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President Kennedy is elected
This made it the only presidential election where the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. -
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
Made people want to vote for Kennedy -
First airing of “The Flintstones”
The first animated series to hold a prime-time slot on television. -
Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth’s single season home run record
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 -
Russians send the first man into space
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space -
Berlin Wall is constructed
The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Germany from 1961 to 1989 -
Marilyn Monroe dies
Movie actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her home in Los Angeles. -
SDS releases its Port Huron statement
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. -
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 -
Cuban Missile Crisis
It 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. -
“Dr. No” the first James Bond movie premiers
The release of Dr. No, North American moviegoers get their first look–down the barrel of a gun–at the super-spy James Bond. -
Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech
King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
He is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while traveling through Dallas, Texas. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
The Beatles arrived at John F Kennedy airport in New York, greeted by thousands of screaming fans. -
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. -
New York World’s Fair begins
New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants -
Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
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. -
Malcolm X assassinated
Malcolm X was assassinated at age 39 as he was preparing to give a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan -
Watts race riots
To end mistreatment by the police and to end discrimination in housing, employment, and schooling systems -
“Star Trek” TV show airs
This is the first television series in the Star Trek franchise, and comprises 79 regular episodes over the series' three seasons -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
President Johnson nominated Marshall to replace the retiring Justice Tom Clark, who left the Court after his son, Ramsey Clark, became Attorney General. -
San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
About 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
The Green Bay Packers smash the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10 -
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. -
Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles -
Richard Nixon is elected
In 1968, he ran for the presidency again and was elected, defeating Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace in a close election. -
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." -
Tet Offensive
North Vietnam attacks South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
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 -
American astronauts land on the moon
Neil Armstrong is the first to land on the moon. -
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 -
Woodstock concert
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. -
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