October 1960


The following events occurred in October 1960:

[October 1], 1960 (Saturday)

[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)

[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)

[October 6], 1960 (Thursday)

[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)

[October 9], 1960 (Sunday)

[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)

[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.

[October 14], 1960 (Friday)

[October 15], 1960 (Saturday)

[October 16], 1960 (Sunday)

[October 17], 1960 (Monday)

[October 18], 1960 (Tuesday)

  • Two American tourists, missing since a visit to the Soviet Union in August, were released unharmed and sent to Austria. Mark Kaminsky, 32, and Harvey Bennett, 26, had secretly been jailed in Ukraine and tried by a military court for espionage. After pleading guilty, both men were deported.
  • The spacecraft checkout facility at Marshall Space Flight Center was transferred to Cape Canaveral.
  • Born: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian martial artist and action film star; in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe

[October 19], 1960 (Wednesday)

  • Casey Stengel, who had recently guided the New York Yankees to the American League pennant, was fired by the team because he was 70 years old. Stengel would soon be hired by the New York Mets as their first-ever manager.
  • In Atlanta, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested, along with 280 students, for taking part in a lunch counter sit-in at a Rich's department store. Charged with a parole violation from an earlier traffic violation, King was sentenced to four months of hard labor at the Reidsville State Prison, but released three days later after an appeal by Robert F. Kennedy, brother of Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, to Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver.
  • The United States announced an embargo on all American exports to Cuba, except for medicines and food. The embargo was tightened in 1962 and again in 1964 to restrict medical supplies and food.
  • Riots took place in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, following the arrest of three left-wing leaders.

[October 20], 1960 (Thursday)

  • The price of gold rose sharply on the market in London, jumping by $3.00 per ounce after rises of, 8, and cents in the first three days of the week. The price, which had been fixed by the United States at $35.20 per ounce since 1935, climbed past $40.00 on fears that the United States would devalue the dollar and that other nations' currencies would lose value as well. To avert a worldwide economic crisis, the United States Treasury increased its supply of gold to the Bank of England, and eight nations agreed not to buy gold for more than the fixed price.

[October 21], 1960 (Friday)

[October 22], 1960 (Saturday)

  • The passenger ship Alcoa Corsair collided with the freighter Lorenzo Marcello near Buras, Louisiana, killing nine people and injuring 25.
  • Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, the Republican vice presidential nominee, predicted that the Cold War could last until 1985.

[October 23], 1960 (Sunday)

[October 24], 1960 (Monday)

[October 25], 1960 (Tuesday)

  • The first fully electronic wristwatch, the Accutron 214, was unveiled by the Bulova Watch Company, along with the tiny watch battery to power it. Promoting the watch as the "First instrument of the space age you can wear and use!", Bulova added "It doesn't even tick ... it hums!" The watch itself went on sale in jewelry stores on November 24, 1960 with the least expensive, stainless steel model retailing for $175, equivalent to $1,480 in 2018 dollars.
  • Two petroleum barges collided with a pillar of the Severn Railway Bridge in heavy fog, collapsing the bridge and killing five people.
  • A gas explosion at the Metropolitan Department Store in Windsor, Ontario, killed 11 people and injured 25 others.
  • The Kuala Lumpur British Royal Air Force base was officially handed over to the Malayan Air Force.

[October 26], 1960 (Wednesday)

  • Baseball's American League voted to allow the Washington Senators to move to Minneapolis-St. Paul and to expand from eight teams to ten for the first time in the AL's 59-year history. A new team was placed in Washington, and another on the west coast.
  • José María Lemus, President of El Salvador, was overthrown in a bloodless coup, and replaced by a junta composed of three military men and three civilians. Col. Miguel Angel Castillo was joined by Col. César Yáñez Urias, Maj. Rubén Alonso Rosales, Dr. Fabio Castillo, and lawyers René Fortin Magaña and Ricardo Falla Cáceres.

[October 27], 1960 (Thursday)

  • Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her son William, first attracted national attention, as her protest against Bible reading in the Baltimore public schools continued. She told the Associated Press that she was "prepared to fight the case to the Supreme Court". In 1963, the United States Supreme Court would agree with her that religious services in public school were unconstitutional.
  • With less than two weeks left in the U.S. presidential campaign, eggs and tomatoes were thrown at Republican candidate Richard Nixon at various campaign stops in Michigan. At Muskegon, an egg struck Nixon's coat and hit a Secret Service man, while other items were thrown at Grand Rapids and at Jackson.
  • The Food for Peace program was created by unanimous vote of the U.N. General Assembly, providing for nations with food surpluses to supply "the largest practicable quantities" to nations in need, "at low cost, payable in local currencies".

[October 28], 1960 (Friday)

[October 29], 1960 (Saturday)

[October 30], 1960 (Sunday)

[October 31], 1960 (Monday)