January
The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the U K.
President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.
SL-1, an atomic reactor, exploded at National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, killing 3 military technicians.
In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria
British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London
President Dwight Eisenhower gave his final State of the Union Address to Congress.
Assassination of Patrice Lumumba
John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States. His close win against Nixon shows that America was influenced by his calm, composed appearance in the presidential debates. Nixon was very nervous and America superficially chose the more handsome, younger candidate.
US B-52 bomber with two 24-megaton nuclear bombs crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina
Musician Bob Dylan said to have made his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan was likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later found fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene.
In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union had freed the two surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea in 1960.
Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a junta comprised of two army officers and 4 civilians takes over the rule of El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for three months.
Wayne Gretsky, professional hockey player (Known as "The Great One") Born.
President John F. Kennedy delivered his first State of the Union Address.
Martin Luther King Jr. has a son - Dexter Scott King.
Ham, a 37 pound male chimpanzee, was rocketed into space in a test of the Project Mercury capsule designed to carry U.S. astronauts into space.
February
China buys grain from Canada with $60 million
The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.
The Sunday Telegraph publishes its first issue.
Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba
A Boeing 707, belonging to Sabena, crashes near Brussels, Belgium killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.
The last public tram operated in Sydney, Australia, bringing to an end the southern hemisphere's largest tramway network.
Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.
March
President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
Uganda becomes self-governing by holding its first general elections.
Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.
Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth in eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes setting a new world record.
First US Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch in Scotland.
Black and white £5 notes cease to be a legal tender in the UK
A dam bursts on the Dnieper river in the USSR - 145 dead.
South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs signed at New York.
April
New Guinea Council of western Papua installed
Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem
Albert Kalonji takes a title of Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai
Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space.
Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins, ending in failure April 19.
Fidel Castro announces that all invaders of the Bay of Pigs invasion have been defeated
Three French generals who oppose De Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.
Robert Noyce is granted the first patent for an integrated circuit.
General Maurice Challe, who lead the Algerian army rebels, surrenders
In Congo, soldiers arrest Moise Tsombe in a political conference
Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom.
May
Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space.
Britain, George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.
American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.
A military coup in South Korea - Do Young Tsang takes over.
Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however the probe had lost contact with earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade.
Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya holds a press conference in Singapore announcing his idea of formation of the Federation of Malaysia comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo (Sabah).
Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, totalitarian despot of the Dominican Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin American history.
In France, rebel generals Maurice Challe ja Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison
South Africa officially leaves the British Commonwealth of Nations
President John F. Kennedy and Charles De Gaulle meet in Paris
June
John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during two days in Vienna. They talk about nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
Paris-Strassbourg train derails near Ventyr-le-Francois - 24 dead, 109 injured
The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becames an emirate.
Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.
Moise Tshombe released for lack of evidence to connection to murder of Patrice Lumumba.
US philanthropist George Washington Vanderbilt III is found dead at the base of a San Francisco skyscraper.
Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait - Kuwaiti government ask British help in June 27. British army begin to send in troops.
July
Soviet submarine K-19 explodes in the North Atlantic - 22 dead
The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2 was launched.
Mine explosion in Czechoslovakia - 108 dead
Gus Grissom piloting the Mercury 4 capsule "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital).
At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.
August
Britain applies for membership of the EEC.
Jomo Kenyatta released from prison in Kenya
Construction of the Berlin Wall begins. Movement between East Berlin and West Berlin remains restricted for the next 28 years, until November 9, 1989.
Jomo Kenyatta is fully released in Kenya.
September
New military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death
Military rulers in Turkey publicly hang former president Adnan Menderes
Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.
In France, OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message to TV programming
The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
October
Volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, - whole population evacuated.
The death penalty abolished in New Zealand.
"Battle of Paris": French police attack in Paris about 30,000 protesting at curfew applied solely to Algerians. Official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.
Arab League takes over protection of Kuwait - last British troops leave.
The first edition appears of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine.
Armistice begins in Katanga, Congo.
Mongolia and Mauretania join the United Nations.
Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya. It remains the largest ever (man-made) explosion.
Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital was moved to the inland city of Belmopan.
Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin mausoleum
November
The Interstate Commerce Commission's federal order banning segregation at all interstate public facilities officially comes into effect
UN General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant acting secretary general
U.S. government issues a stamp honoring 100th birthday of James Naismith
Neil Armstrong records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,587km/h flying an X-15.
Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations pilots
Stalingrad renamed Volgograd
Gay Life opens at Shubert Theater New York City for 113 performances
US President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam
Soviet Union vetoes Kuwaits' application for United Nations membership
December
Netherlands New Guinea raises new Morning Star flag and changes name to West Papua.
Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
US president John F. Kennedy gives support to the Volta Dam project in Ghana.
Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic with Julius Nyerere as its first President.
The Australian government of Robert Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term.
Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania.
Vietnam War officially begins as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.
Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of three Israeli judges.
An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish holocaust.
India occupies Goa.
Goa officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.
Sukarno announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary.
In Congo, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe recognizes Congolese constitution.
Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai (who soon escapes).
The Marshall Plan expires after having distributed more than $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
Ireland's first national television station, Teilifís Éireann, (later RTÉ) begins broadcasting.