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SNCC Formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was one of the major American Civil Rights Movement organizations of the 1960s. It emerged from the first wave of student sit-ins and formed at a May 1960 meeting organized by Ella Baker at Shaw University. -
First Televised Presidential Debate
f you were watching television on the night of Sept. 26, 1960, you probably thought that the young Sen. John F. Kennedy had won that night's presidential debate. Yet if you heard the event on radio, Vice President Richard M. Nixon was the clear winner. -
First Airing of "The Flintstones"
It was the first American animated show to depict two people of the opposite sex sleeping together in one bed, although Fred and Wilma are sometimes depicted as sleeping in separate beds. -
President Kennedy is elected
Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Nixon. Kennedy secured 303 electors to Nixon's 219 electoral votes. -
Russians Send First Man to Space
Aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, he also became the first man to orbit the planet. -
Berlin Wall Constructed
East Germany tries to stop refugees from escaping to the freedom of West Germany by building a wall through Berlin. -
Roger Maris Breaks Home Run Record
Roger Maris broke the world record previously held by Babe Ruth on October 1, 1961. He scored 61 total home runs in one season. -
SDS Releases Port Huron Statement
The 25,700-word statement "articulated the fundamental problems of American society and laid out a radical vision for a better future". It issued a nonideological call for participatory democracy, "both as a means and an end", based on non-violent civil disobedience and the idea that individual citizens could help make "those social decisions determining the quality and direction" of their lives -
Marilyn Monroe Dies
Marilyn Monroe died in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. She died of a probable suicide due to a barbiturate overdose after becoming a sex symbol of the 60s. -
James Meredith Registers at Ole Miss
October 1, 1962, after troops took control, Meredith became the first African-American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Meredith's admission is regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights in the United States. He persisted through harassment and extreme isolation to graduate on August 18, 1963, with a degree in political science. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 3-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. -
"Dr. No" First James Bond Movie Premieres
In the film that launched the James Bond saga, Agent 007 (Sean Connery) battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program. -
Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" Speech
The “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. before a crowd of some 250,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington, remains one of the most famous speeches in history. -
Kennedy Assassination
President Kennedy was killed while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald. -
The Beatles Arrive In The United States
The Beatles arrive in the United States in 1964 starting their "invasion" and surging popularity in America -
The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
The Beatles, with their Edwardian suits and mop top haircuts, made their first American television appearance—LIVE—on The Ed Sullivan Show. A record setting 73 million people tuned in. -
New York's World Fair Begins
Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding", dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe". American companies dominated the exposition as exhibitors. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was an event involving the North Vietnamese and US warships. The two engaged in fire back and forth and it was seen as the start of US involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Johnson Defeats Goldwater
Incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. Johnson had 486 electors, Goldwater had 52 -
Assassination of Malcolm X
Malcolm X, an African American nationalist, and religious leader is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. -
Watts Race Riots
On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for reckless driving. A minor roadside argument broke out, and then escalated into a fight with police. Community members reported that the police had hurt a pregnant woman, and six days of civil unrest followed. -
"Star Trek" Airs
The first episode of the show aired on 6 September 1966 on CTV in Canada, followed by a 8 September 1966 airing on NBC in America. -
First NFL Super Bowl
The first AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, known retroactively as Super Bowl I and referred to in some contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl, was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. -
Muhammad Ali Refuses Military Service
Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces, saying “I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong.” This caused him to be charged with draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000, and banned from boxing for three years -
The Beatles Release Sgt. Pepper's
The Sgt. Pepper's album was The Beatles 8th studio album and critically acclaimed for being a sound for contemporary counterculture. -
San Francisco "Summer of Love" Begins
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. -
Monterrey Music Festival Held
The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Who and Ravi Shankar, the first large-scale public performance of Janis Joplin and the introduction of Otis Redding to a mass American audience. -
Thurgood Marshall Nominated for The Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall was the first black Justice to make it through the nomination to be confirmed -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a turning point in the Vietnam War where the Vietcong and the North launched surprise attacks on several South Vietnamese targets and it changed public opinion on the war. -
MLK Assassination
MLK was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he and his associates were staying when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, at the age of 39. -
RFK Assassination
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California after winning the South Dakota and California presidential primaries. -
1968 Protests at the DNC
As delegates flowed into the International Amphitheatre to nominate a Democratic Party presidential candidate, tens of thousands of protesters swarmed the streets to rally against the Vietnam War and the political status quo. -
U.S. Government declares LSD illegal
Lysergic acid diethylamide also known as LSD or acid is a heavy hallucinogenic drug. The drug was declared illegal in the United States after high levels of usage throughout the 60s. -
President Nixon is elected
Nixon wins the 1968 Presidential Election with a landslide. Nixon won 520 electors, while the Democratic nominee George McGovern only got 17 electoral votes. -
Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall Riots took place in response to a police raid on the Stonewall Inn. These riots and protests sparked the beginning of the American and global LGBT rights movement. -
American Moon Landing
Apollo 11 was the first lunar trip to land on the moon with people inside the spacecraft. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first two people in the world to walk on the moon, and plant a flag. -
Manson Family Murders Sharon Tate
The Manson Family murdered Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant, along with three friends who were visiting at the time, and an 18-year-old visitor, who was slain as he was departing the home. Her husband, Roman Polanski was not present on the night of the murders, as he was working on a film in Europe. -
Woodstock Concert
As one of the biggest rock festivals of all time and a cultural touchstone for the late 1960s, Woodstock has been referenced in many different ways in popular culture. The phrase "the Woodstock generation" became part of the common lexicon. -
The Rolling Stones host Altamont Music Festival
The event is best known for considerable violence, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two caused by a hit-and-run car accident, and one by LSD-induced drowning in an irrigation canal. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen and then abandoned, and there was extensive property damage.
