 | 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) |
See also Celebrity Birthdays 1961
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