You are not authorized to access this page.

1960s

  • SNCC formed

    SNCC formed
    The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced /snɪk/ SNIK) was one of the major Civil Rights Movement organizations of the 1960s. It emerged from the first wave of student sit-ins and formed at an April 1960 meeting organized by Ella Baker at Shaw University.
  • First televised presidential debate

    First televised presidential debate
    On Sept. 26, 1960, 70 million American viewers watched the first of four televised presidential debates between candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. They were the first debates ever to be held between the presidential nominees of the two major parties during the election season.
  • Richard Nixon is elected

    Richard Nixon is elected
    The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee.
  • President Kennedy's election

    President Kennedy's election
    The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee.
  • Russia sends a man to space

    Russia sends a man to space
    On 12 April 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space when he launched into orbit on the Vostok 3KA-3 spacecraft (Vostok 1)
  • Berlin Wall construction

    Berlin Wall construction
    Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from virtually all of surrounding East Germany and East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989.
  • Roger Maris breaks Babe Ruth's single season home run record

    Roger Maris breaks Babe Ruth's single season home run record
    On October 1, 1961, New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. The great Babe Ruth set the record in 1927; Maris and his teammate Mickey Mantle spent 1961 trying to break it.
  • SDS releases its Port Huron statement

    SDS releases its Port Huron statement
    The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the North American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
  • Marilyn Monroe dies

    Marilyn Monroe dies
    She struggled with substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. She had two highly publicized marriages, to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, both of which ended in divorce. On August 5, 1962, she died at age 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her home in Los Angeles.
  • James Meredith registers at Ole Miss

    James Meredith registers at Ole Miss
    ames Meredith, an African American man, attempted to enroll at the all-white University of Mississippi in 1962. Chaos soon broke out on the Ole Miss campus, with riots ending in two dead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis
    The Cuban Missile Crises. In October 1962, the Kennedy Administration faced its most serious foreign policy crisis. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev saw an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro's Cuba and make good its promise to defend Cuba from the United States.
  • "Dr. No" premiers

    "Dr. No" premiers
    Dr. No is a 1962 British spy film, starring Sean Connery, with Ursula Andress and Joseph Wiseman, filmed in Jamaica and England. It is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming
  • Dr. Kings "I have a dream" speech

    Dr. Kings "I have a dream" speech
    "I Have a Dream" is a public speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963
  • John F Kennedy is assasinated

    John F Kennedy is assasinated
    Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.
  • Beatles arrive in USA

    Beatles arrive in USA
    February 1964 – First U.S. Concerts. An estimated four thousand Beatles' fans were present on 7 February 1964 as Pan Am Flight 101 left Heathrow Airport. Among the passengers were the Beatles, on their first trip to the United States as a band, with their entourage of photographers and journalists, and Phil Spector.
  • The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan

    The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
    The Ed Sullivan Show is especially known to the World War II and baby boomer generations for introducing acts and airing breakthrough performances by popular 1950s and 1960s musicians such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Supremes, The Dave Clark Five, The Animals, The Beach Boys, The Jackson 5, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, The Mamas & the Papas, The Lovin' Spoonful, Herman's Hermits, The Doors and The Band.
  • New York World's fair begins

    New York World's fair begins
    The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair held over 140 pavilions, 110 restaurants, for 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations to build exhibits or attractions at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, NY. The immense fair covered 646 acres (261 ha) on half the park, with numerous pools or fountains
  • Gulf of Tonkin Incident

    Gulf of Tonkin Incident
    On July 31, 1964, USS Maddox had begun her intelligence collection mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. Captain George Stephen Morrison was in command of local American forces from his flagship USS Bon Homme Richard.
  • Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater

    Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
    The United States presidential election of 1964 was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee.
  • Malcom X assasination

    Malcom X assasination
    He would be assassinated less than two months later. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot before he was about to deliver a speech about his new organization called the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Reporters inspect the scene of the assassination, inside the Audobon Ballroom in New York.
  • Watts race riots

    Watts race riots
    Watts riots. The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion, took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for reckless driving.
  • "Flintstones" first airing

    "Flintstones" first airing
    t was originally broadcast from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, in a prime time schedule, the first such instance for an animated series. The continuing popularity of The Flintstones rested heavily on its juxtaposition of modern everyday concerns in the Stone Age setting.
  • "Star Trek" airs

    "Star Trek" airs
    Star Trek: The Original Series (formerly called just Star Trek) is the first Star Trek series. The first episode of the show aired on 6 September 1966 on CTV in Canada, followed by a 8 September 1966 airing on NBC in America. The show was created by Gene Roddenberry as a "Wagon Train to the Stars".
  • First NFL super bowl

    First NFL super bowl
    The first AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, known retroactively as Super Bowl I and referred to in some contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast
  • Muhammad Ali refuses military service

    Muhammad Ali refuses military service
    On April 28, 1967, boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the U.S. Army and is immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service.
  • Beatles release Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

    Beatles release Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
    Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967 in the United Kingdom[nb 1] and 2 June 1967 in the United States, it was an immediate commercial and critical success, spending 27 weeks at the top of the UK albums chart and 15 weeks at number one in the US.
  • Summer of love

    Summer of love
    he Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury.
  • Thurgood Marshall nominated in Supreme Court

    Thurgood Marshall nominated in Supreme Court
    President Lyndon Johnson appoints U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thurgood Marshall to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. On August 30, after a heated debate, the Senate confirmed Marshall's nomination by a vote of 69 to 11.
  • Monterrey music festival

    Monterrey music festival
    The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California.
  • Manson family murders Sharon Tate

    Manson family murders Sharon Tate
    On January 20, 1968, Tate married Roman Polanski, her director and co-star in 1967's The Fearless Vampire Killers. On August 9, 1969, Tate and four others were murdered by members of the Manson Family in the home she shared with Polanski.
  • Tet Offensive

    Tet Offensive
    The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War.
  • Dr Martin Luther King Jr assasinated

    Dr Martin Luther King Jr assasinated
    On Thursday, April 4, 1968, King was staying in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel was owned by businessman Walter Bailey and named after his wife.
  • Robert Kennedy assasination

    Robert Kennedy assasination
    On June 5, 1968, 42-year-old presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight PDT at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
  • Protests at 1968 Democratic National Convention

    Protests at 1968 Democratic National Convention
    In 1968, the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and the Youth International Party (Yippies) had already begun planning a youth festival in Chicago to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. They were not alone, as other groups such as Students for a Democratic Society would also make their presence known.
  • LSD declared illegal by US government

    LSD declared illegal by US government
    Oct 24, 1968, Possession of LSD is banned federally in the U.S. after the passage of the Staggers-Dodd Bill (Public Law 90-639) which amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
  • Stonewall riots

    Stonewall riots
    The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969
  • American astronauts land on moon

    American astronauts land on moon
    Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses with the American flag on the surface of the moon in July 1969. The lunar module touched down on the moon's Sea of Tranquility, a large basaltic region, at 4:17 p.m. EDT. Armstrong notified Houston with the historic words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
  • Woodstock

    Woodstock
    The Woodstock Music & Art Fair—informally, the Woodstock Festival or simply Woodstock— was a music festival in the United States in 1969 which attracted an audience of more than 400,000.
  • The Rolling Stones host Altamont music festival

    The Rolling Stones host Altamont music festival
    The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture-era rock concert in 1969 in the United States, held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California on Saturday, December 6.