60's Timeline Assignment

  • SNCC formed

    SNCC formed

    The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was a Civil Rights group founded in the mid-1960s that facilitated a string of student-led sit-ins in segregated areas and restaurants across the South.
  • First televised Presidential debate

    First televised Presidential debate

    The first televised US presidential debate was held in September 1960 featuring John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. The event was aired on CBS's WBBM-TV and moderated by Howard K.
  • First airing of "The Flintstones"

    First airing of "The Flintstones"

    "The Flintstones" was a cartoon designed to be in the Stone Age and was very popular until it was taken off the air in April of 1966.
  • President Kennedy is elected

    President Kennedy is elected

    Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Republican nominee Richard Nixon in the 1960 election. This was a close election as Kennedy only received 118,000 more votes than Nixon.
  • Russians send the first man into space

    Russians send the first man into space

    In April of 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet pilot, and cosmonaut, became the first man to journey into space in the Vostok 1 capsule.
  • Berlin Wall is constructed

    Berlin Wall is constructed

    One night in mid-August, East German soldiers laid down more than 30 miles of barbed wire to divide East and West Berlin.
  • Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth's single season home run record

    Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth's single season home run record

    In the New York Yankees' final game of the regular season, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run and broke Babe Ruth's previous record of 60 home runs.
  • SDS releases its Port Huron statement

    SDS releases its Port Huron statement

    Written by Tom Hayden, the Port Huron Statement was adopted by the Students for a Democratic Society which criticized the political and social system of the US following WWII and urged for "participatory democracy" in order to achieve peace and economic justice internationally.
  • Marilyn Monroe dies

    Marilyn Monroe dies

    Monroe died of a drug overdose that many thought to be suicide when she was only 36 years old.
  • James Meredith registers at Ole Miss

    James Meredith registers at Ole Miss

    James Meredith became the first ever Africa American student at Ole Miss in October of 1962.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted for thirteen days after a US spy plane photographed Soviet nukes in Cuba. The world seemed to be on the brink of destruction as both the US and the Soviets waited to see who would pull the trigger first.
  • "Dr. No" the first James Bond movie premiers

    "Dr. No" the first James Bond movie premiers

    Based on Fleming's best-selling novel, "Dr. No" is a British spy film that sparked the beginning of the famous James Bond series. Sean Connery starred as the first ever 007 in this landmark film.
  • Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" Speech

    Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" Speech

    During his March on Washington in 1963, MLK climbed the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. to describe his vision of what America could be in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
  • John F Kennedy is assassinated

    John F Kennedy is assassinated

    John F Kennedy was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in Parkland Health, Dallas, TX on November 22nd, 1963.
  • The Beatles arrive in the United States

    The Beatles arrive in the United States

    The Beatles arrived at JFK airport and were greeted by thousands of screaming fans in February of 1964. They were extremely famous in Europe and Beatlemania quickly spread across the Atlantic.
  • The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan

    The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan

    In February 1964, roughly 70 million Americans watched as the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and opened with two of their songs: "All My Loving" and "Till There Was You" while the camera did close-up shots of all the band members.
  • New York World's Fair begins

    New York World's Fair begins

    In the two-month event beginning in April 1964, New York held a "universal and international" exposition with the theme of "Peace Through Understanding". Some popular exhibits were GM's "Futurama II" and Sinclair Oil's "Dinoland."
  • Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater

    Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater

    In the 1964 Presidential Election, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson defeated the Republican nominee Barry Goldwater in a landslide vote - in fact, it was one of the largest margins in US election history.
  • Malcolm X assassinated

    Malcolm X assassinated

    In February of 1965, Thomas Hagan, a former member of the Nation of Islam, shot and killed Malcolm X at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in NY.
  • Watts race riots

    Watts race riots

    The unjust arrest of an African American man named Marquette Frye sparked a string of riots led by African Americans founded on the longstanding racial injustice in America.
  • Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service

    Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service

    In April of 1967, Ali refused to join the military and fight in the Vietnam War because he said, "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong." He was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison.
  • LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government

    LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government

    In May of 1966, the governors of Nevada and California signed bills into law that outlawed LSD.
  • "Star Trek" TV show airs

    "Star Trek" TV show airs

    The famous sci-fi series, "Star Trek," premiered on NBC in the fall of 1966. The show promised, "To boldly go where no man has gone before." The show aired until June of 1969.
  • San Francisco "Summer of Love" begins

    San Francisco "Summer of Love" begins

    The "Summer of Love" was aligned with the counterculture movement where somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 youth flooded San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district.
  • First NFL Football Super Bowl

    First NFL Football Super Bowl

    In the first ever Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
  • Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's album

    Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's album

    The album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eighth album released by the world-famous English rock band, the Beatles.
  • Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court

    Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court

    President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated the renowned civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to become the first African American Supreme Court Justice in June of 1967.
  • Tet Offensive

    Tet Offensive

    On the holiday of Tet, North Vietnamese, and Viet Cong forces launched a well-coordinated attack against Americans and South Vietnamese all across the country. This event showed Americans that they were nowhere close to victory, a common misconception at home.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated

    Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated

    MLK was shot and killed on the balcony of his motel in Memphis Tennessee in April of 1968.
  • Robert Kennedy is assassinated

    Robert Kennedy is assassinated

    Robert Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel and died at PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, California.
  • Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention

    Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention

    At the Democratic National Convention in 1968, around 10,000 protesters gathered in order to march on the amphitheater where the convention was being held. Anti-war protesters collided with riot police uttering the phrase, "The whole world is watching."
  • Richard Nixon is elected

    Richard Nixon is elected

    Former Vice President Richard Nixon beat the Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey and the American Independent Party nominee George Wallace in the 1968 election.
  • Stonewall riots

    Stonewall riots

    The Stonewall Riots were a series of events between police officers and LGBTQ protesters. The riots lasted six days.
  • American astronauts land on the moon

    American astronauts land on the moon

    The Apollo 11 mission led to Neil Armstrong taking his first step onto the moon on July 20, 1969. After his first step, he said the now-famous phrase, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
  • Woodstock concert

    Woodstock concert

    The first National Register Woodstock Music Festival was a three-day event in August 1969, that stretched across nearly 300 acres of farmland in Sullivan County, NY.
  • The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival

    The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival

    In early December of 1969, on the last day of their USA tour, the Rolling Stones held a special, free, one-day festival at the Altamont Speedway in California.