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Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. This became a rallying point and sparked a new era in the Civil Rights Movement.
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Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to be launched into orbit, putting the Soviet Union ahead in the space race.
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Civil rights supporters boycott buses in the town of Montgomery, Alabama, in reaction to Rosa Parks stand against segregation.
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America is involved the Vietnam War. This war caused some of the greatest losses of American lives. It was a civil war fought between the Communist North and American-backed South.
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Congress passes the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Unfortunately, this act was compromised to almost nothing and had little impact.
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The ARPA, the precursor to DARPA, is created under President Eisenhower.
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The United States imposes a trade embargo on Cuba for increased ties with Communist Russia.
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John F. Kennedy is elected 35th President of the United States.
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Diplomatic relations with Cuba are severed.
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The CIA launches an attempted coup of Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. The invasion fails and strains Cuban-American relations even farther.
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James Meredith becomes the first African-American to attend a university in the United States.
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American spyplanes spot missle launch sites on Cuba, built in response to American missile sites in Turkey. After talks with Russia, the missiles are removed 14 days later.
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Lyndon B. Johnson becomes 36th President of The United States after John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
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Martin Luther King Jr. is jailed for his civil rights work. During his imprisonment, King pens "Letters from a Birmingham Jail".
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Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights activists stage a protest march in Washington, DC.
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President John F Kennedy is assassinated during a parade in Texas.
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Congress passes a second Civil Rights Act. This Act had more impact than the previous.
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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 strikes down voter discrimination on the basis of gender and race.
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The Woodstock Festival is held in New York. It becomes one of the most iconic cultural festivals of the century.
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The Supreme Court case of Roe v Wade recognizes abortion as a constitutional right to privacy, setting a precedent against similar abortion laws.
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The Black Panthers, a militant civil rights group, are formed.
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The city of Detroit in Michigan is rocked by riots due to cuts in employment and industry.
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The Tet Offensive, a military movement by North Vietnamese forces, pushes against American/South Vietnamese forces. Although the north made no headway, this offensive showed that North Vietnam was not as defeated as portrayed. It also served to increase American opposition to the war.
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Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated while visiting a sanitation workers strike in Memphis.
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Richard Nixon is elected the 37th President of the United States.
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The United States puts a man on the , effectively ending the Space Race.
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The first Earth Day is celebrated.
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Five men are arrested for breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Complex. Over the next several years, investigations would put increased pressure on President Nixon, leading to his resignation.
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The city of Wounded Knee is occupied by advocates for Native American civil rights.
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North and South Vietnamese leaders meet in Paris to sign a peace treaty, ending the Vietnam War. However, North Vietnamese forces overran South Vietnam in 1975, uniting the country under Communist rule.
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The Antiballisitc Missile (ABM) treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitations Trey (SALT I) are signed by the United States and the Soviet Union, reducing Cold War Tensions between the two.
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Gerald Ford becomes the 38th President of the United States, following the resignation of Richard Nixon from office.