WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1961
Find out what all happened February to September 1961

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

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

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization. (1. August 1961)

The biggest fire in Singapore history. The Bukit Ho Swee Fire (25. May 1961)

Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched. (16. February 1961)

Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). (19. May 1961)

In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin. (4. June 1961)

At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement. (19. May 1961)

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

Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea. (16. May 1961)

Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California. (14. February 1961)

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

CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule. (18. April 1961)

Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece. (20. September 1961)

Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union. (16. June 1961)

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

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

First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U.S. Army. (10. August 1961)

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

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City. (30. March 1961)