Timeline of the 1960s
A summary of the main events of Intertel’s lifetime
Senator John F Kennedy announces he will run for President of the USA
2 January 1960
USA break off diplomatic relations with Cuba
3 January 1960
Construction of the Aswan Dam in Egypt begins
9 January 1960
British PM Harold Macmillan makes his first ‘Wind of Change’ speech
10 January 1960
The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security is signed by Japan and the USA
19 January 1960
Rebellion against French presence in Algeria begins
24 January 1960
Sit-ins begin in segregated lunch counters in the USA
1 February 1960
Harold Macmillan makes his ‘Wind of Change’ speech again, this time to the South African parliament
3 February 1960
France tests an atomic bomb in the Algerian desert
13 February 1960
The photo of Che Guevara, seen since on millions of t-shirts, is taken by Alberto Korda
5 March 1960
3,500 American soldiers to be sent to Vietnam
6 March 1960
The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s television station in Adelaide begins broadcasting
11 March 1960
A ceasefire is declared in Algeria
18 March 1960
Nikita Khrushchev and Charles de Gaulle meet for talks
23 March 1960
Census day in the US. Population is 179,323,175
1 April 1960
April Revolution against President Syngman Rhee of South Korea begins
19 April 1960
Brasilia replaces Rio de Janeiro as capital of Brazil
21 April 1960
The USSR shoots down a US spy plane and captures Gary Powers, its pilot
1 May 1960
The European Free Trade Association is founded
3 May 1960
The Civil Rights Act 1960 becomes law in the US
6 May 1960
The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s television station in Perth begins broadcasting
7 May 1960
The Kenya African National Union is founded
14 May 1960
Military coup in Turkey
27 May 1960
Television begins in New Zealand
1 June 1960
The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s television station in Hobart begins broadcasting
4 June 1960
Ghana becomes a republic
1 July 1960
Cuba nationalises all foreign-owned assets
6 August 1960
Cyprus becomes independent from the UK
16 August 1960
President Adolfo López Mateos of Mexico nationalises the electricity system
21 September 1960
Kennedy and Nixon hold a televised debate
26 September 1960
Jânio Quadros elected president of Brazil
3 October 1960
Whites in South Africa vote to become a republic
5 October 1960
Nigeria joins the United Nations
7 October 1960
‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ is not obscene: UK court
2 November 1960
John F Kennedy elected president of the USA
8 November 1960
Church of England archbishop Geoffrey Fisher holds talks with Pope John XXIII
2 December 1960
Charles de Gaulle visits Algeria; riots break out, killing 127
9 December 1960
Military coup in Ethiopia
13 December 1960
Counter-coup in Ethiopia restores Haile Selassie to the throne
17 December 1960
John F Kennedy becomes 35th president of the USA
20 January 1961
The US Peace Corps are established
1 March 1961
JFK proposes an anti-Communist ‘Alliance for Progress’ with Latin America
13 March 1961
“Two Faces of Japan” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
2 April 1961
Failed coup in Portugal
13 April 1961
Cuban exiles supported by the US invade the Bay of Pigs
17 April 1961
The Bay of Pigs invasion is defeated
20 April 1961
‘Freedom Riders’ begin to challenge illegal segregation on US interstate buses
4 May 1961
The FCC chairman, Newton Minow, calls US commercial TV ‘a vast wasteland’
9 May 1961
Military coup in South Korea
16 May 1961
Race riots in Alabama
21 May 1961
JFK promises to put a man on the moon, and bring him home safely, before the decade is out
25 May 1961
South Africa becomes a republic and leaves the Commonwealth
31 May 1961
Huge earthquake in Ethiopia
1 June 1961
“The Quiet War” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
4 June 1961
JFK and Khrushchev hold talks in Vienna
4 June 1961
“The Heartbeat of France” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
16 July 1961
The UK begins talks on membership of the EEC; it will be turned down
10 August 1961
East Germany begins building a wall between East and West Berlin
13 August 1961
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s affiliate TV station in Pembroke begins broadcasting
19 August 1961
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s affiliate TV station in Prince George begins broadcasting
20 August 1961
João Goulart becomes president of Brazil
25 August 1961
Eritrea begins armed struggle for independence from Ethiopia
1 September 1961
UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld killed in a plane crash
18 September 1961
“Dawn Over the Mountains” (NHK) airs on NET
25 September 1961
Military coup in Syria, ending the union with Egypt
28 September 1961
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s television station in Edmonton begins broadcasting
1 October 1961
Riots in Paris over a curfew on Algerians in the city
17 October 1961
Mauritania and Mongolia join the United Nations
27 October 1961
US and USSR tanks face each other across Checkpoint Charlie in divided Berlin
27 October 1961
18,000 US ‘military advisors’ sent to South Vietnam
18 November 1961
“Postscript to Empire” airs on NET
20 November 1961
U Thant becomes Secretary-General of the United Nations
30 November 1961
Telefís Éireann comes on air
31 December 1961
Pope John XXIII excommunicates Cuba’s Fidel Castro
3 January 1962
“Don’t Label Me” (CBC) airs on NET
6 January 1962
The USSR and Cuba sign a trade pact
9 January 1962
Albania switches allegiance from the USSR to the People’s Republic of China
13 January 1962
Cuba is suspended from the Organization of American States
22 January 1962
The USA begins an embargo on Cuba
3 February 1962
Military coup in Burma
2 March 1962
“Forty Million Shoes” (CBC) airs on NET
19 March 1962
Commonwealth Immigration Bill drastically reduces non-white immigration into the UK
18 April 1962
Educational Television Facilities Act begins federal funding for NET
1 May 1962
“Living with a Giant” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
14 May 1962
JFK makes a televised announcement in support of Civil Rights for African-Americans
11 June 1962
Algeria becomes independent of France
5 July 1962
The satellite ‘Telstar’ is launched
10 July 1962
Nelson Mandela arrested in South Africa
5 August 1962
“America Abroad” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
6 August 1962
Singapore referendum supports joining nearby states to form Malaysia
1 September 1962
The USSR and Cuba sign an arms deal
2 September 1962
James Meredith becomes the first African-American to register at the University of Mississippi. He needs a guard of Federal Marshals.
1 October 1962
“The Unfinished Revolution” airs on NET
1 October 1962
Uganda becomes independent from the UK
9 October 1962
Cuba: US spy planes discover USSR nuclear missiles on the island
14 October 1962
A border war begins between India and China
20 October 1962
Cuba: JFK makes a televised address revealing the presence of Soviet missiles on the island
22 October 1962
Cuba: the US Navy confronts a USSR cargo vessel sailing to Cuba. The Soviet ship changes course
24 October 1962
Cuba: the USSR announces it will remove the nuclear missiles from the island
28 October 1962
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s affiliate TV station in Terrace begins broadcasting
1 November 1962
The United Nations condemns South Africa’s apartheid policy
6 November 1962
Cuba: the USA ends the blockade of the island
20 November 1962
Ceasefire in the the China-India border war
21 November 1962
Senator Mike Mansfield returns to the US after visiting Vietnam. He is pessimistic about US involvement
2 December 1962
Tanganyika becomes independent from the UK
9 December 1962
The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s television station in Canberra begins broadcasting
18 December 1962
North Vietnam wins substantial victory in the Battle of Ap Bac
2 January 1963
Racist George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama
14 January 1963
“Tahiti–Pacific Cocktail” (ABC) airs on NET
21 January 1963
Harvey Ganntt joins Clemson University in South Carolina, the last college to officially desegregate
28 January 1963
Trading with and travelling to Cuba made illegal for US citizens
8 February 1963
Women win the right to vote in Iran
27 February 1963
Sit-ins begin in Birmingham, AL, against segregation
3 April 1963
“The Turkish Question” airs on NET
8 April 1963
Birmingham, AL, police respond to segregation protests with police dogs and fire hoses
2 May 1963
The Catholic government of South Vietnam begins persecuting Buddhists
8 May 1963
Kuwait joins the United Nations
14 May 1963
Government forces spray Buddhist protestors with chloroacetone, to the shock of the US government
3 June 1963
Pope John XXIII dies
3 June 1963
The Equal Pay Act becomes law in the United States
10 June 1963
The “red telephone” (actually a teleprinter) direct line from the White House to the Kremlin is authorised
20 June 1963
Giovanni Battista Montini becomes Pope Paul VI
21 June 1963
“Ich bin ein Berliner”
26 June 1963
“Twelve Flags South” (ABC) airs on NET
22 July 1963
Huge earthquake in Yugoslavia
26 July 1963
US/USSR/UK Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is signed
5 August 1963
James Meredith graduates from the University of Mississippi
18 August 1963
Buddhist sites across South Vietnam smashed by government forces, again to US government shock
21 August 1963
“I Have a Dream”
28 August 1963
The Federation of Malaysia comes into being
16 September 1963
Nigeria becomes a republic
2 October 1963
Military coup in Honduras
3 October 1963
Harold Macmillan resigns as prime minister of the UK
18 October 1963
Sir Alec Douglas-Home becomes prime minister of the UK
19 October 1963
US-backed coup in South Vietnam; president Ngô Đình Diệm murdered
2 November 1963
Coup leader Dương Văn Minh becomes head of state in South Vietnam
6 November 1963
Malcolm X makes his “Message to the Grass Roots” speech in Detroit, MI
10 November 1963
President John F Kennedy murdered in Dallas, TX. Lyndon B Johnson succeeds him
22 November 1963
Alleged assassin of JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, murdered on live television by Jack Ruby
24 November 1963
Zanzibar becomes independent from the UK
10 December 1963
Kenya becomes independent from the UK
12 December 1963
“Ten Million Strong” (ABC) airs on NET
16 December 1963
Civil war begins between Greek and Turkish Cypriots
21 December 1963
New US president Lyndon B Johnson announces his “War on Poverty”
8 January 1964
Nationalist coup in Zanzibar
12 January 1964
Amendment XXIV to the US constitution bans states from using poll taxes to discriminate against African-American voters
23 January 1964
Military coup in South Vietnam. Nguyễn Khánh becomes the new leader
30 January 1964
African-American and Puerto Rican children begin a schools boycott in New York over de facto segregation
3 February 1964
Cuba cuts supplies of clean water to the US naval base on the island at Guantanamo Bay
6 February 1964
Dương Văn Minh returns as leader of South Vietnam
8 February 1964
Military coup in Brazil
31 March 1964
Associated-Rediffusion becomes Rediffusion Television (trading as Rediffusion, London)
6 April 1964
“A King’s Revolution” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
6 April 1964
Failed military coup in Laos
19 April 1964
Tanzania is formed from the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar
26 April 1964
Viet Cong sink the USNS Card in Saigon harbour
2 May 1964
“Algeria: What Price Freedom?” (CBC) airs on NET
4 May 1964
12 men publicly burn their draft cards in New York, the first known such protest against the Vietnam War
12 May 1964
Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India since independence, dies aged 74
27 May 1964
Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa
12 June 1964
“Room Down Under” airs on NET
15 June 1964
Civil Rights Act officially abolishes segregation in the US
2 July 1964
“The New Italian” airs on NET
6 July 1964
Nguyễn Khánh returns as leader of South Vietnam
16 July 1964
Race riots in Harlem, New York
18 July 1964
Race riots in Singapore
21 July 1964
Total number of US military forces in South Vietnam is 21,000
27 July 1964
Congress expands the Vietnam War into North Vietnam
7 August 1964
“Africa: The Hidden Frontiers” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
24 August 1964
Malta becomes independent from the UK
21 September 1964
War of independence against Portugal begins in Mozambique
25 September 1964
Race riots in Philadelphia, PA
28 September 1964
Bullet trains begin operation in Japan, from Tokyo to Osaka
1 October 1964
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s television station in Newfoundland begins broadcasting
1 October 1964
Opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics
10 October 1964
Martin Luther King awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
14 October 1964
Labour Party wins UK general election; Harold Wilson becomes prime minister
15 October 1964
Party coup in the Kremlin deposes Nikita Khrushchev; Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader
15 October 1964
People’s Republic of China detonates a nuclear bomb, becoming the 5th acknowledged nuclear power in the world
16 October 1964
“Crisis in Canada” airs on NET
18 October 1964
Zambia becomes independent from the UK
24 October 1964
Phan Khắc Sửu becomes head of state in South Vietnam
26 October 1964
Lyndon B Johnson heavily defeats Barry Goldwater in the US presidential election
3 November 1964
Military coup in Bolivia
3 November 1964
“Stronger Since the War” (ABC) airs on NET
18 November 1964
“America: The Dollar Poor” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
23 December 1964
LBJ announces his “Great Society” plans
4 January 1965
“America: the Edge of Abundance” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
20 January 1965
“Three Men” (CBC) airs on NET
17 February 1965
The Gambia becomes independent from the UK
18 February 1965
Malcolm X murdered in New York
21 February 1965
US begins carpet bombing of North Vietnam
2 March 1965
“Early Bird” satellite is launched
6 April 1965
Mass anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Washington DC
17 April 1965
“Every 10th Man: A Study of Homosexuality” (CBC) airs on NET
21 April 1965
“South America: Votes or Violence” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
21 April 1965
Civil war begins in the Dominican Republic
24 April 1965
US deploys troops to the Dominican Republic
28 April 1965
“To Live Till You Die” airs on NET
19 May 1965
Australian troops begin arriving in South Vietnam
2 June 1965
“This Question of Color” airs on NET
16 June 1965
Military coup in Algeria; Ahmed Ben Bella deposed
19 June 1965
“Children of Revolution” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
21 July 1965
The Maldives become independent from the UK
26 July 1965
Medicare and Medicaid created in the US
30 July 1965
Voting Rights Act prohibits prevention of African-Americans from voting
6 August 1965
Singapore expelled from the Federation of Malaysia
9 August 1965
“The Cathode Colours Them Human” (CBC) airs on NET
18 August 1965
Burning of US draft cards now carries a $1,000 penalty and up to 5 years in prison
31 August 1965
India and Pakistan go to war
2 September 1965
Fidel Castro allows Cubans to emigrate to the US
28 September 1965
First draft card burner arrested in New York
15 October 1965
“The House on the Beach” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
20 October 1965
Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the UK by white minority rulers of Rhodesia
11 November 1965
“The Union Man” (ABC) airs on NET
17 November 1965
Military coup in Congo-Kinshasa
24 November 1965
The Pentagon requests troop numbers in South Vietnam to be increased to 400,000
27 November 1965
Charles de Gaulle re-elected president of France
5 December 1965
The Race Relations Act becomes law in Great Britain
8 December 1965
“Men for Others” (CBC) airs on NET
15 December 1965
UK and US oil embargo against Rhodesia begins
17 December 1965
Military coup in the Central African Republic
1 January 1966
Military coup in Upper Volta
4 January 1966
Tashkent Declaration ends India/Pakistan war
10 January 1966
Lal Bahadur Shastri, prime minister of India, dies suddenly
11 January 1966
Robert C Weaver becomes Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the first African-American in the US cabinet
13 January 1966
Military coup in Nigeria
15 January 1966
Second military coup in Nigeria
17 January 1966
There are now 190,000 US troops in South Vietnam
18 January 1966
Food riots in Hungary
20 January 1966
Civil war in Chad
22 January 1966
Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister of India
24 January 1966
Harold Holt becomes prime minister of Australia, replacing Robert Menzies
26 January 1966
All UK trade with Rhodesia ends
31 January 1966
Military coup in Syria
24 February 1966
Military coup in Ghana
24 February 1966
UK government announces plans to decimalise their currency in 1971
1 March 1966
A Buddhist uprising begins in South Vietnam
10 March 1966
“Men in Black” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
23 March 1966
General election in the UK; Harold Wilson’s Labour party returned with a majority increased from 2 to 96
31 March 1966
“The Difference Between Us” airs on NET
20 April 1966
First ever Vatican-USSR meeting as Andrei Gromyko visits Pope Paul VI
27 April 1966
There are now 250,000 US troops in South Vietnam
29 April 1966
The Cultural Revolution begins in the People’s Republic of China
16 May 1966
“Homosexuality in Men and Women” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
19 May 1966
Guyana becomes independent from the UK
26 May 1966
Charles de Gaulle begins a state visit to the USSR
20 June 1966
“Someone Must Govern Us” airs on NET
22 June 1966
Military coup in Argentina
28 June 1966
US bombing is extended to Hanoi, capital of North Vietnam
29 June 1966
Violent anti-Vietnam War demonstration in London
3 July 1966
Malawi becomes a republic
6 July 1966
Race riots in Cleveland, OH
18 July 1966
“The Culture Explosion” (CBC) airs on NET
20 July 1966
“One in Every Hundred” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
20 July 1966
Military coup in Nigeria
29 July 1966
With few colonies left, the UK Colonial Office is folded into the Commonwealth Relations Office
1 August 1966
Work begins on two skyscrapers in New York, to be known as the World Trade Center
5 August 1966
Indonesia and Malaysia announce a formal end to their long-running war
11 August 1966
Huge earthquake in eastern Turkey
19 August 1966
War between South African troops and South West African rebels breaks out
26 August 1966
Prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd of South Africa is murdered
6 September 1966
Botswana becomes independent from the UK
30 September 1966
Lesotho becomes independent from the UK
4 October 1966
Edward Brooke becomes the first African-American to be elected to the US Senate since the civil war
8 November 1966
Barbados becomes independent from the UK
30 November 1966
“The Lion and the Eagle” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
5 December 1966
“After the Miracle” (ABC) airs on NET
20 February 1967
Civil war begins in Cambodia
11 March 1967
“Sense of Captivity” (CBC) airs on NET
13 March 1967
Military coup in Sierra Leone
21 March 1967
“The Mounting Millions” airs on NET
10 April 1967
Massive anti-war demonstrations across the US
15 April 1967
Military coup in Greece
21 April 1967
“Germany and Its Shadow” airs on NET
24 April 1967
Boxer Mohammad Ali is drafted. He refuses to go to Vietnam
28 April 1967
The UK and Ireland apply to join the European Economic Community
11 May 1967
Biafra, a province of Nigeria, declares independence
30 May 1967
Stockport Air Crash kills 72 Arrowsmith Holidays customers and British Midland crew
4 June 1967
The Six-Day War begins in the middle east
5 June 1967
The United Nations mediates a ceasefire to end the Six-Day War in the middle east
10 June 1967
The USSR breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel
10 June 1967
The Supreme Court makes interracial marriage legal throughout the USA
12 June 1967
The Independent Television Authority announces that Rediffusion must merge operations with ABC to keep the London weekdays ITV contract
12 June 1967
“The Banquet of Life” airs on CBC Television
18 June 1967
“Our World”, the largest-ever international television exchange, is broadcast
25 June 1967
The various organisations that make up the EEC merge to form the European Communities (EC)
1 July 1967
Colour television is introduced in the UK on BBC-2
1 July 1967
Race riots in Newark, NJ
12 July 1967
Race riots in Detroit
23 July 1967
“Thailand” (NDR) airs on NET
24 July 1967
The Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalises male homosexuality in England and Wales
27 July 1967
Race riots in Milwaukee, WI
30 July 1967
Race riots in Washington DC
1 August 1967
Thurgood Marshall becomes a US Supreme Court justice, the first African-American to hold such a position
30 August 1967
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes president of South Vietnam
3 September 1967
“Spring in Ethiopia” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
4 September 1967
“Farewell to Arabia” is pre-empted on NET and does not air
18 September 1967
Che Guevara is killed in Bolivia
9 October 1967
Massive anti-war demonstrations in the US
21 October 1967
Charles de Gaulle vetoes UK application to join the European Communities
27 October 1967
“Report from Cuba” (KQED) airs on NET
30 October 1967
“Russia: The Unfinished Revolution” (WGBH) airs on NET
6 November 1967
The Public Broadcasting Act is signed by LBJ, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
7 November 1967
LBJ states that the US is winning the Vietnam War: “We are inflicting greater losses than we’re taking… We are making progress.”
17 November 1967
The US population is estimated to have reached 200,000,000
20 November 1967
US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara resigns
29 November 1967
The first heart transplant is carried out; patient Louis Washkansky lives for 18 days
3 December 1967
“The Way it is” airs on NET
4 December 1967
Nicolae Ceaușescu becomes leader of Romania
9 December 1967
Constantine II of Greece flees the country
13 December 1967
Harold Holt, prime minister of Australia, disappears whilst swimming in the sea. His body is never found
17 December 1967
“April is the End of Summer” (ABC) airs on NET
18 December 1967
Alexander Dubček becomes leader of Czechoslovakia
5 January 1968
John Gorton becomes prime minister of Australia
10 January 1968
Huge earthquake in Sicily
15 January 1968
“Inside the Foreign Office” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
29 January 1968
The Tet Offensive, an invasion of South Vietnam by the North, begins
30 January 1968
‘Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood’ debuts on NET
19 February 1968
Student riots in Poland
8 March 1968
Mauritius becomes independent of the UK
12 March 1968
My Lai massacre: mass killing of Vietnamese civilians by US troops
16 March 1968
“The Other Side of Paradise” (ABC) airs on NET
25 March 1968
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is incorporated; it will be the major funder of NET
27 March 1968
President Lyndon B Johnson will not be a candidate in November
31 March 1968
Dr Martin Luther King Jr murdered in Memphis, TN
4 April 1968
Race riots across the US
4 April 1968
Pierre Trudeau becomes prime minister of Canada
20 April 1968
Student riots in Paris
13 May 1968
Robert F Kennedy murdered in Los Angeles, CA
5 June 1968
“The Volunteers” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
24 June 1968
Rediffusion Television’s last day as an ITV contractor
29 July 1968
“Audubon” (CBC) airs on NET
23 December 1968
“American Samoa – Paradise Lost?” airs on NET
3 February 1969
“The Sixth Paul” (Rediffusion) airs on NET
10 February 1969
“A Matter of Time” (CBC, 1967) airs on NET
4 August 1969
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