The 1960s (pronounced "nineteen-sixties", shortened to the "60s" or the "Sixties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969.
[Joshua Zeitz](_blank)
"1964: The Year the Sixties Began", ''American Heritage'', Oct. 2006.
While the achievements of humans being
launched into space,
orbiting Earth, and
walking on the Moon
"Walking on the Moon" is a song by British rock band the Police, released as the second single from their second studio album, '' Reggatta de Blanc'' (1979). The song was written by the band's lead vocalist and bassist Sting. It went on to be ...
extended exploration, the Sixties are known as the "
countercultural decade" in the United States and other Western countries. There was a revolution in social norms, including clothing, music (such as the
Altamont Free Concert
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and som ...
), drugs, dress,
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied wi ...
, formalities,
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
, 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 (in the United States known as the
British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
), 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
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. 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 ...
.
The United States had four presidents that served during the decade;
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
,
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
,
Lyndon B. 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 ...
and
Richard 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 ...
. Eisenhower was near the end of his term and left office in January 1961, and
Kennedy was assassinatedJohn Barth
John Simmons Barth (; born May 27, 1930) is an American writer who is best known for his postmodern and metafictional fiction. His most highly regarded and influential works were published in the 1960s, and include ''The Sot-Weed Factor'', a sa ...
(1984) intro to ''The Literature of Exhaustion ''The Literature of Exhaustion'' is a 1967 essay by the American novelist John Barth sometimes considered to be the manifesto of postmodernism.
The essay was highly influential and controversial.
Summary
The essay depicted literary realism as a ...
'', in ''The Friday Book''. in 1963. Kennedy had wanted
Keynesian
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output ...
and staunch
anti-communist
Anti-communism is political and 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, when the United States and th ...
social reforms. These were passed under Johnson including civil rights for African Americans and health care 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
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the University ...
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, ...
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
The term new social movements (NSMs) is a theory of social movements that attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i.e. in a post-industrial economy) which are cla ...
.
After the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cour ...
led by
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2 ...
, the United States attempted to depose the new leader by training Cuban exiles and
invading the island of
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. This led to Cuba to ally itself to the Soviet Union, a hostile enemy to the United States, resulting in an
international crisis
The term international crisis is a widespread term without a single common definition. To some, it involves "a sequence of interactions between the governments of two or more sovereign states in severe conflict, short of actual war, but involving ...
when Cuba hosted Soviet ballistic missiles similar to Turkey hosting American missiles, which brought the
possibility
Possibility is the condition or fact of being possible. Latin origins of the word hint at ability.
Possibility may refer to:
* Probability, the measure of the likelihood that an event will occur
* Epistemic possibility, a topic in philosophy ...
of causing
World War III
World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...
. However, after negotiations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R, both agreed to withdraw their weapons averting potential
nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nucle ...
.
After U.S. 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 with ...
, direct tensions between the superpower countries of the United States and the Soviet Union developed into a contest with
proxy wars
A proxy war is an armed conflict between two states or non-state actors, one or both of which act at the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities. In order for a conflict to be considered a pr ...
, insurgency funding, puppet governments and other overall influence mainly in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
, Africa, and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
. This "
Cold War" dominated the world's geopolitics during the decade. Construction of the
Berlin Wall by
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
began in 1961. 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
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
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 mov ...
with outraged student protestors around the globe culminating in the
protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...
.
China saw the end of
Mao's Great Leap Forward in 1962 that led to many Chinese to die from
the deadliest famine in human history and the start of the
Cultural Revolution
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 go ...
from 1966 to 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve
Chinese communism
The ideology of the Chinese Communist Party has undergone dramatic changes throughout the years, especially during Deng Xiaoping's leadership and the contemporary leadership of Xi Jinping.
Ideology
In the early days of this party, the pre ...
by
purging
A purge is the forcible removal of undesirable people from political activity, etc.
Purge or The Purge may also refer to:
* Purge (occupied Japan), the forcible removal of undesirable Japanese from public service during occupation of Japan
* G ...
remnants of
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, pri ...
and
traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
elements from
Chinese society
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
, leading to the arrests of a many Chinese politicians, the killings of millions of civilians and ethnic minorities, and the destruction of many historical and cultural buildings, artifacts and materials all of which would last until the
death of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong (; 26 December 1893 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who became the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which he ruled as the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from ...
.
By the end of the
1950s
The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959.
Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...
, post-war reconstructed Europe 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
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and other
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...
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.
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
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...
led to President
Charles de Gaulle temporarily fleeing the country.
Italy formed its first left-of-center government in March 1962 with
Aldo Moro
Aldo Romeo Luigi Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and a prominent member of the Christian Democracy (DC). He served as prime minister of Italy from December 1963 to June 1968 and then from November 1974 to July ...
becoming prime minister in 1963. Soviet leaders during the decade were
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...
until 1964 and
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and ...
.
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 (1947–1991)
** The
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
(1955–1975)
*** 1961 – Substantial (approximately 700) American advisory forces first arrive in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
.
*** 1962 – By mid-1962, the number of U.S. military advisers in
South Vietnam had risen from 900 to 12,000.
*** 1963 – By the time of U.S. president
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
'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
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, was passed on 10 August 1964. The resolution gave U.S. president
Lyndon B. 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 ...
authorization, without a formal
declaration of war 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
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
by the Johnson administration and college attendance soars.
** The
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly f ...
(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
The Portuguese Colonial War ( pt, Guerra Colonial Portuguesa), also known in Portugal as the Overseas War () or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation (), and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambican War of Independence, ...
(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 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 ...
-led parties who cooperated under the
CONCP umbrella and pro-U.S. groups, became active in these areas, most notably in
Angola
, national_anthem = "Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...
, and
Portuguese Guinea
Portuguese Guinea ( pt, Guiné), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a West African colony of Portugal from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as G ...
. 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 language, Indonesian / Malay language, Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition t ...
began in January 1963 and ended in August 1966.
*
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibet ...
of 1962 occurred between
China and
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
over a border dispute.
* 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
The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by t ...
(early-20th century-present)
**
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
(June 1967) – a war between Israel and the neighboring states of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...
, and
Syria. The Arab states of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
,
Sudan,
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...
and
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, religi ...
also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...
, 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
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
,
East Jerusalem, and the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between d ...
. The results of the war affect the
geopolitics 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 and
Sudan rage on throughout the decade.
* The
Al-Wadiah War
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 after PRSY forces seized the town of al-Wadiah on the PRSY-Saudi Arabian border. The conflict ended on 6 ...
was a military conflict which broke out on 27 November 1969, between
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
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 Sh� ...
and the cancellation of a planned visit to Japan by U.S. president
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
.
* The
Congo Crisis
The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...
was a period of
political upheaval
In political science, a revolution ( Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically d ...
and
conflict
Conflict may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton
* ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne
* ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
in the
Republic of the Congo between 1960 and 1965 that ended with the establishment of a unitary state led by
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic ...
.
* The
Dominican Civil War
The Dominican Civil War (), also known as the April Revolution (), took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democraticall ...
leads to a brief international occupation of the country and the election of
Joaquín Balaguer
Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer. He was President of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms for that office from 1960 to 1962 ...
as president.
* The
Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66
The Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, also known as the Indonesian genocide, Indonesian Communist Purge, or Indonesian politicide ( id, Pembunuhan Massal Indonesia & Pembersihan G.30.S/PKI), were large-scale killings and civil unrest pr ...
occurred as part of the
Transition to the New Order
Indonesia's transition to the New Order in the mid-1960s ousted the country's first president, Sukarno, after 22 years in the position. One of the most tumultuous periods in the country's modern history, it was the commencement of Suharto's ...
that marked the beginning of Suharto's 31-year presidency.
*
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
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
, the chairman of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
. Mao alleged that "liberal bourgeois" elements were permeating the party and society at large and that they wanted to restore
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
. 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
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard le ...
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 ...
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
Naxalbari (also spelled Naksalbari) is a village in the Naxalbari CD block in the Siliguri subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. Naxalbari is famous for being the site of a 1967 revolt that would eventuall ...
, West Bengal, led by certain leaders of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...
. 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
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
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
Six-Point movement in Bangladesh (at the time East Pakistan). The movement gave way to the
1969 East Pakistan mass uprising, which released
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...
from prison and put the country on the road to
liberation
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
in the early 1970s.
* The
Compton's Cafeteria Riot
The Compton's Cafeteria riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The riot was a response to the violent and constant police harassment of drag queens and trans people, particularly trans women. The incident was ...
occurred in August 1966 in the
Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This incident was one of the first recorded
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
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 LGBT community#Terminology, gay community in response to a police raid that began in t ...
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
The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the sin ...
, in the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. 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
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
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. 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
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
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 ...
regimes.
* The
Tlatelolco massacre
On October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas who were protesting the upcoming 1968 Summer Olympics. The Mexican government an ...
– 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
The Plaza de las Tres Culturas ("Plaza of the Three Cultures") is the main square within the Tlatelolco neighborhood of Mexico City. The name "Three Cultures" is in recognition of the three periods of Mexican history reflected by buildings in ...
in the
Tlatelolco section of Mexico City.
Coups
Prominent
coups d'état of the decade included:
* On 27 May 1960, a coup in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
led by
Cemal Gürsel
Cemal Gürsel (; 13 October 1895 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish army general who became the fourth President of Turkey after a coup.
Early life
He was born in the city of Erzurum as the son of an Ottoman Army officer, Abidin Bey, an ...
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 leader ...
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
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
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 Vietnam 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 o ...
and the establishment of temporary military rule.
* On 31 March and 1 April 1964, a
military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
in Brazil overthrows President João Goulart and starts a 21-year period of
military dictatorship.
* On 21 April 1967, in Greece a group of colonels established a
military dictatorship for seven years.
* In 1968, a
coup in Iraq led to the overthrow of
Abdul Rahman Arif
Hajj ʿAbd al-Rahman Mohammed ʿArif al-Jumayli ( ar, عبد الرحمن محمد عارف الجميلي, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿĀrif; 14 April 191624 August 2007) was a career soldier and the third president of Iraq from 16 April 1966 to 17 J ...
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 socialist ...
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 ...
.
* 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 spelli ...
overthrows monarchy in
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
.
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 Unite ...
( 16–28 October 1962) – a near-military confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union about the presence of Soviet missiles in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. After an American
Naval (quarantine) blockade of Cuba the Soviet Union under the leadership of
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, 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 by 1968.
* On 16 October 1964,
China detonated its first atomic bomb. China possessed a
hydrogen bomb by 1967.
Decolonization and independence
* The transformation of Africa from
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their rel ...
to independence in what is known as the
decolonisation of Africa
The decolonisation of Africa was a process that took place in the Scramble for Africa, mid-to-late 1950s to 1975 during the Cold War, with radical government changes on the continent as Colonialism, colonial governments made the transition to So ...
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 with each side supporting various strongmen, dictators, and guerillas favorable to their causes in these countries.
Economic development
In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals a ...
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
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
promised some more aggressive confrontation with the Soviet Union; he also established the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...
.
* 1963 –
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
published the book ''
The Feminine Mystique
''The Feminine Mystique'' is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, ''The Feminine Mystique'' became a bestseller, initially selling ...
'', reawakening the feminist movement and being largely responsible for its second wave.
* 1963 – Civil rights becomes a central issue as the
Birmingham campaign
The Birmingham campaign, also known as the Birmingham movement or Birmingham confrontation, was an American movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts o ...
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 ...
,
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's "
I Have a Dream" speech at the
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rig ...
on 6 August 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. 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
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
legislation.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration req ...
signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This landmark piece of legislation in the United States outlawed
racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...
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 United States Republican Party, Republ ...
by a wide landslide; Liberals gained full control of Congress.
* 1964 – The
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act of 1964 () was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres (37,000 km²) of federal land. The result of a lo ...
was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 3 September.
* 1965 – After the events of the
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized ...
, the
National 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 ...
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
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
, in November.
* 1969 – U.S. president
Richard 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 inaugurated in January 1969; he promised "peace with honor" to end the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
=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
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
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
The national flag of Canada (french: le Drapeau national du Canada), often simply referred to as the Canadian flag or, unofficially, as the Maple Leaf or ' (; ), consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of , in ...
was adopted in Canada after a much-anticipated debate known as the
Great Canadian flag debate
The Great Canadian flag debate (or Great Flag Debate) was a national debate that took place in 1963 and 1964 when a new design for the national flag of Canada was chosen.
Although the flag debate had been going on for a long time prior, it off ...
.
* 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 (as well as 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
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
** First Nat ...
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, ...
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", ...
delivered his "
Wind of Change" speech in 1960.
* The government of the
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
authorized construction of the
Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961 to prevent East Germans from leaving
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...
to
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...
.
*
Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...
calls the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
of the Catholic Church, continued by
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
(after John XXIII died in 1963), which met from 11 October 1962 until 8 December 1965.
* In October 1964, Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...
was expelled from office due to his increasingly erratic and authoritarian behavior.
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and ...
and
Alexei Kosygin
Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Косы́гин, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsɨɡʲɪn; – 18 December 1980) was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Prem ...
then became the new leaders of the Soviet Union.
* In
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, 1968 was the year of
Alexander Dubček
Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czechoslovak ...
'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 Se ...
, a source of inspiration to many Western leftists who admired Dubček's "socialism with a human face". The Soviet
invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
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
=
* The
Cultural Revolution
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 go ...
(1966–1976) and the
Sino-Soviet split
The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Le ...
(1961–1989)
**1966 marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution that was launched by Mao Zedong and lasted until his death in 1976. The goal of the revolution was to preserve Chinese communism by purging Chinese society of its traditional and remaining capitalist elements. Though it failed to achieve its main objectives, the revolution marked the effective return of Mao to the center of power.
** Following Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's removal from power in 1964, Sino-Soviet relations devolved into
open hostility. The Chinese were deeply disturbed by the Soviet suppression of the
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 Se ...
in 1968 as the latter now claimed the right to intervene in any country it saw as deviating from the correct path of socialism. In March 1969, armed clashes took place along the
Sino-Soviet border in the former Manchuria and this finally drove the Chinese to restore relations with the U.S. as Mao Zedong decided that the Soviet Union posed the bigger threat to China.
=India
=
* A literary and cultural movement started in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...
,
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
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 R ...
. 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.
=Indonesia
=
* President
Sukarno
Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno was the leader ...
banned the
Masyumi Party
The Council of Indonesian Muslim Associations ( id, Partai Majelis Syuro Muslimin Indonesia), better known as the Masyumi Party, was a major Islamic political party in Indonesia during the Liberal Democracy Era in Indonesia. It was banned in 1 ...
on 15 August 1960 and caused a tension the between government and Islamist groups.
* The
Transition to the New Order
Indonesia's transition to the New Order in the mid-1960s ousted the country's first president, Sukarno, after 22 years in the position. One of the most tumultuous periods in the country's modern history, it was the commencement of Suharto's ...
(1965–1968)
** In the early hours of 1 October 1965,
a group of army officers launched an abortive coup d'état in
Jakarta, assassinated six senior
Indonesian Army
The Indonesian Army ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), ) is the land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,000 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its r ...
generals and a junior army officer. They also seized
Merdeka Square and proclaimed the establishment of the "Council of Revolution" through a radio broadcast later in the morning, with
Lieutenant Colonel Untung Syamsuri as its leader.
** On the same day,
Major General Suharto successfully persuaded the soldiers on Merdeka Square to join forces with the Indonesian
Army Strategic Reserve Command divisions and launched a counterattack on the movement, ending the coup attempt. Three days later, the bodies of seven army officers were found buried in an old well in
Lubang Buaya
Lubang Buaya (literally "crocodile's pit") is the suburb on Cipayung, East Jakarta, Indonesia which is also the site of the murder of seven Indonesian army officers during the 1 October coup attempt of the 30 September Movement. It is located on th ...
and the bodies were recovered.
** In the aftermath of the coup d'état attempt, the people blamed the attempt on the
Communist Party of Indonesia
The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. ...
, prompting a
mass purge against leftists and communist sympathizers across the country. Around 500,000-1,000,000 casualties were massacred. The killings were mostly done by the locals with the help of the Army.
** Soon, mass demonstrations and protests from the
Indonesian Students' Action Front against
President Sukarno's government occurred. President Sukarno was notorious for his friendly approach towards the leftists, particularly the Communist Party of Indonesia.
** In the climax of the protests, President Sukarno signed the
Supersemar
The Order of Eleventh March ( id, Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret), commonly referred to by its syllabic abbreviation ''Supersemar'', was a document signed by the Indonesian President Sukarno on 11 March 1966, giving army commander Lt. Gen. Suhar ...
on 11 March 1966, effectively transferring authority to Major General Suharto to restore order and ensure security in the country. On 12 March 1967, President Sukarno was stripped of his political power by the
Provisional People's Consultative Assembly
The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of the People's Rep ...
(MPRS) and Major General Suharto became
acting president
An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or a vacation) or when the post is vacant (such as for death, injury, resignation, dismissal ...
. Later, he became president
formally on 27 March 1968. Sukarno lived under house arrest until his death in June 1970.
=Japan and South Korea
=
* The
Japanese economic miracle
The Japanese economic miracle refers to Japan's record period of economic growth between the post-World War II era and the end of the Cold War. During the economic boom, Japan rapidly became the world's second-largest economy (after the U ...
(1960s–1990s)
** Japan's remarkable economic growth between the post-
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
era and the end of the
Cold War. During the economic boom, Japan rapidly became the world's
second-largest economy at the time (after the United States).
** In 1960, Japan was wracked by the massive
Anpo protests against the revision of 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 ...
, resulting in the resignation of 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 Sh� ...
; Kishi's successor,
Hayato Ikeda
was a Japanese bureaucrat and later politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1960 to 1964. He is best known for his Income Doubling Plan, which promised to double Japan's GDP in ten years.
Ikeda is also known for repairing U.S.-J ...
, began implementing economic policies, known as the
Income Doubling Plan
The was a long-term economic development plan initiated by Japanese prime minister Hayato Ikeda in the fall of 1960. The plan called for doubling the size of Japan's economy in ten years through a combination of tax breaks, targeted investment, a ...
removed most of Japan's anti-monopoly laws and promised to double the size of Japan's economy within 10 years.
Eisaku Satō
was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1972. He is the third-longest serving Prime Minister, and ranks second in longest uninterrupted service as Prime Minister.
Satō entered the National Diet in 1949 as a membe ...
became Prime Minister of Japan four years later, succeeding Ikeda due to health issues.
** The
1964 Summer Olympics were held in Japan, the first time the country hosted them and the first time that the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
were held in Asia. The world's first bullet train (the
Tōkaidō Shinkansen
The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 196 ...
between
Tokyo Station
Tokyo Station ( ja, 東京駅, ) is a railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is not far from the Ginza ...
and
Shin-Ōsaka Station
is a railway station in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the western terminus of the high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen line from Tokyo, the eastern terminus of the San'yō Shinkansen and one of Osaka's main railway terminals to the north. The lines ...
) commences operations; it is the oldest high-speed rail system in the world.
* The
Second and
Third Republics of Korea (1960–1972)
** The
April Revolution
The April Revolution ( ko, 4.19 혁명), also called the April 19 Revolution or April 19 Movement, were mass protests in South Korea against President Syngman Rhee and the First Republic from April 11 to 26, 1960 which led to Rhee's resigna ...
were mass protests in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
against President
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
and the
First Republic from 11 to 26 April 1960, which led to Rhee's resignation. The Second Republic was established as a
parliamentary government
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...
under President Yun Bo-seon and Prime Minister Chang Myon. The Second Republic ended the First Republic, formed a liberal democracy, and formulated the first Five-Year Plans of South Korea, Five-Year Plans to develop the formerly-neglected economy.
** The May 16 coup and the establishment of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, SCNR, led by Major General
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 ...
on 16 May 1961, put an effective end to the Second Republic. Park was one of a group of military leaders who had been pushing for the de-politicization of the military.
** The Miracle on the Han River began with the Five-Year Plans of South Korea, a series of economic development projects implemented by President Park Chung Hee. South Korea received US$800 million from Japan under property claims and was mostly dependent on Aid, foreign aid (largely from the U.S. in exchange for South Korea's involvement in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
).
** South Korea's first diplomatic relations with Japan were established under the Third Republic and Japan–South Korea relations, South Korea-Japan relations were normalized in the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, Treaty on Basic Relations signed on 22 July 1965 and in an agreement ratified on 14 August 1965. Japan agreed to provide a large amount of compensation, grants, and loans to South Korea and the two countries began economic and political cooperation.
Africa

* On 1 September 1969, the Libya, Libyan monarchy was overthrown and a radical, revolutionary government headed by dictator
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 spelli ...
took power.
* On 1 October 1960, Nigeria gained its independence from Great Britain.
South America
* In 1964, a 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, successful coup against the democratically elected government of Brazil, Brazilian president João Goulart initiated a military dictatorship that caused over 20 years of oppression.
* The Argentina, Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, Ernesto "Che" Guevara travelled to Africa and then Bolivia in his campaign to spread worldwide revolution. He was captured and executed in 1967 by the Bolivian army and afterwards became an iconic figure for leftists around the world.
* Juan Velasco Alvarado took power by means of a coup in Peru in 1968.
Economics
The United States
During the 1960s the United States was in the Post–World War II economic expansion, postwar economic boom. The 1960s are remembered as a time period of rapid workforce growth (roughly 33% between February 1961 and December 1969), Revenue Act of 1964, tax cuts, low unemployment, rapid GDP growth, gains in productivity and generally low inflation. After the Recession of 1960–1961 the United States experienced sustained rapid economic growth which began in February 1961 and ended with the Recession of 1969–1970. It lasted a total of 106 months, which made it the longest recorded economic expansion in the history of the United States until the 1990s United States boom.
On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy became the president of the United States. 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 proposed a wide range of policies which embraced Keynesian economics (which he is the first president to do so). Among these policies included a 7% tax credit for businesses that invest in new plants and equipment, Income Revenue Act of 1964, tax cuts and an increase in the federal minimum wage.
Although, the 1960s were not perfect. The government routinely produced fiscal deficits (as a result of the tax cuts and increased expenditure embarked under Kennedy), with only one surplus during this time period (as opposed to the 1950s which produced 3). Furthermore, by 1966 inflation began to climb, which is a general trend that continued into the Stagflation, 1970's. 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%. By the end of the decade, median family income had risen from $8,540 in 1963 to $10,770 by 1969.
Assassinations and attempts

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
Disasters
Natural:
* The 1960 Valdivia earthquake, 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.
* 1963 Skopje earthquake 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#Landslide and wave, Vajont dam disaster – 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 1964 Alaska earthquake, Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in the U.S. and North America, struck Alaska and killed 143 people.
* 1965 – Hurricane Betsy caused severe damage to the U.S. Gulf Coast, especially in the state of Louisiana.
* 1969 – The Cuyahoga River 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 Lockheed Constellation 1960 New York mid-air collision, collided over New York City and crashed, killing 134 people.
* On 15 February 1961, Sabena Flight 548 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, 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 crashed on approach to Cairo, Egypt. 121 died while 6 survived.
* On 4 February 1966, All Nippon Airways Flight 60, 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. All 124 aboard died.
* On 8 December 1966, the car ferry SS Heraklion, SS ''Heraklion'' sank in the Aegean Sea during a storm, killing 217 people.
* On 16 March 1969, a DC-9 operating Viasa Flight 742 crashed in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo. 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 old 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. These groups created a movement toward liberation in society, including the sexual revolution, 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 cannabis (drug), marijuana) and Psychedelia, psychedelic 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
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, including the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam's 1967 march to the United Nations and its March on the Pentagon, the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests at which the slogan "The whole world is watching" became famous, and continuing in the massive Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, Moratorium protests in 1969 as well as the movement of resistance to Conscription in the United States, conscription ("the Draft") for the war.
The antiwar movement was initially based on the older 1950s Peace movement, heavily influenced by the Communist Party USA, 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". Other terms heard in the United States included "the Draft", "draft dodger", "conscientious objector", and "Vietnam veteran, 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 organized a movement to end legalized racial discrimination and obtain Suffrage, voting rights. 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, Economy of the United States, economic and politics of the United States, political self-sufficiency, and anti-imperialism.
The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of civil disobedience and Nonviolence, 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 boycotts such as the successful Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) in Alabama, sit-ins such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins (1960) in North Carolina, Demonstration (people), marches such as the
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized ...
(1965) in Alabama, and 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 labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration req ...
that banned discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that restored and protected voting rights, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 that dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 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 in the U.S. who fought to end racial discrimination and socioeconomic disparity. The largest Mexican-American populations were in the Southwestern United States, such as California with over 1 million ''Chicanos'' in Los Angeles alone, and Texas where Jim Crow 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 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'' Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court ruling which declared that segregating children of "Mexican and Latin descent" was unconstitutional and the 1954 ''Hernandez v. Texas'' ruling which declared that Mexican Americans and other racial groups in the United States were entitled to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, 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 Rican people, Puerto Ricans 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
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
's book, ''
The Feminine Mystique
''The Feminine Mystique'' is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, ''The Feminine Mystique'' became a bestseller, initially selling ...
'', 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, Miss America protest, protested the annual Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 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, 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
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
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
The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the sin ...
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 LGBT community#Terminology, gay community in response to a police raid that began in t ...
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, ...
" applied the class perspective of Marxism to postwar America but had little organizational connection with older Marxist organizations such as the Communist Party USA, 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 (1960 organization), 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 Trotskyism, Trotskyist, Maoism, Maoist and anarchism, anarchist groups, some of which by the end of the 1960s had turned to Militant (word), 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 and
Richard 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 ...
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 (astronaut), 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 crew (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, William Anders) being the first crewed mission to orbit another celestial body (the Moon) during Christmas of 1968.
On 20 July 1969, the Moon landing, first humans landed on the Moon. The Apollo 11 mission, launched on 16 July 1969, carried mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins (astronaut), Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Aldrin and Armstrong flew the Lunar Module ''Lunar Module Eagle, Eagle'' to the lunar surface. Apollo 11 fulfilled President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
'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. Shortly after the American Apollo 1 disaster, tragedy struck the Soviet program when cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when the parachutes on his Soyuz 1 flight failed.
A succession of uncrewed 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, Combined oral contraceptive pill, the pill, was released in the United States after Food and Drug Administration (United States), 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 introduced.
* 1967 – First heart transplantation operation by Professor Christiaan Barnard in South Africa.
* 1967 – Discovery of the first known pulsar (a rapidly spinning neutron star).
* During the late 1960s, the Green Revolution achieved a major leap in agricultural production, mitigating a potential famine situation.
Technology

Shinkansen, the world's first high-speed rail service began in 1964.
Automobiles and Motorcycles
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 (first generation), Ford Mustang, launched in 1964, was one of the decade's greatest successes. The "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" American automakers enjoyed their highest ever sales and profitability in the 1960s, but the demise of Studebaker in 1966 left American Motors Corporation 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 car, compact and Mid-size car, mid-sized cars in addition to Full-size car, 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, 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, Datsun 510, and the first popular Japanese sports car, the Datsun 240Z, were released in the mid- to late-1960s.
Mopeds and Scooters gains popularity in these decade, with Honda Super Cub in United States, Japan and Europe, Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon in Japan and Vespa, Kreidler Florett RS, Kreidler Florett and Zundapp and Sachs Motorcycles, Sachs mopeds in Western Europe.
Electronics and communications

* 1960 – The first working laser was demonstrated in May by Theodore Maiman 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!'', was invented.
* 1962 – Red LEDs were developed.
* 1963 – The first Geosynchronous satellite, geosynchronous communications satellite, ''Syncom 2'', is launched.
* 1963 – First transpacific satellite broadcast via the Relay 1 satellite.
* 1963 – Touch-Tone telephones introduced.
* 1963 – Sketchpad was the first touch interactive computer graphics program.
* 1963 – The Nottingham Electronic Valve company produced the first home Videocassette recorder, video recorder called the "Telcan".
* 1964 – 8-track tape audio format was developed.
* 1964 – The Compact Cassette was introduced.
* 1964 – The first successful Minicomputer, Digital Equipment Corporation's 12-bit PDP-8, was marketed.
* 1964 – The programming language BASIC was created.
* 1964 – The world's first supercomputer, the CDC 6600, was introduced.
* 1964 – Fairchild Semiconductor released Integrated Circuit, ICs with Dual in-line package, 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 developed his Brown Box (a working prototype of the Magnavox Odyssey).
* 1968 – The The Mother of All Demos, first public demonstration of the computer mouse, the paper paradigm Graphical user interface, video conference, video conferencing, teleconference, teleconferencing, email, and hypertext.
* 1969 – ARPANET, the research-oriented prototype of the Internet, was introduced.
* 1969 – Charge-coupled device, CCD invented at AT&T Bell Labs, used as the electronic imager in still and video cameras.
Additional notable worldwide events
* The Manson murders occurred between 8–10 August 1969 when actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and several others were brutally murdered in the Tate residence by Charles Manson's "family." Rosemary LaBianca and Leno LaBianca were also murdered by the Manson family the following night.
* Canada celebrated its 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation in 1967 by hosting Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec. During the anniversary celebrations, French president Charles De Gaulle visited Canada and caused a considerable uproar by declaring his support for Québécois independence.
* The Zodiac killer first became active after murdering five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969, operating in rural, urban and suburban settings.
Popular culture
File:Doctor Who logo 1963-1967.jpg, TV shows like ''Doctor Who'', ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', ''The Andy Griffith Show,'' ''The Addams Family (1964 TV series), The Addams Family'', ''The Fugitive (1963 TV series), The Fugitive,'' and Gene Roddenberry's ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' were popular in the 1960s (the latter garnering a much wider audience in the following decades and becoming a Cultural influence of Star Trek, global phenomenon).
File:Beatles ad 1965 just the beatles crop.jpg, The Beatles (consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) released music throughout the 1960s, and are often considered the most popular band in global history. Beatlemania was/is the fanaticism surrounding The Beatles. The Beatles experienced intense fan worship during the '60s era.
File:Bob Dylan in November 1963-2.jpg, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
is often considered to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and through a process of mutual influence with The Beatles and other artists, helped define the explosion of musical ideas in the 1960s.
File:PeaceAndLoveBus.svg, Peace symbols and Flower power, flowers were an aesthetic of the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture and hippie movement, hippie movements of the 1960s.
File:19680810 20 Anti-War March.jpg, Anti-war movements like the protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...
were protest, demonstrations and rebellion, revolts against various forms of governmental jurisdiction and corruption. These protests were a major part of 1960s popular culture.
File:1969-NBC.jpg, Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as ''The Flintstones'', ''The Jetsons'', ''The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, The Yogi Bear Show'', ''Wacky Races (1968 TV series), Wacky Races'', ''Top Cat'', ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Scooby-Doo'', and ''Jonny Quest (TV series), Jonny Quest'' were popular in the 1960s.
File:Woodstock redmond stage.JPG, Crowds at the stage during the Woodstock, Woodstock Music Festival, two months after 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 LGBT community#Terminology, gay community in response to a police raid that began in t ...
in June 1969.
File:TokyoOlympics1964Opening.jpg, Six Olympic Games were held in the 1960s, 1960 Winter Olympics, Squaw Valley and 1960 Summer Olympics, Rome in 1960, 1964 Winter Olympics, Innsbruck and 1964 Summer Olympics, Tokyo in 1964, 1968 Winter Olympics, Grenoble and 1968 Summer Olympics, Mexico City in 1968 (all during the Cold War).
File:Buzz salutes the U.S. Flag.jpg, The 1960s were the height of the Space Age and space aesthetics in popular culture. In 1969, humans Apollo 11, landed on the Moon for the first time.
File:1960s Batmobile (FMC).jpg, The superhero boom of the decade saw in media and popular culture, TV series like ''Batman (TV series), Batman'', ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'', ''The Marvel Super Heroes'', and ''Spider-Man (1967 TV series), Spider-Man'' were more popular.
The Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement dominated the second half of the 1960s, its most famous moments being the Summer of Love 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". Psychedelia, Psychedelic influenced the music, artwork and films of the decade, and a number of prominent musicians died of drug overdoses (see 27 Club). 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 (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 had dropped off the charts and popular music in the U.S. came to be dominated by girl groups, surf music, novelty pop songs, clean-cut teen idols, and Motown music. Another important change in music during the early 1960s was the American folk music revival which introduced
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Phil Ochs, and many other singer-songwriters to the public.
Girl groups and female singers, such as the Shirelles, Betty Everett, Little Eva, the Dixie Cups, the Ronettes, Martha and the Vandellas 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, The Angels (American group), 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 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
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
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 (song), Little Deuce Coupe", "409 (song), 409", and "Shut Down (The Beach Boys song), Shut Down", all by the Beach Boys; Jan and Dean's "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" and "Drag City (song), Drag City", Ronny and the Daytonas' "Little GTO", 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, which focused on lost teen romance caused by sudden death, mainly in Traffic collision, traffic accidents. Such songs included Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel (song), Teen Angel", Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her", Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve (song), Dead Man's Curve", the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack", and perhaps the subgenre's most popular, "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers.
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 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, the Who 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 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 adult pop, 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 of the United States, West Coast, 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 United States Army, U.S. Army. He resumes his musical career by recording "It's Now or Never (song), It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight? (song), Are You Lonesome Tonight?" in March 1960.
* Country music stars Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when their plane 1963 Camden PA-24 crash, crashed in Camden, Tennessee while returning home from a Kansas City 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 was shot and killed at a motel (at the age of 33) in Los Angeles, California on 11 December 1964, under suspicious circumstances.
* Motown was founded in 1960. Its first Top 40, Top Ten hit was "Shop Around" by the Miracles in 1960. "Shop Around" peaked at number-two on the Billboard Hot 100, ''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.
* Folk singer and activist Joan Baez released her Joan Baez (album), debut album on Vanguard Records in December 1960.
* The Marvelettes scored Motown's first U.S. No. 1 pop hit, "Please Mr. Postman", in 1961. Motown would score 110 ''Billboard'' Top 10 hits during its run.
* The Four Seasons (group), 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 British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
.
* The ''Mary Poppins (film), Mary Poppins'' original soundtrack tops record charts. Sherman Brothers receive Grammy Award, Grammys and double Academy Awards, Oscars.
* Lesley Gore hits number one on ''Billboard'' with "It's My Party" and number two with "You Don't Own Me" at the age of 17 (behind "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles).
* 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 hit and a blueprint for related genres such as Heavy metal music, heavy metal.
* John Coltrane released ''A Love Supreme'' in late 1964, considered one of 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
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
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 single "The Sound of Silence" 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 International 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
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
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; it included the pop standard "To Love Somebody (song), To Love Somebody".
* The Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 was the beginning of the "Summer of Love".
* 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.
* After The Yardbirds folded, Led Zeppelin was formed by Jimmy Page and manager Peter Grant (music manager), Peter Grant in 1968 with Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones, and Page as members; they released their debut album, ''Led Zeppelin (album), Led Zeppelin'', the next year.
* Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin as lead singer, became an overnight sensation after their performance at the Monterey International 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 became international sensations by 1969 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 by a summer engagement in Las Vegas in 1969. 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. It was considered a fabled "lost" performance for decades until it was released in North America on Laserdisc and VHS in 1996. The special 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 the
Altamont Free Concert
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and som ...
four months later) in 1969.
* The Who released and toured the first rock opera, ''Tommy (The Who album), 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 at the time and would later be used in films, TV shows and video games depicting the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
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 (film), Mary Poppins''
* ''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 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 gained wider distribution and saw movements like French New Wave, la Nouvelle Vague (The French New Wave), which featured French filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais, and Jean-Luc Godard; the cinéma vérité documentary movement took place 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 (film), The Saragossa Manuscript''; ''El Topo''; ''A Hard Day's Night (film), A Hard Day's Night''; and the cinéma vérité ''Dont Look Back''.
file:The Magnificent Seven cast publicity photo.jpg, left, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and James Coburn in John Sturges's ''The Magnificent Seven'', 1960
In Japan, ''Chūshingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki'' a film version of the story of the forty-seven rōnin, forty-seven ''rōnin'' 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''. Another popular figure in this genre was John Wayne, with films from the 60s such as ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (1962), ''El Dorado (1966 film), El Dorado'' (1966), ''True Grit (1969 film), True Grit'' (1969) and others.
The 1960s were also about experimentation. With the explosion of lightweight and affordable cameras, the underground New American Cinema, avant-garde film movement thrived. The movement's notable figures include Canada's Michael Snow and Americans Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, and Jack Smith (film director), Jack Smith. Notable films in this genre include ''Dog Star Man'', ''Scorpio Rising (film), Scorpio Rising'', ''Wavelength (1967 film), Wavelength'', ''Chelsea Girls'', ''Blow Job (1964 film), Blow Job'', ''Vinyl (1965 film), Vinyl'', and ''Flaming Creatures''.
Walt Disney, the founder of The Walt Disney Company, died on 15 December 1966 from a major tumor in his left lung. Alongside ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'', ''The Sword in the Stone (1963 film), The Sword in the Stone'' and ''The Jungle Book (1967 film), The Jungle Book'' (some of his most important blockbusters), animated feature films of the decade that 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.
*The rise of arthouse films and theaters.
*The end of the 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.
*New film formats like IMAX are invented and new ways of displaying film are tested at Expo 67.
*Flat-bed film editing tables (like the Steenbeck) appear; they eventually replace the Moviola editing platform.
*The French New Wave reaches its peak.
*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'', ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', ''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'', ''Rowan and Martin's 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 popular show, receiving 40 million views an episode with an average of 3 million views a day. ''Doctor Who'' is the longest-running science-fiction show of all time according to the ''Guinness World Records''. 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 (as well as escalation of) the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
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, Members of Argentine rock band Los Gatos (band), Los Gatos sporting Beatle haircut, mop-top haircuts, which were considered at the time a rebellious hairstyle.
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,
File:Tie dye T-shirts.jpg, Tie-dye shirts of all colors were at their height and worn by many during the 1960s.
File:Lava lamps (16136876840).jpg, Lava lamps (released in the late 1940s) became very prevalent in the 1960s and were used as decorations.
File:Go-go boots by Andre Courreges, 1965.jpg, Go-go boots were a popular piece of fashion, worn by many.
Literature
* The Outsiders (novel), ''The Outsiders'' by S.E. Hinton was a massively popular novel during the decade. It illustrated the difficult life for the working class at the time.
Sports
The first ever Super bowl had happened in 1967 in Los Angeles, California
Olympics
There were six
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
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 (baseball), 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
* Harry Belafonte
* James Bevel
* Stokely Carmichael
* Rennie Davis
* David Dellinger
*
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
* 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.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
* James Meredith
* Diane Nash
* Phil Ochs
* Yoko Ono
* Rosa Parks
* Jerry Rubin
* Mario Savio
* Fred Shuttlesworth
* Gloria Steinem
* Malcolm X
* Andrew Young
File:Joan Baez 1963.jpg, Joan Baez
File:Dick Gregory.jpg, Dick Gregory
File:John Lewis 1964-04-16 (cropped).jpg, John Lewis
File:Jerry Rubin (edit) - Spectrum 13Mar1970.jpg, Jerry Rubin
Actors and 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
* Jane Birkin
* Robert Blake (actor), Robert Blake
* Mel Blanc
* 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
* Charlie Chaplin
* 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
* 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
* June Foray
* 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 (actor), 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
* Sophia Loren
* Peter Lorre
* Darren McGavin
* David McCallum
* Fred MacMurray
* Shirley MacLaine
* Jayne Mansfield
* Karl Malden
* Dorothy Malone
* Ann-Margret
* Dean Martin
* Steve 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
* 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
* 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
* 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
* Betty White
* Stuart Whitman
* Richard Widmark
* Gene Wilder
* Jonathan Winters
* Shelley Winters
* Natalie Wood
* Joanne Woodward
* Keenan Wynn
* Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
File:Brigitte_Bardot_-_1962.jpg, Brigitte Bardot, 1962
File:Audrey Hepburn (cropped).jpg, Audrey Hepburn, 1963
File:Clint Eastwood - 1960s (cropped).JPG, Clint Eastwood, 1964
File:Sean Connery 1964.png, Sean Connery, 1964
Image:Paul Newman Harper.jpg, Paul Newman, 1966
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
* Gene Roddenberry
* Steven Spielberg
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
File:Jean-Luc Godard at Berkeley, 1968.jpg, Jean Luc Godard
Musicians and singers
* Paul Anka
* Richard Anthony (singer), Richard Anthony
* Louis Armstrong
* Eddy Arnold
* Chet Atkins
* Burt Bacharach
* Joan Baez
* Pearl Bailey
* Bee Gees
* 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
* Joe Cocker
* Nat "King" Cole
* Sam Cooke
* 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
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
* Duke Ellington
* Art Farmer
* Eddie Fisher
* Ella Fitzgerald
* Tennessee Ernie Ford
* Aretha Franklin
* Marvin Gaye
* Robin Gibb
* Dizzy Gillespie
* Lesley Gore
* Eydie Gormé
* Buddy Guy
* Merle Haggard
* Johnny Hallyday
* Jimi Hendrix
* Eddie Hodges
* 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
* Scott McKenzie
* 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
* Phil Ochs
* 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
* Jeannie C. Riley
* Tex Ritter
* Max Roach
* Marty Robbins
* Jimmie Rodgers (pop singer), Jimmy Rodgers
* Sonny Rollins
* Demis Roussos
* Kyu Sakamoto
* Neil Sedaka
* Pete Seeger
* Nina Simone
* Frank Sinatra
* Hank Snow
* Dusty Springfield
* 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
File:Janis Joplin seated 1970.JPG, Janis Joplin, 1969
Bands
* The Animals
* The Beach Boys
* The Beatles
* Bee Gees
* Blood, Sweat and Tears
* The Cascades (band), The Cascades
* Cream (band), Cream
* Creedence Clearwater Revival
* The Doors
* The Four Tops
* Gladys Knight & the Pips
* Grateful Dead
* Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
* The Hollies
* The Impressions
* Iron Butterfly
* The Jackson 5
* Jefferson Airplane
* The Jimi Hendrix Experience
* The Kinks
* Led Zeppelin
* The Mamas & the Papas
* The Marvelettes
* The Miracles
* The Monkees
* Moody Blues
* Ohio Express, The Ohio Express
* Pink Floyd
* Procol Harum
* The Righteous Brothers
* Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones
* The Ronettes
* Santana (band), Santana
* The Shadows
* Simon and Garfunkel
* The Stooges
* The Supremes
* The Temptations
* The Velvet Underground
* The Who
* The Yardbirds
* The Zombies
File:The_Beatles_performing_at_The_Ed_Sullivan_Show_(cropped_2).jpg, The Beatles, 1964
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
File:The Temptations on the Ed Sullivan Show.JPG, The Temptations, 1969
Writers
* Kurt Vonnegut
* Isaac Asimov
* Ray Bradbury
* Dr. Seuss
* Gabriel García Márquez
* 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:James Baldwin 37 Allan Warren (cropped).jpg, James Baldwin
File:Arthur C. Clarke 1965.jpg, Arthur C. Clarke
File:Philip K Dick in early 1960s (photo by Arthur Knight) 02 (cropped).jpg, Philip K. Dick
Sports figures

* Hank Aaron
* Muhammad Ali
* Ernie Banks
* Gordon Banks
* Elgin Baylor
* Yogi Berra
* George Best
* Abebe Bikila
* Jack Brabham
* Lou Brock
* Jim Brown
* Giacomo Bulgarelli
* Matt Busby
* Dick Butkus
* John Carlos
* Věra Čáslavská
* Wilt Chamberlain
* Bobby Charlton
* Jack Charlton
* Jim Clark
* Roberto Clemente
* Otis Davis
* Alfredo Di Stefano
* Yukio Endō
* Lee Evans (sprinter), Lee Evans
* Eusebio
* Dick Fosbury
* Garrincha
* Bob Gibson
* Charles Greene (athlete), Charles Greene
* Dan Gurney
* John Havlicek
* Mike Hailwood
* Bob Hayes
* Phil Hill
* 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
* Bruce McLaren
* Bobby Moore
* Pedro Morales
* Joe Namath
* Jack Nicklaus
* Ray Nitschke
* Chuck Norris
* Al Oerter
* Arnold Palmer
* Pelé
* Richard Petty
* Brian Piccolo
* Ferenc Puskás
* Alf Ramsey
* Jochen Rindt
* Oscar Robertson
* Frank Robinson
* Bobby Robson
* Bill Russell
* Satch Sanders
* Gale Sayers
* Arnold Schwarzenegger
* Bill Shankly
* Ronnie Ray Smith
* Tommie Smith
* Bart Starr
* John Surtees
* Giovanni Trapattoni
* Johnny Unitas
* Jerry West
* Fred Williamson
* Mamo Wolde
* Lev Yashin
See also
* List of decades, centuries, and millennia, List of decades
* 1960s decor
* Silent Generation (the younger members of that demographic had matured in the early part of the decade).
* Baby boomers, Baby Boomers (the decade when the older members of the Boomer generation had become of age).
* 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
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
excerpt and text search* 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
excerpt and text search
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
excerpt and text search*
* Hunt, Andrew. "When Did the Sixties Happen? Searching for New Directions", ''Journal of Social History'' (1999) 33#1 pp 147–161.
* Meyer, James. ''The Art of Return: The Sixties and Contemporary Culture'' (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 GoGoThe Sixties ProjectHeroes of the 1960sslideshow by ''Life magazine''
The 60s: Literary Tradition and Social Change exhibit at the University of Virginia, Library, Special Collections.
1960s protest movements in AmericaThe 1960s in Europe (Online Teaching and Research Guide)*
The 1960sarticles, video, pictures, and facts
{{Authority control
1960s,
20th century
1960s decade overviews