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1960 U-2 incident
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
Vietnam War begins
U.S. sent 50,000 troops to South Korea. Kennedy believed that yet another failure to gain control and stop communist expansion would irreparably damage U.S. credibility. He was determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. -
Establishment of the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and volunteer program run by the United States Government providing international social and economic development assistance. The program was established by President John F. Kennedy and authorized by Congress on September 21, 1962 with passage of the Peace Corps Act. -
Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Friday, November 22, 1963. He was in Texas on a political trip to smooth over frictions in the Democratic Party. Traveling in a presidential motorcade through downtown Dallas, he was shot once in the back, the bullet exiting via his throat, and once in the head. Lee Harvey Oswald, an order filler at the Texas School Book Depository from which the shots were fired, was subsequently charged with Kennedy's assassination. -
"The Giving Tree" published
This book has been described as "one of the most divisive books in children's literature"; the controversy stems from whether the relationship between the main characters (a boy and the titular tree) should be interpreted as positive (i.e., the tree gives the boy selfless love) or negative (i.e., the boy and the tree have an abusive relationship). -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and later sexual orientation. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools and public accommodations, and employment discrimination. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis, Tennessee in support of black sanitary public works employees. Taking a break back at his motel, King was fatally shot by James Earl Ray as he stood on the second-floor balcony. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of race riots in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities. -
The Stonewall riots
A series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, New York City. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. Considered to be one of the most important events leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. -
Environmental Protection Agency established
President Nixon signed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters, into law on January 1, 1970. -
Stanford Prison Experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment was a social psychology experiment that attempted to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison officers. It was conducted at Stanford University by a research group led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo using college students. -
Charles Manson found guilty
Charles Manson and three of his followers were found guilty of the murders of Tate, the LaBiancas and four others. -
26th Amendment ratified
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and three-fourths of the states ratified it by July 1, 1971, the quickest adoption of an amendment. -
Break in at Democratic Headquarters (Watergate Scandal)
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continuous attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C. Watergate Office Building. -
47th Presidential Election
Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon from California defeated Democratic U.S. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. -
Roe v. Wade
A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction. -
Richard Nixon resigns Presidency
A tape, recorded soon after the Watergate break-in, demonstrated that Nixon had been told of the White House connection to the Watergate burglaries soon after they took place, and had approved plans to thwart the investigation. In light of his loss of political support and the near-certainty that he would be impeached and removed from office, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974. -
Attempted assassination on President Ford
Manson Family member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme pulled a gun on President Gerald Ford in a failed assassination attempt. -
Jimmy Carter becomes President
Carter began the race with a sizable lead over Ford, who narrowed the gap during the campaign, but lost to Carter in a narrow defeat on November 2, 1976. Carter won the popular vote by 50.1 percent to 48.0 percent for Ford. Carter carried fewer states than Ford, yet Carter won with the largest percentage of the popular vote of any non-incumbent since Dwight Eisenhower. -
The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire
The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire killed 65 people and injured more than 200. The nightclub was beyond capacity when the fire occurred. Several factors, including insufficient fire exits and lack of sprinklers, contributed to the fatalities and injuries. -
‘Son of Sam’: David Berkowitz arrested
Beginning in the summer of 1976, six people were killed and seven others wounded by a .44-caliber gun. The murder weapon was the main link police had for the crimes until April 1977 when Berkowitz left his first letter near the scene of a crime. The letter is the first time Berkowitz uses the name “Son of Sam.” Berkowitz wrote more letters as “Son of Sam,” taunting police about future murders that followed that summer. -
Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act
In response to rising unemployment levels in the 1970s, Representative Augustus Hawkins and Senator Hubert Humphrey created the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act. The Act explicitly instructs the nation to strive toward four ultimate goals: full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget. -
Jonestown mass suicide
Jim Jones was the founder of the Peoples Temple religious movement and ringleader of the biggest mass murder-suicide in history. Jones led more than 900 people to their deaths as they drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid in Guyana. -
The United States Refugee Act
The United States Refugee Act of 1980 is an amendment to the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, and was created to provide a permanent and systematic procedure for the admission to the United States of refugees of special humanitarian concern to the U.S., and to provide comprehensive and uniform provisions for the effective resettlement and absorption of those refugees who are admitted. -
U.S. boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow
The United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In total, 65 nations refused to participate in the games, whereas 80 countries sent athletes to compete. -
Eruption of Mount St. Helens
A series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. It has often been declared the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history. The eruption was preceded by a two-month series of earthquakes and steam-venting, caused by an injection of magma at shallow depth below the volcano that created a large bulge and a fracture system on the mountain's north slope. Approximately 57 people were killed directly. -
