Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of the U.S. Congress, that the United States "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." Date: May 25, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia…
American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus. Date: May 24, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 24 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)
American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out. Date: May 21, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 21 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)
At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement. Date: May 19, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 19 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)
Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). Date: May 19, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 19 📅 Events on this day in…
Park Chung Hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea. Date: May 16, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 16 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)
Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle. Date: May 14, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 14 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This…
Air France Flight 406 is destroyed by a bomb over the Sahara, killing 78. Date: May 10, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 10 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)
Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. Date: May 5, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 5 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)
Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km). Date: May 4, 1961 Read more on Wikipedia → 📅 Other events on May 4 📅 Events on this day in 1961 📅 On This Day (Today)