At the beginning of the 1960s, many Americans believed they were standing at the dawn of a golden age. On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy became president of the United States. His confidence that, as one historian put it, "the government possessed big answers to big problems" seemed to set the tone for the rest of the decade. However, that golden age never materialized. On the contrary, by the end of the 1960s it seemed that the nation was falling apart. During his presidential campaign in 1960, John F. Kennedy had promised the most ambitious domestic agenda since the New Deal: the "New Frontier," a package of laws and reforms that sought to eliminate injustice and inequality in the United States. But the New Frontier ran into problems right away: The Democrats’ Congressional majority depended on a group of Southerners who loathed the plan’s interventionist liberalism and did all they could to block it.
It was not until 1964, after Kennedy was shot, that President Lyndon B. Johnson could muster the political capital to enact his own expansive program of reforms. Johnson declared that he would make the United States into a "Great Society" in which poverty and racial injustice had no place. He developed a set of programs that would give poor people "a hand up, not a handout." These included Medicare and Medicaid, which helped elderly and low-income people pay for health care; Head Start, which prepared young children for school; and a Job Corps that trained unskilled workers for jobs in the deindustrializing economy.
Primary & Secondary Source Timeline
February 1, 1960 First Sit-In Protests: A group of students launch protests against segregation at a "Whites only" lunch counter of the Woolworth store in Greensboro, NC.
April 15-17, 1960 SNCC Founded: In Raleigh, N.C., African American college students create the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to give young blacks a stronger role in the civil rights movement.
May 13, 1960 Students Protest HUAC Tactics: Students and teachers organize a protest the powerful (HUAC) in San Francisco. Police use fire hoses and clubs to remove demonstrators, injuring and arresting many.
November 8, 1960 Kennedy Elected: John F. Kennedy wins presidency in tightest election since 1884.
May 4, 1961 "Freedom Riders" Leave D.C.: An interracial group of protesters board buses and travel to the South to test president Kennedy's commitment to civil rights. On their arrival in Montgomery, they were savagely attacked by a mob of more than 1000 whites.
March 26, 1962 Trial of SNCC "Freedom Riders": Many were on trial for the attacks they made on the Freedom Riders.
1963 The Feminine Mystique Published: Betty Friedan launches the modes feminist movement with her critique of the role of women in society.
August 28, 1963 "I Have A Dream...": During the Civil Rights March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers one of his most impassioned and memorable species to an audience of 250,000. Speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial, King sets aside his prepared notes to describe his vision of a nation that will "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evidence; that all men are created equal.'"
November 22, 1963 Kennedy Assassinated: President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon Johnson is quick sworn in as president.
June 22, 1964 Freedom Summer Begins With Murder: The SNCC organizes Freedom Summer to increase voter registration and build a grassroots political party in Mississippi. Three young activists disappear on June 22: Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney. Their bodies are found on August 4, buried in an earthen dam. Investigation results in 21 arrests, and conspiracy convictions of seven Ku Klux Klan members in October 1967. Exactly 41 years after the murders, on June 22, 2005, Edgar Ray Killen is convicted on three counts of manslaughter for masterminding the killings.
July 2, 1964 Civil Rights Act: Legislation outlaws discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
October 14, 1964 MLK Awarded Nobel Prize: Martin Luther King Jr. is award the Nobel Peace Prize.
August 6, 1965 Voting Rights Act: The legislation ends discrimination at the polls.
September 5, 1965 The "Hippie" Comes Into Being: Michael Fallen starts a series of stories for the San Francisco Examiner, introducing the word "hippie" to readers. Fallen's articles describe the migration of beatniks from North Beach to Haight-Ashbury in search of cheaper rents, some popular hippie hangouts such as the notorious Blue Unicorn, and the generally bohemian lifestyle of the beatnik/hippie community. Fallen's articles are widely read, but "hippie" doesn't appear in mainstream language for two more years.
June 16, 1966 Stokely Carmichael Takes over at SNCC: Soon after taking charge at the SNCC Carmichael rejects nonviolence and invokes "Black Power".
June 30, 1966 NOW is Born: The National Organization for Women is founded with the stated purpose of bringing "women into full participation in the mainstream of American society."
October 15, 1966 Black Panther Party Founded: Bobby Seale and Huey Newton found the Black Panthers in Oakland, CA. In stark contrast to the nonviolence endorsed by civil rights activists, the militant Black Panthers approve the use of violence for defense. The Black Panthers gain notoriety for patrolling streets in black berets and jackets, heavily armed with weapons. Their doctrine of self-determination and strength initially draws thousands of converts.
November 8, 1966 Edward Brook Elected: The Republican from Massachusetts becomes the first African American Senator in 85 years.
December, 1966 Martin Luther King Opposes War: Breaking with the President, MLK announces his opposition to the war.
April 15, 1967 Protesters March to U.N.: 400,000 march to U.N. building and hear speeches by Martin Luther King and Dr. Benjamin Spock.
Summer, 1967 Summer of Love: Usually this description refers to 1967, in and around San Francisco when the "hippie movement" was in full flower. Particularly during the summer months, thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury to take part in a somewhat pale imitation of the true hippie experience.
August 30, 1967 Thurgood Marshall Confirmed: The U.S. Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall to the become the first African American to sit on the U.S. supreme court.
June 6, 1968 Robert Kennedy Assassinated: Senator Robert Kennedy dies of gunshot wounds in Los Angeles, a day after winning the California Presidential primary.
November 5, 1968 Shirley Chisholm Elected to Congress: Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to congress.
February 1, 1960 First Sit-In Protests: A group of students launch protests against segregation at a "Whites only" lunch counter of the Woolworth store in Greensboro, NC.
April 15-17, 1960 SNCC Founded: In Raleigh, N.C., African American college students create the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to give young blacks a stronger role in the civil rights movement.
May 13, 1960 Students Protest HUAC Tactics: Students and teachers organize a protest the powerful (HUAC) in San Francisco. Police use fire hoses and clubs to remove demonstrators, injuring and arresting many.
November 8, 1960 Kennedy Elected: John F. Kennedy wins presidency in tightest election since 1884.
May 4, 1961 "Freedom Riders" Leave D.C.: An interracial group of protesters board buses and travel to the South to test president Kennedy's commitment to civil rights. On their arrival in Montgomery, they were savagely attacked by a mob of more than 1000 whites.
March 26, 1962 Trial of SNCC "Freedom Riders": Many were on trial for the attacks they made on the Freedom Riders.
1963 The Feminine Mystique Published: Betty Friedan launches the modes feminist movement with her critique of the role of women in society.
August 28, 1963 "I Have A Dream...": During the Civil Rights March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers one of his most impassioned and memorable species to an audience of 250,000. Speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial, King sets aside his prepared notes to describe his vision of a nation that will "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evidence; that all men are created equal.'"
November 22, 1963 Kennedy Assassinated: President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon Johnson is quick sworn in as president.
June 22, 1964 Freedom Summer Begins With Murder: The SNCC organizes Freedom Summer to increase voter registration and build a grassroots political party in Mississippi. Three young activists disappear on June 22: Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney. Their bodies are found on August 4, buried in an earthen dam. Investigation results in 21 arrests, and conspiracy convictions of seven Ku Klux Klan members in October 1967. Exactly 41 years after the murders, on June 22, 2005, Edgar Ray Killen is convicted on three counts of manslaughter for masterminding the killings.
July 2, 1964 Civil Rights Act: Legislation outlaws discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
October 14, 1964 MLK Awarded Nobel Prize: Martin Luther King Jr. is award the Nobel Peace Prize.
August 6, 1965 Voting Rights Act: The legislation ends discrimination at the polls.
September 5, 1965 The "Hippie" Comes Into Being: Michael Fallen starts a series of stories for the San Francisco Examiner, introducing the word "hippie" to readers. Fallen's articles describe the migration of beatniks from North Beach to Haight-Ashbury in search of cheaper rents, some popular hippie hangouts such as the notorious Blue Unicorn, and the generally bohemian lifestyle of the beatnik/hippie community. Fallen's articles are widely read, but "hippie" doesn't appear in mainstream language for two more years.
June 16, 1966 Stokely Carmichael Takes over at SNCC: Soon after taking charge at the SNCC Carmichael rejects nonviolence and invokes "Black Power".
June 30, 1966 NOW is Born: The National Organization for Women is founded with the stated purpose of bringing "women into full participation in the mainstream of American society."
October 15, 1966 Black Panther Party Founded: Bobby Seale and Huey Newton found the Black Panthers in Oakland, CA. In stark contrast to the nonviolence endorsed by civil rights activists, the militant Black Panthers approve the use of violence for defense. The Black Panthers gain notoriety for patrolling streets in black berets and jackets, heavily armed with weapons. Their doctrine of self-determination and strength initially draws thousands of converts.
November 8, 1966 Edward Brook Elected: The Republican from Massachusetts becomes the first African American Senator in 85 years.
December, 1966 Martin Luther King Opposes War: Breaking with the President, MLK announces his opposition to the war.
April 15, 1967 Protesters March to U.N.: 400,000 march to U.N. building and hear speeches by Martin Luther King and Dr. Benjamin Spock.
Summer, 1967 Summer of Love: Usually this description refers to 1967, in and around San Francisco when the "hippie movement" was in full flower. Particularly during the summer months, thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury to take part in a somewhat pale imitation of the true hippie experience.
August 30, 1967 Thurgood Marshall Confirmed: The U.S. Senate confirms Thurgood Marshall to the become the first African American to sit on the U.S. supreme court.
June 6, 1968 Robert Kennedy Assassinated: Senator Robert Kennedy dies of gunshot wounds in Los Angeles, a day after winning the California Presidential primary.
November 5, 1968 Shirley Chisholm Elected to Congress: Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to congress.
Works Cited