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SNCC formed
The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. -
First televised presidential debate
The first televised debate occurred in 1960 between Kennedy and Nixon. -
First airing of “The Flintstones”
The Flintstones premiered on September 30, 1960, at 8:30 pm Eastern time, and quickly became a hit. -
President Kennedy elected
In a close matches election, Democrat United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard Nixon to become the new president of the United States. -
Russians send first man to space
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. -
Berlin Wall Constructed
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 breaks Babe Ruth single home run record
New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. -
SDS releases Port Huron statement
The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). -
Marilyn Monroe dies
Marilyn Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose late in the evening of Saturday, August 4, 1962, at her 12305 Fifth Helena Drive home in Los Angeles, California. -
James Meridith enrolls at Ole Miss
James 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 and other federal forces to enforce order. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. -
“Dr. No” premiers
Dr. No is a 1962 British spy film based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. It had its first US premiere on May 8th, 1963, when Dick Van Dyke's musical comedy 'Bye Bye Birdie' had ruled the box-office for four weeks straight. -
"I Have a Dream" Speech
A public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism. -
John F. Kennedy assassinated
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in Dallas during a campaign visit. -
Beatles arrive in US
On February 7, 1964, Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London Heathrow lands at New York's Kennedy Airport–and “Beatlemania” arrives -
Beatles appear on add Sullivan show
the Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. This was a seminal moment in histor -
New York Worlds Fair begins
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
This was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. -
Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
Held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. -
Malcolm X assasinated
In New York City, Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. -
Watts race 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. -
“Star Trek” airs
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". -
LSD becomes illegal
On this day, October 6, in 1966, LSD went from a Schedule I drug, with some controls over its possession and distribution, to completely illegal for any purposes whatsoever. -
San Francisco "Summer of Love"
a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. -
First Superbowl
he 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, as the Super Bowl, was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. -
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 -
Release of Sgt. Peppers
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It spent 27 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart and 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the US. -
Monterrey Music Festival held
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. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to 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. -
Tet Offensive
A surprise series of attacks by the Vietcong (rebel forces from North Vietnam). -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assasinated
On April 4, 1968, a fury of riots broke out in dozens of cities across the United States. The rampage left 39 dead, 21,000 arrested, more than 2,600 injured and was responsible for damages estimated at $65 million. -
Robert Kennedy assassinated
On June 5, 1968, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. -
1968 protests at DNC
DescriptionProtest activity against the Vietnam War took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In 1967, counterculture and anti-Vietnam War protest groups had been promising to come to Chicago and disrupt the convention, and the city promised to maintain law and order. -
Richard Nixon elected
The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
Stonewall Riots
A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid. -
American Astronauts land on the moon
Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969. 4 days later, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the moon. -
Manson family murders Sharon Tate
The Tate–LaBianca murders were perpetrated by members of the Charles Manson "Family" in Los Angeles, California. They murdered five people on August 8–9, 1969, and two more the following evening. -
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles southwest of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Bethel Rock Festival, it attracted an audience of more than 400,000. -
Rolling Stones host Altamont music festival
On December 6, 1969, about 300,000 gathered at the Altamont Speedway in Tracy, California to see the Rolling Stones perform a free concert that was seen as a 'Woodstock West.
