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McDonalds
Ray Kroc found the idea for the McDonald's corporation, agreeing to franchise the idea of Dick and Mac McDonald. -
Brown vs The Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was jailed in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation laws. -
Federal Aid Highway Act
The law authorized the construction of a 41,000-mile network of interstate highways that would span the nation. It also allocated $26 billion to pay for them. -
Teamster Arrested
President of the International Brotherhood union of Teamsters, Jimmy Hoffa, was arrested by the FBI on bribery charges. -
Abuse of Power
National Guard called to duty by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus to bar nine black students from attending previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. He withdrew the troops on September 21 and the students were allowed entrance to class two days later. A threat of violence caused President Eisenhower to dispatch federal troops to Little Rock on September 24 to enforce the edict. -
Failed Lauch
The first attempt by the United States to launch a satellite into space fails when it explodes on the launchpad. -
JFK Elected
Senator John F. Kennedy, a Democratic candidate from Massachusetts wins the 1960 presidential election over Richard Nixon -
March on the Capitol
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. -
Assassination of President Kennedy
During a motorcade through downtown Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by accused shooter Lee Harvey Oswald who is killed two days later while in police custody. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was assassinated at age 39 while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York, by members of The Nation of Islam. -
Vietnam
Two supposed incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin lead Johnson to seek congressional approval for direct U.S. involvement in Vietnam. March 8, 1965: First Marines land in Danang. -
Voting Rights Act Passed
It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Breaking Ground
Thurgood Marshall is sworn into office as the first black Supreme Court Justice. -
MLK assassinated
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while standing on a motel balcony by James Earl Ra -
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind
The Apollo program completes its mission. Neil Armstrong, United States astronaut, becomes the first man to set foot on the moon four days after launch from Cape Canaveral. -
The Moratorium March
500,000 people gathered in the capitol for what's believed to be the largest antiwar protest in U.S. history, to protest America's involvement in the Vietnam war -
Assassination of Fred Hampton
The assassination of Fred Hampton, a Black Panthers leader, was part of a long history of police and government violence against black activists. The police fired over 173 shots in Mr. Hampton's apartment as he slept. -
Watergate Scandal
Police arrested burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Evidence linked the break-in to President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. -
Nixon Resigns
Nixon resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office following the Watergate scandal, the only time an American president has done so.
