May 1960

File:Francis Gary Powers U2 at Moscow.jpg

• The U-2 Incident began when an American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, entered Soviet airspace ten minutes after takeoff from a U.S. base in Pakistan, at Peshawar. At {{Nowrap|9:53 a.m.}} (0653 GMT), his plane was struck by shrapnel from an exploding Soviet SA-2 missile while he was at 70,500 feet (21,488 m).Norman Polmar, Spyplane: The U-2 History Declassified (MBI, 2000), p134; Paul F. Crickmore, Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions (Osprey, 2004), p20 Powers parachuted and chose not to commit suicide, and landed near Sverdlovsk, where he was captured alive.Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954–1974 (Central Intelligence Agency, 1998), pp176–177"Chronology May 1960", The World Almanac and book of facts, 1961 (New York World-Telegram, 1960), pp168–172
• Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed as the 14th and 15th States of India, when the Bombay State was split along linguistic lines.J.C. Aggarwal and S.P. Agrawal, Uttarakhand: Past, Present, and Future (Concept Publishing, 1995), pp89–90
• Born: Steve Cauthen, American jockey, 1978 U.S. Triple Crown winner; Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year at age 17; in Covington, Kentucky{{cite web|url=https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/jockey/steve-cauthen/|title=Steve Cauthen|publisher=National Museum of Racing|access-date=10 September 2018}}.

• Caryl Chessman was executed at {{Nowrap|10:03 a.m.}} in the gas chamber at California's San Quentin Prison after ten years on Death Row. In San Francisco, defense attorneys had asked to present an argument, and U.S. Judge Louis E. Goodman had decided to issue a stay of execution as Chessman was being strapped into his chair, and instructed his secretary to call the prison, but the secretary had copied only four of the five digits of the telephone number, after which the call took a full minute to go through. Goodman blamed the defense attorneys for waiting until the last minute to seek a stay, commenting that "One of them, at least, should have been here earlier."{{cite news |title=Caryl Chessman Executed; Last-Minute Stay Mixup |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 2, 1960 |page=1}} Chessman, an accomplished author on death row for rape rather murder, had won eight prior stays of execution, and his death was protested worldwide.
• Outfielder Jim Lemon of the Washington Senators became the first Major League Baseball player to wear a batting helmet with earflaps. Helmets had been required in both leagues since 1958{{cite book |first=Derek |last=Gentile |title=Splitters, Squeezes, and Steals: The Plays, Strategies, and Rules of Baseball |publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal |year=2009 |page=216}} but the helmet, required in Little League Baseball, was made available by Senators' owner Calvin Griffith, who ordered the headgear after Earl Battey was struck in the head by a pitch thrown by Tom Sturdivant of the Boston Red Sox. Despite concerns that the flap obscured the batter's vision, Lemon got two hits in three at-bats in a 3–2 win over the Cleveland Indians.{{cite news |title=Senators Use New Cap After Catcher Battey Beaned— Little Loop Helmets Tried |agency=UPI |newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post |location=El Paso, Texas |date=May 4, 1960 |page=22}}
• As police officer Leonard Baldy was preparing to do a live traffic report on Chicago's WGN (AM) radio station, he and helicopter pilot Horace Ferry were killed when one of the overhead rotor blades fell from the station's helicopter. Ferry was able to maneuver the craft away from the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Hubbard Street into a railroad yard embankment, narrowly missing a truck and three children who had been walking along a sidewalk.{{cite news |url=http://www.wlshistory.com/jox/CST-05-03-1960.png |title=Crash Kills Baldy, Pilot— Traffic Copter Falls In Street |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=May 3, 1960 |page=1 |via=WLSHistory.com}}{{cite web |url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/1442-patrolman-leonard-f-baldy |title=Patrolman Leonard F. Baldy, Chicago Police Department, Illinois |publisher=The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc |access-date=21 September 2022}}
• Dr. Robert H. Goetz, a German-born surgeon, led a team at the Van Etten Hospital in the Bronx (now the Jacobi Medical Center) in performing the first coronary artery bypass surgery on a human patient.{{cite book |chapter=The History of Myocardial Revascularization Before the Advent of Cardiopulmonary Bypass |title=Dawn and Evolution of Cardiac Procedures: Research Avenues in Cardiac Surgery and Interventional Cardiology |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |page=74}}
• WLS-AM of Chicago became the first large radio station in the Midwest to switch over to a rock 'n roll format.{{cite book |editor1-first=Ray B. |editor1-last=Browne |editor1-link=Ray B. Browne |editor2-first=Pat |editor2-last=Browne |title=The Guide to United States Popular Culture |publisher=Bowling Green State University Popular Press |year=2001 |page=93}}

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• At 2:00 p.m. Eastern time (11:00 a.m. Pacific), all regular television and radio broadcasting in the United States halted for 30 minutes as the airwaves were taken over by CONELRAD (later the Emergency Broadcasting System), and sirens sounded across the nation, and all people outside were directed to go to the nearest fallout shelter. It was all part of "Operation Alert 1960" and regular programming was restored after 30 minutes.[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1960/05/03/page/21/article/sirens-to-wail-tv-radio-to-go-off-for-defense-drill "Sirens to Wail; TV, Radio to Go Off for Defense Drill"], Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1960, p2-1[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1960/05/04/page/15/article/chicago-safe-in-1st-day-of-defense-test "Chicago 'Safe' in 1st Day of Defense Test"], Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1960, p15 At New York's City Hall Park, a crowd of 500 demonstrators refused police orders to seek shelter, in protest over the nuclear arms race.Dee Garrison, Bracing for Armageddon: Why Civil Defense Never Worked (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp98–99
• The Fantasticks, the most popular musical of all time, was staged for the first time. The opening night, at the (off-Broadway) Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York City, was the first of a record 17,162 outings for the show, which would run until January 13, 2002.Robert Viagas, The Back Stage Guide to Broadway (Back Stage Books, 2004), p5
• The European Free Trade Association (EFTA), founded by Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Portugal, came into being, five months after the Stockholm treaty signed on January 4.J.A.S. Grenville and Bernard Wasserstein, The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century: A History and Guide with Texts (Taylor & Francis, 2001) p524

• The United States signed an agreement to sell 17,000,000 metric tons of surplus grain to India over a four-year period, in exchange for $1,276,000,000.
• Lucille Ball was granted a divorce from Desi Arnaz by a court in Santa Monica, California."Lucille Ball Wins Divorce From Desi", Oakland Tribune, May 4, 1960, p1
• The 1960 Cannes Film Festival opened.
• Born: Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria from 2008 to 2016; in Vienna

• Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev announced to that nation's parliament that an American military plane had been downed in Soviet territory on May 1."Soviets Down U.S. Plane; Unarmed, State Dept. Says", Oakland Tribune, May 5, 1960, p1

• Ramon Mercader, aka Jacques Monard, the man who had killed Leon Trotsky with an axe on August 20, 1940, was released from the penitentiary in Juarez, Mexico, after which he emigrated to the Soviet Union.Jay Robert Nash, The Great Pictorial History of World Crime (Scarecrow Press, 2004), pp98–99
• President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law. The bill had passed the House 288–95, after being amended and passed by the Senate 71–18."Ike Signs Civil Rights Bill Keyed to Guard Negro Vote", Oakland Tribune, May 6, 1960, p1; Nina M. Moore, Governing Race: Policy, Process, and the Politics of Race (Praeger, 2000), p45
• Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, married Antony Armstrong-Jones in a royal wedding at Westminster Abbey."Princess Margaret Weds in Splendor", Oakland Tribune, May 7, 1960, p1
• The town of Wilburton, Oklahoma, was destroyed by tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma and Arkansas, killing 27 people and hurting 250."27 Killed, 250 Hurt by Tornadoes", Oakland Tribune, May 7, 1960, p1

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• Leonid Brezhnev took on the ceremonial post of head of state of the Soviet Union as he succeeded Kliment Voroshilov as Chairman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (generally, but inaccurately referred to in the Western press as the "Soviet President")."Voroshilov Resigns Russian Presidency", Oakland Tribune, May 7, 1960, p1 Nikita Khrushchev continued as Premier of the Soviet Union (officially the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, equivalent to a prime minister), and as General Secretary of the Communist Party, the de facto leader of the USSR; the latter position that would be taken by Brezhnev in 1964.
• Khrushchev surprised the world by announcing that U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, of Pound, Virginia, had been captured "alive and well" near Sverdlovsk, along with film taken of military bases, and Soviet currency."Khrushchev Says Downed U.S. Pilot Is Spy, May Order Trial", Oakland Tribune, May 7, 1960, p1 U.S. officials expressed "amazement" at charges that Powers had been on a spy mission."Officials in Washington Amazed at Soviet Charges; Relations Further Strained", Oakland Tribune, May 7, 1960, p1
• In the 1960 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, Wolverhampton Wanderers defeated Blackburn Rovers, 3–0.
• The World Chess Championship was won by Mikhail Tal, who defeated reigning champion Mikhail Botvinnik, 12½ games to 8½, in Moscow. Tal won five games and played 14 to draws, while Botvinnik won only one game.[https://www.chess.com/article/view/clash-of-champions-tal---botvinnik Clash of Champions: Tal vs. Botvinnik], Bryan Smith, chess.com, September 4, 2014

• Cuba and the Soviet Union formally re-established diplomatic relations, which had been ended in 1952. The United States severed its diplomatic ties with Cuba eight months later, on January 3, 1961.Irving Louis Horowitz, ed., Cuban Communism (Transaction Books, 1987) pp142, 623
• A Nationalist Chinese Sabrejet crashed into a village in Taiwan, killing the pilot and 10 people on the ground."Jet Crash Kills 11", Oakland Tribune, May 9, 1960, p1
• Born: Franco Baresi, Italian football defender; in Travagliato
• Died: J. H. C. Whitehead, 55, British mathematician and pioneer in homotopy theory; of a heart attack while visiting Princeton University

• McDonnell's first production Mercury spacecraft, with its escape rocket serving as the propulsion force, was launched from Wallops Island. Designated the "beach-abort test", the objectives were a performance evaluation of the escape system, the parachute and landing system, and recovery operations in an off-the-pad abort situation, and were successfully tested. The spacecraft was returned to the McDonnell plant on May 14 for an integrity test.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Mercury - A Chronology |chapter=PART II (B) Research and Development Phase of Project Mercury January 1960 through May 5, 1961 |last=Grimwood |first=James M. |series=NASA Special Publication-4001 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p2b.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=7 February 2023}}
• U.S. Attorney General William P. Rogers invoked the new Civil Rights Act of 1960 to force the turnover of voters' registration records in four Southern "cipher counties", so called because there were no African-American registered voters, despite a large population. The counties affected were Wilcox County, Alabama, Webster County, Georgia, McCormick County, South Carolina and East Carroll Parish, Louisiana.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a birth control pill for the first time, as it cleared the prescription of Enovid, manufactured by G. D. Searle & Company, for use as an oral contraceptive.{{cite news |title=U.S. Approves Pill For Birth Control |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 10, 1960 |page=75}}
• Born: Tony Gwynn, MLB star outfielder and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (d. 2014); in Los Angeles

File:USS Triton SSRN-586 circumnavigation map 1960.jpg

• The submarine USS Triton completed its circumnavigation of the globe, after an 84-day voyage that followed the route of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1519–1522.{{cite news |title=A-Sub Circles Globe Under Sea |journal=Oakland Tribune |date=May 10, 1960 |page=1}}
• John F. Kennedy defeated Hubert Humphrey in the West Virginia primary election, winning the predominantly Protestant state and dispelling doubts about whether Americans would support a Roman Catholic nominee. The win was Senator Kennedy's seventh in the primaries. At {{Nowrap|1:08 a.m.}} the next day, Humphrey conceded defeat, and then said "I am no longer a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination", leaving Senator Kennedy unopposed.{{cite news |title=Big Kennedy Victory in W. Virginia |journal=Oakland Tribune |date=May 11, 1960 |page=1}}
• Nashville became the first major racially segregated city in the United States to desegregate its lunch counters.{{cite book |editor-first=Jessie Carney |editor-last=Smith |editor-link=Jessie Carney Smith |title=Encyclopedia of African American Business |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2006 |pages=26–27}}
• Born:
• Bono (stage name for Paul David Hewson), Irish famine relief activist and rock singer for U2 and as a solo performer; in Dublin{{cite web|url=http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Bono-A-Global-Rock-Star-and-Activist|title=Bono-Fire|first=Elaina|last=Richardson|work=Oprah.com|access-date=9 June 2023|date=February 2002}}
• Merlene Ottey, Jamaican women's {{Nowrap|200 m}} champion; in Hanover, Jamaica
• Died: Yury Olesha, 61, Russian novelist

• At a press conference four days before a summit meeting in Paris with Soviet Premier Khrushchev, President Eisenhower of the United States accepted full responsibility for the U-2 incident, and said that spying on the Soviet Union was justified. "No one wants another Pearl Harbor", he said, adding "In most of the world, no large-scale attack could be prepared in secret, but in the Soviet Union there is a fetish of secrecy, and concealment.""Ike Defends Shut-Sky Spies", Salt Lake Tribune, May 12, 1960, p1
• In Buenos Aires, four Mossad agents abducted fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann aka "Ricardo Klement", shortly after he got off of a bus near his home at {{Nowrap|8:10 p.m.}} Eichmann, mastermind of the Jewish Holocaust in Germany, would be held captive for ten days until he could be flown to Israel.Ephraim Kahana, Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence (Scarecrow Press 2006), p84
• The passenger liner {{SS|France|1961|6}} was launched at Saint-Nazaire by Madame Yvonne de Gaulle, wife of the French president.Brian J. Cudahy, The Cruise Ship Phenomenon in North America (Cornell Maritime Press, 2001), p213
• Born: Jürgen Schult, German former track and field athlete and, as of 2023, the world record holder in the discus throw; in Hagenow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany{{cite web|title=Jürgen Schult|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sc/jurgen-schult-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175212/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sc/jurgen-schult-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2020|website=sports-reference.com|publisher=Sports Reference|access-date=16 June 2015}}
• Died: John D. Rockefeller Jr., 86, American philanthropist who gave away $475,000,000 of his inheritance during his lifetime.

• Soviet Premier Khrushchev said in a statement that if the United States made further overflights of the USSR, "this might lead to war" and then added that further aggression would be met "with atom bombs in the first few minutes".{{cite news |title=Russ Threaten Atomic War; U.S. Note Defends Spy Flights |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 12, 1960 |page=1}}
• The Space Task Group established a field representative office at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis, Missouri.
• By order of U.S. Defense Secretary Thomas S. Gates, the Defense Communications Agency was established.{{cite news |first=Christopher H. |last=Sterling |author-link=Christopher H. Sterling |title=Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |page=117}}
• The capsizing of a boat on the Krishna River in India's Andhara Pradesh state drowned at least 60 people.

File:Aly-Khan-1949.jpg

• Died: Prince Aly Khan, 48, Pakistan's "playboy turned diplomat", died of massive head injuries after his Lancia sports car collided with a sedan in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes, France. The other driver, Herve Bichaton, was reportedly on the wrong side of the road.{{cite news |title=Aly Khan Mourned By Silent Crowd |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 13, 1960 |page=1}}

• A group of 200 students, mostly white, staged a sit-in inside the San Francisco City Hall to protest against the House Un-American Activities Committee, following the example of passive resistance used by African-American protesters to fight segregation. The city police dispersed the crowd with fire hoses and clubs, but the students' defiance was dramatic. Between 1,500 and 2,000 people picketed the last session of the committee's hearings, and another 3,500 predominantly anti-Committee spectators massed outside the building.[http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/AP_files/APHUAC60.html#Events "HUAC: The Events of May 1960", Free Speech Movement Archives.] As one author notes, "No one had previously dared confront HUAC so brazenly; most Americans were terrified of even coming into contact with the committee."Robert J. Bresler, Us vs. Them: American Political and Cultural Conflict from WW II to Watergate (Scholarly Resources, 2000), p42; Matthew Lasar, Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network (Temple University Press, 1999), 186; "General Riot Breaks Out At Red Quiz", Oakland Tribune, May 13, 1960, p1; [http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/AP_files/APHUAC60.html HUAC May 1960]
• The first launch by the United States of its new {{convert|91|ft|m|abbr=on}} Delta rocket failed as the third stage did not ignite. The failure would be followed by 15 consecutive successful launches.Frank H. Winter, Rockets Into space (Harvard University Press, 1990), p87
• A six-member team of Swiss, Austrian and Bhutanese climbers, were the first to reach the top of Dhaulagiri, at {{Nowrap|8,167 m}} ({{Nowrap|26,794 ft}}), the world's seventh highest mountain.Ramesh Chandra Bisht, International Encyclopaedia of Himalayas (Vol. 4, Mittal Publications, 2008), p61

• U.S. President Eisenhower flew to Paris for the scheduled Four Power Summit, after President de Gaulle of France verified that Soviet Premier Khrushchev still wanted to convene the meeting. The talks broke off shortly after de Gaulle called them to order two days later.{{cite book |first=Stephen E. |last=Ambrose |author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose |title=Ike's Spies: Eisenhower and the Espionage Establishment |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=1999 |page=288}}

• While in Paris with President Eisenhower on the first day of a summit with Soviet Premier Khrushchev, U.S. Secretary of Defense Thomas S. Gates Jr. ordered a test of the American military alert system. Declassified documents would later show that Gates's order at 0033 UTC for "a high state of command readiness" was misunderstood, and that within half an hour, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff placed troops worldwide at DEFCON 3 status.{{cite book |first1=Sean M. |last1=Lynn-Jones |display-authors=etal |title=Nuclear Diplomacy and Crisis Management: An International Security Reader |publisher=MIT Press |date=September 12, 1990 |pages=162–166}} The American public learned of the alert when Lowry Air Force Base asked police to locate key personnel, and the police asked Denver radio station KOA (AM) and KOA-TV to assist. The message that followed- "All fighter pilots F-101 and fighter pilots F-102... Doe Three Alert, Hotcake One and Hotcake Six, scramble at Lowry immediately!" was heard by thousands of Denver listeners.{{cite news |title=Whew! It's Just An Alert |newspaper=Miami News |date=May 16, 1960 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Panic After U.S. Military Combat Alert |newspaper=The Age |location=Melbourne |date=May 17, 1960 |page=1}}
• The Soviet Union launched Sputnik IV, a five-ton mockup of a crewed spaceship, as a prelude to putting human beings into outer space.{{cite news |title=Soviets Say 'Spaceship' On Schedule |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 16, 1960 |page=1}} The satellite carried a heavy life-size dummy, luckily; the retrorockets fired in the wrong direction, sending the ship into a higher orbit rather than returning it to Earth.{{cite book |first1=John S. |last1=Lewis |author1-link=John S. Lewis |first2=Ruth A. |last2=Lewis |title=Space Resources: Breaking the Bonds of Earth |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1987 |page=28}} The satellite would re-enter Earth's atmosphere on September 5, 1962, with a {{Convert|20|lb|adj=on}} fragment landing at the intersection of North 8th Street and Park Street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.{{cite news |title=Possible Remnant of Soviet Sputnik Found at Manitowoc |newspaper=Manitowoc Herald-Times |date=September 6, 1962 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Sputnik 'Dies' In Wisconsin |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune |date=September 7, 1962 |page=2}}{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Wallechinsky |author1-link=David Wallechinsky |first2=Amy |last2=Wallace |author2-link=Amy Wallace |title=The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information |publisher=Canongate |year=2005 |page=568}}
• Qualification tests for the Mercury spacecraft explosive egress hatch were completed.
• The new Convair 880 made its first passenger flight, for Delta Air Lines.{{cite book |first=Geoff |last=Jones |title=Delta Air Lines: 75 Years of Airline Excellence |publisher=Arcadia |year=2003 |page=42}}

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• The first working laser was created by U.S. physicist Theodore Maiman, who focused a high-powered flash lamp on a silver-coated ruby rod at the Hughes Research Laboratory in Malibu, California.{{cite book |chapter=The first laser |first=Charles H. |last=Townes |author-link=Charles H. Townes |title=A Century of Nature: Twenty-one Discoveries that Changed Science and the World |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2003 |page=107}}
• Shortly after the Four Power Summit in Paris was opened by France's President DeGaulle at {{Nowrap|11:00 a.m.}}, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demanded the right to speak, and then delivered an angry tirade, which ended with a cancellation of the invitation for President Eisenhower to visit the USSR beginning June 10. The summit ended at {{Nowrap|2:00 p.m.}}, and Khrushchev did not show up for further meetings. Eisenhower, Khrushchev and Britain's Prime Minister Macmillan left France three days later.{{cite news |title=Summit Parley Collapses; Nikita Cancels Ike Visit |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 16, 1960 |page=1}}{{cite book |first1=E. Bruce |last1=Geelhoed |first2=Anthony O. |last2=Edmonds |title=Eisenhower, Macmillan, and Allied Unity: 1957–1961 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |pages=116–123}}
• Representatives of NASA's research centers began a two-day conference at Langley Research Center to present findings and discuss future work on space rendezvous, the linking of separately-launched spacecraft in orbit, including the concept of a space ferry to rendezvous with a space station in cislunar space.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Gemini Technology and Operations - A Chronology |chapter=PART I (A) Concept and Design April 1959 through December 1961 |last1=Grimwood |first1=James M. |last2=Hacker |first2=Barton C. |last3=Vorzimmer |first3=Peter J. |series=NASA Special Publication-4002 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/p1a.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=17 February 2023}}{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=SKYLAB: A CHRONOLOGY |chapter=PART I: Early Space Station Activities -1923 to December 1962. |last1=Brooks |first1=Courtney G. |last2=Ertel |first2=Ivan D. |last3=Newkirk |first3=Roland W. |series=NASA Special Publication-4011 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4011/part1a.htm |publisher=NASA |page=14 |access-date=5 March 2023}}

• "Radio Swan", secretly funded and operated by the American CIA, began broadcasting anti-Communist propaganda to Cuba, from a transmitter on Swan Island off of the coast of Honduras.Fabián Escalante, CIA covert operations 1959–62: The Cuba Project (Ocean Press, 2004), pp48–49
• Died: Joseph Taborsky, 36, who had robbed and murdered six people over a six-year period, was executed in Connecticut in the electric chair.[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/25/2009-01-25_the_mad_dog_killer.html "The Mad Dog Killer"], by Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, January 31, 2009

• The 132nd and last original broadcast of the landmark American TV series Playhouse 90, was shown on CBS, with the telecast of "In the Presence of Mine Enemies".William Hawes, Filmed Television Drama, 1952–1958 (McFarland, 2002), p136
• Born:
• Yannick Noah, French tennis player who would win the French Open at age 23; in Sedan
• Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee; in Helsinki
• Tyka Nelson, American singer; in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2024)

• In Japan, conservative Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi called for a surprise snap vote on a revised version of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in the National Diet, violating parliamentary norms by cutting off debate earlier than expected and leading to a protest sit-in by opposition Japan Socialist Party Diet members. In the so-called "May 19th Incident," Kishi introduced 500 police officers to the Diet building and had the Socialist Party members physically removed from the legislature, before ramming the treaty through just after midnight the next day with only members of his own party present. These actions, widely perceived to be anti-democratic, will lead to a dramatic upsurge in the ongoing Anpo protests against the treaty in the rest of May and June.{{Cite book|last=Kapur|first=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ|title=Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2018|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=22–26|isbn=9780674988484}}
• The largest anti-nuclear rally held in the United States, up to that time, took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, as 17,000 people attended to hear speeches by Eleanor Roosevelt, Norman Thomas, Alf Landon, Walter Reuther and others demanding worldwide disarmament.Dan Smoot, The Invisible Government (BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008), pp164–165
• The first polling organization in the Soviet Union, the "Public Opinion Institute", was announced by the Party newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. From 1960 to 1967, Komsomol took surveys on such topics as "How has your standard of living changed?"Elizabeth Ann Weinberg, The Development of Sociology in the Soviet Union (Routledge, 1974), pp83–84

• In Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan voted at {{Nowrap|12:17 a.m.}} to ratify the new security treaty with the United States, but only after police removed Japan Socialist Party members who had blockaded Speaker Ichiro Kiyose in his office.Richard L. Carson, Comparative Economic Systems (M.E. Sharpe, 1990), p445"Japan House OKs Treaty Despite Riot", Oakland Tribune, May 19, 1960, p1
• Born: John Billingsley, American TV actor known for Star Trek: Enterprise; in Media, Pennsylvania.{{cite web | url= http://www.oxy.edu/theater/guest-artists/guest-artist-bios/john-billingsley| title= Theater: Guest Artist Bios: John Billingsley| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20131113155629/http://www.oxy.edu/theater/guest-artists/guest-artist-bios/john-billingsley | website= oxy.edu |archivedate= November 13, 2013 | publisher= Occidental College| date= October 4, 2012| accessdate= }}

• PFC Buzo Minagawa of Japan, was captured in a jungle at Guam, where he had been sent in 1944 as part of the 3219th artillery during World War II. Through interpreters, Minagawa said that he still could not believe that Japan had lost the war."Japanese Soldier Finds War's Over", Oakland Tribune, May 21, 1960, p1 His companion, Masashi Ito, was found two days later on May 23, and both men were welcomed home on May 28.Beatrice Trefalt, Japanese Army Stragglers and Memories of the War in Japan, 1950–1975 (Routledge, 2003), pp103–104
• An El Al flight took off from Buenos Aires at {{Nowrap|12:05 a.m.}}, with kidnapped Nazi fugitive Adolf Eichmann safely on board, to face trial for the Holocaust in Israel.
• Born: Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991; in Milwaukee (killed by inmate, 1994){{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-10-13-9104020601-story.html|title=Defending Dahmer|last=Lavin|first=Cheryl|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=October 13, 1991|access-date=October 11, 2022}}

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• Nearly 5,000 people were killed by a 9.5 magnitude earthquake in Chile that struck at {{Nowrap|3:11 p.m.}} local time (1511 UTC) near Valdivia. Based on seismographic data, the tremor was measured as the largest earthquake of the 20th century, with 9.5 being almost twice as big (and almost three times as strong) as the 9.2 quake that would strike Alaska in 1964.[https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/calculator USGS magnitude calculator] The initial tremor killed 1,655 people, and the aftershocks killed another 4,000. Two million were left homeless, and the shock sent tsunamis that killed 61 people in the U.S. state of Hawaii and another 119 in Japan."Neotectonics, Seismology and Paleoseismology", by Laura Perucca and Hugo Bastias, in The Late Cenozoic of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (Elsevier, 2008), p85
• The Belgian Congo held elections for the 137-member Chamber of Deputies in advance of being granted independence. Candidates from 28 different political parties were elected as deputies, and Patrice Lumumba's Mouvement National Congolais party won more (33 or less than one-fourth of the seats) than the party with the next highest number. Lumumba was then asked by Belgian authorities to form the first government as Prime Minister.
• Adolf Eichmann arrived in Israel at {{Nowrap|7:35 a.m.}}, roughly 24 hours after he had been spirited out of Argentina.David Cesarani, Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, and Trial of a "Desk Murderer" (Da Capo Press, 2007), p234
• Born: Hideaki Anno, Japanese film director; in Ube, Yamaguchi

• A tsunami killed 61 people in the U.S. state of Hawaii, and injured 282, after rolling into the bay of Hilo at 1:05 a.m., local time (1105 UTC). The tsunami followed almost 20 hours after the Great Chilean Earthquake.{{cite book |first=Anthony D. |last=Fredericks |title=Tsunami Man: Learning About Killer Waves with Walter Dudley |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |year=2002 |pages=28–31}}

File:Georges Claude 1926.jpg

• A merger of the Unitarian and Universalist churches was endorsed at meetings held in Boston by delegates from the American Unitarian Association (725 to 143) and the Universalist Church of America (365 to 65), to create the Unitarian Universalist Association.{{cite book |first=Conrad |last=Wright |author-link=C. Conrad Wright |title=A Stream of Light: A Short History of American Unitarianism |publisher=Skinner House Books |year=1989 |page=154}}
• Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion of Israel surprised the Knesset at {{Nowrap|4:00 p.m.}}, with the announcement that, "Israeli Security Services captured one of the greatest Nazi criminals, Adolf Eichmann... Eichmann is already in detention in Israel, and will soon be put on trial here."{{cite news |title=Israelis Capture Top Nazi |newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes |date=May 24, 1960 |page=1}}{{cite book |first=Tim |last=Cole |title=Selling the Holocaust: From Auschwitz to Schindler |publisher=Routledge |year=2000 |page=49}}
• Spacecraft No. 4 (production number), after being instrumented and prepared by the Space Task Group and the Langley Research Center for flight tests, was delivered to Cape Canaveral for the Mercury-Atlas 1 mission.
• Died: Georges Claude, 89, French engineer described as "The Edison of France" for his inventions, including neon lighting and the process for the liquefaction of gases (including liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen).

• The Cincinnati Radiation Experiments began at the Cincinnati General Hospital. Dr. Eugene Saenger, a radiologist, had applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for a study titled "Metabolic Changes in Humans Following Total Body Irradiation", with the goal of determining how soldiers in nuclear war would be affected by large doses of radiation, and irradiated cancer patients without their consent during the first five years of the project. A consent form would be introduced in 1965, without mentioning possible side effects from the radiation exposure. Ninety patients were given high doses of radiation before the project was discontinued in 1971.{{cite book |first=Martha |last=Stephens |title=The Treatment: The Story of Those Who Died in the Cincinnati Radiation Tests |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2002 |pages=293–295}}
• Tsunamis from the Chilean earthquake, {{Convert|8000|mi}} away, struck the coast of Japan at Hokkaido, Sanriku and Kii, killing 119 people and washing away 2,800 homes.{{cite book |chapter=A Numerical Model for Far-Field Tsunamis and Its Application to Predict Damages Done to Aquaculture |first1=Osami |last1=Nagano |display-authors=etal |title=Tsunami Hazard: A Practical Guide for Tsunami Hazard Reduction |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |year=1991 |pages=235–236}}
• Thirty-eight hours after the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile, the Chilean volcano Cordón Caulle began a rhyodacitic fissure eruption.{{cite news |title=Chileans Hit By Volcano Eruption |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 23, 1960 |page=1}}
• The United States launched the Midas II satellite, the first designed to detect missile launches. "Midas" was an acronym for Missile Defense Alarm System.{{cite news |title='Spy-in-Sky' Midas Rocket in Orbit |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=May 24, 1960 |page=1}}
• Born: Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress; in Redruth, Cornwall

• At 0420 Beijing time, the Chinese Mountaineering Team successfully reached the summit Mount Everest from the north side.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
• An additional 5,000 people were killed in Chile as four new earthquakes struck during the day."4 New Quakes, Waves Hit Chile", Oakland Tribune, May 25, 1960, p1
• Voting for a 137-member Chamber of Deputies, carried out over a 15-day period, concluded in the Belgian Congo, as the nation prepared for independence. Patrice Lumumba's National Congolese Movement won a plurality of seats, with 36.

File:NSA Great Seal bug.jpg

• At the United Nations in New York, U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. displayed a hand-carved replica of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented by the Soviets as a gift to the American ambassador in Moscow, and the listening device that had been discovered inside "right under the beak of the eagle"."Lodge Bares Soviet Microphone Plant in Embassy at Moscow", Oakland Tribune, May 26, 1960, p1

• In Turkey, the army staged a coup d'état, led by General Cemal Gürsel, and arrested President Celal Bayar and Prime Minister Adnan Menderes."Strongman Ousted in Turkish Army Revolt", Oakland Tribune, May 27, 1960, p1 General Gürsel assumed both offices and replaced the legislature with 37 officers who formed the Milli Birlik Komitesi (Committee of National Unity).F.R.C. Bagley, The Muslim World: A Historical Survey (E.J. Brill, 1981), p54 Menderes, Foreign Minister Fatin Rustu Zorlu and Finance Minister Hasan Polatkan were later hanged, while Bayar was released after three years imprisonment."Celal Bayar: Conspiratorial Democrat", by George Harris, in Political Leaders and Democracy in Turkey (Lexington Books 2002), pp51–52
• King Mohammed V of Morocco dismissed Prime Minister Abdallah Ibrahim and Ibrahim's ministers, then took on the additional job of Prime Minister of Morocco.Lise Storm, Democratization in Morocco: The political elite and struggles for power in the post-independence state (Routledge, 2007) p18
• Dayton J. Lalonde completed a solo voyage from Los Angeles to Sydney after having been at sea on his sailboat, the Craig.William H. Longyard, A Speck on the Sea: Epic Voyages in the Most Improbable Vessels (International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2003), p229
• Ireland's Grand Canal, connecting Dublin to Limerick, was closed after 156 years.

• The musical Greenwillow closed at the Alvin Theater in New York City after only 95 performances.
• The American Society for Cell Biology was organized.Scientific and Technical Societies of the United States (National Academy of Sciences, 1968), p53
• Died: Ramón Gay, 42, Mexican film actor

• Syngman Rhee, formerly the President of South Korea, departed that nation for exile in Honolulu, where he would die five years later.Jürgen Kleiner, Korea: A Century of Change (World Scientific, 2001), p128
• The Monaco Grand Prix was won by Stirling Moss.
• The interrogation of Adolf Eichmann began.David Cesarani, Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, and Trial of a "Desk Murderer" (Da Capo Press, 2007), p242

• Jim Rathmann won the 1960 Indianapolis 500. Prior to the race, temporary seating collapsed, killing two people and injuring 70.

File:Boris Pasternak 1959 photo.jpg

• Died: Boris Pasternak, 70, Russian author known for his novel Doctor Zhivago

• Jane Goodall began her study of chimpanzees in the wild, arriving at Lolui Island in Kenya after her original plans, to go to the Gombe Reserve, were thwarted by a political dispute.Meg Greene, Jane Goodall: A Biography (Greenwood Press, 2005), p45
• The President's Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health in the U.S. reported that 25% of Americans had suffered from mental illness at some point in their lives.[http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/May+31 Hutchinson Encyclopedia]
• The Malayan Banking Berhad was incorporated.
• Born: Hervé Gaymard, French MP and former Minister of Agriculture and Finance Minister; in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie département
• Died: Walther Funk, 70, Reich Minister of Economics for Nazi Germany and President of the Reichsbank during World War II

{{reflist}}

{{Events by month links}}

1960

*1960-05