What happened in 1960

World3

• May 3The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is established.
• Jun 91960 Pacific typhoon season: Typhoon Mary kills 1,600 people in China.
• Sep 6Martin and Mitchell defection: William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, two American cryptologists, announce their defection to the Soviet Union at a press conference in Moscow.

Japan2

• Jun 10The "Hagerty Incident": As part of the ongoing Anpo protests in Japan against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, a car carrying Dwight D. Eisenhower's press secretary James Hagerty and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II is mobbed by protesters outside of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, requiring the occupants to be rescued by a U.S. Marine helicopter.
• Jun 15The "June 15 Incident": As part of the massive Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in Japan, radical student activists from the Zengakuren student federation attempt to storm the National Diet compound, precipitating a battle with police in which female Tokyo University student Michiko Kanba is killed.

North America25

• Jan 19A revised version of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan ("U.S.-Japan Security Treaty" or "Anpo (jōyaku)"), which allows U.S. troops to be based on Japanese soil, is signed in Washington, D.C. by Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The new treaty is opposed by the massive Anpo protests in Japan.
• Feb 8Hollywood Walk of Fame is established.
• Mar 17U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a covert Central Intelligence Agency plan to train a paramilitary force against Cuba, which will result in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion.
• Apr 4At the 32nd Academy Awards Ceremony, Ben-Hur wins a record 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.
• May 9The United States Food and Drug Administration 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.
• Jun 19The new U.S.–Japan Security Treaty is automatically ratified 30 days after passing the Lower House of the Diet.
• Sep 8In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which had been activated by NASA on July 1).
• Sep 261960 United States presidential debates: The two leading candidates in the 1960 United States presidential election, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, participate in the first live televised presidential debate.
• Sep 30Hanna-Barbera's animated sitcom The Flintstones premieres on ABC television in the United States.
• Oct 14Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps of the United States.
• Nov 81960 United States presidential election: In a close race, Democratic U. S. Senator John F. Kennedy is elected over Republican U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon, to become (at 43) the second youngest man to serve as President of the United States, and the youngest man elected to this position.
• Nov 14Belgium threatens to leave the United Nations over criticism of its policy concerning the Republic of the Congo.
• Nov 22The United Nations supports the government of Joseph Kasavubu and Joseph Mobutu in the Republic of the Congo.
• Dec 13The U.S. Navy's Commander Leroy Heath (pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (bombardier/navigator) establish a world flight-altitude record of, with payload, in an A-5 Vigilante bomber carrying, and better the previous world record by over.
• Dec 16New York mid-air collision: A United Air Lines DC-8 collides in mid-air with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island in New York City. All 128 passengers and crewmembers on the two airliners, and six people on the ground, are killed.

10 more in the app

Europe8

• Feb 13Gerboise Bleue: France tests its first atomic bomb, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.
• Mar 29"Tom Pillibi" sung by 18-year-old Jacqueline Boyer (music by André Popp, lyrics by Pierre Cour) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 (staged in London) for France.
• Jun 5The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland: three teenagers are brutally murdered in a tent; no-one is ever convicted of the crime.
• Aug 15Middle Congo becomes independent from France, as the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).
• Aug 16The Mediterranean island of Cyprus receives its independence from the United Kingdom.
• Aug 25The 1960 Summer Olympic Games begin in Rome.
• Sep 51960 Summer Olympic Games: Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) of the United States wins the gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing. He makes his professional debut on October 29.
• Sep 101960 Summer Olympic Games: Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wins the gold medal in the marathon, running barefoot in a world time, and becoming the first person from Sub-Saharan Africa to win Olympic gold.

USSR / Russia8

• May 1The U-2 incident: Several Soviet surface-to-air missiles shoot down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane over Russia. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers of the Central Intelligence Agency, is captured.
• May 16Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 reconnaissance plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus aborting their summit meeting scheduled for Paris this year.
• Jul 10The Soviet Union national football team defeats the Yugoslavia national football team 2–1 in Paris to win the first UEFA European Championship.
• Aug 19Sputnik program: The satellite Sputnik 5 is launched, with the dogs Belka and Strelka (the Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants. This satellite returns to Earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
• Oct 12Cold War: Shoe-banging incident – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, his way of protesting the discussion of the Soviet Union's policies toward Eastern Europe. In summarily adjourning the meeting, Assembly President Frederick Boland (Ireland) slams his gavel, Thor's gavel, down so hard that it breaks.
• Oct 24Nedelin catastrophe: A large rocket explodes on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, killing at least 92 people of the Soviet space program.
• Dec 1A Soviet satellite containing live animals (dogs Pcholka and Mushka) and plants is launched into orbit. Due to a malfunction, it burns up during re-entry.
• Dec 7The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union, in order to consider Soviet demands for the Security Council to seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.

Asia4

• Apr 1Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya (modern-day Malaysia), dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
• Apr 19April Revolution: South Korean students hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against President Syngman Rhee, eventually leading him to resign from office.
• Sep 1Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
• Sep 14OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is founded as an intergovernmental producers' cartel by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Middle East2

• Jan 9Construction of the Aswan Dam begins in Egypt.
• May 27In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celâl Bayar, and installs General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.

Latin America5

• Jan 21Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica killing 37, the worst air disaster in Jamaica's history and the first for Avianca.
• Mar 5Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Che Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico, in Havana.
• Apr 21In Brazil, the country's capital (Federal District) is relocated from the city of Rio de Janeiro to the new city, Brasília, in the highlands. The former Federal District, in which the city of Rio de Janeiro was situated, becomes the State of Guanabara.
• May 22The 9.5 Valdivia earthquake affects Chile with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). This megathrust earthquake ruptures from Arauco to Chiloé Archipelago, causing the most powerful earthquake on record and a destructive basin-wide tsunami.
• Jun 24Attempted assassination of Rómulo Betancourt, the Venezuelan President, by a car bomb planted at the Paseo Los Próceres in Caracas, allegedly at the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Africa30

• Jan 1Cameroon becomes independent from France.
• Apr 27Togo gains independence from France, with the French-administered United Nations Trust Territory being terminated.
• Jun 20The short-lived Mali Federation, consisting of the Sudanese Republic (modern-day Republic of Mali) and Senegal, gains independence from France.
• Jun 24Joseph Kasa-Vubu is elected as the first President of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Aug 7The Ivory Coast becomes independent from France.
• Aug 11Chad becomes independent from France.
• Aug 20Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
• Sep 5Congolese President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismisses Patrice Lumumba's entire government, and also places Lumumba under house arrest.
• Sep 14Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Republic of the Congo via a military coup.
• Sep 22Mali, the sole remaining member of the "Mali Federation" (following the withdrawal of Senegal one month earlier), declares its full independence as the Republic of Mali.
• Nov 28Mauritania becomes independent of France.
• Dec 1Patrice Lumumba, deposed premier of the Republic of the Congo, is arrested by the troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu.
• Dec 4The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations is vetoed by the Soviet Union.
• Dec 14Antoine Gizenga proclaims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that he has taken over as the country's premier.
• DecThe African and Malagasy Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OAMCE – Organisation Africain et Malagache de Coopération Économique) is established.

15 more in the app