WORLD HISTORY · 1961 日本語
Events of 1961Showa 36 (Japan) · Year of the Ox
What happened in 1961?
In 1961, Yuri Gagarin made humanity's first crewed spaceflight aboard Vostok 1. East Germany began building the Berlin Wall, and in Japan, sumo wrestlers Taiho and Kashiwado were promoted to grand champion at the same time.
- Kennedy inaugurated as presidentNorth America
- Gagarin makes first human spaceflightEurope
- Bay of Pigs invasion failsLatin America
- Osaka Loop Line opensAsia
- All defendants acquitted in Matsukawa caseAsia
- Berlin Wall construction beginsEurope
- Second Muroto Typhoon hits Kinki regionAsia
- Taiho and Kashiwado promoted to grand champion togetherAsia
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1961 at a glance
| Japanese era | Showa 36 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Ox |
| Age of people born in 1961 | Turn 65 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1960 (Showa 35) ／ 1962 (Showa 37) |
| Events | 114 |
| AP World History | Unit 8 (Cold War and Decolonization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 8 |
Famous people born in 1961
Our birthday pages list 710 people born in 1961. Here are some of them.
- Diana, Princess of WalesBorn July 1 · turns 65 this year · British royal and mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, admired worldwide…
- Barack ObamaBorn August 4 · turns 65 this year · American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States and w…
- Julia Louis-DreyfusBorn January 13 · turns 65 this year · American comedic actress famous for playing Elaine Benes on Seinfeld and Selina…
- Wayne GretzkyBorn January 26 · turns 65 this year · Canadian hockey legend nicknamed "The Great One," who won four Stanley Cups and…
- Isiah ThomasBorn April 30 · turns 65 this year · American Hall of Fame point guard who led the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back N…
- George ClooneyBorn May 6 · turns 65 this year · American actor, director, and humanitarian who rose to fame on ER and won an Os…
- Carl LewisBorn July 1 · turns 65 this year · American sprinter and long jumper who won nine Olympic gold medals across four…
- Toby KeithBorn July 8 · turns 65 this year · American country singer and songwriter known for hits such as "Should've Been a…
- Forest WhitakerBorn July 15 · turns 65 this year · American actor and director who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The La…
- Steve YoungBorn October 11 · turns 65 this year · Hall of Fame NFL quarterback who starred for the San Francisco 49ers and was MV…
- Reggie WhiteBorn December 19 · turns 65 this year · Hall of Fame NFL defensive end nicknamed the "Minister of Defense," who won Sup…
- Hiroshi HaseBorn May 5 · turns 65 this year
Show 28 more
- Randy JacksonBorn October 29 · turns 65 this year
- Kōichi YamaderaBorn June 17 · turns 65 this year
- James GandolfiniBorn September 18 · turns 65 this year
- Woody HarrelsonBorn July 23 · turns 65 this year
- Sam BackoBorn January 1 · turns 65 this year
- Craig JamesBorn January 2 · turns 65 this year
- Gabrielle CarterisBorn January 2 · turns 65 this year
- Paula HamiltonBorn January 2 · turns 65 this year
- Robert WexlerBorn January 2 · turns 65 this year
- Todd HaynesBorn January 2 · turns 65 this year
- Cliff LevingstonBorn January 4 · turns 65 this year
- Graham McTavishBorn January 4 · turns 65 this year
- Sidney GreenBorn January 4 · turns 65 this year
- Iris DeMentBorn January 5 · turns 65 this year
- Georges JobéBorn January 6 · turns 65 this year
- Nigel MelvilleBorn January 6 · turns 65 this year
- Peter WhittleBorn January 6 · turns 65 this year
- John ThuneBorn January 7 · turns 65 this year
- Calvin SmithBorn January 8 · turns 65 this year
- Didier CamberaberoBorn January 9 · turns 65 this year
- Evan HandlerBorn January 10 · turns 65 this year
- Nadja Salerno-SonnenbergBorn January 10 · turns 65 this year
- Jasper FfordeBorn January 11 · turns 65 this year
- Karl von HabsburgBorn January 11 · turns 65 this year
- Lars-Erik TorphBorn January 11 · turns 65 this year
- Simon Russell BealeBorn January 12 · turns 65 this year
- Kelly HrudeyBorn January 13 · turns 65 this year
- SuggsBorn January 13 · turns 65 this year
Events of 1961 (timeline · 114)
Tip: the PC view is best for studying
On a computer, each region has its own vertical line, so you can follow the flow of events and see what was happening in different parts of the world at the same time.
Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
The SL-1 nuclear reactor, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland spy ring in London.
Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City's boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered together with former Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of the Congo Maurice Mpolo and former Senator from Kasai Province Joseph Okito in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
In Washington, D.C., US President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
Walt Disney Productions released the animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians, based on Dodie Smith's 1956 children's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
The Soviet submarine S-80 sinks when its snorkel malfunctions, flooding the boat.
Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: The chimpanzee Ham travels into outer space.
The United States Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.
The Beatles at the Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg.
An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team along with several of their coaches and family members.
Sputnik 9 successfully launches, carrying a dog and a human dummy, and demonstrating that the Soviet Union was ready to begin human spaceflight.
At the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, South Africa announces that it will withdraw from the Commonwealth when the South African Constitution of 1961 comes into effect.
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.
LAN-Chile Flight 621 crashes in the Andes mountains, killing 21 people, including Argentinian football player Eliseo Mouriño.
Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.
In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
During the Algiers putsch by French generals, President Charles de Gaulle announces he has assumed emergency powers, and calls on troops and civilians to support him.
K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.
Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).
Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.
Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.
Park Chung Hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.
Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of the U.S. Congress, that the United States "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history.
Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
While on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Paris, Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union.
The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.
On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.
Greece becomes the first member state to join the European Economic Community by signing the Athens Agreement, which is later suspended in 1967 during the Greek junta.
Indian city Pune floods due to failure of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams, killing at least two thousand people.
Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later.
Alaska Airlines Flight 779 crashes near Shemya Air Force Base in Shemya, Alaska, killing six.
Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
Cold War: In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization.
Vietnam War: The U.S. Army begins Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover.
The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Cold War: East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started. The day is known as Barbed Wire Sunday.
Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
President Jânio Quadros of Brazil resigns after just seven months in power, initiating a political crisis that culminates in a military coup in 1964.
TWA Flight 529 crashes shortly after takeoff from Midway Airport in Chicago, killing all 78 people on board. At the time, it was the deadliest single plane disaster in U.S. history.
In the Italian Grand Prix, a crash causes the death of German Formula One driver Wolfgang von Trips and 15 spectators who are hit by his Ferrari, the deadliest accident in F1 history.
A President Airlines Douglas DC-6 crashes just after takeoff from Shannon Airport, Ireland. All 83 passengers and crew are killed.
Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state.
Air France Flight 2005 crashes near Rabat–Salé Airport, in Rabat, Morocco, killing 77 people.
The United States National Hurricane Research Project drops eight cylinders of silver iodide into the eyewall of Hurricane Esther. Wind speed reduces by 10%, giving rise to Project Stormfury.
Typhoon Nancy, with possibly the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Osaka, Japan, killing 173 people.
Pakistan establishes its Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission with Abdus Salam as its head.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 crashes during takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, killing all 37 people on board.
The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy nominates African American civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, although pro-segregation Southern senators manage to delay his confirmation until September 11, 1962.
A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
The United States Defense Intelligence Agency is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military intelligence organization.
The CTV Television Network, Canada's first private television network, is launched.
A Douglas Dakota IV operated by Derby Aviation (later renamed to British Midland International) crashes in Canigou, France, killing 34 people.
Directed by their chief Maurice Papon, Paris police massacre scores of Algerian protesters.
The Soviet Navy performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.
The Soviet Union detonates the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful explosive device ever detonated.
In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from Lenin's Mausoleum, and is buried near the Kremlin Wall under a plain white marker.
U Thant is unanimously appointed as the 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations, becoming the first non-European individual to occupy the post.
Thirteen Italian Air Force servicemen, deployed to the Congo as a part of the UN peacekeeping force, are massacred by a mob in Kindu.
Terry Jo Duperrault is the sole survivor of a series of brutal murders aboard the ketch Bluebelle.
Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
"La Ronde" opens in Honolulu, the first revolving restaurant in the United States.
Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico.
In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba will adopt Communism.
Eichmann trial: Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership of an outlawed organization.
Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1961 in the Japanese calendar?
1961 was Showa 36 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1961?
1961 is the Year of the Ox.
How old is someone born in 1961?
They turn 65 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1961?
In 1961, Yuri Gagarin made humanity's first crewed spaceflight aboard Vostok 1. East Germany began building the Berlin Wall, and in Japan, sumo wrestlers Taiho and Kashiwado were promoted to grand champion at the same time.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.