1960s Timeline

Aug. 15, 1961 - President Kennedy attended the noon mass today at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington. Today is the Feast of the...

Aug. 10, 1961 - President Kennedy disclosed today that he had made an agreement that Vice President Johnson would exercise the rights and...

Aug. 1, 1961 - Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara said today that 50 million usable shelter spaces could provide a "Spartan" minimum...

July 31, 1961 - A resounding 403-to-2 vote of approval in the House completed today Congressional action to empower President Kennedy to...

July 29, 1961 - President Kennedy took his daughter, Caroline, and ten of her cousins and playmates to a neighborhood store in Hyannis...

July 29, 1961 - Former President Harry S. Truman, who won his own Berlin showdown in 1948-9, said today the Soviet Union was bluffing in...

July 28, 1961 - President Kennedy joined his wife in Hyannis Port, Mass., today to help celebrate her 32nd birthday. Pierre Salinger,...

July 28, 1961 - The Senate approved overwhelmingly today President Kennedy's request for more weapons and troops to cope with Soviet...

July 27, 1961 - President Kennedy's immediate Civil Defense goal is to provide fallout shelters in existing buildings for 25 percent of...

July 26, 1961 - President Kennedy's call for an increase in military manpower touched off a sharp increase in inquiries from the nation's...

July 26, 1961 - Bernard M. Baruch, financier and friend of Presidents, said today that the U.S. had "all the resources to do all the...

July 26, 1961 - The Kennedy Administration asked Congress today for $10 million to put into operation a home buzzer system that would...

July 26, 1961 - President Kennedy asked last night for an overall increase in the nation's military preparedness to meet a Soviet threat...

July 24, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today there had been a lot of talk but little action to improve the physical...

July 24, 1961 - U.E. Baughman (pictured), chief of the U.S. Secret Service, plans to retire next month. Mr. Baughman has served in the...

July 20, 1961 - President Kennedy today put the Pentagon in charge of a greatly increased program to protect American civilians against...

July 19, 1961 - President Kennedy's sharp acceleration of the race for the moon won resounding approval today from a Senate-House...

July 14, 1961 - Senator Barry Goldwater charged the Kennedy Administration today with supporting a foreign policy of "drifting,"...

July 13, 1961 - About 1,800 enthusiastic foreign-exchange students turned a White House visit into a virtual stampede this morning. A...

July 12, 1961 - Members of the NAACP called on President Kennedy today to praise and criticize his actions on civil rights. Bishop...