 |
President: John F Kennedy Vice
President: Lyndon B Johnson |
|
 |
The population of the United States
is 182,992,000 |
|
National Debt 292.6 Billion |
|
Unemployment is 5.5% |
|
Life Expectancy: 70.2 years |
|
Cost of a first-class stamp is
$0.04 |
|
Academy Award : The Apartment (click to buy)
 (Best
Picture) |
|
Grammy Award : Exodus (click to buy)
 (song),
Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart
(click to buy)  (album) |
|
Best Sellers : Franny and Zooey (click to
buy)  , Tropic of Cancer (click to
buy)  |
|
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
becomes first human in space during a single-orbit flight |
|
Commander Alan Shepard Jr. becomes
first American in space in a suborbital flight |
|
The Soviet Union builds a wall
separating East and West Berlin which intensifies the cold
war |
|
Cuban exiles with aid from the CIA
attempt to invade Cuba through the Bay of Pigs but fail |
|
The Berlin Wall is constructed
effectively sealing off East Berlin from the west |
|
With cold war tensions growing
Kennedy suggests that Americans build fall out shelters in
their back yards |
|
President Kennedy establishes the
Peace Corps |
|
The Ken doll is introduced and when
Barbie meets him it's love at first sight |
|
The intrauterine device (IUD) is
developed for use as a contraceptive |
|
President Kennedy delivers his
famous Inaugural address "ask not what your country..." (click to read
speech) |
|
President Kennedy announces his
goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade thus
starting the Apollo Space Program |
|
Russian ballet dancer Rudolf
Nureyev defects to the West |
|
General Electric Automatic
Toothbrush introduced the first rechargeable electric
toothbrush |
|
The X-15 driven by Neil Armstrong
breaks the manned rocket powered aircraft speed record |
|
The Fantastic Four debut as new
comic book heroes |
|
Iraqi announces it is going to
annex Kuwait, who requests Britain to send in troops (sound
familiar?) |
|
The Soviet Union test detonates the
largest ever Hydrogen Bomb prompting Americans to build bomb
shelters |
|
Television debuts included: Ben Casey,
The Dick Van Dyke Show,
Dr Kildare and Mr. Ed
(click show title for more info) |
|
On the music charts Chubby Checker twists his way to #1
(click to buy) The Twist
|
|
Roger Maris breaks Babe Ruth's
single season home run record , some controversy over the
length of the season still remains (click for more on, Sports) |
Pop History
/ 1961
