Events and Highlights from the Year 1960

President: Dwight D. Eisenhower - Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
US Population: 180,671,158    World Population: 3.039 billion

January 2, 1960  John Fitzgerald Kennedy announces he is running for President of the United States.

February 18, 1960 The 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, Idaho U.S.A.

February 29, 1960 Hugh Heffner opened the first Playboy Club in Chicago.

April 1, 1960 the world's first meteorological satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral on  into a polar orbit. It was named TIROS.  Weather forecasting took a giant leap forward as a result.

March 6, 1960 the United States announces that 3,500 American troops are going to be sent to Vietnam.

May 1, Francis Gary Powers' plane, a top secret and highly sophisticated spy plane called a U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union.

May 9, 1960 The Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill.

June 14, 1960 The North Penn High School class of 1960 graduates!!

August 25, 1960 The 1960 Olympic Games open in Rome.
Nations: 83  Athletes: 5,348 athletes (610 women, 4,738 men)

November 8, 1960 Kennedy is elected President defeating then Vice President Richard M. Nixon by a narrow margin of only 113,000 votes.

The median salary is $4,743. and a loaf of bread costs 19 cents. A pound of butter goes for 81 cents, a dozen eggs, 57 cents and a quart of milk costs 27 cents. Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.04. Minimum wage $1.00.  Regular Grade Gasoline: $.299/Gallon

The first working laser is built by T. H. Maiman.

Vaccines are introduced for measles and rubella

OPEC is set up to control world oil prices

1960 marked the end of first generation of computers (vacuum tube driven) gave way to the second generation using transistors.

The first standardized business computer programming language, COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was created. For the next 20 years there were more programs written in COBOL than any other single language.

Miss America: Lynda Lee Mead (MS)

Popular Television Shows included "The Andy Griffith Show", "My Three Sons", "The Flintstones", "Bonanza", "The Ed Sullivan Show", "Gunsmoke", "The Tonight Show", "The Twilight Zone", "Lawrence Welk Show" and "Walt Disney Presents"

Top movies of 1960 are 'Exodus' starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint, 'Psycho' starring Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles, and 'The Apartment' featuring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Released in 1959, the blockbuster 'Ben Hur', with Charlton Heston captures 10 Oscars in 1960.

The popular singers of the day include Ferlin Husky, Marty Robbins, Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley and Chubby Checker.

The hit parade included 'Cathy's Clown', 'The Twist', 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini', 'Teen Angel' and 'Wings of a Dove'.

Mattel's "Barbie" doll, first introduced in 1959, hits her stride in 1960.