WHAT ALL HAPPENED JULY TO DECEMBER 1961
Find out what all happened July to December 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)

RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service. (31. December 1961)

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

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

Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state. (11. September 1961)

The world's first retractable-dome stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (17. September 1961)

NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1. (27. October 1961)

Syria exits from the United Arab Republic. (29. October 1961)

The United States National Hurricane Research Project drops eight cylinders of silver iodide into the eyewall of Hurricane Esther. Wind speed reduces by 10%, giving rise to Project Stormfury. (16. September 1961)

In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from Vladimir Lenin's Tomb. (31. October 1961)

At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in Major League Baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain. (31. July 1961)

Because of "violations of Lenin's precepts", it is decreed that Joseph Stalin's body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead. (30. October 1961)

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

United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam. (18. November 1961)

U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the war-torn Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (18. September 1961)

Ida Siekmann died attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. (22. August 1961)

A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria. (28. September 1961)

Foundation of the World Wildlife Fund. (11. September 1961)

The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military espionage organization. (1. October 1961)

Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes. (21. August 1961)