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The first televised U.S. presidential debate, held on September 26, 1960, featured Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon in Chicago, altering political campaigning forever. Approximately 70 million viewers watched the CBS broadcast, where Kennedy's polished, telegenic appearance contrasted sharply with a sickly, sweating, and pale Nixon. -
The 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was shot and fatally wounded on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The limousine rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 P.M., after more than twenty minutes' treatment. -
The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a historic television debut on February 9, 1964, watched by a record-breaking 73 million viewers, launching the "British Invasion" and Beatlemania in the U.S.. They performed five songs ("All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want to Hold Your Hand") and set a new standard for live television viewership, cementing their global superstardom -
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed by Congress on August 7, 1964, authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack" against U.S. forces and prevent further communist aggression in Southeast Asia. It served as the legal basis for escalating the Vietnam War. -
Operation Rolling Thunder was a frequently interrupted bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965 and lasted until the end of October 1968. During this period U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam. -
The standoff continued into the night and around midnight, troops chased most protesters away. The protest was met with resistance from military police and U.S Marshalls, resulting in a total of forty-seven injuries between the protester, soldiers, and U.S. Marshalls and approximately 682 arrests. -
The My Lai Massacre took place on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, when U.S. Army soldiers brutally murdered hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians. -
The iconic Woodstock Music Art Fair took place over a rainy weekend from August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York, becoming a defining moment for the 1960s counterculture with its "3 Days of Peace Music" -
Members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University students who were protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. -
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its pivotal decision in Roe v. Wade, recognizing a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, on Jan. 22, 1973. The Court's 7-2 majority found that the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of privacy extended to a woman's choice regarding her pregnancy.