1960s Timeline

Latest Podcasts

Politics | Culture | Entertainment | Sports

6 days ago

Over 1,000 Reported Dead in Balinese Volcano

Mar. 21, 1963 - Balinese Government officials said today more than 1,000 people are believed to have died under foaming lava and deluges of hot ash pouring from the sacred Agung volcano in the last four days. They predicted the death toll would rise. Some 70 persons were reported hospitalized with burns, and an estimated 100,000 were said to be walking and riding toward safety, laden with whatever possessions they could carry. They were trying to get away as quickly as possib

Mar 8

Fire Destroys School in Bellport, 55 Injured

Mar. 8, 1963 - A small circle of flame mushroomed with explosive fury today and raced through an old two-story wing of a high school in Bellport, N.Y. Forty-four students and a teacher were injured in making their frantic escape. Improvised fire nets failed to break the fall of some youngsters who had leaped through panes of glass from second story windows. One boy broke both legs; another broke a kneecap. The teacher wrenched her back. There were no fatalities among the 900

Dec 15, 2022

Air Freighter Crashes in L.A., 4 Bodies Recovered So Far

Dec. 15, 1962 - A Flying Tiger Constellation air freighter with five persons aboard crashed in a dense fog last night while attempting to land in Los Angeles, setting eight buildings — most of them homes — on fire. The fire department said at least four bodies were recovered. The Flying Tiger Line said the Constellation was approaching Lockheed Air terminal near Burbank on a flight from Chicago when it barreled into homes in a heavily populated section of the San Fernando Val

Dec 1, 2022

Plane Crash at Idlewild, 25 Dead

Dec. 1, 1962 - An airliner carrying 51 persons crashed and burned while landing in heavy fog last night at New York’s Idlewild Airport. Twenty-five persons were killed, and another was still missing early today. There were 25 survivors, some of whom were injured. The plane, an Eastern Air Lines DC-7B, was coming in at 9:45 p.m. from Charlotte, N.C. It was approaching the eastern end of the field when it suddenly veered from the runway, about 50 feet above the ground. A wing s

Nov 15, 2022

New Book on ’17 Explosion in Canada

Nov. 15, 1962 - On December 6, 1917, a French freighter loaded with more than 2,500 tons of explosives collided with another vessel in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and caught fire. Minutes later, she blew up in “an explosion [pictured below] which unleashed a man-made destructive force unequalled until the first atomic bomb.” In a new book called “The Town That Died,” Michael Bird tells of this disaster in which 1,782 were killed, 9,000 injured, and many more thousands

Oct 3, 2022

N.Y.C. Fireman Loses Fiancee in Explosion

Oct. 3, 1962 - New York City fireman Robert Roth, 22, a strong man, a brave man, wept. The place was the medical examiner’s mortuary, 520 First Ave., at 30th St. The time was 4:55 p.m. The reason was that Roth believed that the body of his fiancée, Margaret Meyer, 22, lay among the 18 dead awaiting identification at this house of sorrow. “She is here,” he said between wrenching sobs. Roth was among the off-duty firemen, policemen, and rescue workers who did what they could in

Oct 3, 2022

Twenty-One Killed in Steam Boiler Explosion at N.Y. Telephone Company

Oct. 3, 1962 - At least 21 persons were killed and 95 injured today when a steam boiler exploded in a building of the New York Telephone Company at 213th Street and Broadway. Nineteen of the dead were women. The blast blew the boiler into the building’s cafeteria, where about 100 employees, mostly women, were beginning their lunch hour. Most if not all the deaths and injuries occurred there. The boiler, weighing more than a ton, rocketed through the room, struck the ceiling,

Jun 20, 2022

Settlement in 1960 Dumbbell Death

June 20, 1962 - Martin Gabel and his wife Arlene Francis (pictured with their son Peter in 1953) have agreed to pay $185,000 to the widow of a Detroit man who was killed two years ago when a dumbbell fell from the Gabels’ eighth-floor window on Park Avenue. The dumbbell, used as a window prop, was accidentally dislodged by a maid. It landed on Mr. Alvin Rodecker’s head, killing him instantly. The Gabels were away at the time. Mr. Rodecker’s widow had filed suit for $500,000.

Jun 3, 2022

Tragedy Hits the Bevington Family

June 3, 1962 - The three small children of Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Bevington have one parent alive today — their father — because their parents made it a policy never to fly together. Their mother, Mrs. Betsy Bevington (right), died today in the crash of an Air France jetliner in Paris. Mrs. Bevington, who had toured with the Atlanta Art Association, had met her husband in Paris last week. Mr. Bevington, manager of an air-conditioning equipment concern, was on a business trip. Both

Jun 3, 2022

Cause of Paris Plane Crash a Mystery

June 3, 1962 - The destruction of an Air France Boeing 707 jet today at Orly Airport took place in bright sunlight and with barely a cloud in the sky. The jetliner began to roll down the long runway at 12:25 p.m. According to eyewitnesses, the plane gathered runway speed quickly. As it reached the speed at which it should have become airborne, it rose about six feet and then faltered. The jet settled to the runway, and there is evidence in marks on the runway that the pilot t

Jun 3, 2022

🚨Plane Crashes at Orly Airport in Paris, 130 Dead

June 3, 1962 - One hundred thirty persons were killed today when an Air France Boeing 707 jet crashed and burned while taking off for New York from Orly Airport in France. The only survivors were two stewardesses. A steward was found alive in the wreckage, but he died 10 hours later. It was the worst disaster involving a single airplane in the history of aviation. All of the victims except seven crew members and one passenger were Americans, and most of these were from Atlant

May 26, 2022

FBI Investigating Iowa Plane Crash That Killed 45

May 26, 1962 - An explosion of unknown origin caused a Continental Airlines jetliner to disintegrate in flight and crash in the vicinity of Centerville, Iowa, last Tuesday night, a Civil Aeronautics Board spokesman said today. All 45 persons aboard were killed in the crash. In Denver, Robert F. Six, Continental’s president, asked the F.B.I. to enter the investigation because, he said, the airline had “sufficient evidence to indicate the probability that a man-made explosive h

Mar 1, 2022

Fifteen Paintings by Gorky Lost in Plane Crash Today

Mar. 1, 1962 - A collection of about 15 works by the late Arshile Gorky (pictured) were reported this evening to have been lost in the crash this morning of the jet airliner in Jamaica Bay, New York. Works by Gorky, an outstanding abstractionist and controversial figure in the art world, had been destroyed before by fire. On two occasions before he died, his paintings were destroyed in studio fires. Two other fires since his death have destroyed other of his works, including

Feb 1, 2022

95 Dead in Jamaica Bay Plane Crash

Mar. 1, 1962 - Ninety-five persons were killed today in a jet airliner crash in Jamaica Bay, New York City. It was the highest toll involving a single commercial airplane in U.S. history. The American Airlines Boeing 707 crashed an hour before the city started a spectacular welcome to Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. The four-engine aircraft had just taken off for Los Angeles from Idlewild Airport at 10:07 a.m. It was making a turn three miles southwest of the field at Idlewild,

Jan 31, 2022

Two Flying Wallendas Killed During Michigan Show

Jan. 31, 1962 - Two members of the Flying Wallendas circus high-wire act lost their lives last night in a fall as the troupe performed at a Shrine circus. Two other aerialists, one a girl, were injured seriously. Richard Faughan, 29, and Dieter Schoep, 33, were injured fatally in a fall of 50 feet from the wire to the floor of the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. They died at Highland Park General Hospital. The injured were Mario Wallenda, 22, and Jane Schoep (pictured),

Sep 1, 2021

🚨TWA Airliner Crashes Near Chicago, 78 Dead

Sept. 1, 1961 - A TWA Lockheed Constellation airliner plunged into a cornfield 20 miles west of Chicago today, killing all 78 persons aboard. The crash was the worst single-plane disaster in U.S. commercial aviation history. The plane crashed four minutes after taking off from Chicago's Midway Airport bound for Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Family groups on vacation - one of seven, another of six, another of five - were among the victims. Aviation officials said

Jul 18, 2021

Ex-Con Claims to have Caused 1937 School Explosion that Killed 293 in Texas

July 18, 1961 - A lie detector test proved inconclusive today on an ex-convict who said he had unintentionally caused a 1937 Texas school explosion (pictured) that killed 293 students and teachers. The ex-convict is William E. Benson, 41 years old. Oklahoma City police arrested him last night for questioning about a $38 robbery. He told them he had been responsible for the New London, Tex., high school disaster of March 18, 1937. His 14-year-old sister had been killed in the

Jul 18, 2021

Wife of State Dept. Chief of Protocol Killed in Plane Crash

July 18, 1961 - Mrs. Angier Biddle Duke (pictured left, holding her daughter Maria-Luisa in 1955), wife of the State Department's Chief of Protocol (center), two other socially prominent women and a pilot were killed today when their chartered plane crashed in residential Jackson Heights, Queens. Their single-engined Beechcraft Bonanza plunged, apparently straight down, into a garden within 20 feet of a two-story house. Six children had been chasing butterflies on a lawn next

Jul 5, 2021

New Record for July 4th Traffic Deaths

July 5, 1961 - A total of 509 persons died in traffic accidents over the 4-day Independence Day weekend, a record for any similar summer holiday. The total of 924 accidental deaths, 204 of them from drowning, was a record for any holiday period, winter or summer. California had the most traffic fatalities - 47. The previous summer holiday record was 491 dead over the Fourth of July holiday of 1950, which also was four days long. #autosafety #carcrash #traffic #disaster