1955-1975

By RussellGray05

  • Murder of Emmett Till

  • Rosa Parks remains seated on a bus, the incident which evolves into the Montgomery bus boycott

  • Warsaw Pact,

  • Rock and roll music enters the mainstream

  • The U.S. refuses to provide military support the Hungarian Revolution

  • 1956 United States presidential election: Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected president, Richard Nixon reelected vice president

  • Eisenhower Doctrine,

  • Civil Rights Act of 1957,

  • Soviets launch Sputnik; "space race" begins

  • Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first commercial nuclear power plant in the U.S., goes into service

  • – Little Rock, Arkansas school desegregation. Eisenhower recruits the U.S. National Guard to escort the Little Rock Nine

  • NASA formed as the U.S. begins ramping up efforts to explore space

  • Cuban Revolution

  • Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th U.S. states; as of 2021, they are the final two states admitted to the union.

  • U-2 incident, wherein a CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace

  • Civil Rights Act of 1960,

  • 1960 United States presidential election: John F. Kennedy elected president, Lyndon B. Johnson elected vice president

  • 23rd Amendment, which grants electors to the District of Columbia

  • Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon

  • Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest nuclear confrontation involving the U.S. and USSR

  • Engel v. Vitale, determines that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools

  • Atomic Test Ban Treaty

  • March on Washington; Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech

  • Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas; Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the 36th President.

  • 24th Amendment, prohibiting both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing major forms of legalized discrimination against blacks and women, and ended legalized racial segregation in the United States

  • 1964 United States presidential election: Johnson elected president for a full term, Hubert H. Humphrey elected vice president

  • Voting Rights Act

  • Department of Transportation created

  • Miranda v. Arizona established "Miranda rights" for suspects

  • Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (formerly known as Cassius Clay) declared himself a conscientious objector and refused to go to war.

  • Detroit race riot precipitates the "Long Hot Summer of 1967", when race riots erupt in 159 cities nationwide.

  • 25th Amendment establishes succession to the Presidency and procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968, commonly known as the Fair Housing Act

  • Apollo 8 and its three-astronaut crew orbit the Moon, Earthrise photograph taken

  • Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon on the Apollo 11 mission

  • Kent State and Jackson State shootings occur during student protests which grow violent.

  • President Richard Nixon ends the United States Gold standard monetary policy, known as the Nixon Shock

  • The 26th Amendment is ratified, allowing 18-year-olds to vote.

  • The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is signed with the USSR.

  • Watergate scandal: Five men arrested for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

  • Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling overturns state laws against abortion.

  • The Paris Peace Accords ends direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

  • Watergate scandal: The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach the President

  • – President Nixon resigns, becoming the first and only U.S. President to step down.

  • The Vietnam War ends.