Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years: 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 - 1960 - 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
Events:
- January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
- January 11 - Chad declares its independence.
- June 20 - Independence of Mali and Senegal
- US Navy Bathyscaphe Trieste took Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh to the bottom of Challenger Deep
- November - John F. Kennedy defeats Richard M. Nixon in the U.S. presidential election
- December 31 - The farthing coin, used in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender.
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1960 in film
- The Apartment
- Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, John Gavin, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Tony Curtis.
- Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
- The Alamo starring John Wayne
- 1960 in literature
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Truth and Method by Hans-Georg Gadamer
- The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor
- 1960 in music
- 1960 in sports
- 1960 in television
- February 11 - Jack Paar walks off his TV show because his monologue had been edited the night before, in favor of a three minute news update. Parr walked out at the beginning of the show, announced that he was quiting, said "There's got to be a better way to make a living," and walked off the stage. After network executives personally appologized, Parr returned to the show a month later. His first show back started with the words "As I was saying before I was interrupted..."
- American Presidential Candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon debate live on television. The candidates behavior during the debate most likely altered the outcome of the election. In addition to being the first Presidential debates to be broadcast on television, the debates also marked the first time "split screen" images were used by a network.
- The Andy Griffith Show premieres
- Hanna Barbera's The Flintstones make their debut
- 90% of homes in the United States now own a television set, and over one hundred million television sets in use worldwide
Births:
- January 3 - Joan Chen, actress
- January 4 - Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.
- January 6 - Nigella Lawson, celebrity chef, writer
- January 6 - Howie Long, American football star
- February 11 - Richard A Mastracchio, astronaut.
- May 21 - Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer
- November 10 - Neil Gaiman, author
- November 25 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer and journalist (+1999)
Deaths:
- January 4 - Albert Camus Author Nobel Prize winner 1957