1961

Events

 * January 20:
 * Byron White becomes United States Deputy Attorney General
 * January 21:
 * Robert Kennedy becomes United States Attorney General
 * Robert McNamara becomes United States Secretary of Defense
 * Stewart Udall becomes United States Secretary of the Interior
 * Arthur Goldberg becomes United States Secretary of Labor
 * May 2:
 * Morris Udall becomes Chair of the House Interior Committee

Births

 * May 5:
 * Michael James Dunleavy - Governor of Alaska (Living)
 * May 8:
 * Bill de Blasio - Mayor of New York City (Living)
 * August 4:
 * Barack Hussein Obama II - President of the United States (Living)
 * November 1:
 * Ryan Keith Zinke - United States Secretary of the Interior (Living)
 * November 17:
 * Patrick Joseph Toomey Jr. - Senator of Pennsylvania (Living)
 * December 27:
 * William Joseph Walsh - Member of the House of Representatives (Living)

Deaths

 * August 9:
 * Walter Bedell Smith - Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1895)