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Events on July 8 in history

Francis Gary Powers
1960Jul, 8

Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.

Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.

He later worked as a helicopter pilot for KNBC in Los Angeles and died in a 1977 helicopter crash.

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Events on 1960

  • 17Mar

    Bay of Pigs Invasion

    U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
  • 21Apr

    Rio de Janeiro

    Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
  • 9May

    Combined oral contraceptive pill

    The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.
  • 4Jul

    Flag of the United States

    Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act).
  • 29Oct

    Muhammad Ali

    In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.