2023
Airliners Collide Midair Over New York
In December 1960 a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport (now JFK) in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground were killed. Source: Wikipedia
JFK Elected President
Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in the US presidential elections as the first Roman Catholic to win the office. The Democratic ticket of Kennedy and Johnson received 49.72% of the popular vote to 49.55% given to Republicans Richard Nixon and Henry Lodge—the deciding electoral college vote was 56.4% to 40.8% in favor of the Democrat. Source:
US Reveals USSR Had Bugged American Embassy
A covert listening device (bug) was concealed inside a wooden gift of America's Great Seal given by Russia to the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on August 4, 1945. Although not reported then, the device was extensively investigated and imitated by US spies. In May 1960, the listening device was mentioned during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council that had been convened by the Soviet Union after a U.S. U2 spy plane had entered their territory and been shot down. The U.S. ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. showed off the bugging device in the Great Seal to illustrate that spying incidents between the two nations were mutual and to allege that Nikita Khrushchev had magnified this particular incident as a pretext to abort the 1960 Paris Summit that was intended to discuss the crisis situation in Berlin. Source: Wikipedia
Earthquake in Chile
In May 1960 Chile experienced the largest earthquake recorded in the 20th century with a magnitude of 9.5 on the Richter scale. Originating off the southern coast of Chile, the earthquake left two million people homeless, injured at least 3,000, and killed approximately 1,655. Tsunamis generated by the earthquake also damaged property and killed people in distant Pacific coastal areas. Source: Britannica
2022
FDA Approves First Oral Birth Control Pill
https://youtu.be/jChyGqk0BO8 In May 1960, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Enovid, an oral contraceptive developed by G.D. Searle and Company, for commercial use. By June 23, “the Pill” — as the oral contraceptive was commonly known — was on the market. Source: Time
House Un-American Activities Committee Protest
In May 1960 protesters decried the presence of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the San Francisco City Hall. After protesters were denied entrance, the police attacked and swept them out of City Hall's rotunda with fire hoses. 64 people were arrested, and 12 people hospitalized. Charges were dropped against all but one demonstrator who subsequently acquitted in a jury trial. Source: San Francisco Found
Civil Rights Act of 1960
https://youtu.be/9ppTiyxFSs0 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a United States federal law establishing federal inspection of local voter registration polls. The act introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. This law was designed to effectively enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1957 by eliminating certain loopholes within it, and establishing additional provisions. Source: Wikipedia
U2 Spy Plane Incident
https://youtu.be/4dFx7hSGyHI In May 1960 a Soviet missile shot down an American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory near Sverdlovsk. In February 1962, Powers was exchanged, along with a U.S. student for Soviet KGB Colonel William Fisher. Sverdlosk Source: Wikipedia
Protests Force South Korean President to Resign
Syngman Rhee, hardline anti-communist and pro-American, was president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee's government was characterised by authoritarianism, limited economic development, and growing public opposition. After his opponent died, and Rhee won an uncontested election in March 1960, the opposition rejected the result. Protests escalated into the student-led April Revolution when police shot demonstrators, forcing Rhee to resign. After Rhee's resignation authoritarianism continued in South Korea until 1988. Source: Wikipedia
First Kidney Dialysis Shunt
https://youtu.be/xG82t_a3-i0 In March 1960 the first kidney dialysis shunt, developed by Dr. Belding H. Scribner, was planted in a kidney patient in Seattle Washington. The process, enabling ambulatory dialysis, first developed in the 1940s by Dr. Willem J. Kolff, had prevously been restricted to operating rooms.
French Ship Explodes in Havana
In March 1960 the French cargo ship “La Coubre" exploded in Havana Harbor while a cargo of Belgian grenades and munitions was being unloaded. 136 people were killed, and many were injured. Fidel Castro alleged the explosion was an act of sabotage by the United States, which denied any involvement. Source: Wikipedia
Gerboise Bleue – French Nuclear Test
https://youtu.be/V_vt3c34z3U?t=4 In February 1960, during the Algerian War (1954-62) France detonated an atomic bomb in the middle of the Algerian Sahara desert. Gerboise is the French word for a desert rodent found in the Sahara. The color Bleue came from the first color of the French Flag. This and 16 subsequent explosions of nuclear weapons in Algeria were seen as a display of French strength and development. Pinterest Source: Wikipedia
Route 66
https://youtu.be/0K3FqWShn28?t=62 Route 66 premiered on CBS in October 1960 and ran until March 1964, for a total of 116 episodes. The show followed two young men traversing the United States in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible and the events surrounding their journeys. Route 66 spans over 2,400 miles and crosses 8 states, starting in Chicago, Illinois and terminating at the Pacific Coast in Santa Monica, California. In the Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck referred to Route 66 as “the mother road, the road of flight” for those trying to escape the Dust Bowl and ravages of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Later with countless vacationing families using the route to visit attractions such as the Grand Canyon or Disneyland, a roadside culture developed with motels, diners, gas stations and tourist attractions. Source: Wikipedia
Japan – USA Miltary Alliance
https://youtu.be/WTy5MOPY_tM?t=8 In January 1960 the US and Japan signed a treaty of mutual cooperation and security that formalized a US-Japanese military alliance. Left-wing protests roiled the government of Nobosuke Kishi as he pushed through the revised security treaty with America. The treaty permitted the presence of U.S. military bases on Japanese soil, and committed the two nations to defend each other if one or the other were attacked in the territories under the administration of Japan. Source: Wikipedia