Events from the year 1961 in the United States.
Incumbents Federal government President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/Pennsylvania) (until January 20) John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) (starting January 20) Vice President: Richard Nixon (R-California) (until January 20) Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) (starting January 20) Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) (until November 16) vacant (starting November 16) Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) (until January 3) Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) (starting January 3) Congress: 86th (until January 3), 87th (starting January 3)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events January–March
January 3 President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba. At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, atomic reactor SL-1 explodes, killing 3 military technicians. January 5 – Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. January 17 – President Dwight Eisenhower gives his Farewell Address, during which he warns of the increasing power of a "military-industrial complex". January 20 – John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th president of the United States, and Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 37th vice president. January 24 A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress, with two Mark 39 nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina. Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan is likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later finds fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene. January 25 In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has freed the 2 surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea July 1, 1960 (see 1960 RB-47 shootdown incident). Disney's animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, is released. Its financial success pulling the studio out of another financial slump from the initial underperformance of Sleeping Beauty. January 26 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment. January 30 – President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address. January 31 – Ham, a 37-pound (17-kg) male chimpanzee, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space. February 1 – The United States launches its first test of the Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile. February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California. February 15 President Kennedy warns the Soviet Union to avoid interfering with the United Nations pacification of the Congo. A Sabena Boeing 707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches (Sabena Flight 548). March 1 – President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps. March 8 – The first U.S. Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch in Scotland. March 11 – "Barbie" gets a boyfriend, when the "Ken" doll is introduced in the United States. March 13 United States delegate to the United Nations Security Council Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese policies in Africa (Portuguese Colonial War) President of the United States John F. Kennedy proposes a long-term Alliance for Progress between the United States and Latin America. March 29 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections. March 30 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York City.
April–June
April 17 The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins; it fails by April 19. The 33rd Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope, is held at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Billy Wilder's The Apartment wins and receives the most respective awards and nominations with five and ten, winning Best Motion Picture and Best Director for Wilder. It is the last black-and-white film to win for Best Picture until 1993. 19 April – President Kennedy presented the National Geographic Society's Gold Medal, in the White House Rose Garden, to Jacques Cousteau, the inventor of the Aqua-Lung, undersea explorer, and filmmaker. The medal was inscribed: "To earthbound man he gave the key to the silent world."
April 23 – Judy Garland performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. April 27 – President Kennedy delivers a revealing speech: The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association. May 4 – U.S. Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision. May 5 – Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3. May 9 – In a speech on "Television and the Public Interest" to the National Association of Broadcasters, FCC chairman Newton N. Minow describes commercial television programming as a "vast wasteland". May 14 – American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob of Ku Klux Klan members. May 21 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out. May 24 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus. May 25 – Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. May 31 – President John F. Kennedy and French President Charles De Gaulle meet in Paris, France. June 4 – Vienna summit: John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during two days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
July–September July 21 – Mercury program: Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). Upon splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the capsule sinks (it is recovered in 1999). July 31 – At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs, when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain (the only tie until 2002 in MLB All-Star Game history). August – USA founds Alliance for Progress. August 5 – The Six Flags over Texas theme park officially opens to the public. August 7 – Cape Cod National Seashore is established. September 7 – Tom and Jerry make a return with their first episode since 1958, Switchin' Kitten. September 17 – The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. September 24 – The Walt Disney anthology television series, renamed Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, moves from ABC to NBC after seven years on the air, and begins telecasting its programs in color for the first time. September 25 – Black voting rights activist Herbert Lee is murdered by Mississippi state representative E. H. Hurst.
October–December October 1 – Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, beating the 34-year-old record held by Babe Ruth. October 9 – The New York Yankees defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 4 games to 1, to win their 19th World Series Title. October 27 – A standoff between Soviet and American tanks in Berlin, Germany heightens Cold War tensions. November – The Fantastic Four #1 comic debuts, launching the Marvel Universe and revolutionizing the American comic book industry. November 2 – Kean opens at Broadway Theater in New York City for 92 performances. November 6 – The U.S. government issues a stamp honoring the one-hundredth birthday of James Naismith. November 9 – Robert M. White records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,585 km/h flying an X-15. November 17 – Michael Rockefeller, son of New York Governor, and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea. November 18 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam. November 20 – The funeral of longtime House Speaker Sam Rayburn is held in Washington, D.C. Two former presidents (Truman, Eisenhower) and one future one (Lyndon B. Johnson) join President Kennedy in paying their respects. December 5 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives support to the Volta Dam project in Ghana. December 11 – The Vietnam War officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.
Ongoing Cold War (1947–1991) Space Race (1957–1975) Vietnam War (1955-1975)
Sport April 16 - Chicago Black Hawks win their third (and last until 2010) Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 2; the deciding game is played at Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
Births
January
January 2 Gabrielle Carteris, actress and trade union leader Todd Haynes, director and screenwriter January 4 Lee Curreri, actor and pianist Sidney Green, basketball player and coach January 5 – Iris DeMent, singer-songwriter January 7 – John Thune, U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 2005 January 9 Al Jean, animator and television writer Candi Milo, actress Oliver Goldstick, screenwriter and producer January 10 Evan Handler, actor Janet Jones, actress January 13 Wayne Coyne, musician, frontman of The Flaming Lips Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress, producer and comedian Rich Fields, announcer and weather reporter January 15 – Leni Wylliams, dancer/choreographer/master-teacher (died 1996) January 18 – Bob Peterson, animator and voice actor January 19 – William Ragsdale, actor January 22 Quintin Dailey, basketball player (died 2010) Daniel Johnston, musician (died 2019) January 29 – Mike Aldrete, baseball player and coach January 30 – Dexter King, social activist, son of Martin Luther King Jr. (died 2024)
February
February 2 – Michael Kay, sportscaster February 4 – Stewart O'Nan, novelist February 8 – Vince Neil, singer February 9 – John Kruk, baseball player and commentator February 10 – George Stephanopoulos, political consultant and commentator February 12 – David Graeber, anthropologist, anarchist activist and author (died 2020) February 17 – Chris Champion, wrestler (died 2018)
March
March 4 Ray Mancini, boxer Steven Weber, actor, producer, and screenwriter March 6 – John Blake, American football coach (died 2020) March 14 – Gary Dell'Abate, radio producer, best known for his work on The Howard Stern Show March 25 – Reggie Fils-Aimé, president of Nintendo of America March 30 – Maria Maricich, alpine skier
April
April 2 – Christopher Meloni, actor April 3 – Eddie Murphy, actor April 10 Mark Jones, basketball player Quency Williams, football player (died 2022 in Canada)Former Bombers defensive end, 1990 Grey Cup champion Quency Williams passes away at 61 April 14 – Daniel Clowes, cartoonist and screenwriter April 17 – Rebecca Luker, actress and singer (died 2020) April 20 Don Mattingly, baseball player Mike Pniewski, actor and public speaker April 26 – Chris Mars, singer-songwriter, drummer and producer
May
May 3 David Vitter, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 2005 to 2017 Joe Murray, animator, writer, illustrator, producer, director, and voice actor May 6