History of 1961

I have been embarking on a new thing for a few weeks. I am now on Twitter and am practicing my 140 character posting prowess by posting the day by day history of 1961. One or more posts for each day in 1961, corresponding to the same day of the year it is in 2009.

I don't know if I will continue this - but what has been fun about it has been the awareness I am getting about that year, on a day by day basis. It is like reading my daily newspaper now, only I am reading 48 year old news. Kennedy was president and had back problems, the Freedom Riders & racial integration, Maris' 61 home runs that year, TV Repairs cost $1.75 for a service call in El Paso Texas, dress pants were $10.95, My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, we were sending rockets off Cape Canaveral to test accuracy of nuclear warheads and Laos was in the news a lot. Reading the front pages of old newspaper archives (http://www.newspaperarchive.com/) brings more context than blurbs in a history book or a simple "this day in history" does. Although much of what is in the paper is mundane news, some of it has real value in learning what was really going on then.

This fascination all started because I have in my possession a 1962 Information Please Almanac. It has a chronological posting of news events and legislative news for the year 1961. This intrigued me enough to search online about the subjects summarized in the almanac.

NEWS EVENTS AT A GLANCE - 06/12/61 - Oakland Tribune
GENEVA—West, communists agree to send appeal to both sides in Laos for cooperation on truce.
WASHINGTON-—Senate passes Administration's $6.16 billion housing bill after bitter opposition speeches.
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court upsets a New York State decision barring the U.S. communist party from unemployment insurance benefits.
WASHINGTON — President, using crutches, hoisted aboard plane at Palm Beach, Fla., and returns to White House.
WASHINGTON — Army rebukes General Walker for labeling as pinks or communists ex-President Truman and other notables.
SACRAMENTO—Bills to give Californians $2.3 million tax cuts headed for Governor's desk.
JERUSALEM — Eichmann's defense attacks memoirs, charging they are in effect a forgery.

From 06/02/61:

1961 History: As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March 1961 issue, this was the first "upside-up" year—i.e., one in which the numerals that form the year look the same as when the numerals are rotated upside down—since 1881, and the last until 6009. (src: wikipedia)