1961

Berlin Wall built
Maj. Yuri A. Gagarin is first man to orbit around earth
Cuba invaded at Bay of Pigs
Stalingrad re-named Volgograd
Russian cosmonaut, Gherman Stepanovich Titov is launched in Soviet spaceship Vostok II: makes 17 1/2 orbits in 25 hours
Australopithecus fossils discovered in Africa
Ham, the astrochimp, makes a successful trip into space for the US
Navy Cmdr. Alan B. Shepard, Jr. becomes first U.S. man in space
Virgil Grissom - second American astronaut in space
Peace Corps formed
1st American soldier killed in Vietnam
US Minimum Wage - $1.15 per hour
Rudolf Nureyev defects to the West
Roger Maris breaks "Babe" Ruth's single season home run record (61)
1st live broadcast of a Presidential Press Conference
Discovery of acid rain
The "Jackie Kennedy Look" - pillbox hats, bouffant hairstyle
Ernest Hemmingway commits suicide
Joseph Heller's Catch-22
Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy
Robert Heinlein's A Stranger in a Strange Land
Theory of Continental Drift set forth
Development of nondairy creamer
Valium
The disposable diaper
Song and dance - "The Mashed Potato"
Films - "Judgement at Nuremberg", "West Side Story", "The Guns of Navarone", "101 Dalmatians", "A Raisin in the Sun"
TV - "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Dashiell Hammett, Gary Cooper, Carl Jung, Ty Cobb, Dag Hammarskjold, and James Thurber die