1960s Timeline

Nov. 5, 1961 - Thirty East Germans attempted to break through the barbed wire to reach West Berlin today. The fire of an East German...

Nov. 4, 1961 - President Kennedy rejected a charge by a guest at a White House luncheon (pictured) recently that much of the public...

Nov. 3, 1961 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy today officially opened an exhibit of 34 priceless objects found in the tomb of King...

Nov. 2, 1961 - President Kennedy told an enthusiastic rally in Trenton today that he was proud to come to New Jersey to urge the election...

Nov. 2, 1961 - Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt interviewed President Kennedy recently about the Peace Corps program. Watch: #JFK...

Nov. 2, 1961 - Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker made known today his decision to resign from the Army. The general was formally admonished and...

Nov. 2, 1961 - President Kennedy ordered today that preparations be made for the resumption of atmospheric atomic tests that might be...

Nov. 2, 1961 - President Kennedy strongly endorsed New York City Mayor Wagner (left) today for a third term. On his arrival at La Guardia...

Nov. 2, 1961 - The old Truman Administration took over the White House last night. Surrounded by old friends and aides, former President...

Nov. 1, 1961 - A White House room used by 19th-century Presidents for secret conferences is being refurbished as President Kennedy’s...

Nov. 1, 1961 - The Soviet people learned today that the body of Joseph Stalin has been removed from the Lenin Mausoleum and buried near...

Oct. 31, 1961 - Former President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman arrived in Washington today for a 3-day round of events that will include...

Oct. 31, 1961 - House Speaker Sam Rayburn (pictured last May) went home to Bonham, Texas by ambulance today. The Democratic leader had...

Oct. 31, 1961 - If exploded in the air over downtown Manhattan, a 50-megaton bomb would destroy homes as far away as Passaic, N.J. and...

Oct. 30, 1961 - Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev warned Britain today that that nation “may be among the first to experience the destructive...

Oct. 30, 1961 - A White House statement on the Soviet Union’s explosion of a large nuclear device today cast doubt on the military...

Oct. 30, 1961 - Dismay and outrage spread through much of the world today as the Soviet Union carried out its huge nuclear explosion....

Oct. 30, 1961 - Richard M. Nixon advised Governor Rockefeller today to prove himself the Republican party’s strongest Presidential...

Oct. 30, 1961 - The Soviet Union detonated the most powerful man-made explosion in history today by setting off a hydrogen bomb with a...

Oct. 29, 1961 - Vice President Johnson said in New York today that the United States was prepared to “stand on our rights to preserve our...