Let's go back to 1960 and take a quick stroll down memory lane...
Dwight D. Eisenhower was President and “Tricky Dick” was his veep, the U.S. population was 180,671,158, and our life expectancy was 69.7 years. The high for the Dow-Jones that year was 685 and the low was 566 – while Federal spending was a whopping $92.19 billion, the Federal debt was $290.5 billion and our inflation was at 1.4%. Now – you’d better sit down – the cost of a new home was a mere $16,500, a first-class stamp was $ .04, a gallon of gas was $ .31, a dozen eggs cost $ .57 and a half gallon of milk cost $ .25.
Also in 1960, the world’s first weather satellite was launched – as was Eco One, the world’s first communication satellite, Cassius Clay won the Olympic gold in boxing, Barry Gordy borrowed $800 to start Motown Records and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz filed for divorce.
New words that came to be that year included Anchorman, sit-in, cosmonaut, bluegrass, laser, and compact car.
A few of the best-selling books in 1960 were “Advise and Consent” (Allen Drury), “Hawaii” (James Michener), “The Chapman Report” (Irving Wallace) and “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” (William L. Shirer) – while Harper Lee won a Pulitzer Prize for “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Other tidbits…
- Captain Gary Powers U-2 Spy plane was shot down
- Israelis kidnapped Adolf Eichmann from Argentina to Jerusalem
- JFK was elected President and the Democrats swept congress
- Two white public schools in New Orleans were the first to integrate
- The first contraceptive pill – Enovil 10 – sold for $.50 each
- Howdy Doody show ended after 13 years
In sports, Norm Van Brocklin (Philadelphia QB) and Joe Schmidt (Detroit LB) were named Football’s MVPs, while Philly took the championship for the year from Green Bay with a score of 17 – 13. (There was no Super Bowl yet!). Pittsburgh snatched the World
Series from the hands of Casey Stengel’s Yankees in the the 7th game – and Boston took the NBA
Championship that year, beating the St. Louis Hawks.
TV was a major evening past-time in 1960, and our favorites that year were dominated by westerns…. Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun, Will Travel, and Rawhide…though The Andy Griffith Show – with little Ronnie Howard – was a huge favorite, too.
The biggest grossing movie that year was Psycho with La Dolce Vita coming in 2nd – but the movie that won the Oscar that year was The Apartment, while Elizabeth Taylor and Burt Lancaster took acting honors for Butterfield 8 and Elmer Gantry respectively.
In the recording industry, Bob Newhart was named Best New Artist – while his album “Button Down Mind” took Album of the Year honors. The record of the year was “Theme From A Summer Place” – while the song of the year was “Theme From Exodus”. And the music we listened to on the radio included “You Talk Too Much”, “Cathy’s Clown”, “The Twist”, “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “Running Bear”.