Blog

Seventh of 12 posts with an illustrated decade-by-decade timeline for the years 1900 to 2021. For more on the timeline and a link to the book on Amazon, see here. This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/Jr6Sp8vqINk.

1960-1969

This post is a teaser, not the full text for 1960-1969.

Among the events of this decade:

• 1950-1975 Vietnam War. First 700 US troops (advisory) arrive 1961; by 1963, 16,000. After 1966, with draft instituted, more than 500,000 American troops.
• 1964 Civil Rights Act outlaws racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment.
• 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
• 1965 Medicare and Medicaid established as part of LBJ’s “War on Poverty”. Other social welfare programs passed by Congress in 1964-1968 include the Job Corps, the Food Stamp Act, funding for schools in low-income neighborhoods, and low-cost housing.
• 1965 In Griswold v. Connecticut, Supreme Court strikes down bans on contraceptives.
• 1967 In Lovin v. Virginia, Supreme Court strikes down bans on interracial marriage.
• 1967 Six-Day War: Egypt, Jordan, and Syria vs. Israel, which gains control of the Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights.
• 1968 Czechoslovakia’s “Prague Spring” suppressed by Russian invasion.

• 1968 Assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Apr.), and Robert F. Kennedy (June).
• 1960-1968 in Africa: 32 countries become independent of former European rulers; many are communist. Balance of power in the UN shifts from the US to USSR.
• New movements: Women’s Liberation, Black Power, Gay Liberation, Chicano Movement, environmentalist movement.
• Science & technology: 1961 USSR sends first man into space. 1969 Neil Armstrong of Apollo XI walks on moon. Beginning of Internet, as way for military researchers to communicate. Norman Borlaug, “Father of the Green Revolution,” is credited with improvements in agricultural production that save a billion lives.

• Books include Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,1960: a lawyer with integrity and racial issues in small-town Alabama during the Great Depression, told through the eyes of a 6-year-old. Mario Puzo, The Godfather, 1969: Mafia as “heroes”. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962: condemns the use of DDT.
• Art: cutting-edge includes Roy Lichtenstein (close copies of comic-book images) and Louise Nevelson (steel constructions painted white or black).
• Architecture: Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal at JFK Airport, 1962.

• Movies: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961. The Graduate,1967. TV: Star Trek, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Batman.
• Music: Beatlemania begins 1964. Albums on LPs become the dominant form of music consumption; best-selling artists incl. Beatles, Elvis, Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jackson 5. Most of the 400+ pop dances are solo, not with a partner.

Feedback I’d appreciate from you on the PDF of 1960-1969

• Have I listed all the most significant events for this decade? Space is limited and there’s room for disagreement, but do tell me if you think anything important is missing. In case you want to add events important to you, I’ve allowed some blank space on every set of facing pages.
• I have not read all the books I mention nor listened to all the musical styles. Are any of the facts or descriptions wrong? Corrections welcome.
• I’d like to include major events in areas such as education, psychology, Supreme Court decisions, and sports. If you can boil down those or similar fields to a half-dozen significant events from 1900 to 2021, send them to me and I’ll try to work them in.
• Of course, point out typos, bad grammar, messy syntax, and so on.

More

• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my free Sunday Recommendations list: details here.