1960s
1960
Utah Synthetic C alfalfa released.
January 1 Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from France
January 11 Chad declares independence from France
January 24 Algeria uprises against French president De Gaulle
January 30 Dutch communist trade union EVC'58 disbands
February 12 Chinese army kills 12 Indian soldiers
February 13 France performs 1st nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds Algeria
February 16 U.S. nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip
February 29 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago
February 29 John F. Kennedy makes missile gap the presidential campaign issue
March 15 Key Largo Coral Reef Preserve established, 1st underwater park
March 17 Eisenhower forms anti-Castro-exile army under the CIA
March 24 U.S. appeals court rules novel, "Lady Chatterly's Lover," not obscene
April 2 Cuba buys oil from U.S.S.R. and soon becomes a pro-Soviet, anti-American, communist dictatorship
April 4 Senegal declares independence from France
April 10 Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill
April 13 France becomes 4th nuclear nation exploding an A-Bomb in Sahara
April 27 Togo (formerly French Togo) declares independence from France
May 1 India's Bombay state split into Gujarat and Maharashtra states
May 1 Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers in a U-2 spy plane U.S.S.R. announces Francis Gary Powers confessed to being a CIA spy
May 9 U.S. is 1st country to use the birth control pill legally
May 19 Belgian parliament requires rest day for self employed
May 27 Military coup overthrows democratic government of Turkey
June 23 Japan signs security treaty with the U.S.
June 25 Madagascar gains independence of France
June 26 British Somaliland (now Somalia) gains independence from Britain
June 26 Italian Somaliland declares independence from Italian-administration
June 27 Chlorophyll "A" synthesized Cambridge Mass
June 30 U.S. stops sugar import from Cuba
June 30 Zaire (formerly Belgian Congo) declares independence from Belgium
July 1 Fidel Castro nationalizes Esso, Shell and Texaco in Cuba
July 11 Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta and Niger declare independence
July 12 Congo, Chad and Central African Republic declare independence
July 12 U.S.S.R.'s Sputnik 5 launched with 2 dogs
July 20 U.S.S.R. recovered 2 dogs; 1st living organisms to return from space
July 22 Cuba nationalizes all U.S. owned sugar factories
August 17 Gabon gains independence from France
August 18 Beatles give their 1st public performance (Kaiserkeller in Hamburg)
August 30 East Germany imposes a partial blockade on West Berlin
August 31 Agricultural Hall of Fame forms
September 14 Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC
September 17 Cuba nationalizes U.S. banks
September 24 USS Enterprise, 1st nuclear power aircraft carrier, launches
September 26 Longest speech in United Nations history (4 hrs, 29 mins, by Fidel Castro)
October 1 Nigeria gains independence from Britain
October 12 Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe at United Nations General Assembly
October 13 Opponents of Fidel Castro executed in Cuba
October 14 Peace Corps 1st suggested by John F. Kennedy Many veterinarians will end up volunteering for stints in the Peace Corps helping newly independent, 3rd world countries with livestock health issues.
October 24 Disaster on U.S.S.R. (Baikonoer) launch pad, kills missile expert Nedelin and team (165 die-unconfirmed); U.S.S.R. claims killed in plane crash
October 25 1st electronic wrist watch placed on sale, New York City
November 8 John F. Kennedy beats VP Richard Nixon to become U.S. president
November 14 Riot due to school integration in New Orleans
December 23 King Saudi of Saudi-Arabia takes power
1961
John Kennedy becomes President
Equine piroplasmosis reported in the U.S.
January 16 Russian espionage ring detected in Great Britain
January 21 Portuguese rebels seize cruise ship Santa Maria
January 25 1st live, nationally televised presidential news conference (John F. Kennedy)
January 25 Military coup in El Salvador
January 25 Walt Disney's "101 Dalmations" released
January 31 USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights
February 10 Niagara Falls hydroelectric project begins producing power
February 16 China uses it's 1st nuclear reactor
March 8 U.S. nuclear submarine Patrick Henry arrives at Scottish naval base of Holy Loch from South Carolina in a record underseas journey of 66 days 22 hrs
March 17 South Africa leaves British Commonwealth
April 14 Cuban-American invasion army departs Nicaragua
April 21 French army revolts in Algeria
April 24 John F. Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs
April 25 Robert Noyce patents integrated circuit
May 1 1st U.S. airplane hijacked to Cuba
May 1 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba
May 1 Tanganyika granted full internal self-government by Britain
May 4 U.S. Navy Captain Malcolm Ross reaches 34,668 m (the stratosphere) in balloon
May 5 Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7) kind of taking all the news glory away from my ancestor’s achievement the day before.
May 8 1st practical sea water conversion plant - Freeport, Texas
May 14 Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed and burned in Alabama
May 17 Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers
May 22 1st revolving restaurant (Top Of The Needle in Seattle), opens
May 25 John F. Kennedy sets goal of putting a man on Moon before the end of decade
June 19 Kuwait declares independence from U.K.
June 19 U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Md's constitution requiring state office holders to believe in God
July 15 Spain accept equal rights for men and women
August 7 Soviet premier Khrushchev predicts U.S.S.R. economy will surpass U.S.
August 18 Construction on Berlin Wall completed
September 13 Battles between United Nations and Katanga troops in Congo
October 6 John F. Kennedy advises Americans to build fallout shelters
October 17 Battle of Paris - police kill 210 Algerians
October 22 75,000 Flemings demand equal rights and Flemish language in Belgium
November 18 John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam
December 2 Fidel Castro declares he's a Marxist, and will lead Cuba to Communism
December 17 India seizes Goa and 2 other Portuguese colonies
December 23 Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food and medical supplies
December 31 1st performance of Beach Boys
December 31 Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
The Berlin Wall is built
1962
Silent Spring published; documented the effect of chemicals on the environment.
First laboratory test developed to detect bluetongue neutralizing antibody.
Washington State Veterinary students are disqualified from competing in the annual campus songfest after dominating the competition since 1955 The competition committee rules that the contest is only for campus living groups and that the veterinary students don't qualify.
January 1 Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium
January 3 Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome A few years later My dad took me to The Astrodome to see a Cattle Show and Rodeo. I get an autograph from "Hoss and Ben Cartwright" from Bonanza
January 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
January 18 US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas
January 23 British spy Kim Philby defects to U.S.S.R.
January 24 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany Hundreds of others fail and die
January 26 Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's
"Twist" is impure and bans it from all Catholic schools
February 5 French President de Gaulle calls for Algeria's independence
February 7 President Kennedy begins blockade of Cuba
February 10 U.S.S.R. swaps spy Francis Gary Power to U.S. for Rudolph Abel
February 12 Bus boycott starts in Macon, Georgia
February 14 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV
February 20 John Glenn is 1st American to orbit Earth in Friendship 7
February 26 U.S. Supreme Court disallows race separation on public transportation
February 27 South-Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st U.S. killed
March 1 K-Mart opens
March 4 AEC announces 1st atomic power plant in Antarctica in operation
March 6 U.S. promise Thailand assistance against communist aggression
March 9 Egyptian President Nasser declares Gaza belongs to Palestinians
March 15 5 research groups announce simultaneously discovery of anti-matter
March 18 Algerian War ends after 7 years (250,000 die), Ben Bella flees
March 21 A bear becomes the 1st creature to be ejected at supersonic speeds
March 28 Military coup in Syria, President Nazim al-Kudsi flees
March 29 Argentine President Frondizi flees from the army
April 16 Brazil nationalizes U.S. businesses and leans toward communism
April 23 1st U.S. satellite to reach the moon launched
May 11 U.S. sends troops to Thailand
May 15 U.S. Marines arrive in Laos
May 25 U.S. unions AFL-CIO starts campaign for 35-hour work week
June 25 Supreme Court rules New York school prayer unconstitutional
July 2 Fidel Castro visits Moscow
July 17 Senate rejects medicare for aged
July 21 160 civil right activists jailed after demonstration in Albany, Georgia
July 21 Battles on Chinese and Indies boundary
August 6 Jamaica becomes independent after 300 years of British rule
August 18 Peter, Paul and Mary release their 1st hit "If I Had a Hammer"
September 29 "Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show," debuts on ABC-TV
September 30 John F. Kennedy routes 3,000 federal troops to Mississippi
October 1 Johnny Carson hosts his 1st Tonight Show, Joan Crawford guests
October 1 Lucy Show premieres
October 8 North Korea reports 100% election turnout, 100% vote for Workers' Party
October 11 2nd Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII
October 20 Chinese army lands in India
October 22 John F. Kennedy imposes naval blockade on Cuba, beginning missile crisis
November 6 Saudi Arabia proclaims abolishing slavery
November 20 U.S.S.R. agrees to remove bombers from Cuba, and U.S. lifts blockade
December 23 Cuba starts returning U.S. prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion
1963
Virulent-virus hog cholera vaccines outlawed.
Discovered Chediak-Higashi syndrome in mink and cattle.
Proved that tropical horse tick, Dermacentor nitens, can transmit equine piroplasmosis.
Discovered that wild carrots give sheep acute sensitivity to sunlight, causing sunburn of sensitive areas.
January 7 1st class postage raised from 4 cents to 5 cents
January 16 Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb
June 5 State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
June 8 American Heart Association is 1st agency to campaign against cigarettes
June 10 John F. Kennedy signs law for equal pay for equal work for men and women
July 1 U.S. postal service institutes zip code system, Zone Improvement Plan
September 10 20 black students entered public schools in Alabama
October 2 West German Chancellor Adenauer condemns western grain shipments to U.S.S.R. The Soviet grain deals are more significant in that The Soviets and Communist loving leftist Americans are all claiming the great success of the Soviet system … especially their 5 year agricultural programs … when the facts on the ground were that the Soviet system was an utter failure leading to starvation of millions and the need to buy grain from overseas
October 9 French air force gets 1st nuclear weapons
October 12 Archaeological digs begin at Masada, Israel
October 16 2 secret U.S. military satellites launched from Cape Canaveral
November 21 John F. Kennedy killed in Texas
November 22 Lyndon Baines Johnson sworn in as 36th U.S. president
December 10 Zanzibar becomes independent
December 12 Kenya (formerly British East Africa) declares independence from UK
December 24 Greek and Turks riot in Cyprus
Martin Luther King: Time Man of the Year.
1964
Agricultural Appropriation Act authorized fifth utilization laboratory at Athens, GA.
Developed plastic frames for bee honeycombs.
January 8 President Lyndon B Johnson declares "War on Poverty"
January 9 Anti-US rioting broke out in Panama Canal Zone
January 10 Battles between moslems and hindus in Calcutta
January 10 Panama severs diplomatic relations with U.S.
February 2 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy
April 17 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2368 base)
May 19 U.S. diplomats find at least 40 secret microphones in Moscow embassy
May 22 Lyndon Baines Johnson presents "Great Society"
June 11 Queen Elizabeth orders Beatles to her birthday party, they attend
July 2 President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act into law
July 6 Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) declares independence from U.K. Exactly 20 years later, as a young veterinarian in 1984 I was going to spend the summer in Malawi doing tuburculosis work on swine but ended up not going due to a wife pregnant with our first child.
August 2 North Vietnam fires on a U.S. destroyer in Gulf of Tonkin
August 5 U.S. begins bombing North Vietnam
August 7 Turkey begins air attack on Greek-Cypriots
October 16 China becomes world's 5th nuclear power
November 18 J. Edgar Hoover describes Martin Luther King as "most notorious liar"
December 10 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
December 15 Canada adopts maple leaf flag
1965
Discovered molecular structure of transfer RNA.
Juvenile hormone of insects identified and synthesized.
Discovered that addition of vitamins C and E reduced levels of nitrosamines in fried bacon and nitrite-cured products; industry changed processing to minimize consumer exposure to cancer-causing nitrosamines.
1965 continued:
January 1 Palestinian al-Fatah organization forms
January 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. begins a drive to register black voters
January 8 Star of India returned to American Museum of Natural History
January 20 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain
January 30 State funeral of Winston Churchill
February 1 Martin Luther King, Jr. and 700 demonstrators arrested in Selma Ala
February 7 U.S. begins regular bombing and strafing of North Vietnam
February 8 Supremes release "Stop In the Name of Love"
March 8 1st U.S. combat forces arrive in Vietnam (3,500 Marines)
March 19 Indonesia nationalizes all foreign oil companies
April 3 1st atomic powered spacecraft launched
April 9 India and Pakistan engage in border fight
April 20 People's Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid
April 24 Military coup under Donald Reid Cabral in Dominican Republic
April 28 U.S. Marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until October 1966
May 3 Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with the U.S.
May 5 1st large-scale U.S. Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
May 11 1st of 2 cyclones in less than a month kills 35,000 (India)
May 11 Bangladesh windstorm kills 17,000
May 24 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
May 30 Viet Cong offensive against U.S. base Da Nang, begins June 7 Supreme Court rules 1879 Connecticut law ban of contraceptives unconstitutional
June 12 Big Bang theory of creation of universe is supported by announcement of discovery of new celestial bodies know as blue galaxies
August 6 Federal Voting Rights Act guarantees black voting rights
August 6 Indian troops invade Pakistan
August 27 Bob Dylan booed off stage in New York's Forest Hills
September 13 Today Show's 1st totally color broadcast
October 20 Mass arrests of communists in Indonesia
October 28 Pope Paul VI proclaims Jews not collectively guilty for crucifixion
November 16 Walt Disney launches Epcot Center: Prototype Community of Tomorrow
November 27 15,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam in Washington D.C.
December 15 3rd cyclone of year kills another 15,000 at mouths of Ganges River December 15 Bangladesh windstorm kills 10,000
December 17 Astrodome opens, 1st event is Judy Garland and Supremes concert
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1966
Sanford F Ross Dies while working on the invention/improvement of gelatin capsules. The greatest man I ever knew.
Laboratory Animal Welfare Act passed; renamed Animal Welfare Act in 1970.
Discovered that protein is not essential in a milk cow's diet.
First electron microscope image produced of virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease in infected animal cells.
Showed that dairy cows could have protein needs met with low-cost urea instead of high-cost protein feeds; research funded by ARS.
January 1 All U.S. cigarette packs have to carry "Caution Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"
January 2 1st Jewish child born in Spain since 1492 expulsion
January 12 "Batman" with Adam West and Burt Ward premieres on ABC TV
January 12 Lyndon Baines Johnson says U.S. should stay in South Vietnam until communist aggression ends
March 4 John Lennon, says "We (the Beatles) are more popular than Jesus"
March 6 Barry Sadlers' "Ballad of the Green Berets" becomes #1 (13 weeks)
March 10 5 time Horse of the Year, Kelso, retires
March 10 North Vietnamese capture U.S. Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
March 15 Racial riots erupt in the Watts section of Los Angeles
March 17 U.S. submarine locates missing H-bomb in Mediterranean
April 19 Roberta Bignay becomes 1st woman to run in the Boston Marathon
June 13 Supreme Court's Miranda decision; suspect must be informed of rights
June 29 In the Vietnam War, U.S. planes bombed Hanoi and Haiphong for 1st time
July 1 Medicare goes into effect
July 19 Gov James Rhodes declares state of emergency in Cleveland, race riot
August 20 Beatles pelted with rotten fruit during Memphis concert
Last Beatle concert in US
August 23 Lunar Orbiter 1 takes 1st photograph of Earth from Moon
September 15 1st British nuclear sub HMS Resolution launched
September 29 Bechuanaland gains independence from England, becomes Botswana
October 15 Lyndon Baines Johnson signs a bill creating Department of Transportation
October 27 U.N. deprives South Africa of Namibia
December 8 US and U.S.S.R. sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
1967
Wholesome Meat Act passed.
February 22 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, offensive to smash Viet Cong stronghold near Cambodian border
March 6 Stalin's daughter Svetlana Allilujeva asks for political asylum in US
April 3 113 East Europeans attending World Amateur hockey championships in Vienna, ask for political asylum
April 7 Israeli/Syrian border fights
May 22 Egyptian president Nassar closes Straits of Tiran to Israel
June 5 6 day war between Israel and Arab neighbors begin
June 8 Israel attacks USS Liberty in Mediterranean, killing 34 U.S. crewmen
June 9 Israeli troops reach Suez Canal
June 10 Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt end "6-Day War" with United Nations help
June 10 U.S.S.R. drops diplomatic relations with Israel
June 12 Supreme Court unanimously ends laws against interracial marriages
July 6 Biafran War erupts as Nigerian forces invade
July 23 43 die in race riot in Detroit (2,000 injured, 442 fires)
July 24 Charles de Gaulle says 'Vive le Quebec libre! Long live free Quebec!'
August 21 China reports downing of 2 U.S. bombers
August 30 U.S. Senate confirm Thurgood Marshall as 1st black justice
November 30 People's Democratic Republic of Yemen declares independence from UK
December 3 1st human heart transplant performed (Dr. Christian Barnard, South Africa)
1968
Determined that lupine is toxic to cattle; caused crooked calf disease or abortion.
January 30 Vietcong launch Tet-offensive on U.S. embassy in Saigon
February 21 150,000 demonstrate against leftist students in West-Berlin
March 20 Lyndon Baines Johnson signs a bill removing gold backing from U.S. paper money
March 21 Israeli forces cross Jordan River to attack PLO bases
April 9 Martin Luther King, Jr., buried in Atlanta
May 10 Vietnam peace talks began in Paris between the U.S. and North Vietnam
June 5 Muslim Sirhan Sirhan shoots Bobby Kennedy, who dies next day
July 8 Israeli-Egyptian artillery duel along Suez Canal
July 23 PLO's 1st hijacking of an El Al plane
August 20 650,000 Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia for trying to become independent from U.S.S.R
August 21 After 5 years Russia once again jams Voice of America radio
August 28 Police and anti-war demonstrators clash at Chicago's Dem National Conven
October 2 Mexico City police fire on protesting students, 300-500 killed
November 1 Motion Picture Association of America introduces rating system (G, M, R, X)
November 12 Supreme Court declares Arkansas law banning teaching evolution in public schools unconstitutional
November 14 Yale University announces it is going co-educational
December 23 82 members of U.S. intelligence ship 'Pueblo' released by North Korea
1969
Food and Nutrition Service established.
Use of modified live-virus hog cholera vaccines outlawed.
National Environmental Policy Act passed.
Discovered bovine leukemia virus.
Mycoplasmalike organisms discovered.
Discovered bovine C-type virus; later renamed bovine leukemia virus.
A mycoplasma, a type of microorganism associated with animal disease, identified for the first time as the cause of a mechanically transmitted plant disease.
Discovered mode of inheritance of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in dogs and mink
January 5 U.S.S.R. Venera 5 launched for 1st successful planet landing (Venus)
January 24 Spanish Gen Franco announces state of emergency
January 27 9 Jews publically executed in Damascus Syria
February 4 Yassar Arafats takes over as chairman of PLO
February 18 PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland
March 29 Communist New People's Army found in Philippines
May 14 Abortion and contraception legalized in Canada
July 7 Canada's House of Commons approves equality of French-English lang
July 20 1st men on Moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Apollo 11
July 25 Edward Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of an accident a week after the Chappaquiddick car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne
August 24 Peru nationalizes U.S. oil interests
September 1 Libyan revolution, Col Moammar Gadhafi deposes King Idris
December 28 Israeli assault on Beirut Airport
