Highlights of 1961/1962
"Our World When We Were Seniors"

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1961

1962


Major Events

  • Outgoing President Eisenhower issues warning of a "military industrial complex" developing in America.

  • President Kennedy Establishes Peace Corp

  • Cuban exiles fail in bid to invade Cuba, President Kennedy accepts blame.

  • Soviets build wall dividing East and West Berlin

  • Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann tried in Israel, found guilty.

Science & Technology

  • Cosmonaut Gagarin becomes first human in space during a single orbit flight.

  • Commander Alan Shepard, become first American in space.

  • Soviet space probe Venera 1 becomes the first man-made vehicle to reach another planet when it reaches Venus.

  • First lasers developed.

Sports

  • World Series: New York Yankees over Cincinnati Reds, 4-1

  • Ty Cobb dies

Arts & Entertainment

  • Movies: West Side Story, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremburg

  • Songs: Moon River, Where the Boys Are, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Blue Moon, The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

  • Books:  Catch-22, The Carpetbaggers, The Agony and the Ecstasy, The Winter Of Our Discontent.

  • Ernest Hemmingway dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

  • Gary Cooper dies

Everyday Life

  • Electric Toothbrushes introduced

  • "Frito" Corn chips appear

Fun Facts:

  • "Barbie" gets a boyfriend when "Ken" doll is introduced.


Major Events

  • Soviet missile bases detected in Cuba

  • Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann executed in Israell

  • U.S. establishes semi-permanent military presence in Vietnam

  • Pope John XXIII convenes the Second Vatican Council.

Business & Economy

  • Industrial robots introduced to perform repetitive manufacturing tasks

Science & Technology

  • Lt Col John Glenn becomes first American to achieve earth orbit.

  • Ranger IV first U.S. space probe to reach the moon, where it crash lands by design.

  • Telstar becomes the first communications satellite intended for regular service; relay television signals between North American and Europe.

  • Morning sickness drug thalidomide found to be causing birth defects.

  • Niels Bohr dies (Founder of Quantum Theory)

Sports

  • World Series: New York over San Francisco, 4-3.

Arts & Entertainment

  • Songs: Blowin' in the Wind, Go Away Little Girl, Sherry, Monster Mash, Big Girls Don't Cry.

  • Books: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Travels With Charley, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Thin Red Line.

  • Marilyn Monroe dies (Age 36)

Everyday Life

  • Phil Knight develops the first Nike running shoe.