60s Era Timeline

  • Newport Jazz Festival

    Newport Jazz Festival
    is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and her husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years.
  • Nixon-Kennedy Debates (1st on Television)

    Nixon-Kennedy Debates (1st on Television)
    Nixon refused make-up for the first debate, subsequently his facial stubble showed prominently on the black-and-white television screens at the time. During the debate, Nixon started sweating under the studio lights.
  • Mai Lai Massacre

    Mai Lai Massacre
    was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed during the Vietnam War. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children, and old men—in the village of My Lai
  • The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

    The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
    President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.
  • The Beatles Appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show

    The Beatles Appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show
    America tuned in to CBS and The Ed Sullivan Show. But this night was different. 73 million people gathered in front of their TV sets to see The Beatles' first live performance on U.S. soil.
  • The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia.
  • Operation Rolling Thunder

    Operation Rolling Thunder
    was a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the United States 2nd Air Division, U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from March 2, 1965, until November 2, 1968, during the Vietnam War.
  • March on the Pentagon

    March on the Pentagon
    The protest involved more than 100,000 attendees at a rally by the Lincoln Memorial. Later about 50,000 people marched across the Potomac River to The Pentagon and sparked a confrontation with paratroopers on guard.
  • Riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention

    Riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention
    with the police riot in full swing on Michigan Avenue in front of the Democratic party's convention headquarters, the Conrad Hilton hotel, and television networks broadcast live as the anti-war protesters began the now-iconic chant "The whole world is watching".
  • Woodstock

    Woodstock
    Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United.
  • Chicago 8 Trial

    Chicago 8 Trial
    The jury found Davis, Dellinger, Hayden, Hoffman, and Rubin guilty of traveling across state lines with intent to incite a riot. In a separate trial, seven of the police officers were acquitted by the jury, and the case against the eighth was dismissed by the prosecution.
  • The Beatles Break Up

    The Beatles Break Up
    McCartney said in a press release that he was no longer working with the group, which sparked a widespread media reaction and worsened the tensions between him and his bandmates.
  • Kent State Protest

    Kent State Protest
    members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators resulting in the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard, on the Kent State University campus.
  • Roe vs. Wade

    Roe vs. Wade
    the Supreme Court issued a 7–2 decision in favor of "Jane Roe" (Norma McCorvey) holding that women in the United States had a fundamental right to choose whether to have abortions without excessive government restriction and striking down Texas's abortion ban as unconstitutional.