At A Glance

28 August 1961 at a glance

Day of the week
28 August 1961 was a Monday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Wooden Heart” by Joe Dowell.
Top Film of 1961
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1961 was One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Bestselling Novel of 1961
“The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1961.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Wagon Train” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1961–62 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 28 August is Virgo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 28 August 1961 fell in the Year of the Ox.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 28 August 1961 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 28 August

  • 1944 World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.
  • 1946 The Workers' Party of North Korea, predecessor of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, is founded at a congress held in Pyongyang, North Korea.
  • 1957 U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the United States Senate from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later. This would remain the longest speech ever conducted by a single Senator until Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours and five minutes, beginning on March 31, 2025.
  • 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
  • 1968 Police and protesters clash during 1968 Democratic National Convention protests as protesters chant "The whole world is watching".

Famous people born on August 28

  • David Fincher, American director and producer (born 1962)
  • Shania Twain, Grammy Award-winning Canadian Country Singer-Songwriter (born 1965)
  • Jack Kirby, Comic Book Artist and Writer (1917–1994)
  • Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor (born 1956)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1961 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1961 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 25 – Disney's animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, is released. Its financial success pulling the studio out of another financial slump from the initial underperformance of Sleeping Beauty.
  • February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.
  • March 1 – President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.

Life in the US in 1961

President

John F. Kennedy

Gas (per gallon)

$0.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.21

Average House

$12,500

Weekly Wage

$89

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1960s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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