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SNCC formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded in 1960 in the wake of student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters across the South and became the major channel of student participation in the civil rights movement. -
SDS releases its Port Huron statement
The Port Huron Statement, ultimately, was a document of idealism, a philosophical template for a more egalitarian society, a call to participatory democracy where everyone was engaged in issues that affected all people - in civil rights, in political accountability, in labor rights, and in nuclear disarmament. -
Marilyn Monroe dies
American actress Marilyn Monroe died at age 36 of a barbiturate overdose inside her home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. Her body was discovered before dawn the following morning, on August 5. -
First televised Presidential debate
Nixon and Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy. The first-ever televised debate between presidential candidates was held on September 26, 1960. An estimated total of sixty to seventy million viewers watched the first and the successive debates, which came to be known as “the Great Debates.” -
First airing of “The Flintstones”
The Flintstones is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting. -
President Kennedy is elected
Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president. -
Russians send the first man into space
Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union was the first human in space. His vehicle, Vostok 1 circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour with the flight lasting 108 minutes. Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer. -
Berlin Wall is constructed
The Berlin Wall became the symbol of the Cold War and a tangible manifestation of the world's separation into two distinct ideological blocs. Map from the era, illustrating Berlin's division between the Allied forces. -
Roger Maris of the Yankees breaks Babe Ruth’s single season home run record
On a 2-2 count, the Yankees star blasted a Jack Fisher curveball deep into the upper deck for home run number 60, tying him with the immoral Babe Ruth. Although it may have taken Maris four more games to catch the Babe, he actually hit his 60 home runs in fewer plate appearances (684) than did Ruth (687). -
Watts race riots
Watts Riots of 1965, series of violent confrontations between Los Angeles police and residents of Watts and other predominantly African American neighbourhoods of South-Central Los Angeles. -
Stonewall riots
In 1969, a series of riots over police action against The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, changed the landscape of homosexual society quite literally overnight. Since then, the term 'Stonewall' itself has become almost synonymous with the struggle for gay rights. -
James Meredith registers at Ole Miss
James Meredith officially became the first African American student at the University of Mississippi. He was guarded twenty-four hours a day by reserve U.S. deputy marshals and army troops, and he endured constant verbal harassment from a minority of students. -
“Dr. No” the first James Bond movie premiers
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film directed by Terence Young. It is the first film in the James Bond series. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. -
New York World’s Fair begins
World's Fair theme was “Peace through Understanding,” and hosted 80 countries, the United States government, 24 states, and the City of New York. Robert Moses served as president of the World's Fair Corporation -
Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech
"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza. Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
The Beatles land in America. The band disembarking from a Pan Am Boeing 707 at the recently renamed John F. Kennedy airport, and were greeted by thousands of American fans. 9th February 1964 – The Beatles appeared live on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. -
The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
The appearance on February 9 is considered a milestone in American pop culture, and furthermore the beginning of the British Invasion in music. The broadcast drew more than 73 million viewers, a record for U.S. television at the time. -
Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
Johnson championed a series of anti-poverty programs, collectively known as Great Society, and his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Goldwater espoused a low-tax, small-government philosophy with an aggressive foreign policy. -
Malcolm X assassinated
African American nationalist and religious leader Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City. Malcolm, then 39, was shot by religious rivals while addressing a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. -
“Star Trek” TV show airs
Star Trek was created by American writer and producer Gene Roddenberry and chronicles the exploits of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise, whose five-year mission is to explore space. -
LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government
LSD being viewed as a cultural threat to American values and the Vietnam war effort, and it was designated as a Schedule I. -
Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s album
A concept album, from beginning to end, with songs that melted into each other, without the standard three-second pause between tracks. -
San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and Golden Gate Park. -
San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and Golden Gate Park. -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
Kansas City Chiefs (AFL) (11–2–1) vs. Green Bay Packers (NFL) (12–2). Head coach: Hank Stram Chiefs. Head coach: Vince Lombardi Packers. Packers win 35-10. -
boxer muhammad ali refuses military service
When Ali arrived to be inducted in the United States Armed Forces, however, he refused, citing his religion forbade him from serving. The cost for his refusal would prove to be drastic: the stripping of his heavyweight title, a suspension from boxing, a $10,000 fine, and a five-year prison sentence. -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention protests were a series of protests against the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War that took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
On August 30, 1967, the Senate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as the first Black person to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. Marshall was no stranger to the Senate or the Supreme Court at the time. Marshall was confirmed in a 69-11 floor vote to join the Court. -
Richard Nixon is elected
Richard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States. -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California and pronounced dead the following day. Robert F. Kennedy lies mortally wounded on the floor immediately after the shooting. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. -
Woodstock concert
Woodstock was a three-day music festival attended by mainly young people living the hippie lifestyle. The concert took place during a time when many young people strongly opposed the controversial Vietnam War and wanted to spread the message of peace and love. -
American astronauts land on the moon
Armstrong and Aldrin boarded Apollo 11's lunar module, the Eagle, and began to descend to the moon's surface. The Eagle made a risky landing in a shallow moon crater named the Sea of Tranquility. -
The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival
Intended to be a "Woodstock of the West," the free concert featuring Santana, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones advertised here devolved into chaos when a security force of Hells Angels began to clash with audience members.