Date in year · 1961 · The 1960s

January 3, 1961

On January 3, 1961, cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba. The year's #1 song was "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis. Jane Leeves, John Podhoretz, Don Mattingly would arrive in the same year.

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Year

1961

1960s

Around 1961

The year in brief

1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1961st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 961st year of the 2nd millennium, the 61st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1960s decade.

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What happened

On January 3, 1961

  1. 1961 Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.

    1947–1991 geopolitical rivalry between US and USSR

    The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars.

  2. 1961 The SL-1 nuclear reactor, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.

    Nuclear reactor that killed 3 in 1961

    Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, also known as SL-1, initially the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR), was a United States Army experimental nuclear reactor at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in Idaho about forty miles (65 km) west of Idaho Falls, now the Idaho National Laboratory. It operated from 1958 to 1961, when an accidental explosion killed three plant operators, leading to changes in reactor design. S.

  3. 1961 A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.

    Kingdom in Angola

    Baixa de Cassanje, also called Baixa de Kassanje is a non-sovereign kingdom in Angola. Kambamba Kulaxingo was its king until his death in 2006. Presently, Dianhenga Aspirante Mjinji Kulaxingo serves as the king.

  4. 1961 Aero Flight 311 crashes into the forest in Kvevlax, Finland, killing 25 people.

    1961 aviation accident in Kvevlax, Finland

    Aero Flight 311, often referred to as the Kvevlax air disaster, was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Aero O/Y between Kronoby and Vaasa in Finland. The aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, crashed in the municipality Kvevlax, nowadays part of Korsholm on 3 January 1961, killing all twenty-five people on board. The disaster remains the deadliest aviation accident in Finnish history.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1961

The class of 1961

Others born in 1961

Jane Leeves 1961– English actress and dancer
John Podhoretz 1961– American journalist and author
Don Mattingly 1961– American baseball player, coach, and manager
Konstantin Lavronenko 1961– Russian actor
David Servan-Schreiber 1961– French physician, neuroscientist, and author (died 2011)
Jeff Hostetler 1961– American football player

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