October 1960

[October 1], 1960 (Saturday)

• Nigeria, formerly a British African colony, became an independent nation of 35,000,000 people, with the new flag hoisted in Lagos at Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became the first Prime Minister, and Nnamdi Azikiwe the Governor General, of the Federation of Nigeria. In 1963, Nigeria became a republic, with Nnamdi Azikwe as its first President.
• The Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, with Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Robert Goulet, opened at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto, where it was given a test run and found to be too long, running well past midnight. After several numbers were cut, Camelot made its Broadway debut on December 3.
• Argentina launched its third television network, El Trece, as Canal 13 began broadcasting.

  [October 2], 1960 (Sunday)

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the antibiotic-resistant form of bacteria known as MRSA, was first isolated. Dr. M. Patricia Jevons, of the Staphylococcus Reference Laboratory in Colindale, London, found the resistant form in six of 5,440 strains supplied from hospitals in southeastern England. On October 2, "Patient A" had an infection following a nephrectomy, and on the same ward, "Nurse B" had an infected skin lesion. Her findings were published in the British Medical Journal as correspondence on January 14, 1961.
• The first of a series of five bombings by the "Sunday Bomber" took place in Times Square, New York City. Seven people were injured.
• Died: Claro M. Recto, 70, Filipino statesman; of a heart attack

  [October 3], 1960 (Monday)

• Jânio Quadros was elected President of Brazil for a five-year term, defeating General Henrique Teixeira Lott and Adhemar de Barros.
• The Andy Griffith Show was televised for the first time, making its American debut on the CBS television network in the U.S. at in the first of 249 episodes.
• Eighteen days of centrifuge training program began for the Mercury astronauts at the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory, in preparation. This was considered the final major centrifuge training preparation for the first attempt to launch an American astronaut into space, Mercury 3.
• Born: Michel Godard, French jazz musician; in Héricourt

  [October 4], 1960 (Tuesday)

• The crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 killed 62 of the 72 people on board, crashing moments after a takeoff from Boston when a bird strike stopped three of its four engines. The Lockheed Electra turboprop encountered a flock of starlings as it departed for Philadelphia as part of a multi-stop flight with a final scheduled destination of Atlanta. The plane plunged into Winthrop Bay and then sank. FAA investigators theorized in April 1962 that the unique sound of the Electra's engines was similar to that made by crickets, which starlings sought for food.
• Courier 1B, the world's first "active repeater" communications satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral. However, it failed after 17 days.
• In Kingsport, Tennessee, an explosion at the aniline plant at Eastman Chemical Company killed fifteen employees and injured more than 200.

  [October 5], 1960 (Wednesday)

• In a referendum in South Africa, white South Africans voted to make the country a republic. The final result was 849,958 yes and 775,878 no, and Governor-General C. R. Swart would become the nation's first President on May 31, 1961.
• Born:
• *Daniel Baldwin, American actor and the second oldest of the four Baldwin brothers; in Massapequa, New York
• *Careca, Brazilian footballer; as Antônio de Oliveira Filho in Araraquara

  [October 6], 1960 (Thursday)

• James Tidwell was admitted to the Cincinnati General Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, for treatment of cancer, and became the first of 88 unwitting victims of an experiment by the University of Cincinnati and the Atomic Support Agency of the United States Department of Defense. On October 28, he would be subjected to his first of many doses of ionizing radiation over his entire body, starting at 100 rads, and increasing gradually to 250 rads, and on November 7, doses of 300 rads to his brain. He would die on November 29, 1960, 32 days after treatment began, the first fatality of the program, which would continue until 1971. The existence of the experiments would not be revealed to the public until 1994.
• Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas in the title role, premiered at the DeMille Theatre in New York City before being released nationwide the next day. The film would become the highest money earner of the year.
• Died:
• *Caroline Grills, 72, Australian serial killer nicknamed "Auntie Thallie" because she was suspected of ten murders by thallium poisoning between 1947 and 1952; of peritonitis
• *Joseph N. Welch, 69, American lawyer who opposed Joe McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy Hearings

  [October 7], 1960 (Friday)

• A Cuban Air Force fighter plane "buzzed" the USS Balao, a U.S. Navy submarine, in international waters. For 37 minutes, the Cuban "Sea Fury" fighter made low passes over the Balao. The U.S. State Department protested the next day.
• The Central Intelligence Agency prepared a box of poison cigars as one of several plans to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The cigars were delivered to a contact in Cuba on February 13, 1961, but were never used.
• U.S. presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy had their second debate, which took place in Washington.
• Typhoon Kit killed 51 people in the Philippines. Typhoon Lola struck Luzon six days later, killing 26 more.
• The United Nations added its 99th member with the admission of newly independent Nigeria.
• The television show Route 66 began a four-year run on American television.

  [October 8], 1960 (Saturday)

• The United Nations General Assembly voted 42–34 against admitting the People's Republic of China as a member, Red China's tenth straight rejection, but its most favorable vote to that time. China would finally be admitted in 1971.
• Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees became the first player to hit a grand slam in a World Series, in a 10–0 win in Game 3 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• The Queen Fabiola Mountains, an Antarctic mountain group in length, were discovered, as part of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition.

  [October 9], 1960 (Sunday)

• In the United States, the first National Historic Landmarks were created by the National Park Service. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton announced 92 properties as national landmarks. The first, the Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa, had actually been given the designation more than three months earlier, on June 30.
• Born: Madeleine Blaustein, transgender voice actress and comic writer known for her dubbing work on Meowth in the Pokémon series for its first eight seasons ; in Long Island, New York
• Died:
• *Howard Glenn, 26, American pro football player for the New York Titans; after breaking his neck during a game against the Houston Oilers.
• *Khalifa bin Harub of Zanzibar, 81, Sultan of Zanzibar since 1911. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Abdullah bin Khalifa.

  [October 10], 1960 (Monday)

• The first Soviet Molniya rocket, bearing the first Earth probe of the planet Mars, was launched. However, control was lost five minutes into the flight. Another probe, launched four days later, failed as well.
• Comedians George Carlin, 23, and Jack Burns, 27, made their national television debut, appearing as the team Burns and Carlin, on The Tonight Show.

  [October 11], 1960 (Tuesday)

• The Bugs Bunny Show debuted as a primetime half-hour program on ABC, featuring three theatrical Looney Tunes cartoons with new linking sequences produced by the Warner Bros. Cartoons staff. The show would run for nearly 40 years, ending on September 2, 2000.
• Senator Thomas J. Dodd called on Dr. Linus Pauling to name the scientists who helped him circulate a petition calling for a ban on nuclear weapons. Pauling declined to do so.
• At a U.N. meeting, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev warned that his country was manufacturing rockets on a large scale for potential use against the U.S.

  [October 12], 1960 (Wednesday)

• Inejiro Asanuma, a 61-year-old Japanese politician and leader of the Japan Socialist Party, was assassinated by 17-year-old Otoya Yamaguchi, who stabbed the leader repeatedly with a wakizashi, a footlong sword.
• In a protest that would soon become famous, Baltimore housewife Madalyn Murray withdrew her 14-year-old son, William J. Murray, from Woodbourne Junior High School rather than continue participation in a daily Bible reading. Since 1905, the city school district had required Bible reading or prayer to open each school day. Mrs. Murray, later Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founded the American Atheists and continued challenging the relation of church and state. William would convert to Christianity in 1980.
• In a famous protest, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev removed his right shoe during a debate at the U.N. General Assembly, and pounded it on the table during a discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe. Khrushchev was angered by a remark by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong.
• A bomb explosion in Times Square subway station, New York City, injured 33 people. It was the third such bombing attack in eleven days.
• Born: Alexei Kudrin, Finance Minister of Russia from 2000 to 2011; in Dobele, Latvian SSR

  [October 13], 1960 (Thursday)

• The third of the Kennedy-Nixon debates took place with the candidates separated by several thousand miles. Kennedy and Nixon were shown on television in a split screen. In order to avoid perspiring, Nixon arranged for air conditioning in the Hollywood studio.
• Three black mice were launched in an American rocket to an altitude of, and recovered alive when the nose cone was recovered, becoming the first living creatures to survive a trip of that distance into outer space.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1960 World Series in Game 7, on a home run hit by Bill Mazeroski for a 10–9 victory over the New York Yankees. It was the first time in the history of the Series that a homer had won the championship.
• Died: Anthony Zarba, of Somerville, Massachusetts, became the first American to be executed in Cuba. Zarba and seven Cubans were shot by a firing squad in Santiago de Cuba after being convicted of an attempt to overthrow the Castro regime. Two other American members of the 27-man mercenary force, Allan D. Thompson, 36, of Queen City, Texas, and Robert O. Fuller, 25, of Miami, were shot on October 16.