Super Sixties

  • Kennedy is Democratic Nomination

    Kennedy is Democratic Nomination
    U.S. Senator JFK announces his candidancy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
  • Joanne Woodward Receives the First Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

    Joanne Woodward Receives the First Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
    Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, Emmy and Cannes award-winning American actress. She became the first performer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6801 Hollywood Blvd
  • Winter Olympics held in California

    Winter Olympics held in California
    The 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
  • Elvis Presley Returns Home from Germany, after being Away on Duty for 2 Years.

    Elvis Presley Returns Home from Germany, after being Away on Duty for 2 Years.
    Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer, actor, and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as "Elvis", and is also sometimes referred to as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" or "The King". On December 20, 1957, Presley received his draft notice. Presley returned to the U.S. on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5.
  • The United States Launches the First Weather Satellite, TIROS-1.

    The United States Launches the First Weather Satellite, TIROS-1.
    TIROS I (or TIROS-1) was the first successful weather satellite, and the first of a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites. It was launched at 6:40 AM EST on April 1, 1960 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the United States.
  • A Soviet Missile Shoots Down an American Lockheed U2 Spy Plane; the Pilot Francis Gary Powers is Captured.

    A Soviet Missile Shoots Down an American Lockheed U2 Spy Plane; the Pilot Francis Gary Powers is Captured.
    The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, high-altitude aircraft flown by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency. It provides day and night, high-altitude , all-weather surveillance. The aircraft is also used for electronic sensor research and development, satellite calibration, and satellite data validation. The U-2 came to public attention when CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory on 1 May 1960.
  • President Dwight Eisenhower Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into Law.

    President Dwight Eisenhower Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into Law.
    The Civil Rights Act of 1960 was a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote or actually vote.
  • Harper Lee Releases her Critically Acclaimed Novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

    Harper Lee Releases her Critically Acclaimed Novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
    To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American fiction. The novel is loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.
  • At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, Atomic Reactor SL-1 Explodes, Killing 3 Military Technicians

    At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, Atomic Reactor SL-1 Explodes, Killing 3 Military Technicians
    The SL-1, or Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, was a United States Army experimental nuclear power reactor which underwent a steam explosion and meltdown on January 3, 1961, killing its three operators. The direct cause was the improper withdrawal of the only movable control rod. The event is the only fatal reactor accident in the United States.
  • Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin.

    Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin.
    Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, poet, and painter, who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Dylan dropped out of college at the end of his freshman year. In January 1961, he moved to New York City, hoping to perform there and visit his musical idol Woody Guthrie, who was seriously ill with Huntington's Disease in Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.
  • Ham the Chimp, a 37 pound male, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.

    Ham the Chimp, a 37 pound male, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.
    Ham (July 1956 %u2013 January 19, 1983), also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was the first hominid launched into outer space. Ham's name is an acronym for the lab that prepared him for his historic mission %u2014 the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
  • In Los Angeles, California, the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.

    In Los Angeles, California, the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.
    Dodger Stadium has been the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team since 1962. The stadium hosted the 1980 MLB All-Star Game, as well as games of the 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, and 1988 World Series. It also hosted the semifinals, and finals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
  • Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.

    Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
    The case was brought by the families of public school students in New Hyde Park, New York who complained the prayer to "Almighty God" contradicted their religious beliefs.
  • AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit, and activated the next day.

     AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit, and activated the next day.
    A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to SATCOM) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low (polar and non-polar) Earth orbits. Telstar was the first active communications satellite, and the first satellite designed to transmit telephone and high-speed data communications.
  • The Beatles release their first album Please Please Me

    The Beatles release their first album Please Please Me
    Please Please Me is the first album recorded by The Beatles, rush-released on 22 March 1963 to capitalise on the success of singles "Please Please Me" and "Love Me Do". Of the album's fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon/McCartney, early evidence of what Rolling Stone later called "[their invention of] the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments."
  • The 1962 New York City newspaper strike ends after 114 days.

    The 1962 New York City newspaper strike ends after 114 days.
    A preliminary action took place when The Newspaper Guild went on strike against the Daily News just after midnight on November 1, 1962. Guild vice president Thomas J. Murphy indicated that the Daily News had been singled out as the union's first target "because there we have had more aggravation, more agitation, more issues, more disputes and more anti-unionism from management."[1] The Daily News was able to keep printing on November 2, 1962 by using the presses of the New York Journal American.
  • JFK Assassinated

    JFK Assassinated
    The 35th president is assassinated in Dallas, Texas at 12:30 pm in Dealey Plaza. He was fataly wounded, while riding in a parade with his wife Jacqueline,by gunshots after being shot be Lee Harvey Oswald.
  • United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health

    United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health
    Although there had long been an awareness that smoking might be detrimental to health, it was not until the 1950s that significant scientific evidence began to be published suggesting that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and other diseases.
  • Plans to build the New York World Trade Center are announced

    Plans to build the New York World Trade Center are announced
    The original World Trade Center was designed by Minoru Yamasaki in the early 1960s using a tube-frame structural design for the twin 110-story towers. In gaining approval for the project, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed to take over the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad which became the Port Authority Trans-Hudson.
  • U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address

     U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address
    The Great Society was a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the United States on the initiative of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and of racial injustice. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period.
  • Malcolm X is assassinated in Manhattan.

    Malcolm X is assassinated in Manhattan.
    Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans.
  • Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member, by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

    Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member, by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
    Robert Clifton Weaver (December 29, 1907 %u2013 July 17, 1997) served as the first United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (also known as HUD) from 1966 to 1968. Weaver was born in Washington, D.C., on December 29, 1907, and received a Ph.D from Harvard University in 1934. He married Ella V. Haith in 1935, and they had one child. He was the first African-American to hold a cabinet-level position in the United States.
  • Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of a lost H-bomb which results in the amputation of his leg

    Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of a lost H-bomb which results in the amputation of his leg
    Brashear enlisted in the United States Navy on February 25, 1948, shortly after the Navy had desegregated. He graduated from the U.S. Navy Diving & Salvage School in 1954, becoming a U.S. Navy Diver. Although not the first African-American Navy Diver (there were three African-American Navy divers in World War II), he was the first to attend and graduate from Diving & Salvage School. Brashear was the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver.
  • Super Bowl I: The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10

    Super Bowl I: The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10
    The First AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later to be known as Super Bowl I, was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers (12%u20132) scored 3 second-half touchdowns en route to a 35%u201310 win over the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs.
  • Leader of American Nazi Party Assassinated

    Leader of American Nazi Party Assassinated
    John Palter assassinated George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party in Arlington, Virginia.
  • Johnny Cash records Live at Folsom Prison.

    Johnny Cash records Live at Folsom Prison.
    At Folsom Prison is a live album by Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in May 1968. Since his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash drew an interest in performing at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of producing Cash's material.
  • The Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl II.

    The Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl II.
    The second AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later to be known as Super Bowl II, was played on January 14, 1968 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Aided by kicker Don Chandler's 4 field goals and defensive back Herb Adderly's 60-yard interception return for a touchdown, the National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Oakland Raiders (13%u20131), 33%u201314.
  • Led Zeppelin I, an album considered by many to be one of the first in the heavy metal genre, is released

     Led Zeppelin I, an album considered by many to be one of the first in the heavy metal genre, is released
    Led Zeppelin is the debut album of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London and released on Atlantic Records on 12 January 1969. The album featured integral contributions from each of the group's four musicians and established Led Zeppelin's fusion of blues and rock.
  • In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

    In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
    Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (born March 19, 1944) is the convicted assassin of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is serving a life sentence at the California State Prison, Corcoran.