January 1961

January 24, 1961: Nuclear bomb accidentally dropped on Goldsboro, NC

January 20, 1961: John F. Kennedy becomes 35th U.S. President

January 17, 1961: Outgoing U.S. President Eisenhower warns against the "military-industrial complex"

January 25, 1961: British farthing, worth  ¹⁄₄ a penny, discontinued after 600 years

January 31, 1961: Ham the Chimp survives launch into outer space

The following events occurred in January 1961:

January 1, 1961 (Sunday)

• The British farthing coin, used since the 13th century, and worth 1/4 of a penny, ceased to be legal tender.^[1]
• Australia became the second nation to permit the sale of the birth control pill, and the first to allow the Scherer oral contraceptive, with brand name of Anovlar. The G.D. Searle pill Enovid had been permitted in the United States in May 1960.^[2]

January 2, 1961 (Monday)

• Cuba's Prime Minister, Fidel Castro, demanded that the United States Embassy in Havana reduce its staff from 87 to no more than 11 no later than Wednesday. U.S. President Eisenhower ended diplomatic relations with Cuba the next day.^[3]
• In the Rose Bowl, the #1 ranked University of Minnesota Gophers were upset by the #6 ranked University of Washington Huskies, 17-7, before a crowd of 97,314 fans in Pasadena.^[4]

January 3, 1961 (Tuesday)

• At the United States National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, the atomic reactor SL-1 exploded, killing three military technicians.^[5]
• U.S. Marines, guarding the United States Embassy in Cuba, lowered the American flag for the last time for what would be more than half a century, as the Embassy closed and the United States and Cuba severed diplomatic relations. ^[6] On August 14, 2015, the three Marines who had lowered the flag -- Larry Morris, James Tracey, and Francis "Mike" East -- would be present at the Embassy and would hand the same flag to three new U.S. Marine guards to be raised again. ^[7]
• Koivulahti air disaster: A DC-3 flying to Kronoby crashed shortly after takeoff from Vaasa, in the woods at nearby Koivulahti, killing the 22 passengers and 3 crewmembers aboard. A subsequent investigation concluded that both the pilot and co-pilot had been drinking as recently as five hours before takeoff. This remains the worst accident in Finnish aviation history.^[8]
• The 87th United States Congress began.

January 4, 1961 (Wednesday)

• Died: Erwin Schrödinger, 73, Austrian physicist and pioneer in quantum mechanics, 1933 Nobel laureate for his discovery of the Schrödinger equation. In 1935, he would propose a popular analogy that is referred to now as Schrödinger's cat.^[9]

January 5, 1961 (Thursday)

• Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti went to the U.S. Consulate in Rome and signed a confession, stating that he had been part of a team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[10]

January 6, 1961 (Friday)

• John F. Kennedy was formally elected as the 35th President of the United States, as a joint session of the U.S. Congress witnessed the counting of the electoral vote. U.S. Vice-President Richard Nixon, who had opposed Kennedy in the 1960 election, formally announced the result, saying, "I now declare John F. Kennedy elected president." The results were 303 votes for Kennedy, 219 for Nixon, and 15 for U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr..^[11]
• Blamed on a person smoking in bed, a fire at a San Francisco hotel for the elderly killed 20 of the 135 residents. Police charged the smoker, who escaped unhurt, with manslaughter.^[12] He was released for lack of evidence, and died of cirrhosis four months later.^[13]
• Born: Georges Jobé, Belgian motocross rider, and five-time world champion between 1980 and 1992.

January 7, 1961 (Saturday)

• In the first round of the Los Angeles Open golf tournament, golfing legend Arnold Palmer took 12 strokes to complete the 18th hole. The defending Masters and U.S. Open champion hit his first four shots at the green out of bounds, for four penalties; it took two more strokes to reach the green, and, once there, two more to sink the ball.^[14]
• After leading Duke 36-33 at halftime, North Carolina State's basketball team lost 81-67. Months later, it was revealed that two N.C. State players had been paid $1,250 each by gamblers for point shaving. The two were paid $2,500 each in the Wolfpack's 62-56 loss, on February 15, to North Carolina.^[15]
• The NFL's first "Playoff Bowl", between the second-place finishers in the league's Eastern and Western Conferences, took place in Miami. Officially, the game was called the "Bert Bell Benefit Bowl" and raised money for the NFL players' pension fund. Playing a week after Philadelphia beat Green Bay in the NFL championship, the Detroit Lions won third place in a 17-16 victory over the Cleveland Browns.^[16]
• Following a four-day conference in Casablanca, five African chiefs of state announced plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. From the Charter of Casablanca emerged the Casablanca Group, consisting of Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.^[17]

January 8, 1961 (Sunday)

• In France, a referendum supported Charles de Gaulle's policies on independence for Algeria with a majority of 75% (17,447,669 to 5,817,775) in favor.^[18]

January 9, 1961 (Monday)

• Portland Spy Ring: British authorities announced that they had discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London. Arrested were Harry Houghton, Ethel Gee and Gordon Lonsdale.^[19]
• In the former Belgian Congo, aides of jailed premier Patrice Lumumba formed the "Republic of Lualaba", in the valley of the Lualaba River.^[20]

January 10, 1961 (Tuesday)

• Died: Dashiell Hammett, 66, American detective novelist

January 11, 1961 (Wednesday)

• The University of Georgia admitted African-American students for the first time, five days after a federal judge ordered integration. Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were the first to begin classes in Athens.^[21]
• The Pisces, a yacht carrying Moroccan Jews to Israel, capsized off the coast of Algericas, Spain, drowning the 40 passengers and all but 3 of the crew. The ship's captain survived.^[22]
• Ukrainian SSR Communist Party Chief Nikolai Podgorny was berated by Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev after corn production fell short of goals set for 1960. In a session of the party's Central Committee in Moscow, Khrushchev accused Podgorny of lying to conceal theft and warned, "You will pay for this lack of leadership."^[23] Podgorny, along with Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin, would be part of the troika that would overthrow Khrushchev in 1964.
• The name Grampian Television was selected for independent television's new service covering the north of Scotland, replacing the name North of Scotland Television. The Grampian Mountains are one of three mountain ranges in Scotland.
• The Naval Auxiliary Landing Field San Clemente Island was renamed "Frederick Sherman Field" in honor of Vice Admiral Frederick C. Sherman, a US naval commander of World War I and World War II.^[24]
• Born: Karl von Habsburg, former member of European Parliament for Austria, and eldest son of the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, celebrated by monarchists since 2011 as the would-be Emperor Charles II; in Starnberg, West Germany
• Born: Jasper Fforde, English novelist, in London; and Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish rally driver (died 1989)

January 12, 1961 (Thursday)

• Norwegian Olympic sailing champion Johan Ferner married Princess Astrid of Norway at Asker church near Oslo.^[25]
• Born: Simon Russell Beale, English actor, in Penang, Malaya.

January 13, 1961 (Friday)

• Died: Henry Morton Robinson, 62, American novelist; from second-degree burns he had sustained on December 23 while taking a bath.^[26]

January 14, 1961 (Saturday)

• Born: Vissarion, Russian mystic who claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ
• Died: Barry Fitzgerald, 72, Irish actor

January 15, 1961 (Sunday)

• The collapse of an offshore radar tower off the coast of New Jersey killed all 28 men on board. Rescuers heard tapping from within the wreckage in the first day after the disaster, but were unable to reach the survivors.^[27] At 7:33 pm, the 185-foot (56 m) tall tower, nicknamed "Old Shaky", vanished from radar screens at Otis Air Force Base. Only two bodies were found. Three U.S. Air Force officers were later charged with neglect of duty in connection with the accident.^[28]
• Motown Records signed The Supremes to their first recording contract.^[29]

January 16, 1961 (Monday)

• The United States banned travel by its citizens to Cuba, except in cases where a special endorsement was included on a passport.^[30]
• In Sheldon, Iowa, bank teller Burnice Geiger was arrested after federal bank examiners discovered that she had embezzled money from the Sheldon National Bank. Initially, audits showed more than $120,000 missing over a three-year period. Mrs. Geiger admitted to stealing a total of $2,126,859.10 — an American record to that time, equivalent to $14 million fifty years later.^[31] Sentenced to 15 years in prison, she served five, and lived until 1981.^[32]
• The Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo was launched by Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.

January 17, 1961 (Tuesday)

• President Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address on nationwide television, with the warning, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex"..We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes."^[33]
• Died: Patrice Lumumba, 35, former leader of Republic of Congo, secretly executed by firing squad.
• Keel Laid: USS Lafayette SSBN-616, USS Lafayette's keel was laid down on 17 January 1961 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut.

January 18, 1961 (Wednesday)

• Zanzibari general election, January 1961: In what the Guinness Book of World Records listed under "Closest election",^[34] the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) won 10 seats, and the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) won 9. Specifically, the seat for the constituency of Chake-Chake was won by the margin of one vote, with 1,538 for the ASP and 1,537 for the ZNP.^[35]
• The Chaplain's Medal for Heroism, created especially for George D. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling, and John P. Washington, was awarded to them posthumously and presented to their next of kin by Wilber M. Brucker, U.S. Secretary of the Army, at a ceremony at Fort Myer. On February 3, 1943, the "Four Chaplains" had given up their own lifejackets to save the lives of four soldiers on the troop transport Dorchester, and then went down with the ship.^[36]
• Born: Mark Messier, Canadian NHL player, in Edmonton
• Died: Thomas Anthony Dooley III, 34, American physician and humanitarian, from cancer

January 19, 1961 (Thursday)

• In New Zealand, the filling of Lake Ohakuri began. Within two weeks, a reservoir of nearly five square miles was created and a supply of hydroelectric power was created. At the same time, two of the world's largest geysers—the 295-foot-high Minquini and the 180-foot-high Orakeikorako—were covered over and made extinct.^[37]
• An Aeronaves de México DC-8B airline flight, bound for Mexico City, crashed shortly after taking off in a blizzard from New York's Idlewild Airport. Although the plane fell from an altitude of 50 feet and burst into flames, 102 of the 106 people on board, including all of the passengers, survived.^[38]

January 20, 1961 (Friday)

• John F. Kennedy took the oath of office as the 35th President of the United States. For the first time, the event was shown on color television, pioneered by the NBC network.^[39]

January 21, 1961 (Saturday)

• Loaded with 16 nuclear tipped Polaris A-1 missiles, the submarine USS George Washington completed its first "deterrent patrol", after having remained submerged for a record 66 consecutive days.^[40]
• Hours after a speedy confirmation in a special session of the United States Senate, all ten members of President John F. Kennedy's cabinet were sworn into office in a ceremony at the White House, including the President's younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy, who became the new Attorney General.^[41]
• The first Cosquín Festival, Argentina's major folk music festival, began.

January 22, 1961 (Sunday)

• The American Ballet Center Company dance troupe, formed on October 1, 1956, began a 47 city tour with its new name, the Robert Joffrey Ballet, now known as the Joffrey Ballet.^[42]
• The international Masonic organization CLIPSAS (Centre of Liaison and Information of Masonic Powers, Signatories of Appeal of Strasbourg) was formed in Strasbourg.
• The first Coronda River Aquatic Marathon, a 57-kilometer (35 mi) swimming endurance race, took place in Argentina. Santa Fe-Coronda history
• Born: Luba Orgonasova, Slovak operatic soprano, in Bratislava

January 23, 1961 (Monday)

• Santa Maria hijacking: A group of 29 men, led by Portuguese politician Henrique Malta Galvao, seized control of the cruise ship Santa Maria which was carrying 580 passengers and a crew of 360. The group had boarded with tickets at La Guaira, Venezuela and then executed the attack at 1:30 am. One member of the crew was killed and several wounded. After putting the wounded ashore, the ship sailed with other ships trying to locate it. Galvao threatened to scuttle the ship if it was attacked.^[43] The crisis ended on February 2, as Galvao surrendered the ship at Recife, Brazil.^[44]
• In Lebanon, the Political Bureau dissolved the militants' organization; William Hawi created the Regulatory Forces^[45]

January 24, 1961 (Tuesday)

• 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash: A B-52 Stratofortress, with two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs, crashed on a farm at the community of Faro, 12 miles (19 km) north of near Goldsboro, North Carolina. Three USAF officers were killed.^[46] One of the bombs went partially through its arming sequence, as five of its six safety switches failed. The one remaining switch prevented a 24 megaton nuclear explosion.^[47]
• Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and many other cartoon characters, was seriously injured in a head-on collision while driving in Los Angeles.^[48] Blanc was in a coma for three weeks and was reported as killed in at least one newspaper (possibly the Hilo Tribune-Herald), but his versatile voice was unaffected, and he continued working until his death in 1989.^[49]
• Marilyn Monroe was granted a divorce from playwright Arthur Miller, after filing an action in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.^[50]

January 25, 1961 (Wednesday)

• In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy began a tradition by holding the first live presidential press conference. Broadcast on all 3 TV networks at 6:00 pm EST, the event was attended by 418 reporters and watched by an estimated 60,000,000 viewers.^[51] Kennedy announced that the Soviet Union had freed the two surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down over the Barents Sea on July 1, 1960.^[52]
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians, the 17th full-length animated film by Walt Disney, had its world premiere, at 8:00 pm the Florida Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida.^[53]
• Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a six-member junta, headed by Colonel Julio Adalberto Rivera composed of 2 army officers and four civilians took over El Salvador, ousting another military junta that had ruled for three months.^[54]

January 26, 1961 (Thursday)

• John F. Kennedy appointed Janet G. Travell as his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment.
• Born: Wayne Gretzky, Canadian NHL star, in Brantford, Ontario
• Died: Blaise Cendrars, 73, French poet

January 27, 1961 (Friday)

• The Soviet submarine S-80, with a crew of 68, vanished in the Barents Sea. The wreckage of the S-80 was not discovered until more than seven years later.^[55]
• Leontyne Price became the first African-American woman to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Her performance as Leonora in Il trovatore was given a 42-minute ovation.^[56]

January 28, 1961 (Saturday)

• In Atlanta, Malcolm X and Jeremiah Shabazz of the black supremacist Nation of Islam met secretly with representatives of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan to discuss common interests, including preventing integration of the races. NOI leader Elijah Muhammad and KKK leader J.B. Stoner had arranged the meeting, with the Klan agreeing to help the "Black Muslims" acquire land for resettlement.^[57]
• In Gitarama, in the Belgian colony of Rwanda, a group of Hutu politicians declared an end to the Tutsi monarchy and the creation of a republic, with Dominique Mbonyumutwa as its first President. Mbonyumutwa was replaced by Grégoire Kayibanda before Rwanda was granted independence in 1962.^[58]
• The Smothers Brothers, comedians Tom and Dick Smothers, first appeared on national television, as guests on the Tonight show, hosted by Jack Paar.^[59]
• Bobo Brazil became the first African American to win a National Wrestling Alliance title, pinning Dick the Bruiser in the heavyweight pro wrestling match at Detroit.^[60]
• An indoor high school basketball game in Pennsylvania, US, was "rained out". Cold air from an open window combined with heat in a gymnasium to create puddles of condensation on the floor. The game was called with West Hazleton High leading McAdoo High, 31-29.^[61]

January 29, 1961 (Sunday)

• Five days after arriving in New York after hitchhiking from Madison, Wisconsin, 21-year-old musician Bob Dylan met his idol Woody Guthrie. After hearing Dylan sing, Guthrie is said to have remarked "He's a talented boy. Gonna go far." Dylan settled in Greenwich Village and found fame in the protest folk music.^[62]
• The Irvine Company deeded 1,000 acres of land in Orange County to the regents of the University of California, creating the campus upon which University of California, Irvine would be built, and around which the city of Irvine, California would be formed.^[63]
• Radio Hanoi announced in an English-language broadcast that the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, popularly known as the Viet Cong, had been formed to overthrow the government there and to establish a regime similar to that in Communist North Vietnam.^[64]
• In the finals of the 1961 European Figure Skating Championships, Sjoukje Dijkstra won gold for the second year in succession. Dijkstra went on to win World Championship and Olympic gold, becoming one of the best-known female figure skaters of all time.
• Died: Sir Geoffrey Jefferson, 84, British neurosurgeon

January 30, 1961 (Monday)

• President John F. Kennedy delivered his first State of the Union Address, a pessimistic outlook of the challenges posed in the Cold War.^[65]
• President Kennedy approved a $41 million counterinsurgency plan, drawn up for President Eisenhower by General Edward Lansdale, to help the government of South Vietnam resist communist aggression. Designed to add 52,000 men to that nation's army and civil guards, the plan included provisions for American soldiers and military advisers to assist in the effort.^[66]
• Disenchanted with life in the Soviet Union, American defector Lee Harvey Oswald wrote to President Kennedy's newly appointed U.S. Secretary of the Navy, John Connally, to ask for a reversal of Oswald's dishonorable discharge from the United States Marines. The letter was never acted upon, and on November 22, 1963, Oswald would shoot both Kennedy and Connally.^[67]
• Born: Dexter Scott King, African-American activist, in Atlanta
• Died: Dorothy Thompson, 66, American journalist; and Arthur Milgram, 47, American mathematician

January 31, 1961 (Tuesday)

• Ham the Chimp, a 37-pound (17 kg) male, was rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule. His successful 16 ¹⁄₂-minute flight demonstrated to American NASA officials that the capsule could safely carry human astronauts into space.^[68]
• The American State of Georgia, with the support of most its residents, repealed its longstanding laws requiring segregation by race in its public schools. Governor S. Ernest Vandiver, in signing the "open schools package" of legislation, declared "These are the four most important bills to be signed in this century in Georgia".^[69]
• James Meredith, an African-American, applied for admission to the all-white University of Mississippi, beginning a legal action that would result in the desegregation of the university.^[70]

References