
began hosting its Wurstfest, an annual sausage festival, to drum up
business for local merchants. The festival was set to always begin on
the Friday before the first Monday in November. By 2007 the 1 day
festival had expanded to 10 days with well over 100,000 visitors.
(SSFC, 10/7/07, p.D8)
1961 Nov 5, India's premier Nehru
arrived in NY.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1961 Nov 8, Pres. Kennedy
concluded talks with India’s PM Nehru.
(www.historycentral.com/Documents/sixties/118.html)
1961 Nov 9, Paddy Chayefsky's
"Gideon," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1961 Nov 10, Andrew Hatcher was
named associate press secretary to President John F. Kennedy.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1961 Nov 11, Congolese soldiers
murdered 13 Italian UN pilots.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1961 Nov 11, Molotov, Malenkov
& Kaganovich were kicked out of Russia's communist party.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1961 Nov 11, Stalingrad was
renamed Volgograd.
(MC, 11/11/01)
1961 Nov 12, Nadia Comaneci,
[Gheorghe], Romanian gymnast (1st 10/Olymp-gold-1976), was born.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1961 Nov 14, President Kennedy
increased the number of American advisors in Vietnam from 1,000 to
16,000.
(HN, 11/14/00)
1961 Nov 16, US House Speaker
Samuel T. Rayburn died in Bonham, Texas, having served as speaker since
1940 except for two terms.
(AP, 11/1697)
1961 Nov 16, Great Britain limited
immigration from Commonwealth countries.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1961 Nov 18, JFK sent 18,000
military "advisors" to South Vietnam.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1961 Nov 24, The UN adopted bans
on nuclear arms over American protest.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1961 Nov 26, Pro Baseball Rules
Committee voted 8-1 against legalizing the spitball.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1961 Nov 28, Ernie Davis became
the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1961 Nov 29, Freedom Riders were
attacked by white mob at bus station in Miss.
(MC, 11/29/01)
1961 Nov 29, Enos the chimp was
launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft,
which orbited earth twice before returning.
(AP, 11/29/97)
1961 Nov 30, Soviets vetoed a UN
seat for Kuwait, pleasing Iraq.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1961 Nov, The US stock market
began a 7 month decline of 25%.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.B2)
1961 Nov, In Germany Heinz Felfe
(b.1918), the head of counter-intelligence at the
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) and a veteran of the Nazi special forces,
was arrested as an agent of the KGB.
(Econ, 9/2/06, p.50)(http://tinyurl.com/jmnpe)
1961 Nov, India’s PM Jawaharlal
Nehru visited with Walt Disney in Disneyland.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F3)
1961 Dec 1, The Territory of New
Guinea (Papua) declared independence from the Netherlands.
(WUD, 1994, p.962)(SFC, 6/5/00, p.A8)
1961 Dec 2, Cuban leader Fidel
Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist who would lead Cuba to
Communism.
(AP, 12/2/97)
1961 Dec 9, SS Col. Adolf Eichmann
was found guilty of war crimes in Israel.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1961 Dec 11, "Please, Mr. Postman"
by Marvelettes was released.
(MC, 12/11/01)
1961 Dec 11, A U.S. aircraft
carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon. This was the first
direct American military support for South Vietnam's battle against
Communist guerrillas. JFK provided 425 US military helicopter crewmen
to South Vietnam to provide training and support for South
Vietnamese forces.
(AP, 12/11/97)(MC, 12/11/01)
1961 Dec 11, Adolf Eichmann was
found guilty of war crimes in Israel.
(MC, 12/11/01)
1961 Dec 12, Martin Luther King Jr
& 700 demonstrators were arrested in Albany, Ga.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1961 Dec 12, Frantz Fanon
(b.1925), Martinique-born writer, psychiatrist, and revolutionary died
in Washington, DC. He foretold of Third World liberation struggles. In
2008 John Edgar Wideman authored his novel “Fanon” based on Fanon’s
life.
(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.M2)(WSJ, 2/15/08,
p.W2)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fanon.htm)
1961 Dec 13, Beatles signed a
formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1961 Dec 13, Grandma [Anna M]
Moses (101), US painter, folk artist, died.
(SFC, 3/26/97, z1 p.7)(MC, 12/13/01)
1961 Dec 15, Adolf Eichmann, the
former German Gestapo official accused of a major role in the Nazi
murder of 6 million Jews, was sentenced by a Jerusalem court to be
hanged. Adolf Eichmann was the administrator of the so-called Final
Solution and supervised the transportation of prisoners to
concentration camps.
(AP, 12/15/97)(HN, 12/15/98)
1961 Dec 18, Britain's EMI Records
originally rejected the Beatles.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1961 Dec 20, Moss Hart (b.1904),
US dramatist (You can't take it with you), died. His 1959 autobiography
was titled “Act One.”
(www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=6153)(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.P8)
1961 Dec 21, JFK & British PM
MacMillan met in Bermuda.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1961 Dec 23, Fidel Castro
announced Cuba he would release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of
Pigs Invasion in exchange for $62M worth of food and medical supplies.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1961 Dec 25, Rheinhold
Ruedenberg (b.1883), MIT electrical engineer, died. He patented the
principle of electron-microscope imaging in 1931 for Siemens and Halske.
(www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/bkofdead/obits-ru.htm)(www.timelinescience.org/years/1950.htm)
1961 Dec 26, Nepal’s King Mahendra
appointed a council of five ministers to help run the administration.
Several weeks later, political parties were declared illegal.
(http://countrystudies.us/nepal/19.htm)
1961 Dec 27, Styne-Comden-Green
musical "Subways are for Sleeping," premiered.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1961 Dec 28, Tennessee Williams'
"Night of the Iguana," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 12/28/01)
1961 Dec 31, "lrma La Douce"
closed at the Plymouth Theater in NYC after 527 performances.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1961 Dec 31, Beach Boys played
their debut gig under that name. The Beach Boys band was formed with
brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, cousin Mike Love and friend Al
Jardine. Their hit "Surfin" came out the same year.
(SFC, 7/14/96, DB p.50)(MC, 12/31/01)
1961 Dec 31, The Marshall Plan
expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.
(AP, 12/31/97)
1961 Dec, The Mike Douglas Show
began in Cleveland, Ohio. The TV show ended in 1982. In 1999 he
authored the memoir “”I’ll be Right Back: Memories of TV’s Greatest
Talk Show.” Mike Douglas (born in 1925 as Michael Delaney Dowd Jr.)
died in 2006.
(SFC, 8/12/06, p.B6)
1961 Dec, The Woodrow Wilson
Bridge opened on I-95 over the Potomac River between Maryland and
Virginia. The 6-lane bridge was demolished in 2006 following the
completion of one of 2 new 6-lane drawbridges.
(SFC, 8/30/06, p.A2)
1961 David Berg (d.2002 began his
"The Lighter Side of" comic strips for Mad Magazine and continued for
365 subsequent issues.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)
1961 Richard Diebenkorn painted
his "Yellow Porch."
(SFC, 10/9/97, p.E1)
1961 Roy Lichtenstein
(1923-1997), American pop artist, painted "Look Mickey," his first
picture to employ a comic strip as subject matter. Hi also did "Popeye."
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A7)(SFC, 1/16/99, p.E8)
1961 Piero Manzoni signed his
sealed tins of "Merda d’Artista."
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.E4)
1961 Nell Sinton (b.1910) painted
the abstract oil "Greenhouse."
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.C3)
1961 Julia Child, Simone Beck and
Louisette Bertholle published the first volume of: "Mastering the Art
of French Cooking."
(SFEM, 8/10/97, p.23)
1961 Craig Claiborne (d.2000 at
79), food journalist for the New York Times, authored "The New York
Times Cookbook."
(SFC, 1/24/00, p.A15)
1961 Irene Kampen (d.1998 at 75)
wrote her first of ten books on her life following a divorce: "Life
Without George." The books became the basis for the TV sitcom: "The
Lucy Show" (1962-1974), which followed Lucille Ball’s divorce with Desi
Arnaz.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A22)
1961 William Saroyan published his
autobiography: "Here Comes There Goes You Know Who."
(SFEM, 4/27/97, p.11)
1961 "Academic Women" by Prof.
Jessie Bernard (1903-1996) was published. She soon retired but
continued writing. Her works included "The Sex Game," "The Female
World," "The Future of Marriage," and "The Future of Motherhood."
(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A21)
1961 Erving Goffman wrote
"Asylums," which asserted that the abnormal behavior of psychiatric
patients was mostly a consequence of hospitalization.
(WSJ, 7/18/97, p.A14)
1961 Stanislaw Lem wrote "Memoirs
Found in a Bathtub." He pondered the growing vulnerability of
civilization to a disruption of its information flow.
(WSJ, 5/6/97, p.A23)
1961 Benjamin Quarles (1904-1996),
historian, published "The Negro in the American Revolution."
(SFC, 11/19/96, p.B2)
1961 J.D. Salinger published
"Franny and Zooey."
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A2)
1961 D.W. Sciama published his
book "The Unity of the Universe."
(TNG, Klein, p.154)
1961 Joseph Weber, prof. of
physics at Univ. of Maryland, published his "Gravitational Relativity
and Gravitational Waves."
(TNG, Klein, p.130)
1961 Gerald J. Whitrow (d.2000 at
87), mathematician and philosopher, published "The Nature of Time."
(SFC, 6/27/00, p.A23)
1961 "The Soft Machine" by William
Burroughs was published.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.B6)
1961 The children’s classic "James
and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl was published.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, Par p.9)
1961 Jay Wright Forrester
(b.1918), MIT computer engineering pioneer, authored Industrial
Dynamics. In the book he described the bullwhip effect, whereby changes
downstream in an economic chain are multiplied upstream.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Forrester)
1961 Joseph Heller published
"Catch-22."
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A2)
1961 Richard Hughes authored his
historical novel "The Fox in the Attic," based on Hitler’s failed 1923
putsch.
(NW, 8/20/01, p.56)
1961 Nicole Hughes Maxwell (d.1998
at 92) wrote "Witch Doctor’s Apprentice: Hunting for Medicinal Plants
in the Amazon," an account of her experiences in the upper Amazon with
native Indians and their medicines.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, p.B6)
1961 Anneli Cahn Lax (d.1999 at
77) began editing the New Mathematical Library Series for the
Mathematical Association of America. 36 volumes were published by 1995.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.D6)
1961 Julia Child, Bertholle and
Beck co-wrote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol I."
(SFC, 10/20/99, Z1p.4)
1961 Robert Donovan (d.2003 at
90), newspaperman, authored "PT-109: John F. Kennedy in World War II."
(SFC, 8/9/03, p.A15)
1961 Stanford Prof. Martin Esslin
(d.2002 at 83) authored "The Theatre of the Absurd."
(SFC, 2/28/02, p.A20)
1961 Robert A. Heinlein
(1906-1988) authored his sci-fi masterpiece “Stranger in a Strange
Land.” It was about a human child raised on Mars by Martians and
brought to Earth.
(WSJ, 1/26/07, p.D7)
1961 Jane Jacobs authored "The
Death and Life of Great American Cities." It was based on her
experiences in Greenwich Village.
(SFEC, 6/25/00, BR p.4)(WSJ, 10/11/00, p.24)
1961 "The Phantom Tollbooth" by
Norton Juster was published. It was illustrated by Jules Feiffer.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1961 Oscar Lewis, American
anthropologist, authored "The Children of Sanchez." He had interviewed
a poor, problem-plagued Mexican family for the book, which became a
social science landmark, defining what came to be known as "the
anthropology of poverty."
(AP, 1/26/04)
1961 A.J. Liebling (1904-1963),
America’s pre-eminent press critic, authored “The Press.”
(WSJ, 4/5/08, p.W8)
1961 James Michener (d.1997 at 90)
wrote "Report of the County Chairman."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1961 Walker Percy authored his
novel "The Moviegoer."
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.M3)
1961 "Where the Red Fern Grows" by
Wilson Rawls was published.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1961 Rosser Reeves (1910-1984)
authored “Reality in Advertising.” He originated the marketing concept
called “the unique selling proposition.”
(WSJ, 3/3/07, p.P8)(http://tinyurl.com/378ozc)
1961 Harold Robbins (d.1997) wrote
his novel "Carpetbaggers," based on the life of Howard Hughes.
(SFC,10/15/97, p.C4)
1961 J.D. Salinger published
"Franny and Zooey."
(SFC, 11/23/98, p.E2)
1961 Norbert A. Schlei
(1929-2003), later legal counsel to presidents Kennedy and Johnson,
authored "Studies in World Public Order."
(SFC, 4/21/03, p.B4)
1961 Muriel Spark published her
novel "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."
(WSJ, 4/11/97, p.A12)
1961 John Updike wrote "Rabbit
Run."
(SFEC, 9/28/97, BR p.3)
1961 Kurt Vonnegut wrote his novel
"Mother Night."
(SFC, 11/15/96, p.C3)
1961 John Wilson (d.1999 at 80)
published "Ghana's Handicapped Citizens." Wilson, himself blind, and
his wife Jean lived in Ghana in 1950 and began treating people who were
blinded from an infection, ocular onchocerciasis, caused by a buffalo
gnat.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.B4)
1961 Loretta Young, film and TV
actress, authored "The Things I Had to Learn."
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.B10)
1961 Harold Pinter wrote his play
"The Collection."
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.D1)
1961 Tennessee Williams wrote his
play "The Night of the Iguana" based on his experiences in Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico. It was produced on Broadway by Charles Bowden and
starred Bette Davis and Margaret Leighton.
(WSJ, 3/22/96, p.A-10)(AAM, 3/96, p.84)(SFC,
12/25/96, p.A22)
1961 Ossie Davis wrote and starred
in his play "Purlie Victorious."
(SFEC, 10/20/96, Par, p.24)
1961 The Third Edition of
Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary crystallized contemporary ideas about
language and usage.
(SSFC, 3/18/01, DB p.49)
1961 The Bob Merrill musical
"Carnival" with Anna Maria Alberghetti won this year’s Best Musical
Award from the New York Drama Critics Circle. It was initially an MGM
property called "Lilli."
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A22)
1961 Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows
produced the Broadway hit "How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying." The play lampooned life at the fictional Worldwide Widget Co.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, DB p.40)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1961 Ray Charles made a hit with
"Unchain My Heart," written by Bobby Sharp and "Hit the Road Jack."
(SSFC, 7/28/02, Par p.20)(SFC, 4/19/04, p.E1)
1961 Ernie K-Doe (d.2001 at 65,
born as Ernest Kador in New Orleans), rhythm-and-blues singer, made a
hit with the song "Mother-in-Law."
(SFC, 7/10/01, p.A15)
1961 The Frank Loesser song "I
Believe in You" was a hit song from a Broadway musical.
(WSJ, 5/18/99, p.A24)
1961 The Marvelettes sang "Please
Mr. Postman."
(SFC, 11/12/02, p.D1)
1961 The musical "Kean" was
written by George Forrest and Robert Wright.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.C2)
1961 The show "Milk and Honey" was
produced.
(WSJ, 8/12/98, p.A13)
1961 The Broadway play "They Might
Be Giants" was written by James Goldman.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.D4)
1961 Frederick Knott (d.2002 at
86), playwright, wrote "Write Me a Murder." It ran for 25 weeks on
Broadway.
(SFC, 12/24/02, p.A16)
1961 Stan Freberg recorded his
musical comedy "The United States of America (1789-1918)." It was a
history lesson with a comic touch and beloved by high school teachers
history teachers. Vol. 2 came out in 1996.
(SFEC, 8/18/96, DB p.42)(WSJ, 8/20/96, p.A8)
1961 Anthony Newley (d.1999),
co-wrote with Leslie Bricusse the London musical "Stop the World - I
Want to Get Off," which included the hit songs "What Kind of Fool Am I"
and "Gonna Build a Mountain."
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.C4)
1961 A "Bozo the Clown" show began
on Chicago’s WGN-TV. The last show was taped in 2001.
(SFC, 6/13/01, p.E3)
1961 The Joey Bishop Show began on
NBC. It was cancelled in 1964. CBS took it over and cancelled it in
1965. The late night real life Joey Bishop Show ran from 1967-1969.
(SFC, 10/19/07, p.A11)
1961 Joan Baez released her 2nd
album "Joan Baez Vol. 2." She later published her autobiography: "And a
Voice to Sing With."
(SFEM, 11/1/98, p.12)(SFEM, 11/1/98, p.12)
1961 Leslie Bricusse wrote the hit
song "What Kind of Fool Am I."
(WSJ, 2/2/00, p.W8)
1961 Dave Brubeck recorded "Take
Five."
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.C14)
1961 Eddie Harris (1934-1996),
tenor saxophonist, recorded the theme music for the film Exodus. He
later invented the "saxobone," a saxophone with a trombone mouthpiece
and the electric sax. He later wrote much of the music on "The Bill
Cosby Show."
(SFC, 11/8/96, p.A25)
1961 The Beatles recorded their
1st commercial record, "My Bonnie." Brian Epstein, a Liverpool record
store manager, became the Beatles’ manager.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1961 Patsy Cline (d.1963) recorded
the Willie Nelson (b.1933) song "Crazy." Willie then wrote "Funny How
Time Slips Away."
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.67)
1961 Curtis Mayfield and the
Impressions had a hit with the doo-wop song "Gypsy Woman."
(SFC, 12/28/99, p.C1)
1961 Faron Young sang "Hello
Walls," a tune written by Willie Nelson.
(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C8)
1961 The Tokens recorded their hit
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It was based on a South African song,
"Mbube," recorded in 1939.
(NH, 6/97, p.66)
1961 Columbia Records issued the
first Robert Johnson (d.1938) LP titled "King of the Delta Blues
Singers." His music is on "The Complete Plantation Recordings"
(Chess/MCA).
(NH, 9/96, p.54)(HT, 5/97, p.41)
1961 Diana Ross, vocalist, signed
with Motown Records. Since that time she has released 58 albums.
(SFC, 7/7/96, DB p.49)
1961 Jimmy Rogers was the first
inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn.
(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A20)
1961 The new LAX Airport was
dedicated by Pres. Lyndon Johnson. The facility included a modern
central structure called the "Theme Building" with an elevated circular
restaurant.
(CG, #206, 1991)
1961 In SF the two curved,
17-story Fontana Towers were built over Aquatic Park by Robert D.
Fraser (d.2000 at 80). The construction blocked view from Russian Hill.
City officials slapped a 40-foot height limit along the waterfront.
(SFC, 10/22/04, p.A20)(SSFC, 4/27/08, p.B3)
1961 The Rebel Railroad opened in
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It changed hands a number of times and grew to
become Dollywood in 1986, a theme park partly owned by singer Dolly
Parton.
(DFP, 7/28/96, p.J3)
1961 SunBurst Resort was built on
the periphery of Scottsdale, Arizona.
(AAM, 3/96, p.42)
1961 The Archigram group, formed
by 6 friends in London, was named after their architectural broadsheet
telegrams. The group included Ron Herron, Peter Cook, David Greene,
Dennis Crompton, Michael Webb and Warren Chalk. Their work was
delivered in a comic book style and based on the message that
architecture was not eternal, but temporary and disposable.
(WSJ, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1961 The Unitarian Universalist
Association (UUA) was formed consolidating the American Unitarian
Association and the Universalist Church.
(WSJ, 5/11/01, p.W17)
1961 W.E.B. Du Bois, Black
American writer and reformer, renounced his American citizenship and
spent his last remaining years in the West African country of Ghana.
Born in Massachusetts on February 23, 1868, Du Bois earned three
degrees at Harvard, including a Ph.D., and taught history at Atlanta
University from 1896-1910. He took a militant position on race
relations, founded the Niagara Movement, edited the Crises magazine,
was a longtime official in the NAACP and author of numerous important
works. Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana, August 27, 1963.
(HNQ, 5/11/99)
1961 Robert R. Gros (d.1997 at
82), a PG&E executive and government advisor, gave his "The Winds
of Freedom Speech" for which he won the Freedom Foundations award for
memorable speeches. He won the award five times. His 1963 winning
speech was "Freedom’s Friends and Foes."
(SFC, 4/24/97, p.A26)
1961 In boxing American Floyd
Patterson defeated Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson in their 3rd meeting.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.B1)
1961 California surfers started
skateboarding.
(SFE Zone 3, 2/12/95, p. 8)
1961 A baseball team record for
home runs was set by the New York Yankees with 240 (Mantle, Maris,
Berra, et. al.).
(SFEM, 9/22/96, p.6)
1961 The Argentine writer Jorge
Luis Borges, a blind librarian, shared the Prix Formentor with Samuel
Beckett. English translations of Borges’ work appeared in 1962.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, BR p.1)
1961 Robert Hofstadter of Stanford
won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.A1)
1961 Melvin Calvin (b.1911), US
chemist, won the Nobel Prize for his work on photosynthesis.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1961 An International Agreement
was signed called the Antarctic Treaty. The treaty did not settle claim
disputes on the land, but shelved the issue to the future with a 50
year moratorium on mineral and oil exploration.
(Hem. 1/95, p. 28)
1961 The Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) was started.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-10)
1961 The government Food Stamp
program began as a pilot project.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, zone 1 p.5)
1961 The administration of Pres.
Kennedy had IRS commissioner Mortimer Caplin organize the "Ideological
Organizations Audit Project." Its purpose was to examine the finances
of radical left and radical right groups. The results of the audits
were used to then accept or deny tax free status to various groups.
(WSJ, 1/28/97, p.A18)
1961 Pres. John F. Kennedy
designated the military testing grounds at Cape Canaveral, Florida, as
a permanent launch site of the new US space program. About 6,000 Dusky
Seaside Sparrows inhabited the local marshes. The last one, named
Orange Band, died at Discovery Island, the zoo at Walt Disney World in
June of 1987.
(NOHY, 3/90, p.189)
1961 Pres. Kennedy named Eugene M.
Zuckert (d.2000 at 88) Secretary of the Air Force.
(SFC, 6/8/00, p.C7)
1961 Pres. Kennedy named John
McCone head of the CIA.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.F5)
1961 Congress voted a minimum-wage
increase from $1.00 to $1.25 an hour over a two-year period.
(HNQ, 11/5/99)
1961 Project Stormfury, a US
government hurricane modification program, conducted initial tests on
Hurricane Esther with a Navy plane releasing silver iodide crystals.
Some reports indicate winds were reduced by 10 percent to 30 percent.
Project Stormfury was abandoned in the 1980s after spending hundreds of
millions of dollars.
(AP, 9/23/05)
1961 Arizona state congressman
Stuart Udall was tapped to serve as the interior secretary for Pres.
Kennedy. His brother, Mo Udall, won the seat in a close special
election.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.A5)
1961 The White House denied
reports that "The Twist" was being danced at a White House party.
Chubby Checker had made the dance a major hit.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, DB p.65)
1961 Connecticut Governor Abraham
Ribicoff resigned to serve as a member of Pres. Kennedy’s Cabinet. He
served as HEW secretary for one year.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A5)
1961 A covert operation was
launched by the CIA to infiltrate North Vietnam. The Saigon station led
by William Colby began recruiting Vietnamese commandos who could speak
the local dialects. The operation was taken over by the Joint Chiefs of
Staff in 1964 and run by colonels of the military’s Special Operations
Group. In Dec 1965 the colonels began crossing off the names of some
200 missing commandos and listed them as dead. In 1996 the financial
records of the operation, known as OPLAN 34-A, were declassified at the
request of John Mattes, a lawyer representing 300 living commandos.
(SFC, 6/9/96, p.A-14)
1961 The US Omnibus Housing Act
established the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Jack
Conway (d.1998 at 80), labor leader and social activist, helped draft
the act. It enabled the FHA to insure mortgages on condominiums.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.D8)(WSJ, 8/18/05, p.A1)
1961 The US FCC approved FM stereo
for radio.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.E3)
1961 The US Federal Wire Act
prohibited interstate wagering via phone or telegraph wires. It was
later applied to wagers via the Internet.
(SFC, 7/20/00, p.A12)(Econ, 7/22/06, p.61)
1961 The US passed
anti-racketeering laws. US Code defined racketeer influenced and
corrupt organizations.
(http://tinyurl.com/ggeab)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.78)
1961 Hawaii created America’s
first state-wide system for regulating land use.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.46)
1961 A&P grocery heirs Charles
and Marie Robertson gave Princeton Univ. $35 million to educated
graduate students for careers in government. In 2008, as the fund
reached $600 million, a suit was settled by the descendants of the
donors, who alleged that the school had strayed from the original
intent of the gift. Legal fees were put at $40 million.
(SFC, 12/11/08, p.A16)
1961 Industry experts in 1996
picked the 1961 Dodge Dart as the number 7 worst American-made car.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1961 Black & Decker, founded
in 1910, introduced the 1st cordless, battery-powered drill for home
use. Alonzo Decker Jr. (d.2002) served as CEO from 1964-1975.
(SFC, 3/20/02, p.A25)
1961 Coca-Cola introduced Sprite
to the US market. It had originated in Germany as Fanta Klare Zitrone
and was intended to compete with 7-Up.
(Econ, 3/3/07,
p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(soft_drink))
1961 Engineer Harry Ferguson’s
all-wheel-drive racer appeared in Formula One competition.
(WSJ, 9/16/05, p.W12)
1961 Mattel toys introduced the
Ken doll, and marketed it as Barbie’s boyfriend.
(SFC, 1/14/98, Z1 p.2)
1961 Mercury Records was bought by
Philips Classics.
(WSJ, 2/3/97, p.A12)
1961 Merril Lynch Securities under
Michael McCarthy (d.1998 at 94) was the first American firm to
establish a securities office in Tokyo.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A24)
1961 Pampers, the 1st mass-market
disposable diaper, was introduced.
(WSJ, 12/27/01, p.A1)
1961 The 1st Six Flags park opened
in Texas. By 2004 there were 31 in the US and Europe with 39,500
seasonal employees.
(WSJ, 8/31/04, p.B1)
1961 Raymond Loewy, industrial
designer for Studebaker Corp., assembled a 4-man team in Palm springs
to design a new sports coupe called the Avanti. Thomas Kellogg (d.2003
at 71) was a member of the team.
(SFC, 8/19/03, p.A19)
1961 Robert Rempel (1925-2005)
co-founded Spectra-Physics, which became the 1st company to make lasers.
(SFC, 6/6/05, p.B3)
1961 United Airlines merged with
Capital Airlines and became the world’s largest commercial airline.
(WSJ, 12/6/02, p.A1)
1961 The Washington Post bought
Newsweek Magazine for $15 mil.
(WSJ, 8/23/96, p.A1)
1961 Lorry Lokey founded Business
Wire as a way for companies to disseminate their news releases. In 2006
Warren Buffett agreed to buy the company.
(SFC, 1/17/06, p.C1)
1961 For the past 33 years,
scientists have been seeking signs of intelligent elsewhere in the
universe. SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) began. It was
later expanded under the new name HRMS (High Resolution Microwave
Survey).
(NG, Jan. 94, p.40)
1961 Becton Dickinson introduced
its first plastic disposable syringe called the Plastipak.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.A4)
1961 The birth control pill
developed by Dr. Djerassi in 1951 was approved in the US by the FDA to
be sold as a birth control device. He later wrote a sci-fi tetrology.
(SJSVB, 4/8/96, p.8)(SFEC, 10/25/98, BR p.3)
1961 Johnson & Johnson
introduced Tylenol for adults.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.D7)
1961 Strains of Staphylococcus
aureus resistant to Methicillin (MRSA) were first reported. The
antibiotic methicillin had only become available in 1960.
(Econ, 11/5/05,
p.87)(www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX026108.html)
1961 An oral vaccine against polio
invented by Dr. Albert Sabin began to be administered to school
children. The oral vaccine contained a live but weakened version of the
polio virus to induce immunization. It was later found to cause polio
in a handful of individuals every year.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.A10)
1961 Roche's researchers in New
Jersey published a report stating that Valium (Daizepam) had only mild
side-effects, including fatigue, dizziness and rash, but these were
results based on only seven patients. Diazepam (Valium) was approved
for use in 1963. In the late 1950s chemist Leo Sternbach (1908-2005)
made the discovery that led to Valium while working for Hoffmann-La
Roche.
(http://anxiety-panic.com/history/h-1960.htm)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam#Inventor)
1961 Otto Wichterle, Czech
chemist, introduced the world’s 1st soft plastic contact lenses.
(Econ, 3/12/05, TQ p.12)
1961 Murray Gell-Mann proposed the
"eightfold way," a scheme to relate particles by mathematical
symmetries.
(NG, May 1985, p. 650)
1961 Guy Mountfort (d.2003) and 3
other Britons: zoologist Sir Julian Huxley, broadcaster Peter Scott and
wildlife advocate Max Nicholson, founded the Swiss-based World Wildlife
Fund.
(AP, 5/1/03)
1961 In California a Kansas City
company opened a manufacturing plant in Merced to fabricate cooling
towers for industrial use. In 1969 the plant began treating the wood it
used with chromium 6, arsenic and copper to combat insects and
bacteria. In 1975 Baltimore Aircoil Co., a subsidiary of Merck &
Co., bought the plant. In 1985 Merck sold its subsidiary and the plant
to Amsted Industries. In 1986 a consultant found evidence of chromium
and arsenic contamination at the site. In 1989 state regulators noted
high levels of chromium 6 and arsenic in the water of a drainage pond
and reported that storm water flowed from the pond into a canal running
by homes in the Beachwood area of Merced. Chromium use continued until
May 1991. In February 2007 the regional water board mailed notices to
residents saying the plant had caused significant chromium and arsenic
pollution. As of 2008 some 20 people were dead or dying of cancer in
the Beachwood area. A $38 million cleanup effort was in progress. Merck
and Amsted faced a lawsuit.
(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.A14)
1961 46,650 acres of second growth
forest were added to the 13,200 acres of virgin forest in the
Mississippi delta and the Delta National Forest was officially
established. The forest service then proceeded to contract with lumber
companies to cut down the trees. Only a 160 acres of virgin timber on
three parcels now remain under special management as Research Natural
Areas.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.63)
1961 The American crocodile became
protected in Florida.
(PacDisc. Spring/’96, p.37)
1961 A Homo neanderthalensis skull
was found at the Amud cave in Israel in 1961 that dated to 40-50,000
years of age.
(NH, 4/97, p.22)
1961 A B-52 crashed near Eureka,
N.C. and part of a an "unarmed" nuclear bomb was lost and left buried
there. In 1998 Stephen I. Schwartz published "Atomic Audit," which
included an account of 11 missing nuclear bombs.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, Par p.22)
1961 Gary Cooper, film actor, died.
(SFC, 3/8/00, p.C8)
1961 John Graham (b.1881), artist,
died.
(SFC, 6/28/02, p.D1)
1961 Dashiell Hammett (b.1894),
American author, died. His work include "The Maltese Falcon," "The
Glass Key," "The Thin Man," "The Continental Op," and "The Dain Curse."
In 1981 Richard Layman authored a Hammett biography. In 1996 Joan
Mellen published the dual biography "Hellman and Hammett." In 2001 the
"Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett 1921-1960" was published.
(WUD, 1994, p.641)(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A15)(WSJ,
8/18/99, p.A17)(SFCM, 4/15/01, p.4)
1961 Moss Hart (b.1904), American
playwright, director and librettist, died. He and George S. Kaufman,
wrote plays such as "You Can't Take it with You" and "The Man who came
to Dinner." His autobiography was titled "Enter Laughing." "The
self-hatred that destroys is the waste of unfulfilled promise." A 1959
autobiography was titled "Act One." In 2001 Steven Bach authored the
Hart biography "Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart."
(WUD, 1994, p.648)(SFEC, 7/13/97, DB p.11)(AP,
8/18/98)(HN, 10/24/00)(WSJ, 4/24/01, p.A22)(SSFC, 4/29/01, DB p.80)
1961 Sam Rayburn (b.1882), U.S.
Democrat congressman from Texas and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives (1940-46, 1949-53), died. Rayburn served as Speaker of
the House for 17 years over three terms. He was elected to his House
seat first in 1912 and was reelected 24 times, serving a total of 48
years and 8 months." When you get too big a majority, you’re
immediately in trouble."
(HN, 1/6/99)(HNQ, 4/7/00)(AP, 2/10/97)
1961 Eero Saarinen, architect,
died. Many of Saarinen's unfinished projects--including the Dulles
International Airport terminal building near Washington, D.C. and the
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch) in St. Louis--were
completed by John Dinkeloo and Irish-born Kevin Roche. Roche studied
architecture in Dublin, graduating in 1945. He pursued postgraduate
work at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago after briefly
working for firms in Dublin and London. In 1950, he joined Eero
Saarinen and Associates, becoming the firm's principal associate from
1954 until Saarinen's death in 1961. Roche and Dinkeloo worked on
Saarinen's projects throughout the early 60s, but started their own
firm, Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates, in 1966, where they
designed headquarters buildings for Ford and General Foods as well as
other corporate structures.
(HNQ, 1/28/01)
1961 Anna May Wong (b.1905), film
actress, died. In 2004 Graham Russell Gao Hodges authored "Anna May
Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend."
(SSFC, 2/1/04, p.M6)
1961 Marius de Zaya (b.1880),
caricature artist, died.
(WSJ, 8/21/01, p.A17)
1961 Albanian leader Enver Hoxha
broke with Nikita Khrushchev over Khrushchev’s repudiation of Stalin’s
legacy. Diplomatic relations were severed and Soviet aid to Albania was
ended. For a time Albania found an ally in China.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1961 King Zog of Albania died in
exile in France. His son, Leka Zogu, was sworn in as king by the
government in exile.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A16)
1961 In the Portuguese colony of
Angola fighting erupted as 3 anti-colonial guerrilla movements battled
for independence. Rebels butchered Portuguese settlers, including women
and children, on remote Angolan plantations. In revenge, Portuguese
militias and troops carried out a vicious campaign of repression,
despite pressure from the US and UN to pull out of Africa.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A11)(AP, 12/9/07)
1961 The Antarctic Treaty entered
into force. It was adopted to put on hold the issue of ownership in the
pursuit of peace and science.
(WSJ, 3/30/05,
p.D12)(www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=1187)
1961 In Australia the Packer
family bought The Bulletin magazine (1880-2008), scrapped its racist
masthead ("Australia for the White Man"), and entered a period of
strong growth, high circulation and influence.
(AP, 1/24/08)
1961 A Vienna Convention barred
the taxing of foreign diplomatic staff.
(AP, 9/15/02)
1961 The Arab states of Qatar,
Bahrain, and Kuwait became independent.
(NG, 5/88, p.662)
1961 In Belarus the Gomel Jewish
cemetery was destroyed when a sports stadium was built. The remains lay
largely undisturbed until the spring of 2008 when reconstruction began
and a bulldozer turned up the first bones. Workers said they had no
choice but to consign the bones to city dumps.
(AP, 4/12/08)
1961 Hurricane Hattie destroyed
much of Belize City. The capital was moved inland to Belmopan in
response.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.B2)
1961 In British Guyana the
People’s Progressive Party again won elections and Dr. Jagan was sworn
in as prime minister. He vowed to achieve independence and install a
socialist regime. The US CIA undertook a destabilization campaign with
organized labor unrest, sabotage and disinformation that led to race
riots between East Indians and blacks that left nearly 100 dead.
(SFC, 3/7/96, p.A24)(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A4)
1961 Isadore Sharp opened the 1st
Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, Canada. In 2006 he joined with partners
in a $3.7 billion buyout offer to take the company private. In 2007
Sharp unloaded all but a 5% stake when the company went private. By
2009 the chain had 83 hotels in 35 countries. In 2009 he and Alan
Philips authored “Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy.”
(SFC, 11/7/06, p.C3)(WSJ, 4/28/09, p.A11)
1961 In Chile Paul Schaefer,
former WW II German corporal, founded the "Colonia Dignidad" -the
Dignity Colony, a reclusive German-speaking colony on a 34,000 acre
site in the Andean foothills. He had fled Germany while under
investigation for allegations of sexually molesting children. In 2005
Schaefer was arrested in Argentina and extradited to Chile.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)(AP, 3/13/05)
1961 Carlos Julio Arosemena
(d.2004) rose to the presidency of Ecuador following the ouster of
President Velasco Ibarra in a military coup.
(AP, 3/5/04)
1961 In France Andre Malreaux,
minister of cultural affairs under Pres. de Gaulle, initiated the
clean-up of Paris.
(SFC, 6/16/96, T-5)
1961 A civil war began in
Guatemala.
(WSJ, 3/22/96, p.A-1)
1961 India wrested Goa and Diu
from Portugal.
(SSFC, 3/19/06, p.F6)
1961 India outlawed the dowry as
an institutionalized marital custom to help reduce gender-driven
abortions.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.J1)
1961 Bharat Forge incorporated in
India. By 2006 it was the world’s second biggest maker of forgings for
car engine and chassis components.
(Econ, 6/3/06, Survey
p.8)(www.bharatforge.com/insidepages/company/history.asp)
1961 M.S. Swaminathan, adviser to
India’s minister of agriculture, invited Norman Borlaug, a plant
geneticist who had improved the yield on Mexican wheat, to visit India.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.29)
1961 Ireland’s PM Sean Lemass made
his son-in-law, Charles J. Haughey, a Cabinet minister.
(AP, 6/13/06)
1961 Calisto Tanzi dropped out of
university to concentrate on the a family delicatessen business near
the Parma railway station: Calisto Tanzi & Sons - Salamis and
Preserves. In 1966 Calisto Tanzi adopted the new ultra-high temperature
(UHT) Swedish pasteurizing technique to produce long-life milk. In 2003
the company filed for bankruptcy.
(WSJ, 12/22/03, p.A6)(WPR, 3/04, p.18)
1961 Leonardo Del Vecchio founded
Luxottica, a maker of eye shades and prescription glasses, in Belluno,
Italy. In 1990 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Econ, 10/8/05, p.73)
1961 In Laos the US CIA began
enlisting mountain tribes as guerrillas during the Vietnam War.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.A15)
1961 The Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) was founded in Belgrade by Third World leaders such as India's
Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser and Indonesia's Achmad
Sukarno, under the aegis of Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito, to try to
avoid alignment with either the United States or the Soviet Union.
(Reuters, 9/10/06)
1961 The Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), took over from the Organization
for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). It consisted of 20 European
and North American countries. Its vocation was to build strong
economies in its member countries, improve efficiency, hone market
systems, expand free trade and contribute to development in
industrialized as well as developing countries. The forerunner of the
OECD was the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC),
which was formed to administer American and Canadian aid under the
Marshall Plan for reconstruction of Europe after World War II.
(http://tinyurl.com/bo5c8)
1961 In Russia Svyatoslav Richter,
concert pianist, was named a People’s Artist of the USSR, the highest
Soviet honor for a performing artist.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1961 Somalia adopted its first
constitution. A new one was adopted in 1979.
(www.pogar.org/countries/country.asp?cid=17)
1961 In South Korea Pres. Park
Chung Hee (1917-1979) led a military coup that overthrew Premier John
M. Chang. The military seized power and investigations into wartime
summary executions ceased. This began a 26-year dictatorship. The junta
marched many racketeers through Seoul wearing dunce caps with slogans
such as “I am a corrupt swine.”
(SFC,12/15/97, p.B2)(SFC, 4/21/00,
p.A19)(www.encarta.msn.com)(Econ, 9/27/08, SR p.13)
1961 In South Korea Prof. Koh
Young Bok was recruited as a spy for North Korea. He was arrested in
1997.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.D2)
1961 Syria withdrew from the UAR
(Egypt) following a coup.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)(HNQ, 6/5/98)
1961 Syria revoked the citizenship
of its native Kurds.
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.46)(http://tinyurl.com/7zamn)
1961 The British Trust Territory
of Tanganyika became independent. It became the mainland part of
Tanzania. The first president was socialist Julius Nyerere. He resigned
in 1985.
(WUD, 1994, p.1452)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(SFC,
10/15/99, p.D7)
1961 In Vietnam government decree
216 formulated a family planning program that got sidetracked due to
the war.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.A19)
1961 Zimbabwe enacted a Minerals
Act. In 2005 it planned to re-write mine ownership laws to “promote”
indigenous ownership.
(WSJ, 2/10/05, p.A10)
1961-1962 Wagon Train was the top ranking network
show on television with a ranking of 32.1%.
(WSJ, 4/24/95, p.R-5)
1961-1963 John F. Kennedy served as the 35th
President of the US. He was assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald
and succeeded by Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. Jackie Onassis as first
lady was involved with Roswell Gilpatric, No. 2 man at the Defense
Department. So it says in the 1996 book "Jack and Jackie" by
Christopher Anderson. Also discussed was the Kennedy’s New York
physician, Max Jacobson, aka Dr. Feelgood, who shot the president full
of amphetamines to increase his stamina and elevate his moods. Jackie
also received shots from Dr. Max. A 1997 ABC News Special with Peter
Jennings showed former Secret Service agents telling the truth about
John Kennedy’s sexual exploits.
(A&IP, ESM, p.96b, photo)(USAT, 6/19/96,
p.2D)(SFC, 7/5/96, p.B2)(WSJ, 12/22/97, p.A16)
1961-1963 During the Kennedy administration economist
Arthur Okun (1928-1980), an economic adviser to both the Kennedy
and Johnson administrations, concocted the discomfort index,
later referred to as the "misery index." It was simply the jobless rate
added to the inflation rate. Okun's Law describes a linear relation
between percentage changes in unemployment and percent changes in gross
national product: for every 1% increase in unemployment, the country
suffers a 3% loss of yearly GNP.
(http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/books/tobin/jt_events.htm)
1961-1965 The TV courtroom drama show "The Defenders"
starred E.G. Marshall.
(SFC, 8/26/98, p.A17)
1961-1965 The TV show "Mr. Ed," featured a talking
horse. Alan Young played Wilbur Post and Bamboo Harvester (1946-1979)
played Mr. Ed.
(SFC, 1/24/97, p.D8)
1961-1965 C. Douglas Dillon (d.2003 at 93) served as
Treasury Secretary. He advocated the tax cut program passed by Congress
under Pres. Johnson in 1964.
(SFC, 1/13/03, p.B5)
1961-1965 John McCone succeeded Allen Dulles as head
of the US CIA.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A4)
1961-1965 Terry Sanford (d.1998 at 80) served as the
governor of North Carolina.
(SFEC, 4/19/98, p.C6)
1961-1966 McGeorge Bundy (1919-1996) was the security
advisor to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1988 he wrote
"Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the First 50 Years."
(SFC, 9/17/96, p.A22)
1961-1966 On TV "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was directed
by Sheldon Leonard (1907-1997).
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.B2)(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.C10)
1961-1966 Durward Kirby (d.2000 at 88) worked as the
co-host of Candid Camera during these years. Kirby started in radio and
worked on "The Gary Moore Show." He later authored 3 books that
included: "My Life, Those wonderful Years."
(SFC, 3/17/00, p.)
1961-1967 Frank Morrison (d.2004) served as the
Democratic governor of Nebraska. He opposed the war in Vietnam and
capital punishment.
(SFC, 4/20/04, p.B7)
1961-1968 Octavio Paz, poet and Nobel laureate,
served as the Mexican ambassador to India. In 1997 he published "In
Light of India."
(SFEC, 8/31/97, BR p.9)
1961-1969 Every American agent sent into North
Vietnam was captured and most became double agents serving Ho Chi Minh.
In 2000 Kenneth Conboy and Dale Andrade authored "Spies and Commandos,"
Richard H. Shultz Jr. authored "The Secret War Against Hanoi."
(WSJ, 7/17/00, p.A32)
1962-1971 US military tanker planes and helicopters
sprayed 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants in
Operation Ranch Hand to deny cover to communist forces in Vietnam. The
defoliants were contaminated with TCDD, the most dangerous form of
dioxin. In 2004 Philip Jones Griffith, photojournalist, authored "Agent
Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam."
(SFC, 5/17/01, p.A12)(Econ, 1/31/04, p.82)
1961-1971 U Thant of Burma served as the
Secretary-General of the UN.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A1)
1961-1971 UAR was the official name of Egypt over
this period.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)
1961-1971 Scotsman John Cowperthwaite, who arrived in
Hong Kong in 1945, served as Financial Secretary of the British colony.
Cowperthwaite died in 2006 at age 90.
(http://garysweeten.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html)(Econ,
11/25/06, p.80)
1961-1973 Samuel W. Yorty (1909-1998) served three
terms as mayor of Los Angeles.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A5)
1961-1973 The CIA backed a secret army in Laos to
help fight the communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese. An estimated
50,000 Hmong civilians died over this period. CIA director William
Colby acknowledged the US and Hmong alliance in 1994.
(SFC, 6/14/04, p.A1)
1961-1985 Pres. Julius Nyerere bankrupted Tanzania by
forcing peasants into collectives. During his rule he declared water to
be free, which led to it being squandered.
(Econ, 4/16/05, p.40)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.67)
Go to 1962