Jamaica joined nine other UK territories in the Federation of the West Indies in 1958 but withdrew after Jamaican voters rejected membership in 1961.

* Howard Burnett ( born 1961 ), Jamaican track and field athlete

As one of the founding fathers in the framing of the Jamaican Constitution in 1961, Mr. Seaga has spearheaded far-reaching constitutional reforms since then, initiating a re-write of the human rights section of the Constitution to provide for a Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms ; creation of the post of Public Defender and curtailment of some of the wide powers of the Prime Minister to provide a better balance of power between the executive and the parliament in the Jamaican system of governance.

Max Alfred " Maxi " Elliot ( born 10 June 1961 ) is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent.

In 1961, the Jamaican government sent a delegation composed of both Rastafari and non-Rastafarian leaders to Ethiopia to discuss the matter of repatriation, among other issues, with the Emperor.

In 1961, the Jamaican government decided to send a delegation of both officials and Rastafari leaders to Addis Ababa to meet Emperor Haile Selassie.

Ras Sam Brown ( 16 December 1925-August 1998 ) was a Jamaican Rastafari elder well known in Kingston for his politics after he participated in the elections of 1961 with his Suffering People's Party.

Major General Stephen Otu was the first native Ghanaian Chief of Defence Staff, being appointed in September 1961.

In 1961, Anatoliy Golitsyn, a major in the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, defected to the United States from his diplomatic post in Helsinki.

In March 1961, Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations, recommended the establishment of guerrilla and counter-guerrilla units.

LeMay was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in July 1957, serving until 1961, when he was made the fifth Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force on the retirement of Gen Thomas White.

As Chief Justice, Warren swore in President Dwight D Eisenhower in his second inauguration in 1957 and his successor John F Kennedy in 1961.

As Chief Justice, he swore in Presidents Eisenhower ( in 1957 ), Kennedy ( in 1961 ), Johnson ( in 1965 ) and Nixon ( in 1969 ).

* William R. Ott ( B-Bob ) was Chief in 1961 when the Fire Department was incorporated, and became Chief again in the 1980s and 1990s.

The British aircraft manufacturer Saunders-Roe developed the first practical man-carrying hovercraft, the SR. N1, which carried out several test programmes in 1959 to 1961 ( the first public demonstration in 1959 ), including a cross-channel test run in July 1959 piloted by Peter (" Sheepy ") Lamb, an ex-naval test pilot and the Chief Test Pilot at Saunders Roe.

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (; October 24, 1891 – May 30, 1961 ), nicknamed El Jefe (, The Chief or The Boss ), ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.

Kenyatta was admitted into the Legislative Council after his release in 1961, after Kariuki Njiiri ( son of late Chief Njiiri ) gave up his Kigumo seat for him.

He went on to be Station Commander at RAF Wahn in 1954, Deputy Chief of Staff at Headquarters Second Tactical Air Force in 1961 and Director of the Defence Operations Staff on formation of the Ministry of Defence in 1964.

* The Absent-Minded Professor ( 1961 )-actor ( as Fire Chief )

( 1946 ); “ Essentials for Nigeria ’ s Survival .” ( 1965 ); “ Before Us Lies The Open Grave ” ( 1947 ); “ The Future of Pan-Africanism ” ( 1961 ); “ The Realities of African Unity ” ( 1965 ); “ Origins of the Nigerian Civil War ” ( 1969 ); I Believe in a One Nigeria ( 1969 ); Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War ( 1969 ); Dialogue on a New Capital for Nigeria ( 1974 ); “ Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis ” ( 1974 ); Democracy with Military Vigilance ( 1974 ); “ Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9 December 1976, on eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund ” ( 1976 ); Our Struggle for Freedom ; Onitsha Market Crisis ( 1976 ); Let Us Forgive Our Children, An appeal to the leaders and people of Onitsha during the market crisis ( 1976 ); A Collection of Poems ( 1977 ); Civil War Soliloquies: More Collection of Poems ( 1977 ); “ Themes in African Social and Political Thought ” ( 1978 ); Restoration of Nigerian Democracy ( 1978 ); Matchless Past Performance: My Reply to Chief Awolowo ’ s Challenge ( 1979 ); A Matter of Conscience ( 1979 ); Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism?

An additional inspiration was provided by the 1961 interview by Knebel, who was also a political journalist and columnist, conducted with the newly-appointed Air Force Chief of Staff, Curtis LeMay, an advocate of preventive first-strike nuclear option.

Cheddi Berret Jagan ( March 22, 1918 – March 6, 1997 ) was a Guyanese politician who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964, prior to independence.

After a PPP victory in the August 1961 election, Jagan became Chief Minister for a second time, serving for three years.

In 1961 Ciskei became a separate administrative region and in 1972 was declared self-governing under the rule of Chief Justice Mabandla and then Lennox Sebe.

From 1959, he served in the 8th Army Air Defense separate ( Kiev ) and from 1961 to 1968 was Commander of the 8th Army Air Defense and deputy commander of the Kiev Military District Air Defense Forces. In 1968 he became Deputy Chief of the Air Defense Forces.

In 1961, delivering on behalf of the whole Court a brief dismissal of an application for a certificate, Chief Justice Sir Owen Dixon said: " experience shows-and that experience was anticipated when s. 74 was enacted-that it is only those who dwell under a Federal Constitution who can become adequately qualified to interpret and apply its provisions ".

Gairy was returned in a by-election in July 1961 and became Chief minister, as his party held a majority in the Legislative Council since winning the 1961 general election.

* 1961 – John Key, New Zealand politician, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand

* 1961 – Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.

Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH ( 8 August 188020 December 1961 ) was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament .< ref >

In the February 1961 election, held under the new presidential system, M ' Ba became President and Aubame became Foreign Minister.

In the February 1961 election, held under the new presidential system, M ' Ba became President and Aubame became Foreign Minister.

Mr. Cole served only one term, after which the IAEA was headed by two Swedes for nearly four decades: the scientist Sigvard Eklund held the job from 1961 to 1981, followed by former Swedish Foreign Minister Hans Blix, who served from 1981 to 1997.

* 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.

In 1961, U Thant, then Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former Secretary to the Prime Minister, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations ; he was the first non-Westerner to head any international organization and would serve as UN Secretary-General for ten years.

The Prime Minister is responsible for aiding and advising the President in distribution of work of the Government to various ministries and offices and in terms of the Government of India ( Allocation of Business ) Rules, 1961.

On 27 April 1961, Sir Milton Margai lead Sierra Leone to Independence from Britain and became the country's first Prime Minister.

* 1961 – Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

Nyerere became Minister of British-administered Tanganyika in 1960 and continued as Prime Minister when Tanganyika became officially independent in 1961.

On December 9, 1961, Tanganika became an autonomous Commonwealth realm, and Nyerere became Prime Minister, under a new constitution.

* August 8 – Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia ( d. 1961 )

The government of the city-state of Hamburg is known as the Senate of Hamburg, and from 1961 to 1965 Schmidt was the Innensenator, that is Minister of the Interior.

Patrice Émery Lumumba ( 2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961 ) was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960.

Playa Girón and Playa Larga were the landing sites for seaborne forces of armed Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an American CIA-sponsored attempt to overthrow the new government of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro in April 1961.

* Heinrich von Brentano, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1955 to 1961

Guido Westerwelle (; born 27 December 1961 ) is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has served as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011.

The first permanent Hockey Hall of Fame, which shared a building with the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, was opened on August 26, 1961, by Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.

* Julia Gillard ( born 1961 ), Australian politician, Prime Minister

The novel's sales were aided by an advertising campaign that played upon a visit by British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden to Fleming's Goldeneye estate and by the publication of a 1961 Life Magazine article, which listed From Russia, with Love as one of US President John F. Kennedy's ten favourite books.

Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, the Minister of Aviation, in 1961 thought about a joint European project, the main intention being not to waste the ( advanced ) development of the rocket, and not to leave space exploration to the Americans and Russians.