June
June 1 - New Zealand's first television transmission occurs when a switch is flicked in Shortland Street, Auckland
June 4 - The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland.
June 6 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy wins the California Democratic primary.
June 9 - Typhoon Mary kills 1,000,000 in the Fukien province of China.
June 15 - Violent demonstrations at Tokyo University result in 182 arrests, 589 injuries.
June 15 - BC Ferries, the second largest ferry operator in the world, starts service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
June 19 - The Associated Broadcasting Company is founded in the Philippines.
June 20 - The Mali Federation between Senegal and Sudanese Republic (now Mali) gains independence from France.
June 23 - Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi announces his resignation.
June 24 - Joseph Kasavubu is elected the first president of independent Congo.
June 24 - Avro 748 makes its first flight at Woodford, UK.
June 26 - British Somaliland gains independence from the United Kingdom; 5 days later it unites with the former Italian Somaliland to create the modern Somali Republic.
June 28 - The University of Novi Sad is founded.
June 29 - The Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS), the fourth TV station in the Philippines, is launched.
June 30 - Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium; civil war follows.
June 30 - Public demonstrations by democratic and left forces, against Italian government support of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, are heavily suppressed by police.
July
July 1 - Ghana becomes a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom ceases to be the Head of state.
July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shoots down a 6-man RB-47. Two United States Air Force officers survive and are imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison.
July 1 - Italian Somailand Gains it's Independence from Italy, 5 days after the British Somailand
July 4 - Following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state the previous year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
July 10 - The Soviet Union beats Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first European Football Championship.
July 11 - Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent; he receives Belgian help.
July 11 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy is nominated for President at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California.
July 12 - Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
July 14 - The United Nations decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee Belgian troops withdrawal.
July 20 - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II — he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days.
July 25 - The Woolworth's counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the subject of a sit-in which sparked sit-ins and pickets across the southern United States in February 1960, serves its first black customer.
July 25-July 28 - In Chicago, the Republican National Convention nominates U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon for President and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. for Vice President.
July 27 - The OECD is founded in Paris.
August
August 1 - Benin become independent from France, under the name Dahomey.
August 5 - Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) declares independence from France.
August 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
August 6 - In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Albert Kalonji declares the independence of the Autonomous State of South Kasai.
August 7 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
August 13 - Central African Republic becomes independent.
August 15 - Congo-Brazzaville becomes independent.
August 16 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h).
August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
August 17 - The newly named Beatles begin a forty-eight night residency at the Indra Club in Hamburg, West Germany.
August 17 - Gabon gains independence from France.
August 17 - The trial of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
August 19 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
August 19 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5, with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft returns to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
August 20 - Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring independence.
August 25 - The 1960 Summer Olympics are open in Rome.
August 25 - The USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the North Pole, where the crew plays softball.
August 29 - Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida and New England.
September
September 1 - Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
September 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the company's history (the event lasts 2 days).
September 5 - 1960 Summer Olympics: Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing.
September 5 - Congo president Joseph Kasavubu fires Patrice Lumumba's government and places him under house arrest.
September 8 - In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which NASA had already activated on July 1).
September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Congo in a military coup.
September 14 - Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC.
September 22 - Mali, sole remaining member of the Mali Federation following the withdrawal of Senegal a month earlier, declares full independence as the Republic of Mali.
September 26 - The 2 leading U.S. presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.
October
October 1 - Nigeria gains independence; Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General.
October 3 - Jânio Quadros is elected president of Brazil for a 5-year term.
October 5 - White South Africans vote to make the country a republic.
October 12 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a United Nations General Assembly meeting, to protest at the discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
October 12 - Otoya Yamaguchi assassinates Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the Japanese Socialist Party.
October 14 - U.S. presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps.
October 24 - A rocket explodes in the Baikonur Space Center during fueling, killing 91.
October 26 - Robert F. Kennedy calls Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, and secures his release from jail on a traffic violation in Atlanta, Georgia.
October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
October 30 - Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.