 |
U.S. breaks
diplomatic relations with
Cuba
(Jan. 3).
|
 |
Robert Frost
recites "The Gift Outright" at
John F. Kennedy's
inauguration as president of U.S. (Jan. 20). |
 |
Moscow announces
putting first man in orbit around Earth, Maj.
Yuri A. Gagarin
(April 12). |
 |
Cuba invaded at
Bay of Pigs
by an
estimated 1,200 anti-Castro exiles aided by U.S.; invasion crushed (April
17). |
 |
First U.S. spaceman,
Navy Cmdr. Alan B.
Shepard, Jr., rockets 116.5 miles up in 302-mile trip (May 5).
|
 |
Virgil Grissom
becomes second American astronaut, making 118-mile-high, 303-mile-long
rocket flight
over
Atlantic (July 21). |
 |
Gherman Stepanovich
Titov is launched in
Soviet spaceship Vostok II: makes 171/2 orbits in 25
hours, covering 434,960 miles before landing safely (Aug. 6).
|
 | East Germans erect
Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees (Aug.
13). |
 |
USSR fires 50-megaton
hydrogen bomb,
biggest explosion in history (Oct. 29). |
 | There are 2,000 U.S.
military advisers in South Vietnam. |