Baby Boomers - What Happened in 1960?

If you are a baby boomer born in 1960, you will find this information extremely interesting. Hope you enjoy learning more about the year you were born! If you have a friend or a family member born in 1960, send them a link to this page. They will appreciate it!

Major Events

• Dwight Eisenhower is president and Richard Nixon is vice president of the United States
• John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson win the Presidency with one of the smallest margins in history (113,000 votes) out of 68.3 million
• Seventy million people watch the presidential debate between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon
• American Heart Association Links smoking to heart disease and death in middle aged men
• Black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, to protest segregated seating - event inspires a wave of sit-ins across the South
• The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
• OPEC ( Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ) is formed
• A U-2 reconnaissance plane belonging to the United States is shot down in the Soviet Union
• U.S., Britain, France, and the Soviet Union conduct summit talks but without results
• Nikita Khrushchev orders the construction of the Berlin Wall
• Adolf Eichmann, top Nazi murderer of Jews, captured by Israelis in Argentina
• Communist China and Soviet Union split in conflict over Communist ideology
• The Irish Republican Army (IRA) starts its fight against the British
• U.S. relations with Cuba deteriorate as Fidel Castro nationalizes American oil, sugar, and other U.S. interests in Cuba
• Belgian Congo wins independence

Business and Economy

• U.S. GDP (1998 dollars): $526.6 billion
• Federal spending: $92.19 billion
• Federal debt: $290.5 billion
• Consumer Price Index: 29.6
• Unemployment: 5.5%

Science and Technology

• The first working laser is built by T. H. Maiman
• NASA launches Tiros I, the first weather satellite
• Transit I-B, first navigational satellite, is launched
• Corona, first spy satellite, is launched
• The U.S. launches Echo I, the world's first communication 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
• First studies linking cigarette smoking with heart disease

Sports

• Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight
• Floyd Patterson defeats Ingemar Johansson to regain the heavyweight championship
• Pittsburgh Pirates defeats the New York Yankees to win the World Series (4-3)
• Boston defeats the St. Louis Hawks to win the NBA Championship (4-3)
• Philadelphia Eagles win the NFL championship
• Olympics held in Rome

Famous Baby Boomers Born in 1960

• Antonio Banderas
• Bono
• Cal Ripkin Jr.
• Daryl Hannah
• Hugh Grant
• Jean-Claude Van Damme
• Jeffrey Dahmer
• John F. Kennedy, Jr.
• Prince Andrew
• Sean Penn
• Timothy Hutton
• Tony Robbins
• Valerie Bertinelli

Arts and Entertainment

• Books: Advise and Consent, Hawaii, The Leopard, The Chapman Report, Ourselves To Know, 6 The Constant Image, The Lovely Ambition, The Listener, Trustee from the Toolroom, Sermons and Soda-Water
• Movies: Psycho, The Magnificent Seven, Ben-Hur, Can Can, Operation Petticoat, Only The Lonely, Apartment, The Sundowners, Sons and Lovers, 13 Ghosts, The Fall of The House of Usher, Time Machine
• Songs: Will You Love Me Tomorrow; Georgia On My Mind; Only The Lonely; Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go; Stay; Chain Gang; Save The Last Dance For Me; Shop Around; The Twist; Cathy's Clown
• Popular Musicians: Shirelles, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, Sam Cooke, Drifters, Miracles, Chubby Checker, Everly Brothers
• TV Shows: Flintstones, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun Will Travel, The Andy Griffith Show, The Real McCoys, Rawhide, Candid Camera, The Untouchables, The Price is Right, The Jack Benny Show
• The Beatles begin to make appearances outside of their native Liverpool
• John Coltrane forms a quartet and becomes the voice of jazz's New Wave movement
• Chubby Checker introduces The Twist at the Peppermint Lounge in New York
• Elvis Presley returns to the music scene after his discharge from the army
• Pioneering R&R DJ Alan Freed is arrested in national investigation of "payola" in radio industry

Everyday Life

• U.S. Population: 180,671,158
• Life expectancy: 69.7 years
• Average yearly income: $5,620
• Cost of a new home: $12,700
• Cost of a new car: $2,600
• Federal hourly minimum wage: $1.00
• Cost of a first-class stamp: $.04

Popular Culture

• First oral contraceptives made available to the public
• The Flintstones debut
• Sexual revolution of the 60's has begun
• Hugh Hefner opens the first of his Playboy clubs in Chicago
• Over one hundred million television sets in use worldwide
• A Japanese company introduces the first felt-tip pen
• Aluminum cans are used for the first time
• Thomas S. Monaghan buys a pizza parlor in Detroit and renames it Domino's
• Chevrolet introduces the Corvair
• Ford introduces the Falcon
• Mercury releases a new car called the Comet
• First Teflon non-sticking cookware goes on sale at Macy's in New York