Events of the 1960s
Major movements
- The Cold War (1947-89)
- U. S. Involvement in Vietnam (1954-75)
- Space Race (1957-69)
- Civil Rights Movement (1955-68 and beyond to some extent)
- Economic growth (GNP doubled from 1960 to 1970)
1960
- Feb. 1: Sit-ins began at Woolworth’s in Greensboro NC
- May 1: U-2 shot down over Soviet airspace; lead to
cancellation of Paris summit meeting
- November: Kennedy narrowly defeats Nixon, after first
televised debates
1961
- Apr. 17: Bay of Pigs fiasco
- May 5: Allan Shepard first American in space (suborbital)
- Aug.: Berlin Wall built
- Camelot opens on Broadway
- The Peace Corps is formed.
1962
-
Johnny Carson begins 30 years as host of the "Tonight Show"
1963
- ZIP codes are introduced.
- March 18: Supreme Court issues ruling that criminal defendants
have right to counsel
- June 17: Supreme Court forbids mandatory prayer in schools
- July 25: Limited nuclear test ban treaty
- Aug. 28: 200,000 march on Washington for civil rights: Martin
Luther King delivers "I have a dream" speech
- Nov. 22: Pres. Kennedy assassinated
- Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique, harbinger of women’s
movement (called "women’s lib")
1964
- February: The Beatles visit New York, beginning the "British Invasion", changing rock music in the U.S.
- Riots in Panama over U. S. control of canal
- "Free speech" movement at University of California, Berkeley
- June 29: Civil Rights act passed
- July: Conservatives gain control of Republican party;
Goldwater wins nomination over Rockefeller
- August: Democrats nominate Johnson and Humphrey
- Aug. 7: Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution
- Aug. 11: Congress approves War on Poverty bill
- Sept. 27: Warren Commission report issued; which concludes that Lee Harvey
Oswald acted alone in assassination of Pres. Kennedy
- Nov.: Johnson defeats Goldwater in massive landslide election
- President Johnson declares "unconditional war on poverty".
- Surgeon General declares cigarette smoking is a major health hazard.
1965
- Pres. Johnson orders continuous bombing of N. Vietnam S. of 20th
parallel
- Aug. 11-16: Watts riots
- Nov. 9-10: great NE power failure
- Vatican II council concludes
1966
- In the "Miranda" ruling, the Supreme court ruled
that suspects must be read their rights before questioning.
- July 1: Congress passes Medicare bill
1967
- January: The first Super Bowl is held in Los Angeles Coliseum:
Green Bay defeats Kansas City.
- Israel defeats Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in The Six Day War, beginning
occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan heights, but also reunifying
Jerusalem.
- "Summer of Love" in San Francisco
- Oct. 2: Thurgood Marshall on Supreme Court
1968
- In New Hampshire primary, President Johnson wins, but not decisively, in a
race with Eugene
McCarthy, who runs on a "peace" platform. Johnson then withdraws
from the race, declaring, "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the
nomination of my party for another term as your president."
- Protest at Columbia University: students seize three buildings, begin to
trash some professor’s life work.
After a week, police called in; after violent clash, protest
ended, but many are horrified at police behavior.
- Jan. 23: USS Pueblo seized by N. Korea
- Jan. 30: "Tet Offensive": Viet Cong attacks Saigon
and many other cities; suffer heavy casualties; Viet Cong
destroyed as effective force; tactical victory for U. S. and S.
Vietnam, but strategic loss
- Spring: "Prague Spring": liberalization in
Czechoslovakia; crushed by Soviet & Warsaw Pact invasion
- Apr. 4: Martin Luther King assassinated
- May 10: Paris peace talks, to end war in Vietnam, began
- May-June: riots in Paris begun by students; led to nationwide
strike; led to reorganization of U. of Paris; other reforms
rejected by electoral reaction
- June 5: Robert Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles after
winning California Democrat primary
- My Lai incident
- August: Republican convention in Miami nominates Nixon on
first ballot; he had been challenged by Rockefeller (on the left)
and Reagan (on the right)
- August: Democrats met in Chicago to nominate Humphrey and
Muskie; riots accompany convention ("Chicago 8");
traditionalists lose control of party after this convention
- Olympic games in Mexico City: two black American athletes
expelled for giving "black power salute" on victors’
podium; earlier, hundreds killed in riots in Mexican capital (incident
not widely known)
- November: Nixon wins election in three-way race: Nixon,
Humphrey, Wallace (Wallace appealed to populist Southerners who
were fed up with the liberal direction of the Democrats but were
unwilling to support Nixon)
- The rock musical Hair opens
- Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis.
1969
- "Moratorium" protests against war in Vietnam
- June: Stonewall riots: beginning of gay rights movement
- July: Chapaquiddick incident: Edward Kennedy involved in death of his
passenger, Mary Jo Copechne.
- July 20: Neil Armstrong sets foot on moon
- Aug. 15-17: Woodstock music (and sex and drug) festival; Altamont Free
Concert in December, called "Woodstock West"
- Nov. 15: March on Washington: demonstration against Vietnam
war
1970
- Apr. 22: First observance of "Earth Day"
- May 4: Four students killed at demonstration at Kent State University
See also
- Last updated: October 15, 2006.