1960 highlights from Pocantico Hills School

by Olivia and Desiree

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

Bye Bye Birdy, Camelot, were two major plays on Broadway during 1960. Grain worth $6 billion piles up in U.S. government-owned storage facilities, congressmen file vigorous complaints about storage costs, but the reserves will drop sharply in the decade ahead as U.S. grain relieves world hunger. The Twist is the new dance craze.

U.S. blacks begin "sit-in" on February 1 at Greensboro, N.C., at lunch counters. The city desegregates eating places July 25. This was a major conflict during the 1960s.
Fidel Castro signs an agreement at with the first Soviet deputy premier Anastas I in Havana on February 13. The Soviet bring 5 million tons of Cuban sugar and provided $100 million in Soviet credit. Khrushchev says that Soviet rockets will be used to protect Cuba from the U.S. military intervention.
On May 1 the Soviet Union shoot down U.S. U-2 spy plane flown by Gary Powers.
The 23rd Amendment is proposed on June 16, it grants the right to vote to the citizens of the District of Columbia.
Enovid 10 is introduced in August by G. D. Searle, it was the first commercially available oral contraceptive (birth control pill).
Echo I, launched by the United States August 12, is the world’s first communications satellite.
In September, Cassius Clay, Jr., won the Olympic Gold Medal for Boxing at the Summer Olympics in Rome.
Wilma Rudolph won Olympic Gold in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, and she was also the last leg (anchor) on the winning relay team. Rudolph became the 1st American woman to win three medals in track.
On September 26, 75 million Americans watch the Presidential debate on TV. Senator Kennedy has an edge that enables him to defeat Vice President Nixon.
The Andy Griffith Show debuts on October 3.
On October 13, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the New York Yankees 4 games to 3 in the World Series.
John F. Kennedy, becomes the 43 President, by beating Vice President Nixon. He was the first Roman Catholic president to be elected. Nixon gets 219 to Kennedy’s 303 electoral votes in November 8.
South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem regains power November 12. Dissident groups collectively called the Vietcong (Vietnamese Communists), meet secretly December 20 and organize the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam.
Domino's Pizza opens at Detroit.
Convicted kidnapper-rapist Caryl Chessman dies in the gas chamber at San Quentin May 2 at the age 38 after nine stays of execution since he was sent to Death Row July 3, 1948.
Floyd Patterson regains the world heavyweight boxing championship on June 20 by knocking out Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson in the fifth round.
Popular songs "The Twist" by Hank Ballard is recorded by Ernest "Chubby Checker" Evans, and launches an international dance craze.
Around 2,000 electronic computers are delivered to U.S. business offices, universities, laboratories, and other buyers. The figure will more than double in the next 4 years and debate will rage as to whether computers wipe out jobs or create new ones.
Polariod has a new high-speed film with an ASA rating of 3,000 - 10 times faster than the average speed of previous Polaroid films they ever had.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC-known as Snick), a group of young people working for civil rights, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina. It originally has blacks and whites as members.

33rd Annual Academy Awards:
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8
Best Picture: The Apartment
Emmy Awards:
Outstanding Comedy Series: Jack Benny Show
Outstanding Drama Series: Macbeth ( Hallmark Hall of Fame)
3rd Annual Grammy Awards:
Record of the Year: Percy Faith for Theme from A Summer Place
Album of the Year: Bob Newhart for Button Down Mind
Song of the Year: Ernest Gold - Composer for Theme from Exodus
Best New Artist: Bob Newhart

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1960's