60s timeline

  • SNCC formed

    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 airing of “The Flintstones”

    First airing of “The Flintstones”
    The Flintstones is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the Rubbles.
  • First televised Presidential debate

    First televised Presidential debate
    Which presidential campaign produced the first nationally televised debate? The typical answer to that question is 1960, Kennedy v. Nixon.
  • President Kennedy is elected

    President Kennedy is elected
    November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee
  • Russians send the first man into space

    Russians send the first man into space
    On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space.
  • Berlin wall construction

    Berlin wall construction
    Overview. The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Germany from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on August 13, 1961, the Wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989.
  • Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth’s single season home run record

    Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth’s single season home run record
    On this day in 1961, the unbreakable was broken. Roger Maris approached the plate with 60 home runs on the season, tied with Babe Ruth for the most home runs in a season. He tied the record five days earlier against the Orioles.
  • SDS releases its Port Huron statement

    SDS releases its Port Huron statement
    The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Under Walter Reuther's leadership, the UAW paid for a range of expenses for the 1962 convention, including use of the UAW summer retreat in Port Huron.
  • Marilyn Monroe dies

    Marilyn Monroe dies
    Marilyn Monroe died at age 36 of a barbiturate overdose late in the evening of Saturday, August 4, 1962, at her 12305 Fifth Helena Drive home in Los Angeles, California.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    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 registers at Ole Miss
    After the riot was crushed, the military continued to occupy Oxford for almost ten months. James Meredith officially became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi on October 2, 1962.
  • The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan

    The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
    Sullivan and his producers swiftly recognized that The Beatles were something monumental by the end of 1963. He made sure that their first live televised performance in the US would be on his show, and, on February 9th, 1964
  • “Dr. No” the first James Bond movie premiers

    “Dr. No” the first James Bond movie premiers
    n the film that launched the James Bond saga, Agent 007 (Sean Connery) battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program
  • Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech

    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.
  • Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater

    Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
    It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. With 61.1% of the popular vote, Johnson won the largest share of the popular vote of any candidate since the largely uncontested 1820 election.
  • John F Kennedy is assassinated

    John F Kennedy is assassinated
    JFK was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination near the end of his third year in office
  • The Beatles arrive in the United States

    The Beatles arrive in the United States
    On 7 February 1964, the Beatles arrived at John F Kennedy airport in New York, greeted by thousands of screaming fans
  • New York World’s Fair begins

    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 US states
  • Watts race riots

    Watts race riots
    The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion or Watts Uprising, took place in the Watts neighborhood and its surrounding areas of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965.
  • Malcolm X assassinated

    Malcolm X assassinated
    Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Islam until 1964, he was a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the Black community
  • San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins

    San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
    The Summer of Love began on January 14, 1967, when some 30,000 people gathered in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. They came to take part in counterculture poet Allen Ginsberg and writer Gary Synder's "Human Be-In" initiative, part of the duo's call for a collective expansion of consciousness.
  • star trek release

    star trek release
    The iconic series "Star Trek" follows the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as it completes its missions in space in the 23rd century.
  • First NFL Football Super Bowl

    First NFL Football Super Bowl
    The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game.
  • Boxer Muhammed Ali refuses military service

    Boxer Muhammed Ali refuses military service
    When Ali arrived to be inducted in the United States Armed Forces, however, he refused, citing his religion forbade him from serving. The cost for his refusal would prove to be drastic: the stripping of his heavyweight title, a suspension from boxing, a $10,000 fine, and a five-year prison sentence.
  • Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s album

    Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s album
    Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967, it spent 27 weeks at number one on the Record Retailer chart
  • Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court

    Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
    President Johnson nominated Marshall in June 1967 to replace the retiring Justice Tom Clark, who left the Court after his son, Ramsey Clark, became Attorney General.
  • 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.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated

    Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
    Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesman and leader in the American civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.
  • LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government

    LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government
    LSD was declared a "Schedule I" substance, legally designating that the drug has a "high potential for abuse" and is without any "currently accepted medical use in treatment." LSD was removed from legal circulation.
  • Robert Kennedy is assassinated

    Robert Kennedy is assassinated
    Bobby was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. Senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968.
  • Woodstock concert

    Woodstock concert
    Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to simply as Woodstock, was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock.
  • Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention

    Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
    Protest activity against the Vietnam War took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In 1968, counterculture and anti-Vietnam War protest groups began planning protests and demonstrations in response to the convention, and the city promised to maintain law and order.
  • Richard Nixon is elected

    Richard Nixon is elected
    In the presidential election, Republican former Vice President Richard Nixon defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
  • The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival

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

    Stonewall riots
    The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States of America
  • American astronauts land on the moon

    American astronauts land on the moon
    Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin formed the American crew that landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface