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SNCC formed
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in April 1960 by young people dedicated to nonviolent, direct action tactics. -
First televised Presidential debate
Nixon and Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy. The first-ever televised debate between presidential candidates. -
First airing of “The Flintstones”
The first animated series with a prime-time slot on television. The show follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur, Dino, and they later on have a baby girl named Pebbles. -
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. -
Berlin Wall is constructed
On August 13, 1961, the SED began to seal off the borders around West Berlin, first with barbed wire and a few days later with walls. -
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. -
SDS releases its Port Huron statement
It was written by SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers (UAW) retreat outside of Port Huron, Michigan (now part of Lakeport State Park), for the group's first national convention. -
Marilyn Monroe dies
On August 4, 1962, Marilyn died at age 36 of an overdose of barbiturates at her Los Angeles home. Her death was ruled a probable suicide. -
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
Opened to the public at the London Pavilion cinema on Piccadilly Circus, with the first performance at 10.45am. The London Pavilion was operated by United Artists. -
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. -
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 on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
The Beatles arrived in the US on February 7, 1964 and from that day on, the music world and were never quite the same. -
The Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan
Over 73 million viewers came to be regarded as a cultural watershed that launched American Beatlemania. They performed five songs while on stage. -
New York World’s Fair begins
The opening ceremony, which featured speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and New York Governor Herbert Lehman, ushered in the first day of television broadcasting in New York. -
Lyndon B Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater
Incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Republican Senator Barry Goldwater in a landslide victory. -
Malcolm X assassinated
Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement, was shot multiple times and died from his wounds in Manhattan, New York City, on February 21, 1965, at the age of 39. -
Watts race riots
The protests were started because of an arrest of an African American man, Marquette Frye, by a white California Highway Patrol officer on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. -
LSD declared illegal by the U.S. government
President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), prohibiting many psychedelics in the United States. -
“Star Trek” TV show airs
A show that is about a space crew that has to venture space and to "seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” -
San Francisco “Summer of Love” begins
This event attracted over 100,000 bohemians and flower children from all over the country along with the Berkeley radicals. They embraced free love, rock music, drugs, and social activism. -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
The Packers scored in the first quarter on a difficult 37-yard touchdown reception by veteran Max McGee, who had entered as a backup. After the teams traded points in the second quarter, the Packers outscored Kansas City, 21-0, in the second half as the Packers prevailed, 35-10. -
Boxer Muhammed Ali refuses military service
He was 25 when he denied his call for military service while citing religious reasons. As punishment, Ali was convicted of draft evasion, stripped of his heavyweight title, suspended from boxing, sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000. -
Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's album
June 1st, 1967, Sgt. The song Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released, the band's eighth album became the soundtrack to the "summer of love" but its appeal is timeless. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall is the First African American Supreme Court Justice. On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated distinguished civil rights lawyer, Thurgood Marshall to be the first African American justice to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. -
Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
Martin Luther king was killed on April 4th, 1968. He was on top of a balcony while James Earl Ray shot him. -
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. -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and pronounced dead the following day. -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
A series of protests of United States involvement in the Vietnam War that took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. -
Stonewall riots
Police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. As the riots progressed, an international gay rights movement was born. -
American astronauts land on the moon
Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. -
Woodstock concert
Woodstock was the most famous of the 1960s rock festival. It held nearly 500,000 people and it was a time of unity and peace. -
The Rolling Stones host the Altamont music festival
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Tracy, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, with some anticipating that it would be a "Woodstock West".