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1960s

1960s

The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. The Sixties has come to refer to the complex of inter-related cultural and political events which occurred in approximately that period, in western countries, particularly Britain, France, the United States and West Germany. Social upheaval was not limited to just these nations, reaching large scale in nations such as Japan, Mexico and Canada as well. The term is used both nostalgically by those who participated in those events, and pejoratively by those who regard the time as a period whose harmful effects are still being felt today. The decade was also labelled the Swinging Sixties because of the libertine attitudes that emerged during the decade. Popular memory has conflated into the Sixties some events which did not actually occur during the period. For example, although some of the most dramatic events of the American civil rights movement occurred in the early 1960s, the movement had already began in earnest during the 1950s. On the other hand, the rise of feminism and gay rights began only in the very late 1960s and did not fully flower until the Seventies. However, the "Sixties" has become synonymous with all the new, exciting, radical, subversive and/or dangerous (according to one's viewpoint) events and trends of the period.

Events and trends

Many of the trends of the 1960s were due to the demographic changes brought about by the baby boom generation, the height of the Cold War, and the dissolution of European colonial empires. The rise in social revolution, civil rights movements, human rights movement, anti-War movements, and the Counterculture movement are only some of the characteristics that defined the 1960s. Many experts attribute the 1960s "counter-culture revolution" as being the result of the major social and political factors that rose in the 1950s like brinksmanship, continued fighting in the 3rd world, and a return to pre-WWII lifestyle. The new generation was determined to reject a pre-WWII conformist lifestyle with men in suits and women in the kitchen. While many believed it to be just a "Western" phenomenon, the '60s revolution spread far beyond the borders of America and Western Europe. In South America, revolutions were at a height, in the Eastern Bloc, movements were made inspired by the Hungarian Revolution to reject Soviet domination, and in the Middle East attempted to resist Soviet and American domination (see Non-Aligned Movement). Overall, the '60s affected almost the entire globe. It was during this time that protectionist, command, and mixed economies reached their peak...

Technology

Non-Aligned Movement Non-Aligned Movement]
- USSR puts first man (Yuri Gagarin) and first woman (Valentina Tereshkova) in outer space
- The United States puts man on Earth's Moon (see Apollo 11)
- Geosynchronous satellites revolutionize global communications
- Start of the development of algorithmic information theory
- The ARPAnet, precursor of the Internet, is founded in 1969 as a United States Department of Defense project. The numbered series of Request For Comments (RFC) documents begins in order to document the standards and practices of this network, and continues to this day
- Direct Use of the Sun's Energy by pioneer solar-energy scientist Farrington Daniels is published (1964)
- Compact audio cassette introduced; begins to displace reel-to-reel audio tape recording for home users

Science


- Discovery of plate tectonics revolutionizes understanding of continental drift
- Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob discover the lac operon
- Rise of the science of ecology in the awareness of the intelligentsia

War, peace and politics

intelligentsia"]] intelligentsia]
- Cultural Revolution in mainland China causes political and economic chaos.
- Nigerian Civil War begins.
- 6-Day War between Israelis and Arabs in 1967.
- Beginning of The Troubles in Northern Ireland
- Berlin Wall built in 1961.
- Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, the United States sponsored an attempt to overthrow Cuba's socialist government and Fidel Castro.
- Civil rights movement in the United States; end of official segregation and disenfranchisement of African-Americans; racial tensions continue with large race riots in Watts (Los Angeles) in 1966, Detroit in 1967, and Hough and Glenville in Cleveland.
- Sino-Indian War in late 1962. China attacks India and gains some land in Kashmir.
- Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir ends in a stalemate.
- The Vietnam War and protests, leading to Kent State University shootings in May, 1970.
- Suppression of uprising in Czechoslovakia.
- The Stonewall Riots in New York City give birth to the gay rights movement, June 1969.
- United Nations imposes sanctions against South Africa to protest the policy of Apartheid.
- Students protesting perceived problems with the status-quo are suppressed with violence by police and soldiers in USA, France, Mexico, Czechoslovakia. See New Left.
- The Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille) begins in Quebec - precipitous decline of the Roman Catholic church, liberalism, social-democratic programs, and the birth of modern Quebec nationalism.
- The rise of radical feminism.

Economics


- Many countries in The West experience high economic growth (4 to 8% per year)

Culture


- Rock and roll develops, diversifies, and becomes very hip. The Beatles eclipse Elvis Presley and become the most popular musical artists in the world. "Topical" artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez worked social commentary into their music.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey hits movie theaters
- The long running BBC family science fiction show Doctor Who begins in 1963
- Star Trek makes its debut in 1966
- James Bond movies begin. Dr. No is the first of the series in 1962, starring Sean Connery as Bond
- Hippies, drug culture & rock and roll converge at the Woodstock festival, 1969
- In the West, the growing popularity of religions other than Christianity (for example, as discussed in the writings of Alan Watts), and of atheism; Time Magazine asks: "Is God Dead?" See Fourth Great Awakening, Consciousness Revolution
- Memorable expositions, or "World's Fairs," are held in Seattle (1962), New York (1964/1965), Montreal (1967) and San Antonio (1968)
- Progressive rock emerges
- The fine arts begins to move away from exclusively consisting of painting, drawing, and sculpture and begins to incorporate elements from popular culture (Pop art) and begins to favour the ideas behind a work, rather than the work itself (Conceptual art)

Others

Conceptual art built in 1969]]
- Post-Colonialism; many new or previously colonized countries achieve independence in Africa, Asia
- U.S. president John F. Kennedy assassinated in 1963; his brother Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in 1968
- U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on April 4, 1968
- Charles Manson gave up his ambitions of becoming a popular song writer to become a cult leader and mass murderer, 1969
- Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X assassinated on February 21, 1965
- U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society program
- In the United States, increase in crime; riots in Los Angeles in 1965 and Chicago, Illinois at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
- Rise of the baby boom generation to adulthood
- First widespread availability of practical birth control pill for women; See sexual revolution
- Sweden switches from driving on the left to the right, in order to harmonise with neighbouring countries. See Rules of the road

Big changes during the Sixties

In the United States

The movement for civil and political rights for African Americans (in the early '60s usually called Negroes and in the later '60s Blacks), initially a non-violent movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Gandhian figures but later producing radical offshoots such as the Black Power movement and competing with the Black Panther Party and the Black Muslims for primacy in the African-American community. The beginning of what was generally seen as a new political era with the election of President John F. Kennedy in 1960, and its ending in tragedy and disillusionment with Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the assassinations of King and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, and the collapse of Lyndon Johnson's presidency. The rise of a mass movement in opposition to the Vietnam War, culminating in the massive Moratorium protests in 1969, and also the movement of resistance to conscription (“the Draft”) for the war. The antiwar movement was initially based on the older 1950s "Peace movement" controlled by the Communist Party USA, but by the mid '60s it outgrew this and became a broad-based mass movement centred on the universities and churches. Stimulated by this movement, but growing beyond it, the large numbers of student-age youth, beginning with the Free University of California, Berkeley]] in 1964, peaking in the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois and reaching a climax with the shootings at Kent State University in 1970. The rapid rise of a "New Left," employing the rhetoric of Marxism but having little organizational connection with older Marxist organizations such the Communist Party, and even less connection with the supposed focus of Marxist politics, the organized labor movement, and consisting of ephemeral campus-based Trotskyist, Maoist and anarchist groups, some of which by the end of the 1960s had turned to terrorism. terrorism The overlapping, but somewhat different, movement of youth cultural radicalism manifested by the hippies and the counter-culture, whose emblematic moments were the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The rapid spread, associated with this movement, of the recreational use of cannabis and other drugs, particularly new synthetic psychedelic drugs such as LSD. The breakdown among young people of conventional sexual morality and the flourishing of the sexual revolution. Initially geared mostly to heterosexual male gratification, it soon gave rise to contrary trends, Women's Liberation and Gay Liberation. The rise of an alternative culture among affluent youth, creating a huge market for rock and blues music produced by drug-culture influenced bands such as The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane and The Doors, and also for radical music in the folk tradition pioneered by Bob Dylan.

In other Western countries

The peak of the student and New Left protests in 1968 coincided with political upheavals in a number of other countries. Although these events often sprang from completely different causes, they were influenced by reports and images of what was happening in the United States and France. Students in Mexico City, for example, protested against the corrupt regime of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz: in the resulting Tlatelolco massacre hundreds were killed. The influence of American culture and politics in Western Europe, Japan and Australia was already so great by the early 1960s that most of the trends described above soon spawned counterparts in most Western countries. University students rioted in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, huge crowds protested against the Vietnam War in Australia and New Zealand (both of which had committed troops to the war), and politicians such as Harold Wilson and Pierre Trudeau modelled themselves on John F. Kennedy. An important difference between the United States and Western Europe, however, was the existence of a mass socialist and/or Communist movement in most European countries (particularly France and Italy), with which the student-based new left was able to forge a connection. The most spectacular manifestation of this was the May 1968 student revolt in Paris, which linked up with a general strike called by the Communist-controlled trade unions and for a few days seemed capable of overthrowing the government of Charles de Gaulle.

In non-Western countries

In Eastern Europe, students also drew inspiration from the protests in the west. In Poland and Yugoslavia they protested against restrictions on free speech by Communist regimes. In Czechoslovakia, 1968 was the year of Alexander Dubček’s Prague Spring, a source of inspiration to many Western leftists who admired Dubček's "socialism with a human face." The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August ended these hopes, and also fatally damaged the chances of the orthodox Communist Parties drawing many recruits from the student protest movement. In the People's Republic of China the mid 1960s were also a time of massive upheaval, and the Red Guard rampages of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution had some superficial resemblances to the student protests in the West. The Maoist groups that briefly flourished in the West in this period saw in Chinese Communism a more revolutionary, less bureaucratic model of socialism. Most of them were rapidly disillusioned when Mao welcomed Richard Nixon to China in 1972. People in China, however, saw the Nixon visit as a victory in that they believed the United States would concede that Mao Zedong thought was superior to capitalism (this was the Party stance on the visit in late 1971 and early 1972). The Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara also became an iconic figure for the student left, although he was in fact an orthodox Communist.

People

World leaders

Ernesto "Che" Guevara]]
- Prime Minister Robert Menzies (Australia)
- Prime Minister Harold Holt (Australia)
- Prime Minister John McEwen (Australia)
- Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (Canada)
- Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson (Canada)
- Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Canada)
- Chairman Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China)
- President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China on Taiwan)
- President Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt)
- President Charles de Gaulle (France)
- Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India)
- Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri (India)
- Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
- Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Israel)
- Prime Minister Levi Eshkol (Israel)
- Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
- Pope John XXIII
- Pope Paul VI
- Prime Minister Basil Brooke (Northern Ireland)
- Prime Minister Terence O'Neill (Northern Ireland)
- Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark (Northern Ireland)
- Governor Luis A. Ferré (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)
- Taoiseach Sean Lemass (Republic of Ireland)
- Taoiseach Jack Lynch (Republic of Ireland)
- Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet Union)
- Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
- Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Harold Wilson (United Kingdom)
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower (United States)
- President John F. Kennedy (United States)
- President Lyndon Johnson (United States)
- President Richard Nixon (United States)
- Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (West Germany)
- Chancellor Ludwig Erhard (West Germany)
- Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (West Germany)
- President for Life Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

Writers and intellectuals


- Isaac Asimov
- J. G. Ballard
- Truman Capote
- Andy Capp
- Rachel Carson
- Noam Chomsky
- Judith Christ
- Philip K. Dick
- Louise Fitzhugh
- Milton Friedman
- Allen Ginsberg
- Seamus Heaney
- Robert A. Heinlein
- Frank Herbert
- Ken Kesey
- Timothy Leary
- Norman Mailer
- Marshall McLuhan
- Jules Pfeiffer
- Carl Sagan
- Charles Schulz
- Dr. Seuss
- John Steinbeck
- Hunter S. Thompson
- Joseph Heller
- Gore Vidal
- Kurt Vonnegut
- Alan Watts
- Tom Wolfe

Sports figures


- Lance Alworth (American football player)
- Richie Benaud (Australian cricket captain)
- George Best (Northern Irish football player)
- Nino Benvenuti (Italian boxer)
- Jim Brown (American football player)
- Wilt Chamberlain (American basketball player)
- Bobby Charlton (English football player)
- Jim Clark (Scottish racing driver)
- Cassius Clay later known as Muhammad Ali (American boxer)
- Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rican baseball player)
- Eusebio (Portuguese football player)
- Peggy Fleming (American figure skater)
- Bob Gibson (American baseball player)
- Cookie Gilchrist (American football player)
- Bobby Hull (Canadian hockey player)
- Gordie Howe (Canadian hockey player)
- Franz Klammer (Austrian skier)
- David Kopay (American football player)
- Sandy Koufax (American baseball player)
- Denis Law (Scotland footballer)
- Vince Lombardi (American football coach)
- Willie Mays (American baseball player)
- Stan Mikita (Slovak-Canadian hockey player)
- Bobby Moore (English football player)
- Joe Namath (American football player)
- Jack Nicklaus (American golfer)
- Arnold Palmer (American golfer)
- Gary Player (South African golfer)
- Bobby Orr (Canadian ice hockey player)
- Pelé (Brazilian football player)
- Richard Petty (American NASCAR racing driver)
- Frank Robinson (American baseball player)
- Bill Shankly (Liverpool FC football manager)
- Gary Sobers (Barbados & West Indies cricket captain and all-rounder)
- Alfredo di Stefano (Argentinian/Spanish football player)
- Fred Trueman (Yorkshire & England cricketer)

Entertainers

cricket
- Bud Abbott
- Steve Allen
- Ursula Andress
- Julie Andrews
- Fred Astaire
- John Astin
- Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello
- Joan Baez
- Lucille Ball
- Brigitte Bardot
- Billy Barty
- The Beach Boys
- The Beatles
- Tony Bennett
- Jack Benny
- Milton Berle
- Joey Bishop
- Ray Bolger
- Ernest Borgnine
- Charles Bronson
- Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner
- Johnny Brown
- Carol Burnett
- George Burns
- The Byrds
- Sid Caesar
- Godfrey Cambridge
- Diane Cannon
- Cantinflas
- Capucine
- Vicki Carr
- Diahann Carrol
- Johnny Carson
- Violet Carson
- Art Carney
- Jack Cassidy
- Ted Cassidy
- Carol Channing
- Roy Clark
- Imogene Coca
- Nat King Cole
- Sean Connery
- Tim Conway
- Bill Cosby
- Joan Crawford
- Bing Crosby
- Gary Crosby
- Phillip Crosby
- Tony Curtis
- Dalida
- Bette Davis
- Sammy Davis, Jr.
- Doris Day
- John Derrick
- Neil Diamond
- Angie Dickenson
- Walt Disney
- The Doors
- Donovan
- Mamie Van Doren
- Kirk Douglas
- Patty Duke
- Jimmy Durante
- Dick Van Dyke
- Bob Dylan
- Clint Eastwood
- Barbara Eden
- Linda Evans
- Robert Evans
- Henry Fonda
- Jane Fonda
- Peter Fonda
- Eileen Fulton
- Judy Garland
- James Garner
- Gerry & the Pacemakers
- Jack Gilford
- Jackie Gleason
- Cary Grant
- Kathryn Grant aka Kathryn Crosby
- Grateful Dead
- Dick Gregory
- Andy Griffith
- Merv Griffin
- Fred Gwynne
- Buddy Hackett
- Joey Heatherton
- Jimi Hendrix
- Audrey Hepburn
- Katharine Hepburn
- Charlton Heston
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Dustin Hoffman
- Bob Hope
- Dennis Hopper
- Ron Howard
- Rock Hudson
- The Jackson 5
- Chad and Jeremy
- Antonio Carlos Jobim
- Carolyn Jones
- Shirley Jones
- Tom Jones
- Janis Joplin
- Boris Karloff
- Danny Kaye
- Buster Keaton
- Gene Kelly
- Don Knotts
- Jimmy Komac
- Harvey Korman
- Nancy Kwan
- Bert Lahr
- Peter Lawford
- Norman Lear
- Bruce Lee
- Janet Leigh
- Jack Lemmon
- Jerry Lewis
- Art Linkletter
- Gina Lollobrigida
- Sophia Loren
- Peter Lorre
- Paul Lynde
- Shirley Maclaine
- Ann Margret
- Dean Martin
- Groucho Marx
- James Mason
- David McCallum
- Country Joe McDonald
- Steve McQueen
- Barry Melton
- The Monkees
- Mary Tyler Moore
- Rita Moreno
- Pat Morita
- Howard Morris
- Zero Mostel
- Paul Newman
- Jack Nicholson
- David Niven
- Roy Orbison
- Gregory Peck
- Peter & Gordon
- Oscar Peterson
- Patricia Phoenix
- Pink Floyd
- Sidney Poitier
- Vincent Price
- Richard Pryor
- Elvis Presley
- Otis Redding
- Robert Redford
- Steve Reeves
- Debbie Reynolds
- Don Rickles
- Chita Rivera
- The Rolling Stones
- Mickey Rooney
- Dan Rowan and Dick Martin
- Peter Sellers
- Rod Serling
- David Seville
- Dick Shawn
- Dinah Shore
- Simon & Garfunkel
- Frank Sinatra
- Frank Sinatra, Jr.
- Nancy Sinatra
- Red Skelton
- The Smothers Brothers
- Elke Sommer
- Sonny and Cher
- Jill St. John
- Connie Stevens
- Inger Stevens
- Stella Stevens
- James Stewart
- Ed Sullivan
- The Supremes
- Russ Tamblyn
- Jacques Tati
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Danny Thomas
- Marlo Thomas
- The Three Stooges
- Spencer Tracy
- Robert Wagner
- William Wagoner
- Burt Ward
- John Wayne
- Tuesday Weld
- Raquel Welch
- Orson Welles
- Adam West
- The Who
- Gene Wilder
- Andy Williams
- Flip Wilson
- Natalie Wood
- Stevie Wonder
- Ed Wynn
- Keenan Wynn
- Led Zeppelin
- Bradley Football
- Cass Elliot -- The Mamas & the Papas
- Carl Stuart Hamblen

See also


- List of rock and roll albums in the 1960s

Further Viewing

To see examples of the idealism of the Sixties, view the Woodstock Movie.

External links


- [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjackson/webbibl.html The 1960s: A Bibliography] Category:1960s ko:1960년대 ja:1960年代 simple:1960s

1960

1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February


- January - State of emergency is lifted in Kenya - Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
- January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
- January 9-11 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
- January 14 - Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank are created
- January 21 - Mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa - 437 dead
- January 22 - In France, president Charles de Gaulle fires Jacques Massun, commander-in-chief for the French troops in Algeria
- January 22-23 - Jacques Piccard and Donald Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscape Trieste, reaching the depth of 10.916 meters
- January 23 - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
- January 24 - A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
- January 25 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
- February 1 - In Greensboro, N.C., four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South, and six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.
- February 5 - Particle accelerator of CERN inaugurated in Geneve, Switzerland
- February 8-February 9 - Adolph Coors II killed during an attempt to kidnap him in Colorado. Joseph Corbett Jr is arrested next October
- February 9 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- February 9 - Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500,000. Coors is later found dead and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted.
- February 10 - In Brussels, conference about Congo independence begins
- February 11 - 12 Indian soldiers die in clashes with Chinese troops at the border
- February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
- February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb in Sahara
- February 18 - 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
- February 29-March 1 night - Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.

March-April

Morocco
- March 6 - Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
- March 6 - Canton of Geneve in Switzerland gives women the right to vote
- March 21 - Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
- March 22 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
- 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 - First three female priests ordained in Sweden
- April 9 - Gunman attacks South African Prime Minister Verwoerd in Johannesburg and wounds him seriously
- April 12 - Eric Peugeot, youngest son of founder of Peugeot is kidnapped in Paris. Kidnappers release him April 15 in exchange for $300,000 ransom
- April 13 - USA launches navigation satellite Transat I-b
- April 21 - In Brazil, The Country's capital (Federal District) is shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) 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 - Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane; the pilot Gary Powers is captured
- May 4 - West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is fired because of his nazi past
- May 9 - Reproductive rights: The Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill
- May 10 - The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus completes the first under water circumnavigation of the Earth
- May 11 - In Buenos Aires four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who was using the assumed name "Ricardo Klement"
- May 13 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, world's 7th highest mountain
- May 14 - Kenyan African National Congress party is founded in Kenya when three political parties join forces
- May 15 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit
- May 16 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US 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 carries away socialist members of the diet. Parliament then approves a security treaty with the USA
- May 22 - Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Península de Taitao, loosing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record
- 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 the government and invites General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.

June-July


- June 4 - Lake Bodom murders in Finland.
- June 9 - Typhoon Mary kills 1600 in Fukien province of China
- June 15 - Violent demonstrations in Tokyo University - police arrests 182, 589 are injured
- June 15 - BC Ferries, the second largest ferry operator in the world starts service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
- June 20 - Independence of Mali and Senegal
- June 22 - Erin Brockovich is born.
- June 23 - Japanese prime minister Kishi announces his resignation
- June 24 - Joseph Kasavubu elected the first president of independent Congo
- June 24 - Avro 748 first flight at Woodford, UK
- June 26 - British Somaliland gains independence from UK - 5 days later it united with the former Italian Somaliland to create modern Somali Republic
- June 30 - Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium - civil war follows
- June 30 - The Mali Federation between Senegal and Sudanese Republic (modern-day Mali) gains independence from France
- July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shot down a six-man RB-47. Two United States Air Force officers survived and were imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison. (see RB-47H shot down)
- July 4 - Following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state the previous year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- July 10 - The Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first European Football Championship
- July 11 - Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent; he receives Belgian help
- July 12 - Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded
- July 14 - United Nations decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee Belgian troops withdrawal
- July 20 - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government.
- July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II - he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days
- July 27 - OECD founded

August


- August - Stanley Clifford Weyman, US impostor, is killed when he tries to prevent a robbery
- August 5 - Burkina Faso declares independence from France
- August 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- August 6 - In Congo, Albert Kalonji declares independence of Autonomous State of South Kasai
- August 7 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
- August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
- August 16 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h).
- August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom
- August 17 - Gabon gains independence from France
- August 17 - Trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers begins in Moscow
- August 18 - Enovid, the first commercially produced oral contraceptive, is launched in Skokie, Illinois
- August 19 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage
- August 19 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft return to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
- August 20 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
- August 25 - 1960 Summer Olympics open in Rome. USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the north pole where the crew plays softball.
- August 29 - September 13 - Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida-New England area

September-October


- September 1 - Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
- September 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the history of the company (event lasted 2 days)
- September 5 - Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.
- September 5 - Congo president Joseph Kasavubu fires Patrice Lumumba's government and places him under house arrest
- September 8 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1)
- September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Congo in a military coup
- September 14 - Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC
- September 26 - The two leading US presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.
- October 1 - Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
- October 3 - Jânio Quadros, elected president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
- October 5 - White South Africans vote to make country a republic.
- October 7 - Second notable flood in Horncastle
- October 12 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United Nations meeting to protest discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
- October 12 - Otoya Yamaguchi asassinates Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of Japanese Socialist Party
- October 14 - US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps
- October 24 - Rocket explodes in Baikonur space center during fueling - 91 dead
- October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight

November

Muhammad Ali
- November 1 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
- November 2 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man elected to that office.
- November 13 - Sammy Davis, Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt. Interracial marriage is still illegal in 31 US states out of 50.
- November 15 - The Polaris missile is test launched
- November 22 - United Nations supports government of Joseph Kasa Vubu and Joseph Mobutu in Congo
- November 28 - Mauritania becomes independent of France
- November 30 - Production of the De Soto automobile brand ceases

December


- December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Congo was arrested by troops of Col. Joseph Mobutu.
- December 1 - A 5-ton Soviet space ship containing animals, insects and plants was launched into orbit. The spacecraft burned up upon re-entry.
- December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talked with Pope John XXIII for about an hour in the Vatican. It was 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 in Florida. Cuban refugees have been arriving in Florida at the rate of 1,000 a week.
- December 2 - Congolese soldiers arrest Patrice Lumumba.
- December 4 - Admission to the United Nations of Mauritania was vetoed by the USSR.
- December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led 1958 and 1960 insurrections in Algeria, failed to appear in a Paris court. He was reported to have fled with 4 fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria.
- December 7 - The United Nations Security Council was called into session by the USSR to consider the 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 was marked by bloody riots by European and Muslim mobs in Algeria's largest cities, killing 127 people.
- December 12 - A Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's anti-integration laws were unconstitutional was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- December 13 - While the Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was on a visit to Brazil, an unsuccessful revolt against his rule is carried out by his Imperial Guard. The rebels proclaim the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen.
- December 13 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras found the Central American Common Market.
- December 14 - Antione Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville in the Congo that he has assumed the premiership.
- December 14 - OECD formed in Paris.
- December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the government and takes power into his own hands.
- December 15 - Royal wedding in Belgium: King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
- December 16 - U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announced that the United States would commit five atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963.
- December 16 - The midair collision between a United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation over New York City kills all 128 on both planes and 6 persons on the ground.
- December 17 - Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia suppress the revolt that started on December 13 and give 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 U.S.'s largest aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, injuring 150 and killing 50.
- 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.

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Christian Bartolf, German political scientist and writer
- January 4 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)
- January 6 - Nigella Lawson, British chef and writer
- January 6 - Howie Long, American football player
- January 12 - Oliver Platt, Canadian actor
- January 13 - Kevin Anderson, American actor
- January 22 - Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (INXS) (d. 1997)
- January 28 - Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer, and producer
- January 29 - Greg Louganis, American diver
- January 29 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
- January 29 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
- February 4 - Adrienne King, American actress
- February 7 - James Spader, American actor
- February 10 - Robert Addie, British actor (d. 2003)
- February 11 - Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
- February 13 - Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
- February 14 - Jim Kelly, American football player
- February 19 - Prince Andrew, Duke of York
- February 25 - Stefan Blöcher, German field hockey player
- February 27 - Kara Kennedy, daughter of Edward Kennedy and Virginia Joan Bennett
- February 29 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker and writer

March-May


- March 4 - Mykelti Williamson, American actor
- March 7 - Joe Carter, baseball player
- March 7 - Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player
- March 13 - Adam Clayton, Irish bassist (U2)
- March 18 - Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)
- March 21 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1994)
- March 23 - Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister of Scotland
- March 24 - Nena Kerner, German singer
- March 26 - Marcus Allen, American football player
- March 29 - Marina Sirtis, British actress
- April 2 - Linford Christie, British athlete
- April 3 - Elizabeth Gracen, American beauty queen, actress, and model
- April 4 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
- April 4 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
- April 11 - Jeremy Clarkson, English television show host
- April 14 - Brad Garrett, American actor
- April 18 - Neo Rauch, German painter
- April 19 - Frank Viola, baseball player
- April 26 - Roger Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
- April 28 - John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer (d. 2004)
- May 6 - John Flansburgh, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
- May 10 - Bono, Irish singer U2
- May 18 - Jari Kurri, Finnish hockey player
- May 18 - Yannick Noah, French tennis player
- May 20 - John Billingsley, American actor
- May 21 - Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer and murder victim (d. 1994)

June-December


- June 6 - Gary Graham, American actor
- June 6 - Steve Vai, American guitarist
- June 8 - Mick Hucknall English singer and songwriter (Simply Red)
- June 17 - Michael Monroe, Finnish singer (Hanoi Rocks)
- June 20 - John Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
- June 28 - John Elway, American football player
- June 29 - Paul Degner, Canadian Tax Reformer
- July 3 - Vince Clarke, English songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
- July 5 - Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor
- July 17 - Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
- July 18 - Anne-Marie Johnson, American actress
- July 21 - Ezequiel Viñao, Argentine-born composer
- August 4 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
- August 7 - David Duchovny, American actor
- August 10 - Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor
- August 14-Sarah Brightman, English soprano singer and actress
- August 17 - Sean Penn, American actor
- August 19 - Morten Andersen, American football player
- August 24 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player
- August 26 - Branford Marsalis, American musician
- September 4 - William Kennedy Smith son of Jean Kennedy Smith and nephew of John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- September 6 - Bob Stoops, American football coach
- September 6 - Michael Winslow, American actor and comedian
- September 9 - Hugh Grant, English actor
- September 10 - Colin Firth, English actor
- September 16 - John Franco, baseball player
- September 17 - Damon Hill, English race car driver
- October 5 - Daniel Baldwin, American actor
- October 7 - Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese singer
- October 24 - Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian (d. 1999)
- October 30 - Diego Maradona, Argentine footballer
- November 3 - Karch Kiraly, American volleyball player
- November 10 - Neil Gaiman, English author
- November 11 - Peter Parros, American actor
- November 11 - Stanley Tucci, American actor and film director
- November 25 - Amy Grant, American musician
- November 25 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and journalist and son of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1999)
- November 26 - Harold Reynolds, Major League Baseball player and ESPN analyst
- November 27 - Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine
- December 2 - Rick Savage, English bassist (Def Leppard)
- December 4 - Glynis Nunn, Australian athlete
- December 10 - Kenneth Branagh, Irish-born actor and film director
- December 18 - Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
- December 19 - Mike Lookinland, American actor
- December 27 - Maryam d'Abo, British actress
- December 31 - John Allen Muhammad, American serial killer

Deaths


- January 4 - Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (automobile accident) (b. 1913)
- January 12 - Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
- January 24 - Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
- February 3 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
- February 10 - Aloysius Stepinac, Catholic prelate (b. 1898)
- February 11 - Ernö Dohnányi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
- February 29 - Walter Yust, American encyclopædia editor (b.1894)
- March 2 - Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
- April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, King of Malaysia (b. 1895)
- April 17 - Eddie Cochran American Singer (b. 1938)
- April 24 - Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- May 8 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
- May 30 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1890)
- May 31 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (b. 1890)
- common year starting on Wednesday :For other uses, see Number 1969. :For the movie, see 1969 (movie). :For the Velvet Underground live album, see 1969: The Velvet Underground Live.

Events

January


- January 1 - Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World
- January 3 - Pele scores his 1000th goal
- January 5 - The Derry Riots leave over 100 people injured
- January 10 - After 147 years, the last issue of the Saturday Evening Post is published
- January 12 - Super Bowl III: the New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts
- January 14 - An explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 25
- January 15 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5
- January 16 - Ten paintings defaced in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art
- January 16 - Student Jan Palach sets himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union. Three days later he dies.
- January 20 - Richard Nixon succeeds Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States of America
- January 24 - Martial Law declared in Madrid, the University is closed and over 300 students are arrested
- January 27 - 14 men, nine of them Jews, were executed in Baghdad for spying for Israel
- January 27 - Reverend Ian Paisley, hardline Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for three months for illegal assembly.
- January 30 - The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. The impromptu concert was broken up by the police

February


- February 1 - Birth, in Paris, France, of Denis Cheyrouze, French media guru.
- February 4 - In Cairo Yasser Ara