1960 in History

Events 1 - 100 of 369

• Jan 1 Bank of France issues new franc, worth 100 times the value of existing francs
• Jan 1 Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from France
• Jan 1 Montserrat adopts constitution
• Jan 1 A photograph of a South African boy in a torn vest is published in the Daily Herald; it was illegal to employ a 'native' under 18 in the mines under the Native Labour Regulation Act
• Jan 2 1st redshank old world shore bird reported in North America (Halifax)
• Jan 2 John Reynolds sets age of solar system at 4,950,000,000 years

• Jan 4 European Free Trade Association forms in Stockholm
• Jan 7 The Polaris missile is tested
• Jan 9 Building of Aswan dam in Egypt, begins
• Jan 10 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Delmore Schwartz
• Jan 12 Gary Sobers and Frank Worrell complete 399 stand for 4th wkt WI v England
• Jan 14 Tuindorp-Oostzaan in Northern Amsterdam, flooded
• Jan 14 The Reserve Bank of Australia is established
• Jan 18 US & Japan sign joint defense treaty
• Jan 18 Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes in Virginia, killing all 50 people on-board

• Jan 20 Patrice Lumumba sentenced to 6 months in Belgian Congo
• Jan 21 Little Joe 4 suborbital Mercury test reaches 16 km
• Jan 21 Rock falls traps 437 at Coalbrook, South Africa; 417 die of methane poisoning
• Jan 23 Bathosphere "Trieste", crewed by Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, reaches bottom of Pacific (10,900 m)
• Jan 24 Algeria uprises against French president De Gaulle
• Jan 28 1st photograph bounced off Moon, Washington, D.C.
• Jan 30 CIA OKs Lockheed to produce a new U-2 aircraft (Oxcart)
• Jan 30 Dutch communist trade union EVC'58 disbands
• Jan 30 Riot curtails third days play at Port-Of-Spain WI v England
• Jan 30 US female Figure Skating championship won by Carol Heiss
• Jan 30 US male Figure Skating championship won by David Jenkins
• Jan 30 African National Party is founded in Chad
• Feb 1 4 students stage 1st civil rights sit-in, at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina
• Feb 1 Extreme right-wing rebels in Algiers surrender
• Feb 2 Michale Eufemia sinks 625 balls in pool match without a miss

• Feb 4 BBWAA voters fail to elect a new Hall of Fame member
• Feb 4 Giants move their offices to Candlestick Park
• Feb 7 Old handwriting found in at Qumran, near the Dead Sea
• Feb 8 Congress opens hearings looking into payola

• Feb 10 Charles Ives' "Lincoln, the Great Commoner" premieres
• Feb 12 Chinese army kills 12 Indian soldiers
• Feb 13 France performs 1st nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds Algeria


• Feb 14 Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan
• Feb 16 US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip
• Feb 18 Walter O'Malley, LA Dodger owner, purchases Chavez Ravine for $494,000
• Feb 19 Protest strike in Poznan, Poland
• Feb 23 Demolition begins on Brooklyn's Ebbets Field (opened in 1913)
• Feb 24 Italian government of Segni falls
• Feb 25 Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic" premieres in NYC

• Feb 26 Verne Gagne beats Doctor X in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champ
• Feb 27 Oil pipe line from Rotterdam to Ruhrgebied opens

• Feb 29 Agadir earthquake in Morocco kills a third of the population (12,000-15,000)
• Feb 29 JFK makes "missile gap" the presidential campaign issue
• Mar 3 9th largest snowfall in NYC history (14.5")
• Mar 4 French freighter "La Coubre" explodes in Havana Cuba, killing 100
• Mar 5 Ice Pairs Championship at Vancouver won by Wagner & Paul (CAN)
• Mar 5 The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis originates when Alister Hardy publicly announces his idea that ape-human divergence may have been due to a coastal phase.

• Mar 7 Dutch Builders strike for CLA
• Mar 10 USSR agrees to stop nuclear testing
• Mar 11 Pioneer 5 launched into solar orbit between Earth & Venus
• Mar 14 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield Calif
• Mar 15 Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve established (1st underwater park)
• Mar 15 National Observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona dedicated
• Mar 17 US President Eisenhower forms anti-Castro-exile army under the CIA
• Mar 21 Sharpeville Massacre: Police kill 72 in South Africa & outlaws ANC

• Mar 23 Explorer (8) fails to reach Earth orbit
• Mar 24 US appeals court rules novel "Lady Chatterly's Lover" not obscene
• Mar 25 1st guided missile launched from nuclear powered sub (Halibut)

• Mar 25 Italian government Tambroni forms
• Mar 26 Iraq executes 30 after attack on President Kassem
• Mar 28 Pope John appoints the first Japanese, African & Filipino cardinals
• Mar 28 Scotch whisky factory explodes burying 20 fire fighters in Glasgow, Scotland
• Mar 31 Gore Vidal's "Best Man" premieres in NYC
• Apr 1 Census determines the resident population of the United States to be 179,245,000
• Apr 1 2nd French atom bomb explodes (Sahara)
• Apr 1 France performs nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds, Algeria
• Apr 1 U Nu elected premier of Burma
• Apr 1 1st weather satellite launched (TIROS 1)
• Apr 2 Mabry Harper catches a world record 25 lb Walleye in Tennessee
• Apr 2 Cuba buys oil from USSR
• Apr 3 Earthquake at Havre, Belgium
• Apr 4 Oscar awarded to Netherlands director Bert Haanstra
• Apr 4 Project Ozma begins at Green Bank radio astronomy center
• Apr 4 Senegal declares independence from France
• Apr 8 Netherlands and Germany sign accord concerning war casualties
• Apr 8 US Senate passes Civil Rights Bill with measures against discriminatory voting pracrices
• Apr 9 South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd survives an assassination attempt by David Pratt despite being twice shot in the face
• Apr 10 Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill
• Apr 12 Bert Haanstra wins Oscar for "Glass"
• Apr 12 Bill Veeck & Chicago Comiskey Park debuts "Exploding Scoreboard"
• Apr 13 France becomes 4th nuclear nation exploding an A-Bomb in Sahara
• Apr 13 Transit 1B, 1st navigational satellite, placed in Earth orbit
• Apr 14 1st underwater launching of Polaris missile

• Apr 15 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), organizes at Shaw U
• Apr 15 Guy Carawan sings "We Shall Overcome" to a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh - popularising the song as a protest anthem

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 139

• Jan 2 Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author
• Jan 4 Cory Everson, American body builder (6X Ms Olympia), born in Racine Wisconsin
• Jan 7 Loretta Sanchez, American politician
• Jan 7 Mohammed Javad Zarif, Iranian politician (Minister of Foreign Affairs), born in Broujerd
• Jan 10 Benoît Pelletier, Canadian politician
• Jan 17 John Crawford, bass (Berlin-You Take My Breath Away), born in Palo Alto, California
• Jan 28 Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer, and producer
• Jan 31 Grant Morrison, British comic book author
• Feb 4 Siobhan Dowd, British/Irish author (d. 2007)
• Feb 5 William John Readings, literary theorist
• Feb 6 Akinwumi Adesina, Nigerian politician, (African Development Bank President 2015-), born in Ogun State, Nigeria
• Feb 9 Peggy Whitson, American astronaut, 1st woman to command International Space Station, US record for most days in space, born in Mt Ayr, Iowa
• Feb 11 Richard A Mastracchio, astronaut, born in Waterbury, Connecticut
• Feb 13 Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee, born in Bologna, Italy
• Feb 18 Carol McGiffin, British TV and radio presenter
• Feb 19 Keith Musa[kawukhathi] Zondi, South African head of Inkatha Youth Brigade
• Feb 19 Prince Andrew, Albert Christian Edward, of Britain/Duke of York
• Feb 23 Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis, born in Stuttgart, Germany
• Feb 23 Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, born in Tokyo, Japan
• Feb 23 Alan Griffin, Australian politician, born in Melbourne, Australia
• Feb 29 Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker
• Feb 29 Richard Ramirez, El Paso, Texas, serial killer (Night Stalker)
• Mar 13 Yuri Andrukhovych, Ukrainian writer, poet and political essayist, born in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
• Mar 15 Phil Walsh, Australian Rules Football wing/coach (murdered by son), born in Hamilton, Australia (d. 1915)
• Mar 23 Oscar Michael Moore, journalist
• Mar 23 Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland
• Mar 24 Grayson Perry, English cross-dressing artist (Turner Prize 2003), born in Chelmsford
• Mar 27 Clare Lucy Madeleine Evans, historian
• Mar 28 José Maria Neves, Prime Minister of Cape Verde (2001-16), born in Santa Catarina, Cape Verde
• Mar 28 Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, French author and dramatist (Concerto to the Memory of an Angel), born in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône
• Apr 13 Rudi Völler, German football coach
• Apr 13 Bob Casey, Jr., Democratic U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
• Apr 15 Marvin Clyde Goodwin, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List), born in New Orleans, Louisiana

• Apr 16 Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician (d. 2007)
• Apr 20 Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuban politician, President of Cuba (2018-), born in Placetas, Cuba
• Apr 22 Mart Laar, Estonian statesman
• Apr 22 Randall L. Stephenson, American business executive
• Apr 22 Gary Rhodes, British restaurateur and television chef, born in London, England
• Apr 23 Valerie Bertinelli, American actress (Barbara Cooper Royer-1 Day at a Time, Hot in Cleveland), born in Wilmington, Delaware
• Apr 28 Ian Rankin, Scottish novelist
• Apr 28 Joel H. Rosenthal American political scientist
• Apr 28 Elena Kagan, American Supreme Court Judge, born in NYC, New York
• Apr 29 Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian writer
• Apr 30 Kerry Healey, American politician
• Apr 30 David Miscavige, American cult leader
• May 7 Arnon Ohad, co-pilot (El Al) plane that crashed on Bijlmer Amsterdam
• May 7 Almudena Grandes, Spanish novelist (Las edades de Lulú), born in Madrid, Spain
• May 9 Jim Reilly, rocker (Red Rockers)

• May 22 Hideaki Anno, Japanese director
• May 25 Amy Klobuchar, American politician, junior senator from Minnesota
• Jun 5 Margo Lanagan, Australian author
• Jun 9 Steve Paikin, Canadian journalist
• Jun 19 Heike Walpot, German, cosmonaut
• Jun 22 Erin Brockovich, American legal clerk and environmental campaigner, born in Lawrence, Kansas
• Jun 24 Trisha Meili, the "Central Park Jogger"
• Jun 24 Karin Pilsäter, Swedish politician
• Jun 27 David Cholmondeley, 7th marquess of Cholmondeley, English large landowner and millionaire, born in Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire, England
• Jun 27 Jim Nussle, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa (2003-07), born in Des Moines, Iowa
• Jul 5 James M Kelly, American politician (Maryland), born in Baltimore County, Maryland
• Jul 6 Jozef/Josef Pribilinec, Czech, speed walker (world record 10K)
• Jul 7 Kevin A. Ford, American astronaut
• Jul 9 Christopher J "Gus" Loria, Major USMC/astronaut, born in Newton, Massachusetts
• Jul 11 Ariel Castro, Puerto Rican-born American criminal famous for kidnapping 3 women between 2002-4, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico (d. 2013)
• Jul 13 Ian Hislop, British writer, satirist and editor of Private Eye, born in Swansea, Wales
• Jul 14 Anna Bligh, Australian politician
• Jul 15 Alexander W Dunlap, astronaut, born in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Jul 19 Atom Egoyan, Canadian director (Adjuster, Next of Kin), born in Cairo, Egypt
• Jul 20 Katie Rabbet, Prince Andrew's former girlfriend, born in London, England
• Jul 27 Reinaldo de Carvalho, carnival King (d. 1995)
• Jul 28 Yōichi Takahashi, Japanese mangaka of Captain Tsubasa and Hungry Heart Wild Striker
• Aug 4 Bernard Rose, English director
• Aug 4 Tim Winton, Australian author
• Aug 4 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish politician
• Aug 8 Ulrich Maly, German politician
• Aug 10 Todd David Hess, First USAF Member inducted into Army's Order of Military Medical Merit.
• Aug 20 Sally Yates, American lawyer and Acting Attorney General (Jan 2017), born in Atlanta, Georgia
• Aug 23 Helen Rees, director (Design Museum)
• Aug 23 Rodney Alan Greenblat, American graphic artist, born in San Francisco, California
• Aug 24 Franz Vienboeck, Austrian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-13)
• Aug 24 Steven W Lindsey, Arcadia California, Major USAF/astronaut (STS 87, sk:95)
• Aug 28 Cunningham T Ngcukana, South African worker's union leader
• Aug 28 Leroy Chiao, Taiwanese-American engineer and astronaut (STS 65, 72, sk: 92), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Aug 30 Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, Medal of Honor recipient, born in Lincoln, Maine (d. 1993)
• Aug 31 Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hizbollah, born in Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon
• Sep 2 Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian politician
• Sep 2 John S. Hall, American poet and spoken-word artist
• Sep 7 Carlos Martinez, American bowler
• Sep 8 Stefano Casiraghi, husband of princess Caroline of Monaco
• Sep 9 Hugh Grant, London England (4 Weddings & a Funeral, 9 Months)
• Sep 9 Mario Batali, American chef and restaurateur, born in Seattle, Washington
• Sep 10 Alison Bechdel, American cartoonist
• Sep 16 Kurt Busiek, American comic book writer
• Sep 18 Karim Rashid, Egyptian/English industrial designer
• Sep 20 James A Pawelczyk, PhD/astronaut (sk STS 90), born in Buffalo, New York
• Sep 20 Deborah Roberts, American journalist and TV reporter
• Sep 22 Scott Baio, (Joanie Loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Zapped), born in Brooklyn, New York
• Sep 27 Nick della Casa, British Brazilian Argentine cameraman (Emmy Award)
• Sep 27 Barron Lerner, American physician and historian

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• May 6 English Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon) at Westminster Abbey
• Jul 3 Vernon Presley (father of Elvis) weds Dee Alliot
• Dec 15 King Boudouin of Belgium marries dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon

Deaths 1 - 100 of 118

• Jan 2 Chris van Abkoude, Dutch-American writer and novelist (Pietje Bell, Kruimeltje), dies at about 79
• Jan 2 Fausto Coppi, Italian, ran world record 45,798 km, dies at 40
• Jan 2 Friedrich Adler, Austrian socialist politician, revolutionary and murderer of premier Storgkh, dies at 80
• Jan 2 Paul Sauvé, Canadian politician (b. 1907)
• Jan 3 Victor Sjöström, Swedish director (Wind, Under the Red Robe), dies at 80

• Jan 5 Pavel P Parenago, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 53
• Jan 6 Edith Barstow, American choreographer (Frankie Laine Time, The Gem of the Ocean), dies at 54
• Jan 6 Erik Lindahl, Swedish economist (Scope & Means), dies at 68
• Jan 9 Elsie J. Oxenham, British children's author (b. 1880)
• Jan 11 Johan E. Elias, Dutch historian (Amsterdam's regency), dies at 84
• Jan 12 Nevil Shute [Norway], Eng/Aust author (Town like Alice), dies at 60
• Jan 13 Sibilla Aleramo [Rina Faccio], Italian feminist and poet (Una Donna), dies at 83
• Jan 28 Zora Neale Hurston, American author, dies at 69
• Feb 3 Johannes G Geelkerken, Dutch reformed vicar, dies at 80
• Feb 7 Igor V Kurtshatov, Russian nuclear physicist, dies at 57
• Feb 8 Giles Gilbert Scott, British architect (b. 1880)
• Feb 8 John Langshaw Austin, British philosopher, (b. 1911)
• Feb 9 Alexandre Benois, Russian artist, dies at 89
• Feb 10 Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
• Feb 12 Bobby Clark, vaudevillan (World's funniest circus clown), dies at 71
• Feb 13 Delmar G Roos, designer of jeep, dies at 79
• Feb 20 Leonard Woolley, British pioneering archaeologist, dies at 79
• Feb 22 Paul-Émile Borduas, Quebec painter (b. 1905)
• Feb 25 Everhardus Jacobus van Romondt, Dutch Antillean minister, dies at 51
• Feb 26 Aleksandar Belic, Serbian linguist, dies at 83
• Feb 27 Adriano Olivetti, Italian engineer and manufacturer (typewriter), dies at 58
• Feb 28 F S Flint [Frank Stuart Flint], British translator and imagist movement poet (In the Net of the Stars), dies at 74

• Mar 2 Stanisław Taczak, Polish general, commander-in-chief of the Greater Poland Uprising (b. 1874)
• Mar 4 Herbert O'Conor, 51st Governor of the US State of Maryland (b. 1896)
• Mar 9 Jack Beattie, Northern Irish politician (b. 1886)
• Mar 11 Roy Chapman Andrews, US biologist/explorer, dies at 76
• Mar 22 José Antonio Aguirre, Basque politician (b. 1904)
• Mar 23 Franklin P Adams, columnist (Information Please), dies at 78
• Mar 24 Paul Joostens, Flemish painter, dies at 70
• Mar 30 Fritz Klimsch, German sculptor/painter, dies at 90
• Apr 1 Piet[er O] Bakker, Dutch journalist/writer (Ciske), dies at 62
• Apr 3 Anton Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer/marxist theorist, dies at 87
• Apr 14 Archibald McIndoe, plastic surgeon, dies
• Apr 18 Emory Johnson, director (Phantom Express, Shield of Honor), dies at 66
• Apr 23 Cornelis Jan Bakkerr, Dutch/US nuclear physicist, dies
• Apr 23 Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese Christian social reformer and writer, dies at 71
• Apr 24 Max von Laue, German physicist who discovered the diffraction of X-rays by crystals, dies at 80
• Apr 25 Amanullah, emir/king of Afhanistan (1919-28), dies at 67
• Apr 26 Wander J de Haas, Dut physicist (Einstein-De Haas effect), dies at 82
• Apr 28 Anton Pancake, astronomer/marxist theorist, dies at 87
• May 2 Caryl Chessman, rapist executed after 12 years of appeals at 39
• May 8 J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
• May 10 Yuri Olesha, Russian writer, dies at 61

• May 23 Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor (neon light), dies at 89
• May 27 James Montgomery Flagg, American illustrator, dies at 82

• May 31 Willem Elsschot [Alfons Josephus de Ridder], Flemish writer (Kas), dies at 78
• May 31 Walther Funk, German economist and Nazi politician, dies at 69
• Jun 1 Paula Hitler, sister of Adolf Hitler (b. 1896)
• Jun 9 René Maran, Martiniques writer (Batouala, Prix Goncourt), dies
• Jun 14 Ana Pauker-Rabensohn, Romanian Foreign Minister (1945-52), dies at 67
• Jun 17 Pierre Reverdy, French poet (Nord-Sud), dies at 70
• Jun 20 Walter Dehmel, German writer, dies at 57
• Jun 25 WH Walter Baade, German/US astronomer (Andromeda), dies at 67
• Jun 27 Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain dies at 69
• Jun 28 Jake Swirbul, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1898)
• Jul 6 Aneurin Bevan, British politician (b. 1897)
• Jul 13 Anna Blaman, Dutch writer (Life & Death), dies at 55
• Jul 13 Joy Gresham, American writer (b. 1915)
• Jul 15 Set Persson, Swedish communist politician (b. 1897)
• Jul 16 Albrecht von Kesselring, German fieldmarshal (Italy), dies at 74
• Jul 16 John P. Marquand, American writer (The Late George Apley), dies at 66

• Jul 26 Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (b. 1879)
• Jul 26 Cedric Gibbons, American art director (b. 1893)
• Jul 28 Enrique Amorim, Uruguayan author (La victoria no viene sola), dies at 60
• Jul 29 Richard Simon, co-founder (Simon & Shuster), dies

• Aug 7 Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian luxury shoe designer (Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.), dies at 62
• Aug 8 Danton Walker, American columnist (Broadway Spotlight), dies at 61
• Aug 9 Bernard Ogilvie Dodge, American botanist and pioneer researcher on heredity in fungi, dies at 88
• Aug 10 Emil Strauss, German writer (Vaterland), dies
• Aug 10 Oswald Veblin, mathematician
• Aug 19 Lewis Bernstein Namier, English historian, dies at 72
• Aug 21 David Barnard Steinman, American civil engineer and bridge designer (Hudson, Triborough), dies at 74
• Aug 29 Hazza el-Majali, PM of Jordan is assassinated
• Aug 29 Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (Grand Hotel), dies at 72
• Sep 4 Alfred E Green, director (Copacabana), dies after long illness at 71
• Sep 7 Wilhelm Pieck, president of German DR (1949-60), dies at 84
• Sep 10 Fjodor Panfjorov, Russian author (Volga - matushka-reka), dies at 63
• Sep 14 M. Karagatsis, Greek author (b. 1908)
• Sep 18 John Evans, England Test batsman (author 'The Escaping Club'), dies at 71
• Sep 20 Lee Duncan, owner/trainer (Rin Tin Tin), dies of heart attack at 67
• Sep 22 Melanie Klein, Austria/British psycho analyst, dies at 78
• Sep 24 Melanie Klein, [Reizes], child psycho-analyst, dies
• Sep 25 Emily Post, American authority on social behaviour and writer (Etiquette), dies at 86
• Sep 27 Sylvia Pankhurst, English feminist/daughter of Emmeline, dies at 78
• Sep 29 Franz Arnold, German writer, dies at 82
• Sep 30 St John Philby, British explorer and Arabist, dies at 75
• Oct 5 Alfred L. Kroeber, American anthropologist and author (Anthropologist looks at History), dies at 84
• Oct 9 Howard Glenn, NY Titan, dies of injuries sustain in this day's game
• Oct 12 Inejiro Asanuma, Leader of the Japanese Socialist Party, murdered at 61

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