1960s

Centre, L-R: John F. Kennedy is assassinated in 1963, after serving as president for three years; Martin Luther King Jr. makes his famous I Have a Dream Speech to a crowd of over a million; millions participate in the Woodstock Festival of 1969.

Bottom, L-R: China's Mao Zedong puts forward the Great Leap Forward plan; the Stonewall Inn, site of major demonstrations for gay and lesbian rights; for the first time in history, a human being sets foot on the Moon, in the Moon landing of July 1969

The 1960s (also called the '60s) was the decade that began on January 1, 1960 and ended on December 31, 1969. It is distinct from the decade known as the 197th decade which began on January 1, 1961 and ended on December 31, 1970. Many things happened in the sixties, including the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War.

The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called the Sixties. This was a set of cultural and political trends around the globe. This "cultural decade" is loosely defined as beginning around 1963 and ending around 1974.Barth, John 1984. Intro to The Literature of Exhaustion, in The Friday Book.

The social revolution of the 1960s was part of a wider counterculture. Old ways were changed, new ways taken up. Typical was the introduction of the birth control pill, and its effect on sexual activity, widespread use of certain drugs and a general disrespect for traditional ways.

Pop art also started in the 1960s.

 Events 
 Decolonization of much of Africa
 1961 - Yuri Gagarin is first human in the space during Soviet Vostok 1 mission.
 1961 – Berlin Wall built.
 1961 – Bay of Pigs invasion.
 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis.
 1963 – Assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22.
 1965 – Indiainvades Pakistan on September 6.
 1967 - Six-Day War.
 1968 – Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
 1969 – Under the Apollo 11 program Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans on the Moon.
 Unix created.

 Important people 
 Actor 
 Cary Grant, British-American actor
 Charles Boyer, French actor
 Dana Andrews, American actor
 Fred Astaire, American actor
 Fred MacMurray, American actor
 Gene Reynolds, American actor
 James Stewart, American actor
 Kirk Douglas, American actor
 Melvyn Douglas, American actor
 Paul Newman, American actor
 Sean Connery, Scottish actor
 Robert Taylor, American actor
 Spencer Tracy, American actor
 Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor
 William Holden, American actor
 P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor
 Saloma, Malaysian actor

 Actress 
 Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress
 Audrey Hepburn, British-Belgian actress
 Ava Gardner, American actress
 Barbara Stanwyck, American actress
 Bibi Ferreira, Brazilian actress
 Deborah Kerr, British actress
 Donna Reed, American actress
 Doris Day, American actress
 Fay McKenzie, American actress
 Gene Tierney, American actress
 Ginger Rogers, American actress
 Gloria Swanson, American actress
 Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress
 Janet Leigh, American actress
 Judy Garland, American actress
 Katharine Hepburn, American actress
 Lana Turner, American actress
 Lauren Bacall, American actress
 Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress
 Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress
 Marilyn Monroe, American actress
 Monica Vitti, Italian actress
 Muriel Pavlow, British actress
 Olivia de Havilland, American actress
 Peggy Stewart, American actress

 Director 
 Alfred Hitchcock, British movie director
 Federico Fellini, Italian movie director
 Orson Welles, American director
 Stanley Kubrick, American movie director

 Footballer 
 Musician 
 Bob Dylan, American recording artist
 Elvis Presley, American singer
 Joan Baez, American singer
 Jimi Hendrix, American guitarist

 World Leader 
 Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China
 Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt
 Charles de Gaulle, President of France
 Georges Pompidou, President of France
 Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany
 Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany
 Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of Germany
 Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany
 Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India
 Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India
 Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India
 Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel
 Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan
 Hisamuddin of Selangor
 Putra of Perlis
 Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengganu
 Pope John XXIII until 1963
 Pope Paul VI since 1963
 Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China
 Nikita Khruschev, Leader of Soviet Union
 Leonid Brezhnev, Leader of Soviet Union
 Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
 Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
 Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
 Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
 John F. Kennedy, President of the United States
 Lyndon Johnson, President of the United States
 Richard Nixon, President of the United States
 Ho Chi Minh, President of Vietnam

References