1960s Timeline

Nov. 20, 1961 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. flashes a happy smile in official birthday pictures released today by the White House. He...

Nov. 19, 1961 - President Kennedy’s comment on the “discordant voices of extremism” in his speech at the Hollywood Palladium last night...

Nov. 19, 1961 - Ultraconservatives will hold a “National Indignation Convention” next Wednesday night in the Memorial Auditorium in...

Nov. 19, 1961 - President Kennedy spoke out last night against the right-wing John Birch Society and the so-called Minutemen in a speech...

Nov. 18, 1961 - House Speaker Sam Rayburn was buried today in the rich Texas earth that nurtured him. Funeral services were held in the...

Nov. 18, 1961 - President Kennedy declared last night that the nation should regard with pride the “heavy burden” of preserving freedom...

Nov. 16 - After his speech at the University of Washington, President Kennedy paid high tribute to Senator Warren G. Magnuson (left),...

Nov. 16, 1961 - Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman (right) said today that agriculture was this country’s “strongest deterrent”...

Nov. 16, 1961 - The death of Speaker Sam Rayburn places Senator Carl Hayden (right), Democrat of Arizona, behind Vice President Johnson...

Nov. 16, 1961 - Here is Vice President Johnson’s statement on the passing of his friend and colleague of long standing, Speaker Sam...

Nov. 16, 1961 - Joseph Gallo, 32-year-old gangland figure and jukebox racketeer, was found guilty of attempted extortion and conspiracy...

Nov. 16 - President Kennedy declared today that it was “a test of our national maturity” to accept the prospect that negotiations on...

Nov. 16, 1961 - Following is President Kennedy’s expression of tribute and statement of regret at the death today of Sam Rayburn (left),...

Nov. 16, 1961 - House Speaker Sam Rayburn died of cancer in his sleep today. He was 79 years old. President Kennedy led the nation —...

Nov. 16, 1961 - President Kennedy has decided on the measures that the U.S. is prepared to take to strengthen South Vietnam against...

Nov. 14, 1961 - Joseph Gallo, the 32-year-old gangland figure on trial for conspiracy and attempted extortion, was remanded to jail today...

Nov. 14, 1961 - President Kennedy told two little White House visitors today that they were better behaved than his own children. Sheila...

Nov. 13, 1961 - President Kennedy received the gift of a Sacred Torah from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in the Rose Garden...

Nov. 12, 1961 - Reliable informants said today that U.S. Air Force jets were flying reconnaissance missions over South Vietnam to...

Nov. 11, 1961 - Speaker Sam Rayburn’s physician, Dr. Joe Risser (pictured), issued a bulletin this afternoon on the condition of his...