WHAT ALL HAPPENED MARCH TO AUGUST 1961
Find out what all happened March to August 1961

The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections. (1. May 1961)

Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles becomes the first player in baseball history to hit grand slams in consecutive innings. (9. May 1961)

Apollo program: The U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade. (25. May 1961)

The Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa. (31. May 1961)

The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. (11. April 1961)

Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. (17. April 1961)

Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International. (28. May 1961)

Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later. (19. July 1961)

American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South. (4. May 1961)

First Winter Ascent of the Eiger north face. (12. March 1961)

Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum. (9. July 1961)

Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall. (15. August 1961)

South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations. (15. March 1961)

Uganda becomes self-governing and holds its first elections. (1. March 1961)

French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. (20. July 1961)

K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned. (30. April 1961)

An earthquake rocks New South Wales. (22. May 1961)

The Leadbeater's Possum is rediscovered in Australia after 72 years. (3. April 1961)

FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow gives his Wasteland Speech. (9. May 1961)

The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1). (12. April 1961)