Shortly before leaving office, President Eisenhower severed all U.S. ties with Cuba.
In his inaugural speech, John F. Kennedy called on Americans to "ask what you can do for your country."
President Kennedy established the Peace Corps.
America took a diplomatic bruise from the CIA's involvement in the Bay Of Pigs Invasion, an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Communist Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro.
Another bruise came during the space race, as Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first man to slip from the bonds of Earth. Later in the year, the U.S. launched Alan Shepard, Jr. and Gus Grissom into space in separate missions.
President Kennedy ordered U.S. marshalls into Alabama due to violent clashes between a bi-racial anti-integration organization and integration advocates.
Wildfires destroyed nearly 500 plush homes in the Brentwood and Bel Air suburbs of Los Angeles.
As the Soviets broke an international moratorium against nuclear bomb testing, President Kennedy urged Americans to build fallout shelters.
Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway shot and killed himself.
The Threepenny Opera closed its 7-year run on Broadway after 2,600 performances.
Wagon Train usurped Gunsmoke as America's favorite TV western.
Allen Funt's Candid Camera moved to CBS-TV. The series had begun as radio's Candid Microphone and made its 1948 television debut on ABC.
Hit songs included Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean, Hit The Road, Jack by Ray Charles and Running Scared by Roy Orbison.
