50 Fascinating Incidents and Facts From the 1960s

In 1962, President Kennedy invited 49 Nobel Laureates for dinner at the White House. Kennedy remarked, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

2. In 1969, Bill Cosby won a man of the year award and jokingly suggested re-naming the award "the nice guy as far as we know" award.

3. In 1966 after failing for 3 years to extinguish a gas well fire Soviet authorities decided to use a 30 kiloton atomic bomb. It was detonated at a depth of 1,500m, crushing the well and extinguishing the flames in seconds. Following this success, the same technique was used on 4 other well fires.

4. In 1964, Canada honored John F. Kennedy by naming the tallest unclimbed mountain in North America "Mt. Kennedy." In 1965, Robert F. Kennedy, as part of a National Geographic expedition, became the first person ever to reach the summit.

5. During the 1960s, many black civil rights protesters from Detroit were 'diagnosed' with schizophrenia (due to their 'hostile' and 'aggressive' behavior) and confined to asylums. Some protesters were locked up for more than 30 years and died in custody.

In 1963, Wendell Scott became to first African American to win a Nascar Race. Though being two laps ahead of the other cars, was ignored because the winner was to kiss a white beauty queen. He was awarded the trophy in 2010, 20 years after his death.

7. In 1965, Milton Olive III sacrificed his own life to save a group of soldiers by smothering a live grenade. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor award, becoming the first African American of the Vietnam War to do so.

8. During the 1960 campaign, John F. Kennedy's opponents said he had Addison's disease. His doctors released a cleverly worded statement saying that he did not have Addison's disease caused by tuberculosis, and the matter was dropped. He had Addison's disease caused by a rare autoimmune disease.

9. In 1964, two students attempted to kidnap the British Prime Minister Alec Douglas Home. The plot was foiled when he offered them beer. They accepted and abandoned their plot. This breach of security was only revealed in 2009.

10. A woman named Daniela Liverani in Scotland had frequent nosebleeds that she believed were due to a motorbike crash. She later found out her nosebleeds were because of something living inside of her. A month after the accident, while in the shower, she discovered that there was a 3-inch long leech living in her nostril.

In 1967, Van Morrison still owed his record company 31 songs to finish his contract, so he quickly wrote and recorded 31 nonsense songs with titles such as "Ring Worm", "You Say France And I Whistle", "Blow In Your Nose" and "Want A Danish?"

12. In 1961, a little girl named Michelle Rochon wrote a letter to John F. Kennedy asking if Santa Claus was okay during the Soviet's nuclear testing at the North Pole. Kennedy wrote back to her saying that he spoke with Santa and that he's okay.

13. In 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle demanded that all American military personnel leave France. American President Lyndon Johnson asked if that order applied to American soldiers in French cemeteries. 

14. 1964 Olympic champion Ewa Kłobukowska, failed the newly-introduced gender test before the European Cup in 1967 and was consequently banned from competing and stripped of her records. A year later, she gave birth to her first child.

15. In 1966, two men named Miguel Jose Viana and Manoel Pereira da Cruz climbed up a hill in Brazil, placed lead masks over their faces, and apparently killed themselves for unexplained reasons. The only clue left behind was a note that read, "16:30 be at agreed place, 18:30 swallow capsules, after effect protect metals wait for mask signal."

In 1960, Slinky inventor Richard James left his wife and their six children to join a cult down in Bolivia. His wife, Betty, took over and turned the failing company completely around. In 2001, Betty was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame.

17. In 1963, an East German soldier named Wolfgang Engels stole a tank and drove it through the Berlin Wall at top speed to try and escape.

18. In 1962, American journalist Mike Wallace's oldest son Peter went missing while exploring in Greece. Wallace flew to Greece alone, asked the question, followed his son's last known locations and found his body at the bottom of a hill where he fell while hiking.

19. In 1968, Billy Joel looped some random cables around his shoulder, put on a fake British accent, and pretended to be Jimi Hendrix's roadie to sneak into a concert. He wound up being convincing enough to actually be put to work as a stagehand during the show.

20. In 1963, San Francisco Giants Manager Alvin Dark joked, "they'll put a man on the moon before [Giants pitcher] Gaylord Perry hits a home run." On July 20, 1969, less than an hour after Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk, Perry smacked his first career homer.

In 1969, a musician named Jim Sullivan recorded an album called “U.F.O.“, which featured strange lyrics about leaving his family and being abducted by aliens. Sullivan disappeared 6 years later without a trace, the only piece of evidence being his abandoned car found on a desert road.

22. During the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact soldiers, road signs in towns were removed or painted over to confuse invading troops—except for those indicating the way to Moscow.

23. In 1962, an intruder climbing the fence at a Minnesota air base set off the "sabotage alarm" in all bases in the area. In one base, due to wrong wiring, the Klaxon was sounded ordering nuclear-armed aircraft to take off, and the pilots believed World War 3 has started. The original intruder was a bear. 

24. In 1966, Paul McCartney penned a song under the name Bernard Webb to see if he could produce a hit without his name. It was recorded by Peter and Gordon and reached #14 on the charts.

25. In the 60s, the CIA sponsored a Harvard study where an undergraduate student was humiliated and subjected to "brutalizing psychological experiments". The student who had the worse reaction to the experiment was Ted Kaczynski who later became the Unabomber.