November 1960 in History

Events in History

Nov 1 Benelux treaty goes into effect

Historic Publication

Nov 2 Penguin Books cleared of obscenity for publishing DH Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover"

Nov 3 Ivory Coast adopts constitution

Historic Discovery

Nov 4 Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey discover first Homo habilis jaw fragments (OH 7) at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Election of Interest

Nov 8 John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon who was the incumbent Vice President

How Britain Fell in Love with Lady Chatterley

Nov 10 Uncensored version of D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley’s Lover" finally goes on sale in the UK after a jury finds publisher Penguin Books not guilty in an obscenity trial

Copies of the un-banned Lady Chatterley were much-prized and sold out within minutes. Photo: Keystone/Getty Images

Coup d'état

Nov 12 Coup against South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm fails

Nov 12 Mercury-Redstone 1 test launch fails at 10 cm altitude
Nov 14 2 passenger trains collided at high-speed killing 110 (Czech)
Nov 14 Belgium threatens to leave UN due to criticism on its policy on Congo

Judge With a Passion For Civil Rights

Nov 14 New Orleans elementary schools begin desegregation under an order from U.S. Circuit Judge J. Skelly Wright, the McDonogh Three join McDonogh 19 Elementary School and Ruby Bridges joins William Frantz Elementary School. They are met with death threats and racial slurs while the schools faced immediate boycotts.

Norman Rockwell’s painting of six year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted into a New Orleans school in 1960

Nov 15 USS G Washington, 1st sub with nuclear ballistic missiles, launched
Nov 16 NL batting champion Dick Groat wins MVP
Nov 16 U.S. marshals escort four six-year-old African-American girls to previously all-white public schools in New Orleans, in response to death threats against the girls and race riots
Nov 18 Copyright office issues its 10 millionth registration
Nov 19 Mickey Vernon is hired as 1st manager of new Washington team
Nov 22 French National Meeting decide to build own nuclear weapons
Nov 23 Tiros 2, a weather satellite is launched
Nov 25 First atomic reactor for research & development, Richland, Wa
Nov 25 Three of the four Mirabal sisters, opponents of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, are assassinated
Nov 27 Dr Felix Houphouet-Boigny becomes president of Ivory Coast

Event of Interest

Nov 27 Patrice Lumumba flees Leopoldville, Congo

Nov 28 Mauritania gains independence from France (National Day)
Nov 30 French Senate condemns building own nuclear weapons
Nov 30 Tad Mosels "All the Way Home" premieres in NYC

Birthdays in History

Tim Cook (62 years old)

Nov 1 American businessman (CEO of Apple Inc. 2011-), born in Mobile, Alabama

Nov 2 Tihomir Blaškić, Croatian war criminal, born in Kiseljak, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nov 4 Kathy Griffin, American comedienne (Suddenly Susan, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List), born in Chicago, Illinois
Nov 4 Marc Awodey, American artist and writer, born in Birmingham, Michigan (d. 2012)
Nov 12 Bertice Berry, American talk show host (Bertice)
Nov 17 Jonathan Ross, British talk show host (Tall Guy)
Nov 17 Kirk Fogg, host of Legends of the Hidden Temple
Nov 23 Robin Roberts, American television reporter (Good Morning America), born in Tuskegee, Alabama

John F. Kennedy Jr. (1960-1999)

Nov 25 American magazine publisher (George), lawyer and son of JFK, born in NYC, New York

Nov 27 Kevin Henkes, American children's book writer/illustrator (Caldecott Medal), born in Racine, Wisconsin
Nov 27 Tim Pawlenty, American politician, Governor of Minnesota (2003-11), born in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nov 27 Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian politician and co-leader of the Orange Revolution, Prime Minister (2005, 2007-10), born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Nov 28 John Galliano, British fashion designer, born in Gibraltar

Deaths in History

Nov 3 Harold Spencer Jones, English astronomer and 10th astronomer royal of England whose work led to a more accurate determination of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, dies at 70
Nov 5 August Gailit, Estonian writer (Ekke Moor), dies at 69
Nov 6 Erich Raeder, German naval commander (1928–43), dies at 84

Otto Frederick Rohwedder (1880-1960)

Nov 8 American engineer (invented the bread-slicing machine), dies at 80

Nov 20 Ya'akov Cahan, Hebrew poet and writer, dies at 79
Nov 24 Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1882)
Nov 24 Salomon "Sam" de Wolff, Dutch zionist and socialist theorist, dies at 82
Nov 27 Dirk Jan de Geer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1926-29, 39-40), dies at 89
Nov 28 Richard Wright, American author (Native Son, Uncle Tom's Children), dies at 52