Timeline: Major Events of the 1960s
1967-1969
1967
- January 14 – Gathering of the Tribes, First Human Be-In occurs in San Francisco, 20,000 attend.
- January 27 – US, USSR, UK sign treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
- February – 25,000 US troops sent to the Cambodian border
- March – A Scientist reports LSD causes chromosome damage however, it is never proven.
- March 26 – Be-In at Central Park in NY. which 10,000 attend
- April 5 – Grayline starts tours of the hippie neighborhood of Haight/Ashbury
- April 10 – Vietnam Week starts. Draft card burnings and anti-draft demonstrations
- Martin Luther King Jr. begins to speak out against the war in Vietnam.
- April 15 – Anti-Vietnam War protest. 400,000 march from Central Park to UN. Speeches by Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spock
- May 19 – First U.S. air strike on Hanoi
- May 20 – Flower Power Day in NYC 1967
- June 16 – Monterey Pop Festival
- June 21 – Summer Solstice Party in Golden Gate Park
- June 30 – The number of US troops in Vietnam reaches 448,400.
- July – “Summer of Love” in San Francisco
- July – Rioting throughout the summer in the US. Blacks begin protesting in Chicago, Brooklyn, Cleveland and Baltimore.
- July 11 – Large riots and insurrections in the black ghettos of Newark and Detroit.
- July 24 – Riots in Detroit lead to 43 deaths.
- July 26 – H. Rap Brown arrested for inciting a riot in Maryland.
- Oct 20 – Seven KKK members are convicted of conspiracy in the 1964 murders of three civil rights worker.
- October 21-22 – Anti-war protesters march on and storm the Pentagon. “Diggers” exorcise the Pentagon. Overall 35,000 demonstrators are at the pentagon, 647 are arrested.
- October 26 – The Government eliminates draft deferments for those who violate draft laws including burning draft cards or interfering with military recruitment for the war.
- November 14 – Air Quality Act provides $428 million to fight air pollution.
- December – The number of US troops in Vietnam reaches 486,000. 15,000 soldiers have been killed in the war thus far, the majority, 60% died in 1967.
- December – “Stop the Draft” movement organized by 40 antiwar groups, nationwide protests ensue.
- December 5 – 1000 antiwar protesters try to close NYC induction center. 585 arrested including Allen Ginsberg and Dr. Benjamin Spock.
- December 22 – Owsley arrested and ceases making acid.
- December 31 – Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul Krassner, Dick Gregory, & friends pronounce themselves “Yippies”
1968
- January 16 – Youth International Party (Yippies) founded.
- January 31 – Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive throughout South Vietnam turns most Americans against Johnson’s policy for war in Vietnam.
- February – Timothy Leary evicted from Millbrook house.
- February 8 – George Wallace mounts a third-party campaign for President on a law and order platform
- March 12 – Eugene McCarthy wins 42% of the vote in the New Hampshire presidential primary.
- March 16 – Massacre of 200 – 500 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai.
- March 16 – Robert F. Kennedy announces candidacy for President.
- March 31 – President suprisingly announces his decision not to run again for the Presidency and offers a partial Vietnam bombing halt.
- April 4 – Martin Luther King shot and killed in Memphis at the age 39. King was shot as he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room. Escaped convict James Earl Ray later pleads guilty to the crime.
- April – The week following Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder there is as a result black uprisings in 125 cities across the U.S.
- April 6 – Oakland Police ambush Black Panthers. Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver arrested with a bullet-shattered leg, while Bobby Hutton is shot and killed.
- April 8 – The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs established (DEA) in response to growing drug culture in the U.S.
- April 11 – President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
- April 11 – There is a major call-up of military reserves for duty in Vietnam
- April 14 – Love-in at Malibu Canyon, California.
- April 15 – Start of Spring Mobilization against the Vietnam war.
- April 23 – SDS lead students take over 5 buildings at Colombia Univeristy for a week. 700 arrested
- April 24 – 300 Black students occupy administration building at Boston University demanding black studies and financial aid.
- April 29 – The rock musical HAIR opens on Broadway at the Biltmore Theater.
- May 10 – Vietnam peace talks begin in Paris. In hopes of ensuring the South Vietnam will not fall to the communists in the North.
- June 5 – Robert Kennedy assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan moments after winning the California primary.
- July 1 – Nuclear nonproliferation treaty is signed by 61 nations including the United States.
- August 1 – There are 541,000 U.S. Troops in Vietnam.
- August 3, 1968 – The first Newport Pop Festival in Costa Mesa, California to an audience of over 100,000 people. Performers at the festival include Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Sonny & Cher, Tiny Tim, the Byrds, Iron Butterfly, The Grateful Dead and Eric Burdon &; the Animals.
- August 8 – Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew nominated during Miami riots.
- August 25-29 – Antiwar demonstration clash with police at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. There were approximately 10,000 demonstrators vs. 11,000 Chicago police; 6,000 National Guard; 7,500 U.S. army troops; and 1,000 FBI, CIA and other services agents. Bystanders and press were also beaten by police in the cross fire.
- August 28 – Hubert Humphrey and Edward Muskie nominated on a prowar platform amid violent antiwar protests in Chicago.
- November 5 – Richard Nixon narrowly elected President, with Spiro T. Agnew, as his Vice-President.
- November 6 – Student Strike at San Francisco State
1969
- February – Strike at U.C. Berkeley for ethnic studies
- February 13 – 33 students arrested at administration building sit-in at University of Massachusetts
- February 18 – Students seize building and boycott started at Howard University.
- February 24 – Students occupy Administration building at Penn State.
- February 27 – Police charge student picket lines, club and arrest two Chicano leaders at U.C. Berkeley.
- February 27 – Thousands rampage thru nine buildings at U of Wisconsin, Madison over black enrollments.
- March 20 – James Earl Ray is sentenced to 99 years for Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder.
- April – There is a peak amount of 543,000 US troops in Vietnam
- April 9 – 300 Harvard students led by SDS seize Univ Hall and evict eight deans April 10 – Police called into Harvard, 37 injured, 200 arrested April 11 – Start of 3 day student strike at Harvard April 22 – Harvard faculty votes to create black studies program & give students vote in selection of its faculty.
- April 22 – City College of NY closed after black & Puerto Rican students lock selves inside asking higher minority enrollment.
- April 23 – Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for Robert Kennedy’s murder .
- April 24 – U.S. B-52s launch the biggest attack yet on North Vietnam. As a result there are protests ensuing around the country.
- May 15 – Hippies in People’s Park in Berkeley attacked by police and National Guard.
- July – Stephen Gaskin starts The Farm commune in Tennessee.
- July 20 – The Unites States’ Apollo 11 lands on the moon, and Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon
- President Nison initiates “Vietnamization” of the war thus decreasing the number of U.S. troops in Indochina.
- July 27 – Stonewall riot in New York’s Greenwich Village. 2000 protesters battle 400 police, initiates the Gay Liberation Movement.
- August 9 – Sharon Tate & LaBiancas found murdered by Charles Manson & Crew
- August 15 – 17 WOODSTOCK Festival 500,000 people gathered for three days of music and peace that changed the world
- August 26 – FBI reports 98% increase in marijuana arrests from 1966 – 1968
- September 3 – Ho Chi Min, leader of North Vietnam, dies
- September 24 – Chicago Eight trial begins. Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin et al charged with conspiracy to incite riots at the Democratic National Convention.
- October 8-11 – The Weatherman a more radical faction of the SDS – “Days of Rage”
- October 15 – Declared Peace Day there are 500,000 protesters nationwide is the First Vietnam Moratorium
- October 21 – Jack Kerouac, beat author of “On the Road” dies.
- October 30 – The Supreme Court orders desegregation nationwide
- November 15 – 500,000 + march in Wash. DC for peace. Largest antiwar rally in U.S. history. Speakers: McCarthy, McGovern, Coretta King, Dick Gregory, Leonard Bernstein. Singers: Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul, & Mary, John Denver, Mitch Miller, touring cast of Hair 1969.
- November 17 – First round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) talks begin in Helsinki between the U.S. and the Soviets.
- November 24 – Lt. William Calley charged the murder of 102 South Vietnamese civilians at My Lai.
- November 25 – President Nixon orders all US germ warfare stockpiles destroyed.
- December – The death and injury toll of US troops in Vietnam reaches over 100,000 US troops dead or injured in Vietnam.
- December 1 – First draft lottery since W.W.II held in NYC
- December 8 – There is a raid on the Black Panther headquarters in LA resulting in a four hour shoot-out
- December 24 – Rolling Stones “Altamont” concert erupts in violence with one spectator killed
Content c2004
The Sixties: A Journey Through Politics and Culture.
Web design and content by Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS
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