JFK's short time in office was marked by several major events. Explore them in this timeline.

1961

• UN General Assembly condemns apartheid in South Africa
• Berlin Wall is built, dividing East and West Germany
• American-backed Cuban exiles fail in an attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs
• Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated
• Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completes the first orbit of Earth by a human

1962

• U.S. establishes a military council in South Vietnam
• USSR sends arms to Cuba, setting off the "Cuban Missile Crisis" with the U.S.
• Uganda and Tanganyika become independent nations (Tanganyika subsequently merged with Zanzibar in 1964 to become Tanzania)
• U2 pilot Gary Powers is traded by the USSR for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, who had been captured by the U.S.

1963

• French president Charles de Gaulle prevents Great Britain's entry into the Common Market
• Nuclear test ban treaty is signed by the U.S., Great Britain, and USSR
• Buddhist-led military group overthrows the government of South Vietnam
• Kenya becomes an independent republic
• John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas -- Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president