May 1960

Sunday 01:

Cold War: U-2 Crisis – Francis Gary Powers, in a U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking off a crisis.

Tuesday 03:

The Off-Broadway musical comedy, The Fantasticks, opens in New York City's Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.

Saturday 07:

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.

Monday 09:

Reproductive rights: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill.

Tuesday 10:

The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

Wednesday 11:

1960 - The first contraceptive pill is made available on the market.

Friday 13:

First ascent of Dhaulagiri, world's seventh-highest mountain.

Sunday 15:

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.

Monday 16:

Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

Sunday 22:

An earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale, now known as the Great Chilean Earthquake, hits southern Chile. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.

Monday 23:

Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.

Friday 27:

In Turkey, General Cemal Gürsel leads a military coup d'état removing President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government.