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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
The first general election presidential debate was held on September 26, 1960, between U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, in Chicago at the studios of CBS's WBBM-TV. -
First Airing of "The Flintstones"
The Flintstones' First Episode: THR's 1960 Review. In fall 1960, The Flintstones first were introduced to television audiences by ABC on Sept. 30. -
President Kennedy is elected
Democrat John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Republican Vice Pres. Richard M. Nixon. Kennedy thus became the first Roman Catholic and the youngest person ever elected president. -
Russians send the first man into space
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He became the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed one orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961. -
Berlin Wall is constructed
The Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete wall between East and West Berlin. -
Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth's single season home run record
Roger Maris breaks home-run record. On October 1, 1961, New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. -
SDS releases Port Huron statement
The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). -
Marilyn Monroe dies
Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home on August 5, 1962. She died of an overdose of barbiturates at the age of 36. -
James Meredith registers at Ole Miss
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. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by the American discovery of Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. -
"Dr. No," the first James Bond movie, premiers
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
"I Have a Dream" public speech that was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible by Lee Harvey Oswald. He was 46. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
The band's Boeing 707, Pan Am flight 101, left London Airport early on the morning of 7 February 1964, bound for New York City. -
The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
The Beatles' first live appearance on American television took place on the country's most popular variety program, "The Ed Sullivan Show". -
New York's World Fair begins
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair held over 140 pavilions, 110 restaurants, for 80 nations. It started off with financial trouble, not being able to complete its construction and subsequently filing for bankruptcy. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Gulf of Tonkin was an international confrontation between North Vietnam and United States on the Gulf of Tonkin which led the United States to become more involved in the Vietnam War. -
Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
Incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. -
Malcolm X is assassinated
In New York City, 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
he Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion, took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for reckless driving. -
"Star Trek" TV show airs
Star Trek aired on NBC from September 8, 1966, to June 3, 1969, and was actually seen first on September 6, 1966, on Canada's CTV network. -
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. -
First NFL Super Bowl
Super Bowl I took place on January 15, 1967, and included the NFL's Green Bay Packers against the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. -
Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses military service
On April 28, 1967, boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the U.S. Army and is immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service. -
Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967 in the United Kingdom and 2 June 1967 in the United States, it spent 27 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart and 15 weeks at number one in the US. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall appointed to Supreme Court. President Lyndon Johnson appoints U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thurgood Marshall to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a series of surprise attacks by the Vietcong (rebel forces sponsored by North Vietnam) and North Vietnamese forces, on scores of cities, towns, and hamlets throughout South Vietnam. It was considered to be a turning point in the Vietnam War. -
Martin Luther King is assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot dead shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. -
Monterrey Music Festival held
The Monterrey Pop Festival was held June 16 to June 18, 1967, at the Monterrey County Fairgrounds in Monterrey, California. -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
The Democratic Convention of 1968 was held August 26-29 in Chicago, Illinois. 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. -
LSD declared illegal by the US government
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known as acid, is a hallucinogenic drug. On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was made illegal in the United States. -
Richard Nixon is elected
The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. -
American astronauts land on the moon
The Apollo 11 had several astronauts including Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the Lunar Module. -
Manson family murders Sharon Tate
The Tate murders was a mass murder conducted by members of the Manson Family on August 8–9, 1969, which claimed the lives of five people. Four members of the Manson Family invaded the rented home of married celebrity couple, actress Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. -
Woodstock Concert
Woodstock was a music festival held on a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains, northwest of New York City, between August 15–18, 1969, which attracted an audience of more than 400,000. -
The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival
Rolling Stones performed at Altamont, where they hoped to cap off their U.S. tour in late 1969. The Rolling Stones were performing a set when a fan named Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death by a Hell's Angel named Alan Passaro. Unaware of what had just occurred, the Rolling Stones completed their set without further incident.
