Soviet Union launches Sputnik. John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society criticizes rising private consumption in post-war America. The Twist sets off dance craze. Kennedy forms Peace Corps. Bob Dylan discovered in Greenwich Village and signs record deal.
Soviets launch man into space.
John Glenn orbits the Earth. Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. President Lyndon Johnson signs Medicare act and is given power to raise military presence in Vietnam with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Ground troop levels in Vietnam rise to more than 300,000. Antiwar protests begin to increase.