April 17, 1961 – April 20, 1961
CIA-backed Cuban exiles land at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro but are defeated within days.
Brasília, a newly planned city in the interior, officially replaces Rio de Janeiro as Brazil's capital.
The US Air Force sprays herbicides, including dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, over large areas of South Vietnam, with lasting health and environmental effects.
A 13-day standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles in Cuba brings the world closest to nuclear war.
Dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba and revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro take power.
A smaller Viet Cong force repels an attack by South Vietnamese troops with US advisers near Mỹ Tho.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.