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Martin Luther King Jr
King is awarded his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University. -
Martin Luther King Jr
At a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, the Montgomery Improvement Association is formed. King becomes its president. -
JFK
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the thirty-fifth President of the United States. -
JFK
Kennedy meets with Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev in Vienna. The conference fails to resolve a conflict over the status of Berlin. -
Castro and the Missiles
Americans discovered the missile sites in Cuba. These sites brought every town in the US within range of Soviet nuclear missiles. -
Martin Luther King Jr
King meets with President John F. Kennedy and urges him to issue a second Emancipation Proclamation to eliminate racial segregation. -
Castro and the Missiles
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara presents JFK with three options: diplomacy with Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, a naval quarantine of Cuba, and an air attack to destroy the missile sites, which might kill thousands of Soviet personnel and trigger a Soviet counterattack on a target such as Berlin. -
Castro and the Missiles
Castro sends a letter to Khrushchev, urging him to launch a nuclear first strike against the United States, which the Soviet leader disregards. -
JFK
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference begins a movement in (with notable participant Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) to highlight the efforts being made by black Americans in Birmingham, Alabama, to integrate public spaces in the city.
