Thanksgiving Day Parade 1960
https://youtu.be/_gjDT5GwQXQ
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...
USA Olympic Hockey Team Defeats Soviets
https://youtu.be/jdUsoyZy2aA In February 1960 the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.
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...
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...
Greensboro Sit-ins
https://youtu.be/tjeVqNcN5yI In February 1960 four black North Carolina A&T students staged the first of the historic 1960s sit-ins at a dime store lunch counter where they had been refused service. Source: History.com
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...
Eisenhower Visits India
https://youtu.be/vAcxBX225kw?t=6 In December 1959 President Dwight Eisenhower visited India and met with President Rajenda Prasad and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In an address to the Indian Parliament, Eisenhower said: “ We who are free, and who prize our...
Chubby Checker-The Twist
In November 1959 Chubby Checker introduced "The Twist" on the Dick Clark Saturday Night Show. In 1961 he released Let's Twist Again https://youtu.be/KxQZQ86jJHg
Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur was a 1959 film directed by William Wyler, that starred Charlton Heston as the title character. The film was a remake of a 1925 silent film with a similar title adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the...
The Sound of Music
https://youtu.be/btrt9_e5F5w Based on the 1949 book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers written by Maria Augusta von Trapp, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical The Sound of Music opened on Broadway in 1959. The...
Charles Van Doren Quiz Show Scandal
https://youtu.be/WW_wRS9_7rQ In November 1959 Charles Lincoln Van Doren, an American writer and editor, testified before the U.S. Congress that he had been given the correct answers by the producers of the NBC quiz show Twenty-One.
The Twilight Zone
https://youtu.be/vB1Ot9MEOOs The Twilight Zone debuted on CBS TV in October 1959. Created by Rod Serling, the show's episodes were a blend of fantasy, science fiction, horror, black comedy and psychological thrills that often ended with an unexpected...
Deadly Typhoon Vera Strikes Japan
https://youtu.be/6mrtXkCjX9w Typhoon Vera (Isewan Typhoon), was an unusually powerful tropical cyclone that struck Japan in September 1959. Vera was the strongest and deadliest typhoon on record to make landfall in Japan. The storm caused...
Khrushchev & Eisenhower Meet at Camp David
In September 1959 Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev made an extended visit to the USA. While visiting Los Angeles, Khrushchev was infuriated when barred from visiting Disneyland because of security concerns. Khruschev and President Eisenhower met at Camp David in...
Russian Probe Luna 2 Strikes Moon Surface
In September 1959, Luna 2, the sixth Russian spacecraft launched to the moon, was the first spacecraft to reach the moon's surface and the first man-made object to make contact with another celestial body. Luna 2 impacted on the Moon's surface at...
Bonanza
https://youtu.be/i2IvhKl_hKQ In September 1959 NBC launched "Bonanza," the first TV color western. Filmed at Incline Village, Nevada, the show ran until 1973 with Michael Landon as Little Joe, Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright and Dan Blockeras Hoss. Source: Wikipedia...
First Satellite Images of Earth
https://youtu.be/-O99IH9kbPw In August 1959 the United States launched the Explorer 6 satellite, popularly known as the "paddlewheel satellite. The satellite featured a photocell scanner that transmitted a crude picture of the earth's surface and cloud cover from a...
Nixon-Khruschev Kitchen Debate
https://youtu.be/XRgOz2x9c08 During a visit to the Soviet Union in July 1959, Vice President Richard Nixon got into a "kitchen debate" with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at a US exhibition. Source: Wikipedia
Hawaii Becomes 50th State
In August 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state. The new American flag, featuring 50 stars arranged in staggered rows became official July 4, 1960. Source: History.com
Superman George Reeves Dies
https://youtu.be/p0swAKS-5qA George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer in 1914) died from a gunshot in June1959. He was best known for the television series Adventures of Superman (1952–1958). Reeves death at age 45 remains controversial. Although ruled...
Ho Chi Minh Trail
In May 1959 the Peoples’ Army of Vietnam’s Military Transportation Group 559 was established in North Vietnam. The group ultimately created and maintained the Ho Chi Minh Trail to facilitate the infiltratiion of troops and supplies from North Vietnam in support...
First Grammy Awards
https://youtu.be/t4IjJav7xbg I think that dream like that Will never return I painted my hands And face blue Then all of sudden I was Abducted by the wind And I started to fly In the infinite sky .... first verse (https://lyricstranslate.com) The First Grammy...
Uprising in Tibet
https://youtu.be/cxSDhng2PQg Encyclopedia Britannica In March 1959 a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China since 1951. The uprising occurred amid general Tibetan...
Barbie Doll Released
https://youtu.be/9hhjjhYGQtY In March 1959 the Barbie doll was unveiled by the American Toy Fair in New York City. Doll No. 1 was sold by Mattel Toy Company for $3. Source: History.com