The following events occurred in June 1960:
June 1, 1960 (Wednesday) The U.S. state of Texas began the "Little School" program, pioneered by Felix Tijerina, in 614 schools statewide. The program, designed to teach Spanish-speaking preschoolers 400 essential English words for a head start in the first grade, enrolled 15,805 children at its start. Television was introduced to New Zealand, as broadcasts started in Auckland on AKTV, Channel 2, at and continued until . The first program was an episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood.New Zealand TV database In Laredo, Texas, Charles Manson was arrested on charges of violating the Mann Act and his parole terms. He would remain in prison until 1967 and go on to infamy as leader of a cult of serial killers. In a record that still stands, a roosterfish was caught by fisherman Abe Sackheim at La Paz, Baja California Sur. Trans-Canada Air Lines began transatlantic jet service, with a Douglas DC-8 aircraft flying a route from Montreal to London. In St. Louis, Chuck Berry was acquitted by a jury of charges of violating the Mann Act. Died: Lester Patrick, 78, who, as first coach of the NHL's New York Rangers, popularized ice hockey in the United States.
June 2, 1960 (Thursday) For the first time since 1919, New York's 22 Broadway theaters were closed, and scheduled performances were cancelled. The "theater blackout" was occasioned by a dispute between the Actors Equity Association and the League of New York Theaters but was resolved after eleven days. At a concert at the civic hall in Neston, Cheshire, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe and Tommy Moore performed for the first time under the name The Beatles. In considering possible meteoroid damage to the Mercury spacecraft in orbit, the Space Task Group concluded that damage likelihood was small even during periods of meteor showers. However, it was recommended that Mercury missions not be scheduled during forecasted shower periods. Born: Tony Hadley, English singer (Spandau Ballet); in Islington, London Kyle Petty, NASCAR driver; in Randleman, North Carolina
June 3, 1960 (Friday)
The Japanese electronics company Sega was established as Nihon Goraku Bussan by American businessmen Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart. Originally a maker coin-operated machines, the company would become famous for releasing the first Sonic the Hedgehog game in 1991. Sonic would later become a multi-billion dollar franchise for the Sega company. Argentina demanded that Israel return Adolf Eichmann, and then asked for reparations for Eichmann's seizure by Mossad agents in Buenos Aires. On August 2, the dispute was resolved by Israel keeping Eichmann, but acknowledging that Argentina's fundamental rights had been infringed upon. Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker arrived in Washington, D.C., for a state visit and private talks with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Aerospace Corporation, a non-profit company, was incorporated in California.Davis Dyer, TRW: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900 (Harvard Business School Press, 1998), p231 Born: Don Brown, American novelist and attorney; in Plymouth, North Carolina Died: Ana Pauker, 67, former Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1947 to 1952) and the first woman to serve as a foreign minister of any nation
June 4, 1960 (Saturday) Articles 85 and 86 of the Constitution of France were amended to permit former territories to attain complete independence and to remain as members of the French Community. The decision did not save the Community, which had only six members—Gabon, Congo, Chad, the CAR, the Malagasy Republic and France—left by 1962.Victor T. Le Vine, Politics in Francophone Africa (Lynne Rienner 2004), p72 Born: Bradley Walsh, English comedian and actor; in Watford, Hertfordshire Died: Józef Haller, 87, Polish military leader
June 5, 1960 (Sunday)
The infamous unsolved case of the Lake Bodom murders took place at Bodom Lake in Espoo, Uusimaa, when Maila Björklund, Anja Mäki, and Seppo Boisman were stabbed to death while asleep inside their tent. Nils Gustafsson, the fourth member of the group, who had been seriously wounded, would be arrested nearly 44 years later,"Man remanded on suspicion of infamous unsolved triple murder from 1960" , Helsingen Sanomat, April 5, 2004 but would be acquitted."Court finds Gustafsson not guilty of 1960 Bodom Lake triple murder", Sanomat, October 7, 2005 Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first incumbent President of the United States to deliver the commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. Jimmy Carter (1977), Ronald Reagan (1981), George H. W. Bush (1992), George W. Bush (2001) and Barack Obama (2009) would later speak at the Notre Dame commencement."Notre Dame Commencement Speakers" Voters in a referendum in Cambodia approved making Prince Norodom Sihanouk as a non-royal Chief of State. The "official" result of the non-secret vote was 99.98% in favor of Sihanouk.Milton Osborne, Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness (University of Hawaii Press, 1994) p119 Died: Rudell Stitch, 27, American professional welterweight boxer, drowned while trying to rescue a friend who had fallen overboard in the Ohio River. Stitch had planned to sign a contract the next day for a July 24 rematch against world welterweight champion Luis Manuel Rodriguez.
June 6, 1960 (Monday) The first fixed-rate heart pacemaker, with five year mercuric-oxide battery and designed by a team headed by William Chardack, was implanted in a patient.Harris B. Shumacker, The Evolution of Cardiac Surgery (Indiana University Press, 1992), p186 The American Heart Association announced a "statistical association" between heavy cigarette smoking and coronary heart disease, with heavy smokers having 50 to 150 percent greater death rate from heart disease than non-smokers."Smoking is Linked to Heart Disease", New York Times, June 7, 1960, p36 The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons went into effect, protecting the rights of any "person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law".Edward Lawson, Encyclopedia of Human Rights (Taylor & Francis, 1996), pp1401–1402 Lightweight boxer Tommy Pacheco was fatally injured in a bout with Benny Gordon at St. Nicholas Arena in New York. Pacheco died three days later from a cerebral hemorrhage."Pacheco Dies of Fight Injuries", New York Times, June 10, 1960, p27 Barbra Streisand, an 18-year-old Brooklynite, began a professional singing career by winning $50 in a talent contest at "The Lion", a nightclub in Greenwich Village.Allison J. Waldman, The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook (Citadel Press, 2001), p25 At the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, won by Jack Brabham, a spectator was killed. Dan Gurney's car skidded off the track, fatally injuring 18-year old Piet Aalders of Haarlem."Brabham Scores in Grand Prix", The Age (Melbourne, Australia), June 8, 1960, p23 Born: Steve Vai, American guitarist; in Long Island, New York Died: Ernest L. Blumenschein, 86, American painter
June 7, 1960 (Tuesday) A BOMARC missile, and its nuclear warhead, caught fire at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. Although a liquid helium tank in the missile exploded, and the warhead was melted by the fire, there was no risk of a nuclear blast in the Philadelphia area. The accident did cause a spillage of plutonium, and the contaminated areas were subsequently encased under asphalt and concrete. Ronald Reagan resigned as President of the Screen Actors Guild.
June 8, 1960 (Wednesday)
Dr. Agostinho Neto, leader of the MPLA in Portuguese West Africa (now Angola), was arrested by colonial authorities at his clinic at Catete, and charged with subversion by colonial authorities. Dr. Neto would later be released, and, in 1975, would become the first President of Angola.M.S. Gill, Trials That Changed History: From Socrates to Saddam Hussein (Sarup & Sons, 2007), pp218–219; "Looking and Listening ...", The Crisis, (June–July 1962), pp335–336 In elections in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Premier Tommy Douglas's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation won a fifth consecutive majority. The election was significant as the first in which the province's Indians had voted.F. Laurie Barron, Walking in Indian Moccasins: The Native Policies of Tommy Douglas and the CCF (University of British Columbia Press, 1997), p135 Born: Mick Hucknall, English rock singer and songwriter (Simply Red); in Denton
June 9, 1960 (Thursday) Typhoon Mary made landfall near Hong Kong and then moved across to the Fukien Province of China, killing more than 1,600 people. The new American Football League signed a five-year television contract with the ABC television network for . The United States Weather Bureau estimated that it would require $50,000 during fiscal year 1961 in support of Project Mercury. Bureau responsibilities included weather forecasting for Mercury launching and recovery activities, climatological studies along the area of the Mercury ground track, and environmental studies of specified areas. Died: Tsutomu Sato, pioneering Japanese ophthalmologist who developed refractive surgery for vision improvement
June 10, 1960 (Friday) All 31 people aboard Aeroflot Flight 207 were killed in the Soviet Union on an Ilyushin 14P that had departed Rostov in the Russian SFSR with four scheduled stops and a final destination of Tbilisi in the Georgian SSR, after takeoff from Sochi (in Russia) on a short flight to Kutaisi (in Georgia), and impacted at Mount Rech in the Caucasus Mountains.Aviation Safety Network Later in the day, Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538 crashed into the ocean off of Mackay, Queensland, while making its approach from Brisbane, killing all 29 people.Aviation Safety Network The crash of the Fokker F-27 remains the worst loss of life in a civilian air crash in Australia; a 1943 crash of a B-17 bomber killed 40 people. In Tokyo, U.S. President Eisenhower's Press Secretary, James C. Hagerty, appointments secretary Thomas E. Stephens, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II had their car surrounded by an angry mob, and were trapped inside for an hour and a half before a U.S. Marine helicopter rescued them. Eisenhower set off on his tour of the Far East the next day and refused to postpone his trip to Japan."Ike Won't Call Off Trip After Hagerty Mobbing", Oakland Tribune, June 10, 1960, p1 June 10, 1960, had been the scheduled date for President Eisenhower to arrive in Moscow to begin a tour of the Soviet Union, but the plans were cancelled in May 1960 following the U-2 Incident.
June 11, 1960 (Saturday) An opera based on A Midsummer Night's Dream, created by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears from the play by William Shakespeare, had its first performance.John W. Freeman, The Metropolitan Opera: Stories of the Great Operas, Vol. 2 (W.W. Norton, 1984), p57 Thirty people at a wedding reception in Multan in Pakistan, were killed in the collapse of a roof."30 Killed at Party", The Independent (Long Beach, CA), June 13, 1960, p2 Born: Mehmet Oz, known professionally as Dr. Oz, American television presenter, physician, author, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, and former political candidate; in Cleveland, Ohio
June 12, 1960 (Sunday) Elections began in Lebanon, and for the first time, the secret ballot was made available to voters, a reform implemented after the 1957 elections were tainted with fraud."Lebanon: The First Secret Ballot", TIME Magazine, June 27, 1960; "Ex-president Is Winner in Lebanon", Spokane Spokesman-Review, June 13, 1960, p1 Voting for the 99 member parliament, which reserved 55 seats for Christians and 44 for Moslems, was conducted over four Sundays. Saeb Salam, leader of the Phalangists (Kataeb Party), became Prime Minister in August.
June 13, 1960 (Monday)