1960 in the United States

← 1959 1958 1957 1960 in the United States → 1961 1962 1963
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	History of the United States (1945–1964) Timeline of United States history (1950–1969) List of years in the United States

Events from the year 1960 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (R-Kansas/Pennsylvania)
• Vice President: Richard Nixon (R-California)
• Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California)
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Sam Rayburn (D-Texas)
• Senate Majority Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas
  )
• Congress: 86th

Events

January

• January 2 – U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• January 19 – The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan is signed in Washington, D.C.
• January 23 –
  bathyscaphe Trieste
  , reaching the depth of 10,916 meters.
• January 25 – In Washington, D.C., the National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys accepting money for playing particular records.

• January 28 – The National Football League announces expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season, and Minneapolis–St. Paul for the 1961 NFL season.

February

• February 1 –
  protests throughout the Southern United States
  , and six months later, the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.
• February 9
  • Adolph Coors III, the chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped in the United States, and his captors demand a ransom of $500,000. Coors is later found murdered, and Joseph Corbett Jr. is indicted for the crime.
  • Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• February 11 – The
  ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
  .
• February 13 – Nashville sit-ins begin.
• February 18 – The
  Squaw Valley, Placer County, California
  .
• February 29 – The first Playboy Club opens in Chicago.

March

• March 3 – Elvis Presley returns home from Germany to the United States, after being away on military duty for 2 years.
• March 5 – Elvis Presley receives his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army.
• March 6 – Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.
• March 17 –
  Northwest Airlines Flight 710
  crashes near Tell City, Indiana, killing all 61 on board.
• March 22 –
  Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser
  .
• March 28 – Director Stanley Kramer receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[1]

April

• April 4
  • The
    RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. William Wyler's Ben-Hur wins eleven awards (breaking the record set by Gigi the previous year), including Best Motion Picture and Wyler's third Best Director
    win (his first since 1946). The film also receives the most nominations with 12.
  • Are You Lonesome Tonight?
    " is recorded for the first time.
• April 13 – The United States launches
  navigation satellite
  Transit I-b.
• April 17 –
  Cleveland Indians
  game.

• May 1 – A Soviet missile shoots down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane; the pilot Gary Powers is captured.
• May 3 – The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, opens at New York City's Sullivan Street Playhouse, where it will play for 42 years.
• May 4 – A. J. Liebling promulgates Liebling's Law in The New Yorker Magazine: "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."
• May 6 – President
  Dwight Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960
  into law.
• May 9 – The U.S.
  Searle's Enovid, making it the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill
  .
• May 10 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach Jr., completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth.
• May 16
  • Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
  • 1960 Paris summit
    .
• May 20 – In
  Japanese House of Representatives
  then approves the treaty.

June

• June 7 – U.S. Senator
  Democratic
  primary.
• June 16 – Psychological horror film Psycho is released, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
• June 22 – The United States Naval Research Laboratory SOLRAD 1 Galactic Radiation and Background program satellite is successfully launched by a Thor-Ablestar rocket (along with navigation satellite Transit 2A), serving as the first successful U.S. reconnaissance satellite over the Soviet Union and returning the first real-time X-ray and ultraviolet observations of the Sun.
• June 23 – Little Missouri National Grassland is established.
• June 29 – Bhumibol Adulyadej becomes the first Thai monarch to address the United States Congress.

July

• July 1 – A
  Lubyanka prison
  .
• July 4 – Following the admission of
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  .
• July 11 – Harper Lee releases her critically acclaimed novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
• July 13 – U.S. Senator
  Los Angeles, California
  .
• July 21 – Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II, having made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days.
• July 25 – The Woolworth's counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the subject of a sit-in that sparked sit-ins and pickets across the southern United States in February 1960, serves its first black customer.
• July 25–28 – In
  Richard M. Nixon for president and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
  for vice president.

• August 6 – Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo against Cuba, Fidel Castro nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
• August 16 –
  free-fall by falling 16 miles (26 km) before opening his parachute
  ; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h). These records would stand unbeaten for over 60 years.
• August 17 – The trial of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
• U.S. National Security Council, and asks whether the U.S. "can't get rid of this guy" (Patrice Lumumba).^[2]
• August 19 – Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
• August 25 – The USS Seadragon surfaces at the North Pole, where the crew plays softball.
• August 29 – Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida and New England.

September

• September 1 – Disgruntled
  railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad
  , marking the first shutdown in the company's history (the event lasts two days).
• September 5 –
  Cassius Clay
  wins the gold medal in boxing.
• September 8 – In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (activated by NASA on July 1).
• September 26 – The two leading U.S. presidential candidates,
  presidential election debate
  .
• September 30 – Animated sitcom The Flintstones airs its first episode on the ABC network in the United States, becoming Hanna-Barbera's first television series episode lasting half an hour.

October

• October 7 – Frank McGee hosts the second presidential debate.
• October 12 –
  Houston, Texas
  , saying, in part, "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the American President, should he be Catholic, how to act; and where no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote."
• October 13
  • The third
    Richard M. Nixon presidential debate takes place.^[3]
  • The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Yankees in the seventh game of the World Series in baseball on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run.
• October 14 – U.S. presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps.
• October 21 – Quincy Howe hosts the final debate of the 1960 election.
• October 26 – Robert F. Kennedy calls Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., and secures her husband's release from jail on a traffic violation in Atlanta, Georgia.
• October 29
  • In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
  • California Polytechnic State University football team plane crash: A Curtiss C-46 carrying the Cal Poly Mustangs football team crashes during takeoff from Toledo Express Airport in Ohio, resulting in 22 deaths.

November

• November 8 –
  Richard M. Nixon
  , becoming (at 43) the youngest man elected president.
• November 13 – Sammy Davis Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt.
• November 14 – New Orleans school desegregation crisis: Ruby Bridges and the McDonogh Three become the first black children to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana.
• November 15 – The
  Polaris missile
  is test-launched.
• November 24 – Basketball player
  the all-time record in the NBA
  .

December

• December 2 – U.S. President
  refugees, who have been arriving in Florida
  at the rate of 1,000 a week.
• December 5 –
  U.S. Supreme Court
  declares segregation in public transit to be illegal.
• December 9 – The first
  Domino's Pizza location opens in Ypsilanti, Michigan
  .
• The Wizard of Oz is rerun on CBS only a year after its previous telecast
  , thus beginning the tradition of annual telecasts of the film in the United States.
• December 12 – The
  U.S. Supreme Court upholds a Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's segregation laws are unconstitutional
  .
• December 13 – Navy Commander Leroy Heath (Pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (Bombardier/Navigator) establish a world altitude record of 91,450.8 feet (27,874.2 metres) in an
  A3J Vigilante
  carrying a 1,000-kilogram payload, besting the previous record by over 4 miles.
• December 16
  • U.S. Secretary of State
    Polaris missiles to NATO
    by the end of 1963.
  • TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island, New York City
    . All 128 passengers and crew on both planes are killed, as are 6 persons on the ground.
• December 19 – Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, killing 50 and injuring 150.
• December 20 – Discoverer 19 is launched into polar orbit from
  Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation
  .

• Cold War (1947–1991)
• Space Race (1957–1975)

Births

• January 1 – Michael Seibert, ice dancer and choreographer
• January 4
  • Art Paul Schlosser, singer-songwriter
  • Michael Stipe, rock singer (R.E.M.)^[4]
• January 6 – Howie Long, American football player^[5]
  • April Winchell, writer and voice actress
• January 12 – Dominique Wilkins, French-born basketball player^[6]
• January 19
  • Scott Thunes, bass player
  • Will Wright, video game designer, co-founded Maxis
• January 21 –
  Haas Outdoors, Inc.
• January 28 – Robert von Dassanowsky, cultural historian, writer and producer
• January 29
  • Gia Carangi, model (d. 1986)^[7]
  • Greg Louganis, diver
  • Steve Sax, baseball player and sportscaster
• February 3
  • Tim Chandler, bass player (d. 2018)
  • Marty Jannetty, wrestler and trainer^[8]
  • Kerry Von Erich, wrestler (d. 1993)
• February 7
  • Robert Smigel, actor, comedian and puppeteer
  • James Spader, actor and producer
• February 13 – Gary Patterson, American football coach
• February 14 – Jim Kelly, American football player
• February 18 – Tony Anselmo, animator and voice actor^[9]
• February 19 – John Paul Jr., racing driver (d. 2020)
• February 20 – Wendee Lee, voice actress
• February 21 – Henry G. Brinton, writer and minister
• February 22 – Charles Cullen, serial killer
• February 27 – Kara Kennedy, television producer, daughter of Ted Kennedy (d. 2011)
• February 29 – Tony Robbins, motivational speaker and author
• March 2 –
  Debra McMichael
  , wrestling valet
• March 7 – Joe Carter, baseball player
• March 8
  • Finn Carter, actress
  • Jeffrey Eugenides, author
• March 9 – Finn Carter, actress and photographer
• March 13 – Joe Ranft, screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist and voice actor (d. 2005)^[10]
• March 14 – Kirby Puckett, baseball player (d. 2006)
• March 20 – Norm Magnusson, artist
• March 21 – Robert Sweet, rock drummer (Stryper)
• March 26
  • Marcus Allen, American football player
  • Jennifer Grey, actress
  • Jon Huntsman Jr., businessman, diplomat, and politician
• April 8 – John Schneider, actor (The Dukes of Hazzard)
• April 12 – David Thirdkill, basketball player^[11]
• April 13 – Bob Casey Jr., U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania since 2007
• April 18
  • Jim Margraff, American football coach (d. 2019)
  • J. Christopher Stevens, diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Libya (d. 2012 in Libya)
• April 19 – Frank Viola, baseball player
• April 20
  • John Altenburgh, blues and jazz musician
  • Rodney Holman, American football player and coach
• April 21 – Nate Thayer, journalist (d. 2023)^[12]
• April 23 – Valerie Bertinelli, actress and TV presenter^[13] (born April 23, 1960)^[14]
• April 28
  • John Cerutti, baseball player (d. 2004)
  • Elena Kagan, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S. from 2010
• April 30
  • Kerry Healey, college professor and politician
• May 3 – Jaron Lanier, computer scientist
• May 6 – John Flansburgh, rock musician (They Might Be Giants)
• May 7 – Adam Bernstein, music video/television director
• May 8 – Eric Brittingham, rock bassist
• May 9 – Tony Gwynn, baseball player (d. 2014)
• May 10 – Dean Heller, U.S. Senator from Nevada since 2011 to 2019
• May 14 – Steve Williams, professional wrestler (d. 2009)
• May 20
  • John Billingsley, actor
  • Tony Goldwyn, actor, voice actor, and film director
• May 21
  • Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer (d. 1994)
  • Kent Hrbek, baseball player
  • John O'Brien, novelist (d. 1994)
  • Jeffrey Toobin, lawyer and essayist
• May 25 – Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator from Minnesota since 2007
• June 1 – Lucy McBath, politician^[15]
• June 3 – Don Brown, novelist, author and attorney
• June 4 – Paul Taylor, musician (Winger)
• June 5 – Paul Montgomery, entrepreneur and inventor (d. 1999)^[16]
• June 6
  • Ervin A. Gonzalez, attorney (d. 2017)
  • Steve Vai, guitarist
• June 8
  • Gary Trousdale, animator and film director
  • Diane Meredith Belcher, concert organist, teacher, and church musician
  • Garth Smith, pianist
• June 12
  • Meredith Brooks, singer
  • Joe Kopicki, basketball player
• June 14 – Mike Laga, baseball player
• June 17 – Thomas Haden Church, film actor
• June 21 – Kevin Harlan, sports announcer
• June 22 – Erin Brockovich, environmental activist
• June 24
  • Brand New Heavies
    )
  • Chris Knight
    , singer-songwriter
• June 26 – Zachary Breaux, jazz guitarist (d. 1997)
• June 28 – John Elway, football player
• June 30 – David Headley, terrorist
• July 1 – Guy Williams, basketball player
• July 4
  • Sid Eudy, professional wrestler
  • Barry Windham, professional wrestler
• July 5
  • Bruce Lanoil, actor and voice actor
  • Jack Radcliffe, pornographic film actor
  • Pruitt Taylor Vince, actor^[17]
• July 9 – Marc Mero, amateur boxer and professional wrestler
• July 10 – Ariel Castro, criminal (d. 2013)
• July 11 – David Baerwald singer-songwriter (David & David)
• July 14
  • Kyle Gass, singer-songwriter and guitarist and actor
  • Jane Lynch, actress, comedian and author
• July 15 – Kim Alexis, model and actress
• July 16
  • Leila Kenzle, actress
  • Todd Brown, American football player
• July 18 – Anne-Marie Johnson, actress
• July 22 – Jon Oliva, vocalist and pianist (Savatage)
• August 1 – Chuck D, rapper
• August 7 – David Duchovny, actor
• August 13 – Lorna Simpson, African-American photographic and video artist
• August 17 – Sean Penn, film actor
• August 19 – Ron Darling, baseball player and sportscaster
• August 26
  • Jim Beard, jazz musician (d. 2024)^[18]
  • Branford Marsalis, African-American jazz musician
• September 1 – Joseph Williams, singer and film score composer
• September 14 – Melissa Leo, film actress
• September 17
  • Alan Krueger, economist and advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama (d. 2019)
  • Steve Scully, journalist
• September 19 – Yolanda Saldívar, murderer of Selena Quintanilla
• September 21 – Mary Mara, actress (d. 2022)^[19]
• September 30 – Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1999 to 2011
• October 4
  • Billy Hatcher, baseball player
  • Blake Nordstrom, businessman (d. 2019)
• October 5 – Daniel Baldwin, actor^[20]
• October 13
  • Joey Belladonna, born Joseph Bellardini, thrash metal vocalist (Anthrax)
  • Tim Brewster, American football player and coach
  • Ari Fleischer, journalist and politician, 24th White House Press Secretary
  • Peter Keisler, lawyer and politician, United States Attorney General
• October 15 – Michael Lewis, author and financial journalist
• October 18 – Craig Mello, biologist
• October 19 – Kerry Sanders, news correspondent
• October 20 – Peter Fitzgerald, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1999 to 2011
• October 21 – Paul Rugg, voice actor and producer
• October 24
  • Dennis Anderson, monster truck driver
  • BD Wong, actor^[21]
• October 28
  • Landon Curt Noll, American astronomer, cryptographer and mathematician
  • David Cote, leader of the Democrats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives
• November 1 –
  Apple, Inc
  )
• November 3
  • Francis J. Beckwith, philosopher
  • Karch Kiraly, volleyball player
• November 6 – Lance Kerwin, actor (d. 2023)
• November 7 – Peter Seidler, businessman (d. 2023)
• November 11
  • Billy James, musician, music producer, writer
  • Stanley Tucci, actor and film director
• November 13 – Neil Flynn, actor
• November 14 – Tom Judson, musical theatre actor
• November 15 – Keith Washington, singer
• November 19
  • Miss Elizabeth, professional wrestling manager (d. 2003)
  • Matt Sorum, hard rock drummer of Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver and The Cult
• November 25
  • Amy Grant, Christian singer-songwriter and actress
  • John F. Kennedy Jr., lawyer and journalist, son of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1999)
• December 1 – Carol Alt, model and actress
• December 2
  • Deb Haaland, politician
  • Sydney Youngblood, singer
• December 3
  • Daryl Hannah, actress
  • Julianne Moore, actress^[22]
• December 5 – Brian Bromberg, jazz bassist and composer
• December 9 – Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist and actor
• December 10 – Michael Schoeffling, actor and model
• December 14 –
  FBI
• December 16 – Sid Eudy, pro wrestler
• December 21
  • Roger McDowell, baseball player and coach
  • Tim Rucks, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
  • Andy Van Slyke, baseball player and coach
• December 22 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, artist (d. 1988)
• December 27 – Fred Hammond, African American gospel musician
• December 30 – Heather Wilson, soldier and politician; Secretary of the Air Force
• December 31 – John Allen Muhammad, African-American spree killer (d. 2009)^[23]

Deaths

January–June

• January 1 – Margaret Sullavan, film actress (b. 1909)
• January 4 – Dudley Nichols, screenwriter (b. 1895)
• January 10 – Arthur S. Carpender, admiral (b. 1884)
• January 12 – William Adams Delano, architect (b. 1874)
• January 16 – Rudulph Evans, sculptor (b. 1878)
• January 20 – Matt Moore, Irish-American actor (b. 1888)
• January 24
  • John Miljan, film actor (b. 1892)
  • Matt Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1888)
• January 25 – Diana Barrymore, stage & film actress (b. 1921)
• January 28 – Zora Neale Hurston, African-American folklorist and author (b. 1891)
• February 6 – Jesse Belvin, R&B singer (b. 1932)
• February 9 – Ernst von Dohnányi, Hungarian composer, pianist, and conductor (b. 1877 in Austria-Hungary)
• Bobby Clark, comedian and singer (b. 1888
  )
• February 29
  • Melvin Purvis, law officer (b. 1903)
  • Walter Yust, encyclopedia editor (b. 1894)
• March 4 – Leonard Warren, operatic baritone (b. 1911)
• March 6 – Gene Ahern, comic-strip artist (b. 1895)
• March 11
  • Roy Chapman Andrews, explorer, adventurer and naturalist (b. 1884)
  • Takuma Kajiwara, Japanese-born photographer (b. 1876)
• March 26 – Ian Keith, actor (b. 1899)
• April 5 – Alma Kruger, actress (b. 1868)
• April 17 – Eddie Cochran, rock singer (b. 1938)
• April 19 – Beardsley Ruml, economist (b. 1894)
• April 25 – Hope Emerson, actress (b. 1897)
• May 2 – Caryl Chessman, criminal (b. 1921)
• May 11 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., financier and philanthropist, son of John D. Rockefeller (b. 1874)
• May 22 – Claire Phillips, spy (b. 1907)
• May 27
  • Edward Brophy, actor (b. 1895)
  • James Montgomery Flagg, artist and illustrator (b. 1877)
  • George Zucco, British actor (b. 1886)
• June 4 – Lucien Littlefield, actor (b. 1895)
• June 6 – Ernest L. Blumenschein, painter, member of Taos art colony (b. 1874)
• John B. Kelly Sr., Olympic rower (father of Grace Kelly) (b. 1889
  )
• Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (b. 1869
  )

• July 12 – Buddy Adler, film producer (b. 1906)
• July 15 – Lawrence Tibbett, operatic baritone (b. 1896)
• July 16 – John P. Marquand, novelist (b. 1893)
• July 26 – Cedric Gibbons, Irish-American art director (b. 1893)
• August 7 – Walden L. Ainsworth, admiral (b. 1886)
• August 9 – Richard Cramer, actor (b. 1889)
• August 10 – Frank Lloyd, film director (b. 1886)
• MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1872
  )
• August 23 – Oscar Hammerstein II, librettist (b. 1895)
• August 27 – Stanley Clifford Weyman, impostor (b. 1890)
• September 1
  • Aunt Molly Jackson, folk singer and union activist (b. 1880)
  • Ángel Ramos, Puerto Rican businessman (b. 1902 in Puerto Rico)
• September 3 – Joseph Lamb, composer (b. 1887)
• September 8 – Oscar Pettiford, African-American jazz bassist and composer (b. 1922)
• September 11 – Edwin Justus Mayer, screenwriter (b. 1896)
• September 20 – David Park, painter (b. 1911)
• September 23 – Kathlyn Williams, actress (b. 1879)
• September 25 – Emily Post, author, novelist, and socialite (b. 1872)
• October 11 – Richard Cromwell, actor (b. 1910)
• October 15 – Clara Kimball Young, actress (b. 1890)
• October 22 – Morgan Dennis, painter and illustrator (b. 1892)
• October 31 – H. L. Davis, author (b. 1894)
• November 3
  • MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1873
    )
  • Paul Willis, silent film actor (b. 1901)
• November 5
  • Donald Barnhouse, theologian, pastor, author, and radio pioneer (b. 1895)
  • Ward Bond, film actor (b. 1903)
  • Johnny Horton, country singer (b. 1925)
  • Mack Sennett, Canadian-American producer, actor, and director (b. 1880)
• November 7 – A. P. Carter, singer and songwriter (b. 1891)
• November 8 – Otto Frederick Rohwedder, engineer and inventor (b. 1880)
• November 12 – Lord Buckley, monologist (b. 1906)
• November 14 – Walter Catlett, actor (b. 1889)
• November 16 – Clark Gable, film actor (b. 1901)^[24]
• November 19 – Phyllis Haver, film actress (b. 1899)
• November 28
  • James Bert Garner, chemical engineer and inventor (b. 1870)
  • Richard Wright, African-American novelist (b. 1908)
• November 5 – Johnny Horton, country singer, in automobile accident (b. 1925)
• December 8 – Ross T. McIntire, naval surgeon (b. 1889)
• December 13 – John Charles Thomas, operatic baritone (b. 1891)
• Giuseppe Bellanca, Italian-American aircraft designer and company founder (b. 1886
  )

• List of American films of 1960
• Timeline of United States history (1950–1969)

References