-
Rosa Parks
refuses to give up her seat. -
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
is inaugurated for his second term in office. -
1st attempt at a satellite in space
The first attempt by the United States to launch a satellite into space fails when it explodes on the launchpad. -
Explorer I
the first U.S. space satellite, is launched by the Army at Cape Canaveral. It would discover the Van Allen radiation belt. -
Alaska
is admitted to the United States as the 49th state -
Hawaii
is admitted to the United States 50th State. -
"I Have a Dream"
The Civil Rights march on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom culminates with Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Over 200,000 people participated in the march for equal rights. -
President John F. Kennedy Is Killed
President John F. Kennedy is mortally wounded by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
is signed into law by President Lyndon B. -
The First Draft Card is Burned
The first public burning of a draft card occurs in protest to the Vietnam War. It is coordinated by the anti-war group of students, National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam. -
Protest Gone Wrong
Four students from Kent State University in Ohio were killed and nine wounded by National Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam War spread into Cambodia. -
Walt Disney World
opens in Orlando, Florida, expanding the Disney empire to the east coast of the United States. -
The Watergate crisis begins
when four men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. on the same day that Okinawa is returned from U.S. control back to Japan. -
President Richard M. Nixon resigns
the office of the presidency, avoiding the impeachment process and admitting his role in the Watergate affair.