- January 20
- Arthur M Ramsay becomes archbishop of Canterbury. [1]
- Inauguration ceremony for John Kennedy as President of the United States. [1] [468.31]
- Yugoslav ex-Vice-President Milovan Djilas flees. [1]
- January 21
- Portuguese rebels seize cruise ship Santa Maria. [1]
- January 23
- Venezuela adopts constitution. [1]
- January 24
- Lazard Brothers Ltd draw a check for US$334,867,807.68. [1]
- January 25
- Military coup in El Salvador. [1]
- Buena Vista premieres Disney's animated feature film One Hundred and One Dalmatians in selected theaters in the USA. The film is based on the book The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. [6]
- January 28
- Republic of Rwanda proclaimed. [1]
- January 31
- David Ben-Gurion resigns as premier of Israel. [1]
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- "Ham" is first primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2. [1]
- NATO Secretary-General Paul-Henri Spaak says he'll resign. [1]
- US Air Force launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights. [1]
- February 1
- First full-scale test of US Minuteman ICBM is successful. [1]
- British minister Enoch Powell makes medical insurance more expensive. [1]
- February 4
- Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure. [1]
- February 9
- First performance of The Beatles music group at the Cavern Club in England. [1394.84]
- Joseph Ileo appointed premier of Congo. [1]
- February 11
- Patrice Lumumba, first premier of Congo, murdered at age 34. [1]
- February 12
- USSR launches Venera 1 toward Venus. [1] [5]
- February 14
- British colonies in southern Africa switch to decimal currency: rand and cents. [1156.50]
- Element 103, Lawrencium, first produced in Berkeley, California, USA. [1]
- February 15
- Entire US figure skating team of 18 dies in Belgian Sabena 707 crash. [1]
- February 16
- First all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island, Virginia, USA. [1]
- China uses its first nuclear reactor. [1]
- February 19
- Albania disavows Chinese "Revisionism". [1]
- February 21
- Gabon adopts constitution. [1]
- February 23
- In Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia a loading dock is struck by a falling meteorite. [521]
- March 1
- US President John Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps. [1]
- March 3
- King Hassan II ascends to throne of Morocco. [1]
- March 4
- Paul-Henri Spaak resigns as Secretary-General of NATO. [1]
- March 6
- First London minicabs introduced in England. [1]
- March 8
- US nuclear submarine Patrick Henry arrives at Scottish naval base of Holy Loch from South Carolina in a record underseas journey of 66 days 22 hours. [1]
- March 9
- Mine cave-in in Japan kills 72. [1]
- Sputnik 9 carries Chernushka (dog) into orbit. [1]
- March 13
- Landslide in USSR kills 145. [1]
- March 15
- South Africa withdraws from British Commonwealth. [1]
- March 25
- Explorer 10 is launched into elongated Earth orbit (177/181,000 km). [1]
- Sputnik 10 carries a dog into Earth orbit; later recovered. [1]
- March 27
- Belgian government of Eyskens resigns. [1]
- Failed assassination attempt on King Saif al-Islam Achmad of Yemen. [1]
- March 29
- After a 4.5-year trial, Nelson Mandela is acquitted on treason charge. [1]
- March 31
- Aklilou Habtewold becomes first premier of Ethiopia. [1]
- April 5
- Dutch Governor Platteel installs New Guinea Council. [1]
- April 8
- British liner Dara explodes in Persian Gulf, kills 236. [1]
- April 11
- Austrian fourth and last government of Raab resigns. [1]
- Israel begins the Adolf Eichman WWII crimes trial. [1]
- April 12
- USSR Vostok program launches Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin into Earth orbit, becoming first person to orbit Earth aboard Vostok 1. [1] [452.94] [627.60] [1140.131]
- April 13
- United Nations General Assembly condemns South Africa for apartheid. [1]
- Inauguration of first Chinese atomic reactor, at the National Tsing-thua University Institute of Nuclear Science. [707.273]
- April 14
- First live television broadcast from the Soviet Union. [1]
- Cuban-American invasion army departs Nicaragua. [1]
- US element 103 (Lawrencium) discovered. [1]
- April 17
- 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs and attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. [1]
- April 21
- Dirk U Stikker chosen as Secretary-General of NATO. [1]
- April 22
- Uprising of French parachutist of General Salan/Challe in Algeria. [1]
- April 24
- The Swedish Vasa warship is pulled to the surface of the Baltic for the first time since 1628. [1] [7]
- US President John Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs aborted invasion of Cuba. [1]
- April 25
- France performs nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds, Algeria. [1]
- Premier Moïse Tsjombe of Katanga arrested in Congo. [1]
- Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit. [1] [5]
- April 26
- French paratroopers' revolt suppressed in Algeria. [1]
- April 27
- NASA launches Explorer 11 into Earth orbit to study gamma rays. [1]
- Sierra Leone declares independence from United Kingdom. [1]
- April 30
- Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba receives Lenin-Peace Prize. [1]
- May 1
- Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba. [1]
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird). [1]
- Tanganyika granted full internal self-government by Britain. [1]
- May 3
- The former Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa. [700.47A]
- May 4
- South Africa African National Congress-leader John Nkadimeng is arrested. [1]
- May 5
- American NASA space program launches Alan Shepard aboard Freedom 7 toward space, becomes first American in space, lasting 15 minutes, landing 302.5 miles downrange. [1] [627.60] [1140.131]
- May 6
- Omer Vanaudenhove chosen chairman of Belgium Liberal Party. [1]
- May 8
- First practical sea water conversion plant-Freeport, Texas, USA. [1]
- May 9
- US Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton N Minow criticizes TV as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters. [1] [457]
- May 15
- Pope John XXIII publishes encyclical Mater et Magistra. [1]
- May 17
- Fidel Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers. [1]
- May 20
- Mauritania adopts constitution. [1]
- May 22
- First revolving restaurant (top of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington) opens. [1]
- May 25
- US President John Kennedy appeals to Congress that the nation should commit to "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth" by the end of the decade. [1] [5] [129] [452.94]
- May 26
- US Air Force bomber flies the Atlantic in a record of just over three hours. [1]
- May 28
- British newspaper The London Observer publishes British lawyer Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners", launching the Appeal for Amnesty, calling for the release of all people imprisoned in various parts of the world because of the peaceful expression of their beliefs. (This leads to the creation of Amnesty International.) [1] [129]
- Last trip (Paris to Bucharest) on Orient Express (after 78 years). [1]
- May 30
- Dutch DC-8 crashes after takeoff at Lisbon, Portugal, 62 die. [1]
- Rafael L Trujillo Molina, dictator of Dominican Republic (1930-61), murdered at age 69. [1]
- May 31
- Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa, leaving the British Commonwealth. [1] [1054.194]
- Northern Cameroons joins Nigeria. [707.27]
- June 16
- Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to West in Paris, France. [1]
- June 19
- Kuwait regains complete independence from Britain. [1] [1367.347]
- June 25
- Iraq announces that Kuwait is a part of Iraq (Kuwait disagrees). [1]
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