January 1960
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The following events occurred in January 1960:


January 1, 1960 (Friday)

*The Republic of Cameroun became independent at midnight local time (2300 12/31/59 GMT) with the lowering of the French tricolor, and the raising of a new tricolor (red, yellow and green) flag at Yaoundé. The former French Cameroons colony had been under a U.N. Trusteeship during a transition period, and Prime Minister
Ahmadou Ahidjo Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo (24 August 192430 November 1989) was a Cameroonian politician who was the first List of Presidents of Cameroon, President of Cameroon, holding the office from 1960 until 1982. Ahidjo played a major role in Cameroon's inde ...
headed the government pending the adoption of a constitution. United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, along with Henry Cabot Lodge, the American Ambassador to the U.N., were present, along with the Soviet First Deputy Premier, Frol Kozlov, who announced that the Soviets would recognize the new government. Marxist
Félix-Roland Moumié Félix-Roland Moumié (1 November 1925 – 3 November 1960) was an anti-colonialist Cameroonian leader, assassinated in Geneva on 3 November 1960 by an agent of the SDECE (French secret service) with thallium, following official independence from ...
, who had previously been supported by the Soviet Union, continued to wage a campaign of terrorism against the Ahidjo government, and thirty people were killed on the Republic's first day. *The peaceful New Year's Day March, a civil rights march at the airport of
Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...
, took place with 250 African-American people protesting racial segregation. On October 25, a delegation of
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
members had been waiting for the arrival of baseball great
Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
when they were told to move to a colored waiting room at the airport. Led by the chairman of the local Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Reverend J.S. Hall, the march concluded with the reading of a resolution by Rev. Matthew D. McCullough while a crowd of 200 White people listened. *The symbolic " Doomsday Clock" on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was moved back five minutes, from "two minutes to midnight" (where it had been since 1953) to "seven minutes to midnight". *Three cities in Norway were created through mergers—
Smøla Smøla is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hopen, other villages include Dyrnes, Råket, and Veiholmen. The municipality i ...
(from Edøy, Brattvær, and Hopen); Evje og Hornnes (from Evje and Hornnes); and Sirdal (from Tonstad and Øvre Sirdal). *Midnight, January 1, 1960, is the point from which dates are measured under SAS System,
Stata Stata (, , alternatively , occasionally stylized as STATA) is a general-purpose statistical software package developed by StataCorp for data manipulation, visualization, statistics, and automated reporting. It is used by researchers in many fie ...
and R computer programming software. *Born:
James O'Barr James O'Barr (born January 1, 1960) is an American comics artist, writer and graphic artist, best known as the creator of the comic book series ''The Crow''. Early life O'Barr, an orphan, was raised in the foster care system. Career In 1978, O' ...
, American comics artist, graphic artist, and writer, best known as the creator of the comic book series ''
The Crow The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fiancée at t ...
''; in Detroit *Died: **
Margaret Sullavan Margaret Brooke Sullavan (May 16, 1909 – January 1, 1960) was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan began her career onstage in 1929 with the University Players. In 1933, she caught the attention of film director John M. Stahl and had ...
, 50, American film actress; of an accidental overdose of barbiturates **
Gianni Franciolini Gianni Franciolini (1 June 1910 – 1 January 1960) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed 19 films between 1939 and 1959. Life and career Born in Florence, in 1929 he moved to Paris to study journalism; there he came in ...
, 49, Italian film director and screenwriter


January 2 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor. * 366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empi ...
, 1960 (Saturday)

*At the Senate Caucus room in Washington, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts formally announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Addressing a question about whether being a Roman Catholic would affect his chances of winning, Senator Kennedy told them "I would think that there is really only one issue involved in the whole question of a candidate's religion, that is, does a candidate believe in the separation of church and state?" *The temperature in Oodnadatta, South Australia, reached 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) in the shade, for what remains the highest temperature ever recorded in Australia. *Born: Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author; in Tokyo *Died: Friedrich Adler, 80, Austrian assassin who had killed Austrian Prime Minister
Karl von Stürgkh Count Karl von Stürgkh (30 October 1859 – 21 October 1916) was an Austrian politician and Minister-President of Cisleithania during the 1914 July Crisis that led to the outbreak of World War I. He was shot and killed by the Social Democratic ...
in 1916


January 3 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69, 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. * 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (ex ...
, 1960 (Sunday)

*The ''
CBS Sports Spectacular ''CBS Sports Spectacular'' is a sports anthology television program that is produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The series began on January 3, 1960, as ''The CBS Sports Spectacular'', a ...
'' made its debut at 3:00 EST, with
Bud Palmer John Shove "Bud" Palmer (born John Palmer Flynn; September 14, 1921 – March 19, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. He was a member of the New York Knicks during the team's first three seasons in the Basketball Association of A ...
, with the aim of showing "sports you seldom see". The first show featured a complete game between basketball's
Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...
and their foils at that time, the Baltimore Rockets.


January 4 Events Pre-1600 *46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina. * 871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army. 1601–1900 *1649 – Engli ...
, 1960 (Monday)

*The
Bank of France The Bank of France ( French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the F ...
issued the first bills for the '' nouveau franc'' worth one hundred ''ancients francs'', and brought back the centime coin, replacing the old franc. The new franc, at roughly five to U.S. dollar, had become legal tender on January 1. To prepare the French for the changeover, the old-style bills had been overstamped with new value and the initials "N.F." *The EFTA Treaty was signed in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
by Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and the United Kingdom, to form the
European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerlan ...
, a 7-member alternative for nations that could not be, or did not want to be, in the six-nation
European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
. The treaty took effect on May 3, 1960. *The
steel strike of 1959 The steel strike of 1959 was a 116-day labor union strike (July 15 – November 7, 1959) by members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) that idled the steel industry throughout the United States. The strike occurred over management's dema ...
was settled, three weeks before an injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act was set to expire, as Labor Secretary James P. Mitchell and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon mediated the dispute between the United Steelworkers Association and eleven steel manufacturers. *Died: Albert Camus, 46, French writer, was killed in a car accident while riding in a Facel-Vega sports car driven by his publisher, Michel Gallimard. At local time, near
Villeneuve-la-Guyard Villeneuve-la-Guyard () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yonne department The following is a list of the 423 communes of the Yonne department of France. The ...
, Yonne département, the car left the road and struck a tree. An unfinished, 144-page manuscript of Camus' latest novel was found near the wreckage. '' The First Man'' would finally be published 35 years later.


January 5, 1960 (Tuesday)

*The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that a trust fund, set up by Benjamin Franklin's will in 1791 to assist "young married artificers", could not be divided before its 1991 maturity date, despite the fact that there were no more artificers who would benefit. Started by Franklin with the deposit of 1,000 pounds sterling, the fund had grown to $1,578,098 by 1960. By the time the monies were split between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in 1991, the Fund was worth more than $6.5 million. *British Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...
began a six-week, tour of Britain's current and former African colonies, not returning to London until February 15. *'' Le Monde'' broke the news of a confidential report, made to the French government by the International Red Cross, documenting the French Army's
torture in Algeria Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
.


January 6 Events Pre-1600 *1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eve ...
, 1960 (Wednesday)

*At Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
, an emergency room intern, Dr. Henry Thomas, became the first person to save a life following CPR training. The technique of "closed chest compression" had been shown to Dr. Thomas and other physicians by Dr. James Jude whom developed it, but CPR had previously only been attempted during surgery. The patient, 45-year-old Eugene Barnes, had collapsed while removing his shirt for an examination. Dr. Thomas applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation and kept Barnes alive during a 22-minute wait for a defibrillator, and Barnes went on to a full recovery. The rest of the world would learn about CPR in the July 9, 1960, issue of the ''
Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...
''. *
National Airlines Flight 2511 National Airlines Flight 2511 was a United States domestic passenger flight from New York City to Miami, Florida. On January 6, 1960, the Douglas DC-6 serving the flight exploded in midair. The National Airlines aircraft was carrying 5 crew m ...
exploded in mid-flight at and crashed into a swamp at near Bolivia, North Carolina, killing all 34 on board. The 29 passengers had been put on the Douglas DC-B for their Miami to New York flight, after their flight on a Boeing 707 had been cancelled. Killed in the crash was attorney Julian Frank, whose life had been insured by Dr. Robert Spears, listed as one of the dead from the 1959 crash of
National Airlines Flight 967 National Airlines Flight 967, registration was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 16, 1959. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident ...
. Investigators concluded that Frank had unwittingly carried a bomb on board the plane inside his carry-on luggage. Dr. Spears was found and arrested in Arizona. *The
Associations Law The Associations Law was a law in Iraq, which legally regulated political parties. The law was promulgated on 1 January 1960. Prior to the adoption of this law, political parties had been banned since 1954. The law came into force on 6 January 19 ...
officially came into force in Iraq (coinciding with Army Day), allowing the legal registration of political parties. Prior to the adoption of this law, political parties had been banned in Iraq since 1954. *''
Scent of Mystery ''Scent of Mystery'' is a 1960 mystery film, the first to use the Smell-O-Vision system to release odors at points in the film's plot. It was the first film in which aromas were integral to the story, providing important details to the audience ...
'', presented by
Mike Todd Jr. Michael Henry Todd Jr. (October 8, 1929 – May 5, 2002) was an American film producer. He was involved in innovations such as the movie format Smell-o-vision, and the production of a racially-integrated minstrel show for the 1964 World's Fair ...
in " Smell-O-Vision", made its debut, at Chicago's Cinestage Theater, with a system that provided, then cleared, different aromas consistent with the scenes in the film. *The Project Mercury
data reduction Data reduction is the transformation of numerical or alphabetical digital information derived empirically or experimental data, experimentally into a corrected, ordered, and simplified form. The purpose of data reduction can be two-fold: reduce the ...
plan was approved. *Born: ** Howie Long, American football player; in Somerville, Massachusetts **
Miriam O'Callaghan Miriam O'Callaghan (born 6 January 1960) is an Irish television current affairs presenter with RTÉ. O'Callaghan has presented '' Prime Time'' since 1996, and her own summer talk show, ''Saturday Night with Miriam'', from 2005 onwards. In th ...
, Irish media personality; in Foxrock ** Nigella Lawson, British chef and writer; in London **
Kari Jalonen Kari Jalonen (born January 6, 1960) is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. Currently he is the head coach of Czech national team. He is not related to Finnish ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen. Playing career A pro ...
, Finnish ice hockey player; in
Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...
*Died:
Edward Orrick McDonnell Edward Orrick McDonnell (November 13, 1891 – January 6, 1960) was an American vice admiral and Medal of Honor recipient. Biography He was born on 13 November 1891 in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in ...
, 68, United States Navy vice admiral and Medal of Honor recipient; in bombing of National Airlines Flight 2511


January 7 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting. * 1325 – Alfonso IV ...
, 1960 (Thursday)

*Representatives of Engineering and Contracts Division and Flight Systems Division (FSD) met to discuss future wind tunnel test needs for advanced Mercury projects. After Alan B. Kehlet remarked on available test facilities, Caldwell C. Johnson and H. Kurt Strass presented their ideas on advanced configurations. Johnson had been working on modifications to the existing Mercury configuration rather than on advanced configuration concepts. Strass suggested that advanced work be classed as either modifications refining the design of the present Mercury or new concepts in configuration design. Johnson consented to design models for both program categories. *For the first time, a
Polaris missile The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980. In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missile ...
reached its target using its own inertial guidance system, rather than being directed from a ground station. The shot from
Cape Canaveral , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...
came a few hours after President Eisenhower's final
State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...
speech, describing the new era of nuclear submarines armed with the Polaris missiles. "Impossible to destroy by surprise attack," said Ike, "they will become one of our most effective sentinels for peace." *The Soviet Union announced that it would be testing a long-range rocket over an area in the North Pacific Ocean, and warned other nations not to send ships through a designated by area between January 15 and February 15. *Died: Prince Ferdinand Pius, Duke of Calabria, 90, pretender to throne of Kingdom of Two Sicilies


January 8 Events Pre-1600 * 307 – Emperor Huai of Jin, Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Emperor Hui of Jin, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying. * 871 – Æthelred I, King of Wessex, Æthel ...
, 1960 (Friday)

* David Cooper Nelson became the first convict to be executed in New Mexico's gas chamber, and the last. The legislature had replaced the electric chair with gas, and would later adopt lethal injection as its mode of capital punishment. * Lee Harvey Oswald, an American defector to the Soviet Union, was personally welcomed by the Mayor of Minsk, given a free apartment, and then set up in a new job as a metal worker in the Byelorussian Radio and Television factory. *The
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...
sued the new American Football League and the Houston Oilers over the rights to Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon, who had signed with both teams.


January 9 Events Pre-1600 * 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain. *1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the J ...
, 1960 (Saturday)

* Kenneth Kaunda, the 35-year-old leader of the Zambian African National Congress, was released from prison on orders of the British Governor of
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...
, Sir Evelyn Hone, a few weeks before Prime Minister Macmillan was scheduled to come to Lusaka. When Northern Rhodesia became the Republic of Zambia, Kaunda would become its first President. *On his 47th birthday, Vice-President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
became a candidate for the Republican nomination for the President of the United States, by giving his assent to the placing of his name on the ballot for primary elections in Oregon, New Hampshire and Ohio.''World Almanac 1961'', p157 *Construction began on the Aswan High Dam on the
Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
in Egypt, as President Nasser of the United Arab Republic pushed a button to explode of dynamite. *Died:
Elsie J. Oxenham Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley (25 November 1880 – 9 January 1960), was an English girls' story writer, who took the name Oxenham as her pseudonym when her first book, '' Goblin Island'', was published in 1907. Her Abbey Series of 38 titles are he ...
, 79, British children's author, creator of the '' Abbey Girls'' series


January 10 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. * 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...
, 1960 (Sunday)

*The United States would defend the Nationalist Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu from aggression by Communist China, U.S. Secretary of the Army
Wilber M. Brucker Wilber Marion Brucker (June 23, 1894 – October 28, 1968) was an American Republican politician. Born in Saginaw, Michigan, he served as the 32nd governor of Michigan from 1931 to 1933 and as the United States Secretary of the Army betwee ...
said at a news conference in Taipei, marking a change in American policy. The U.S. treaty to defend the island of Taiwan from attack did not include the two islands in the Taiwan Strait. The issue of whether the United States should go to war with China over the two islands would become an issue in the 1960 presidential campaign. *Born: Brian Cowen, 12th Taoiseach and
Leader of Fianna Fáil The Leader of Fianna Fáil is the most senior politician within the Fianna Fáil political party in Ireland. Since 26 January 2011, the office has been held by Micheál Martin, following the resignation of Taoiseach Brian Cowen as leader of the p ...
in Ireland from 2008 to 2011; in Clara, County Offaly


January 11, 1960 (Monday)

*
U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
Theodore F. Green Theodore Francis Green (October 2, 1867May 19, 1966) was an American politician from Rhode Island. A Democrat, Green served as the 57th Governor of Rhode Island (1933–1937) and in the United States Senate (1937–1961). He was a wealthy aris ...
of Rhode Island, at 92, the oldest person to ever serve in either house of Congress up to that time, announced that he would not run in 1960 for a fifth term. Green served from 1935 to 1961 and would die at age 98 in 1966. U.S. Senator
Strom Thurmond James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Prior to his 48 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Caro ...
would surpass Green's record in 1995, serving until his death in 2003 at 100 years old. *
Henry Lee Lucas Henry Lee Lucas (August 23, 1936 – March 12, 2001) was an American convicted serial killer. Lucas was convicted of murdering his mother in 1960 and two others in 1983. He rose to infamy while incarcerated for these crimes when he falsely c ...
, who would confess to more than 600 murders in 1985, then recant, took his first life, stabbing his 74-year-old mother, Viola, at her home in
Tecumseh, Michigan Tecumseh is a city in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the River Raisin. Tecumseh is about southwest of Detroit, south of Ann Arbor, and north of Toledo, Ohio. The main street of downtown is Chicago Boulevard, also designat ...
. Sentenced to 40 years in prison, but released in 1970, Lucas then resumed killing, and was ultimately convicted of 11 homicides. * NASA and the Western Electric Company signed a contract in the amount of $33,058,690 for construction and engineering of the Mercury tracking network.


January 12, 1960 (Tuesday)

*After seven years, a
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in the British East African colony of Kenya, was lifted by the Governor,
Sir Patrick Renison Sir Patrick Muir Renison GCMG (24 March 1911 – 10 November 1965) was a British colonial administrator. Biography Renison was born in 1911 in Rock Ferry, England. He attended Uppingham School, and later Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ...
. Proclaimed in 1952 after terrorism by the black nationalist group, the
Mau Mau Mau Mau may refer to: * The Kenya Land and Freedom Army, a Kenyan anti-colonial force ** The Mau Mau rebellion, uprising in Kenya in the 1950s * Mau Mau Island or White Island, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City * Mau Mau (game), a card game ...
, the emergency regulations set curfews, restricted travel, and required the licensing of printing presses. *Born: ** Dominique Wilkins, French-born American NBA player; in Paris ** Oliver Platt, Canadian actor; in Windsor, Ontario *Died: ** Nevil Shute, 60, English novelist known for '' On the Beach''; in Australia following a stroke ** "Sweet Daddy" Grace, 76, Los Angeles African-American evangelist


January 13 Events Pre-1600 * 27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years. * 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing ...
, 1960 (Wednesday)

*The first discussions were held in the White House to discuss covert action to overthrow Cuba's new revolutionary socialist government led by prime minister
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
. A special group, created by the National Security Council's order #5412, approved "Operation Zapata". *The Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs ( MVD) was abolished, and replaced by separate agencies in the 15 republics. *Born: **Sir
Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...
, English choreographer known for his innovations and adaptations of classic ballets (including his 1995 restaging of Tchaikovsky's ''
Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
'') and films; in
Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...
**
Goddess Bunny Sandra "Sandie" Crisp (January 13, 1960 – January 27, 2021), better known by her stage name The Goddess Bunny, was an American entertainer, drag queen, actor, and model. Footage of her tap dancing, originally recorded around 1987, was the sub ...
(stage name for Sandra "Sandie" Crisp), Transgender entertainer, drag queen, actress and model; in Santa Monica, California (died from COVID-19, 2021)


January 14 Events Pre-1600 *1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence. *1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary. 1601–1900 *1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
, 1960 (Thursday)

*The Reserve Bank of Australia, authorized by 1959 legislation, began operation, as did the ten-member Reserve Bank Board, which makes decisions on the monetary policy of Australia. *
John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...
served his last day as President of the
United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...
after almost 40 years. He was succeeded by Thomas Kennedy.


January 15 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months. * 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
, 1960 (Friday)

*The day after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev asked the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to formally approve his proposal to reduce the Soviet armed forces by nearly one-third, the 1,300 members in both houses gave their unanimous assent. The reduction, from 3,623,000 men to 2,423,000 men, had been announced by Khrushchev the day before in a speech to the joint session, with a plan to shift defense expenditures to nuclear weapons and missiles. "Should any madman launch an attack on our state or on other socialist states," Khrushchev said, "we would literally be able to wipe the country or countries that attack us off the face of the Earth." *Eight Chicago policemen were arrested in early morning raids on their homes, and charged with burglary, and several carloads of stolen merchandise were seized from the homes. By the end of the month, 15 city cops had been indicted for what Mayor Daley called "the most disgraceful and shocking scandal in the police department's history." The arrests followed a revelation, by a 23-year-old burglar, that several members of the Chicago PD had assisted him in burglarizing businesses in areas they had been assigned to patrol. *The U.S. Navy issued an operation plan for the Project Mercury recovery force, providing for procedures according to specified areas and for space recovery methods. Procedures for
Mercury-Redstone The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American crewed space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–1961; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks l ...
and
Mercury-Atlas Mercury-Atlas was a subprogram of Project Mercury that included most of the flights and tests using the Atlas LV-3B The Atlas LV-3B, Atlas D Mercury Launch Vehicle or Mercury-Atlas Launch Vehicle, was a human-rated expendable launch system u ...
missions were covered.


January 16 Events Pre-1600 * 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. * 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spear ...
, 1960 (Saturday)

*
Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shō ...
, the Prime Minister of Japan, departed from Tokyo's Haneda Airport at , in order to sign an unpopular treaty with the United States on American soil, but not before avoiding a rioting crowd of at least 500
Zengakuren Zengakuren is a league of university student associations founded in 1948 in Japan. The word is an abridgement of which literally means "All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations." Notable for organizing protests and marches, ...
, leftist students who had occupied the airport in protest. Several thousand police were required to disperse the gathering. *The village of Willowbrook, Illinois, was incorporated.


January 17, 1960 (Sunday)

*It was announced that U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would make a ten-day tour of the Soviet Union from June 10 to June 19, 1960, as the guest of Soviet First Secretary
Nikita S. Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Premier of the Soviet Union, chairm ...
. The visit would never take place, and was called off after the
U-2 incident On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Power ...
in May. *Born: Charles "Chili" Davis, Jamaican-born American Major League Baseball star and designated hitter; in
Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...


January 18, 1960 (Monday)

*
Walter C. Williams Walter Charles Williams (July 30, 1919 – October 7, 1995) was an American engineer, leader of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) group at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1940s and 1950s, and a NASA deputy associate administra ...
, Associate Director of Project Mercury Operations, proposed the establishment of a Mercury-Redstone Coordination Committee to monitor and coordinate activities related to Mercury-Redstone flight tests. Williams also proposed that the Mercury-Atlas flight test working group become an official and standing coordination body. This group brought together representation from the Space Task Group, Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, Convair Astronautics, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, and the
Atlantic Missile Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The range ha ...
. Personnel from these organizations had met informally in the past on several occasions. *Major General Jacques Massu, the commander of the French Army in Algeria, criticized his boss in an interview with Hans Ulrich Kempski of the German newspaper ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...
''. President Charles De Gaulle, who came into power with the Army's support in 1958, was outraged by Massu's statement that "Perhaps the Army made a mistake." *
Capital Airlines Flight 20 Capital Airlines Flight 20 was a U.S. scheduled passenger flight from Washington, D.C. to Norfolk, Virginia. A Vickers Viscount flying the route crashed into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, on January 18, 1960. The accident was the fou ...
crashed near
Holdcroft, Virginia Holdcroft is an unincorporated community in Charles City County, Virginia, United States. Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashed in Holdcroft on January 18, 1960. Piney Grove was added to the National Register of Historic Places The National ...
, while en route from Washington to Norfolk, apparently killing all forty-six passengers and four crew members on impact. The first persons on the scene heard no cries, and the Vickers Viscount was soon consumed by a fire that burned for five hours.


January 19, 1960 (Tuesday)

*In keeping with a concept of using certain off-the-shelf hardware items that were available for the manufacture of Project Mercury components, companies around London, England, were visited throughout 1959. Potential English vendors of such items as the SARAH beacon batteries (later chosen), miniature indicators, time delay mechanisms, hydrogen-peroxide systems, and transducers were evaluated. A report of the findings was submitted on this date. *U.S. President Eisenhower and Japan's Prime Minister Kishi signed the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan at the White House. Unpopular in Japan, the treaty was ratified there in June, and Kishi resigned soon afterward. *
Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...
Flight 871 crashed on its approach to Ankara, killing all 42 aboard. *Born:
Al Joyner Alfrederick Joyner (born January 19, 1960) is an American track and field coach and former athlete. He was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. He is the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump. He was also the coach and husband of the late ...
, American track star who won an Olympic gold medal in 1984 in the triple jump; in
East St. Louis East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
, Illinois


January 20 Events Pre-1600 * 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution. * 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom. * 1156 &ndas ...
, 1960 (Wednesday)

*The Soviet Union successfully test-fired the first
ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
, the
R-7 Semyorka The R-7 Semyorka (russian: link=no, Р-7 Семёрка), officially the GRAU index 8K71, was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1 ...
, demonstrating a range of at least when it reached a target area in the Pacific Ocean. The explosion on impact, at Moscow time (1705 GMT, EST), was observed by the crew of a Qantas aircraft. *Born: ** Will Wright, American designer of the computer game ''
Sim City ''SimCity'' is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, ''SimCity'', was published by Maxis in 1989 and were followed by several sequels and many other spin-off "''Sim' ...
''; in Atlanta ** Jeff "Tain" Watts, American jazz drummer; in Pittsburgh


January 21, 1960 (Thursday)

*" Miss Sam", a
rhesus monkey The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally b ...
, was launched on board the rocket
Little Joe 1B The Little Joe 1B was a launch escape system test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The mission also carried a female rhesus monkey (''Macaca mulatta'') named Miss Sam in the Mercury spacecraft. The mission ...
from Wallops Island, reaching an altitude of and a maximum speed of before returning safely to Earth, clearing the way for human
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s. *In the third worst mine disaster in history, 437 coal miners were killed at the Coalbrook North Colliery at Coalbrook, South Africa, when a section collapsed, filling the mine shaft with methane. *At a meeting to draft fiscal year 1962 funding estimates for Project Mercury, the total purchase of Atlas launch vehicles was listed as 15, and the total purchase of Mercury spacecraft was listed as 26. *
Avianca Flight 671 Avianca Flight 671, registration HK-177, was a Lockheed Constellation that crashed and burned on landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 21 January 1960. It was and remains the worst accident in Jamaican aviation history. The flight had originated ...
from New York to Montego Bay, Jamaica, crashed and burned when its landing gear collapsed on touchdown, killing 37 of the 46 persons on board. *Died: Wu Lien-teh, 80, Chinese physician who halted the pneumonic plague epidemic of 1910 in China


January 22 Events Pre-1600 * 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople. * 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vi ...
, 1960 (Friday)

*France's President de Gaulle fired Major General Massu from his post as commander of the troops in
French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
, following Massu's critical interview. European Algerians were outraged by the firing, precipitating the " week of the barricades". *At the Boston Garden, Sugar Ray Robinson lost his world middleweight boxing title in an upset to
Paul Pender Paul Pender (June 20, 1930 – January 12, 2003), was an American boxer and firefighter from Massachusetts who held the World Middleweight Championship. Early life Pender was born in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Wi ...
, a 29-year-old firefighter from Brookline, Massachusetts. Pender outpointed Robinson in fifteen rounds. *Born: Michael Hutchence, Australian rock musician for
INXS INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
; in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
(d. 1997)


January 23, 1960 (Saturday)

*Undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and Navy Lt. Don Walsh descended in the U.S. Navy bathyscaphe ''Trieste'' into the deepest depths of the ocean, reaching the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, a depth of more than . *Born: Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer; in
Oullins Oullins () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to it on the southwest. Population Transport *Several Buses (C7, C10, 8, 12, 14, 17, 63, ...
(killed in skydiving accident, 1998)


January 24, 1960 (Sunday)

*As many as 5,000 European residents of French Algeria, including members of the French home guard, sealed off parts of
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
and then withdrew behind the barricades. In the crisis that followed, leaders of the French Army told Prime Minister Michel Debré that they would disregard orders to attack the insurgents. When the local police clashed with the demonstrators, 24 people were killed and 136 injured. *The
Democratic Socialist Party (Japan) The was a political party in Japan. History The party was established in January 1960 by a breakaway faction of the Japanese Socialist Party. Led by Suehiro Nishio, it was made up of members of the most moderate wing of the former Rightist ...
was formed by
Suehiro Nishio was a Japanese labor activist and party politician whose career extended across the prewar and postwar periods. A long-serving member of the National Diet (15 terms in total), he was a power broker in the Japan Socialist Party and one of the m ...
and 52 other members of Parliament who had formerly been in the Japan Socialist Party. The DSP lasted until 1994. *Born: Rick Leventhal,
Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
reporter; in Silver Spring, Maryland *Died: **
Ashihei Hino (born 玉井勝則, ''Tamai Katsunori''; 25 January 1907 – 24 January 1960) was a Japanese writer, whose works included depictions of military life during World War II. He was born in Wakamatsu (now Wakamatsu ward, Kitakyūshū) and in 1937 h ...
, 53, Japanese novelist, committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills ** Edwin Fischer, 73, Swiss classical pianist


January 25 Events Pre-1600 * 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate. * 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
, 1960 (Monday)

*McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft to the Space Task Group at
Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, United States of America, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. It directly borders Langley Air Force Base and the Back River on the Chesapeake Bay. LaRC has fo ...
in less than 1 year from the signing of the formal contract. This spacecraft was a structural shell and did not contain most of the internal systems that would be required for
human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...
. After receipt, the Space Task Group instrumented the spacecraft and designated it for the
Mercury-Atlas 1 Mercury-Atlas 1 (MA-1) was the first attempt to launch a Mercury capsule and occurred on July 29, 1960 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was unmanned and carried no launch escape system. The Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 ...
(MA-1) flight. * Wilt Chamberlain set an NBA record that still stands, for "Most points, rookie, game", with 58 points for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Detroit Pistons, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The record was tied, by Chamberlain, on February 21 of his rookie year. * Belgium agreed to grant its African colony, in the Belgian Congo, independence, setting a date of June 30, 1960, and elections to be held in May. *Died: Beno Gutenberg, 70, German-American seismologist who developed the Richter scale; from cancer


January 26, 1960 (Tuesday)

*After 22 ballots to select the new National Football League Commissioner,
Marshall Leahy Marshall Edmund Leahy (October 10, 1910 – January 3, 1983) was an American attorney who was the chief legal counsel for the National Football League. Early life Leahy was born on October 10, 1910, in San Francisco. He was an All-Pacific Coast g ...
had seven votes,
Austin Gunsel Austin H. Gunsel (April 2, 1909 - June 17, 1974) was the National Football League's interim commissioner from 1959 to 1960, following the death of Bert Bell on October 11, 1959. Education Gunsel was born in Irvington, New Jersey and is a gradu ...
had four, but neither candidate had the required 10 of 12 majority needed for the 12-team league. The compromise was the little-known general manager of the
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...
, 33-year-old Pete Rozelle. Rozelle would go on to lead the NFL to become the most popular professional sports league in the United States. *In Burnsville, West Virginia, Burnsville High School student Danny Heater set an interscholastic record for basketball, scoring 135 points in a 173–43 win over Widen, West Virginia's high school team. *Born: ** Freeway Rick Ross, American author and former drug lord best known for the drug empire he established in Los Angeles, California in the 1980s; in
Terrell, Texas Terrell is a city in Kaufman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 17,465. Terrell is located about east of Dallas. History Terrell developed as a railroad town, beginning in 1873 with construction here ...
** Carol Yager, American woman who, at , was the heaviest woman ever recorded; in
Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...
(d. 1994)


January 27 Events Pre-1600 * 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent. * 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
, 1960 (Wednesday)

*A river of lava from the Kilauea Volcano spilled over the last earthen dike that had protected the village of
Kapoho, Hawai'i Kapoho, Hawaii, is a now-uninhabited unincorporated area in Puna district, Hawaii County, Hawaii, located near the eastern tip of the island of Hawaii, in the easternmost subaerial end of the graben overlying Kīlauea's east rift zone. Originall ...
, and began the destruction of the town, whose 300 residents had been evacuated. By Saturday, Kapoho was gone. *Following Japan's signing of the new security treaty with the United States, the Soviet Union announced that it was cancelling plans to return the islands of
Habomai ; ja, 歯舞群島, Habomai guntō , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 10 + several rocks , major_islands = , area_km2 = 100 , length = , ...
and Shikotan, captured during World War II, to Japan. *Construction began on the
Baitul Mukarram Baitul Mukarram, also spelled as Baytul Mukarrom ( ar, بيت المكرّم, bn, বায়তুল মোকাররম; ), is the National Mosque of Bangladesh. Located at the center of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, the mosque was comple ...
mosque in Dhaka, East Pakistan. The structure, designed by Abdul Hussain Thariani, is now the National Mosque of Bangladesh. *Thirty-one people were trampled to death in Seoul, South Korea, when a crowd surged forward to catch a train.


January 28, 1960 (Thursday)

*The 12-team NFL expanded for the first time since 1949, awarding the franchise for the Dallas Cowboys for 1960, and for the Minnesota Vikings for 1961. *China and Burma (now
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
) signed an agreement specifying the boundary between the two nations. *Died:
Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...
, 69, African-American author who would attain posthumous fame in the 1970s


January 29, 1960 (Friday)

*Facing a challenge from rebelling European settlers in French Algeria, France's President Charles de Gaulle went on television in his Army uniform, in order, he said, "to stress that I am speaking as General de Gaulle as well as chief of state". Having announced before that the future of French territory in Algeria would be left to the Algerian Arab majority, de Gaulle emphasized that he would not yield to Europeans "who dream of being usurpers". Following the speech, the French Army ended speculation about whether they would side with the Algerian Europeans against the Paris government, and ordered all home guardsmen, inside the barricades, to report to their headquarters. When the order was disobeyed, the Army moved in to end the rebellion. *Born: **
Matthew Ashford Matthew Nile Ashford (born January 29, 1960) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on the soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' and '' The Bay'', for the former of which he received a nomination for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstand ...
, American soap opera actor (''
Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...
''); in
Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...
** Gia Carangi, American supermodel and AIDS sufferer; in Philadelphia (d. 1986) ** Greg Louganis, American diver, Olympic medalist; in
El Cajon, California El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...


January 30 Events Pre-1600 *1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen. *1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom. 1601–1900 *1607 – An estimated ...
, 1960 (Saturday)

*The
American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...
filled out its eight teams by voting on where to place the franchise that had formerly been reserved for Minneapolis. Although a majority preferred to place an AFL team in Atlanta, the owners agreed that a second California team was needed, and the team became the
Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...
(later the Los Angeles Raiders, now the Las Vegas Raiders). *Died:
J. C. Kumarappa J. C. Kumarappa (born Joseph Chelladurai Cornelius) (4 January 1892 – 30 January 1960) was an Indian economist and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. A pioneer of rural economic development theories, Kumarappa is credited for developin ...
, 68, Indian economist and father of "
Gandhian economics Gandhian economics is a school of economic thought based on the spiritual and socio-economic principles expounded by Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. It is largely characterised by rejection of the concept of the human being as a rational actor always ...
"


January 31, 1960 (Sunday)

*Joseph McNeill, a 17-year-old college freshman, was turned away by a waitress with the words, "We don't serve Negroes," when he tried to get something to eat at the bus terminal in Greensboro, North Carolina. When he talked about it with three friends at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, the four African-American students decided that they would take a stand against segregation. The next day, the four would sit down at the Woolworth's Department Store lunch counter and refuse to get up until they were served, and the "sit-in" was created as a form of civil disobedience. *At
Tawfiq Tawfik ( ar, توفيق), or Tewfik, is an Arabic masculine given name. The name is derived from the Arabic root: waaw-faa-qaaf (), which means to agree or to reconcile. Tawfik translates to, "the ability or opportunity to achieve success". A spe ...
, a skirmish between soldiers from Israel and
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
(at that time, part of the United Arab Republic with Egypt) left 12 Syrians and 7 Israelis dead. UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent Egyptian troops back into the Sinai in response. *Six
chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...
s were rated as being trained and ready to support Mercury-Redstone or Mercury-Atlas missions. Other chimpanzees were being shipped from Africa to enter the animal training program.


References

{{Events by month links
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...
*1960-01 *1960-01