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SNCC formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. -
First televised Presidential debate
Nixon and Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy. The first-ever televised debate between presidential candidates was held on September 26, 1960. An estimated total of sixty to seventy million viewers watched the first and the successive debates, which came to be known as “the Great Debates.” -
First airing of “The Flintstones”
It was originally broadcast on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, and was the first animated series with a prime-time slot on television. The show follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur, Dino, and they later on have a baby girl named Pebbles. -
President Kennedy is elected
The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee. -
Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth’s single season home run record
The man that changed the record books. Maris was hated, booed, cussed, and generally abused by the press and fans for his chase of the most well-known mark in all of baseball: Babe Ruth's sixty single season home runs. -
Russians send the first man into space
Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union was the first human in space. His vehicle, Vostok 1 circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour with the flight lasting 108 minutes. Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer. Unlike the early US human spaceflight programs, Gagarin did not land inside of capsule. -
Berlin Wall is constructed
That barrier, the Berlin Wall, was first erected on the night of August 12–13, 1961, as the result of a decree passed on August 12 by the East German Volkskammer (“Peoples' Chamber”). -
SDS releases its Port Huron statement
The 25,700-word statement issued a non-ideological call for participatory democracy, based on non-violent civil disobedience and the idea that individual citizens could help make the social decisions which determined their quality of life. -
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Monroe, known as a sex symbol as well as a film actress, was found dead of a drug overdose in her bed on August 4, 1962. Reports that she was found with a telephone in her hand led many to believe that her death had been accidental. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. -
James Meredith registers at Ole Miss
James Meredith officially became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi on October 2, 1962. He was guarded twenty-four hours a day by reserve U.S. deputy marshals and army troops, and he endured constant verbal harassment from a minority of students. -
“Dr. No” the first James Bond movie premiers
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film directed by Terence Young. It is the first film in the James Bond series. Starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman and Jack Lord, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather from the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, a partnership that continued until 1975. It was followed by From Russia with Love in 1963. -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK and by the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president and the youngest president at the end of his tenure. -
Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech
"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
The Beatles arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York for the very first time to thousands of screaming fans on Feb. 7, 1964. -
The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
The Beatles made several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, including three in February 1964 that were among their first appearances in front of an American audience. -
New York World’s Fair begins
The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants representing 80 nations, 24 U.S. states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits or attractions at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. The immense fair covered 646 acres on half the park, with numerous pools or fountains, and an amusement park with rides near the lake. -
Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
Who won the 1964 election?
Democratic incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (who took office on November 22, 1963, upon the death of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy) won a full term, defeating Republican Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. -
Malcolm X assassinated
Thomas Hagan is a former member of the Nation of Islam who assassinated Malcolm X in 1965. For a period he also went by the name Talmadge X Hayer, and his chosen Islamic name is Mujahid Abdul Halim. Manhattan, New York City, U.S. -
Watts race riots
What caused the riots in Watts?
Watts Riots of 1965 | Factors & Aftermath | Study.com
The leading cause of the Watts Riots was the arrest of Marquette Frye, an African-American man. A white California Highway Patrol officer arrested him for suspicion of drunk driving. The arrest resulted in a scuffle and attracted the attention of onlookers who joined in the fight. -
“Star Trek” TV show airs
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
In 1967 the National Football League's Green Bay Packers competed against the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs for the first Super Bowl championship title. -
Boxer Muhammed Ali refuses military service
Muhammad Ali, the famous boxer and cultural icon, did refuse to be drafted into the Vietnam War in 1967. He cited his religious beliefs and opposition to the war as reasons for his refusal. -
Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s album
The Beatles release “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”. -
San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
The 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 hippies. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated distinguished civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to be the first African American justice to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. -
LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government
LSD being viewed as a cultural threat to American values and the Vietnam war effort, and it was designated as a Schedule I (illegal for medical as well as recreational use) substance in 1968. -
Tet Offensive
In late January, 1968, during the lunar new year (or “Tet”) holiday, North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam. The U.S. and South Vietnamese militaries sustained heavy losses before finally repelling the communist assault. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King's assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention protests were a series of protests against the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War that took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The protests lasted approximately seven days, from August 23 to August 29, 1968. -
Richard Nixon is elected
In 1968, he made another run for the presidency and was elected, defeating Hubert Humphrey by less than one percentage point in the popular vote, as well as defeating third-party candidate George Wallace. Nixon ended American involvement in Vietnam combat in 1973 and the military draft in the same year. -
Woodstock concert
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock. -
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall, were a series of protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid -
American astronauts land on the moon
On July 20, 1969, millions of people gathered around their televisions to watch two U.S. astronauts do something no one had ever done before. Wearing bulky space suits and backpacks of oxygen to breathe, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first human beings to walk on the moon. -
The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival
As the final show of their American tour, the Rolling Stones held a one-day rock festival at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California, on December 6, 1969