1960 - Events - September

September

• September 1
  • Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
  • Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the company's history (the event lasts two days).
• September 2 – The first elections of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration are held. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
• September 5
  • 1960 Summer Olympic Games: Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing.
  • The Congolese president, Joseph Kasavubu, fires Patrice Lumumba's entire government, and also places Lumumba under house arrest.
• September 6 – William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, two American cryptologists, announce their defection to the Soviet Union at a press conference in Moscow.
• September 8 – In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which had been activated by NASA on July 1).
• September 14
  • Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Republic of the Congo via a military coup.
  • The countries of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela form OPEC.
• September 22 – Mali, the sole remaining member of the "Mali Federation" following the withdrawal of Senegal one month earlier, declares its full independence as the Republic of Mali.
• September 26 – The leading candidates for President of the United States, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, made the first televised debate.