The Year 1960 From The People History

1960 The cold war continued to become colder as the two sides distrusted the other more and tried to influence other parts of the world. John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson won the Presidency with one of the smallest margins in history ( 113,000 votes ) out of 68.3 million. The sexual revolution of the 60's had begun with the use of birth control pills and Hugh Hefner opening the first of his Playboy clubs in Chicago. The "Flintstones" is shown on television for the first time and movies this year include "The Magnificent Seven" and "Psycho" . Notable technical achievements include the invention of the Laser and a Heart Pacemaker. France tests its first atomic bomb and joins those countries with nuclear bomb technology. Notable names that appear in the limelight that year include "Cassius Clay" and "Sir Francis Chichester" . The US sends the first troops to Vietnam following the French withdrawal in 1954 in the fight against communist North Vietnam.

What Events Happened in 1960

• Tidal Wave at Agadir in Morocco kills 12,000

• OPEC ( Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries ) is formed

• Fifteen African countries gain independence and South Africa leaves the commonwealth

• John F Kennedy wins presidential Election

• The Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) starts it's fight against the British

• The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam

• American Heart Association Links smoking to heart disease and death in middle aged men

• Following major food shortages in East Germany 160,000 refugees cross to West Germany, Nikita Khrushchev orders the construction of the Berlin Wall

• Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane

• Afrikaner police open fire with sub machine guns on demonstrators March 21st in the black township of Sharpeville, South African

• Chile subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Peninsula de Taitao, loosing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record

• Sir Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth 11 - he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days

• Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida and the New England area

• Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong Jones

• US Pilot of a U-2 Spy Plane Francis Gary Powers sentenced to 10 years for espionage in the Soviet Union

• Fidel Castro nationalises American Oil, sugar and other US interests in Cuba.

• The Worlds First Female Prime Minister Is Elected Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike Ceylon / Sri Lanka

• In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight after having won the Gold Medal in Rome in the Olympic games

• The United States launches the world's first nuclear powered Aircraft Carrier the USS Enterprise.

• The Summer Olympics are held in Rome, Italy

• The Winter Olympic Games are held in Squaw Valley, California, United States

• Togo Gains Independence From France

• 100,000 Join "Ban The Bomb" Rally on April 18th in London

• Central African Republic Gains Independence From France

• Cote D'Ivore Gains Independence From France

• Benin Gains Independence From France

• Chad Gains Independence From France

• Senegal Gains Independence From France

• Mauritania Gains Independence From France

Popular Culture

• Lady Chatterley's Lover goes on sale in England 32 years after it was banned
• Coronation Street Soap premieres on ITV in the UK,
• The Flintstones premiers
• Rawhide
• Chubby Chequer and The twist start a new dance craze

Check out our Television Programmes From The 60s whenever possible we have included a trailer to jog your memory. Series trailers and more information are found on the decade they started.

Popular Films

• Ben-Hur
• Can Can
• Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
• Operation Petticoat
• Only The Lonely by Roy Orbison

Technology 1960

• Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaph 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



• France tests its first atomic bomb in Sahara and joins US, UK and USSR as Nuclear Power



• Over one hundred million television sets in use worldwide.



• Aluminum Cans used for the first time



• The MOT Test is introduced in Britain



• US Experimental rocket powered airplane travels at 2,200 MPH



• Xerox introduces the first Commercial Document reproduction Machine



• The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.



• Dr Kazuo Hashimoto Invents the Ansafone sold in the USA as a
  Automatic Telephone Answering Machine

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
Laser USA by Theodore Maiman
Heart Pacemaker USA by Wilson Greatbatch
Weather Satellite USA Tiros I

Vertical Take off Jet UK

Major World Political Leaders 1960

Australia Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies

Brazil President Juscelino Kubitschek

Canada Prime Minister John Diefenbaker

China Chairman of the People's Republic of China Liu Shaoqi

France President Charles de Gaulle

Germany Chancellor Konrad Adenauer

India Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru

Italy Prime Minister Antonio Segni Till 23 March
Italy Prime Minister Fernando Tambroni From 25 March
Italy Prime Minister Fernando Tambroni Till 26 July
Italy Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani From 26 July

Japan Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi Till 19 July
Japan Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda From 19 July

Mexico President Adolfo López Mateos

Russia / Soviet Union
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev

South Africa Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower

United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan

Political Elections 1960

United States Presidential Election 1960 John F. Kennedy (Democratic) Defeats Richard Nixon (Republican) and Harry F. Byrd (Democratic)


The Information above is taken from our new page that gives world leaders from 1920 to current.
WorldLeaders