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Polio Vaccine
A study showing the Salk polio vaccine to be effective is released. Polio will now virtually disappear. -
Rosa Parks
In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man and is arrested. -
Eisenhower Reelected
Eisenhower is elected to a second term as president. -
JFK Wins Presidency
John F. Kennedy becomes the youngest elected president. -
Kennedy Assassinated
While riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumes the presidency. -
North Vietnam Bombing
The USS Maddox reports a second assault by North Vietnamese gunboats. President Johnson orders retaliatory strikes, and the U.S. bombs North Vietnam for the first time. -
March on the Pentagon
Thousands march to the Pentagon to demonstrate against the war in Vietnam. -
MLK Assasinated
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Nixon Elected
Republican Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States. -
Watergate
Five men are caught burglarizing the headquarters for the Democratic National Committee, located at the Watergate hotel in Washington, D.C. Their arrests will set into motion the events that will eventually result in President Nixon's resignation. -
Nixon Reelected
Nixon defeats Democratic candidate Senator George McGovern in the presidential election. -
Vietnam War Ends
The Vietnam War is officially over for the United States. The last U.S. combat soldier leaves Vietnam, but military advisors and some Marines remain. -
Nixon Resigns
President Nixon resigns amidst the Watergate scandal; his vice president Gerald Ford takes office.