April 1960

[April 1], 1960 (Friday)

• The United States launched the first weather satellite, the TIROS-1, from Cape Canaveral at EST. The name was an acronym for Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite. The same evening, satellite weather photos were introduced to the world, on television, for the first time. Taken from an altitude of, the pictures of cloud cover confirmed the spiral pattern of winds in a storm.
• The 1960 United States census began. Officially, there were 179,323,175 United States residents on that day.
• R Griggs & Co. began the production of Dr. Martens boots under licence in the UK. Known as style 1460, the original product is still in production today.
• The first McDonnell production Mercury spacecraft was delivered to NASA at Wallops Island for the beach-abort test.
• Died: Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, 64, the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia; in office

  [April 2], 1960 (Saturday)

• A treaty was signed by France and nationalists in Madagascar, assuring the independence of the Malagasy Republic, which followed in June of the same year.
• Yvon Chouinard and Tom Frost opened a new chapter in climbing history by ascending the vertical Kat Pinnacle at Yosemite National Park with a newly designed type of piton.
• Sikiru Kayode Adetona was crowned as Ogbagba Anikilaya II, the Awujale of Ijebuland. As of 2012, Adetona was the longest ruling of the traditional Nigeria monarchs.
• South African Police at Cape Town stopped several thousand black marchers as they approached the city from the direction of Nyanga.
• Born: Linford Christie, Jamaican-born British track athlete who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal and the 1993 world championships in the 100 meter dash; in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica

  [April 3], 1960 (Sunday)

• The Charismatic Movement, also referred to as the "Charismatic Renewal", began when Episcopal Priest Dennis Bennett told his congregation at St. Mark's in Van Nuys, California, that he had experienced Spirit baptism accompanied by speaking in tongues. The media soon covered the event as the intrusion of Pentecostalism into a main line church.
• Born: Marie Denise Pelletier, Canadian singer; in Montreal
• Died: Norodom Suramarit, 64, King of Cambodia since 1955. He had been preceded by, and was succeeded by, his son Norodom Sihanouk.

  [April 4], 1960 (Monday)

• Elections in Burma resulted in victory for U Nu, who began his third non-consecutive term as prime minister.
• Senegal signed a transfer of power agreement with France, leading up to the country's independence.
• At the 32nd Academy Awards ceremony, Ben-Hur won a record eleven Oscars, including Best Picture.
• Sweden's first three female priests were ordained.
• Born: Hugo Weaving, Nigerian-born Australian actor; in Ibadan

  [April 5], 1960 (Tuesday)

• Choosing between two U.S. Senators, voters in Wisconsin overwhelmingly favored John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts over Hubert Humphrey from neighboring Minnesota, by a margin of 478,118 to 372,034 in the first major primary for the Democratic nomination. Vice-President Nixon was unopposed for the Republican nomination.
• The name for Oakland, California's new pro football team was announced. The Oakland Señors were renamed the "Raiders" nine days later.
• The Space Task Group notified the Ames Research Center that preliminary planning for the modification of the Mercury spacecraft to accomplish controlled reentry had begun, and that preliminary specifications for a modified spacecraft, capable of carrying two astronauts rather than one, were to be ready by the end of the month. The program would be called the "Mercury Mark II project" and eventually Project Gemini.
• Died: Peter Llewelyn Davies, 63, whom J. M. Barrie, had identified as the inspiration for the name of Peter Pan, committed suicide.

  [April 6], 1960 (Wednesday)

• Alberto Lleras Camargo, the President of Colombia, addressed a joint session of Congress as part of a 13-day state visit to the United States. Lleras was given a ticker-tape parade in New York on April 11.
• The Short SC.1 VTOL aircraft made its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back.

  [April 7], 1960 (Thursday)

• Under the Unlawful Organisations Act No. 34, the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress parties were banned in South Africa. This resulted in the formation of "Umkonto we Sizwe", the guerrilla wing of the ANC, by Nelson Mandela and others.
• In an event described as "unique in world postal history", the governments of 70 nations simultaneously issued stamps to commemorate World Refugee Year.

  [April 8], 1960 (Friday)

• Project Ozma, under the direction of astronomer Frank Drake at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in Green Bank, West Virginia, commenced and was the first modern Search for extraterrestrial intelligence experiment. After detecting nothing from Tau Ceti, Drake steered the telescope toward Epsilon Eridani and picked up signals at precisely eight times per second. As rumors spread that the Project had picked up signs of intelligent life, Drake was forced to say that he had no comment. The source was later traced to an airplane.
• West Germany and the Netherlands signed a border agreement to restore land taken during the Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II. Germany agreed to pay DM 280,000,000 for the return of Elten, Selfkant, and Suderwick and as reparations.
• Construction of an altitude facility chamber to simulate space environment was completed in Hangar S at Cape Canaveral. The purpose of this facility was for spacecraft checkout and astronaut training. Acceptance tests for this installation were completed on July 11, 1960.

  [April 9], 1960 (Saturday)

• South Africa's Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was shot and seriously wounded by David Pratt, a white farmer, in Johannesburg. Verwoerd survived, but would be stabbed to death in 1966.
• The Boston Celtics won the NBA championship, beating the St. Louis Hawks 122–103. The Hawks had forced a seventh game two days earlier by beating Boston 105–102.

  [April 10], 1960 (Sunday)

• The last successful American U-2 overflight of the Soviet Union took place, as a pilot passed near the missile range at Tyuratam. The S-75 Dvina missile batteries that could have downed the plane had not been alerted of the intrusion in time, and several Soviet senior commanders were fired. On May 1, a U-2 plane flown by Francis Gary Powers would be struck down.

  [April 11], 1960 (Monday)

• A fisherman in Masan in South Korea, discovered the mutilated body of Kim Chu Yol, a high school student who had been killed during March protests against the fraudulent presidential election. A police tear gas shell was visible in Kim's eye socket, and the outrage against the government's brutality triggered a riot. The violence in Masan was then followed by rioting in other South Korean cities.
• For Your Eyes Only, Ian Fleming's eighth James Bond novel, was first published by Jonathan Cape.

  [April 12], 1960 (Tuesday)

• The International Court of Justice, more popularly known as the World Court, resolved a dispute between Portugal and India after more than four years, in Portugal's favor, ruling 11–4 that Portuguese officials could cross over India's territory to reach its colonies in Goa, Daman and Diu. The victory was short-lived, as India annexed all three territories the following year.
• Candlestick Park, described by one source as "the windiest, coldest, and the most hated baseball stadium in the history of the game", opened in San Francisco, and began a 40-season run as the home of the San Francisco Giants. U.S. Vice-President Richard Nixon threw out the first pitch.
• Eric Peugeot, the four-year-old grandson of French automotive tycoon Jean-Pierre Peugeot of Peugeot, was kidnapped from a playground at Saint-Cloud, near Paris. Eric was released three days later, in exchange for a ransom of $300,000.

  [April 13], 1960 (Wednesday)

• The United States launched Transit I-B, the first successful navigation satellite, at 7:03 EST from Cape Canaveral. The Transit technology was eventually superseded by Global Positioning System satellites, which were aided by Rudolf E. Kálmán's development, later in the year, of the Kalman filter.
• The UK government cancelled the Blue Streak missile.

  [April 14], 1960 (Thursday)

• East Germany's Communist SED completed "Socialist Spring in the Countryside" its collective farming project, to finish the creation of the Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft. The "socialist spring" had been the seizure by the East German government of privately owned farms and businesses, prompting thousands of business owners and farm owners to flee to the West.
• Bye Bye Birdie, the first Broadway musical to acknowledge rock 'n roll as part of its score, opened at the Martin Beck Theatre, and introduced such songs as Put On A Happy Face. With music and lyrics by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, the Tony Award winning musical featured Dick Van Dyke, Paul Lynde, Michael J. Pollard, Charles Nelson Reilly, Chita Rivera, Dick Gautier, and others.
• The first underwater launching of the Polaris missile took place. The unarmed weapon was fired from the ballistic submarine USS George Washington, off of the coast of California.
• The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 to 0, to win the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup, sweeping all the games to clinch the best-4-of-7 series.
• Sultan Alam Shah became the second Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Malaysian head of state.
• Motown Record Corporation was incorporated in Michigan.

  [April 15], 1960 (Friday)

• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was organized in Raleigh, North Carolina, by 300 students from 58 colleges, who assembled at the invitation of Ella Baker at Shaw University.
• Born: Philippe of Belgium, King of the Belgians since 2013; at Belvédère Castle in Laeken