Timeline of the John F. Kennedy presidency (1961)

January
January 20:John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States.
  • January 20 – John F. Kennedy's presidency begins with his inauguration at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C; the oath of office is administered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. President Kennedy delivers a widely praised inaugural address, asking Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" and for the people of the world to "ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man".[1][2] He is congratulated by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. Kennedy also formally nominates his cabinet and attends the inaugural balls.
January 21:The Cabinet is sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren.

February

March
  • March 1 – Emphasizing the theme of public service in his inaugural address, President Kennedy issues Executive Order 10924, establishing the Peace Corps on a "temporary pilot basis". Kennedy also sends to Congress a message requesting authorization of the Peace Corps as a permanent organization. President Kennedy holds his fifth presidential news conference. President Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt make a tape recording promoting the Youth Peace Corps. President Kennedy records a message for the American Red Cross. President Kennedy signs into law a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 155) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861 (PL87-1).
  • March 4 – President Kennedy meets with Council of Economic Advisers chairman Walter Heller and later appoints Sargent Shriver to head the Peace Corps. He also dines at the home of his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and meets with Ambassador to the United Kingdom David K. E. Bruce.
  • March 13 – President Kennedy proposes the Alliance for Progress.
  • March 24 – President Kennedy signs a commission restoring the five star rank general of the army position to former president Eisenhower.[4]

April
  • April 1 – President Kennedy meets with Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Kennedy also declares parts of eastern Iowa flooded by the Cedar River to be a major disaster area.
  • April 2 – President Kennedy meets with journalists Albert Merriman Smith and Marvin Arrowsmith. The First Family view the film All in a Night's Work.
  • April 12 – The Soviet Union's launch of Yuri Gagarin into low Earth orbit aboard Vostok 1 marks the first time a human being is launched into outer space. Kennedy messages Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, congratulating him on the successful launch of Vostok 1.
  • April 17 – Continuing a concept originating in the Eisenhower Administration, President Kennedy orders the invasion of Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the communist regime.
  • April 19 – The invasion of Cuba fails and results in a Cuban revolutionary victory. Kennedy's administration is severely embarrassed, so much so that Kennedy stated he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind."

May
May 5: President Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, and Vice President Johnson watch the launch of Freedom 7 from the office of his secretary, Evelyn Lincoln
May 25: Kennedy lays out the goal to "land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth".
  • May 2 – The Freedom 7 spacecraft is readied for a launch attempt which would have resulted in the first American human spaceflight; it is canceled due to poor weather and rescheduled for May 5.
  • May 5 – Alan Shepard is launched on Freedom 7 on a sub-orbital spaceflight aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket, and becomes the first American in outer space. The flight lasts 15 minutes 22 seconds, and reaches an apogee of 187.42 kilometres (116.46 mi), and a maximum speed of 8,277 kilometres per hour (5,143 mph) (Mach 6.94).
  • May 8 – President Kennedy meets with Alan Shepard at the White House, to congratulate him on becoming the first American in space. He awards him the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in a ceremony on the White House lawn. The six other Mercury Seven astronauts attend the ceremony, the next of which, Gus Grissom, would launch into space less than three months later.
  • May 16–18 – President Kennedy makes the first international trip of his presidency, travelling to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, for a state visit. There he meets with Canadian governor general Georges Vanier and prime minister John Diefenbaker. On May 17, he addresses the Canadian parliament.[5]
  • May 25 – In an address to a joint session of the United States Congress, President Kennedy announces full presidential support for the goal to "commit...before this decade is out, to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" and urges Congress to appropriate the necessary funds, eventually consuming the largest financial expenditure of any nation in peacetime.[6] Though Kennedy had initially been convinced that NASA should attempt a human mission to Mars, NASA associate administrator Robert Seamans spent three days and nights working, ultimately successfully, to convince him otherwise.[7]

June

July

August

September
  • September 25 – Address before the United Nations General Assembly (JFK's first of two) announcing the US intention to "challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race".

October

November
Rev. Theodore Hesburgh presents the 1961 Laetare Medal to President John F. Kennedy. Fr Edmund P. Joyce to the side.

December
  • December 16–17 – President Kennedy makes the third international trip of his presidency.[5]
  • December 21–22 – President Kennedy makes the fourth international trip of his presidency, travelling to Hamilton, Bermuda, where he meets with British prime minister Harold Macmillan.[5]

See also
U.S. presidential administration timelines
Preceded by
Eisenhower presidency (1953–1961)		 Kennedy presidency (1961) Succeeded by
Kennedy presidency (1962)

References
  1. United States Congress Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. "Swearing-In Ceremony for President John F. Kennedy Forty-Fourth Inaugural Ceremonies, January 20, 1961". senate.gov.
  2. Yale University Law School. "Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy". yale.edu.
  3. Whealan, Ronald E. (October 30, 2005). "January 21, 1961". John F. Kennedy Library. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  4. "Kennedy Signs Ike's 5 Star Commission". Chicago Tribune. March 24, 1961.
  5. "Travels of President John F. Kennedy". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  6. "NASA Langley Research Center's Contributions to the Apollo Program". Langley Research Center. November 21, 2004. Retrieved January 10, 2010. Answering President Kennedy's challenge and landing men on the moon by 1969 required the most sudden burst of technological creativity, and the largest commitment of resources ($24 billion), ever made by any nation in peacetime. At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 Americans and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities.
  7. "Robert C. Seamans Jr". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. June 10, 2009. Retrieved January 10, 2010. President Kennedy had been convinced that America needed to send a man to Mars and back before the decade was out. Bob [Seamans] told me the story of working three days and nights trying to put together, clearly and succinctly, the case for the President that we cannot hit that goal, we need to go to the Moon.
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