September 1, 1961: Eritrea (green) begins 29 year fight for independence from EthiopiaSeptember 18, 1961: UN Secretary-General Hammarskjöld killed in plane crashSeptember 9, 1961: USS Long Beach, world's first nuclear-powered surface ship, commissionedSeptember 17, 1961: Turkey's ex-premier Menderes revived from drug overdose, then hanged
The following events occurred in September 1961:
September 1, 1961 (Friday)
TWA Flight 529 crashed at 2:05 a.m. local time shortly after taking off from Chicago's Midway Airport. The Constellation airplane impacted in a cornfield near Hinsdale, Illinois, killing all 78 people on board. At the time, it was the worst single plane disaster in American history.[1] A later investigation concluded that the accident happened after a bolt fell off of the elevator boost system, causing the plane to suddenly pitch upward and stall.[2]
The Eritrean War of Independence began. The first shot was fired by an Eritrean Liberation Front member Hamid Idris Awate, leader of a group of 11 fighters, against Ethiopian government forces at the Barka district. Awate would be killed in 1962, but the ELF would continue to gather members.[3]
The first meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement took place in Belgrade as the leaders of 24 nations, aligned to neither the U.S. nor the USSR, gathered for a five-day conference hosted by Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito.[4]
The Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing after a moratorium of three years. Neither the U.S. nor the USSR had exploded a nuclear bomb since 1958.[5] The Soviets exploded 45 bombs over 65 days.[6]
Eero Saarinen, 51, Finnish architect and designer[9]
September 2, 1961 (Saturday)
Meeting in Brasília, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies voted 233–55 to amend that nation's constitution to create a parliamentary system of government, to provide for a Prime Minister of Brazil, and to weaken the powers of the President to no more than a figurehead. The vote took place after an all-night debate, in that the ruling military junta refused to allow Vice-president João Goulart, believed to be a leftist, to succeed recently resigned President Jânio Quadros.[10] The parliamentary system of Brazilian government, unique in South America, lasted for 16 months until abolished in a plebiscite in 1963.[11]
United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and United States President John F. Kennedy issued a joint proposal to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, "that their three governments agree, effective immediately, not to conduct nuclear tests which take place in the atmosphere and produce radioactive fall-out", and dropping previous requests for inspection.[14] Khrushchev rejected the proposal, but the U.S., USSR and the UK would later sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963.[15]
The minimum wage in the United States was raised to $1.15 an hour. All covered persons hired on or after that date would still receive the previous minimum of $1.00 an hour.[16] Minimum wage 50 years later would be $7.25 an hour.
The Vencedor, a boat carrying more than 200 persons on a Sunday excursion to a festival in La Bocana, Colombia, sank off the coast of Buenaventura, drowning an estimated 150 people.[17]
Died:Richard Mason, 26, a British explorer who had been leading the 10-man Iriri River Expedition in Central Brazil. While returning to the base camp in the Amazon jungle, 20 miles (32 km) from Cachimbo, Mason was ambushed by a hunting party of at least 15 members of the Panará tribe, who had had no previous contact with the outside world. In accordance with their customs, the Panará laid their weapons next to Mason's body— 15 clubs, and 40 "seven foot long bamboo arrows".[19][20]
September 4, 1961 (Monday)
Richard M. Nixon, former U.S. vice-president and future president of the United States, made a hole-in-one while playing golf at the Bel-Air Country Club, on the 155-yard third hole. Nixon remarked "It's the greatest thrill of my life. Even better than being elected."[21][22] The only other U.S. president to accomplish the rare feat was Gerald R. Ford, who, like Nixon, aced within a year after losing a presidential election, on June 8, 1977.[23]
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was authorized by the signing into law of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which authorized the spending of $4,253,500,000 for economic development and non-military aid to foreign nations.[24] USAID itself was established on November 3.[25]
Marxist Cheddi Jagan was sworn in as the first Premier of British Guiana (now Guyana), after his Progressive Peoples Party won the nation's first general elections since Britain had allowed the colony internal self-government.[28]
The first Football League Cup competition in England was won in Birmingham by Aston Villa over Rotherham United in the second leg of the two-match series. Playing at Millmoor in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Rotherham had won the first match, 2–0, on August 22. Because scoring was based on the aggregate of the scores of the two matches, Aston Villa needed to score at least two goals more than Rotherham to avoid losing. At the end of 90 minutes, Aston Villa was ahead 2–0 and the aggregate was 2–2, requiring extra time. Peter McParland scored in the 109th minute for Aston Villa's 3–2 victory in the sum of two games.
Skyjacking, the act of hijacking an airplane, was made a federal crime by the United States, punishable by 20 years to life in prison, and, in some cases, execution. The law also provided a penalty of $1,000 for illegally carrying a concealed weapon onto an aircraft, and up to five years in prison for giving false information to investigators.[29]
U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would end its own moratorium on nuclear testing after three years, stating, "We have no other choice." The announcement followed the third atomic test in the Soviet Union in one week.[30]
Afghanistan broke off diplomatic relations with Pakistan.[33] With the border closed at the time that the Afghans were preparing to ship their two major export crops (grapes and pomegranates) through Pakistan to India, the Soviet Union offered to ship the perishables by air. Relations were restored in May 1963, but Afghanistan had become dependent on the Soviets for aid.[34]
A secured telephone line between the White House in Washington, D.C., and the Admiralty House in London, was set up in order for the U.S. president and the British prime minister to communicate directly, in real time, with their conversations scrambled. President Kennedy and Prime Minister Macmillan would use the line for the first time in October.[35]
The National Reconnaissance Office began operations in Chantilly, Virginia as a secret U.S. intelligence agency, jointly operated by the CIA and the U.S. Air Force to coordinate satellite surveillance. The existence of the NRO was not publicly revealed until 1992, after the end of the Cold War.[36]
The Soviet Union began high-altitude nuclear tests, by launching two missiles from Kapustin Yar. A 10.5-kiloton weapon was exploded at an altitude of 14 miles (23 km), and a 40-kiloton weapon at 26 miles (42 km) above the Earth. The United States had done similar testing in 1958.[37]
September 7, 1961 (Thursday)
American comedian Jack Paar, host of The Tonight Show on NBC television, taped part of his show in front of the Berlin Wall, bringing with him seven U.S. Army officers and another 50 soldiers, along with jeeps and guns. The incident outraged members of Congress and prompted an investigation by the U.S. Department of Defense. A lieutenant colonel was removed from command, and another colonel admonished, but both were cleared three weeks later after a later investigation "showed the two had done nothing wrong".[38][39][40][41]The Tonight Show broadcast on September 12, using the footage, was called by one critic "as dreary and dull as the Berlin weather".[42]
Tom and Jerry make a return with their first cartoon short since 1958, Switchin' Kitten. The new creator, Gene Deitch, makes 12 more Tom and Jerry shorts through 1962.[43]
France's President Charles de Gaulle escaped an assassination attempt as his limousine took him from Paris to his country home at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. A bomb with 8 pounds (3.6 kg) of plastique had been placed on the President's route between the cities of Nogent-sur-Seine and Romilly-sur-Seine, and an inflammable mixture exploded in flames as the car passed over. The plastique failed to detonate.[45] There were as many as 30 attempts to kill de Gaulle, of which this attempt and an August 22, 1962, machine gunning of his limousine, came closest to success. After the 1962 attempt, de Gaulle pushed through major constitutional reforms to increase his power.[46]
German authors K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernstein published Perry Rhodan, der Erbe des Universums (Perry Rhodan, the Heir of the Universe), introducing the first adventure of the space opera series Perry Rhodan. By the end of the 20th century, Rhodan would appear in more than 2000 novels.[47]
A report was made on possible technical advances as a result of the Project Mercury development program.[31]
Helen North, with 8 children, and U.S. Navy CPO Frank Beardsley, with 10 children, were married in Carmel, California.[49] The Beardsleys then had two more children, and Mrs. Beardsley later wrote about the large family in the book Who Gets the Drumstick?, which was adapted into the 1968 film Yours, Mine and Ours, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda as Mr. and Mrs. Beardsley.[50]
During a visit to Lenin's Tomb in Moscow, a woman identified only as L.A. Smirnova broke the protective glass around Vladimir Lenin's sarcophagus, spat on his corpse, and yelled "Take that, you bastard!". The incident was not reported at the time, but found later in a declassified pretrial investigation by the KGB.[51]
Steam locomotives were fully withdrawn from London Underground passenger services when British Railways took over operations of the Metropolitan line. Steam locomotives were used for freight until 1971.
While driving a Ferrari during the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Germany's Wolfgang von Trips, 33, crashed into the infield, killing 18 spectators and himself. Eleven bystanders died at the scene, while 7 more of the 26 injured died later. The crash happened on the second lap, when Von Trips was struck from behind by Jim Clark's Lotus. The race continued for the next two hours, with the bodies of the dead covered with newspapers, not moved until after the race's end. Prior to the final race of the season, Von Trips had been in the lead for the World Driving Championship. The race win, and the title, went instead to Phil Hill.[54][55][56]
Died:Bob Hayward, 33, considered at the time the world's foremost hydroplane racer, was killed while racing at the Silver Cup Regatta on the Detroit River. Piloting the boat Miss Supertest II, Hayward was attempting to pass two other competitors as they approached a curve in the river, ran out of room, and turned hard right to avoid a collision. The hydroplane, going at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h), went out of control. Hayward, who had won the Harmsworth Cup for Canada the month before, died instantly of a broken neck.[58]
September 11, 1961 (Monday)
Destruction after America's largest evacuation
Hurricane Carla struck Texas at 2:00 p.m., with winds of 173 miles per hour (278 km/h).[59] Coming as a Category 5 storm, Carla weakened just before landfall at Port O'Connor and Port Lavaca, Texas, the largest on record in the Atlantic basin at the time.[60][61] Between 300,000 and 500,000 residents of Texas and Louisiana had fled the area in what was described at the time as "the greatest evacuation in U.S. history".[62]
The made-for-television documentary film The Rejected, was produced for KQED in San Francisco by John W. Reavis. The film is notable as the first documentary program on homosexuality broadcast on American television.[63]
Five days before they were to report to Pensacola, Florida for training to become the first women astronauts, the twelve candidates who had been selected from all applicants received a telegram stating "Regret to advise you that arrangements at Pensacola cancelled. Probably will not be possible to carry out this part of the program." It would be another 22 years before an American woman, Sally Ride would go into outer space, although the Soviets would send two women cosmonauts into orbit before then (Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982).[68]
János Kádár, General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party since 1956, became Prime Minister of Hungary for the second time in his career, replacing the elderly Ferenc Münnich.[69] Kádár would serve as Prime Minister until 1965, retaining the more powerful post as the Party General Secretary until 1988.
Frederick College, located in Portsmouth, Virginia, became a four-year college, three years after starting in 1958 as a two-year school.[70] The college would close its doors at the end of the 1967–68 academic year.[71]
SIOP-62, the American options for nuclear war, was presented to President Kennedy in a top secret briefing from General Lyman Lemnitzer, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The operational plan, drawn up on April 15, provided 14 options for responding to a nuclear attack, and the 14th option, recommended by General Lemnitzer, was to explode 3,267 nuclear bombs on targets in the Soviet Union, as well as the Warsaw Pact nations and Communist China. Kennedy was reportedly furious about the lack of flexibility in the plan, which contemplated obliteration of the enemy with the expectation that the United States and its allies would sustain massive destruction as well.[74][75][76]
The first Mercury spacecraft to attain Earth orbit, Mercury-Atlas 4 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a mechanical crewman simulator aboard rather than a human being. The mission lasted one hour and 49 minutes. After one orbit, the spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean 161 miles (259 km) east of Bermuda and was recovered by the USS Decatur (DD-936). Overall, the flight was highly successful. At the time, the United States had not yet put a man into orbit.[31][77]
Born:Dave Mustaine, American musician and co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth; in La Mesa, California[80]
September 14, 1961 (Thursday)
Ex-President Bayar, spared
The new military government of Turkey sentenced 15 members of the previous government to death, including former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and former President Celâl Bayar.[81] Menderes was hanged 3 days later, while Bayar's sentence was commuted.
Citing U.S. Congressman Chet Holifield of California as their source, Miami News columnists Robert S. Allen and Paul Scott, broke the frightening story that the Soviet Union planned to explode a nuclear warhead on the Moon. Firing nuclear-tipped rockets at Earth's satellite in 1961 and 1962, according to the story, the Soviets planned to use the explosions on the lunar surface for scientific purposes, with the goal of landing a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon by 1965.[85]
Two weeks after the Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing, the United States carried out Operation Nougat and exploded a nuclear bomb for the first time since October 30, 1958. While the Soviet tests were atmospheric, the American tests were conducted underground at the Nevada Test Site.[86]
In Ireland, the Government of the 16th Dáil left office, as Ireland's parliament adjourned for the last time prior to the October 4 election.
A U.S. Navy aircraft attempted a weather control experiment by dropping eight canisters of silver iodide around the eyewall of Hurricane Esther, testing the hypothesis that a storm could be weakened by cloud seeding. The size of the hurricane's eye was observed to increase with an accompanying decrease in wind speed, and Project Stormfury was commenced the following year. Data was collected on four hurricanes between 1963 and 1971, ultimately showing that observed decreases in wind speed had been the result of natural changes rather than seeding.[87]
Typhoon Nancy struck Osaka and the island of Honshu in Japan (where it was referred to as the Muroto II Typhoon), with winds of 135 miles per hour. The typhoon killed 203 people and caused $500,000,000 in damage.[88]
Hasan Polatkan, 46, former Finance Minister of Turkey. Both Zorlu and Polatkan were hanged at the prison on the island of Yassıada after being sentenced to death on charges of malfeasance in office.[89]
In the West German federal election, the CDU/CSU coalition led by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer lost 28 seats and its absolute majority in the Bundestag, finishing with 242 of the 499 seats, while the Social Democratic Party and Free Democratic Party had 190 and 67 seats respectively. The Bundestag re-elected Adenauer as Chancellor on November 7 after he forged a deal with the FDP.[90][91]
Five of the 26 hikers in a tour group at Zion National Park in the U.S. state of Utah were killed by a flash flood. The bodies of Walter Scott, 48, Steve Florence, 13, and Ray Nichols, 17, were discovered the following day. A skull fragment discovered in the Virgin River in 2006 was identified in 2012 as belonging to Alvin Nelson, 17. The body of Frank Johnson, 17, was never found.[92]
The Minnesota Vikings played their first regular season NFL game and beat the Chicago Bears in an upset, 37–13. The Bears' coach George Halas would later describe losing to an expansion team as "the most embarrassing defeat of his life".[93]
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 crashed shortly after taking off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, killing all 37 people on board.[94]
Died:Adnan Menderes, 62, who had been the first Prime Minister of Turkey to be democratically elected, serving until his overthrow in 1960, was executed for treason. Menderes had attempted suicide by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills at his prison cell on Yassiada Island. A team of physicians saved his life, then brought him back to consciousness long enough to be transported to the gallows on the island of İmralı.[89][95]
September 18, 1961 (Monday)
Dag Hammarskjöld's Grave
Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, was killed when his plane crashed while flying from Leopoldville in the Congo to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).[96] He was on his way to negotiate a cease-fire with Moise Tshombe in the Katanga Province, which had seceded from the Congo. At 12:12 a.m. local time, the DC6-B, operated by Swedish Trans Air, was cleared for a landing at Ndola. Fifteen others died in the crash, which happened after midnight. The wreckage was found 15 hours later on the Northern Rhodesia side of the border, 10 miles (16 km) south of Mufulira. The sole survivor, U.N. Sgt. Harold Julien, was able to tell investigators that Hammarskjold ordered the pilot not to land at Ndola, and that there had been a series of explosions.[97] Badly burned, Sgt. Julien, an American from Miami, died on September 23. Speculation that the crash was not accidental began almost immediately.[98]
For the first time, troops from North Vietnam seized control of a provincial capital in South Vietnam, capturing Phuoc Vinh in a predawn attack, only 55 miles (89 km) from Saigon. The ARVN recaptured the city the next day, but not before the Governor of the Phuoc Thanh province was publicly beheaded, along with the top military officers, and the government buildings burned.[99]
Christopher Newport College began its first classes, opening in Newport News, Virginia, with 8 full-time professors and 170 students.[100] Now Christopher Newport University, the college had 4,800 students in 2012.[101]
Georgia Tech integrated peacefully, as classes began with three African-American freshmen among the new students.[102]
In one of the first reported cases of an "alien abduction", Betty Hill and Barney Hill were returning from a vacation in Canada to their home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on U.S. Route 3. South of Lancaster, the Hills would later report, they encountered a U.F.O., and had no immediate memory of what happened later until the details were brought out with the aid of hypnotism. In 1966, author John Fuller would turn their story into a best-selling book called The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours "Aboard a Flying Saucer".[105] The Hills' story would become the first of many tales of abduction by extraterrestrials. In 1975, Estelle Parsons and James Earl Jones would portray the Hills in The UFO Incident. Barney would die in 1969, while Betty survived until 2004.[106][107]
Voters in Jamaicaelected to withdraw from the West Indies Federation by a margin of 251,776 to 216,371.[108] With Jamaicans comprising more than half (56%) of the population and a majority of its income, the result was the end of the Federation, and, eventually, 12 independent nations. Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago summed up the situation as "One from ten leaves nought."[109]
As tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were escalating, the two nations entered into the McCloy–Zorin Accords, titled "Joint Statement of Agreed Principles for Disarmament Negotiations," with eight points that would be followed in subsequent discussions. U.S. Presidential Adviser John J. McCloy and Deputy Soviet Foreign Minister Valerian Zorin led the delegations from the two countries, promising to the United Nations to work toward the eventual elimination of all weapons of mass destruction.[114][115]
In the 154th game of the 1961 Major League Baseball season, Roger Maris hit his 59th home run of the year in the 3rd inning of the New York Yankees game at the Baltimore Orioles. Maris made two more hits into the stands in the 4th and 7th innings, but each was a foul ball. Maris failed to tie or break Babe Ruth's 1927 record of 60 home runs in 154 games but had eight games remaining to play.[116]
East Germany enacted its first conscription law, making military service mandatory for all men between the ages of 18 and 50 years old. The National People's Army (Nationalen Volksarmee) had formerly been an all-volunteer force.[117]
Robert R. Gilruth and other officials of the Space Task Group surveyed the Houston, Texas, area to seek temporary operational quarters while the permanent installation was being constructed.[31]
The Joey Bishop Show, a situation comedy built around American comedian Joey Bishop, premiered on NBC and would run for four seasons.
Cutervo National Park was established as the first protected area in Peru, by Law #13964.[119]
Died:
Karl Farr, 52, American guitarist and founder of the country and western group The Sons of the Pioneers. Farr was performing solo at the Eastern States Exhibition in Springfield, Massachusetts when a string broke on his guitar, and he suffered a heart attack while trying to change it. As part of the induction of his group, he entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980.[120][121]
Andrzej Munk, 39, Polish director; in a car crash on his way home from the Auschwitz concentration camp at Oświęcim, where he was shooting the film Passenger.[122]
In French Algeria, the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) knocked Algiers television off the air, toppling the transmission tower with bombs moments before it was to broadcast a message from President Charles de Gaulle. OAS leader Raoul Salan then transmitted a speech on the same frequency, taunting de Gaulle and calling for demonstrations against the separation of Algeria from French rule.[123]
Died:Earle Dickson, 68, American inventor best known for creating the Band-Aid in 1920[124]
September 22, 1961 (Friday)
The ICC ruled that, effective November 1, all interstate buses in the United States were required to display signs that provided "Seating aboard this vehicle is without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin, by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission." In the same order, the ICC prohibited interstate buses from using "any terminal facilities which are so operated, arranged, or maintained as to involve any separation of any portion thereof, or in the use thereof on the basis of race, color, creed, or national origin." The order was a victory for the Freedom Riders, who suspended further plans to challenge racial segregation on buses and bus terminals.[125]
At 3:45 a.m., Antonio Abertondo arrived in Dover and became the first person to swim across the English Channel and right back again, resting for only ten minutes between crossings. Abertondo had departed England on September 20 at 8:35 a.m., arriving nearly 19 hours later in Wissant on the coast of France. After his brief break, Abertondo began his swim back to England.[126][127]
The Space Task Group announced that a 30-inch (760 mm) diameter balloon would be installed in the Mercury spacecraft to allow for ship recovery should the helicopter be forced to drop the spacecraft, as happened during the Mercury-Redstone 4 (MR-4) recovery operations.[31]
President Kennedy signed legislation permanently funding the Peace Corps, one week after the House of Representatives had approved the bill, 287–97. The Senate had previously approved the legislation by voice vote.[128][129]
Dominic Abata was elected leader of the breakaway cab drivers and mechanics' union in Chicago.[130]
Died:Marion Davies, 64, American socialite and film actress[131]
September 23, 1961 (Saturday)
Mantle
Mickey Mantle hit his 54th home run of the season, while Yankees teammate Roger Maris remained stuck at 59 homers, with six games left in the baseball season.[132] The homer would prove to be Mantle's last that year, as Mantle would suffer a hip infection and be hospitalized five days later.[133]
NBC Saturday Night at the Movies broke the long-standing feud between the American movie and television industries, showing semi-recent hit films, after coming to an agreement with 20th Century Fox. Beginning in 1956, motion pictures made before 1948 had been shown on TV without the need to compensate the actors. The first offering was the 1953 comedy How to Marry a Millionaire. ABC introduced a Sunday night movie in 1962, NBC had movie nights Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday over the next four years, and CBS started a Thursday night film in 1965.[134]
NASA Administrator James E. Webb announced major organizational changes and top-level appointments to become effective November 1. The new appointments included Directors Ira H. Abbott of the Office of Advanced Research and Technology; Homer E. Newell, Office of Space Sciences; D. Brainerd Holmes, Office of Manned Space Flight; and an as yet unnamed Director of Office of Applications Programs. Thomas F. Dixon was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator, Abe Silverstein was named Director of the Lewis Research Center, and Robert R. Gilruth was chosen Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center.[31]
President Kennedy addressed the United Nations about the need for nuclear disarmament, declaring that "Today, every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate that day when this planet may no longer be inhabitable. Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us."[138]
Wisconsin became the first state in the United States to require the installation of seat belts as standard equipment in motor vehicles, as Governor Gaylord Nelson signed into law a bill directing that all 1962 and later model cars and trucks were required to include the safety belts before they could be sold.[139] In the first six months that the law was in effect, all but one belt wearer had survived a car accident in the state.[140]
By a margin of almost 80%, voters in Rwanda said "no" to continuing the monarchy in a referendum conducted in advance of the African nation's scheduled independence. The Parmehutu (Parti du Mouvement de l' Emancipation Hutu) political party, composed of the majority Hutu tribe, won 35 of the 44 seats in the first Parliament.[141]
The Hustler, a film about pool players, starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, was released by 20th Century Fox. "The movie transformed American culture in an instant," noted one historian. "Pool halls, pool playing, pool players— all of it, very suddenly, very unexpectedly— became hip."[142]
Department of the Army Message 578636 designated the green beret as the exclusive headgear of the U.S. Army Special Forces, giving the group their nickname of the "Green Berets".[143]
In Tacoma, Washington, KBTC-TV went on the air for the first time, as KTPS-TV.
Died:Herbert Lee, 49, American civil rights activist and charter member of the NAACP in Mississippi.[144] While delivering cotton near Liberty, he was shot and killed by Mississippi state representative E. H. Hurst.
September 26, 1961 (Tuesday)
In London, at its annual conference, the executive committee of FIFA suspended the Football Association of South Africa from international soccer football competition. At the 1960 meeting in Rome, FIFA had given South Africa one year to adopt a non-discriminatory racial policy.[145]
Roger Maris hit his 60th home run in a 3–2 win for the Yankees over the Orioles, tying the record set by Babe Ruth in 1927 for most homers in a season. Maris's teammate, Mickey Mantle finished with 54 homers after two competed against each other all season.[146]
Former vice-president Richard M. Nixon, who had narrowly lost the U.S. presidential race in 1960, told a crowd in Los Angeles that he would not run for president in 1964, and that he would run for Governor of California in 1962.[149] After a disastrous campaign, Nixon lost to Governor Pat Brown, but would win the presidency in 1968.[150]
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), 75, American poet and novelist[152]
September 28, 1961 (Thursday)
UARSyria
The United Arab Republic, which had united Egypt and Syria under Egyptian rule in 1958, was brought to an end when Lt. Col. Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi led a coup in Damascus and announced that Syria would leave the UAR. President Nasser sent a force of 2,000 Egyptian paratroopers to crush the revolt, but rescinded the order when Syrian commanders in Aleppo and Latakia supported the insurrection. Nasser's chief aide in Syria, Marshal Abd al-Hakim Amer, was put on a plane and sent back to Cairo.[153][154] The next day, Dr. Maamun al-Kuzbari was named to head the interim government as premier.[155]
The NBC network medical drama Dr. Kildare, based on a series of novels and films, premiered and began a run of five seasons. The show was followed the same evening by the first episode of the American situation comedy Hazel, based on a cartoon panel by Ted Key in The Saturday Evening Post and starring veteran actress Shirley Booth as the title character, a live-in maid. Hazel would run for five seasons.
The word "ain't" was accepted into the English language with the publication of the Third Edition of the Merriam-Webster, the first completely new edition since 1944. Merriam President Gordon J. Oallan had announced the controversial decision on September 6, noting that "ain't" was one of thousands of new words that had been added.[156]
Operating in secrecy, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sent a 26-page private letter to President Kennedy, expressing his regrets over the harsh treatment he had given to Kennedy at their Vienna summit, and seeking a way to resolve the Berlin Crisis. Using the analogy of "Noah's Ark, where both the 'clean' and the 'unclean' found sanctuary" for the world, Khrushchev wrote that regardless of what each side thought of the other, both sides "are all equally interested in one thing, and that is that the Ark should successfully continue its cruise." Concealed in a newspaper, the letter was handed by KGB agent Georgi Bolshakov to presidential press secretary Pierre Salinger in a hotel room in New York City. Kennedy responded with an equally private letter on October 16.[157]
Minutes after Fidel Castro announced that he was going to "clean up" Havana, the last casinos in Cuba were closed. At the time of the revolution, there had been 25 gambling casinos. Five were left, all in government-operated hotels, at the time of the order.[158]
Forty-year-old Hawaiian Keo Nakama became the first person to swim from the island of Molokai to Oahu. It took him 15+1⁄2 hours to cross the treacherous 27-mile (43 km) Ka Iwa Channel.[159]
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was signed into law by President Kennedy, providing a limited exception to U.S. antitrust law to allow American sports leagues to negotiate TV and radio contracts.[161]
^"CHICAGO PLANE CRASH KILLS 78", Miami News, September 1, 1961, p1; "DISASTERS: Four Minutes Out". Time. September 8, 1961. Archived from the original on October 4, 2009.
^Alexander De Waal, Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia (Human Rights Watch, 1991) p40
^"A-War, Colonialism Preoccupy Neutrals", Milwaukee Sentinel, September 2, 1961, p2; "Neutrals Close Parley, Beg Giants For Peace", Miami News, September 6, 1961, p1; Raja R. Mehrotra, Nehru: Man Among Men (Mittal Publications, 1990) p58
^"U.S. Bares Soviet A-Test", Milwaukee Sentinel, September 2, 1961, p1
^George Dyson, Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship (Macmillan, 2002) p232
^International Who's who of Authors and Writers. Europa Publications, Taylor & Francis Group. 2008. p. 529.
^"Foster, Yank Red, Dies", Miami News, September 1, 1961, p4A
^University of Michigan. Board of Regents (1960). Proceedings of the Board of Regents. The University. p. 525.
^"GOULART GAINS STRENGTH" Miami News, September 2, 1961, p1
^John W. F. Dulles, Resisting Brazil's Military Regime: An Account of the Battles of Sobral Pinto (University of Texas Press, 2007) pp46-49
^"Bangladesh Agricultural University- "Vision and Mission"". Bau.edu.bd. 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
^González, Renata (September 3, 2020). "Los Derbez arrancan carcajadas con sus felicitaciones de cumpleaños para Eugenio". Quién (in Spanish). Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^Evangelista, Matthew (2002). Unarmed Forces: The Transnational Movement to End the Cold War. Cornell University Press. p. 81.
^Nordlund, Willis J. (1997). The Quest for a Living Wage: The History of the Federal Minimum Wage Program. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 108.
^"150 Drown As Fiesta Ship Sinks". Miami News. September 4, 1961. p. 6A.
^Greenhalgh, David; Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (2011). The official history: Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years. St Leonards, New South Wales: Chevron Publishing Group. pp. 22–30. ISBN 978-0-9805912-2-4.
^The Illustrated London News. William Little. 1961. p. 461 – via Google Books.
^"Cheddi Jagan Takes His Post". Miami News. September 6, 1961. p. 2.
^"JFK Signs Skyjacking Death Law". Miami News. September 6, 1961. p. 7A.
^"U.S. TO RESUME A-TESTS". Milwaukee Sentinel. September 5, 1961. p. 1.
^ a b c d e f g h This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Grimwood, James M. "PART III (A) Operational Phase of Project Mercury May 5, 1961 through May 1962". Project Mercury - A Chronology. NASA Special Publication-4001. NASA. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
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^Moltz, James (2011). The Politics of Space Security: Strategic Restraint and the Pursuit of National Interests (2nd ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 117.
^"Jack Paar Stirs up Storm in Berlin". Ottawa Citizen. September 8, 1961.
^"Pentagon Orders Investigation In Paar TV Incident in Berlin". The New York Times. September 9, 1961.
^"'Paar's Colonel' Gets the Ax". Miami News. September 10, 1961. p. 6A.
^"Army Clears Two In Jack Paar Case". Toledo Blade. September 27, 1961. p. 6.
^"Jack Paar Berlin Show Proves Dreary TV Flop". Ottawa Citizen. September 14, 1961. p. 23.
^"Gene Deitch, Part 1: The Oscar-winning US animator who made Tom and Jerry cartoons in communist Prague". Czech Radio. 11 July 2019. Gene Deitch, who turns 95 next month, is by some distance the US citizen longest resident in Prague.
^Obituaries from the Times. Newspaper Archive Developments Limited. 1961. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-903713-98-6 – via Google Books.
^"De Gaulle Escapes Death Trap". Miami News. September 9, 1961. p. 1.
^Jackson, Julian (2003). Charles de Gaulle. Haus Publishing. p. 90.
^David M. Roth. Texas Hurricane History: Late 20th Century. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
^Despite the intensity of the storm, which caused the (2011) equivalent of 15 billion dollars, only 46 people were killed, compared to 416 when Hurricane Audrey struck Texas three years earlier. "The Deadliest, Costliest and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones from 1851 to 2006 (and Other Frequently Requested Hurricane Facts", by Eric S. Blake, et al., National Weather Service (April 2007)
^Miami News, September 10, 1961, p1
^The Rejected at the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive
^"Who We Are: 50 Years of History", worldwildlife.org
^"Anti-NATO Party Wins In Norway", Miami News, September 12, 1961, p3A
^ a bFilm Review. Orpheus Pub. July 2001. p. 89.
^Peaslee, Amos J.; Peaslee Xydis, Dorothy, eds. (1974). International Governmental Organizations: Constitutional Documents. Vol. 1. Brill Archive. p. 1162.
^Fanning, Diane (2007). Out There: The In-Depth Story of the Astronaut Love Triangle Case That Shocked America. Macmillan. pp. 24–27.
^"What Hungarian Reshuffle Will Mean". Miami News. September 14, 1961. p. 1.
^"New 4-Year Frederick College To Open on Sept. 12". Ledger-Dispatch and Star. August 4, 1961. p. 4 – via eesmith.com.
^"Frederick College still draws alumni after 40 years". HamptonRoads.com.
^"AFRICAN CRASH KILLS 77". Miami News. September 12, 1961. p. 1.
^Stumpf, David K. (2000). Titan II: A History of a Cold War Missile Program. University of Arkansas Press. p. 150.
^"DUMMY ORBIT SUCCESS". Miami News. September 12, 1961. p. 1.
^Meisler, Stanley (1997). United Nations: The First Fifty Years. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 124.
^"DFB-Pokal 1960–61" (in German). fussballdaten.de. 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
^"Megadeth History confirms the founders of Megadeth". Megadeth. 2014. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
^"Menderes Gets Death Sentence", Miami News, September 15, 1961, p1
^Lutz Schmadel (5 August 2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 216. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
^KIRKLAND, GARY. "Fast food Gator: Wendy Thomas is proud of her UF connection". Retrieved 2016-09-15.
^Tanzania. Bunge (2002). Who is who for Members of Parliament. Clerk of the National Assembly, Tanzania National Assembly. p. 129.
^"Reds' Aim To Wallop Moon With Warhead", Miami News, September 15, 1961, p1
^"U.S. Fires First Nuclear Shot Since 1958", Sarasota (FL) Journal, September 15, 1961, p1; Barton C. Hacker, Elements of controversy: the Atomic Energy Commission and radiation safety in nuclear weapons testing, 1947-1974 (University of California Press, 1994) p206
^Kyle Kirkland, Weather and Climate: Notable Research and Discoveries (Infobase Publishing, 2010) pp158-159; "Weathermen Hope To Tame Hurricane With Silver Iodide", Toledo Blade, September 16, 1961, p1
^David Longshore, Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones (Infobase Publishing, 2008) p313
^ a bMeliha Benli Altunışık; Meliha Altunisik; Meliha Benli Altunsk (2005). Turkey: Challenges of Continuity and Change. Özlem Tür, Özlem Tür Kavli, Ozlem Tur, Meliha Benli (Middle East Technical University Altunisik, Turkey). Psychology Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-415-27420-3.
^"Adenauer Loses Grip In W. German Vote". Miami News. September 18, 1961. p. 9A.
^Williams, Charles (2000). Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 493–494.
^"AIR CRASH KILLS 37". Milwaukee Sentinel. September 18, 1961. p. 1.
^"Turks Hang Menderes Despite Allies' Pleas". Miami News. September 18, 1961. p. 6A.
^"U.N.'s HAMMARSKJOLD DIES IN CONGO PLANE CRASH". Miami News. September 18, 1961. p. 1 – via Google News.
^"EXPLOSIONS ON PLANE BEFORE DAG CRASHED". Vancouver Sunday Sun. September 18, 1961. p. 1.
^United Nations General Assembly Session 17 Report of the Commission of investigation into the conditions and circumstances resulting in the tragic death of Mr. Dag Hammarskjold and members of the party accompanying him. A/5069) 24 April 1962. (direct link Archived 2011-05-14 at the Wayback Machine)
^"The Interrupted Journey— Dream or Reality?". Toledo Blade. October 9, 1966. p. E-1.
^"Betty Hill, 85, gained fame with alien-abduction tale". Seattle Times. October 19, 2004. Archived from the original on 2009-07-08.
^Bader, Christopher D.; et al. (2010). Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture. NYU Press. pp. 60–62.
^"Jamaica Votes Against Federation Membership". Ottawa Citizen. September 20, 1961. p. 15.
^R. A. Dyer, Hustler Days: Minnesota Fats, Wimpy Lassiter, Jersey Red, and America's Great Age of Pool (Globe Pequot, 2005) p119
^Gordon L. Rottman, The U.S. Army Special Forces 1952-84 (Osprey Publishing, 1985) p30
^"Lee, Herbert". BlackPast.org. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
^"Ban made in soccer", Regina Leader-Post, September 27, 1961, p32
^Anne M. Todd, Roger Maris (Infobase Publishing, 2008) p55; "Maris Gets 60th Homerun, Four Games Left to Get 61", Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau MO), September 26, 1961, p8
^established by act of the United States Congress. Alexander DeConde, et al., Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy (Volume 1) (Simon and Schuster, 2001) p86
^O'Connor, John J. (24 November 1986). "'TED KENNEDY JR. STORY,' A FAMILY BIOGRAPHY (Published 1986)". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
^"Nixon Is Candidate For Governor's Post". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. September 28, 1961. p. 1.
^"Last Cuban casino shut". Miami News. September 29, 1961. p. 1.
^"Honolulu Star sport archives". Archives.starbulletin.com. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
^Turner, B. (12 January 2017). The Statesman's Yearbook 2013: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World. Springer. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-349-59541-9 – via Google Books.
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^Edmund Jan Osmańczyk and Anthony Mango, Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: A to F (Taylor & Francis, 2003) pp1699-1700
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Grimwood, James M. "PART III (A) Operational Phase of Project Mercury May 5, 1961 through May 1962". Project Mercury - A Chronology. NASA Special Publication-4001. NASA. Retrieved 9 February 2023.