January 10 » The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
March 1 » The Australian Army is formed.
March 2 » The U.S. Congress passes the Platt Amendment limiting the autonomy of Cuba, as a condition of the withdrawal of American troops.
August 10 » The U.S. Steel recognition strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
August 21 » Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
October 29 » In Amherst, Massachusetts, nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
Day of death March 23, 1961
The temperature on March 23, 1961 was between 6.7 °C and 11.4 °C and averaged 8.2 °C. There was 1.6 hours of sunshine (13%). The heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west. Source: KNMI
January 23 » The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is overthrown.
March 2 » John F. Kennedy announces the creation of the Peace Corps in a nationally televised broadcast.
August 10 » Vietnam War: The U.S. Army begins Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated 20million US gallons (76,000m) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover.
September 1 » The first conference of the Non-Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
October 31 » In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin's Mausoleum, also known as the Lenin Tomb.
November 12 » Terry Jo Duperrault is the sole survivor of a series of brutal murders aboard the Ketch Bluebelle.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I21230.php : accessed January 27, 2026), "Richard Gerald Dreyer (Richard Gerald Dreyer ) Steyn (1901-1961)".
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