December 1961
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The following events occurred in December
1961:
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January 1961
January – February – March. – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in January 1961.-January 1, 1961 :...
– February
February 1961
January – February – March. – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November-DecemberThe following events occurred in February, 1961-February 1, 1961 :...
– March
March 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November - DecemberThe following events occurred in March, 1961-March 1, 1961 :...
– April
April 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in April, 1961-April 1, 1961 :...
– May
May 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in May 1961.-May 1, 1961 :...
– June
June 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in June 1961.-June 1, 1961 :...
– July
July 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in July 1961.-July 1, 1961 :...
– August
August 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in August 1961.-August 1, 1961 :...
– September
September 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in September 1961.-September 1, 1961 :...
– October
October 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in October 1961:-October 1, 1961 :...
– November
November 1961
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November-DecemberThe following events occurred in November 1961.-November 1, 1961 :...
– December
The following events occurred in December
December
December is the 12th and last month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days.December starts on the same day as September every year and ends on the same day as April every year.-Etymology:...
1961:
December 1, 1961 (Friday)
- The Dutch colony of Netherlands New GuineaNetherlands New GuineaNetherlands New Guinea refers to the West Papua region while it was an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. Until 1949 it was a part of the Netherlands Indies. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea...
raised the new Morning Star flag next to the Dutch tri-color, and was made the autonomous territory of West Papua, with partial self-government as a United Nations mandate. In 1963, however, the UN turned the mandate over to IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, which annexed West Papua in 1969 after a sham plebiscite. - Syrian parliamentary election, 1961Syrian parliamentary election, 1961The Syrian parliamentary elections of 1961 were the first free democratic elections held in Syria after seceding from the United Arab Republic. The election was held on 1—2 December 1961.-Preparations:...
: The first elections held in Syria, since its separation from the United Arab RepublicUnited Arab RepublicThe United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
, brought the People's PartyPeople's Party (Syria)People's Party was a Syrian political party that was active during the 1950s and the early 1960s. The party was established in 1948 as the main opposition party to the National Party...
a plurality of the seats. The party's leaders, Nazim al-KudsiNazim al-KudsiNazim al-Kudsi, also spelled "Koudsi", "al-Qudsi" or "al-Cudsi" , was a Syrian politician and head of state . He was born in and raised in Aleppo...
and Maarouf al-DawalibiMaarouf al-DawalibiMaarouf al-Dawalibi , was a Syrian politician and a two time prime minister of Syria. He was born in Aleppo, and held a Ph.D. in Law. He served as a minister of economy between 1949 and 1950, and was elected speaker of the parliament in 1951. He also served as minister of defense between 1954 and...
, would respectively be named the President and Prime Minister by the new Parliament. - Algeria's News AgencyAlgeria's News AgencyAlgeria's News Agency was founded on December 1, 1961 in the wake of the national liberation war to be its standard-bearer on the world media scene...
was founded. - RTÉ GuideRTÉ GuideThe RTÉ Guide is a television and radio listings magazine in Ireland published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd, a subsidiary of Raidió Teilifís Éireann....
began publication, under the title "RTV Guide". - Britannia AirwaysBritannia AirwaysBritannia Airways was the largest charter airline in the United Kingdom, rebranded as Thomsonfly in 2005. Its main bases were Gatwick, London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow...
was set up in the UK, under the name Euravia (London). - Arara, ParaíbaArara, ParaíbaArara is a municipality in the state of Paraíba in northeastern Brazil. It is located in the mesoregion of Agreste Paraibano and the microregion of Western Curimataú, 142 km from the state capital, João Pessoa. It is located on the high plain of Borborema at an altitude of 467 m above sea...
, in north-eastern Brazil, became a municipality. - Following the resignation of TasmanianMembers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1959–1964This is a list of members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly between the 2 May 1959 election and the 2 May 1964 election. Prior to this election, each of the five Tasmanian seats had been expanded from 6 to 7 members to provide an odd number of members, due mainly to a series of hung...
Liberal MHA for Bass, John Steer, to contest the Council seat of Cornwall, a recount resulted in the election of Liberal candidate Max Bushby. - A coat of armsCoat of armsA coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
was officially granted to HordalandHordalandis a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...
. - IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
announced plans to establish "the world's first chain of industrial co-operative towns" in the Negev Desert, starting with the community of Mitzpe RamonMitzpe RamonMitzpe Ramon is a town in the Negev desert of southern Israel. It is situated on the northern ridge at an elevation of 860 meters overlooking a sizable erosion cirque known as the Ramon Crater.-History:...
. - Born: Jeremy NorthamJeremy NorthamJeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ivor Novello in the 2001 film Gosford Park, as Dean Martin in the 2002 television movie Martin and Lewis, and as Thomas More on the Showtime series The Tudors...
, English actor, in Cambridge
December 2, 1961 (Saturday)
- In a speech that began at midnight, Cuban dictator Fidel CastroFidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
declared "soy marxista-leninista y seré marxista-leninista hasta el último día de mi vida" ("I am a Marxist-Leninist and I will be a Marxist-Leninist until the last day of my life"). Castro confirmed that he would guide Cuba to becoming a Socialist state, and, in the long run, a Communist state, but added, "I'm saying this for any anti-communists left out there. There won't be any Communism for at least thirty years". However, he made clear that there would be only one political party, "The United Party of Cuba's Socialist Revolution", adding that "There is only one revolutionary movement, not two or three or four revolutionary movements." - Dean SmithDean SmithDean Edwards Smith is a retired American head coach of men's college basketball. Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith has been called a “coaching legend” by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
began his career as the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketballNorth Carolina Tar Heels men's basketballThe North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is considered one of the most successful programs in NCAA history...
head coach. He opened with an 80-46 victory over the visiting University of Virginia Cavaliers, the first of a record 879 wins as coach of one team. The record for most wins overall (903) was broken by Mike Krzyzewski on November 15, 2011, which included 83 wins as coach of Army before he became coach of Duke University. - Actors Dinah ShoreDinah ShoreDinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
and George MontgomeryGeorge MontgomeryGeorge Montgomery was an American painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman who is best known as an actor in western style film and television....
announced that they would divorce after 18 years of marriage. - Died: Laura BullionLaura BullionLaura Bullion was a female outlaw of the Old West. Most sources indicate that Bullion was born of German and Native American heritage in Knickerbocker, near Mertzon in Irion County, Texas; the exact day of her birth is unclear...
, 85, American outlaw
December 3, 1961 (Sunday)
- Workers at the Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York City discovered that there had been a mistake in the museum's exhibit of "The Last Works of Henri MatisseHenri MatisseHenri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
". For 47 days, beginning on October 18, Le BateauLe BateauLe Bateau is a paper-cut from 1953 by Henri Matisse. The picture is composed from pieces of paper cut out of sheets painted with gouache, and was created during the last years of Matisse's life.-History:...
had been on display, hanging upside-down, and 116,000 visitors had passed it before Mrs. Genevieve Habert, a stockbroker, noticed the mistake. She confirmed the problem by referring to a catalogue of Matisse's works, then talked to various MOMA employees before she was taken seriously. The Museum rehung the painting, right-side up, the next day. - Discoverer 35Discoverer 35Discoverer 35, also known as Corona 9028, was an American optical reconnaissance satellite which was launched in 1961. It was a KH-3 Corona satellite, based around an Agena-B....
fell out of orbit about three weeks after its launch. - Born: Marcelo FromerMarcelo FromerMarcelo Fromer was the guitarist of Brazilian rock band Titãs. One of the founding members and also the band's manager, he died in 2001, after being hit by a motorcycle while jogging.- Childhood :...
, Brazilian guitarist, in São Paulo (d. 2001); Adal RamonesAdal RamonesAdalberto Javier Ramones Martínez is a Mexican television show host and comedian who is known for his comments on Mexican and international social life...
, Mexican TV presenter, in Monterrey
December 4, 1961 (Monday)
- In Toronto, Floyd PattersonFloyd PattersonFloyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...
defeated challenger Tom McNeeleyTom McNeeleyThomas William McNeeley, Jr. was a heavyweight boxer in the 1950s and 1960s. He hailed from Arlington, Massachusetts, and played football for Michigan State University...
with a fourth-round knockout to retain the world heavyweight boxing championship. Tom's son, Peter McNeeleyPeter McNeeley"Hurricane" Peter McNeeley is a former heavyweight boxer, best known for his 1995 fight with Mike Tyson in which McNeeley had famously vowed to wrap Tyson in a "cocoon of horror." McNeeley fought aggressively and was knocked down twice within the first two minutes as a result...
, would become Mike TysonMike TysonMichael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
's first opponent upon the latter's release from prison in 1995. On the same evening, Sonny ListonSonny ListonCharles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round...
knocked out Albert Westphal in a Philadelphia bout. It was the last bout for both Patterson and Liston, until they faced each other in 1962 in Chicago, with the Liston taking the title from Patterson. - An agreement on maintaining the neutrality of LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
was reached at the 14-nation Laos Peace Conference being held in GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. - President Kennedy authorized the U.S. Department of Defense to commence of Operation Ranch HandOperation Ranch HandOperation Ranch Hand was a U.S. Military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. It was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called "Operation Trail Dust"...
, the defoliation of the jungles of South VietnamSouth VietnamSouth Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. The first run was on January 12, 1962 and the last in February 1971. - Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1961Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1961General elections were held in Trinidad and Tobago on 4 December 1961. The result was a victory for the People's National Movement, which won 20 of the 30 seats. Voter turnout was 88.1%.-Results:...
: The People's National MovementPeople's National MovementThe People's National Movement is the present-day opposition political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Founded in 1955 by Eric Williams, it won the 1956 General Elections and went on to hold power for an unbroken 30 years. After the death of Williams in 1981 George Chambers led the party...
, led by Prime Minister Eric WilliamsEric WilliamsEric Eustace Williams served as the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He served from 1956 until his death in 1981. He was also a noted Caribbean historian, and is widely regarded as "The Father of The Nation."...
, captured 20 of the 30 seats in the Parliament, while the Democratic Labour PartyDemocratic Labour Party (Trinidad and Tobago)The Democratic Labour Party was the main opposition party in Trinidad and Tobago between 1957 and 1971. The party was the party which opposed the People's National Movement at the time of Independence...
won the others. The voting was split along ethinic lines, with the vast majoirty of Afro-Creole residents voting for the PNM, and those of East Indian descent voting for the DLP. - The Armed Forces Expeditionary MedalArmed Forces Expeditionary MedalThe Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal is a military award of the United States military, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John Kennedy...
was established by Executive Order of the U.S. President, for service in specified military operations during designated times. Retroactive awards were made for service in the Quemoy and Matsu Islands (since 1956), Lebanon (in 1958), the Taiwan Straits (1958) and in West Berlin since August. - The Hundred of Hoo RailwayHundred of Hoo RailwayThe Hundred of Hoo Railway is a railway line in Kent, England, following the North Kent Line from Gravesend before diverging at Hoo Junction near Shorne Marshes and continuing in an easterly direction across the Hoo Peninsula, passing near the villages of Cooling, High Halstow, Cliffe and Stoke...
in Kent, UK, ended passenger services.
December 5, 1961 (Tuesday)
- The largest ever escape from East BerlinEast BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
, to the West, was carried out by Harry Deterling, a 28 year old train engineer, after he and co-worker Hartmut Lichy learned that there was still an open rail connection at Albrechtshof, one-quarter mile from the border, and that East German authorities were preparing to block it. Deterling's wife and four children, his mother, and 13 friends boarded at OranienburgOranienburgOranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
, and four others got on at FalkenseeFalkenseeFalkensee is a town in the Havelland district, Brandenburg, Germany. It is the most populated municipality of its district and it is situated at the western border of Berlin.-History:...
. Deterling and Lichy never stopped at the Albrechtshof station, and rushed the train past startled border guards. The train's conductor, and six passengers who hadn't been in on the plot, elected to return to East Germany. The government tore up the tracks the next day and put up barriers, and there were no further escapes by train. - U.S. President John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
authorized American financial support to the Volta DamAkosombo DamThe Akosombo Dam , is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of the dam flooded part of the Volta River Basin, and the subsequent creation of Lake Volta...
project in GhanaGhanaGhana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, in order to prevent the West African nation from coming under the influence of the Soviet Union. - Died: Finn KjelstrupFinn KjelstrupFinn Hannibal Kjelstrup was a Norwegian military officer and civil servant for Nasjonal Samling.He graduated from the Norwegian Military Academy in the same class as Vidkun Quisling. He had a military and civil career, and was an assistant secretary in the Ministry of Defence in 1940...
, 77, Norwegian traitor; and Emil "Judge" FuchsEmil Fuchs (baseball)Emil Edwin Fuchs was a German-born American baseball owner and executive....
, 83, Jewish owner of the Boston BravesBoston BravesBoston Braves may refer to any of the following American professional sports teams:*Boston Braves , the Major League Baseball team now known as the Atlanta Braves...
baseball team (1923-1935), and the team's owner/manager in the 1929 season
December 6, 1961 (Wednesday)
- The Order of TrujilloOrder of TrujilloThe Order of Trujillo was the second principal order of the Dominican Republic, after the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella. It was established on 13 June 1938 in honour of the then-President Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo...
was awarded by the Dominican RepublicDominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
for the last time. - Born: Ally FowlerAlly FowlerAlexandra Fowler , better known under her stage name Ally Fowler, is an Australian actress who came to prominence with parts in two major soap operas of the 1980s: Angela Hamilton in Sons and Daughters and Zoe Davis in Neighbours...
, Australian soap actress; Jennifer San MarcoJennifer San MarcoJennifer San Marco was a former US Postal Service employee and mass murderer who killed seven people in Goleta, California.- San Marco's background :...
, American spree killer (d. 2006); and - Died: Frantz FanonFrantz FanonFrantz Fanon was a Martiniquo-Algerian psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism...
, 36, Martiniquais psychiatrist and advocate of Algerian independence, of leukemia
December 7, 1961 (Thursday)
- The second phase of American manned spaceflight, the Gemini program, was announced by NASA, with plans for a two-man version of the one-man Mercury capsule. Originally called Mercury Mark II, the program was renamed Gemini on January 3, at the suggestion of Alex Nagy, after the constellation of the same nameGemini (constellation)Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Its name is Latin for "twins", and it is associated with the twins Castor and Pollux in Greek mythology...
, associated with the "heavenly twins", Castor and Pollux. - Hungarian conductor Ferenc FricsayFerenc FricsayFerenc Fricsay was a Hungarian conductor. From 1960 until his death, he was an Austrian citizen.Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914 and studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Leo Weiner. Fricsay had a meteoric rise to fame, making his first appearance as a...
gave his last concert, with the London Philharmonic OrchestraLondon Philharmonic OrchestraThe London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, then retired at the age of 47 due to illness. He would die 14 months later, of cancer.
December 8, 1961 (Friday)
- Brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine, known as "The Pendletones", saw the release of their first recorded song, called "Surfin'" (with "Luau" on the "B"- side). For the single, record distributor Russ Regen renamed the group, The Beach BoysThe Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, and their first song peaked at #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. - Sixteen people were killed in a flash fire on the ninth floor of the Hartford Hospital in Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
. The blaze started in a trash chute and swept across the ceiling tiles, killing 7 patients, 5 visitors, and 4 hospital employees, including a physician. Investigators eventually concluded that the fire had resulted from the discarding of x-ray film into the chute, and ignition from a cigarette. - In a triple-overtime NBA game in Los Angeles, Wilt ChamberlainWilt ChamberlainWilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 78 points, breaking the record of 71 set by Elgin BaylorElgin BaylorElgin Gay Baylor is a retired Hall of Fame American basketball player and former NBA general manager who played 13 seasons as a forward for the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers/Los Angeles Lakers....
, as the two men faced each other. Baylor, playing for the Lakers, poured in 63 points. The two men had already combined for 100 points (53 for Chamberlain, 47 for Baylor) at the end of regulation with the score tied 109-109. Chamberlain's Warriors lost the contest, 151-147, and while his record carried with it an asterisk, he would score 100 points in a regular game on March 2. - PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
's ambassador to the United Nations appealed for help from the UN Security Council, reporting that 30,000 troops from IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
were massing along the border of the Portuguese colony at GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, and that seven ships from the Indian Navy were approaching Goa's coast. - Errol BarrowErrol BarrowErrol Walton Barrow, PC, QC was a Caribbean statesman and the first Prime Minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy and educated at Harrison College, his sister Dame Nita Barrow also became a social activist, humanitarian leader and later...
replaced Hugh Gordon CumminsHugh Gordon CumminsHugh Gordon Cummins was a Barbadian politician. He served as Premier of Barbados from 17 April 1958 to 8 December 1961 and was a member of the Barbados Labour Party ....
as Premier of Barbados. - Born: Ann CoulterAnn CoulterAnn Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
, American conservative commentator, in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... - Died: Séamus Robinson, 71, Irish republican leader; Francesco SeveriFrancesco SeveriFrancesco Severi was an Italian mathematician.Severi was born in Arezzo, Italy. He is famous for his contributions to algebraic geometry and the theory of functions of several complex variables. He became the effective leader of the Italian school of algebraic geometry...
, 82, Italian mathematician
December 9, 1961 (Saturday)
- At the National Stadium in Dar es SalaamDar es SalaamDar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
, the former British colony of TanganyikaTanganyikaTanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
gained independence, with Julius NyerereJulius NyerereJulius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985....
as its first Prime Minister. Sir Richard TurnbullRichard Turnbull (colonial governor)Richard Gordon Turnbull was a British colonial governor and the last governor of the British mandate of Tanganyika from 1958–1961. Following the country's independence, he was governor-general from 9 December 1961 – 9 December 1962.-Biography:...
, who had been the British governor, served as the first and last Governor-general of TanganyikaGovernor-General of TanganyikaThis page lists the only governor-general of Tanganyika. For governors of Tanganyika before 1961, see Tanganyika Territory.-Governor-general of Tanganyika, 1961-1962:*Sir Richard Gordon Turnbull -See also:*Tanzania...
until the nation became a Republic on the next Uhuru Day, one year later, with Nyerere as President. Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, appeared on behalf of the United Kingdom. At midnight, the British territorial flag was slowly lowered as a record played God Save the Queen. The lights were then turned off, the new national anthem, Mungu Ibariki Tanganyika (God Bless Tanganyika) was played as the new flag was raised, and the lights were switched on again. In 1963, Tanganyika would merge with ZanzibarZanzibarZanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
to become TanzaniaTanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
. - Australian federal election, 1961Australian federal election, 1961Federal elections were held in Australia on 9 December 1961. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 31 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election...
: The Australian government of Robert MenziesRobert MenziesSir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
was re-elected for the a sixth time. Although Menzies' Liberal PartyLiberal Party of AustraliaThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
eventually lost 15 seats and its coalition partner, the Country PartyNational Party of AustraliaThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
lost 2, the group was able to retain a razor thin majority of one, with 62 of the 122 seats in the Australian House of RepresentativesAustralian House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
. The joint ticket won 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate of Australia. The Australian Labor PartyAustralian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
(ALP), led by Arthur CalwellArthur CalwellArthur Augustus Calwell Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years from 1940 to 1972, Immigration Minister in the government of Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949 and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967.-Early life:Calwell was born in...
, gained 15 seats and had 60 of the 120 in the House. - The 4th Rand Grand Prix1961 Rand Grand PrixThe 4th Rand Grand Prix was a motor race, run to South African Formula One-style rules, held on 9 December 1961 at Kyalami, South Africa. The race was run over 75 laps of the circuit, and was won by British driver Jim Clark, who led from start to finish in his Lotus 21.There were no great...
was won by Jim ClarkJim ClarkJames "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....
.
December 10, 1961 (Sunday)
- The Communist government of AlbaniaAlbaniaAlbania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
confirmed that the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
had severed diplomatic relations on December 3, marking the first time that the U.S.S.R. had ever withdrawn its embassy from another Communist state. Soviet leader Nikita KhrushchevNikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
had criticized Albanian leaders Enver HoxhaEnver HoxhaEnver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
and Mehmet ShehuMehmet ShehuMehmet Ismail Shehu was an Albanian communist politician who served as premier of Albania from 1954 to 1981...
at the 22nd Soviet Communist Party Congress after the Albanians refused to repudiated Stalinism. The People's Republic of China then began a program of emergency aid to the Balkan nation. - Operation PlowshareOperation PlowshareProject Plowshare was the overall United States term for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes...
, the American experiment in using atomic weapons for peaceful purposes, began with Project GnomeProject GNOMEProject Gnome was the first nuclear test of the Plowshare program and was the first continental nuclear weapon test since Trinity to be conducted outside of the Nevada Test Site...
, the underground explosion of a 3 kiloton atomic bomb near Carlsbad, New MexicoCarlsbad, New MexicoCarlsbad is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 26,138. Carlsbad is the center of the designated micropolitan area of Carlsbad-Artesia, which has a total population of 55,435...
. Although the test device was placed 1,200 feet below the surface in a cavern of rock salt, water within the salt was vaporized by the blast and sent a geyser of radioactive steam 300 above the surface. - Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
: Melvin Calvin was awarded the Nobel Prize for the process of photosynthesis, while . - Born: Oded SchrammOded SchrammOded Schramm was an Israeli-American mathematician known for the invention of the Schramm–Loewner evolution and for working at the intersection of conformal field theory and probability theory.-Biography:...
, Israeli mathematician, in Jerusalem
December 11, 1961 (Monday)
- The Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
officially began for the United States, as the USS CoreUSS Core (CVE-13)USS Core was originally classified AVG-13, but was reclassified ACV-13, 20 August 1942; CVE-13, 15 July 1943; CVHE-13, 12 June 1955; CVU-13, 1 July 1958; and T-AKV-41, 7 May 1959. She was launched 15 May 1942 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding of Tacoma, Washington, under a Maritime Commission...
arrived at Saigon Harbor. The ship brought in two helicopter units, the 8th Transportation Company from Fort Bragg and the 57th Transportation Company from Fort LewisFort LewisJoint Base Lewis-McChord is a United States military facility located south-southwest of Tacoma, Washington. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Joint Base Garrison, Joint Base Lewis-McChord....
, with 33 H-21 Shawnee helicopters, and 400 U.S. Army personnel. - After months of trial before a three judge panel in Israel, Adolf EichmannAdolf EichmannAdolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
was found guilty of multiple crimes arising from the extermination of German and European Jews during the Holocaust. Judge Moshe LandauMoshe LandauMoshe Landau was an Israeli jurist. He was the fifth President of the Supreme Court of Israel.-Biography:Landau was born in Danzig, Germany to Dr. Isaac Landau and Betty née Eisenstädt...
started his reading of the verdict with the words, "Accused, the court convicts you of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and membership in hostile organizations," then began reading the text of the judgment. Judge Landau was followed by Judges Benyamin Halevi and Itzhak Raveh. The reading of the entire verdict was not completed until the next day. - Soviet writer Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
got his big break when he received a telegram from Aleksandr TvardovskyAleksandr TvardovskyAleksandr Trifonovich Tvardovsky was a Soviet poet, chief editor of Novy Mir literary magazine from 1950 to 1954 and 1958 to 1970...
, the editor of the magazine Novy MirNovy MirNovy Mir is a Russian language literary magazine that has been published in Moscow since January 1925. It was supposed to be modelled on the popular pre-Soviet literary magazine Mir Bozhy , which was published from 1892 to 1906, and its follow-up, Sovremenny Mir , which was published 1906-1917...
, announcing that his novel, with the working title of Щ-854, would be published in serial form. Tvardovsky renamed the book One Day in the Life of Ivan DenisovichOne Day in the Life of Ivan DenisovichOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a novel written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first published in November 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir . The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s, and describes a single day of an ordinary prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov...
. - The 1961 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games opened in Rangoon.
December 12, 1961 (Tuesday)
- The first of a series of satellites constructed by and for ham radio operators, OSCAROSCAROSCAR is an acronym for Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio. OSCAR series satellites use amateur radio frequencies to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations. These satellites can be used for free by licensed amateur radio operators for voice and data communications...
(Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio), was launched into orbit as part of the payload of Discoverer 36Discoverer 36Discoverer 36, also known as Corona 9029, was an American optical reconnaissance satellite which was launched in 1961. It was a KH-3 Corona satellite, based around an Agena-B. It was the penultimate KH-3 satellite to be launched, the last successful mission, and the most successful of the...
. By the end of the century, more than 50 OSCAR satellites had been launched. - The production-standard prototype AESL AirtourerAESL Airtourer-Trivia:*Probably not the 1st 2 seat side by side aircraft designed with a central 'stick' but one of the 1st with a 'square hand grip' version.*Easy to fly from both seats due to the central stick design and arm rest....
was brought out. - The South African cricket team won the first Test of their series against New Zealand, at Durban, by 30 runs.
- Police in Tokyo arrested 13 men in a pre-dawn raid after uncovering a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Hayato IkedaHayato Ikedaborn in Takehara, Hiroshima, was a Japanese politician and the 58th, 59th and 60th Prime Minister of Japan from July 19, 1960 to November 9, 1964....
and the 16 members of his cabinet. The plot, under the cover of the "Society for Japaense History", was financed by industrialist Toyosaku KawanamiKoyagi, Nagasakiwas a town, currently part of Nagasaki City, Japan. Situated approximately 13 km south of the centre of Nagasaki City, the town is notable for the Mistubishi shipyard which occupies 60% of urban areas....
with the assitance of former Lt. General Tokutaro Sakurai. - Born: Daniel O'Donnell, Irish singer, in Kincasslagh, County Donegal; Sarah SuttonSarah SuttonSarah Sutton is a British actress best known for her role as Nyssa in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Nyssa was a companion of Tom Baker and Peter Davison's Doctors from 1981 to 1983...
, English Doctor Who actress, in Basingstoke - Died: Hauk AabelHauk AabelHauk Erlendssøn Aabel was a popular Norwegian comedian and actor in Norwegian and Swedish silent film.-Career:...
, 92, Norwegian silent film star
December 13, 1961 (Wednesday)
- In Geneva, the United States and the Soviet Union announced that they had come to an agreement on the formation of a multinational discussion to reduce nuclear weapons, in a group described as the "Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament". The United Nations General Assembly endorsed the idea one week later, and the group first met on March 14, 1962. The 18 nations were the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Canada and France; the U.S.S.R., Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania; and the non-aligned states of Mexico, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Egypt, Sweden, India and Burma.
- The chairman of the Dutch cycling federation, Piet van Dijk, revealed his experiences of doping in the sport, stating that, in the 1960 Rome Olympics, "dope - whole cartloads - [was] used in royal quantities."
- Born: Maurice Smith, African-American kickboxer, World Kickboxing AssociationWorld Kickboxing AssociationThe World Kickboxing Association is one of the oldest and the largest amateur and professional sanctioning organizations of kickboxing in the world for the sport. Its official name is "World Kickboxing and Karate Association"....
world heavyweight champion 1983-1993, UFC heavyweight champion in 1997; in Seattle - Died: Grandma MosesGrandma MosesAnna Mary Robertson Moses , better known as "Grandma Moses", was a renowned American folk artist. She is often cited as an example of an individual successfully beginning a career in the arts at an advanced age. Although her family and friends called her either "Mother Moses" or "Grandma Moses,"...
, 101, American painter
December 14, 1961 (Thursday)
- Twenty schoolchildren were killed and 13 seriously injured near Greeley, ColoradoGreeley, ColoradoThe City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...
when their school bus was struck by a Union Pacific train. The crossing, located to the west of EvansEvans, ColoradoThe City of Evans is a Home Rule Municipality located in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The population was 9,514 at the 2000 census, and estimated at 18,842 as of July 1, 2008, by the Census Bureau...
, did not have flashing lights. The engineer for the train "City of Denver", which was inbound from Chicago at 80 miles per hour, told police that the driver, who had only minor injuries, did not stop at the crossing, while a student on the bus reported that the driver stopped at the crossing and opened the door. The 23 year old driver, Duane Harms, was acquitted of manslaughter. - The Presidential Commission on the Status of WomenPresidential Commission on the Status of WomenThe Presidential Commission on the Status of Women was established to advise the President of the United States on issues concerning the status of women. It was created by John F. Kennedy's executive order 10980 signed December 14, 1961.-Background:...
was created by Executive Order 10980 by U.S. President Kennedy, with former First Lady Eleanor RooseveltEleanor RooseveltAnna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
as the honorary chairman. The Commission's report, American Women, was published in 1965 and described the unequal treatment faced by women in American society. - Nazim al-KudsiNazim al-KudsiNazim al-Kudsi, also spelled "Koudsi", "al-Qudsi" or "al-Cudsi" , was a Syrian politician and head of state . He was born in and raised in Aleppo...
was elected, unopposed, by the 172 member National Assembly as President of Syria. Former Premier Khalid al-AzmKhalid al-AzmKhalid al-Azm was a Syrian national leader and six-time Prime Minister, as well as Acting President...
withdrew his name from consideration prior to the voting. - TanganyikaTanganyikaTanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
(the future Tanzania) was admitted to the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. - Died: John Joseph BittnerJohn Joseph BittnerJohn Joseph Bittner was a geneticist and cancer biologist, who made many contributions on the genetics of breast cancer research, which were of value, not only in cancer research, but also in a variety of other biological investigations.- Biography :Bittner was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on...
, 57, American geneticist and cancer researcher; Richard SchirrmannRichard SchirrmannRichard Schirrmann was a German teacher and founder of the first youth hostel.Born in Grunenfeld , Province of Prussia, as the son of a teacher, Schirrmann studied to become a teacher himself. In 1895 he received his qualification, and was sent to Altena, Westphalia, in 1903...
, 87, German teacher and founder of first youth hostel; Emil SoderstenEmil SoderstenEmil Lawrence Sodersten was an Australian architect active in the second quarter of the 20th century. His work encompassed the Australian architectural styles of Art Deco and Functionalist & Moderne. His deign for the Australian War Memorial was "the first national architectural monument in...
, 62, Australian architect
December 15, 1961 (Friday)
- The United Nations General AssemblyUnited Nations General AssemblyFor two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
declined a resolution to allow the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
membership. The vote was 36 in favor, 48 against, with 20 abstentions. On the same day, a resolution declaring Communist Chinese membership an "important question", requiring 2/3rds approval rather than a simple majority, passed 61-34, with 7 abstentions. - The Israeli war crimes tribunal sentenced Adolf EichmannAdolf EichmannAdolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
to death for his part in the HolocaustThe HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Chief Judge Landau delivered the decision in Hebrew at Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem. - The first episode in the long-running BBC series, Comedy PlayhouseComedy Playhouse (series 1)The first series of Comedy Playhouse, the long-running BBC series, aired from 15 December 1961 to 16 February 1962. All the episodes were written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.-Background:...
, was presented. - Soviet KGB officer Anatoliy GolitsynAnatoliy GolitsynAnatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE is a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about the long-term deception strategy of the KGB leadership. He was born in Piryatin, Ukrainian SSR...
, who had memorized the details of secret documents and cases, defected to the West at the American CIA station office in HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
. Golitsyn has been described by one author as "perhaps the most controversial and divisive defector of the Cold War". - Born: Reginald HudlinReginald HudlinReginald Alan Hudlin is an American writer and film director.-Biography:Hudlin is the son of Helen , a teacher, and Warrington W. Hudlin, Sr., an insurance executive and teacher...
, African-American writer and film producer (House PartyHouse Party (film)House Party is a 1990 American comedy film released by New Line Cinema. It stars Kid and Play of the popular hip hop duo Kid 'n Play, and also stars Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou, and B-Fine from Full Force, and Robin Harris . The film also starred Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, A.J...
), President of Black Entertainment TelevisionBlack Entertainment TelevisionBlack Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
2005-08; in Centreville, IllinoisCentreville, IllinoisCentreville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States of America. The population was 5,951 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Centreville is located at .... - Died: Dummy HoyDummy HoyWilliam Ellsworth Hoy , nicknamed "Dummy," was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for several teams from 1888 to 1902, most notably the Cincinnati Reds and two Washington, D.C...
, 99, American baseball player
December 16, 1961 (Saturday)
- The African National CongressAfrican National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
, frustrated with peaceful attempts to end apartheid in South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, began a bombing campaign with a new organization, Umkhonto we SizweUmkhonto we SizweUmkhonto we Sizwe , translated "Spear of the Nation," was the armed wing of the African National Congress which fought against the South African apartheid government. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961...
, setting off explosions at empty government buildings in JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, Port Elizabeth and DurbanDurbanDurban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
. "Had we intended to attack life," Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
would say in a statement at his trial in 1964, "we would have selected targets where people congregated, and not empty buildings and power stations." The Manifesto of Umkhonto, published the same day, began, "The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices— submit or fight. That time has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no choice but to hit back by all means in our power in defence of our people, our future, and our freedom." The only casualty was one of the saboteurs, Petrus Molefe, who died at the Dube township in Johannesburg, when the bomb he was placing exploded prematurely. There would be 190 attacks in all until the group was suppressed in 1963, and only one other death, when a young girl was killed by a bomb. - The British medical journal The LancetThe LancetThe Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
published a letter from Dr. W. G. McBride, an Australian obstetrician in the SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of Hurstville, New South WalesHurstville, New South WalesHurstville is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Hurstville is located 16 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of...
, with the heading "Thalidomide and Congenital Abnormalities" The letter, which brought the link between thalidomideThalidomideThalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
and birth defects to the world's attention, began "Sir- Congenital abnormalities are present in approximately 1.5% of babies. In recent months, I have observed that the incidence of multiple severe abnormalities in babies delivered of women who were given the drug thalidomide ("Distaval") during pregnancy, as an anti-emitic or as a sedative, to be almost 20%..." - Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa was crowned Emir of Bahrain.
- Born: Salatyn AsgarovaSalatyn AsgarovaSalatyn Aziz qizi Asgarova is a National Hero of Azerbaijan. She was one of the Azerbaijani journalists killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh war.-Early life:...
, Azerbaijani journalist, in Baku (d. 1991); and Bill HicksBill HicksWilliam Melvin "Bill" Hicks was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy...
, American comedian, in Valdosta, GeorgiaValdosta, GeorgiaValdosta is the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 54,518. The Valdosta metropolitan area, according to the 2010 estimate, has a population of 139,588...
(d. 1994) - Died: Hans RebaneHans RebaneHans Rebane was an Estonian politician, diplomat and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia.Rebane was Estonian envoy in Helsinki 1931–1937, 1937–1940 in Riga. He died in Stockholm....
, 78, Estonian politician
December 17, 1961 (Sunday)
- Niterói circus fireNiterói circus fireThe Niterói circus fire was a fire disaster which occurred on December 17, 1961 in the city of Niterói, Brazil. A fire in the tent housing a sold-out performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano caused more than 500 deaths ; it was later proven to be caused by arson...
: A fire at a circus at NiteróiNiteróiNiterói is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeast region of Brazil. It has an estimated population of 487,327 inhabitants and an area of ², being the sixth most populous city in the state and the highest Human Development Index. Integrates the Metropolitan Region of Rio de...
, in the Rio de Janeiro State in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, killed 323 people and injured hundreds of others. Most of the victims were children; many were burned or died of smoke inhalation, while others were trampled as the crowd (originally 2,500 people) attempted to escape. Towards the end of the second afternoon performance of the Gran Circus Norte-Americano, the circus tent had 2,500 spectators. At 3:45 pm, as trapeze artists began their act, the nylon tent caught on fire and then fell upon the crowd and the wooden bleachers inside. Days later, Adilson Marcelino Alves, a disgruntled worker nicknamed "Dequinha", confessed to pouring gasoline on part of the tent with gasoline, with the help of Walter Rosa dos Santos ("Bigode") and José dos Santos ("Pardal"), in revenge for not being given free tickets to the circus after helping erect the tent. The three conspirators were sentenced to 16 years in prison. - The Zimbabwe African People's UnionZimbabwe African People's UnionThe Zimbabwe African People's Union was a militant organization and political party that fought for the national liberation of Zimbabwe from its founding in 1961 until it merged with the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front in December 1987....
(ZAPU) was founded by Robert MugabeRobert MugabeRobert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
and Joshua NkomoJoshua NkomoJoshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union and a member of the Kalanga tribe...
with the goal of eliminating white colonial rule in Southern RhodesiaSouthern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
(which would become, in 1965, RhodesiaRhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
and in 1979, ZimbabweZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
. The two would later become President and Vice-President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. - A legislative electionSalvadoran Constitutional Assembly election, 1961Constitutional Assembly elections were held in El Salvador on 17 December 1961. The result was a victory for the National Conciliation Party, which won all 54 seats.-Results:...
held in El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, for 54 deputies to that country's Constituent Assembly.
December 18, 1961 (Monday)
- 1961 Indian Annexation of Goa: At 5:15 am, Operation Vijay was launched by the Army and Navy of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, as 30,000 troops invaded the Portuguese colonies at GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, Damao and Diu. The colonies, founded in 1510 and collectively known as Portuguese IndiaPortuguese IndiaThe Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
comprised 1,537 square miles and had a population of 650,000 people. By 5:00 in the afternoon, all but the capital had been taken. Major General Kenneth Candeth, who led the invasion by 30,000 troops, was named the new Governor of Goa. The Portuguese warship NRP Afonso de AlbuquerqueNRP Afonso de AlbuquerqueThe NRP Afonso de Albuquerque was a warship of the Portuguese Navy, named after the 16th century Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque. She was destroyed in combat on 18 December 1961, defending Goa against the Indian Armed Forces invasion....
traded fire with the Indian Navy ship INS Betwa and was destroyed, with five of the crew killed. The Portuguese Governor-general, Manuel António Vassalo e SilvaManuel António Vassalo e SilvaManuel António Vassalo e Silva , was the 128th and last Governor-General of Portuguese India.-Background:...
, declined to follow a cabled order from Portugal's Prime Minister António de Oliveira SalazarAntónio de Oliveira SalazarAntónio de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
that prohibited surrender and closed with "Our soldiers or sailors must conquer or die." - CONCACAFCONCACAFThe Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football is the continental governing body for association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean...
(Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) was founded in Mexico City by the merger of the North American Football Confederation and the Confederacion Centroamericana y del Caribe de Futbol. - The Scottish League Cup Final1961 Scottish League Cup FinalThe 1961 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 28 October 1961 and replayed on 18 December 1961. Both matches were played at Hampden Park in Glasgow and it was the final of the 16th Scottish League Cup competition. The final was contested by Rangers and Heart of Midlothian. The first match ended...
was replayed at Hampden Park. Rangers F.C.Rangers F.C.Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
defeated Heart of Midlothian F.C.Heart of Midlothian F.C.Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...
3–1. - Addis Ababa UniversityAddis Ababa UniversityAddis Ababa University is a university in Ethiopia. It was originally named "University College of Addis Ababa" at its founding, then renamed for the former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I in 1962, receiving its current name in 1975.Although the university has six of its seven campuses within...
was established as Haile Selassie I University by the consolidation of several smaller colleges, with a total enrollment of 1,000 students. By the end of the century, there were over 19,000 students at the largest university in EthiopiaEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
.
December 19, 1961 (Tuesday)
- At 2:30 pm, Portuguese India's Governor-General Vassalo e Silva signed an unconditional surrender in front of Indian Brigadier General K.S. Dhillon, bringing an end to the colony to 451 years of Portuguese rule. GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli were incorporated into India as a single Union TerritoryUnion TerritoryA Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the federal framework of governance. Unlike the states of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal government; the President of India appoints an Administrator or...
. In 1987, Goa became the 25th State of India. - IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
's President SukarnoSukarnoSukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia.Sukarno was the leader of his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands and was Indonesia's first President from 1945 to 1967...
announced a military campaign that he called "Trikora" (Tri Komando Rakyat, or "Three Commands to the People"): (1) Take over the Netherlands' territory of West Papua and put an end to creation of a republic there (2) Take over the Netherlands' territory of West Irian; and (3) Mobilize all of Indonesia's resources for those purposes. - The World Food Program was created by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1714, adopted unanimously.
- The Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
's civilian space agency, was created by legislation signed by President De Gaulle. - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and the father of U.S. President John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
, suffered a massive stroke after playing golf in Palm Beach, FloridaPalm Beach, FloridaThe Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
. He never recovered his ability to speak, and outlived both John and Bobby, dying in 1969. - Born: Eric Allin CornellEric Allin CornellEric Allin Cornell is an American physicist who, along with Carl E. Wieman, was able to synthesize the first Bose–Einstein condensate in 1995...
, American physicist and Nobel laureate, in Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
; Matthew WaterhouseMatthew WaterhouseMatthew Waterhouse is an English actor and writer best known for his role as Adric in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
, English Doctor Who actor, in HertfordHertfordHertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...
; and Reggie WhiteReggie WhiteReginald Howard "Reggie" White was a professional American football player. He played 15 seasons as a defensive end in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history...
, African-American NFL defensive end and ordained Baptist minister, nicknamed "The Minister of Defense"; in Chattanooga (d. 2004)
December 20, 1961 (Wednesday)
- UN General Assembly Resolution 1723 (XVI) was passed, declaring that the large-scale exodus of Tibetan people was linked to a violation of its human rights and the suppression of its culture and religion.
- The last legal execution on the island of Ireland took place as Robert McGladderyRobert McGladderyRobert Andrew McGladdery was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland.He battered, strangled and stabbed Pearl Gamble, aged 19, on 28 January 1961 and left her body at Upper Damolly, near Newry, County Down....
was executed for murder in BelfastBelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. - Sir Geoffrey de FreitasGeoffrey de FreitasSir Geoffrey Stanley de Freitas was a British politician and diplomat. For many years a Labour Member of Parliament, he also served as British High Commissioner in Accra and Nairobi, and later as President of the Council of Europe....
resigned his seat in the UK House of Commons to become British High Commissioner in GhanaGhanaGhana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
– the first Labour appointment to an important role in one of the newly independent former British colonies. - Born: Freddie SpencerFreddie SpencerFreddie Spencer , known by the nickname Fast Freddie, is an American former World Champion motorcycle racer. Spencer is regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle racers of the early 1980s.-Biography:...
, American motorcycle racer, in Shreveport, Louisiana - Died: Moss HartMoss HartMoss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director, best known for his interpretations of musical theater on Broadway.-Early years:...
, 57, American dramatist and director; Earle PageEarle PageSir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament.-Early life:...
, 81, former Prime Minister of Australia, eleven days after losing his parliamentary seat in the federal election
December 21, 1961 (Thursday)
- At the U.N. military base at KitonaKitonaKitona is a town of about 4,000 persons in the Bas-Congo province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located to the southwest of the country along the Atlantic Ocean, about 190 miles southwest of the capital city of Kinshasa. Following the Second World War, a Belgian military base,...
, in the CongoRepublic of the Congo (Léopoldville)The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960...
, Katangan President Moise TshombeMoise TshombeMoïse Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese politician.- Biography :He was the son of a successful Congolese businessman and was born in Musumba, Congo. He received his education from an American missionary school and later trained as an accountant...
and Congolese Prime Minister Cyrille AdoulaCyrille AdoulaCyrille Adoula , was a Congolese politician. Adoula was the premier of the Republic of the Congo, from 2 August 1961 until 30 June 1964.Adoula was born in Léopoldville...
signed an 8-point agreement, bringing an end to Tshombe's attempt to create a separate nation out of the mineral-rich Congolese province. - Died: Hinrich Wilhelm KopfHinrich Wilhelm Kopfthumb|right|Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf 1948Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf was a German politician, who served as Prime Minister of Lower Saxony from 1946 to 1955 and from 1959 to 1961...
, 68, former Minister-President of Lower Saxony and third President of the German BundesratPresident of the German BundesratIn Germany, the President of the Bundesrat or President of the Federal Council is the chairperson or speaker of the Bundesrat . The presidency of the Bundesrat rotates among the heads of government of each of the states on an annual basis...
December 22, 1961 (Friday)
- Internal political autonomy was granted to the ComorosComorosThe Comoros , officially the Union of the Comoros is an archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar...
by France. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ljubljana was elevated to the status of a Metropolitan ArchdioceseRoman Catholic Archdiocese of LjubljanaThe Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ljubljana is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia. It was erected as the Diocese of Ljubljana by Pope Eugene IV on 6 December 1461 and was immediately subject to the Holy See from its creation until erected...
. - Born: Andrew FastowAndrew FastowAndrew Stuart Fastow was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation that was based in Houston, Texas until the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into his and the company's conduct in 2001...
, American fraudster, in Washington D.C.; Yuri MalenchenkoYuri MalenchenkoYuri Ivanovich Malenchenko is a Ukrainian-Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas, while he was 240 miles over New Zealand, on the International Space Station...
, Ukrainian cosmonaut, in Svitlovodsk - Died: Elia Dalla CostaElia Dalla CostaElia Angelo Dalla Costa was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Florence from 1931 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1933.-Biography:...
, 89, Italian cardinal - Died: U.S. Army Specialist 4 James T. Davis, 25, of Livingston, TennesseeLivingston, TennesseeLivingston is a town in Overton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,498 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Overton County...
became the first American combat fatality in the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Davis had been ordered to lead a South Vietnamese Army team near Cau Xang, and was the lone American among ten soldiers killed in a Viet Cong ambush.
December 23, 1961 (Saturday)
- Fiumarella rail disasterFiumarella rail disasterThe Fiumarella rail disaster was one of the most serious incidents in the history of the Italian railways. It occurred at about 7.45 am on 23 December 1961, at the Fiumarella viaduct, near Catanzaro, in the region of Calabria, southern Italy.-History:...
: A crowded railroad car, carrying Christmas shoppers, as well as students and migrant workers heading home for the holiday, jumped a track near Catanzaro in Southern ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and plunged down a 100 foot embankment and into the rain swollen Fiumarella River, killing 71 people. The dead were from the villages of Cerrisi, DecollaturaDecollaturaDecollatura is a comune and town in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy.It is famous for being the birthplace of the Italian poet Michele Pane -Notes and references:* Imperio Assisi et al., Decollatura e Motta S...
, and Soveria MannelliSoveria MannelliSoveria Mannelli is a town and comune in the province of Catanzaro, in the Calabria region of southern Italy.-Geography:The town is bordered by Bianchi , Carlopoli, Colosimi, Decollatura, Gimigliano, Pedivigliano.-History:...
. The engineer, Ciro Micelli, survived and was later sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter after a court found that he had taken the curved railroad track at almost twice the speed limit. - Eighteen people on the motor launch Roby Anita drowned after teh boat capsized off of Mindanao Island in the Philippines. Another 63 were rescued.
- LuxembourgLuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
's National DayNational DayThe National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming republic or a significant date for a patron saint or a ruler . Often the day is not called "National Day"...
, the Grand Duke's Official BirthdayGrand Duke's Official BirthdayThe Grand Duke's Official Birthday is celebrated as the annual national holiday of Luxembourg. It is celebrated on 23 June, although this has never been the actual birthday of any ruler of Luxembourg...
, was set as June 23 by Grand Ducal decree. - Born: Carol SmillieCarol SmillieCarol Patricia Smillie is a Scottish television personality, model and actress. Smillie is well-known for presenting the award winning BBC series Changing Rooms, which won her a National Television Award for Most Popular Factual Programme in 1998.She became the hostess of the British version of...
, Scottish TV personality, in Glasgow - Died: Wolfgang Steinecke, 51, German musician who founded the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in DarmstadtDarmstadtDarmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, after being struck by a car; Gotthard SachsenbergGotthard SachsenbergGotthard Sachsenberg was a German World War I fighter ace with 31 victories who went on to command the world's first naval air wing...
, 69, German World War I air ace; and Kurt "Panzermeyer" Meyer, 51, German General who defended against the Normandy invasion during World War II
December 24, 1961 (Sunday)
- At the town of BugalagrandeBugalagrandeBugalagrande is a town and municipality located in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia....
in western ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, a terrorist bomb killed 51 people who were participating in a religious procession on Christmas Eve. The blast went off in an army barracks as worshippers were passing through the town square. - Francisco FrancoFrancisco FrancoFrancisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, the long-time dictator of SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, was shot and wounded. Franco had been pigeon shooting at El PardoEl PardoThe Royal Palace of El Pardo is a historical building near Madrid, Spain, in the present-day district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. Owned by the Spanish state and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional agency, the palace began as a hunting lodge.-Overview:...
when a shell casing from his gun exploded, injuring his left hand. While he recovered during the first few months of 1962, Franco delegated some of his powers to his Interior Minister, General Camilo Alonso Vega, and his the Director General of Security, Carlos Arias NavarroCarlos Arias NavarroDon Carlos Arias-Navarro, 1st Marquis of Arias-Navarro, Grandee of Spain, born Carlos Arias y Navarro was one of the best known Spanish politicians during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco....
. - Radio Mecca reported a breakthrough in a move toward democracy in Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, with news that Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud had submitted a proposed new Constitution to King Ibn Saud and his Council of Ministers. The draft, which would have created an elected legislature, was rejected, and three days later, Radio Mecca denied ever broadcasting the news. - The Houston Oilers beat the home team San Diego ChargersSan Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, 10-3, to win the 1961 American Football League Championship Game1961 American Football League Championship GameThe 1961 American Football League Championship Game was a repeat the first AFL title game, between the Houston Oilers and the San Diego Chargers...
. - PERMIASPermiasPERMIAS is an organization that unites Indonesian college students in the United States. The organization was founded in 24 December 1961 in Washington, D.C.. PERMIAS is an Indonesian acronym for Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di Amerika Serikat. Translated into English, it means "Organization of...
(PERsatuan Mahasiwa Indonesia di Amerika Serikat, or the Organization of Indonesian Students in the United States), was founded in Washington, D.C., the first and largest of several Indonesian-American groups in the U.S. - Born: Ilham AliyevIlham AliyevIlham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...
, President of Azerbaijan, in Baku
December 25, 1961 (Monday)
- Pope John XXIIIPope John XXIII-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
issued the papal bull Humanae salutis ("of human salvation") to summon the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican CouncilThe Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. The announcement surprised everyone, in that the Pope did not consult with advisers beforehand. "Vatican II" would open on October 11, 1962 with participation from Roman Catholic clergy and theologians worldwide. Michael C. Thomsett, Heresy in the Roman Catholic Church: A History (McFarland, 2011) p242 - The Maxwell House HotelMaxwell House HotelThe Maxwell House Hotel was a major hotel in downtown Nashville at which seven US Presidents and other prominent guests stayed. It was built by Colonel John Overton Jr. and named for his wife, Harriet Maxwell Overton. The architect was Isaiah Rogers....
, at one time the most luxurious hotel in Nashville, and the inspiration for Maxwell HouseMaxwell HouseMaxwell House is a brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Foods. Introduced in 1892, it is named in honor of the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. For many years until the late 1980s it was the largest-selling coffee in the U.S. and is currently second behind...
coffee, was completely destroyed by a fire on Christmas night. Although eight U.S. Presidents had stayed at the inn over the years, it later became a residential hotel. - The Soviet Passport office in MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
notified Marina Oswald that she and her husband, Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, would be granted exit visas so that they could travel to the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. - Born: Íngrid BetancourtÍngrid BetancourtIngrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist.Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on 23 February 2002 and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later on 2 July 2008...
, Colombian politician and anti-corruption activist, in Bogotá; Stefan RuzowitzkyStefan RuzowitzkyStefan Ruzowitzky is an Academy Award-winning Austrian film director and screenwriter.-Early life:Ruzowitzky was born in Vienna...
, Austrian film director, in Vienna; David ThompsonDavid Thompson (Barbadian politician)David John Howard Thompson, QC, MP was the sixth Prime Minister of Barbados from January 2008 until his death from pancreatic cancer on 23 October 2010....
, prime minister of Barbados, in London - Died: Otto LoewiOtto LoewiOtto Loewi was a German born pharmacologist whose discovery of acetylcholine helped enhance medical therapy. The discovery earned for him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936 which he shared with Sir Henry Dale, whom he met in 1902 when spending some months in Ernest Starling's...
, 88, German pharmacologist and 1936 Nobel Prize laureate who discovered the acetylcholineAcetylcholineThe chemical compound acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in both the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system in many organisms including humans...
, the first identified neurotransmitterNeurotransmitterNeurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...
.
December 26, 1961 (Tuesday)
- The Kingdom of YemenYemenThe Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, which had joined Egypt and Syria in March, 1958, to become part of the United Arab RepublicUnited Arab RepublicThe United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
, broke ties with the government of Egypt's Gamel Abdel Nasser. The Imam of Yemen had retained his throne while being linked with the UAR under the collective name "United Arab States". - The 1961 South African Grand Prix1961 South African Grand PrixResults from the non-Championship Formula One VIII South African Grand Prix held at East London on December 26, 1961.-Results:- Notes :*Pole position: Jim Clark - 1:33.9*Fastest Lap: Jim Clark - 1:33.1...
was won by Jim ClarkJim ClarkJames "Jim" Clark, Jr OBE was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965....
. - A new Higher Education Law was passed by the government of LebanonLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
December 27, 1961 (Wednesday)
- The Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
, at that time still the tallest skyscraper in the world, was sold to a group of investors headed by Lawrence A. Wien for $65,000,000. In what was described, at that time, as "the most complex transaction in real estate history", the closing, required the services of almost 100 professionals. It took place at the headquarters of the seller, the Prudential Insurance Company, in NewarkNewark-United Kingdom:* Newark-on-Trent, a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England and the oldest Newark** Newark * Newark, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire...
, and the signing of the necessary documents took more than two hours. - Anatoly DobryninAnatoly DobryninAnatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin was a Russian statesman and a former Soviet diplomat and politician. He was Soviet Ambassador to the United States, serving from 1962 to 1986 and most notably during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was appointed by Nikita Khrushchev....
was named as the new Soviet ambassador to the United States, replacing Mikhail A. Menshikov. - Four days after the Catanzaro train wreck that killed 71 people, a crowd of more than 3,000 people, most of them friends and relatives of the dead, attacked the privately-owned Italian railroad line, tearing up the tracks and wrecking stations. Angry protesters set fire to the terminal at Soveria-Mannelli, and at Decollatura, the crowd tore down telephone poles.
- The Scout Association of Hong KongThe Scout Association of Hong KongThe Scout Association of Hong Kong is the overall Scouting organization in Hong Kong. After the first Scouting initiatives in 1909, the Hong Kong branch of The Scout Association of the United Kingdom was started in 1914 by registering the St. Joseph's College Scout Group, and was formally...
held its Hong Kong Golden Jubilee Jamborette, celebrating the 50th anniversary of scouting in Hong Kong. - Born: Prince Tikka Raja Shri Shatrujit Singh of Kapurthala, in New Delhi, India; Guido WesterwelleGuido WesterwelleGuido Westerwelle [] is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has been serving as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions...
, Vice-Chancellor of Germany, in Bad Honnef - Died: Hermann FoertschHermann FoertschHermann Foertsch was a highly decorated General der Infanterie in the Wehrmacht during World War II who held commands at the divisional, corps and army levels. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme...
, 66, German World War II general
December 28, 1961 (Thursday)
- Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, who was sometimes referred to as the "first woman president" of the United States after her husband, Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, was disabled by a stroke, died at the age of 89. Mrs. Wilson's passing occurred on the 105th anniversary of her husband's birth, and she had been scheduled that day that to have dedicated the Woodrow Wilson BridgeWoodrow Wilson BridgeThe Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. While over the water near the Virginia shore, it crosses the southern tip of the District of...
in Washington. - The Defence Food Research LaboratoryDefence Food Research LaboratoryThe Defence Food Research Laboratory is an Indian defense laboratory of the Defence Research & Development Organization . Located in Mysore, Karnataka, it conducts research and development of technologies and products in the area of Food Science and Technology to cater the varied food challenges...
was established in Mysore, India. - Canada's first BOMARC Missile squadron was formed.
- Born: Katina SchubertKatina SchubertKatina Schubert , is a German politician who since 2007 is one of four deputy chairmen of the German socialist party Die Linke ....
, German politician, in Heidelberg - Died:
December 29, 1961 (Friday)
- Enver Nazar ogly Alikhanov became the Premier of the Azerbaijan SSRAzerbaijan SSRThe Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
, at that time one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. - Died: Anton FlettnerAnton FlettnerAnton Flettner was a German aviation engineer and inventor. He made important contributions to airplane and helicopter design...
, 76, German aviation engineer and inventor
December 30, 1961 (Saturday)
- Congolese troops captured Albert KalonjiAlbert KalonjiAlbert Kalonji is a Congolese politician best known for leading the short-lived secessionist state of South Kasai during the Congo Crisis...
, who had declared the independence of the Congolese province of South KasaiSouth KasaiSouth Kasai was a secessionist region in the area of south central Republic of the Congo during the early 1960s. The region sought independence in similar circumstances to neighboring State of Katanga during the political turmoil arising from the decolonization of Belgian Congo...
, with himself as President, and later as the King. With South Kasai reconstituted into the Republic of Congo, Kalonji was imprisoned, but would escape on September 7, 1962, making a final, unsuccessful attempt, to set up a new government. - More than 25 years after it had been written, the Fourth Symphony of Dmitri ShostakovichSymphony No. 4 (Shostakovich)Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Opus 43, between September 1935 and May 1936, after abandoning some preliminary sketch material...
was first performed. The Moscow Philharmonic OrchestraMoscow Philharmonic OrchestraThe Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1951 by Samuil Samosud, as the Moscow Youth Orchestra for young and inexperienced musicians, acquiring its current name in 1953...
, conducted by Kirill Kondrashin, played the symphony at the Great Hall of the Moscow ConservatoryMoscow ConservatoryThe Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...
. The original score had been destroyed during World War II, but was reconstructed from sources discovered in 1960. - Diosdado MacapagalDiosdado MacapagalDiosdado Pangan Macapagal was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970...
was sworn into office as the new President of the PhilippinesPresident of the PhilippinesThe President of the Philippines is the head of state and head of government of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines...
. - Born: Douglas CouplandDouglas CouplandDouglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognized works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized terms such as McJob and...
, Canadian novelist, at a NATO base in Baden-Söllingen, West GermanyWest GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
; and Ben Johnson, Canadian Olympic athlete whose world records for the 100 meter dash would be annulled because of his steroid use; in Falmouth, JamaicaFalmouth, JamaicaFalmouth is the chief town and capital of the parish of Trelawny in Jamaica. It is situated on Jamaica's north coast 18 miles east of Montego Bay. It is noted for being one of the Caribbean’s best-preserved Georgian towns....
December 31, 1961 (Sunday)
- Ireland's first national television station, Telefís ÉireannRaidió Teilifís ÉireannRaidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
(later RTÉRTERTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
), began broadcasting. A speech by Irish President Eamon de ValeraÉamon de ValeraÉamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
opened the new era. Previously, the eastern area of the Republic of Ireland was able to receive broadcasts from the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
from Great Britain. - The Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
defeated the visiting New York GiantsNew York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, 37-0, to win the 1961 NFL Championship Game. - Died: Leo LentelliLeo LentelliLeo Lentelli was an Italian sculptor who immigrated to the United States. During his 52 years in the United States he created works throughout the country, notably in New York and San Francisco. He also taught sculpture....
, 82, Italian sculptor