The beginning of the 1960s brought with it a burst of colour after the stark black and white conservatism of the 50s. Decades of war, hopelessness, and poverty had given way to hope, promise and prosperity. You can relive this fascinating year in history by selecting an original newspaper of your choice with our archive search.
Famously known as “the swinging sixties”, America was completely transformed thanks to freedom, fun, and music. The 60’s was characterised by rock and roll and was the decade of the Hippie movement, which celebrated freedom and love, and brought recreational drugs into the mainstream. Fashion mirrored the freedom mentality of the decade. Women’s clothes were designed to be liberating, allowing them to run and jump after the restrictive clothes of the 50’s. The miniskirt was invented, and geometric and psychedelic prints took over. A 1960 newspaper is a great way to commemorate the beginning of one of the coolest decades in history, and to understand it through the eyes and words of those who lived it.
Which 1960 headlines captured the attention of the American public and kept reporters writing and photographers snapping? Find out what happened with an authentic 1960s newspaper chronicling all the events of the year as they happened.
February 3, 1960
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the ‘Wind of Change’ speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town. He had originally made the speech in Accra on 10th January 1960, but it had received little publicity.
February 18, 1960
The 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
March 3, 1960
Elvis Presley returns home from Germany after being away on military duty for two years.
June 26, 1960
British Somaliland gains independence from the United Kingdom. Five days later, it unites with the former Italian Somaliland to create the modern Somali Republic.
July 10, 1960
The Soviet Union beats Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first ever European Football Championship.
July 11, 1960
Harper Lee releases her critically acclaimed novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
July 21, 1960
Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard ‘Gypsy Moth II’, having made a record solo Atlantic crossing in forty days.
August 25, 1960
The 1960 Summer Olympics open in Rome, Italy.
October 29, 1960
Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, wins his first professional fight in Louisville, Kentucky.
October 30, 1960
Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
November 2, 1960
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ case.
December 2, 1960
The Archbishop of Canterbury talks with Pope John XXIII for approximately one hour in the Vatican. It is the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican Church had visited the Pope.