| Roger
Maris of the New York Yankees set a record of 60 home
runs in a 162-game schedule in 1961, leaving Babe
Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a 154-game
schedule intact. The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution
allowed residents of the District of Columbia to vote
in presidential elections.
Also
that year:
- The
United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba,
calling it a “Soviet satellite.” About
1,500 Cuban exiles, trained by the United States,
make an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba and
overthrow Castro (“Bay of Pigs”). The
failure is blamed on the CIA and lack of air support.
President Kennedy accepts full responsibility for
the invasion.
- Pres.
Kennedy proposes a $1.8 billion, 10-year space exploration
program. He states that the goal for the program
is “landing an American on the Moon in this
decade.”
- East
German Communists build a wall dividing East and
West Berlin.
- Alan
Shepard is the first American in space. He reaches
an altitude of 115 miles in a 15-minute flight aboard
Freedom 7, a Mercury Mission capsule.
- A
modern English prose translation of the New Testament,
the New English Bible, is published in
London.
|
