1960-1969

     The 60's were a kind of "New Frontier" for the country.  The youth and ambition of president Kennedy coming into office in 1960 started this.  He energized the country with powerful speeches and exuberance.  One of his greatest accomplishments before he was assassinated in 1963 was the pushing of NASA and the space program.  His efforts helped America reach the moon first in 1969.  There were also great non-physical conflicts with the Soviet Union such as the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Then with the new president as Lyndon Johnson in 1963 there was a push to help Americans at home.  He developed programs like Medi-caid and had strong foreign policies.  The fact that he thought communists were determined to take over the world, led the nation into conflicts with other countries like the afore-mentioned Cuban Missile Crisis.  There were also inspirations like Betty Friedman's book The Feminine Mystique.  The controversial Vietnam War began in the 60's when President Johnson started to greatly increase the number of troops that were going there.

     There were some other major effects on people then too.  Like the mourning and sorrow the country faced when president Kennedy died.  The recovering of our country after that was very hard.  The Vietnam War also had a large impact on people at home.  Though some people advocated the "war" others spoke out vividly against it and thought it was pointless.  A new breed of culture came from many of these people that were called "hippies."  Their mantra of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll was prevalent in that day's music, ideas, and new type of society.  Civil Rights was a strong issue too with the militant Black Panther group being formed and Muslim leader Malcolm X's assassination.

    These events and effects of the 60's also affect us in ways today too.  The push of the space program has brought us to now when experiments are still going on like the recent incident when John Glenn went into space again.  Some of the Acts of the time are still with us today to like the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Also the beginning of the Vietnam War then caused things like the death of many American troops, Veteran's Day, and the Vietnam Wall.  So the main theme of this decade,  "The New Frontier" from Kennedy to Johnson, has helped shape some of the programs and ideas we still hold today.

Events of This Decade
*Starred Events relate to the main theme.

  1960-The first laser device is developed by U.S. scientists.
  1960-Student for a Democratic Society (SDS) is established by student activists.
*1960-The Soviet Union destroys an airborne U.S. spy plane.
  1960-The Kennedy and Nixon debate appears as the first presidential debate on TV.

  *1961-A Russian, Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.  This fuels more fire to the race into space between the Soviet Union and America.
    1961-President John F. Kennedy establishes the U.S. Peace Corps.
  *1961-The Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba (backed by America) fails.
    1961-"Freedom Riders challenge segregation on interstate buses."
  *1962-U.S. astronaut John Glenn orbits the earth in a spacecraft.
  *1962-The Cuban missle crisis occurs.  This is the closest the U.S. has ever come to all out Nuclear War.  The U.S. blockade on Cuba causes USSR to withdraw its missles from Cuba.
    1962-James Meredith becomes the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi, a highly segregated southern school.
    1962-President Kennedy issues the order that protects federal employees' right to organize and bargain collectively, but not to strike.
    1963-A civil rights march on Washington D.C. takes place.
    1963-A treaty is signed banning nuclear testing.
  *November 22, 1963-President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.  The details of this assassination are still debated today.

  *1963-Betty Friedan writes The Feminine Mystique.  This groundbreaking book helps inspire a new generation of women activists in the 1960's and beyond.
    November 1, 1963-Vietnamese and American stage a coup in Vietnam.
    1964-The Beatles gain international fame as a rock band.
    1964-Congress ratifies the Civil Rights Act.
    1964-Three civil rights activists are killed in Mississippi.
  *1965-Congress establishes Medicaid, Medicare, and passes the Voting Rights Act.
    1965-Black leader Malcom X is assassinated in New York.
  *1965-President Lyndon Johnson quickly increases the number of troops in Vietnam.
Vietnam Choppers
    1965-Race riots occurs in Watts, Los Angeles.
    1965-Cesar Chavez organizes farm workers.
    1966-A B-52 bomber from the U.S. crashes near the coast of Spain with four unarmed Hydrogen Bombs as its cargo.
    1966-The National Organization for Women is founded.  This Organization sparks women's movements for women's rights.
    1966-The Black Panther party is founded.

    1966-A court ruling establishes that suspects must be read their rights before they are questioned.
  *1967-Antiwar protesters march on the Pentagon in protest.
    1967-Three Apollo astronauts are killed in a fire on the launch pad.
  *1967-Martin Luther King leads an anti Vietnam protest in New York.
    1968-The American Indian Movement (AIM) is founded by activists.
    1968-The Kerner Commission publishes its own report on civil disobedience.
    1968-Riots break out at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
    1968-Robert Kennedy and Martin and Martin Luther King Jr. are assassinated.
  *July 1969-The U.S. becomes the first nation to land astronauts on the moon, with Neil Armstrong being the first astronaut to step down onto its surface.  This lead to his famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

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