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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The boycott not only crushed segregation in Montgomery’s public transportation, but it also energized the entire civil rights movement and established the leadership of the MIA’s president, a recently arrived, twenty-six-year-old Baptist minister named Martin Luther King Jr. -
Rosa Parks Remains Seated
Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery city bus and was arrested. She was the first of the people that the Mongemory activists rallied for. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and was compromised away nearly to nothing. It achieved some gains, such as creating the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Commission, which was charged with investigating claims of racial discrimination. -
John F. Kennedy Becomes President
During the Nixon-Kennedy President election, the votes were close as 1 percent (34,227,096 to 34,107,646 votes), but radio listeners famously thought the two men performed equally well, but the TV audience was much more impressed by Kennedy, giving him an advantage in subsequent debates. JFK enters the White House by becoming the 35th president of America. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
On April 16, 1961, an invasion force consisting primarily of 1,500 Cuban exiles landed on Girón Beach at the Bay of Pigs for the plan to overthrow the Castro regime. This plan was initiated by the Eisenhower administeration under Kennedy. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
This was the most dramatic foreign policy crisis in the history of the U.S. and was the highest point of the Cold War. In response to the United States setting missiles in Turkey, the Soviet Union deployed missiles in Cuba. -
"I Have a Dream" Speech
On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, an internationally renowned call for civil rights that raised the movement’s profile to new heights and put unprecedented pressure on politicians to pass meaningful civil rights legislation. -
JFK Assassination
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon Johnson overtook the office. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
In March 1965, activists attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, on behalf of local African American voting rights. This march was narrated under the name "Bloody Sunday" when peaceful protesters were attacked by tear gas and batons. The first march prompted President Johnson to present the bill that became the Voting Rights Act of 1965, an act that abolished voting discrimination in federal, state, and local elections. -
America Enters War in Vietnam
On August 2, the USS Maddox reported incoming fire from North Vietnamese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, and to this, the Johnson administration escalated the U.S. getting involved in Vietnam. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Johnson the authority to deploy the American military to defend South Vietnam. U.S. Marines landed in Vietnam in March 1965, and the American ground war began. -
Nixon becomes President
Nixon's campaign pledged to restore peace and prosperity to what he called “the silent center; the millions of people in the middle of the political spectrum.” This campaign of "silent majority" was attracted by the public. The final tally was Nixon won 43.3 percent of the popular vote (31,783,783), narrowly besting Humphrey’s 42.7 percent (31,266,006). -
The Vietnam War Ends
After Nixon threatened to withdraw all aid and guaranteed to enforce a treaty militarily, the North and South Vietnamese governments signed the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, marking the official end of U.S. force commitment to the Vietnam War.