March 17, 1960

1960U.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.^[†]

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and achieved the five-star rank as General of the Army. Eisenhower planned and supervised two of the most consequential military campaigns of World War II: Operation Torch in the North Africa campaign in 1942–1943 and the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

1960Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 crashes in Tobin Township, Perry County, Indiana, killing 63.^[†]

Northwest Airlines Flight 710 was a scheduled flight between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Miami, Florida, with a scheduled stop in Chicago. On March 17, 1960, the six-month-old Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft serving the flight broke up in the air in southern Indiana, near Cannelton, Indiana, killing the 63 occupants of the plane. After unexpectedly encountering clear-air turbulence at 18,000 feet (5,500 m), the aircraft's right wing and a portion of the left wing broke off the aircraft, causing the fuselage to plummet to the ground and impact the ground at a nearly 90-degree angle, leaving a deep crater. Various parts of the wings landed up to four miles away.