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SNCC formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the Civil Rights Movement. -
First televised Presidential debate
Kennedy emerged the apparent winner from this first of four televised debates, partly owing to his greater ease before the camera than Nixon, who, unlike Kennedy, seemed nervous and declined to wear makeup. -
First airing of “The Flintstones”
The Flintstones were the modern Stone Age family. Residing in Bedrock, Fred Flintstone worked an unsatisfying quarry job, but returned home to lovely wife Wilma and eventually daughter Pebbles. -
President Kennedy is elected
In a closely contested election, Democrat United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee. -
Berlin Wall is constructed
The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Germany from 1961 to 1989. -
Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth’s single season home run record
New York Yankee Roger Maris becomes the first-ever major-league baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in a single season. -
Russians send the first man into space
Aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. -
SDS releases its 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
Los Angeles police concluded that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide." -
James Meredith registers at Ole Miss
Meredith registered as the first African-American student at Ole Miss. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
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" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist 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
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
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
America meets the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” At approximately 8:12 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, February 9, 1964. -
New York World’s Fair begins
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions, 110 restaurants, for 80 nations, 24 US states, and over 45 corporations to build exhibits or attractions at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
An international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. -
Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. -
Malcolm X assassinated
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
The immediate cause of the disturbances was the arrest of an African American man, Marquette Frye, by a white California Highway Patrol officer on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. -
“Star Trek” TV show airs
The iconic series "Star Trek" follows the crew of the starship USS Enterprise as it completes its missions in space in the 23rd century. -
San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
30,000 people gathered in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. They came to take part in counterculture poet Allen Ginsberg and writer Gary Synder's "Human Be-In" initiative, part of the duo's call for a collective expansion of consciousness. -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) smash the American Football League (AFL)'s Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10. -
Boxer Muhammed Ali refuses military service
Ali refused to be inducted into the armed forces, saying “I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong.” On June 20, 1967, Ali was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000 and banned from boxing for three years. -
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. -
Monterrey Music Festival held
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. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. -
Tet Offensive
Was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Christian minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
Kennedy was assassinated after being shot June 5 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
Counterculture and anti-Vietnam War protest groups had been promising to come to Chicago and disrupt the convention, and the city promised to maintain law and order. -
LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government
Over time, the drug became a symbol of the 1960s counterculture, eventually joining other hallucinogenic and recreational drugs at rave parties. -
Richard Nixon is elected
The Republican nominee, former vice president Richard Nixon, defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey. -
Stonewall riots
A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid -
American astronauts land on the moon
Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. They landed on the moon in the Lunar Module. -
Manson family murders Sharon Tate
The Tate–LaBianca murders were perpetrated by members of the Charles Manson "Family" in Los Angeles, California who murdered five people on August 9–10, 1969, and two more the following evening. -
Woodstock concert
Woodstock was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles southwest of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Bethel Rock Festival, it attracted an audience of more than 400,000. -
The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival
A counterculture rock concert held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway, northern California, United States. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some anticipated that it would be a "Woodstock West".
