1960

fr: 1960de: 1960es: 1960it: 1960
Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. The year 1960 is known as the "Year of Africa."

Events of 1960 :

January :

February :

March :

April :

  • April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
  • April 1 - The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.
  • April 4 - The first 3 female priests are ordained in Sweden.
  • April 12 - Eric Peugeot, youngest son of the founder of Peugeot, is kidnapped in Paris. Kidnappers release him April 15 in exchange for $300,000 ransom.
  • April 13 - The United States launches navigation satellite Transat I-b.
  • April 13 - The Blue Streak missile is cancelled, ending the United Kingdom's imperial ambitions.
  • April 16 - Gunman David Pratt attacks South African Prime Minister Henrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg, wounding him seriously.
  • April 16 - Brian Hardgroove (bassist and bandleader for legendary hip hop band Public Enemy) is born in New York City (United States).
  • April 16 - The Times of London abandons use of the term "Imperial and Foreign News", replacing it with "Overseas News", and changes its house style from "to-day" to "today".
  • April 18 - On the campaign trail in West Virginia, Senator John F. Kennedy says, in reply to a question about his Roman Catholic faith, "I don't think that my religion is anyone's business."
  • April 21 - In Brazil, the country's capital (Federal District) is shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The Guanabara State is founded to succeed Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian Federal District.
  • April 27 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

May :

  • May 1 - A Soviet missile shoots down an American Lockheed U2 spy plane; the pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured.
  • May 1 - In India, May 1st is declared as 'Maharashtra Divas', i.e., Maharashtra Day (the same day is also celebrated as 'Kaamgaar Divas', i.e., Workers Day).
  • May 4 - West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is fired because of his Nazi past.
  • May 6 - President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law.
  • May 9 - The U.S. FDA announces that it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making it the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.
  • May 10 - The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth.
  • May 11 - In Buenos Aires, 4 Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who was using the alias "Ricardo Klement".
  • May 13 - A Swiss/Austrian expedition makes the first ascent of Dhaulagiri, the world's 7th highest mountain.
  • May 14 - The Kenyan African National Congress Party is founded in Kenya, when 3 political parties join forces.
  • May 15 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit.
  • May 16 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.
  • May 16 - Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
  • May 20 - In Japan, police carry away Socialist members of the Diet; Parliament then approves a security treaty with the United States.
  • May 22 - Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Taitao Peninsula, causing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record. Seismographs in Valdivia crash.
  • May 23 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.
  • May 27 - In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celal Bayar and installs General Cemal Gürsel as head of state.

June :

July :

August :

September :

October :

November :

December :

  • December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Congo, is arrested by troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu.
  • December 1 - A 5-ton Soviet spacecraft containing animals, insects and plants is launched into orbit; it burns up upon re-entry.
  • December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talks with Pope John XXIII for about an hour in the Vatican. It is the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican Church had visited the Pope.
  • December 2 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1M for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who have been arriving in Florida at the rate of 1,000 a week.
  • December 4 - The admission to the United Nations of Mauritania is vetoed by the USSR.
  • December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led 1958 and 1960 insurrections in Algeria, fails to appear in a Paris court. He has reportedly fled with 4 fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria.
  • December 7 - The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union, to consider Soviet demands that the U.N. seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
  • December 9 - French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is marked by bloody riots by European and Muslim mobs in Algeria's largest cities, killing 127 people.
  • December 9 - First Episode of long-running drama Coronation Street airs. It was originally planned to be a 16 part drama but became such a success that it is still running 5 times or more per week.
  • December 12 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's segregation laws are unconstitutional.
  • December 13 - While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard revolts unsuccessfully against his rule. The rebels proclaim the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, as Emperor.
  • December 13 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras found the Central American Common Market.
  • December 13 - Navy Commander Leroy Heath (Pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (Bombardier/Navigator) establish a world altitude record of 91,450.8 feet (27,874.2 metres) in an A3J Vigilante carrying a 1,000 kilogram payload, besting the previous record by over 4 miles.
  • December 14 - Antoine Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville, Congo, that he has assumed the premiership.
  • December 14 - The OECD is formed in Paris.
  • December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the government and takes power into his own hands.
  • December 15 - King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
  • December 16 - U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announces that the United States will commit 5 atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963.
  • December 16 - 1960 New York air disaster: United Airlines DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island, New York City. All 128 passengers and crew on both planes are killed, as are 6 persons on the ground.
  • December 17 - Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia suppress the revolt that began December 13, giving power back to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
  • December 19 - Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, killing 50 and injuring 150.
  • December 20 - Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation.
  • December 27 - France sets off its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane, Algeria.

World population :

Births :

January-February :

March-April :

May-June :

July-August :

September-October :

November-December :

Deaths :

January-June :

July-December :

Nobel prizes :

Ship events :

  • List of ship launches in 1960
  • List of ship commissionings in 1960
  • List of ship decommissionings in 1960

Notes :

External links :

Table of Contents :