The Year 1960
MAJOR EVENTS:

John F. Kennedy elected President in narrow contest over Richard Nixon

Soviet Union shoots down an American U-2 reconnaissance airplane over Soviet airspace and captures pilot Gary Powers, forcing U.S. to admit to aerial spying

Black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, NC to protest segregated seating at the establishment; the event inspires a wave of such sit-ins across the South

Belgian Congo wins independence

U.S., Britain, France and the Soviet Union conduct summit talks, but without results

U.S. relations with Cuba deteriorate as Castro regime seizes U.S. assets

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

U.S. launches:

Tiros I, first weather satellite

Echo I, first communications satellite (experimental)

Transit I-B, first navigational satellite

Corona, first spy satellite

Soviet Sputnik 5 launches two dogs into orbit and returns them safely to earth

U.S.-French team aboard the deep-sea vessel Trieste dives to a record 35,800 feet in the Pacific

SPORTS:

World Series: Pittsburgh over New York Yankees, 4-3

Olympics held in Rome

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

Movies: Psycho, The Entertainer, The Apartment

Songs: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Let's Do the Twist, Never on Sunday, Teen Angel, Stay, Are You Lonesome Tonight

TV Shows: Perry Mason, Bonanza, My Three Sons, The Untouchables, Andy Griffith Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Walt Disney Presents

Books: The Affair, C.P. Snow; The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Allan Sillitoe; To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee; Rabbit, Run, John Updike; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer

Pioneering rock-and-roll DJ Alan Freed arrested in national investigation of "payola" in radio industry

Presidential candidates Kennedy and Nixon engage in a televised debate that helps set the precedent for future TV political coverage

Clark Gable dies

EVERYDAY LIFE:

The number of television sets in the U.S. reaches 85 million, nearly one set for every two Americans

First "Teflon" non-sticking cookware goes on sale at Macy's in New York

First oral contraceptives made available to the public