Forrest Gump Timeline

22nd Amendment

Feb 27, 1951

Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, limiting the president to two terms. President Truman speaks in first coast-to-coast live television broadcast

Emmett Till's Murder

Aug 28, 1955

A 14-year-old African American teenager was brutally murdered by white men while visiting relatives in Mississippi.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Oct 14, 1962

Was a 13-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other

President Assassination

Nov 22, 1963

John F. Kennedy was shot and assassinated on November 22, 1963 while he was in a parade.

Richard Nixon

Jan 20, 1969

Richard Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th president

Man on the Moon

Jul 20, 1969

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., become the first men to land on the Moon.

Ping-Pong Diplomacy

Apr 10, 1971

The U.S. got an invitation to play China at China and these were the first Americans to set foot in China since 1949.

Nike

May 30, 1978

The company changed its name from Blue Ribbon Sports to Nike, Inc.

Jimmy Carter/ Iran hostage crisis

Nov 4, 1979

52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days, after a group of Islamist students and militants supporting the Iranian Revolution took over the American Embassy in Tehran.

HIV/AIDS

Apr 24, 1980

First case of AIDS was found in San Francisco. Started because of the Hippie Movement.

Cold War

Jan 1, 1985

Reagan's anti-communist position had developed into a stance known as the new Reagan Doctrine which, in addition to containment, formulated an additional right to subvert existing communist governments.

Explosion

Jan 28, 1986

Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members.