- Dec 1 Patrice Lumumba caught in the Congo
Event of Interest
Dec 1 Paul McCartney and Pete Best arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany for accusation of attempted arson.
Paul McCartney
Scientific Discovery
Dec 2 Paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey discovers 1.4 million year old Homo erectus (Olduvai Hominid 9) in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Louis Leakey
- Dec 3 "Camelot" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 873 performances
- Dec 3 Frederick Loewe nd Alan Jay Lerner's "Camelot" premieres in NYC
- Dec 5 Ghana drops diplomatic relations with Belgium
- Dec 6 AL grants American businessman Gene Autry a franchise, LA Angels
- Dec 7 Ivory Coast claims independence from France
- Dec 8 Expansion LA Angels sign a 4 year lease to use Dodger Stadium
- Dec 9 1st broadcast of "Coronation Street" on British ITV
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Willard Libby wins the Nobel prize in Chemistry for his work developing carbon-14 dating (radiocarbon dating).
Willard Libby
- Dec 11 Black Sunday - Riot in Algiers, 114 die
Music Premiere
Dec 11 Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's musical "Wildcat" with Lucille Ball premieres in New York City
Lucille Ball
- Dec 11 Cleveland's Bernie Parrish sets club record for longest interception return with a 92 yard run
- Dec 13 Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)
- Dec 13 Laos General Fumi Nosavang occupies Vientiane
- Dec 14 Australia v West Indies 1st Test Cricket at the Gabba ends in a tie
- Dec 14 Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) forms
- Dec 14 Washington Senators joins American League
- Dec 16 "Wildcat" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 172 performances
- Dec 16 TWA 266 & United 826 collide over Staten Island, kills 134
- Dec 17 "La Plume de Ma Tante" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 835 performances
- Dec 17 "Take Me Along" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 448 performances
- Dec 17 Pablo Casals' oratorio "El Pesebrio" premieres
- Dec 18 General Meeting of UN condemns apartheid
- Dec 19 Fire aboard USS Constellation, under construction at Brooklyn (50 die)
Music Recording
Dec 19 Frank Sinatra's 1st session with Reprise Records (Ring-A-Ding-Ding)
Frank Sinatra
- Dec 19 Mercury-Redstone 1A reaches 210 km in test flight
- Dec 20 Auschwitz commandant Richard Bar arrested in German FR
- Dec 20 The National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, is officially formed in South Vietnam
- Dec 23 De Quay's Dutch government falls
- Dec 23 King Saud of Saudi Arabia takes power
- Dec 24 Dutch bishops question papacy values
- Dec 26 Musical "Do re mi" with Phil Silvers premieres St James Theater in NYC
- Dec 26 Philadelphia Eagles beat Green Bay Packers 17-13 in NFL championship game
- Dec 27 France performs nuclear test
- Dec 27 1961 NFL Draft: Tommy Mason from University of Tulane first pick by Minnesota Vikings
- Dec 28 49th Davis Cup: Australia beats Italy in Sydney (4-1)