Kennedy elected: first Roman Catholic to win the office

Peace Corps

Bay of Pigs invasion: American-aided Cuban rebels fail to overthrow Castro

Vietnam: Kennedy steps up U.S. role

Communists erect Berlin Wall

CORE organizes freedom rides

Cuban missile crisis: to the brink of nuclear war

James Meredith desegregates University of Mississippi

Engel v. Vitale: school prayer case

Baker v. Carr: case for one person, one vote

Students for a Democratic Society issues Port Huron Statement

American-Soviet nuclear test ban treaty signed

March on Washington: crowds hear Martin Luther King support civil rights

Kennedy assassinated: Lyndon Johnson becomes president

First of the decade’s urban race riots

Economic Opportunity Act: cornerstone of Great Society

National Wilderness Preservation System Act: major environmental reform

Berkeley Free Speech Movement: inspires student unrest

Beatles introduce British rock

Voting Rights Act: second major civil rights bill

Watts riots: Los Angeles in flames

Malcolm X: Black Muslim leader assassinated

Medicare and Medicaid Acts: major health care reforms

Immigration Act: ends quota system