May 1960
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The following events occurred in May 1960:


May 1, 1960 (Sunday)

*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 ...
began when an American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, entered Soviet airspace ten minutes after takeoff from a U.S. base in Pakistan, at Peshawar. At (0653 GMT), his plane was struck by shrapnel from an exploding Soviet SA-2 missile while he was at 70,500 feet (21,488 m). Powers parachuted and chose not to commit suicide, and landed near Sverdlovsk, where he was captured alive."Chronology May 1960", ''The World Almanac and book of facts, 1961'' (New York World-Telegram, 1960), pp168–172 *
Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
and Gujarat were formed as the 14th and 15th
States of India State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
, when the
Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...
was split along linguistic lines. *Born: Steve Cauthen, American jockey, 1978 U.S. Triple Crown winner; '' Sports Illustrated'' magazine's Sportsman of the Year at age 17; in Covington, Kentucky


May 2, 1960 (Monday)

*
Caryl Chessman Caryl Whittier Chessman (May 27, 1921 – May 2, 1960) was a convicted robber, kidnapper and serial rapist who was sentenced to death for a series of crimes committed in January 1948 in the Los Angeles area. Chessman was charged with 17 counts a ...
was executed at in the gas chamber at California's San Quentin Prison after ten years on Death Row. In San Francisco, defense attorneys had asked to present an argument, and U.S. Judge Louis E. Goodman had decided to issue a stay of execution as Chessman was being strapped into his chair, and instructed his secretary to call the prison, but the secretary had copied only four of the five digits of the telephone number, after which the call took a full minute to go through. Goodman blamed the defense attorneys for waiting until the last minute to seek a stay, commenting that "One of them, at least, should have been here earlier." Chessman, an accomplished author on death row for rape rather murder, had won eight prior stays of execution, and his death was protested worldwide. *Outfielder
Jim Lemon James Robert Lemon (March 23, 1928 – May 14, 2006) was an American right and left fielder, manager and coach in Major League Baseball. A powerful, right-handed hitting and throwing outfielder, Lemon teamed with first baseman Roy Sievers and la ...
of the Washington Senators became the first Major League Baseball player to wear a batting helmet with earflaps. Helmets had been required in both leagues since 1958 but the helmet, required in
Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationCalvin Griffith Calvin Robertson Griffith (December 1, 1911 – October 20, 1999), born Calvin Griffith Robertson, was a Canadian-born American Major League Baseball team owner. As president, majority owner and ''de facto'' general manager (baseball), general m ...
, who ordered the headgear after Earl Battey was struck in the head by a pitch thrown by Tom Sturdivant of the Boston Red Sox. Despite concerns that the flap obscured the batter's vision, Lemon got two hits in three at-bats in a 3–2 win over the Cleveland Indians. *As police officer
Leonard Baldy Leonard Frank Baldy (February 15, 1927 – May 2, 1960) was a Chicago Police Department officer who became the city's first helicopter traffic reporter. His sometimes comical look at Chicago's traffic problems made him a household name. His peers ...
was preparing to do a live traffic report on Chicago's WGN (AM) radio station, he and helicopter pilot Horace Ferry were killed when one of the overhead rotor blades fell from the station's helicopter. Ferry was able to maneuver the craft away from the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Hubbard Street into a railroad yard embankment, narrowly missing a truck and three children who had been walking along a sidewalk. *Dr.
Robert H. Goetz Robert Hans Goetz (17 April 1910, Frankfurt – 15 December 2000, Scarsdale, New York) was the surgeon who performed the first successful clinical (i.e., human) coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The surgery was performed May 2, 1960 using the ...
, a German-born surgeon, led a team at the Van Etten Hospital in the Bronx (now the Jacobi Medical Center) in performing the first
coronary artery bypass surgery Coronary artery bypass surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG, pronounced "cabbage") is a surgical procedure to treat coronary artery disease (CAD), the buildup of plaques in the arteries of the heart. It can relieve chest pai ...
on a human patient. *
WLS-AM WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive i ...
of Chicago became the first large radio station in the Midwest to switch over to a rock 'n roll format.


May 3, 1960 (Tuesday)

*At 2:00 p.m. Eastern time (11:00 a.m. Pacific), all regular television and radio broadcasting in the United States halted for 30 minutes as the airwaves were taken over by
CONELRAD CONELRAD (''Control of Electromagnetic Radiation'') was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to allow continuous broadcast of civil defense informa ...
(later the
Emergency Broadcasting System The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), sometimes called the Emergency Broadcasting System or the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an emergency warning system used in the United States. It replaced the previous CONELRAD system an ...
), and sirens sounded across the nation, and all people outside were directed to go to the nearest fallout shelter. It was all part of "Operation Alert 1960" and regular programming was restored after 30 minutes. At New York's City Hall Park, a crowd of 500 demonstrators refused police orders to seek shelter, in protest over the nuclear arms race. *'' The Fantasticks'', the most popular musical of all time, was staged for the first time. The opening night, at the (
off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
) Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City, was the first of a record 17,162 outings for the show, which would run until January 13, 2002. *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 ...
(EFTA), founded by Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Portugal, came into being, five months after the Stockholm treaty signed on
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 ...
.


May 4, 1960 (Wednesday)

*The United States signed an agreement to sell 17,000,000 metric tons of surplus grain to India over a four-year period, in exchange for $1,276,000,000. * Lucille Ball was granted a divorce from Desi Arnaz by a court in Santa Monica, California. *The
1960 Cannes Film Festival The 13th Cannes Film Festival was held from 4 to 20 May 1960. The Palme d'Or went to the ''La Dolce Vita'' by Federico Fellini. The festival opened with '' Ben-Hur'', directed by William Wyler. Jury The following people were appointed as the Ju ...
opened. *Born: Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria from 2008 to 2016; in Vienna


May 5, 1960 (Thursday)

*Soviet Premier
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 ...
announced to that nation's parliament that an American military plane had been downed in Soviet territory on May 1.


May 6, 1960 (Friday)

* Ramon Mercader, aka Jacques Monard, the man who had killed Leon Trotsky with an axe on August 20, 1940, was released from the penitentiary in Juarez, Mexico, after which he emigrated to the Soviet Union. *President
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law. The bill had passed the House 288–95, after being amended and passed by the Senate 71–18. * Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, married
Antony Armstrong-Jones Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', '' Vanity Fa ...
in a royal wedding at Westminster Abbey. *The town of Wilburton, Oklahoma, was destroyed by tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma and Arkansas, killing 27 people and hurting 250.


May 7, 1960 (Saturday)

* Leonid Brezhnev took on the ceremonial post of
head of state of the Soviet Union The Constitution of the Soviet Union recognised the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the earlier Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Congress of Soviets as the highest organs of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic ...
as he succeeded Kliment Voroshilov as Chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (generally, but inaccurately referred to in the Western press as the "Soviet President"). Nikita Khrushchev continued as Premier of the Soviet Union (officially the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, equivalent to a prime minister), and as General Secretary of the Communist Party, the ''de facto'' leader of the USSR; the latter position that would be taken by Brezhnev in 1964. *Khrushchev surprised the world by announcing that U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, of Pound, Virginia, had been captured "alive and well" near Sverdlovsk, along with film taken of military bases, and Soviet currency. U.S. officials expressed "amazement" at charges that Powers had been on a spy mission. *In the
1960 FA Cup Final The 1960 FA Cup Final was the 79th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition, the FA Cup. It took place on 7 May 1960 at Wembley Stadium in London. The match was contested by Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wo ...
at Wembley Stadium, Wolverhampton Wanderers defeated Blackburn Rovers, 3–0. *The
World Chess Championship 1960 The 1960 World Chess Championship was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and Mikhail Tal in Moscow from March 15 to May 7, 1960. Botvinnik was the reigning champion, after winning the World Chess Championship 1958, while Tal qualified by winning th ...
was won by Mikhail Tal.


May 8 Events Pre-1600 * 453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin. * 413 – Emperor Honorius signs a ...
, 1960 (Sunday)

* Cuba and the Soviet Union formally re-established diplomatic
relations Relation or relations may refer to: General uses *International relations, the study of interconnection of politics, economics, and law on a global level *Interpersonal relationship, association or acquaintance between two or more people *Public ...
, which had been ended in 1952. The United States severed its diplomatic ties with Cuba eight months later, on January 3, 1961. *A Nationalist Chinese
Sabrejet The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...
crashed into a village in Taiwan, killing the pilot and 10 people on the ground. *Born:
Franco Baresi Franchino Baresi (; born 8 May 1960) is an Italian football youth team coach and a former player and manager. He mainly played as a sweeper or as a central defender, and spent his entire 20-year career with Serie A club AC Milan, captaining t ...
, Italian football defender; in
Travagliato Travagliato (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, northern Italy. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on November 12, 2001. Its coat of arms shows a silver shovel on left blue, right w ...
*Died:
J. H. C. Whitehead John Henry Constantine Whitehead FRS (11 November 1904 – 8 May 1960), known as Henry, was a British mathematician and was one of the founders of homotopy theory. He was born in Chennai (then known as Madras), in India, and died in Princeton, ...
, 55, British mathematician and pioneer in
homotopy theory In mathematics, homotopy theory is a systematic study of situations in which maps can come with homotopies between them. It originated as a topic in algebraic topology but nowadays is studied as an independent discipline. Besides algebraic topolog ...
; of a heart attack while visiting Princeton University


May 9, 1960 (Monday)

*
McDonnell The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom I ...
's first production Mercury spacecraft, with its escape rocket serving as the propulsion force, was launched from Wallops Island. Designated the "beach-abort test", the objectives were a performance evaluation of the escape system, the parachute and landing system, and recovery operations in an off-the-pad abort situation, and were successfully tested. The spacecraft was returned to the McDonnell plant on May 14 for an integrity test. *U.S. Attorney General
William P. Rogers William Pierce Rogers (June 23, 1913 – January 2, 2001) was an American diplomat and attorney. He served as United States Attorney General under President Dwight D. Eisenhower and United States Secretary of State under President Richard Nixo ...
invoked the new Civil Rights Act of 1960 to force the turnover of voters' registration records in four Southern "cipher counties", so called because there were no African-American registered voters, despite a large population. The counties affected were Wilcox County, Alabama, Webster County, Georgia, McCormick County, South Carolina and East Carroll Parish, Louisiana. *The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
pill for the first time, as it cleared the prescription of
Enovid Mestranol/norethynodrel was the first combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) being mestranol and norethynodrel. It sold as Enovid in the United States and as Enavid in the United Kingdom. Developed by Gregory Pincus at G. D. Searle & Company, ...
, manufactured by G. D. Searle & Company, for use as an oral contraceptive. *Born: Tony Gwynn, MLB star outfielder and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (d. 2014); in Los Angeles


May 10 Events Pre-1600 * 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. *1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edw ...
, 1960 (Tuesday)

*The submarine USS ''Triton'' completed its circumnavigation of the globe, after an 84-day voyage that followed the route of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1519–1522. * John F. Kennedy defeated Hubert Humphrey in the West Virginia primary election, winning the predominantly Protestant state and dispelling doubts about whether Americans would support a Roman Catholic nominee. The win was Senator Kennedy's seventh in the primaries. At the next day, Humphrey conceded defeat, and then said "I am no longer a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination", leaving Senator Kennedy unopposed. *
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
became the first major racially segregated city in the United States to desegregate its lunch counters. *Born: **
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
(stage name for Paul David Hewson), Irish famine relief activist and rock singer for U2 and as a solo performer; in Dublin ** Merlene Ottey, Jamaican women's champion; in
Hanover, Jamaica Hanover is a parish located on the northwestern tip of the island of Jamaica. It is a part of the county of Cornwall, bordered by St. James in the east and Westmoreland in the south. With the exception of Kingston, it is the smallest parish ...
*Died: Yury Olesha, 61, Russian novelist


May 11 Events 1601–1900 *1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons. *1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...
, 1960 (Wednesday)

*At a press conference, President Eisenhower of the United States accepted full responsibility for the U-2 incident, and said that spying on the Soviet Union was justified. "No one wants another Pearl Harbor", he said, adding "In most of the world, no large-scale attack could be prepared in secret, but in the Soviet Union there is a fetish of secrecy, and concealment." *In Buenos Aires, four
Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...
agents abducted fugitive Nazi
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''
Ephraim Kahana, ''Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence'' (Scarecrow Press 2006), p84 *The passenger liner was launched at Saint-Nazaire by Madame
Yvonne de Gaulle Yvonne Charlotte Anne-Marie de Gaulle ( née Vendroux; 22 May 1900 – 8 November 1979) was the wife of Charles de Gaulle. The couple had three children: Philippe (b. 1921), Élisabeth (1924–2013), and Anne (1928–1948), who was born with ...
, wife of the French president. *Born:
Jürgen Schult Jürgen Schult (, ; born 11 May 1960) is a German former track and field athlete and, as of September 2021, the world record holder in the discus. Dating from 1986, this is the longest-standing record in men's track and field. Schult represent ...
, German former track and field athlete and, as of 2023, the world record holder in the discus throw; in Hagenow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany *Died: John D. Rockefeller Jr., 86, American philanthropist who gave away $475,000,000 of his inheritance during his lifetime.


May 12, 1960 (Thursday)

*Soviet Premier Khrushchev said in a statement that if the United States made further overflights of the USSR, "this might lead to war" and then added that further aggression would be met "with atom bombs in the first few minutes". *The Space Task Group established a field representative office at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Missouri. *By order of U.S. Defense Secretary
Thomas S. Gates Thomas Sovereign Gates Jr. (April 10, 1906March 25, 1983) was an American politician and diplomat who served as Secretary of Defense from 1959 to 1961 and Secretary of the Navy from 1957 to 1959, both under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. During ...
, the
Defense Communications Agency The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA prov ...
was established. *The capsizing of a boat on the Krishna River in India's Andhara Pradesh state drowned at least 60 people. *Died: Prince Aly Khan, 48, Pakistan's "playboy turned diplomat", died of massive head injuries after his Lancia sports car collided with a sedan in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes, France. The other driver, Herve Bichaton, was reportedly on the wrong side of the road.


May 13 Events Pre-1600 *1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''. * 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...
, 1960 (Friday)

* A group of 200 students, mostly white, staged a sit-in inside the San Francisco City Hall to protest against the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
, following the example of passive resistance used by African-American protesters to fight segregation. The city police dispersed the crowd with fire hoses and clubs, but the students' defiance was dramatic. Between 1,500 and 2,000 people picketed the last session of the committee's hearings, and another 3,500 predominantly anti-Committee spectators massed outside the building. As one author notes, "No one had previously dared confront HUAC so brazenly; most Americans were terrified of even coming into contact with the committee." *The first launch by the United States of its new Delta rocket failed as the third stage did not ignite. The failure would be followed by 15 consecutive successful launches. *A six-member team of Swiss, Austrian and Bhutanese climbers, were the first to reach the top of Dhaulagiri, at (), the world's seventh highest mountain.


May 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. *1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. * 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forc ...
, 1960 (Saturday)

*U.S. President Eisenhower flew to Paris for the scheduled Four Power Summit, after President de Gaulle of France verified that Soviet Premier Khrushchev still wanted to convene the meeting. The talks broke off shortly after de Gaulle called them to order two days later.


May 15, 1960 (Sunday)

*While in Paris with President Eisenhower on the first day of a summit with Soviet Premier Khrushchev, U.S. Secretary of Defense Thomas S. Gates Jr. ordered a test of the American military alert system. Declassified documents would later show that Gates's order at 0033 UTC for "a high state of command readiness" was misunderstood, and that within half an hour, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff placed troops worldwide at DEFCON 3 status. The American public learned of the alert when Lowry Air Force Base asked police to locate key personnel, and the police asked Denver radio station KOA (AM) and KOA-TV to assist. The message that followed- "All fighter pilots F-101 and fighter pilots F-102... Doe Three Alert, Hotcake One and Hotcake Six, scramble at Lowry immediately!" was heard by thousands of Denver listeners. *The Soviet Union launched Sputnik IV, a five-ton mockup of a crewed spaceship, as a prelude to putting human beings into outer space. The satellite carried a heavy life-size dummy, luckily; the retrorockets fired in the wrong direction, sending the ship into a higher orbit rather than returning it to Earth. The satellite would re-enter Earth's atmosphere on September 5, 1962, with a fragment landing at the intersection of North 8th Street and Park Street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. *Qualification tests for the Mercury spacecraft explosive egress hatch were completed. *The new
Convair 880 The Convair 880 is an American narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When ...
made its first passenger flight, for Delta Air Lines.


May 16 Events Pre-1600 * 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. *1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. * 1364 ...
, 1960 (Monday)

*Representatives of NASA's research centers held a two-day conference 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 ...
to present findings and discuss future work on space rendezvous, the linking of separately-launched spacecraft in orbit. Progress reports were given for the Langley, Ames, Lewis research centers, and Flight Research Centers,
Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first ...
, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including the concept of a space ferry to rendezvous with a
space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
in
cislunar space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. Although funding was not yet available, the consensus was that rendezvous would soon be essential, that the technique should be developed immediately, and that NASA should make rendezvous experiments to develop the technique and establish the feasibility of rendezvous. *Shortly after the Four Power Summit in Paris was opened by France's President DeGaulle at , Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demanded the right to speak, and then delivered an angry tirade, which ended with a cancellation of the invitation for President Eisenhower to visit the USSR beginning June 10. The summit ended at , and Khrushchev did not show up for further meetings. Eisenhower, Khrushchev and Britain's Prime Minister Macmillan left France three days later. *At
Hughes Research Laboratory HRL Laboratories (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories) is a research center in Malibu, California, established in 1960. Formerly the research arm of Hughes Aircraft, HRL is currently owned by General Motors Corporation and Boeing. The resear ...
in Malibu, California, physicist
Theodore Maiman Theodore Harold Maiman (July 11, 1927 – May 5, 2007) was an American engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser.Johnson, John Jr. (May 11, 2008). "Theodore H. Maiman, at age 32; scientist created the first LA ...
focused a high-powered flash lamp on a silver-coated ruby rod, and created the first working laser.


May 17, 1960 (Tuesday)

*"
Radio Swan Radio Swan was a pirate radio station owned by the CIA, and based in the Swan Islands, a group of islands in the western Caribbean Sea, near the coastline of Honduras. Under the "Radio Swan" and "Radio Americas" names, the station was in operatio ...
", secretly funded and operated by the American CIA, began broadcasting anti-Communist propaganda to Cuba, from a transmitter on Swan Island off of the coast of
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
. *Died: Joseph Taborsky, 36, who had robbed and murdered six people over a six-year period, was executed in Connecticut in the electric chair.


May 18 Events Pre-1600 * 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. * 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 4 ...
, 1960 (Wednesday)

*The 132nd and last original broadcast of the landmark American TV series ''
Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...
'', was shown on CBS, with the telecast of "In the Presence of Mine Enemies". *Born: ** Yannick Noah, French tennis player who would win the French Open at age 23; in Sedan **
Jari Kurri Jari Pekka Kurri (; born May 18, 1960) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. In 2001, he became the first Finnish player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017 Kurri was named one ...
, Finnish ice hockey player and
Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...
inductee; in Helsinki


May 19, 1960 (Thursday)

*In Japan, conservative Prime Minister
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 ...
called for a surprise snap vote on a revised version of the
U.S.-Japan Security Treaty The , more commonly known as the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in English and as the or just in Japanese, is a treaty that permits the presence of U.S. military bases on Japanese soil, and commits the two nations to defend each other if one or th ...
in the
National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...
, violating parliamentary norms by cutting off debate earlier than expected and leading to a protest sit-in by opposition
Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...
Diet members. In the so-called " May 19th Incident," Kishi introduced 500 police officers to the Diet building and had the Socialist Party members physically removed from the legislature, before ramming the treaty through just after midnight the next day with only members of his own party present. These actions, widely perceived to be anti-democratic, will lead to a dramatic upsurge in the ongoing Anpo protests against the treaty in the rest of May and June. *The largest anti-nuclear rally held in the United States, up to that time, took place at
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in New York, as 17,000 people attended to hear speeches by Eleanor Roosevelt, Norman Thomas, Alf Landon, Walter Reuther and others demanding worldwide disarmament. *The first polling organization in the Soviet Union, the "Public Opinion Institute", was announced by the Party newspaper ''
Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925. History and profile During the Soviet era, ...
''. From 1960 to 1967, Komsomol took surveys on such topics as "How has your standard of living changed?"


May 20, 1960 (Friday)

*In Japan, the lower house of the
Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...
voted at to ratify the new security treaty with the United States, but only after police removed
Japan Socialist Party The was a socialist and progressive political party in Japan that existed from 1945 to 1996. The party was founded as the Social Democratic Party of Japan by members of several proletarian parties that existed before World War II, including ...
members who had blockaded Speaker Ichiro Kiyose in his office.


May 21, 1960 (Saturday)

*PFC Buzo Minagawa of Japan, was captured in a jungle at Guam, where he had been sent in 1944 as part of the 3219th artillery during World War II. Through interpreters, Minagawa said that he still could not believe that Japan had lost the war. His companion, Masashi Ito, was found two days later on May 23, and both men were welcomed home on May 28. *An El Al flight took off from Buenos Aires at , with kidnapped Nazi fugitive
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''
Holocaust in Israel. *Born: Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991; in Milwaukee (killed by inmate, 1994)


May 22 Events Pre-1600 * 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu. * 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. * 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt. * 11 ...
, 1960 (Sunday)

* Nearly 5,000 people were killed by a 9.5 magnitude earthquake in Chile that struck at local time (1511 UTC) near Valdivia. Based on seismographic data, the tremor was measured as the largest earthquake of the 20th century, with 9.5 being almost twice as big (and almost three times as strong) as the 9.2 quake that would strike Alaska in 1964. The initial tremor killed 1,655 people, and the aftershocks killed another 4,000. Two million were left homeless, and the shock sent tsunamis that killed 61 people in the U.S. state of Hawaii and another 119 in Japan. *The Belgian Congo held elections for the 137-member Chamber of Deputies in advance of being granted independence. Candidates from 28 different political parties were elected as deputies, and Patrice Lumumba's Mouvement National Congolais party won more (33 or less than one-fourth of the seats) than the party with the next highest number. Lumumba was then asked by Belgian authorities to form the first government as Prime Minister. *
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''
Argentina. *Born: Hideaki Anno, Japanese film director; in Ube, Yamaguchi


May 23, 1960 (Monday)

*A merger of the Unitarian and Universalist churches was endorsed at meetings held in Boston by delegates from the American Unitarian Association (725 to 143) and the Universalist Church of America (365 to 65), to create the
Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both P ...
. *Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of Israel surprised the Knesset at , with the announcement that, "Israeli Security Services captured one of the greatest Nazi criminals,
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''
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 ...
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 ...
mission. *At 1:05 a.m., local time (1105 UTC), a tsunami from the Chilean earthquake rolled into the bay of
Hilo Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Hawaii (island), Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 United ...
, Hawaii, killing 61 people and injuring 282 more. *Died:
Georges Claude Georges Claude (24 September 187023 May 1960) was a French engineer and inventor. He is noted for his early work on the industrial liquefaction of air, for the invention and commercialization of neon lighting, and for a large experiment on genera ...
, 89, French engineer described as "The Edison of France" for his inventions, including neon lighting and the process for the
liquefaction of gases Liquefaction of gases is physical conversion of a gas into a liquid state ( condensation). The liquefaction of gases is a complicated process that uses various compressions and expansions to achieve high pressures and very low temperatures, using ...
(including liquid oxygen and
liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen—LN2—is nitrogen in a liquid state at low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, low viscosity liquid that is wide ...
).


May 24 Events Pre-1600 * 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom. * 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. * 1276 – Magnus La ...
, 1960 (Tuesday)

*The
Cincinnati Radiation Experiments The Cincinnati Radiation Experiments were a series of total and partial body irradiation tests performed on at least 90 patients with advanced cancer at the Cincinnati General Hospital, now University of Cincinnati Hospital, from 1960 to 1971. Le ...
began at the Cincinnati General Hospital. Dr.
Eugene Saenger Eugene Saenger (March 5, 1917 – September 30, 2007)Thomas H. Maugh"Eugene Saenger, 90; pioneer in radiation research"''Los Angeles Times'', October 6, 2007 was an American university professor and physician. A graduate of Harvard University, ...
, a radiologist, had applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for a study titled "Metabolic Changes in Humans Following Total Body Irradiation", with the goal of determining how soldiers in nuclear war would be affected by large doses of radiation, and irradiated cancer patients without their consent during the first five years of the project. A consent form would be introduced in 1965, without mentioning possible side effects from the radiation exposure. Ninety patients were given high doses of radiation before the project was discontinued in 1971. * Tsunamis from the Chilean earthquake, away, struck the coast of Japan at Hokkaido, Sanriku and Kii, killing 119 people and washing away 2,800 homes. *The United States launched the Midas II satellite, the first designed to detect missile launches. "Midas" was an acronym for Missile Defense Alarm System. *Thirty-eight hours after the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile, the volcano
Cordón Caulle Cordón is a central ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay, located East of the Centro. Its main avenue is 18 de Julio Avenue. History Cordón was the first neighborhood to be created outside the walls of the old Citade ...
began a rhyodacitic fissure eruption. *Born:
Kristin Scott Thomas Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas (born 24 May 1960) is a British actress who also holds French citizenship. A five-time British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Award and Laurence Olivier Award, Olivier Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best ...
, English actress; in
Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...
, Cornwall


May 25, 1960 (Wednesday)

*Fifteen days of voting, for a 137-member Chamber of Deputies, concluded in the Belgian Congo, as the nation prepared for independence. Patrice Lumumba's National Congolese Movement won a plurality of seats, with 36. *At 0420 Beijing time, the Chinese Mountaineering Team successfully reached the summit Mount Everest from the north side. *Four new earthquakes struck Chile, killing an additional 5,000 people.


May 26 Events Pre-1600 * 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe. * 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire take ...
, 1960 (Thursday)

*At the United Nations in New York,
U.S. Ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the President of the United States, president to serve as the country's diplomat, diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as Ambassador-at-large, ...
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...
displayed a hand-carved replica of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented by the Soviets as a gift to the American ambassador in Moscow, and the listening device that had been discovered inside "right under the beak of the eagle".


May 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens. At least 600 Jews are killed. * 1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death. * 1153 &ndash ...
, 1960 (Friday)

*In Turkey, the army staged a coup d'état, led by General
Cemal Gürsel Cemal Gürsel (; 13 October 1895 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish army general who became the List of Presidents of Turkey, fourth President of Turkey after a coup. Early life He was born in the city of Erzurum as the son of an Ottoman A ...
, and arrested President
Celal Bayar Celal is both a masculine Turkish given name and a surname. It is the Turkish form of the Arabic word Jalal (جلال), which means "majesty". Notable people with the name include: Given name * Celal Al (born 1984), Turkish actor * Celal Esat Arsev ...
and Prime Minister
Adnan Menderes Adnan Menderes (; 1899 – 17 September 1961) was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He ...
. General Gürsel assumed both offices and replaced the legislature with 37 officers who formed the Milli Birlik Komitesi (Committee of National Unity). Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rustu Zorlu and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were later hanged, while Bayar was released after three years imprisonment. *King Mohammed V of Morocco dismissed Prime Minister Abdallah Ibrahim and Ibrahim's ministers, then took on the additional job of
Prime Minister of Morocco The prime minister of Morocco (officially Head of Government, ar, رئيس حكومة المملكة المغربية, rayiys hukumat almamlakat almaghribia) is the head of government of the Kingdom of Morocco. The prime minister is chosen by t ...
. *Dayton J. Lalonde completed a solo voyage from Los Angeles to
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 ...
after having been at sea on his sailboat, the ''Craig''. *Ireland's Grand Canal, connecting Dublin to Limerick, was closed after 156 years.


May 28, 1960 (Saturday)

*The
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
'' Greenwillow'' closed at the
Alvin Theater The Neil Simon Theatre, originally the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 250 West 52nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for ...
in New York City after only 95 performances. *The American Society for Cell Biology was organized. *Died: Ramón Gay, 42, Mexican film actor


May 29, 1960 (Sunday)

*
Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
, formerly the President of South Korea, departed that nation for exile in Honolulu, where he would die five years later. *The
Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
was won by
Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...
. *The interrogation of
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''
May 30 Events Pre-1600 * 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...
, 1960 (Monday)

* Jim Rathmann won the
1960 Indianapolis 500 The 44th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Monday, May 30, 1960. The event was part of the 1960 USAC National Championship Trail and was also race 3 of 10 in the 1960 World Cha ...
. Prior to the race, temporary seating collapsed, killing two people and injuring 70. *Died:
Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...
, 70, Russian author known for his novel ''
Doctor Zhivago ''Doctor Zhivago'' is the title of a novel by Boris Pasternak and its various adaptations. Description The story, in all of its forms, describes the life of the fictional Russian physician and poet Yuri Zhivago and deals with love and loss during ...
''


May 31, 1960 (Tuesday)

* Jane Goodall began her study of chimpanzees in the wild, arriving at Lolui Island in Kenya after her original plans, to go to the Gombe Reserve, were thwarted by a political dispute. *The President's Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health in the U.S. reported that 25% of Americans had suffered from mental illness at some point in their lives.Hutchinson Encyclopedia
/ref> *The Malayan Banking Berhad was incorporated. *Born: Hervé Gaymard, French MP and former Minister of Agriculture and Finance Minister; in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie département *Died: Walther Funk, 70, Reich Minister of Economics for Nazi Germany and President of the Reichsbank during World War II


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 ...
*1960-05 *1960-05