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Eisenhower signs the Minimum Wage Act, raising the minimum wage from $.75 to $1.00 per hour.
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Rosa PArks refuses to give up her seat and is arrested. This marks a huge turn in the African America freedom revolt. -
Eisenhower is elected to a second term as president. -
The Soviets launch Sputnik, the first manmade satellite. The achievement shocks Americans, who begin to fear that the Russians are pulling ahead in technology. -
The U.S. launches its first satellite, Explorer I, marking U.S. entry into the "space race" with the Russians. -
While riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumes the presidency. -
Lyndon B. Johnson wins the presidential election -
The first U.S. combat units arrive in Vietnam.
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Thousands march to the Pentagon to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam. -
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
The 26th Amendment is ratified, lowering the national voting age from 21 to 18.
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Five men are caught burglarizing the headquarters for the Democratic National Committee, located at the Watergate hotel in Washington, D.C. Their arrests will set into motion the events that will eventually result in President Nixon's resignation.
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The last U.S. combat soldier leaves Vietnam, but military advisors and some Marines remain.
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President Nixon resigns amidst the Watergate scandal; his vice president Gerald Ford takes office.