1960
Events
January-February
- January - State of emergency is lifted in Kenya - Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
- January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
- January 9 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
- January 14 - Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire.
- 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 disk jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
- February 1 - (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. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
- 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 killed and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted
- February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
- February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb
- February 29 - Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.
March-April
- March 1 - USS Gato struck from the Naval Vessel Register
- March 6 - Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American troops are going to be sent to Vietnam
- 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 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 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 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 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, General Cemal Gürsel leads a military coup d'état removing President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government
June-July
- June 4 - Lake Bodom Murderers
- June 20 - Independence of Mali and Senegal
- 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
- July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shot down a six-man RB-47 crew. Two young United States Air Force officers survived and were imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison. (see RB-47H shot down)
- July 4 - With the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 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 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- 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 2003) 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 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 will return to earth the next day and all animals will be recovered safely
- August 20 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
- August 25 - USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the north pole where the crew plays softball.
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 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 - OPEC is founded
- October 1 - Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
- 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 14 - US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps
- October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight
November
- 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 Republic 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 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 14 - Antione Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville in the Republic of the Congo that he has assumed the premiership.
- 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 - A collision of a United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation over New York City killed 128 on planes and 6 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.
Year in topic
- 1960 in film
- The Apartment
- Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, John Gavin, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Tony Curtis.
- Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
- The Alamo starring John Wayne
- 1960 in literature
- 1960 in music
- 1960 in rail transport
- 1960 in sports
- September 9 - First American Football League (AFL) game is played. (Denver Broncos 13, Boston Patriots 10)
- 1960 in television
- February 11 - Jack Paar walks off his TV show because his monologue had been edited the night before, in favor of a three minute news update. Parr walked out at the beginning of the show, announced that he was quiting, said "There's got to be a better way to make a living," and walked off the stage. After network executives personally apologized, Parr returned to the show a month later. His first show back started with the words "As I was saying before I was interrupted..."
- American Presidential Candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon debate live on television. The candidates behavior during the debate most likely altered the outcome of the election. In addition to being the first Presidential debates to be broadcast on television, the debates also marked the first time "split screen" images were used by a network.
- The Andy Griffith Show premieres
- Hanna Barbera's The Flintstones make their debut
- 90% of homes in the United States now own a television set, and over one hundred million television sets in use worldwide
Births
January-February
- January 3 - Joan Chen, actress
- January 4 - Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.
- January 6 - Nigella Lawson, celebrity chef, writer
- January 6 - Howie Long, American football star
- January 11 - Stanley Tucci, actor
- January 12 - Oliver Platt, actor
- January 13 - Kevin Anderson, actor
- January 22 - Michael Hutchence, musician ("INXS") (d. 1997)
- January 28 - Robert von Dassanowsky, cultural historian, writer, producer
- January 29 - Greg Louganis, Olympics gold medalist in diving
- February 7 - James Spader, actor (Pretty in Pink, Stargate, The Practice)
- February 11 - Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
- February 13 - Pierluigi Collina, football referee
- February 14 - Jim Kelly, American football quarterback
- February 19 - Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II
- February 29 - Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
March-May
- March 4 - Mykelti Williamson, actor
- March 7 - Joe Carter, baseball star
- March 7 - Ivan Lendl, tennis player
- March 13 - Adam Clayton, bassist for the rock band U2
- March 18 - Richard Biggs, actor
- March 21 - Ayrton Senna, automobile racer (d. 1994)
- March 24 - Nena Kerner, German singer
- March 26 - Marcus Allen, American football star
- March 29 - Marina Sirtis, actress
- April 2 - Linford Christie, British athlete
- April 3 - Elizabeth Gracen, American actress, model, winner of 1982 Miss America pageant
- April 4 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
- April 4 - Hugo Weaving, actor
- April 14 - Brad Garrett, actor
- April 26 - Roger Taylor, musician ("Duran Duran")
- May 10 - Bono, singer of U2
- May 18 - Jari Kurri, Hockey Hall of Famer
- May 18 - Yannick Noah, tennis player
- May 20 - John Billingsley, actor
- May 21 - Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer (d. 1994)
June-December
- June 6 - Gary Graham, actor
- June 6 - Steve Vai, musician
- June 8 - Mick Hucknall singer/songwriter of Simply Red
- June 20 - John Taylor, musician, Duran Duran
- June 28 - John Elway, Pro Football Hall of Famer
- August 4 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
- August 7 - David Duchovny, actor (The X-Files)
- August 10 - Antonio Banderas, actor (Desperado, Spy Kids)
- August 19 - Morten Andersen, American football player
- August 24 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball star
- August 26 - Branford Marsalis, jazz musician
- September 9 - Hugh Grant, English actor
- September 10 - Colin Firth, actor
- September 16 - John Franco, baseball relief pitcher
- September 17 - Damon Hill, 1996 Formula 1 World Champion
- October 5 - Daniel Baldwin, actor
- October 7 - Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese rock singer
- October 30 - Diego Maradona, football (soccer) player
- November 3 - Karch Kiraly, volleyball star
- November 10 - Neil Gaiman, author
- November 25 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer and journalist (d. 1999)
- November 25 - Amy Grant, contemporary Christian music star
- December 4 - Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete
- December 10 - Kenneth Branagh, actor, film director
- December 18 - Kazuhide Uekusa, former Japanese professor at graduate school of Waseda University, economist
- December 19 - Mike Lookinland, television actor
- December 27 - Maryam d'Abo, actress
- December 31 - John Allen Muhammad, convicted Beltway sniper
Deaths
- January 4 - Albert Camus, French author, Nobel Prize winner (1957)
- January 12 - Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
- January 24 - Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor
- February 3 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor
- February 10 - Aloysius Stepinac, Roman Catholic prelate
- February 11 - Ernst von Dohnanyi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
- March 2 - Stanisław Taczak, Polish general, commander-in-chief of the Greater Poland Uprising (1918-1919) against the Germans (b.1874)
- April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- May 8 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician
- May 30 - Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist
- June 23 - Frantisek Omelka, Czech pedagogue (b. 1904)
- June 27 - Lottie Dod, English athlete
- August 28 - John O'Hara, U.S. cardinal
- August 29 - Vicki Baum, Jewish writer
- September 1 - Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
- September 9 - Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (b. 1911)
- October 15 - Henny Porten, German film producer
- November 2 - Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (b. 1896)
- November 5 - Mack Sennett, pioneer producer/director
- December 26 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese ethicist and philsopher (b. 1889)
- Physics - Donald Arthur Glaser
- Chemistry - Willard Frank Libby
- Medicine - Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Brian Medawar
- Literature - Saint-John Perse
- Peace - Albert John Luthuli