Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

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Events and Trends

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The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. Many of the trends of the 1960s were due to the demographic changes brought about by the baby boom generation and the dissolution of European colonial empires. (See The Sixties.)

Technology

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• USSR puts first man Yuri Gagarin and first woman Valentina Tereshkova in space.
• The United States puts man on Earth's Moon; geosynchronous satellites revolutionize global communications.
• Start of the development of algorithmic information theory

Science

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War, peace and politics

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• Cultural Revolution in mainland China causes political and economic chaos.
• Civil War begins in Nigeria
• Six-Day War between Israelis and Arabs.
• Beginning of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
• Berlin Wall built, in 1961.
• Bay of Pigs Invasion
• Civil rights movement; end of official segregation and disenfranchisement of African-Americans
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Vietnam War and protests, leading to Kent State University shootings in May, 1970
• Suppression of uprising in Czechoslovakia
• United Nations imposes sanctions against South Africa in protest at Apartheid.
• Students protesting perceived problems with the status-quo suppressed with violence by police and soldiers in USA, France, Mexico, Czechoslovakia.
• The Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille) begins in Quebec - precipitous decline of the Roman Catholic church, liberalism, social-democratic programs, and the birth of modern Quebec nationalism
• The rise of radical feminism

Economics

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Culture

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• Worldwide expansion of surrealism.
• Rock and roll develops, diversifies, and becomes very hip. The Beatles eclipse Elvis Presley.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey hits movie theaters.
• ''James Bond'' movies.
• Hippies, drug culture & Rock and roll converge at the Woodstock Festival & Concert, 1969.
• Growing popularity of religions other than Christianity in the West, and of atheism; Time Magazine asks: "Is God Dead?"

Others

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• Post-Colonialism; many new or previously colonized countries achieve independence in Africa, Asia.
• John F. Kennedy assassinated in 1963; his brother Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in 1968.
• Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on April 4, 1968.
• LBJ's Great Society program
• Increase in crime, Los Angeles Watts Riot, 1965, Chicago riot, 1968 Democratic National Convention
• Rise of the Baby Boom generation to adulthood; Sesame Street debuts on PBS.
• First widespread availability of practical birth control pill for women; sexual revolution
• Growing hegemony of liberalism and socialist ideology in some universities; Reassessment of the Western canon
• Widespread riots in France
• Sweden abandons driving on the left side.
• Early days of American gay rights movement, which explodes into the Stonewall riots of 1969
• The Boston Celtics continue their record-breaking streak of NBA championships (which began in 1959) from 1960 to 1966.

World Leaders

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• Chairman Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China)
• President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China on Taiwan)
• President Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt)
• President Charles de Gaulle (France)
• Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India)
• Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri (India)
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
• Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Israel)
• Prime Minister Levi Eshkol (Israel)
• Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
• Pope John XXIII
• Pope Paul VI
• Prime Minister Basil Brooke (Northern Ireland)
• Prime Minister Terence O'Neill (Northern Ireland)
• Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark (Northern Ireland)
• Governor Luis A. Ferre (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)
• Taoiseach Sean Lemass (Republic of Ireland)
• Taoiseach Jack Lynch (Republic of Ireland)
• Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet Union)
• Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
• Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Harold Wilson (United Kingdom)
• President Dwight D. Eisenhower (United States)
• President John F. Kennedy (United States)
• President Lyndon Johnson (United States)
• Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (West Germany)
• Chancellor Ludwig Erhard (West Germany)
• Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (West Germany)
• President for Life Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

Sports figures

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• Muhammad Ali (U.S. boxer)
• Nino Benvenuti (Italian boxer)
• Jim Brown (U.S. American football player)
• Wilt Chamberlain (U.S. basketball player)
• Bobby Charlton (English soccer player)
• Jim Clark (Scottish racing driver)
• Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rican baseball player)
• Bob Cousy (U.S. basketball player)
• Eusebio (Portuguese soccer player)
• Bob Gibson (U.S. baseball player)
• Gordie Howe (Canadian ice hockey player)
• Bobby Moore (English soccer player)
• Sonny Liston (U.S. boxer)
• Sandy Koufax (U.S. baseball player)
• Floyd Patterson (U.S. boxer)
• Frank Robinson (U.S. baseball player)
• Willie Mays (U.S. baseball player)
• Stan Mikita (Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player)
• Bobby Orr (Canadian ice hockey player)
• Pelé (Brazilian soccer player)
• Bill Russell (U.S. basketball player)
• Oscar Robertson (U.S. basketball player)
• Garfield Sobers (Barbadian cricketer)
• Alfredo di Stefano (Argentinian/Spanish soccer player)
• Fred Trueman (English cricketer)

Entertainers

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• Julie Andrews
• Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello
• Brigitte Bardot
• The Beach Boys
• The Beatles
• The Byrds
• Sean Connery
• Tony Curtis
• Neil Diamond
• The Doors
• Bob Dylan
• Cary Grant
• Jimi Hendrix
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Dustin Hoffman
• Rock Hudson
• Janis Joplin
• Jack Lemmon
• Jerry Lewis
• Gina Lollobrigida
• Sophia Loren
• Dean Martin
• Paul Newman
• Roy Orbison
• Sidney Poitier
• Peter Sellers
• Frank Sinatra
• Sonny and Cher
• John Wayne
• Raquel Welch

See also: List of rock and roll albums in the 1960s

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