1960 (MCMLX) was .

Events 
 January – State of emergency is lifted in Kenya – Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
 January 1 – Independence of Cameroon
 January 9 – Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
 January 14 – Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire.
 January 14 – Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank created (a)
 January 23 – Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
 January 24 – A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
 January 25 – The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disk jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
 February 1 – (Greensboro, N.C.) Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
 February 9 – Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
 February 9 – Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500.000. Coors is later found killed and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted
 February 11 – The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
 February 13 – Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb
 February 29 – Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.
 March 21 – The Sharpeville Massacre occurs in South Africa.
 April 4 – Senegal becomes independent.
 April 27 – Togo becomes independent.
 May 1 – A Lockheed U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
 May 11 – Nazi politician Adolf Eichmann is captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Mossad.
 May 22 – The Great Chilean Earthquake occurs.
 June 26 – The British protectorate Somaliland becomes independent.
 June 26 – Madagascar becomes independent.
 June 30 – The present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
 July 1 – Somalia becomes independent.
 July 1 – Ghana becomes a Republic.
 August 1 – Benin becomes independent.
 August 3 – Niger becomes independent.
 August 5 – Upper Volta becomes independent. It is later renamed Burkina Faso.
 August 11 – Chad becomes independent.
 August 13 – The Central African Republic becomes independent.
 August 15 – The Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
 August 17 – Gabon becomes independent.
 October 1 – Nigeria becomes independent.
 October 24 – Zambia becomes independent.
 November 8 – John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States.
 November 28 – Mauritania becomes independent.

Births 
 January 4 – Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.
 January 6 – Nigella Lawson, celebrity chef, writer
 January 6 – Howie Long, American football star
 January 11 – Stanley Tucci, actor
 January 12 – Oliver Platt, actor
 January 13 – Kevin Anderson, actor
 January 22 – Michael Hutchence, musician ("INXS") (d. 1997)
 January 28 – Robert von Dassanowsky, cultural historian, writer, producer
 January 29 – Greg Louganis, Olympics gold medalist in diving
 February 7 – James Spader, actor (Pretty in Pink, Stargate, The Practice)
 February 11 – Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
 February 13 – Pierluigi Collina, football referee
 February 14 – Jim Kelly, American football quarterback
 February 19 – Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II
 February 29 – Cheb Khaled, Algerian musician
 February 29 – Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
 March 4 – Mykelti Williamson, actor
 March 7 – Joe Carter, baseball star
 March 7 – Ivan Lendl, tennis player
 March 13 – Adam Clayton, bassist for the rock band U2
 March 18 – Richard Biggs, actor
 March 21 – Ayrton Senna, automobile racer (d. 1994)
 March 24 – Nena Kerner, German singer
 March 26 – Marcus Allen, American football star
 March 29 – Marina Sirtis, actress
 April 2 – Linford Christie, British athlete
 April 3 – Elizabeth Gracen, American actress, model, winner of 1982 Miss America pageant
 April 4 – Jane Eaglin, English soprano
 April 4 – Hugo Weaving, actor
 April 12 - Dennis Bateman, American voice actor
 April 14 – Brad Garrett, actor
 April 15 – Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium
 April 16 – Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
 April 16 – Pierre Littbarski, German football player and manager
 April 19 – Frank Viola, baseball player
 April 26 – Roger Taylor, musician ("Duran Duran")
 April 28 – Ian Rankin, Scottish writer
 May 4 – Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria.
 May 10 – Bono, singer of U2
 May 18 – Jari Kurri, Hockey Hall of Famer
 May 18 – Yannick Noah, tennis player
 May 19 – Gadi Eizenkot, Israeli general
 May 20 – John Billingsley, actor
 May 21 – Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer (d. 1994)
 May 24 – Kristin Scott Thomas, British actress
 June 6 – Gary Graham, actor
 June 6 – Steve Vai, musician
 June 8 – Mick Hucknall singer/songwriter of Simply Red
 June 20 – John Taylor, musician, Duran Duran
 June 28 – John Elway, Pro Football Hall of Famer
 June 30 - Murray Cook, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
 July 21 – Ezequiel Viñao, composer
 August 4 – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
 August 7 – David Duchovny, actor (The X-Files)
 August 10 – Antonio Banderas, actor (Desperado, Spy Kids)
 August 19 – Morten Andersen, American football player
 August 24 – Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball star
 August 26 – Branford Marsalis, jazz musician
 September 1 - Joseph Williams, American singer (Toto)
 September 9 – Hugh Grant, English actor
 September 10 – Colin Firth, actor
 September 16 – John Franco, baseball relief pitcher
 September 17 – Damon Hill, 1996 Formula 1 World Champion
 September 26 – Jouke de Vries, Frisian politician and professor
 October 5 – Daniel Baldwin, actor
 October 7 – Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese rock singer
 October 30 – Diego Maradona, football (soccer) player
 November 3 – Karch Kiraly, volleyball star
 November 9 – Andreas Brehme, German footballer
 November 10 – Neil Gaiman, writer
 November 25 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer and journalist (d. 1999)
 November 25 – Amy Grant, contemporary Christian music star
 November 27 – Tim Pawlenty, American politician
 November 27 – Paul Robinson, writer
 November 27 – Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian politician
 November 30 – Gary Lineker, English footballer.
 December 2 – Rick Savage, bass guitarist (Def Leppard).
 December 3 – Julianne Moore, actress
 December 4 – Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete
 December 9 – Caroline Lucas, British politician
 December 10 – Kenneth Branagh, actor, movie director
 December 18 – Kazuhide Uekusa, former Japanese professor of graduate school at Waseda University, economist
 December 19 – Mike Lookinland, television actor
 December 27 – Maryam d'Abo, actress
 December 31 – John Allen Muhammad, convicted Beltway sniper
 December 31 – Steve Bruce, English football player and manager

Deaths 
 January 4 – Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1913)
 January 12 – Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
 January 24 – Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
 February 3 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
 February 10 – Aloysius Stepinac, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1898)
 February 11 – Ernö Dohnányi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
 February 29 – Walter Yust, American editor-in-chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica (b.1894)
 March 2 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
 April 1 – Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (b. 1895)
 May 8 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904).
 May 30 – Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist (b. 1890)
 May 31 – Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (b. 1890)
 June 23 – Frantisek Omelka, Czech educator (b. 1904)
 June 25 – Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (b. 1869)
 June 27 – Lottie Dod, English athlete (b. 1871)
 August 5 – Arthur Meighen, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
 August 28 – John O'Hara, U.S. Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1888)
 August 29 – Vicki Baum, Jewish writer (b. 1888)
 September 1 – Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (b. 1898)
 September 9 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (b. 1911)
 October 15 – Henny Porten, German movie producer
 November 2 – Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (b. 1896)
 November 5 – Mack Sennett, Canadian movie producer and director (b. 1880)
 November 16 – Clark Gable, American actor (b. 1901)
 December 26 – Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)

Movies released 
 Exodus
 Spartacus
 Swiss Family Robinson
 The Apartment
 The Alamo
 Toby Tyler
 Pollyanna
 Psycho

Hit songs 
 "Only The Lonely" – Roy Orbison
 "Today's Teardrops" – Roy Orbison, written by Gene Pitney
 "I'm Sorry" – Brenda Lee
 "True Love Ways" – Buddy Holly
 "Chain Gang" – Sam Cooke
 "Save The Last Dance For Me" – The Drifters
 "Stay" – Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
 "Walk, Don't Run" – The Ventures
 "Rubber Ball" – Bobby Vee
 "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" – Brian Hyland
 "Cathy's Clown" – The Everly Brothers
 "Sink the Bismarck" – Johnny Horton
 "North To Alaska" – Johnny Horton
 "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" – Connie Francis
 "Good Timin'" – Jimmy Jones
 "You're Sixteen" – Johnny Burnette
 "You Talk Too Much" – Joe Jones
 "Georgia On My Mind" – Ray Charles
 "It's Now Or Never" – Elvis Presley
 "Road Runner" – Bo Diddley
 "Exodus" – Ferrante & Teicher
 "Dreamin' " – Johnny Burnette
 "Alley-Oop" – Hollywood Argyles
 "Mission Bell" – Donnie Brooks
 "What In the World's Come Over You" – Jack Scott
 "Burning Bridges" – Jack Scott
 "T'Aimer Follement" – Dalida
 "L'Arlequin de Tolède" – Dalida
 "Les Enfants du Pirée" – Dalida
 "Romantica" – Dalida
 "Itsi Bitsi Petit Bikini" – Dalida
 "'O Sole Mio" – Dalida
 "Tall Oak Tree" – Dorsey Burnette
 "Wild One" – Bobby Rydell
 "Teen Angel" – Mark Dinning
 "Mule Skinner Blues" – The Fendermen
 "Corinna, Corinna" – Ray Peterson
 "Tell Laura I Love Her" – Ray Peterson

New books 
 Border Country – Raymond Williams
 Casanova's Chinese Restaurant – Anthony Powell
 The Chapman Report – Irving Wallace
 Clea – Lawrence Durrell
 Critique of Dialectical Reason – Jean-Paul Sartre
 Don't Tell Alfred – Nancy Mitford
 For Your Eyes Only – Ian Fleming
 Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss
 Hunters in a Narrow Street – Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
 The Many Colored Coat – Morley Callaghan
 New Maps of Hell – Kingsley Amis (non-fiction)
 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – William L. Shirer
 Take a Girl Like You – Kingsley Amis
 Tintin in Tibet- Hergé
 To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
 The Torch – Wilder Penfield
 Truth and Method – Hans-Georg Gadamer
 The Violent Bear It Away – Flannery O'Connor
 The White Stone – Carlo Coccioli
 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? – Henry Farrell