WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO DECEMBER 1960
Find out what all happened May to December 1960

In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. (26. September 1960)

The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill. (9. May 1960)

Robert McNamara is named president of Ford Motor Co., the first non-Ford to serve in that post. A month later, he resigned to join the administration of newly elected John F. Kennedy. (9. November 1960)

Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent from France. (15. August 1960)

Congo gains independence from Belgium. (30. June 1960)

In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight. (29. October 1960)

Niger gains independence from France. (3. August 1960)

Fidel Castro announces Cuba's support for the U.S.S.R. (26. September 1960)

Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2 – the Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. (19. August 1960)

Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union. (25. June 1960)

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4. (15. May 1960)

John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century to become the 35th president of the United States. (8. November 1960)

The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated. (25. November 1960)

Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France. (5. August 1960)

An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashes on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio. (29. October 1960)

The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth. (10. May 1960)

While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor. (13. December 1960)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States. (11. July 1960)

The Sudanese Republic is renamed Mali after the withdrawal of Senegal from the Mali Federation. (22. September 1960)

The Central African Republic declares independence from France. (13. August 1960)