1960s Timeline

Latest Podcasts

Politics | Culture | Entertainment | Sports

Jul 19, 2021

President Kennedy's Press Conference: Main Points

July 19, 1961 - Following are the main points of President Kennedy's news conference today: Berlin - The President defended the Western...

Jul 19, 2021

Grissom's Spaceflight Postponed Due to Weather

July 19, 1961 - Capt. Virgil I. Grissom spent four hours atop a Redstone missile today, ready for a ride into space that was blocked by...

Jul 18, 2021

U.S. Warns Soviets on Berlin: We Will Defend Our Rights

July 18, 1961 - The United States has warned the Soviet Union that it will defend its rights in Berlin. In a note to Moscow, the U.S....

Jul 16, 2021

Special Program on Berlin Crisis on CBS-TV to Air Aug. 11

July 16, 1961 - A special 60-minute news program on the Berlin situation will be televised Aug. 11 at 8:30 p.m. on CBS. A major part of...

Jul 16, 2021

South Vietnamese Troops Kill Over 185 Viet Cong in Bloody Fighting

July 16, 1961 - South Vietnamese Government troops crushed a Communist guerrilla force today in the bloodiest battle since South Vietnam...

Jul 15, 2021

East German Wins Miss Universe Contest

July 15, 1961 - A blonde 24-year-old German woman won the title of Miss Universe today. She is Marlene Schmidt, who reached Stuttgart,...

Jul 15, 2021

RFK Warns Khrushchev: Don't Underestimate Americans

July 15, 1961 - The U.S. launched its ninth Polaris missile submarine today with a warning to Soviet Premier Khrushchev that America "can...

Jul 14, 2021

Grissom Likely Choice for Next Week's Spaceflight

July 14, 1961 - Two astronauts intensified preparation today for a rocket flight that will send one of them briefly into space next week....

Jul 14, 2021

Pope John XXIII Speaks on World Affairs

July 14, 1961 - Pope John XXIII appealed in an encyclical today for aid to underdeveloped areas without the creation of a "new form of...

Jul 13, 2021

Soviet Astronaut Gagarin Mobbed in London

July 13, 1961 - Maj. Yuri A. Gagarin, the Soviet Union's hero of space and now the darling of Londoners, was "imprisoned" in the Tower of...

Jul 13, 2021

Robert Soblen Guilty of Spying for Communists

July 13, 1961 - Dr. Robert Soblen (left) was found guilty in New York today of wartime espionage for the Soviet Union. The defendant,...

Jul 13, 2021

Senator Humphrey: Massive Food Shortages Behind Iron Curtain Driving Berlin Crisis

July 13, 1961 - Senator Hubert H. Humphrey reported today that the Communist bloc was grappling with staggering food shortages and that...

Jul 12, 2021

TV: Color Film of Shepard Spaceflight to Air on NBC

July 12, 1961 - A color film of the first American astronaut's flight into space will be presented by NBC on Sunday. The account was...

Jul 12, 2021

Hingle joins Brando in Cast of "The Ugly American"

July 12, 1961 - Pat Hingle will portray one of the leading characters in the forthcoming Marlon Brando vehicle, "The Ugly American,"...

Jul 12, 2021

Castro Gets Soviet Military Hardware from Soviets

July 12, 1961 - The regime of Premier Fidel Castro in Cuba has acquired at least 26 MIG jets, officials sources said today. The MIG's are...

Jul 12, 2021

NASA Sub-Orbital Flight Set for Tuesday

July 12, 1961 - Two candidates for the second manned U.S. spaceflight tested their reflexes today. Marine Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr....

Jul 11, 2021

Russian Astronaut Gagarin on BBC-TV (Video)

July 11, 1961 - Here is video of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, being interviewed on BBC Television: #space #NASA...

Jul 11, 2021

Nixon Praises Chambers as Solid Anti-Communist

July 11, 1961 - Former Vice President Richard M. Nixon (pictured right in 1948) praised Whittaker Chambers today as a man who had the...

Jul 11, 2021

Whittaker Chambers Dead at 60

July 11, 1961 - Whittaker Chambers (pictured) is dead. The man who branded Alger Hiss as his accomplice in a Soviet spy ring died of a...

Jul 11, 2021

East German Refugees Flood West Berlin

July 11, 1961 - The flight of East Germans to West Berlin has increased substantially in the last few days, refugee officials said today....