Page 8: Historical Events In 1961
Friday, 30 January 2026
May 04 13 Freedom riders began bus trip through South 


May 04 Anita Stewart, dies of heart attack at 66 


May 04 Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather reach 34668 meters (record) in balloon. 


May 04 South-Africa ANC-leader John Nkadimeng arrested 


May 05 Alan Shepard is recorded as becoming inaugural American in space (aboard Freedom 7) 


May 05 Alan Shepard is recorded as becoming the inaugural American into space 


May 06 Lucian Blaga, philosopher/poet (Transcendental censor), dies at 65 


May 08 Alan Shepard receives NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Washington. 


May 08 James Fairfax, actor (Gale Storm Show), dies at 63 


May 08 The inaugural practical sea water conversion plant-Freeport TX 


May 10 "Beyond the Fringe" premieres in London 


May 12 In this year, Botvinnik claims world chess championship for 3rd time. 


May 13 Gary Cooper, 2 time Acad award winning actor (High Noon), dies at 60 


May 14 Bus with inaugural group of Freedom Riders bombed and burned in Alabama 


May 15 36 Unification church couples wed in Korea 


May 16 13th Emmy Awards Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr and Barbara Stanwyck 


May 16 13th Emmy Awards: Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr and Barbara Stanwyck 


May 17 Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers 


May 17 Frans van Cauwelaert, Flemish minister/mayor of Antwerp, dies at 81. 


May 18 Henry O'Neill, actor (Lady Killer, Nothing But Trouble), dies. 


May 19 Joe Howard, singer (Gay Nineties Revue), dies at 94. 


May 19 New pier opens in Scheveningen. 


May 20 In this year, Mauritania formally adopts constitution. 


May 20 White mob attacks "Freedom Riders" in Montgomery AL. 


May 21 Governor Patterson declares martial law in Montgomery 


May 22 "Mother-In-Law" by Ernie K-Doe hits #1. 


May 22 "Touchables In Brooklyn" by Dickie Goodman hits #42 


May 22 Joan Davis, actress (I Married Joan), dies of heart attack at 53. 


May 22 The inaugural revolving restaurant (Top Of The Space Needle in Seattle), opens 


May 23 Joan Davis, comedic actress (I Married Joan), dies at 53. 


May 24 27 Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson MS. 


May 24 Explorer (12) fails to reach Earth orbit 


May 24 U S President Kennedy asks the nation to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. 


May 25 JFK sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade 


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