1960s Timeline

Dec. 29, 1961 - Mrs. Edith Wilson (pictured in 1915), the former First Lady, died last night at the stately Washington townhouse that...

Dec. 27, 1961 - The end of a long-standing legislative impasse between New York and New Jersey appeared imminent today. Governor-elect...

Dec. 26, 1961 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his family visited Disneyland today, and the former President seemed almost as delighted...

Dec. 22, 1961 - Hunter College’s refusal to permit programs sponsored by William F. Buckley Jr. (pictured), editor of The National...

Dec. 11, 1961 - Secretary of the Navy John B. Connally Jr. announced his resignation today. President Kennedy appointed another Texan,...

Dec. 10, 1961 - Senator Strom Thurmond, Democrat of South Carolina, proclaimed Senator Barry Goldwater’s popularity in the South. “The...

Dec. 2, 1961 - George Romney (pictured with his son Mitt), president of American Motors Corporation, announced today that “I am giving...

Dec. 2, 1961 - Richard M. Nixon declared today that “second-rate” Democrats must be voted out of office in California. The former Vice...

Nov. 28, 1961 - Senator Strom Thurmond (pictured left in 1957), Democrat of South Carolina, denounced President Kennedy today for his...

Nov. 26, 1961 - United States Senator Styles Bridges (pictured center last year) of New Hampshire, one of the most influential...

Nov. 24, 1961 - Bone fragments and teeth exhumed from shallow graves on Saipan Island arrived in San Francisco by plane today for...

Nov. 22, 1961 - Former Vice President John Nance Garner greeted old friends warmly as he marked his 93rd birthday quietly today. He...

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

Nov. 14, 1961 - Richard M. Nixon (pictured with Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959) predicted today that the Soviet people’s “obsession...

Nov. 10, 1961 - Former Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower broke a long period of coolness today when they chatted...

Nov. 9, 1961 - Irvin C. Scarbeck, former secretary in the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, was sentenced to 30 years in prison today for having...

Nov. 7, 1961 - New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner won re-election for a third term today. Despite opposition from two major...

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

Oct. 8, 1961 - Even his detractors on the staff of the Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee were chuckling over the comment of...

Oct. 5, 1961 - House Speaker Sam Rayburn (pictured at last year's Democratic National Convention), 79 years old, is suffering from...