Screenshot 2024 05 21 at 2.02.07 pm

1960's Timeline

  • Nixon-Kennedy Debates (1st on Television)

    Nixon-Kennedy Debates (1st on Television)
    Nixon and Democrat U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy faced each other in Chicago at the television studios of WBBM-TV. Carried live by all three networks, the debate began at 8:30 p.m. local time and lasted one hour. The first debate demonstrated the power of television in influencing voters.
  • The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

    The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
    Almost 30 years later, Congress enacted the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
  • The Beatles Appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show

    The Beatles Appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show
    Four lads from Liverpool took to the stage for their first televised performance in America, forever altering the course of music history.
  • The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    Gave President Lyndon Johnson authority to increase U.S. involvement in the war between North and South Vietnam.
  • Operation Rolling Thunder

    Operation Rolling Thunder
    the USAF began a systematic bombing campaign against North Vietnam named ROLLING THUNDER. Planners hoped to provide a morale boost to South Vietnamese forces, interdict the flow of supplies going south, and discourage North Vietnamese aggression.
  • March on the Pentagon

    March on the Pentagon
    The protest involved more than 100,000 attendees at a rally by the Lincoln Memorial. Later about 50,000 people marched across the Potomac River to The Pentagon and sparked a confrontation with paratroopers on guard.
  • Mai Lai Massacre

    Mai Lai Massacre
    The angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their superior officers. A short time later the killing began.
  • Riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention

    Riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention
    In the United States, were sparked in part by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rioting and looting followed, with people flooding out onto the streets of major cities, primarily in black urban areas.
  • Newport Jazz Festival

    Newport Jazz Festival
    The Newport Jazz Festival made headlines when producer George Wein controversially announced his intention to openly incorporate rock acts, including Sly and the Family Stone and Led Zeppelin, into the jazz festival.
  • Woodstock

    Woodstock
    The National Register Woodstock Music Festival site commemorates a three-day music festival, nearly 300 acres of rolling farmland in rural Sullivan County, NY.
  • Chicago 8 Trial

    Chicago 8 Trial
    Marked the beginning of one of the most infamous trials in U.S. history for eight (later seven) activists linked to the protests that took place in response to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
  • Kent State Protest

    Kent State Protest
    Four students were shot dead by the National Guard during a Vietnam War protest at Kent State University. The shocking incident still resonates as a seminal moment in modern US history.
  • Roe vs. Wade

    Roe vs. Wade
    The Supreme Court issued its landmark 7–2 decision in Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman's constitutional right to choose.
  • The Beatles Break Up

    The Beatles Break Up
    McCartney said in a press release that he was no longer working with the group, which sparked a widespread media reaction and worsened the tensions between him and his bandmates.