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SNCC Formed
The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. -
First Televised Presidential Debate
On Sept. 26, 1960, 70 million American viewers watched the first of four televised presidential debates between candidates Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. -
First airing of "The Flintstones"
In fall 1960, The Flintstones first were introduced to television audiences by ABC on Sept. 30. -
President Kennedy is Elected
John F. Kennedy becomes the youngest man ever to be elected president of the United States, narrowly beating Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. He was also the first Catholic to become president.The campaign was hard fought and bitter. -
Russians Send the First Man into Space
On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. -
Berlin Wall Construction
During the early years of the Cold War, West Berlin was a geographical loophole through which thousands of East Germans fled to the democratic West. In response, the Communist East German authorities built a wall that totally encircled West Berlin. It was thrown up overnight, on 13 August 1961. -
Roger Maris Breaks Babe's 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
The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the North American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). It was written primarily by Tom Hayden. -
Marilyn Monroe Dies
Marilyn Monroe was found dead of a barbiturate overdose in the early morning hours of Monday, August 6, 1962. -
James Meredith and Ole Miss
In 1962, he became the first African-American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, after the intervention of the federal government, an event that was a flashpoint in the Civil Rights Movement. It caused riots. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war. -
"Dr.No" Appears
Upon release, Dr. No received a mixed critical reception. Time called Bond a "blithering bounder" and "a great big hairy marshmallow" who "almost always manages to seem slightly silly". -
MLK "I Have a Dream" Speech
"I Have a Dream" is a public speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. -
John F Kennedy is Assassinated
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. -
The Beatles Arrive in the US
John, Paul, George and Ringo arrived for their first U.S. visit with little idea what lay in store for them. The Beatles, from left to right, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, make a windswept arrival at JFK airport in New York City on Feb. 7, 1964. -
The Beatles Appear on Ed Sullivan
At 8 o'clock on February 9th 1964, America tuned in to CBS and The Ed Sullivan Show. But this night was different. 73 million people gathered in front their TV sets to see The Beatles' first live performance on U.S. soil. -
New York's World Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair held over 140 pavilions, 110 restaurants, for 80 nations, 24 US states, and over 45 corporations to build exhibits or attractions at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, NY. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. -
Lyndon B. Johnson Defeats Barry Goldwater
The United States presidential election of 1964, the 45th quadrennial American presidential election, was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater. -
Malcolm X Assassinated
On February 21, 1965, he was preparing to address the OAAU in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom when someone in the 400-person audience yelled, "N*$ger! Get your hand outta my pocket!" As Malcolm X and his bodyguards tried to quell the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun and two other men charged the stage firing semi-automatic handguns. -
Watt's Race Riots
On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for reckless driving.[2][3] A minor roadside argument broke out, and then escalated into a fight with police.[2] False rumors spread that the police had hurt a pregnant woman, and six days of looting and arson followed. -
"Star Trek" Airs
The first regular episode of Star Trek, "The Man Trap", aired on Thursday, September 8, 1966 from 8:30–9:30 as part of an NBC "sneak preview" block. -
LSD Declared Illegal
October 6, 1966, LSD went from a Schedule I drug, with some controls over its possession and distribution, to completely illegal for any purposes whatsoever. Not only was recreational use outlawed, but so was controlled academic research using LSD. -
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
The first AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, known retroactively as Super Bowl I -
Muhammad Ali Refuses Military Service
He declared that he would refuse to serve in the U.S. Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector. Ali stated that "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. -
Beatles Release Sgt. Peppers Album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967 in the United Kingdom and 2 June 1967 in the United States. -
Thurgood Marshall Elected 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. On August 30, after a heated debate, the Senate confirmed Marshall's nomination by a vote of 69 to 11. -
Monterrey Music Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. -
Tet Offensive
One of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and their allies. -
MLK Assassination
Martin Luther King Jr., an American clergyman and civil rights leader, was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. -
Robert Kennedy is Assassinated
On June 5, 1968, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded shortly after midnight PDT at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. -
1968 National Convention Riots
August 26, 1968, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. -
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. -
American Astronauts Land on the Moon
Apollo 11 blasted off on July 16, 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11. -
Manson Family Murders Sharon Tate
On August 9, 1969, Tate and four others were murdered by members of the Manson Family in the home she shared with Polanski. -
Woodstock Concert
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair—informally, the Woodstock Festival or simply Woodstock—was a music festival in the United States in 1969 which attracted an audience of more than 400,000. -
Richard Nixon Is Elected
The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
Altamont Music Festival
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture-era rock concert in 1969 in the United States, held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California on Saturday, December 6. There was lots of violence between Hells Angels and Hippies.
