Friday, September 9, 1960: American Football League

The AFL makes its regular-season debut as the Denver Broncos defeat the Boston Patriots, 13-10, before about 21,000 fans in Boston. The eight-team league marks the first serious challenge to the National Football League since the All-American Football Conference ended operations in 1949. (The NFL and the AFL would merge in 1966, with the first Super Bowl in January 1967.)

* Box score: @

* Footage from Patriots practices: @ and @

* History of AFL (from Pro Football Hall of Fame): @

* RememberTheAFL.com (fan website): @

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Thursday, September 8, 1960: Thalidomide

The William S. Merrell Co. (Cincinnati, Ohio) submits a new drug application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Kevadon, the brand name of a sedative -- thalidomide -- that had been marketed around the world since 1957. Citing safety concerns, the FDA refuses to approve the application and Kevadon would not be available for sale in the United States; however, thousands of patients in the U.S. still received Kevadon, as the company had sent samples to doctors for investigational use. The drug, which was also promoted as easing nausea during pregnancy, was later found to cause severe birth defects, affecting thousands of newborns worldwide (but far fewer in the United States). It would be pulled off the market in 1961 and 1962. (The ads shown here are for Distaval and Valgraine, which were among the brand names in England; click on image to see a larger version. More ads can be seen here.)

Note: Some resources put the application date as September 12; I used September 8, based on a statement given by Merrill's director of medical research to Congress in 1962.

* More about Francis Oldham Kelsey of the FDA, who refused to allow approval of the drug: @ and @ and @

* 2010 articles on Kelsey (New York Times, Washington Post): @ and @

* Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada: @

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Thursday, September 1, 1960: Bill Mauldin

Working for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Bill Mauldin publishes this editorial cartoon about the slow pace of school integration in the United States. (Click here for a larger image.) It was one of several cartoons about race relations drawn by Mauldin, who created the World War II characters "Willie and Joe."

The cartoon appeared six years after Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. And it came two months after the National Education Association continued with its cautious approach to the matter, adopting the following statement at its annual meeting (italics are mine): "The National Education Association believes that integration of all groups in our public schools is an evolving process which concerns every state and territory in our nation. The Association urges that citizens approach the matter of desegregation in the public schools with the spirit of fairness, good will and respect for law which has always been an outstanding characteristic of the American people. It is the conviction of the Association that all problems of desegregation in our schools are capable of solution at the state and local levels by citizens of intelligence, saneness and reasonableness working together in the interests of national unity for the common good of all."

* Bill Mauldin website: @

* "Beyond Willie and Joe" (Library of Congress): @

* More about Brown v. Board of Education: @ and @ and @ (National Historic Site)

* Full text of ruling: @

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Undated: The Mercury 13

Under the privately funded Woman in Space program, 19 women are subjected to the same battery of tests as the Mercury 7 astronauts to see if they are fit for spaceflight. Over the course of the program (1960-61), 13 of the women -- the so-called Mercury 13 -- pass the first series of tests; Jerrie Cobb of Oklahoma (left), the first to be tested, is the only one to pass all three phases. (The program would be shelved, however, for a variety of reasons, for reasons ranging from qualifications to politics. The first woman in space would be the Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova in June 1963; it would be June 1983 before a American woman -- Sally Ride -- would go into space.)

* NASA summary: @

* Listen to NPR segment: @

* Watch History Channel documentary (5 parts): @

* Time magazine article on Cobb (August 29, 1960): @

* Life magazine article on Cobb (August 29, 1960): @

* "The 'Astronautrix' and the 'Magnificent Male' " (from the book "Impossible to Hold: Women and Culture in the 1960s"): @

* "The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight" (book): @

* "Right Stuff, Wrong Sex: America's First Women in Space Program" (book): @

* "Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race" (book): @

* "A Forgotten Moment in Physiology" (scientific paper): @

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Saturday, August 27, 1960: 'Ax Handle Saturday'

A sit-in demonstration turns violent in Jacksonville, Florida, when black protesters are attacked by whites as the protesters leave Woolworth and W.T. Grant stores. Dozens of people -- protesters and bystanders alike -- are injured, and the event gains national attention. (Click on "civil rights" tag for earlier related posts.)

* Anniversary coverage from Florida Times-Union: @

* "It Was Never About a Hot Dog and a Coke" (book: @ and video: @)

* Life magazine coverage (September 12 issue): @

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Saturday, August 27, 1960: The last 'Lousiana Hayride'

The country music radio show began in 1948, broadcasting every Saturday on radio station KWKH from the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The show was carried around the country, as well as overseas on Armed Forces Radio. Through the years performers such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, Jimmie Davis (the two-term "Singing Governor" of Louisiana who wrote "You Are My Sunshine") and Elvis Presley played the so-called "Cradle of the Stars."

* Listen to "The Louisiana Hayride Medley": @

* "Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music Along the Red River" (book): @

* "Country Chameleons: Cajuns on the Louisiana Hayride": @

* Photos from Elvis' last "Hayride" performance, Dec. 15, 1956. (It was the first time the phrase "Elvis has left the building" was used; you can hear it through a link on this site): @

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Thursday, August 25, 1960: Nixon and Jack Paar

Republican presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon appears on "The Jack Paar Tonight Show." (Democrat John F. Kennedy had appeared earlier; see entry of June 16.) Nixon's wife, Pat, joins him on stage later in the show. Paar's first question -- about Nixon's performance as vice president -- refers to a statement made the previous day by President Eisenhower at a news conference. Eisenhower was asked if he could provide an example of any "major idea" by Nixon that had been adopted by the administration. Eisenhower's memorable reply: "If you give me a week, I might think of one. I don't remember." (The remark would resurface as part of a Kennedy campaign ad, and also during the first Kennedy-Nixon debate on September 26.)

* Transcript of "Jack Paar Show": @

* Kennedy campaign ad: @

* Transcript of Eisenhower news conference: @

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Wednesday, August 24, 1960: Polio vaccine (update)

The surgeon general of the United States approves the use of the oral vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin, shown at left. (See entry of April 24.)

* Surgeon general's statement: @

* Footage of oral vaccine trials earlier in the year in Florida: @

* Excerpt from "Sentinel for Health: A History of the Centers for Disease Control": @

* "Sabin versus Salk" -- excerpt from "Great Feuds in Medicine: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever": @

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Undated: Little Richard goes gospel

The rock 'n' roll whirlwind -- whose '50s hits included "Tutti-Frutti," "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and "Lucille" -- releases two gospel albums after saying he is giving up popular music for the ministry. The albums are called "Pray Along with Little Richard, Vol. 1: A Closer Walk With Thee" and "Pray Along with Little Richard, Vol. 2: I'm Quitting Show Business."

* Listen to "Just A Closer Walk with Thee": @

* Biographies: @ and @

* Discography: @

* Fan site: @

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Undated: Origin of the word 'paparazzi'

The word -- usually meaning aggressive, intrusive celebrity photographers -- enters the language after the movie "La Dolce Vita" is released. (At left is a scene from the movie; it premiered in Italy in February 1960, but would not be shown in the United States until April 1961.) Among the movie's characters is a photographer named Paparazzo.

* Movie summary: @

* Reappraisal of movie by Roger Ebert: @

* NPR segment on paparazzi: @

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Undated: Crash test human

Lawrence Patrick, a biomechanics professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, studies how the human body responds in a car crash -- by using himself as a test subject. His research includes taking some 400 rides in a sled that violently brakes to simulate a collision, as well as absorbing blows to the chest from a 22-pound pendulum.

* More about Patrick: @

* 2006 obituary: @

* More about Wayne State research: @

* Segment on Patrick in "Tested on Humans" (British documentary): @

* Impact Damage to Internal Organs" (1961 paper co-authored by Patrick): @

* "The Evolution of the Crash Test Dummy": @

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Friday-Saturday, August 19-20, 1960: Animals survive spaceflight

Belka and Strelka are among the animals in a "flying zoo" that is launched into orbit aboard the Soviet Union's Sputnik V. The next day they return alive, the first Earth-born creatures to do so. Also on board are a rabbit, rats, mice, flies, plants, fungi, microscopic water plants and seeds. The dogs get a hero's welcome in Moscow.

* Flight summary: @

* Graphic: @

* Soviet newsreels: @ and @

* Soviet postcards: @ and @

* Animals in space (NASA summary): @

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Thursday, August 18, 1960: Spy pictures from space

Corona, the United States' first photo reconnaissance satellite system, takes its first picture, of a military airfield in the far northeast area of the Soviet Union. Developed and operated by the CIA and the U.S. Air Force, the system worked like this: The satellite's cone holds small capsules that, once the images are taken, separate from the satellite, then descend via parachute and are recovered in midair by an Air Force plane.

* The first image: @

* More about Corona: @ and @ and @

* "A Point in Time" (1972 CIA documentary): @

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Thursday, August 18, 1960: The Pill (update)

Approved by the FDA and expressly advertised as a birth control method, Enovid goes on the market. (See posts of May 9 and June 23) Women had already been using it as a contraceptive since 1957, though it was prescribed to treat "menstrual disorders." Citing a separate study, manufacturer G.D. Searle says in its literature that "the ubiquitous problem of premenstrual tension may be controlled with Enovid."

* Product brochure for doctors (August 1960): @

* "The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women's Career and Marriage Decisions": @

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Wednesday, August 17, 1960: The Beatles

A mildly promising, mostly struggling rock 'n' roll band from England begins a two-month run at the Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany. The group consists of (from left) John Lennon, 19; George Harrison, 17; Pete Best, 18; Paul McCartney, 18; and Stuart Sutcliffe, 20. The Hamburg shows are the first ones under the band's latest name: The Beatles.

* More about Hamburg: @

* Click on photo for larger version; more photos from first show: @

* Pete Best joins the band (August 12): @ and @

* The band's names through the years: @

* John Lennon's Hamburg work permits: @

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