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Cold War Continues
The cold war continued to worsen with the USSR exploding some very large bombs during testing and then masterminding the building of the Berlin Wall separating East from West Berlin, America sent a battle group to Germany and Americans and Russians Glared at each other across the border, due to this uncertainty many Americans built backyard fallout shelters in case of nuclear war. -
Pop Art Revolution
The story of the 60s period could not exist without mentioning Pop Art. With its innovations, the movement is considered as the most significant period defining modern art. Using the images from mass culture and found objects, pop art artists reshaped the face of the painting by introducing a new kind of commercial aesthetics. These ideas helped to influence not only the visual art but graphic design, fashion and a certain lifestyle. -
Marilyn Monroe Found Dead
She was discovered lying nude on her bed, face down, with a telephone in one hand. Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were littered around the room. After a brief investigation, Los Angeles police concluded that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide.” -
Bob Dylan Releases His First Album
Before the Beatles and the Rolling Stones altered the music world with their first albums during the mid-1960s, there was Bob Dylan.
.Dylan’s impact was massive. Prior to the iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s emergence, the goal was to sound as smooth and suave as Spokane’s favorite son, Bing Crosby. Dylan’s gritty and unpolished voice belted out poetic and meaningful lyrics that grabbed ears starting with his eponymous debut. -
Selma to Montgomery March
In March of 1965, in an effort to register Black voters in the South, protesters marching the 54-mile route from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery were confronted with deadly violence from local authorities and white vigilante groups. As the world watched, the protesters—under the protection of federalized National Guard troops—finally achieved their goal, walking around the clock for three days to reach Montgomery, Alabama. -
Short Skirt Liberation
If there’s only one thing to thank the 1960s for – it’s the length of the skirts and dresses. Never in history had the length of women’s skirts been shorter. Women were not only allowed to show their calves but also their thighs during the decade. The miniskirt would be an important style feature for women’s liberalisation as they could move freely in the clothing piece and also show skin without being sexualized. -
Indira Gandhi Becomes the Prime Minister of India.
Following the death of Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi becomes head of the Congress Party and thus prime minister of India. She was India’s first female head of government and by the time of her assassination in 1984 was one of its most controversial. -
First Successful Heart Transplant
Conducted in 1967 by DrChristiaan Barnard on Louis Washkansky, a 54-year old man. The person survived for 18 days after which he died of pneumonia. However, the second transplant to Philip Blaiberg was successful as he lived over 18 months. -
Civil War Breaks Out in Nigeria
After diplomatic efforts by Nigeria failed to reunite the country, war between Nigeria and Biafra broke out in July 1967. Ojukwu’s forces made some initial advances, but Nigeria’s superior military strength gradually reduced Biafran territory. The state lost its oil fields–its main source of revenue–and without the funds to import food, an estimated one million of its civilians died as a result of severe malnutrition -
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Post-It Note Invented
In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M Company, invented a unique, low-tack adhesive. He was trying to invent a super-strong adhesive, but he came up with a super-weak one instead, and didn;t know what to do with it. Then in 1974, Art Fry, was singing in his church choir and became frustrated when the bookmarks he used to mark his place in his hymnal kept falling out. So, he tried Dr. Silver’s adhesive on his bookmarks. Thus, accidentally inventing the Post-it note. -
First Humans on the Moon
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to arrive on the Moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission. -
Woodstock Festival Opens in Bethel, New York
Held on a farm property in Bethel, New York, August 15–18, 1969. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was organized by four inexperienced promoters who nonetheless signed a who’s who of current rock acts, including Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, the Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, and Country Joe and the Fish. -
Stonewall Riots
In 1969, the Stonewall riots took place, during which members of the LGBTQ community fought against a police raid that began at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar, in New York City. The Inn was raided by police officers attempting to clear the area of “sexual deviants.” The riots are considered to have ignited the gay rights movement in the United States, just in time for a new decade. -
"Company" Opens on Broadway
After it’s Boston tryouts receiving mixed reviews, Company opened on Broadway on April 26, 1970, at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 705 performances. The musical was about marriage. With music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, who was openly gay, never married, and never having has serious relationship, researched it by chatting with his friend Mary Rodgers. It was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards and won 6. -
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The Vietnam War and the Anti-War Movement
The Vietnam War was an ongoing controversial battle for the United States, with soldiers fighting in the fields and protests breaking out at home. The anti-war movement grew throughout the United States, with protestors opposing the war on both economic and moral grounds. In 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords, which brought direct American involvement in the war to an end. -
Huge Earthquake Strikes the Coast of Peru
The quake and the massive landslides it triggered killed approximately 70,000 people. A wall of ice came loose from Peru's highest mountain, Mount Huascarán, careered down the mountain at incredible speed and buried the town of Yungay. A statue of Christ in the town's cemetery and four palm trees were all that remained of Yungay. -
The U.S. Voting Age is Lowered From 21 to 18
Our Nation ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the voting age to 18. At the time, 18-, 19-, and 20-year-old Americans were fulfilling their civic duties: paying taxes, serving in our Armed Forces, acting as first responders, laboring in fields, factories, and service jobs across the country, and pursuing higher education. They were participating in our democracy and all of the responsibilities of citizenship in all ways except for one: they could not vote. -
Roe v. Wade
In 1973, the United States saw groundbreaking legislative change following the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, increasing women’s reproductive rights. By a vote of 7 to 2, it was ruled by the court justices that the government did not have the power to prevent abortions. In other words, the court case legalised abortion in the United States. -
The First Mobile Phone Call
Motorola employee Martin Cooper stood in midtown Manhattan and placed a call to the headquarters of Bell Labs in New Jersey. -
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The Ted Bundy Killings
Many people struggled to believe Ted Bundy was really a serial killer due to his seemingly charming personality, handsome appearance, and law school background. Bundy did not fit the mould of the typical serial killer stereotype, and this did not go unnoticed by the public and journalists. His Florida trial in 1979 was the first to ever be nationally televised in the United States and interestingly, Ted Bundy made the decision to handle most of his own defence. -
"Jaws" Opens in Theaters
Jaws, a film directed by Steven Spielberg that made countless viewers afraid to go into the water, opens in theaters. The story of a great white shark that terrorizes a New England resort town became an instant blockbuster and the highest-grossing film in movie history until it was bested by 1977’s Star Wars. Jaws was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category and took home three Oscars, for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Sound. -
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak create the Apple Computer Company.
Apple Computers, Inc. was founded on April 1, 1976, by college dropouts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who brought to the new company a vision of changing the way people viewed computers. Jobs and Wozniak wanted to make computers small enough for people to have them in their homes or offices. Simply put, they wanted a computer that was user-friendly -
The Death of Elvis Presley
The death of the King of Rock n’ Roll on August 16, 1977 propelled the world into mourning. At the young age of 42, Elvis Presley fans all over the world couldn’t believe they were saying goodbye to their idol so suddenly. His unexpected death made front-page headline news all around the world, especially since he had recently been performing before his death and showed no signs of major health problems. -
The Three Mile Island nuclear incident occurs in Pennsylvania
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor in Pennsylvania, United States. It began at 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979. It is the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. On the seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale, it is rated Level 5 – Accident with Wider Consequences.