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File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival;
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...
and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
-era Space Race; the Stonewall Inn; China's Mao Zedong initiates the
Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruc ...
plan which fails and brings mass starvation in which 15 to 55 million people died by 1961, and in 1966, Mao starts the Cultural Revolution, which purged traditional Chinese practices and ideas; John F. Kennedy is
assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
in 1963, after serving as President for three years; Martin Luther King Jr. makes his famous "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...
" speech to a crowd of 250,000., 408x408px, right rect 2 2 237 166 Vietnam War rect 240 2 498 166 The Beatles rect 2 169 192 296 Assassination of John F. Kennedy rect 196 169 317 296 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom rect 321 169 497 296 Woodstock rect 2 300 117 392 Cultural Revolution rect 2 393 117 486
Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruc ...
rect 122 300 237 486
Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...
rect 241 300 497 486 Apollo 11
The 1960s (pronounced "nineteen-sixties", shortened to the "60s" or the "Sixties") was a decade that began January 1, 1960 and ended December 31, 1969.Joshua Zeitz
"1964: The Year the Sixties Began", ''American Heritage'', Oct. 2006.
In the United States and other Western countries, the Sixties is noted for its counterculture. There was a revolution in social norms, including clothing, music (such as the Altamont Free Concert), drugs, dress, sexuality, formalities, civil rights, precepts of military duty, and schooling. Others denounce the decade as one of irresponsible excess, flamboyance, the decay of social order, and the fall or relaxation of social taboos. A wide range of music emerged; from popular music inspired by and including the
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
(in the United States known as the British Invasion), the
folk music revival A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware ly ...
, to the poetic lyrics of Bob Dylan. In the United States the Sixties were also called the "cultural decade" while in the United Kingdom (especially London) it was called the
Swinging Sixties The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...
. Organizations such as those present at May 1968, the German Red Army Faction, and the Japanese
Zengakuren Zengakuren is a league of university student associations founded in 1948 in Japan. The word is an abridgement of which literally means "All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations." Notable for organizing protests and marches, ...
tested liberal democracy's ability to help people left out of society in the post-industrial age hybrid capitalist economies. In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party gained power in 1964 with
Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
as Prime Minister through most of the decade. In France, the protests of 1968 led to President
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
temporarily fleeing the country. Italy formed its first left-of-center government in March 1962 with a coalition of Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and moderate
Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
. When Aldo Moro became Prime Minister in 1963, Socialists joined the ruling block too. Soviet leaders during the decade were Nikita Khrushchev until 1964 and Leonid Brezhnev. In Brazil, João Goulart became president after Jânio Quadros resigned. The United States had four presidents that served during the decade; Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. Eisenhower was near the end of his term and left office in January 1961, and Kennedy was assassinated John Barth (1984) intro to '' The Literature of Exhaustion'', in ''The Friday Book''. in 1963. Kennedy had wanted a Keynesian and staunch
anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
social reforms. These were passed under Johnson including civil rights for
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
and healthcare for
the elderly Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
and the poor. Despite his large-scale Great Society programs, Johnson was increasingly disliked by the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
at home and abroad. For some, May 1968 meant the end of traditional collective action and the beginning of a new era to be dominated mainly by the so-called new social movements. After President
Kennedy's assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle wit ...
, direct tensions between the
superpower A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...
countries of US and Soviet Union developed into a contest with proxy wars, insurgency funding, puppet governments and other overall influence mainly in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. This "
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
" dominated the world's geopolitics during the decade. Africa was in a period of radical political change as 32 countries gained independence from their European colonial rulers. The heavy-handed American role in the Vietnam War lead to an
anti-Vietnam War movement Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...
with outraged student protestors around the globe. By the end of the 1950s, post-war reconstructed Europe and began an economic boom. World War II had closed up social classes with remnants of the old feudal gentry disappearing. A developing upper-working-class (a newly redefined middle-class) in Western Europe could afford a radio, television, refrigerator and motor vehicles. The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries were improving quickly after rebuilding from WWII. Real GDP growth averaged 6% a year during the second half of the decade; overall, the worldwide economy prospered in the 1960s with expansion of the middle class and the increase of new domestic technology. During the 1960s, the world population increased from 3.0 to 3.7 billion people. There were approximately 1.15 billion births and 500 million deaths.


Politics and wars


Wars

* The
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
(1947–1991) ** The Vietnam War (1955–1975) *** 1961 – Substantial (approximately 700) American advisory forces first arrive in Vietnam. *** 1962 – By mid-1962, the number of U.S. military advisers in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
had risen from 900 to 12,000. *** 1963 – By the time of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's death there were 16,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam, up from Eisenhower's 900 advisors to cope with rising guerrilla activity in Vietnam. *** 1964 – In direct response to the minor naval engagement known as the
Gulf of Tonkin incident The Gulf of Tonkin incident ( vi, Sự kiện Vịnh Bắc Bộ) was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. It involved both a proven confrontation on August 2, 1964, carried out b ...
which occurred on 2 August 1964, the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution or the Southeast Asia Resolution, , was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It is of historic significance because it gave U.S. p ...
, a
joint resolution In the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires passage by the Senate and the House of Representatives and is presented to the President for their approval or disapproval. Generally, there is no legal differ ...
of the U.S. Congress, was passed on 10 August 1964. The resolution gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal
declaration of war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state (polity), state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a nationa ...
by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia. The Johnson administration subsequently cited the resolution as legal authority for its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. *** 1966 – After 1966, with the draft in place more than 500,000 troops are sent to Vietnam by the Johnson administration and college attendance soars. ** The Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) – an unsuccessful attempt by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from U.S. government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. ** Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974) – the war was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies. It was a decisive ideological struggle and armed conflict of the
cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
in African (Portuguese Africa and surrounding nations) and European (mainland Portugal) scenarios. Unlike other European nations, the Portuguese regime did not leave its African colonies, or the overseas provinces, during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1960s, various armed independence movements, most prominently led by
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
-led parties who cooperated under the
CONCP The Conference of Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies ( pt, Conferência das Organizações Nacionalistas das Colónias Portuguesas ''CONCP'') was an organization for coordination and cooperation between the national liberation move ...
umbrella and pro-U.S. groups, became active in these areas, most notably in Angola, Mozambique, and Portuguese Guinea. During the war, several atrocities were committed by all forces involved in the conflict. * The
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...
began in January 1963 and ended in August 1966. * The
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...
began in September. * Arab–Israeli conflict (early-20th century-present) ** Six-Day War (June 1967) – a war between Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...
, the West Bank,
East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...
, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the
geopolitics Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...
of the region to this day. * The
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
came to a close in 1962. * The
Nigeria Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...
began in 1967. * Civil wars in
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
rage on throughout the decade. * The Al-Wadiah War was a military conflict which broke out on 27 November 1969 between Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of South Yemen.


Internal conflicts

* The massive 1960 Anpo protests in Japan against the
U.S.-Japan Security Treaty The , more commonly known as the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in English and as the or just in Japanese, is a treaty that permits the presence of U.S. military bases on Japanese soil, and commits the two nations to defend each other if one or th ...
were the largest and longest protests in Japan's history. Although they ultimately failed to stop the treaty, they forced the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister
Nobusuke Kishi was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960. Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shō ...
and the cancellation of a planned visit to Japan by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. *
Cultural Revolution in China The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
(1966–1976) – a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People's Republic of China which was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao alleged that "liberal bourgeois" elements were permeating the party and society at large and that they wanted to restore capitalism. Mao insisted that these elements be removed through post-revolutionary
class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...
by mobilizing the thoughts and actions of China's youth, who formed Red Guards groups around the country. The movement subsequently spread into the military, urban workers, and the party leadership itself. Although Mao himself officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, the power struggles and political instability between 1969 and the arrest of the
Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
in 1976 are now also widely regarded as part of the Revolution. *The Naxalite movement in India began in 1967 with an
armed uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
of tribals against local landlords in the village of Naxalbari, West Bengal, led by certain leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The movement was influenced by Mao Zedong's ideology and spread to many tribal districts in Eastern India, gaining strong support among the radical urban youth. After counter-insurgency operations by the police, military and paramilitary forces, the movement fragmented but is still active in many districts. * The Troubles in Northern Ireland began with the rise of the
Northern Ireland civil rights movement The Northern Ireland civil rights movement dates to the early 1960s, when a number of initiatives emerged in Northern Ireland which challenged the inequality and discrimination against ethnic Irish Catholics that was perpetrated by the Ulster Pr ...
in the mid-1960s, the conflict continued into the later 1990s. * The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This incident was one of the first recorded transgender riots in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City by three years. * The
Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...
occurred in June 1969 in New York City. The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. * In 1967, the
National Farmers Organization The National Farmers Organization (NFO) is a producer movement founded in the United States in 1955, by farmers, especially younger farmers with mortgages, frustrated by too often receiving crop and produce prices that produced a living that paid ...
withheld milk supplies for 15 days as part of an effort to induce a quota system to stabilize prices. * The May 1968 student and worker uprisings in France. * Mass socialist or Communist movement in most European countries (particularly France and Italy), with which the student-based new left was involved. The most spectacular manifestation of this was the
May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
student revolt of 1968 in Paris that linked up with a general strike of ten million workers called by the trade unions; and for a few days seemed capable of overthrowing the government of
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
. De Gaulle went off to visit French troops in Germany to check on their loyalty. Major concessions were won for trade union rights, higher minimum wages and better working conditions. * University students protested in the hundreds of thousands against the Vietnam War in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome. * In Eastern Europe students also drew inspiration from the protests in the West. In Poland and Yugoslavia they protested against restrictions on free speech by
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
regimes. * The Tlatelolco massacre – was a government massacre of student and civilian protesters and bystanders that took place during the afternoon and night of 2 October 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City.


Coups

Prominent coups d'état of the decade included: * On 27 May 1960, a coup in Turkey led by
Cemal Gürsel Cemal Gürsel (; 13 October 1895 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish army general who became the List of Presidents of Turkey, fourth President of Turkey after a coup. Early life He was born in the city of Erzurum as the son of an Ottoman A ...
and
Cemal Madanoğlu Cemal Madanoğlu (22 March 1907 – 28 July 1993) was a Turkish soldier and lieutenant general. Born in Izmir on 22 March 1907, he attended the Turkish Military Academy, and the Academy of High Command. Cemal Madanoğlu was among the leaders ...
overthrew the government of
Adnan Menderes Adnan Menderes (; 1899 – 17 September 1961) was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He ...
. * On 16 May 1961, a coup in South Korea led by army officer
Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...
made the establishment of temporary military rule. * In 1963, a coup in South Viet Nam leads to the death of President
Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...
and the establishment of temporary military rule. * On 31 March and 1 April 1964, a military coup in Brazil overthrows President João Goulart and starts a 21-year period of
military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
. * On 21 April 1967, in Greece a group of colonels established a
military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
for seven years. * In 1968, a coup in Iraq led to the overthrow of Abdul Rahman Arif by the
Arab Socialist Arab socialism ( ar, الإشتِراكيّة العربية, Al-Ishtirākīya Al-‘Arabīya) is a political ideology based on the combination of pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialis ...
Baath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...
. * On 1 September 1969, a small group of military officers led by the army officer
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
overthrows monarchy in Libya.


Nuclear threats

* The
Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
(16–28 October 1962) – a near-military confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union about the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. After an American
Naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
(quarantine) blockade of Cuba the Soviet Union under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove their missiles from Cuba in exchange for the U.S. removing its missiles from Turkey. * On 13 February 1960, France detonated its first atomic bomb. France possessed a
hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
by 1968. * On 16 October 1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb. China possessed a
hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
by 1967.


Decolonization and independence

* The transformation of Africa from colonialism to independence in what is known as the decolonisation of Africa dramatically accelerated during the decade, with 32 countries gaining independence between 1960 and 1968, marking the end of the European empires that once dominated the African continent. However, many of these new post-colonial states would struggle with internal and external issues including famine, corruption, genocide, disease, and violent conflicts in the 1960s and succeeding decades. Many of these issues were caused or exacerbated by American and Soviet involvement during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
with each side supporting various strongmen, dictators, and guerillas favorable to their causes in these countries. Economic development on the continent has been difficult, but many nations who decolonized in the 1960s began to see a rebound and unprecedented growth in the first quarter of the 21st century. As a whole, Africa's GDP rose by an average of over 6% a year between 2013 and 2022, a rate only outpaced by China.


Prominent political events


North America


=United States

= * 1960 –
1960 United States presidential election The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent V ...
– The very close campaign was the series of four Kennedy–Nixon debates; they were the first presidential debates held on television. Kennedy won a close election. * 1961 – President John F. Kennedy promised some more aggressive confrontation with the Soviet Union; he also established the Peace Corps. * 1963 – Betty Friedan published the book '' The Feminine Mystique'', reawakening the feminist movement and being largely responsible for its second wave. * 1963 – Civil rights becomes a central issue, as the Birmingham campaign and Birmingham riot lead to President Kennedy's
Civil Rights Address The Report to the American People on Civil Rights was a speech on civil rights, delivered on radio and television by United States President John F. Kennedy from the Oval Office on June 11, 1963 in which he proposed legislation that would later b ...
, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...
" speech at the March on Washington, and the
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a white supremacist terrorist bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter planted 19 sticks of dynam ...
* 1963 – Kennedy was assassinated and replaced by Vice President
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
. The nation was in shock. For the next half-century, conspiracy theorists concocted numerous alternative explanations to the official report that a lone gunman killed Kennedy. * 1964 – Johnson pressed for civil rights legislation.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This landmark piece of legislation in the United States outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment. The first black riots erupt in major cities. * 1964 – Johnson was reelected over Conservative spokesman Senator
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
by wide landslide; Liberals gained full control of Congress. * 1964 – Wilderness Act signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 3 September. * 1965 – After the events of the Selma to Montgomery marches the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 was lobbied for, and then signed into law, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had caused the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States. * 1968 – U.S. President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
was elected defeating Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in November. * 1969 – U.S. President Richard Nixon was inaugurated in January 1969; promised "peace with honor" to end the Vietnam War.


=Canada

= *
The Quiet Revolution The Quiet Revolution (french: Révolution tranquille) was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in French Canada which started in Quebec after the election of 1960, characterized by the effective secularization of govern ...
in Quebec altered the province-city-state into a more secular society. The Jean Lesage Liberal government created a welfare state ''État-Providence'' and fomented the rise of active nationalism among Francophone French-speaking Quebecer Québécois. * On 15 February 1965, the new Flag of Canada was adopted in Canada, after much anticipated debate known as the Great Canadian Flag Debate. * In 1960, the
Canadian Bill of Rights The ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' (french: Déclaration canadienne des droits) is a federal statute and bill of rights enacted by the Parliament of Canada on August 10, 1960. It provides Canadians with certain rights at Canadian federal law in rel ...
becomes law, and suffrage, and the right for any Canadian citizen to vote, was finally adopted by John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative government. The new election act allowed First Nations people to vote for the first time.


=Mexico

= * The student and
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
protests in 1968 coincided with political upheavals in a number of other countries. Although these events often sprung from completely different causes, they were influenced by reports and images of what was happening in the United States and France.


Europe

* British Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...
delivered his " Wind of Change" speech in 1960. * Construction of the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
1961 to prevent East Germans from escaping to the West. * Pope John XXIII calls the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church, continued by Pope Paul VI (after John XXIII died in 1963), which met from 11 October 1962, until 8 December 1965. * In October 1964, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was expelled from office due to his increasingly erratic and authoritarian behavior. Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin then became the new leaders of the Soviet Union. * In Czechoslovakia, 1968 was the year of Alexander Dubček's
Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
, a source of inspiration to many Western leftists who admired Dubček's "socialism with a human face". The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August ended these hopes and also fatally damaged the chances of the orthodox communist parties drawing many recruits from the student protest movement.


Asia


=China

= * Relations with the United States remained hostile during the 1960s, although representatives from both countries held periodic meetings in Warsaw, Poland (since there was no U.S. embassy in China). President Kennedy had plans to restore Sino-US relations, but his assassination, the war in Vietnam, and the Cultural Revolution put an end to that. Not until Richard Nixon took office in 1969 was there another opportunity. * Following Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's expulsion in 1964, Sino-Soviet relations devolved into open hostility. The Chinese were deeply disturbed by the Soviet suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968, as the latter now claimed the right to intervene in any country it saw as deviating from the correct path of socialism. Finally, in March 1969, armed clashes took place along the Sino-Soviet border in Manchuria. This drove the Chinese to restore relations with the U.S., as Mao Zedong decided that the Soviet Union was a much greater threat against them.


=India

= * In India a literary and cultural movement started in Calcutta, Patna, and other cities by a group of writers and painters who called themselves "Hungryalists", or members of the
Hungry generation The Hungry Generation ( bn, হাংরি জেনারেশান) was a literary movement in the Bengali language launched by what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet, ''i.e.'' Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Royc ...
. The band of writers wanted to change virtually everything and were arrested with several cases filed against them on various charges. They ultimately won these cases.


Africa

* On 1 September 1969, the Libyan monarchy was overthrown, and a radical, revolutionary, government headed by Col. Muammar al-Gadaffi took power. * On 1 October 1960, Nigeria gained its independence from Great Britain.


South America

* In 1964, a successful coup against the democratically elected government of Brazilian president João Goulart, initiated a
military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
that caused over 20 years of oppression. * The
Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara travelled to Africa and then
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
in his campaigning to spread worldwide revolution. He was captured and executed in 1967 by the Bolivian army, and afterwards became an iconic figure for the left wing around the world. *
Juan Velasco Alvarado Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado (June 16, 1910 – December 24, 1977) was a Peruvian general who served as the President of Peru after a successful coup d'état against Fernando Belaúnde's presidency in 1968. Under his presidency, nationalism ...
took power by a coup in Peru in 1968.


Economics

The decade began with a recession from 1960 to 1961, at that time unemployment was considered high at around 7%. In his campaign, John F. Kennedy promised to "get America moving again." His goal was economic growth of 4–6% per year and unemployment below 4%. To do this, he instituted a 7% tax credit for businesses that invest in new plants and equipment. By the end of the decade, median family income had risen from $8,540 in 1963 to $10,770 by 1969. Although the first half of the decade had low inflation, by 1966 Kennedy's tax credit had reduced unemployment to 3.7% and inflation remained below 2%. With the economy booming Johnson began his "Great Society" which vastly expanded social programs. By the end of the decade under Nixon, the combined inflation and unemployment rate known as the misery index (economics) had exploded to nearly 10% with inflation at 6.2% and unemployment at 3.5% and by 1975 the misery index was almost 20%.


Assassinations and attempts

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:


Disasters

Natural: * The
1960 Valdivia earthquake The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami ( es, link=no, Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (''Gran terremoto de Chile'') on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4– ...
, also known as the Great Chilean earthquake, is to date the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale. It caused localized tsunamis that severely battered the Chilean coast, with waves up to 25 meters (82 ft). The main tsunami raced across the Pacific Ocean and devastated
Hilo, Hawaii Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement i ...
. *
1963 Skopje earthquake The 1963 Skopje earthquake ( mk, Скопски земјотрес од 1963 година, Skopski zemjotres od 1963 godina) was a 6.1 moment magnitude earthquake which occurred in Skopje, SR Macedonia (present-day North Macedonia), then part of ...
was a 6.1 moment magnitude earthquake which occurred in Skopje, SR Macedonia (present-day Republic of Macedonia) on 26 July 1963 which killed over 1,070 people, injured between 3,000 and 4,000 and left more than 200,000 people homeless. About 80% of the city was destroyed. * 1963 –
Vajont dam disaster The Vajont Dam (or Vaiont Dam) is a disused dam in northern Italy. It is one of the tallest dams in the world, with a height of . It is in the valley of the Vajont River under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, north of Venice. ...
– The Vajont dam flood in Italy was caused by a mountain sliding in the dam and causing a flood wave that killed approximately 2,000 people in the towns in its path. * 1964 – The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in the U.S. and North America, struck Alaska and killed 143 people. * 1965 –
Hurricane Betsy Hurricane Betsy was an intense and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida and the central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. The storm's erratic nature, coupled with its intensity and minim ...
caused severe damage to the U.S. Gulf Coast, especially in the state of Louisiana. * 1969 – The
Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River ( , or ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...
caught fire in Ohio. Fires had erupted on the river many times, including 22 June 1969, when a river fire captured the attention of Time magazine, which described the Cuyahoga as the river that "oozes rather than flows" and in which a person "does not drown but decays." This helped spur legislative action on water pollution control resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. * 1969 – Hurricane Camille hit the U.S. Gulf Coast at Category 5 Status. It peaked and made landfall with 175 mph (280 km/h) winds and caused $1.42 billion (1969 USD) in damages. Non-natural: * On 16 December 1960, a United Airlines DC-8 and a
Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...
Lockheed Constellation collided over New York City and crashed, killing 134 people. * On 15 February 1961,
Sabena Flight 548 Sabena Flight 548 was a Boeing 707-329 flight operated by Sabena that crashed en route from New York City to Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, 1961. The flight, which had originated at Idlewild International Airport, crashed on approach to Bru ...
crashed on its way to Brussels, Belgium, killing all 72 passengers on board and 1 person on the ground. Among those killed were all 18 members of the US figure skating team, on their way to the World Championships. * On 16 March 1962,
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 was a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner chartered by the United States military that disappeared on March 16, 1962, over the Western Pacific Ocean. The aircraft was transporting 93 U.S. soldiers and thre ...
, a Lockheed Super Constellation, inexplicably disappeared over the Western Pacific, leaving all 107 on board presumed dead. Since the wreckage of the aircraft is lost to this day, the cause of the crash remains a mystery. * On 3 June 1962, Air France Flight 007, a Boeing 707, crashed on takeoff from Paris. 130 people were killed in the crash while 2 survived. * On 20 May 1965,
PIA Flight 705 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 121 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed. Accident Flight ...
crashed on approach to Cairo, Egypt. 121 died while 6 survived. * On 4 February 1966,
All Nippon Airways Flight 60 was a Boeing 727-81 aircraft making a domestic commercial flight from Sapporo Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda International Airport. On February 4, 1966, all 133 people on board died when the plane mysteriously crashed into Tokyo Bay about ...
, a Boeing 727, plunged into Tokyo Bay for reasons unknown. All 133 people on board died. * On 5 March 1966, BOAC Flight 911 broke up in mid-air and crashed on the slopes of
Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...
. All 124 aboard died. * On 8 December 1966, the car ferry SS ''Heraklion'' sank in the Aegean Sea during a storm, killing 217 people. * On 16 March 1969, a DC-9 operating
Viasa Flight 742 Viasa Flight 742 was an international, scheduled passenger flight from Caracas, Venezuela to Miami International Airport with an intermediate stopover in Maracaibo, Venezuela that crashed on 16 March 1969. After taking off on the Maracaibo to Miam ...
crashed in the Venezuelan city of
Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...
. A total of 155 people died in the crash.


Social and political movements


Counterculture and social revolution

In the second half of the decade, young people began to revolt against the conservative norms of the time, as well as remove themselves from mainstream liberalism, in particular the high level of materialism which was so common during the era. This created a "counterculture" that sparked a social revolution throughout much of the Western world. It began in the United States as a reaction against the conservatism and social conformity of the 1950s, and the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam. The youth involved in the popular social aspects of the movement became known as
hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
. These groups created a movement toward liberation in society, including the
sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
, questioning authority and government, and demanding more freedoms and rights for women and minorities. The Underground Press, a widespread, eclectic collection of newspapers served as a unifying medium for the counterculture. The movement was also marked by the first widespread, socially accepted drug use (including LSD and
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
) and
psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
music.


Anti-war movement

The war in Vietnam would eventually lead to a commitment of over half a million American troops, resulting in over 58,500 American deaths and producing a large-scale antiwar movement in the United States. As late as the end of 1965, few Americans protested the American involvement in Vietnam, but as the war dragged on and the body count continued to climb, civil unrest escalated. Students became a powerful and disruptive force and university campuses sparked a national debate over the war. As the movement's ideals spread beyond college campuses, doubts about the war also began to appear within the administration itself. A mass movement began rising in opposition to the Vietnam War, ending in the massive Moratorium protests in 1969, as well as the movement of resistance to
conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
("the Draft") for the war. The antiwar movement was initially based on the older 1950s Peace movement, heavily influenced by the American Communist Party, but by the mid-1960s it outgrew this and became a broad-based mass movement centered in universities and churches: one kind of protest was called a "
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
". Other terms heard in the United States included " the Draft", " draft dodger", "
conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
", and " Vietnam vet". Voter age-limits were challenged by the phrase: "If you're old enough to die for your country, you're old enough to vote."


Civil rights movement

Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing into the late 1960s, African-Americans in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against
black American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s and voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South. The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the civil rights movement to include racial dignity, economic and political
self-sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person or organization needs little or no help from, or interaction with, others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-s ...
, and
anti-imperialism Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
. The movement was characterized by major campaigns of
civil resistance Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: i ...
. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of
civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
and nonviolent protest produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations that highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans. Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
s such as the successful Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) in Alabama; "
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
s" such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins (1960) in North Carolina; marches, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama; and a wide range of other nonviolent activities. Noted legislative achievements during this phase of the civil rights movement were passage of
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, that banned discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations; the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
, that restored and protected voting rights; the
Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The l ...
, that dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups; and the
Fair Housing Act of 1968 The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...
, that banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.


Hispanic and Chicano movement

Another large ethnic minority group, the Mexican-Americans, are among other
Hispanics The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...
in the U.S. who fought to end racial discrimination and socioeconomic disparity. The largest Mexican-American populations were in the
Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
, such as California with over 1 million ''
Chicanos Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
'' in Los Angeles alone, and Texas where
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
laws included Mexican-Americans as "non-white" in some instances to be legally segregated. Socially, the Chicano Movement addressed what it perceived to be negative ethnic stereotypes of Mexicans in mass media and the American consciousness. It did so through the creation of works of literary and visual art that validated Mexican-American ethnicity and culture. Chicanos fought to end social stigmas such as the usage of the Spanish language and advocated official
bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
in federal and state governments. The Chicano Movement also addressed discrimination in public and private institutions. Early in the twentieth century, Mexican Americans formed organizations to protect themselves from discrimination. One of those organizations, the League of United Latin American Citizens, was formed in 1929 and remains active today. The movement gained momentum after World War II when groups such as the American G.I. Forum, which was formed by returning Mexican American veterans, joined in the efforts by other civil rights organizations. Mexican-American civil-rights activists achieved several major legal victories including the 1947 ''
Mendez v. Westminster ''Mendez, ''et al'' v. Westminister icSchool District of Orange County, et al'', 64 F.Supp. 544 (S.D. Cal. 1946), ''aff'd'', 161 F.2d 774 (9th Cir. 1947) (en banc), was a 1947 federal court case that challenged Mexican remedial schools in four dist ...
'' U.S. Supreme Court ruling which declared that segregating children of "Mexican and Latin descent" was unconstitutional and the 1954 ''
Hernandez v. Texas ''Hernandez v. Texas'', 347 U.S. 475 (1954), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark case, "the first and only Mexican-American civil-rights case heard and decided by the United States Supreme Court during the post-Wo ...
'' ruling which declared that Mexican Americans and other racial groups in the United States were entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The most prominent civil-rights organization in the Mexican-American community, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), was founded in 1968. Although modeled after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, MALDEF has also taken on many of the functions of other organizations, including political advocacy and training of local leaders. Meanwhile,
Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants. Overview The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...
in the U.S. mainland fought against racism, police brutality and socioeconomic problems affecting the three million Puerto Ricans residing in the 50 states. The main concentration of the population was in New York City. In the 1960s and the following 1970s, Hispanic-American culture was on the rebound like ethnic music, foods, culture and identity both became popular and assimilated into the American mainstream. Spanish-language television networks, radio stations and newspapers increased in presence across the country, especially in U.S.–Mexican border towns and East Coast cities like New York City, and the growth of the Cuban American community in Miami, Florida. The multitude of discrimination at this time represented an inhuman side to a society that in the 1960s was upheld as a world and industry leader. The issues of civil rights and warfare became major points of reflection of virtue and democracy, what once was viewed as traditional and inconsequential was now becoming the significance in the turning point of a culture. A document known as the Port Huron Statement exemplifies these two conditions perfectly in its first hand depiction, "while these and other problems either directly oppressed us or rankled our consciences and became our own subjective concerns, we began to see complicated and disturbing paradoxes in our surrounding America. The declaration "all men are created equal..." rang hollow before the facts of Negro life in the South and the big cities of the North. The proclaimed peaceful intentions of the United States contradicted its economic and military investments in the Cold War status quo." These intolerable issues became too visible to ignore therefore its repercussions were feared greatly, the realization that we as individuals take the responsibility for encounter and resolution in our lives issues was an emerging idealism of the 1960s.


Second-wave feminism

A second wave of feminism in the United States and around the world gained momentum in the early 1960s. While the first wave of the early 20th century was centered on gaining suffrage and overturning ''de jure'' inequalities, the second wave was focused on changing cultural and social norms and ''de facto'' inequalities associated with women. At the time, a woman's place was generally seen as being in the home, and they were excluded from many jobs and professions. In the U.S., a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women found discrimination against women in the workplace and every other aspect of life, a revelation which launched two decades of prominent women-centered legal reforms (i.e., the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title IX, etc.) which broke down the last remaining legal barriers to women's personal freedom and professional success. Feminists took to the streets, marching and protesting, authoring books and debating to change social and political views that limited women. In 1963, with Betty Friedan's book, '' The Feminine Mystique'', the role of women in society, and in public and private life was questioned. By 1966, the movement was beginning to grow in size and power as women's group spread across the country and Friedan, along with other feminists, founded the National Organization for Women. In 1968, " Women's Liberation" became a household term as, for the first time, the new women's movement eclipsed the civil rights movement when New York Radical Women, led by Robin Morgan, protested the annual Miss America pageant in
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
. The movement continued throughout the next decades. Gloria Steinem was a key feminist.


Gay rights movement

The United States, in the middle of a social revolution, led the world in LGBT rights in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Inspired by the civil-rights movement and the women's movement, early gay-rights pioneers had begun, by the 1960s, to build a movement. These groups were rather conservative in their practices, emphasizing that ''gay men and women are no different from those who are straight'' and deserve full equality. This philosophy would be dominant again after
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
, but by the very end of the 1960s, the movement's goals would change and become more radical, demanding a right to be different, and encouraging gay pride. The symbolic birth of the gay rights movement would not come until the decade had almost come to a close. Gays were not allowed by law to congregate. Gay establishments such as the Stonewall Inn in New York City were routinely raided by the police to arrest gay people. On a night in late June 1969, LGBT people resisted, for the first time, a police raid, and rebelled openly in the streets. This uprising called the
Stonewall Riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...
began a new period of the LGBT rights movement that in the next decade would cause dramatic change both inside the LGBT community and in the mainstream American culture.


New Left

The rapid rise of a "
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
" applied the class perspective of Marxism to postwar America but had little organizational connection with older Marxist organizations such as the Communist Party, and even went as far as to reject organized labor as the basis of a unified left-wing movement. Sympathetic to the ideology of C. Wright Mills, the New Left differed from the traditional left in its resistance to dogma and its emphasis on personal as well as societal change. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) became the organizational focus of the New Left and was the prime mover behind the opposition to the War in Vietnam. The 1960s left also consisted of ephemeral campus-based Trotskyist, Maoist and
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
groups, some of which by the end of the 1960s had turned to militancy.


Crime

The 1960s was also associated with a large increase in crime and urban unrest of all types. Between 1960 and 1969 reported incidence of violent crime per 100,000 people in the United States nearly doubled and have yet to return to the levels of the early 1960s. Large riots broke out in many cities like Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, New Jersey, Oakland, California and Washington, D.C. By the end of the decade, politicians like
George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
and Richard Nixon campaigned on restoring law and order to a nation troubled with the new unrest.


Science and technology


Science


Space exploration

The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union dominated the 1960s. The Soviets sent the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into outer space during the Vostok 1 mission on 12 April 1961 and scored a host of other successes, but by the middle of the decade the U.S. was taking the lead. In May 1961, President Kennedy set the goal for the United States of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. In June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space during the Vostok 6 mission. In 1965, Soviets launched the first probe to hit another planet of the Solar System ( Venus), Venera 3, and the first probe to make a soft landing on and transmit from the surface of the Moon, Luna 9. In March 1966, the Soviet Union launched Luna 10, which became the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon, and in September, 1968, Zond 5 flew the first terrestrial beings, including two tortoises, to circumnavigate the Moon. The deaths of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire on 27 January 1967 put a temporary hold on the U.S. space program, but afterward progress was steady, with the
Apollo 8 Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These ...
crew ( Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, William Anders) being the first manned mission to orbit another celestial body (the Moon) during Christmas of 1968. On 20 July 1969, Apollo 11, the first human spaceflight landed on the Moon. Launched on 16 July 1969, it carried mission Commander
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...
, Command Module Pilot
Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...
, and the Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 11 fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the Moon by the end of the 1960s, which he had expressed during a speech given before a joint session of Congress on 25 May 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." The Soviet program lost its sense of direction with the death of chief designer Sergey Korolyov in 1966. Political pressure, conflicts between different design bureaus, and engineering problems caused by an inadequate budget would doom the Soviet attempt to land men on the Moon. A succession of unmanned American and Soviet probes traveled to the Moon, Venus, and Mars during the 1960s, and commercial satellites also came into use.


Other scientific developments

* 1960 – The female birth-control contraceptive, the pill, was released in the United States after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. * 1963 – The measles vaccine was released after being approved by the FDA * 1964 – The discovery and confirmation of the Cosmic microwave background in 1964 secured the Big Bang as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the universe. * 1965 –
AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...
introduced. * 1967 – First heart transplantation operation by Professor Christiaan Barnard in South Africa. * 1967 – Discovery of the first known
pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Ea ...
(a rapidly spinning neutron star). * During the late 1960s, the Green Revolution took a major leap in agricultural production.


Technology

Shinkansen, the world's first
high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
service began in 1964.


Automobiles

As the 1960s began, American cars showed a rapid rejection of 1950s styling excess, and would remain relatively clean and boxy for the entire decade. The horsepower race reached its climax in the late 1960s, with muscle cars sold by most makes. The compact
Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...
, launched in 1964, was one of the decade's greatest successes. The " Big Three" American automakers enjoyed their highest ever sales and profitability in the 1960s, but the demise of
Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...
in 1966 left
American Motors Corporation American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...
as the last significant independent. The decade would see the car market split into different size classes for the first time, and model lineups now included
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
and mid-sized cars in addition to full-sized ones. The popular modern hatchback, with front-wheel-drive and a two-box configuration, was born in 1965 with the introduction of the
Renault 16 The Renault 16 (R16) is a D-segment family hatchback produced by French automaker Renault between 1965 and 1980 in Le Havre, France. The Renault 16 was the first French winner of the European Car of the Year award. Market placement In the early 1 ...
, many of this car's design principles live on in its modern counterparts: a large rear opening incorporating the rear window, foldable rear seats to extend boot space. The Mini, released in 1959, had first popularised the front wheel drive two-box configuration, but technically was not a hatchback as it had a fold-down bootlid. Japanese cars also began to gain acceptance in the Western market, and popular economy models such as the
Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...
, Datsun 510, and the first popular Japanese sports car, the Datsun 240Z, were released in the mid- to late-1960s.


Electronics and communications

* 1960 – The first working laser was demonstrated in May by
Theodore Maiman Theodore Harold Maiman (July 11, 1927 – May 5, 2007) was an American engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser.Johnson, John Jr. (May 11, 2008). "Theodore H. Maiman, at age 32; scientist created the first LA ...
at Hughes Research Laboratories. * 1960 – Tony Hoare announces the Quicksort algorithm, the most common sorter on computers. * 1961 – Unimate, the first industrial robot, was introduced. * 1962 – First transatlantic satellite broadcast via the Telstar satellite. * 1962 – The first computer video game, ''
Spacewar! ''Spacewar!'' is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. It was written for the newly installed DEC PDP-1 minicomputer at the Mas ...
'', was invented. * 1962 – Red
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
s were developed. * 1963 – The first geosynchronous communications satellite, ''
Syncom 2 Syncom (for "synchronous communication satellite") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by the Space and Communications division of Hughes Aircraft Compa ...
'', is launched. * 1963 – First transpacific satellite broadcast via the Relay 1 satellite. * 1963 –
Touch-Tone Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF) is a telecommunication signaling system using the voice-frequency band over telephone lines between telephone equipment and other communications devices and switching centers. DTMF was first developed ...
telephones introduced. * 1963 – Sketchpad was the first touch interactive computer graphics program. * 1963 – The Nottingham Electronic Valve company produced the first home video recorder called the "Telcan". * 1964 – 8-track tape audio format was developed. * 1964 – The
Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...
was introduced. * 1964 – The first successful
Minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ...
, Digital Equipment Corporation's 12-bit PDP-8, was marketed. * 1964 – The programming language
BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
was created. * 1964 – The world's first
supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
, the CDC 6600, was introduced. * 1964 –
Fairchild Semiconductor Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. was an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, it became a pioneer in the manufacturing of transistors and of int ...
released ICs with dual in-line packaging. * 1967 – PAL and SECAM broadcast color television systems started publicly transmitting in Europe. * 1967 – The first Automatic Teller Machine was opened in Barclays Bank, London. * 1968 –
Ralph Baer Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-American inventor, game developer, and engineer. Baer's family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war effort, gain ...
developed his
Brown Box The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...
(a working prototype of the Magnavox Odyssey). * 1968 – The first public demonstration of the computer mouse, the
paper paradigm In computing, the desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users interact more easily with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the computer monitor as if it is ...
Graphical user interface, video conferencing, teleconferencing, email, and
hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typi ...
. * 1969 – ARPANET, the research-oriented prototype of the Internet, was introduced. * 1969 – CCD invented at AT&T Bell Labs, used as the electronic imager in still and video cameras.


Additional notable worldwide events

* The
Manson Murders Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loc ...
occurred between 8–10 August 1969, when actress
Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...
, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and several others were brutally murdered in the Tate residence by
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
's "family."
Rosemary LaBianca ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name ''Rosmari ...
&
Leno LaBianca James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...
were also murdered by the Manson family the following night. * Canada celebrated its 100th anniversary of Confederation in 1967 by hosting Expo 67, the World's Fair, in Montreal, Quebec. During the anniversary celebrations, French president
Charles De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
visited Canada, and caused a considerable uproar by declaring his support for Québécois independence.


Popular culture

File:The Beatles Story .jpg, The Beatles released music throughout the 1960s. The music of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison would stand the test of time. File:Salahzulfikar&soadhosny.jpg, Salah Zulfikar and Soad Hosny are considered two of the greatest middle eastern actors of all time and superstars of the 1960s File:Bob Dylan in November 1963-2.jpg, Bob Dylan is often considered the greatest songwriter of all time, and along with The Beatles defined the explosion of musical ideas in the 1960s. File:Deus Peace.png, Peace signs and flowers were an aesthetic of the 1960s and hippie culture. File:Marijuana and pipe.jpg, Increased use of LSD and
Marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
occurred in the 1960s. File:Woodstock redmond crowd.JPG, The Woodstock Music Festival in 1969. File:Aldrin Apollo 11.jpg, Buzz Aldrin (pictured) and
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...
walk on the Moon in July, 1969. File:Lava lamp01.jpg,
Lava Lamps A lava lamp is a decorative lamp, invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. It consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel, the remainder of whic ...
released in the late 1940s became very prevalent in the 1960s.
The counterculture movement dominated the second half of the 1960s, its most famous moments being the
Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. ...
in San Francisco in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York in 1969. Psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, were widely used medicinally, spiritually and recreationally throughout the late 1960s, and were popularized by Timothy Leary with his slogan " Turn on, tune in, drop out". Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters also played a part in the role of "turning heads on".
Psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
influenced the music, artwork and films of the decade, and a number of prominent musicians died of drug overdoses (see
27 Club The 27 Club is an informal list consisting mostly of popular musicians, artists, actors, and other celebrities who died at age 27. Although the claim of a "statistical spike" for the death of musicians at that age has been refuted by scientific ...
). There was a growing interest in Eastern religions and philosophy, and many attempts were made to found communes, which varied from supporting free love to religious puritanism.


Music

The rock 'n' roll movement of the 1950s quickly came to an end in 1959 with the Day the Music Died (as explained in the song " American Pie"), the scandal of Jerry Lee Lewis' marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, and the induction of Elvis Presley into the United States Army. As the 1960s began, the major rock 'n' roll stars of the '50s such as Chuck Berry and
Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
had dropped off the charts and popular music in the U.S. came to be dominated by
girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
s, surf music, novelty pop songs, clean-cut teen idols, and
Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
music. Another important change in music during the early 1960s was the
American folk music revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...
which introduced Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Odetta,
Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...
, and many other
singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted thr ...
s to the public.
Girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
s and female singers, such as the Shirelles, Betty Everett, Little Eva, the Dixie Cups, the Ronettes,
Martha and the Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind ...
and the Supremes dominated the charts in the early 1960s. This style consisted typically of light pop themes about teenage romance and lifestyles, backed by vocal harmonies and a strong rhythm. Most girl groups were African-American, but white girl groups and singers, such as
Lesley Gore Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16, she recorded the pop music, pop hit "It's My Party (Lesley Gore song), I ...
, the Angels, and the Shangri-Las also emerged during this period. Around the same time, record producer Phil Spector began producing girl groups and created a new kind of pop music production that came to be known as the Wall of Sound. This style emphasized higher budgets and more elaborate arrangements, and more melodramatic musical themes in place of a simple, light-hearted pop sound. Spector's innovations became integral to the growing sophistication of popular music from 1965 onward. Also during the early 1960s,
surf rock Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a Music genre, genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is in ...
emerged, a rock subgenre that was centered in Southern California and based on beach and surfing themes, in addition to the usual songs about teenage romance and innocent fun. The Beach Boys quickly became the premier surf rock band and almost completely and single-handedly overshadowed the many lesser-known artists in the subgenre. Surf rock reached its peak in 1963–1965 before gradually being overtaken by bands influenced by the British Invasion and the counterculture movement. The car song also emerged as a rock subgenre in the early 1960s, which focused on teenagers' fascination with car culture. The Beach Boys also dominated this subgenre, along with the duo Jan and Dean. Such notable songs include " Little Deuce Coupe", "
409 __NOTOC__ Year 409 ( CDIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, yea ...
", and " Shut Down", all by the Beach Boys; Jan and Dean's "
Little Old Lady from Pasadena "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" is a song written by Don Altfeld, Jan Berry and Roger Christian (songwriter), Roger Christian, and recorded by 1960s American pop singers, Jan and Dean. Singer/songwriter P.F. Sloan sings the falsetto part us ...
" and " Drag City",
Ronny and the Daytonas Ronny & the Daytonas were an American surf rock group of the early 1960s, whose members included John "Bucky" Wilkin (aka Ronny Dayton) (songwriting, guitar, vocals), Paul Jensen (vocals, guitar), Thomas Ramey ( bass, guitar), Lynn Williams ( d ...
' "
Little GTO Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Little (album), ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt *Little (film), ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's nov ...
", and many others. Like girl groups and surf rock, car songs also became overshadowed by the British Invasion and the counterculture movement. The early 1960s also saw the golden age of another rock subgenre, the
teen tragedy song A teenage tragedy song is a style of ballad in popular music that peaked in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Examples of the style are also known as "tear jerkers", "death discs" or "splatter platters", among other colorful sobriquet ...
, which focused on lost teen romance caused by sudden death, mainly in traffic accidents. Such songs included
Mark Dinning Max Edward Dinning (August 17, 1933 — March 22, 1986), known by his stage name Mark Dinning was an American pop music singer. In February 1960, the song " Teen Angel", written by his sister Jean (Eugenia) and her husband Red Surrey, reached nu ...
's " Teen Angel", Ray Peterson's "
Tell Laura I Love Her "Tell Laura I Love Her" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jeff Barry and Ben Raleigh. It was a US top ten popular music hit for singer Ray Peterson in 1960 on RCA Victor Records, reaching No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Later tha ...
", Jan and Dean's "
Dead Man's Curve Dead Man's Curve is an American nickname for a curve in a road that has claimed lives because of numerous crashes. Examples * A curve on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles memorialized in the hit song "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean. The song' ...
", the Shangri-Las' " Leader of the Pack", and perhaps the subgenre's most popular, "
Last Kiss "Last Kiss" is a song released by Wayne Cochran in 1961 on the Gala label. It failed to do well on the charts. Cochran subsequently re-recorded his song for the King label in 1963. It was revived by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, who took ...
" by
J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers were an American 1960s group, best remembered for their 1964 million-selling record, " Last Kiss". Career The Cavaliers formed around 1955 with leader and guitarist Sid Holmes, bassist Lewis Elliott, saxophon ...
. In the early 1960s, Britain became a hotbed of rock 'n' roll activity during this time. In late 1963, the Beatles embarked on their first US tour and cult singer Dusty Springfield released her first solo single. A few months later, rock 'n' roll founding father Chuck Berry emerged from a -year prison stint and resumed recording and touring. The stage was set for the spectacular revival of rock music. In the UK, the Beatles played raucous rock 'n' roll – as well as doo wop, girl-group songs, show tunes – and wore leather jackets. Their manager Brian Epstein encouraged the group to wear suits.
Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
abruptly exploded after the group's appearance on '' The Ed Sullivan Show'' in 1964. Late in 1965, the Beatles released the album '' Rubber Soul'' which marked the beginning of their transition to a sophisticated power pop group with elaborate studio arrangements and production, and a year after that, they gave up touring entirely to focus only on albums. A host of imitators followed the Beatles in the so-called British Invasion, including groups like the Rolling Stones and the Kinks who would become legends in their own right. As the counterculture movement developed, artists began making new kinds of music influenced by the use of psychedelic drugs. Guitarist
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
emerged onto the scene in 1967 with a radically new approach to electric guitar that replaced Chuck Berry, previously seen as the gold standard of rock guitar. Rock artists began to take on serious themes and social commentary/protest instead of simplistic pop themes. A major development in popular music during the mid-1960s was the movement away from singles and towards albums. Previously, popular music was based around the 45 single (or even earlier, the 78 single) and albums such as they existed were little more than a hit single or two backed with filler tracks, instrumentals, and covers. The development of the AOR (album-oriented rock) format was complicated and involved several concurrent events such as Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, the introduction by Bob Dylan of "serious" lyrics to rock music, and the Beatles' new studio-based approach. In any case, after 1965 the vinyl LP had definitively taken over as the primary format for all popular music styles. Blues also continued to develop strongly during the '60s, but after 1965, it increasingly shifted to the young white rock audience and away from its traditional black audience, which moved on to other styles such as soul and funk. Jazz music and pop standards during the first half of the 1960s was largely a continuation of 1950s styles, retaining its core audience of young, urban, college-educated whites. By 1967, the death of several important jazz figures such as John Coltrane and Nat King Cole precipitated a decline in the genre. The takeover of rock in the late 1960s largely spelled the end of jazz and standards as mainstream forms of music, after they had dominated much of the first half of the 20th century. Country music gained popularity on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
, due in large part to the Bakersfield sound, led by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Female country artists were also becoming more mainstream (in a genre dominated by men in previous decades), with such acts as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette.


Significant events in music in the 1960s

* Elvis Presley returned to civilian life in the U.S. after two years away in the U.S. Army. He resumes his musical career by recording " It's Now or Never" and " Are You Lonesome Tonight?" in March 1960. * Country music stars Patsy Cline,
Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas (July 15, 1913 – March 5, 1963), known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer. He was popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline an ...
and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their plane
crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stations, along with some Alternativ ...
in Camden, TN while returning home from a
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
benefit show in March 1963. * In July 1964, a plane crash claimed the life of another country music legend, Jim Reeves, when the plane he was piloting crashed in a turbulent thunderstorm while on final approach to Nashville International Airport. *
Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...
was shot and killed at a motel in Los Angeles, California
1 December 1964 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
at age 33 under suspicious circumstances. *
Motown Record Corporation Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
was founded in 1960. Its first Top Ten hit was " Shop Around" by the Miracles in 1960. "Shop Around" peaked at number-two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and was Motown's first million-selling record. * Newcastle born Eric Burdon and his Band " The Animals" hit the No. 1 in charts in the U.S. with their hit single, " The House of the Rising Sun" in 1964. * Folksinger and activist Joan Baez released her debut album on Vanguard Records in December 1960. * The Marvelettes scored Motown Record Corporation's first US  1 pop hit, "
Please Mr. Postman "Please Mr. Postman" is a song written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman. It is the debut single by the Marvelettes for the Tamla (Motown) label, notable as the first Motown song to reach the ...
" in 1961. Motown would score 110 Billboard Top-Ten hits during its run. * The Four Seasons released three straight number one hits * In a widely anticipated and publicized event, The Beatles arrive in America in February 1964, spearheading the British Invasion. * The ''
Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...
'' Original Soundtrack tops record charts.
Sherman Brothers The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades in ...
receive Grammys and double Oscars. *
Lesley Gore Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16, she recorded the pop music, pop hit "It's My Party (Lesley Gore song), I ...
at age 17 hits number one on ''Billboard'' with "It's My Party" and number two with "You Don't Own Me" behind the Beatles " I Want To Hold Your Hand". * The Supremes scored twelve number-one hit singles between 1964 and 1969, beginning with " Where Did Our Love Go". * The Kinks release " You Really Got Me" in August 1964, which tops the British charts; it is regarded as the first
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
hit and a blueprint for related genres, such as heavy metal. * John Coltrane released '' A Love Supreme'' in late 1964, considered among the most acclaimed jazz albums of the era. * The Grateful Dead was formed in 1965 (originally The Warlocks) thus paving the way for the emergence of acid rock. * Bob Dylan went Electric Dylan controversy, electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. * Cilla Black's number-one hit "Anyone Who Had a Heart (song), Anyone Who Had a Heart" still remains the top-selling single by a female artist in the UK from 1964. * The Rolling Stones had a huge No. 1 hit with their song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in the summer of 1965. * The Byrds released a cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", which reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts and repeated the feat in the U.K. shortly thereafter. The extremely influential track effectively creates the musical subgenre of folk rock. * Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" is a top-five hit on both sides of the Atlantic during the summer of 1965. * Bob Dylan's 1965 albums ''Bringing It All Back Home'' and ''Highway 61 Revisited'' ushered in album-focused rock and the "folk rock" genre. * Simon and Garfunkel released "The Sound of Silence" single in 1965. * The Beach Boys released ''Pet Sounds'' in 1966, which significantly influenced the Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' album released the following year. * Bob Dylan was called "Judas" by an audience member during the John Cordwell, Manchester Free Trade Hall, Free Trade Hall concert, the start of the bootleg recording industry follows, with recordings of this concert circulating for 30 years – wrongly labeled as ''The Royal Albert Hall Concert'' – before a legitimate release in 1998 as ''The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert.'' * In February 1966, Nancy Sinatra's song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" became very popular. * In 1966, ''The Supremes A' Go-Go'' was the first album by a female group to reach the top position of the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' magazine pop albums chart in the United States. * The Seekers were the first Australian Group to have a number one with "Georgy Girl" in 1966. * Jefferson Airplane released the influential ''Surrealistic Pillow'' in 1967. * The Velvet Underground released its self-titled debut album ''The Velvet Underground & Nico'' in 1967. * The Doors released its self-titled debut album ''The Doors (album), The Doors'' in January 1967. * Love (band), Love released ''Forever Changes'' in 1967. * Procol Harum, The Procol Harum released ''A Whiter Shade of Pale'' in 1967. * Cream (band), Cream released "Disraeli Gears" in 1967. * Jimi Hendrix#The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Jimi Hendrix Experience released two successful albums during 1967, ''Are You Experienced (album), Are You Experienced'' and ''Axis: Bold as Love'', that innovate both guitar, trio and recording techniques. * The Moody Blues released the album ''Days of Future Passed'' in November 1967. * R&B legend Otis Redding has his first No. 1 hit with "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay". He also played at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 just before he died in a plane crash. * Pink Floyd released its debut record ''The Piper at the Gates of Dawn''. * Bob Dylan released the Country rock album ''John Wesley Harding'' in December 1967. * The Bee Gees released their international debut album ''Bee Gees 1st'' in July 1967 which included the pop standard "To Love Somebody (song), To Love Somebody". * The Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 was the beginning of the "
Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. ...
". * The Beatles released ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' in 1967. It was nicknamed "The Soundtrack of the Summer of Love". * Johnny Cash released ''At Folsom Prison'' in 1968. * 1968: after The Yardbirds fold, Led Zeppelin was formed by Jimmy Page and manager Peter Grant (music manager), Peter Grant, with Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones; and released their debut album ''Led Zeppelin (album), Led Zeppelin''. * Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin as lead singer, became an overnight sensation after their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and released their second album ''Cheap Thrills (Big Brother and the Holding Company album), Cheap Thrills'' in 1968. * Gram Parsons with The Byrds released the influential LP ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' in late 1968, forming the basis for country rock. * The Jimi Hendrix Experience released the influential double LP ''Electric Ladyland'' in 1968 that furthered the guitar and studio innovations of his previous two albums. * Simon and Garfunkel released the single "Mrs. Robinson" in 1968; featured in the film ''The Graduate''. * Country music newcomer Jeannie C. Riley released the country and pop hit "Harper Valley PTA" in 1968, which is about a miniskirt-wearing mother of a teenage girl who was criticized by the local Parent Teacher Association, PTA for supposedly setting a bad example for her daughter but turns the tables by exposing some of the PTA members' wrongdoings. The song, along with Riley's mod (subculture), mod persona in connection with it, apparently gave country music a "sexual revolution" of its own, as hemlines of other female country artists' stage dresses began rising in the years that followed. * Sly & the Family Stone revolutionized black music with their 1968 hit single "Dance to the Music (song), Dance to the Music" and by 1969 became international sensations with the release of their hit record ''Stand!''. The band cemented their position as a vital counterculture band when they performed at the Woodstock Festival. * The Gun (band), The Gun released "Race with the Devil" in October 1968. * After a long performance drought, Elvis Presley made a successful return to TV and live performances after spending most of the decade making movies, beginning with his ''Elvis (1968 TV program), '68 Comeback Special'' in December 1968 on NBC, followed in 1969 by a summer engagement in Las Vegas. Presley's return to live performing set the stage for his many concert tours and continued Vegas engagements throughout the 1970s until his death in 1977. * The Foundations released Build Me Up Buttercup in December 1968 * The Rolling Stones filmed the TV special ''The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus'' in December 1968 but the film was not released for transmission. Considered for decades as a fabled "lost" performance until released in North America on Laserdisc and VHS in 1996. Features performances from The Who; The Dirty Mac featuring John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell; Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull and Taj Mahal (musician), Taj Mahal. * Spooky Tooth released their second album Spooky Two in March 1969. The album was an important hard rock milestone. * The Woodstock Festival, and four months later, the Altamont Free Concert in 1969. * The Who released and toured the first rock opera ''Tommy (rock opera), Tommy'' in 1969. * Proto-punk band MC5 released the live album ''Kick Out the Jams'' in 1969. * Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band released the Avant garde ''Trout Mask Replica'' in 1969. * Creedence Clearwater Revival released "Fortunate Son" in 1969. The song amassed popularity with the Anti-war movement, Anti-War movement at the time and would later be used in films, TV shows, and video games depicting the Vietnam War or the United States, U.S during the late 1960s and early 1970s. * The Stooges released their debut album in 1969. * The Beatles released ''Abbey Road'' in 1969. * King Crimson released their debut album ''In the Court of the Crimson King'' in 1969. * Led Zeppelin released two of their self-titled debut albums ''Led Zeppelin I'' and ''Led Zeppelin II'' in 1969.


Film

The highest-grossing film of the decade was 20th Century Fox's ''The Sound of Music (film), The Sound of Music'' (1965). Some of Hollywood's most notable Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbuster films of the 1960s include: * ''2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 2001: A Space Odyssey'' * ''The Apartment'' * ''The Birds (film), The Birds'' * ''I Am Curious (Yellow)'' * ''Bonnie and Clyde (film), Bonnie and Clyde'' * ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'' * ''Bullitt'' * ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' * ''Carnival of Souls'' * ''Cleopatra (1963 film), Cleopatra'' * ''Cool Hand Luke'' * ''The Dirty Dozen'' * ''Doctor Zhivago (film), Doctor Zhivago'' * ''Dr. Strangelove'' * ''Easy Rider'' * ''Exodus (1960 film), Exodus'' * ''Faces (1968 film), Faces'' * ''Funny Girl (film), Funny Girl'' * ''Goldfinger (film), Goldfinger'' * ''The Graduate'' * ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' * ''Head (film), Head'' * ''How the West Was Won (film), How the West Was Won'' * ''The Hustler'' * ''Ice Station Zebra'' * ''In the Heat of the Night (film), In the Heat of the Night'' * ''The Italian Job'' * ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' * ''Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film), Jason and the Argonauts'' * ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' * ''The Jungle Book (1967 film), The Jungle Book'' * ''Lawrence of Arabia (film), Lawrence of Arabia'' * ''The Lion in Winter (1968 film), The Lion in Winter'' * ''The Longest Day (film), The Longest Day'' * ''The Love Bug'' * ''A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), A Man for All Seasons'' * ''The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film), The Manchurian Candidate'' * ''
Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...
'' * ''Medium Cool'' * ''Midnight Cowboy'' * ''My Fair Lady (film), My Fair Lady'' * ''Night of the Living Dead'' * ''The Pink Panther (1963 film), The Pink Panther'' * ''The Odd Couple (film), The Odd Couple'' * ''Oliver! (film), Oliver!'' * ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' * ''One Million Years B.C.'' * ''Planet of the Apes (1968 film), Planet of the Apes'' * ''Psycho (1960 film), Psycho'' * ''Romeo and Juliet (1968 film), Romeo and Juliet'' * ''Rosemary's Baby (film), Rosemary's Baby'' * ''The Sound of Music (film), The Sound of Music'' * ''Spartacus (film), Spartacus'' * ''Swiss Family Robinson (1960 film), Swiss Family Robinson'' * ''The Sword in the Stone (1963 film), The Sword in the Stone'' * ''To Kill a Mockingbird (film), To Kill a Mockingbird'' * ''Valley of the Dolls (film), Valley of the Dolls'' * ''West Side Story (1961 film), West Side Story'' * ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' * ''The Wild Bunch'' The counterculture movement had a significant effect on film, cinema. Movies began to break social taboos such as sex in film, sex and violence in art, violence causing both controversy and fascination. They turned increasingly dramatic, unbalanced, and hectic as the cultural revolution was starting. This was the beginning of the New Hollywood era that dominated the next decade in theatres and revolutionized the film industry. Films of this time also focused on the changes happening in the world. Dennis Hopper's ''Easy Rider'' (1969) focused on the drug culture of the time. Movies also became more sexually explicit, such as Roger Vadim's'' Barbarella (film), Barbarella'' (1968) as the counterculture progressed. In Europe, Art Cinema gains wider distribution and sees movements like French New Wave, la Nouvelle Vague (The French New Wave) featuring French filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais, and Jean-Luc Godard; Cinéma vérité documentary movement in Canada, France and the United States; Swedish cinema, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, cinema of Chile, Chilean filmmaker Alexandro Jodorowsky and Polish cinema, Polish filmmakers Roman Polanski and Wojciech Jerzy Has produced original and offbeat masterpieces and the high-point of Italian cinema, Italian filmmaking with Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini making some of their most known films during this period. Notable films from this period include: ''La Dolce Vita'', ''8 1/2, ''; ''La Notte''; ''L'Eclisse'', ''The Red Desert''; ''Blowup''; ''Fellini Satyricon''; ''Accattone''; ''The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film), The Gospel According to St. Matthew''; ''Theorem (film), Theorem''; ''Winter Light''; ''The Silence (1963 film), The Silence''; ''Persona (1966 film), Persona''; ''Shame (1968 film), Shame''; ''The Passion of Anna, A Passion''; ''Au Hasard Balthazar''; ''Mouchette''; ''Last Year at Marienbad''; ''Chronique d'un été''; ''Titicut Follies''; ''High School (1968 film), High School''; ''Salesman (1969 film), Salesman''; ''La jetée''; ''Warrendale (film), Warrendale;'' ''Knife in the Water''; ''Repulsion (film), Repulsion''; ''The Saragossa Manuscript''; ''El Topo''; ''A Hard Day's Night (film), A Hard Day's Night''; and the cinema verite ''Dont Look Back''. In Japan, a film version of the story of the forty-seven ronin entitled ''Chushingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki'' directed by Hiroshi Inagaki was released in 1962, the legendary story was also remade as a television series in Japan. Academy Award-winning Cinema of Japan, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa produced ''Yojimbo (film), Yojimbo'' (1961), and ''Sanjuro'' (1962), which both starred Toshiro Mifune as a mysterious Samurai swordsman for hire. Like his previous films both had a profound influence around the world. The ''Spaghetti Western'' genre was a direct outgrowth of the Kurosawa films. The influence of these films is most apparent in Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964) starring Clint Eastwood and Walter Hill (filmmaker), Walter Hill's ''Last Man Standing (1996 film), Last Man Standing'' (1996). ''Yojimbo'' was also the origin of the "Man with No Name" trend which included Sergio Leone's ''For a Few Dollars More'', and ''The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'' both also starring Clint Eastwood, and arguably continued through his 1968 opus ''Once Upon a Time in the West'', starring Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, and Jason Robards. ''The Magnificent Seven'' a 1960 American western film directed by John Sturges was a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, ''Seven Samurai''. The 1960s were also about experimentation. With the explosion of lightweight and affordable cameras, the underground New American Cinema, avant-garde film movement thrived. Canada's Michael Snow, Americans Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, and Jack Smith (film director), Jack Smith. Notable films in this genre are: ''Dog Star Man''; ''Scorpio Rising (film), Scorpio Rising''; ''Wavelength (1967 film), Wavelength''; ''Chelsea Girls''; ''Blow Job (1964 film), Blow Job''; ''Vinyl (1965 film), Vinyl''; ''Flaming Creatures''. Aside of Walt Disney's most important blockbusters ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'', ''
Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...
'' and ''The Jungle Book (1967 film), The Jungle Book'', Animated feature films which are of notable status include ''Gay Purr-ee'', ''Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!'', ''The Man Called Flintstone'', ''Mad Monster Party?'', ''Yellow Submarine (film), Yellow Submarine'' and ''A Boy Named Charlie Brown''.


Significant events in the film industry in the 1960s

*Removal of the Motion Picture Association of America's Production Code in 1967. *The decline and end of the Studio system, Studio System. *The rise of "art house" films and theaters. *The end of the classical hollywood cinema, classical Hollywood cinema era. *The beginning of the New Hollywood Era due to the counterculture. *The rise of independent producers that worked outside the Studio System. *Move to all-color production in Hollywood films. *The invention of the Nagra 1/4", sync-sound, portable open-reel tape deck. * Expo 67 where new film formats like Imax were invented and new ways of displaying film were tested. *Flat-bed film editing tables appear, like the Steenbeck, they eventually replace the Moviola editing platform. *The French New Wave. *Direct Cinema and Cinéma vérité documentaries. *The beginning of the Golden Age of Porn in 1969, which continued throughout the 1970s and into the first half of the 1980s.


Television

The most prominent TV series of the 1960s include: Doctor Who, ''Doctor Who'', '' The Ed Sullivan Show'', Coronation Street, ''Coronation Street'', ''Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek'', ''Peyton Place (TV series), Peyton Place'', ''The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Twilight Zone'', ''The Outer Limits (1963 TV series), The Outer Limits'', ''The Andy Williams Show'', ''The Dean Martin Show'', ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', ''Bonanza'', ''Batman (TV series), Batman'', ''McHale's Navy'', ''Laugh-In'', ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', ''The Fugitive (1963 TV series), The Fugitive'', ''The Tonight Show'', ''Gunsmoke'', ''The Andy Griffith Show'', ''Gilligan's Island, Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'', ''The Flintstones'', ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', ''Lassie (1954 TV series), Lassie'', ''The Danny Thomas Show'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''My Three Sons'', ''The Red Skelton Show'', ''Bewitched'' and ''I Dream of Jeannie''. ''The Flintstones'' was a favoured show, receiving 40 million views an episode with an average of 3 million views a day. Some programming such as ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' became controversial by challenging the foundations of America's corporate and governmental controls; making fun of world leaders, and questioning U.S. involvement in and escalation of the Vietnam War. Walt Disney, the founder of the Walt Disney Co. died on 15 December 1966, from a major tumor in his left lung.


Fashion

Significant fashion trends of the 1960s include: * The Beatles exerted an enormous influence on young men's fashions and hairstyles in the 1960s which included most notably the Beatle haircut, mop-top haircut, the Beatle boots and the Nehru jacket. * The hippie movement late in the decade also had a strong influence on clothing styles, including Bell-bottoms, bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye and batik fabrics, as well as Paisley (design), paisley prints. * The bikini came into fashion in 1963 after being featured in the film ''Beach Party''. * Mary Quant popularised the miniskirt, which became one of the most popular fashion rages in the late 1960s among young women and teenage girls. Its popularity continued throughout the first half of the 1970s and then disappeared temporarily from mainstream fashion before making a comeback in the mid-1980s. * Men's mainstream hairstyles ranged from the pompadour (hairstyle), pompadour, the crew cut, the flattop hairstyle, the tapered hairstyle, and short, parted hair in the early part of the decade, to longer parted hairstyles with sideburns towards the latter half of the decade. * Women's mainstream hairstyles ranged from Beehive (hairstyle), beehive hairdos, the bird's nest hairstyle, and the chignon (hairstyle), chignon hairstyle in the early part of the decade, to very short styles popularized by Twiggy and Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (film), Rosemary's Baby towards the latter half of the decade. * African-American hairstyles for men and women included the afro. File:Mop-top hair.jpg, The Beatle haircut, mop-top haircut, which became popular due to the Beatles but was considered at the time a rebellious hairstyle, was particularly fashionable among young men during the decade. In this photo, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, two members of The Who, are featured wearing mop-tops. File:On the Beach at Tiberias.jpg, The bikini became a fashionable item in the Western world during the decade File:Londons_Carnaby_Street,_1966.jpg, "Swinging London" fashions on Carnaby Street, c. 1966 File:TieDyeShirtMpegMan.jpg, Tie-dye shirt


Literature


Sports


Olympics

There were six Olympic Games held during the decade. These were: * 1960 Summer Olympics 25 August – 11 September 1960, in Rome, Italy * 1960 Winter Olympics 18–28 February 1960, in Squaw Valley, Placer County, California, Squaw Valley, California, United States * 1964 Summer Olympics 10–24 October 1964, in Tokyo, Japan * 1964 Winter Olympics 29 January – 9 February 1964, in Innsbruck, Austria * 1968 Summer Olympics 12–27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico * 1968 Winter Olympics 6–18 February 1968, in Grenoble, France


Association football

There were two FIFA World Cups during the decade: * 1962 FIFA World Cup hosted in Chile, won by Brazil * 1966 FIFA World Cup hosted and won by England


Baseball

The first wave of Major League Baseball expansion in 1961 included the formation of the Los Angeles Angels, the move to Minnesota to become the Minnesota Twins by the Washington Senators (1901–60), former Washington Senators and the formation of a Washington Senators (1961–71), new franchise called the Washington Senators. Major League Baseball sanctioned both the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets as new National League franchises in 1962. In 1969, the American League expanded when the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots, were admitted to the league prompting the expansion of the post-season (in the form of the League Championship Series) for the first time since the creation of the World Series. The Pilots stayed just one season in Seattle before moving and becoming the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970. The National League also added two teams in 1969, the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres. By 1969, the New York Mets won the World Series in only the 8th year of the team's existence.


Basketball

The National Basketball Association, NBA tournaments during the 1960s were dominated by the Boston Celtics, who won eight straight titles from 1959 to 1966 and added two more consecutive championships in 1968 and 1969, aided by such players as Bob Cousy, Bill Russell (basketball), Bill Russell and John Havlicek. Other notable NBA players included Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson. At the NCAA level, the UCLA Bruins also proved dominant. Coached by John Wooden, they were helped by Lew Alcindor and by Bill Walton to win championships and dominate the American college basketball landscape during the decade.


Disc sports (Frisbee)

Alternative sports, using the flying disc, began in the mid-sixties. As numbers of young people became alienated from social norms, they resisted and looked for alternatives. They would form what would become known as the counterculture. The forms of escape and resistance would manifest in many ways including social activism, alternative lifestyles, experimental living through foods, dress, music and alternative recreational activities, including that of throwing a Frisbee. Starting with promotional efforts from Wham-O and Irwin Toy (Canada), a few tournaments and professionals using Frisbee show tours to perform at universities, fairs and sporting events, disc sports such as Flying disc freestyle, freestyle, double disc court, Guts (flying disc game), guts, Ultimate (sport), disc ultimate and disc golf became this sports first events. Two sports, the team sport of Ultimate (sport), disc ultimate and disc golf are very popular worldwide and are now being played semiprofessionally. The World Flying Disc Federation, Professional Disc Golf Association and the Freestyle Players Association are the official rules and sanctioning organizations for flying disc sports worldwide. Major League Ultimate (MLU) and the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) are the first semi-professional ultimate leagues.


Racing

In motorsports, the Can-Am and Trans-Am series were both established in 1966. The Ford GT40 won outright in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Graham Hill edged out Jackie Stewart and Denny Hulme for the World Championship in Formula One.


People


Activists

Some activist leaders of the 1960s period include: * Joan Baez * James Baldwin * James Bevel * Stokely Carmichael * Rennie Davis * David Dellinger * Bob Dylan * Medgar Evers * Michael Farrell (activist), Michael Farrell * Lawrence Ferlinghetti * Allen Ginsberg * Dick Gregory * Abbie Hoffman * Jesse Jackson * Barbara Jordan * Bernard Lafayette * Timothy Leary * John Lennon * John Lewis * Martin Luther King Jr. * James Meredith * Diane Nash *
Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...
* Yoko Ono * Jerry Rubin * Mario Savio * Fred Shuttlesworth * Gloria Steinem * Malcolm X * Andrew Young


Actors / Entertainers

* Eddie Albert * Jack Albertson * Steve Allen * Woody Allen * Julie Andrews * James Arness * Fred Astaire * Richard Attenborough * Stéphane Audran * Charles Aznavour * Carroll Baker * Barbara Bain * Lucille Ball * Martin Balsam * Anne Bancroft * Brigitte Bardot * Richard Basehart * Alan Bates * Anne Baxter * Warren Beatty * Jean-Paul Belmondo * Robert Blake (actor), Robert Blake * Brian Blessed * Dirk Bogarde * Richard Boone * Shirley Booth * Ernest Borgnine * Tom Bosley * Stephen Boyd * Marlon Brando * Lloyd Bridges * Charles Bronson * Mel Brooks * Jim Brown * Lenny Bruce * Yul Brynner * Richard Burton * Raymond Burr * Sid Caesar * Michael Caine * Rory Calhoun * Claudia Cardinale * Yvonne De Carlo * Leslie Caron * John Carradine * Diahann Carroll * Johnny Carson * John Cassavetes * George Chakiris * Julie Christie * Lee Van Cleef * Montgomery Clift * Lee J. Cobb * James Coburn * Joan Collins * Sean Connery * Chuck Connors * Robert Conrad * Bill Cosby * Tom Courtenay * Bob Crane * Johnny Crawford * Bing Crosby * Robert Culp * Tony Curtis * Peter Cushing * Sammy Davis Jr. * Doris Day * Ruby Dee * Sandra Dee * Alain Delon * Catherine Deneuve * Brandon deWilde * Angie Dickinson * Troy Donahue * Diana Dors * Kirk Douglas * James Drury * Patty Duke * Faye Dunaway * Robert Duvall * Dick Van Dyke * Clint Eastwood * Barbara Eden * Anita Ekberg * Peter Falk * Mia Farrow * Mel Ferrer * José Ferrer * Peter Finch * Albert Finney * Jo Van Fleet * Henry Fonda * Jane Fonda * Peter Fonda * Glenn Ford * John Forsythe * Anthony Franciosa * Louis de Funès * Clark Gable * Eva Gabor * Zsa Zsa Gabor * James Garner * Judy Garland * Vittorio Gassman * Jackie Gleason * Cary Grant * Stewart Granger * Lorne Greene * Andy Griffith * Alec Guinness * Fred Gwynne * Gene Hackman * Larry Hagman * Jonathan Harris * Richard Harris * William Hartnell * Tippi Hedren * Van Heflin * Audrey Hepburn * Katharine Hepburn * Charlton Heston * Dustin Hoffman * William Holden * James Hong * Dennis Hopper * Bob Hope * Rock Hudson * Jeffrey Hunter * Tab Hunter * John Ireland * Burl Ives * Glynis Johns * Carolyn Jones * Shirley Jones * Katy Jurado * Anna Karina * Danny Kaye * Brian Keith * George Kennedy * Gene Kelly * Grace Kelly * Jack Kelly (actor), Jack Kelly * Eartha Kitt * Jack Klugman * Don Knotts * Martin Landau * Burt Lancaster * Angela Lansbury * Peter Lawford * Cloris Leachman * Bruce Lee * Christopher Lee * Janet Leigh * Jack Lemmon * Jerry Lewis * Robert Loggia * Gina Lollobrigida * Julie London * Sophia Loren * Peter Lorre * Darren McGavin * Fred MacMurray * Shirley MacLaine * Jayne Mansfield * Karl Malden * Dorothy Malone * Dean Martin * Lee Marvin * James Mason * Marcello Mastroianni * David McCallum * Roddy McDowall * Steve McQueen * Burgess Meredith * Toshiro Mifune * Vera Miles * Sal Mineo * Robert Mitchum * Elizabeth Montgomery * Roger Moore * Marilyn Monroe * Jeanne Moreau * Rita Moreno * Harry Morgan * Robert Morse * Don Murray (actor), Don Murray * Patricia Neal * Paul Newman * Julie Newmar * Barbara Nichols * Nichelle Nichols * Leslie Nielsen * Leonard Nimoy * David Niven * Kim Novak * Maureen O'Hara * Laurence Olivier * Peter O'Toole * Geraldine Page * Janis Paige * Eleanor Parker * Jack Palance * Gregory Peck * George Peppard * Anthony Perkins * Michel Piccoli * Donald Pleasence * Suzanne Pleshette * Christopher Plummer * Sidney Poitier * Paula Prentiss * Elvis Presley * Vincent Price * Anthony Quayle * Anthony Quinn * Tony Randall * Lynn Redgrave * Michael Redgrave * Vanessa Redgrave * Oliver Reed * Robert Reed * Carl Reiner * Lee Remick * Don Rickles * Diana Rigg * Thelma Ritter * Robert Redford * Burt Reynolds * Debbie Reynolds * Jason Robards * Cliff Robertson * Edward G. Robinson * Cesar Romero * Mickey Rooney * Barbara Rush * Eva Marie Saint * George Sanders * Telly Savalas * John Saxon * Maximilian Schell * George C. Scott * George Segal * Jean Seberg * Edie Sedgwick * Peter Sellers * Omar Sharif * William Shatner * Jean Simmons * Frank Sinatra * Ann Sothern * Robert Stack * Terence Stamp * James Stewart * Barbra Streisand * Woody Strode * Barry Sullivan (American actor), Barry Sullivan * Ed Sullivan * Donald Sutherland * Max von Sydow *
Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...
* Jacques Tati * Elizabeth Taylor * Rod Taylor * Jean-Louis Trintignant * Patrick Troughton * Cicely Tyson * Raf Vallone * Robert Vaughn * Robert Wagner * Eli Wallach * Burt Ward * John Wayne * Raquel Welch * Adam West * Stuart Whitman * Richard Widmark * Jonathan Winters * Shelley Winters * Natalie Wood * Joanne Woodward * Keenan Wynn * Efrem Zimbalist Jr. File:Sean Connery 1964.png, Sean Connery, 1964 Image:Paul Newman Harper.jpg, Paul Newman, 1966 File:Audrey Hepburn (cropped).jpg, Audrey Hepburn, 1963 File:Clint Eastwood - 1960s (cropped).JPG, Clint Eastwood, 1964 File:Brigitte_Bardot_-_1962.jpg, Brigitte Bardot, 1962


Filmmakers

* Alfred Hitchcock * Stanley Kubrick * Ingmar Bergman * Federico Fellini * Orson Welles * Roman Polanski * Akira Kurosawa * Ishiro Honda * Jean-Luc Godard * Pier Paolo Pasolini * François Truffaut * Sergio Leone * David Lean * Sidney Lumet * John Ford * Dennis Hopper * John Huston * John Sturges * Sam Peckinpah * Billy Wilder * Blake Edwards * Arthur Penn * Michelangelo Antonioni * Alain Resnais * Claude Chabrol * George Romero * Eric Rohmer * Don Siegel * Jean Rouch * Robert Mulligan * Andrei Tarkovsky, Andreï Tarkovsky * Luchino Visconti * Jerry Lewis * Luis Buñuel * Joseph Losey * Richard Fleischer, Richard Fleisher * Joseph L. Mankiewicz * John Huston * Luigi Comencini * Elia Kazan * Stuart Rosenberg * Woody Allen * Mike Nichols * Robert Wise * Norman Jewison * Mario Bava * Lucio Fulci * Robert Aldrich * Stanley Kramer * Howard Hawks * Jacques Tati * Lewis Milestone * Mikhail Kalatozov, Mikhaïl Kalatozov * Stanley Donen * George Cukor * John Frankenheimer * Sydney Pollack * Ken Loach * Michael Powell * Anthony Mann * Jack Clayton * Vittorio De Sica Image:Hitchcock,_Alfred_02.jpg, Alfred Hitchcock File:Ingmar Bergman Smultronstallet.jpg, Ingmar Bergman File:Federico Fellini NYWTS 2.jpg, Federico Fellini File:Kubrick on the set of Barry Lyndon (1975 publicity photo).jpg, Stanley Kubrick


Musicians

* Paul Anka * Louis Armstrong * Eddy Arnold * Chet Atkins * Burt Bacharach * Joan Baez * Pearl Bailey * Tony Bennett * Chuck Berry * Art Blakey * Bobby Bland * Pat Boone * David Bowie * James Brown * Solomon Burke * Jerry Butler * Glen Campbell * Johnny Cash * Ray Charles * Chubby Checker * Lou Christie * Eric Clapton * Dee Clark * Petula Clark * Patsy Cline * Rosemary Clooney * Nat "King" Cole *
Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...
* Leonard Cohen * John Coltrane * King Crimson * Bing Crosby * Bobby Darin * Miles Davis * Sammy Davis Jr. * Delia Derbyshire * Neil Diamond * Bo Diddley * Dion DiMucci * Fats Domino * Bob Dylan * Duke Ellington * Art Farmer * Eddie Fisher (singer), Eddie Fisher * Ella Fitzgerald * Tennessee Ernie Ford * Aretha Franklin * Marvin Gaye * Robin Gibb * Dizzy Gillespie * Eydie Gormé * Buddy Guy * Merle Haggard * Lena Horne * Burl Ives * Etta James * Sonny James * Waylon Jennings * George Jones * Quincy Jones * Tom Jones (singer), Tom Jones * Janis Joplin * B.B. King * Ben E. King * Freddie King * Eartha Kitt * Frankie Laine * Brenda Lee * Peggy Lee * Jerry Lee Lewis * Loretta Lynn * Manfred Mann * Bob Marley * Dean Martin * Johnny Mathis * Curtis Mayfield * Barry McGuire * Roger Miller * Charles Mingus * Guy Mitchell * Joni Mitchell * Thelonious Monk * Bill Monroe * Wes Montgomery * Jim Morrison * Ricky Nelson * Sandy Nelson * Willie Nelson * Roy Orbison * Buck Owens * Dolly Parton * Elvis Presley * Ray Price (musician), Ray Price * Charley Pride * Lou Rawls * Jerry Reed * Jimmy Reed * Lou Reed * Della Reese * Otis Redding * Cliff Richard *
Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
* Jeannie C. Riley * Tex Ritter * Max Roach * Marty Robbins * Jimmie Rodgers (pop singer), Jimmy Rodgers * Sonny Rollins * Neil Sedaka * Pete Seeger * Nina Simone * Frank Sinatra * Hank Snow * Rod Stewart * Joan Sutherland * Hank Thompson (musician), Hank Thompson * Conway Twitty * Ernest Tubb * Big Joe Turner * Ike & Tina Turner * Sarah Vaughan * Bobby Vee * Gene Vincent * Porter Wagoner * Dionne Warwick * Dinah Washington * Muddy Waters * Kitty Wells * Dottie West * Howlin' Wolf * Andy Williams * Jackie Wilson * Nancy Wilson (jazz singer), Nancy Wilson * Stevie Wonder * Faron Young * Neil Young * Frank Zappa File:Willie Nelson Grand Ole Opry publicity - cropped.jpg, Willie Nelson, 1965 File:Aretha Franklin 1968.jpg, Aretha Franklin, 1968 File:JohnnyCash1969.jpg, Johnny Cash, 1969


Bands

* The Beatles * The Beach Boys * The Supremes * Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones * The Jimi Hendrix Experience * Pink Floyd * Led Zeppelin * Jefferson Airplane * The Mamas & the Papas * Creedence Clearwater Revival * Simon and Garfunkel * The Animals * The Doors * Cream (band), Cream * The Jackson 5 * The Righteous Brothers * Grateful Dead * The Velvet Underground * The Shadows * The Yardbirds * Moody Blues * The Who * The Kinks * Iron Butterfly * Blood, Sweat and Tears * The Four Tops * The Temptations * The Zombies * Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass * The Ronettes * The Mothers of Invention * The Hollies * The Stooges * Santana (band), Santana * The Marvelettes * Procol Harum * The Monkees * The Miracles * The Impressions * Gladys Knight & the Pips File:Sullivan Beach Boys (cropped).jpg, Beach Boys, 1964 File:The Doors in Copenhagen 1968.jpg, The Doors, 1968 File:CreamDutchTV1968.jpg, Cream (band), Cream, 1968


Writers

* Kurt Vonnegut * Isaac Asimov * Ray Bradbury * Dr. Seuss * Gabriel Garcia Marquez * Arthur Miller * Sylvia Plath * Philip K. Dick * Carlos Castaneda * Truman Capote * John Steinbeck * Arthur C. Clarke * Harper Lee * Jack Kerouac * Robert Heinlein * Ken Kesey * Joseph Heller * Henry Miller * Hunter S. Thompson * Edward Albee * Gore Vidal * William S. Burroughs * Frank Herbert * Charles M. Schultz * Anthony Burgess * Thomas Pinchon * Tom Stoppard * Seamus Heaney * Joseph Campbell * Edward Abbey * Norman Podhoretz * Amiri Baraka * James Graham Ballard * Noël Coward * Philip Larkin * Agatha Christie * James Baldwin * Lorraine Hansberry File:Isaac.Asimov01.jpg, Isaac Asimov File:Arthur C. Clarke 1965.jpg, Arthur C. Clarke File:Philip K Dick in early 1960s (photo by Arthur Knight) (cropped).jpg, Philip K. Dick


Sports figures

* Hank Aaron * Muhammad Ali * Ernie Banks * Gordon Banks * Elgin Baylor * Yogi Berra * George Best * Abebe Bikila * Lou Brock * Jim Brown * Giacomo Bulgarelli * Matt Busby * Dick Butkus * John Carlos * Věra Čáslavská * Wilt Chamberlain * Bobby Charlton * Jack Charlton * Roberto Clemente * Otis Davis * Alfredo Di Stefano * Yukio Endō * Lee Evans (sprinter), Lee Evans * Eusebio * Garrincha * Bob Gibson * Charles Greene (athlete), Charles Greene * John Havlicek * Bob Hayes * Jim Hines * Geoff Hurst * Giacinto Facchetti * Peggy Fleming * Paul Hornung * Vince Lombardi * Rafer Johnson * Sam Jones (basketball, born 1933), Sam Jones * K. C. Jones * Kipchoge Keino * Mickey Mantle * Vincent Matthews (athlete), Vincent Matthews * Willie Mays * Willie McCovey * Bobby Moore * Pedro Morales * Joe Namath * Jack Nicklaus * Ray Nitschke * Al Oerter * Arnold Palmer * Pelé * Richard Petty * Ferenc Puskás * Alf Ramsey * Oscar Robertson * Frank Robinson * Bobby Robson * Bill Russell * Satch Sanders * Gale Sayers * Bill Shankly * Ronnie Ray Smith * Tommie Smith * Bart Starr * Giovanni Trapattoni * Johnny Unitas * Jerry West * Fred Williamson * Mamo Wolde * Lev Yashin


See also

* 1960s decor * Baby Boomers (people who were children or teenagers during this decade) * List of underground newspapers of the 1960s counterculture * ''The Sixties Unplugged'' (book)


Timelines

The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade: 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • Timeline of 1960s counterculture


Notes


References


Further reading

* Anastakis, Dimitry, ed. ''The Sixties: passion, politics, and style'' (McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP, 2008.) Canadian emphasis * Baugess, James S., and Abbe Debolt, eds. ''Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture'' (2 vol, 2012; also E-book) 871pp; 500 entries by scholar
excerpt and text searchonline review
* Berton, Pierre. ''1967: the Last Good Year'' (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1997). Canadian events * Brooks, Victor. ''Last Season of Innocence: The Teen Experience in the 1960s'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012) 207 pp. * Brown, Timothy Scott. ''West Germany and the Global Sixties'' (2013) * Christiansen, Samantha and Zachary Scarlett, ed. ''The Third World and the Global 1960s'' (New York: Berghahn, 2013
Introduction
* Farber, David, and Beth Bailey, eds. ''The Columbia guide to America in the 1960s'' (Columbia University Press, 2003). * Farber, David, ed. ''The Sixties: From Memory to History'' (1994), Scholarly essays on the United States * Flamm, Michael W. and David Steigerwald. ''Debating the 1960s: Liberal, Conservative, and Radical Perspectives'' (2007) on USA * Isserman, Maurice, and Michael Kazin. ''America divided: The civil war of the 1960s'' (6th ed. Oxford UP, 2020). * Marwick, Arthur. ''The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy, and the United States, c.1958-c.1974'' (Oxford University Press, 1998, ) * Matusow, Allen, ''The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s'' (1984
excerpt
* Padva, Gilad. Animated Nostalgia and Invented Authenticity in Arte's ''Summer of the Sixties''. In Padva, Gilad, ''Queer Nostalgia in Cinema and Pop Culture'', pp. 13–34 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, ). * Palmer, Bryan D. ''Canada's 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. * Sandbrook, Dominic. ''Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles'' (2006) 928pp
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* Sandbrook, Dominic. ''White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties'' (2 vol 2007) * Strain, Christopher B. ''The Long Sixties: America, 1955–1973'' (Wiley, 2017). xii, 204 pp. * Unger, Debi, and Irwin Unger, eds. '' The Times Were a Changin': The Sixties Reader'' (1998
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Historiography

* DeKoven, Marianne. ''The Sixties and the Emergence of the Postmodern'' (Duke University Press, 2004) * Farber, David R. ''The Sixties: From Memory to History'' (1994
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* * Hunt, Andrew. "When Did the Sixties Happen? Searching for New Directions", ''Journal of Social History'' (1999) 33#1 pp 147–161. * Meyer, James

(University of Chicago Press, 2019). * Pensado, Jaime. "The (forgotten) Sixties in Mexico." ''The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture''(2008) 1#1: 83–90. * Rising, George Goodwin. "Stuck in the sixties: Conservatives and the legacies of the 1960s." (PhD U. of Arizona, 2003).
Ira Chernus, "When Did "the '60s" Begin? A Cautionary Tale for Historians" 4 Feb 2014, History News Network

"1964" (PBS documentary, 2013)
*


External links




CBC Digital Archives 1960s a GoGo

The Sixties Project

Heroes of the 1960s
slideshow by ''Life magazine''
The 60s: Literary Tradition and Social Change
exhibit at the University of Virginia, Library, Special Collections.
1960s protest movements in America

The 1960s in Europe (Online Teaching and Research Guide)
*
The 1960s
articles, video, pictures, and facts {{Authority control 1960s, 20th century 1960s decade overviews