Top News Stories from 1961
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden)
More World Statistics... - US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba (Jan. 3).
- 1,200 US-sponsored anti-Castro exiles invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs (April 17); the attackers are all killed or captured by Cuban forces.
- East Germany erects the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees (Aug. 13). Background: The Cold War
- USSR detonates 50-megaton hydrogen bomb in the largest man-made explosion in history (Oct. 29). Background: nuclear weapons
- There are 2,000 US military advisers in South Vietnam. Background: Vietnam War
- OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) formally constituted.
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: John F. Kennedy
Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Population: 183,691,481
Life expectancy: 70.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 19.1
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 17.5
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.7
More U.S. Statistics... - Robert Frost recites "The Gift Outright" at John F. Kennedy's inauguration (Jan. 20).
- First US astronaut, Navy Cmdr. Alan B. Shepard, Jr., rockets 116.5 miles up in 302-mile trip (May 5).
- Virgil Grissom becomes second American astronaut, making 118-mile-high, 303-mile-long rocket flight over Atlantic (July 21).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $544.8 billion
Federal spending: $97.72 billion
Federal debt $292.6 billion
Consumer Price Index: $29.9
Unemployment: 5.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.04
Sports
World Series
NY Yankees d. CincinnatiNBA Championship
Boston d. St. Louis HawksStanley Cup
Chicago d. DetroitWimbledon
Women: Angela Mortimer d. C. Truman (4-6 6-4 7-5)Men: Rod Laver d. C. McKinley (6-3 6-1 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Carry BackNCAA Basketball Championship
Cincinnati d. Ohio St. (70-65 OT)NCAA Football Champions
Alabama (AP, UPI, NFF) (11-0-0) & Ohio St. (FW) (8-0-1)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Music: Symphony No. 7, Walter Piston
Drama: All the Way Home, Tad Mosel
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Apartment, Billy Wilder, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Ivo Andric (Yugoslavia)
Record of the Year: "Theme From A Summer Place," Percy Faith
Album of the Year: Button Down Mind, Bob Newhart (Warner Bros.)
Song of the Year: "Theme From Exodus," Ernest Gold, songwriter
Miss America: Nancy Fleming (MI)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- Patsy Cline releases "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy." The success of the songs help her cross over from country to pop.
- West Side Story is adapted for the big screen, and will go on to win Oscars for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (George Chakiris), Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno), and Directing (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins).
- Audrey Hepburn delights as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's, but Henry Mancini emerges as the real star. He won two Oscars and four Grammy Awards for the score, which included the hit "Moon River."
Movies
- West Side Story, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg, La Dolce Vita
Music
- Patsy Cline, "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy"
Books
- Joseph Heller, Catch—22
- Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer
- Lewis Mumford, The City in History
- V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas
- Walker Percy, The Moviegoer
- J. D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Melvin Calvin (US), for establishing chemical steps during photosynthesis
Physics: Robert Hofstadter (US), for determination of shape and size of atomic nucleus; Rudolf Mössbauer (Germany), for method of producing and measuring recoil-free gamma rays
Physiology or Medicine: Georg von Bekesy (US), for discoveries about physical mechanisms of stimulation within cochlea
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - Moscow announces putting first man in orbit around earth, Major Yuri A. Gagarin (April 12). Background: Soviet Staffed Space Flight Programs
- Gherman Stepanovich Titov is launched in Soviet spaceship Vostok II: makes 17 1/2 orbits in 25 hours, covering 434,960 miles before landing safely (Aug. 6). Background: Space Exploration
- Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American man in space aboard the Freedom 7. Background: US Staffed Space Flights
- Jack Lippes develops the contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD). Background: Birth & Contraception
