jfk timline

1960 2nd Jan

JFK announces candidacy

1960 13th Jul

Democrats nominate JFK, he gives his New Frontier speech at the DNC

1960 26th Sep

First televised presidential debate. JFK appears victorious on TV, Nixon appears to win on radio

1960 8th Nov

JFK defeats Nixon by a margin of just 0.17% on the popular vote

1960 Dec

By the end of 1960, the USA had given $5m in foreign aid to Laos

1961

The contraceptive pill is widely available

1961 Jan

There are 1,000 military advisers in Vietnam at the start of JFK’s presidency

1961 3rd Jan

Eisenhower severs diplomatic relations with Cuba

1961 17th Jan

Eisenhower’s farewell address warns the US of the growing power of the American military-industrial-complex

1961 1st Mar

Kennedy signs an executive order which creates a temporary Peace Corps and asks Congress to authorise the programme permanently

1961 12th Apr

Youri Gagarin of the USSR becomes the first man in space

1961 17th Apr

The Bay of Pigs invasion commences. A failed covert invasion which ends in humiliation for Kennedy, with 1,500 Cuban exiles killed or captured.

1961 1st May

Kennedy signs the Area Redevelopment Act. A $450 million spending package, it sought to stimulate job creation in Appalachia.

1961 4th May

CORE carries out its first Freedom Rides through the Deep South. They expose the unlawful nature of the enforcement of segregation in bus travel.

1961 5th May

Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space

1961 24th May

Vice President Johnson concludes his tour of South Vietnam. He calls Diem the ‘Winston Churchill of the Far East’

1961 25th May

Kennedy plans a man on the moon before the decade is out. He asks Congress for more funds for NASA.

1961 3rd Jun

Kennedy meets with Khrushchev in Vienna. The conference fails to resolve the conflict over the status of Berlin.

1961 30th Jun

Kennedy signs the Housing Act. It creates 420,000 construction jobs.

1961 30th Jun

Social Security Amendments. Benefits were increased by 20%, early retirement could be taken at 62 and other welfare/unemployment benefits were expanded.

1961 13th Aug

Berlin Wall construction commences. JFK sends 1,500 troops into West Berlin. There is a tense stand-off at Checkpoint Charlie.

1961 Sep

Fair Labor Standards Act, raises the minimum wage from $1.15 to $1.25 an hour.

1961 Nov

SNCC runs its failed Albany Campaign in Georgia. Police chief Laurie Pritchett pays MLK’s jail fine. The campaign highlights tension within the CRM (SNCC-King) & the importance of media as a weapon.

1961 14th Dec

The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women is established, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt.

1962

Kennedy’s controversial strategic hamlet programme is introduced. It impacts US/SV relations with the Vietnamese peasantry.

1962

JFK’s food stamp programme feeds over 250,000 people

1962 20th Feb

John Glenn orbits the Earth

1962 26th Feb

The US Supreme Court rules that segregation in transportation facilities is unconstitutional

1962 15th Jun

The SDS, led by Tom Haydn, is formed through its publication of the Port Huron Statement, it popularises the term ‘participatory democracy’.

1962 13th Sep

Kennedy signed the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, providing better pay and working conditions for employees.

1962 30th Sep

James Meredith desegregates University of Mississippi. The episode helped change JFK’s approach to civil rights.

1962 16th Oct

Kennedy is informed of the existence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba

1962 22nd Oct

JFK announces Cuban Missile Crisis to the nation. He explained the navy would impose a quarantine around Cuba.

1962 28th Oct

Cuban Missile Crisis resolved. The USA pledges not to invade Cuba (and secretly agrees to remove missiles from Turkey), in exchange for the removal of the Soviet weapons.

1962 20th Nov

EO 11063 banned segregation in federally funded housing

1963 Jan

Kennedy pressed Congress for tax cuts and reforms. Conservatives blocked the bill as it would give him a legislative victory before the 1964 election. The law was later signed under the Revenue Act in Feb 1964 by LBJ. It cut the top federal income tax rate from 91% to 70%, and reduced corporate tax from 52% to 48%.

1963 19th Feb

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan is published

1963 28th Feb

Kennedy’s speech to Congress discusses civil rights. In it, he cites the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

1963 3rd Apr

Birmingham campaign begins. The SCLC sought to expose the violent nature of Birmingham’s law enforcement, led by Bull Connor. The role of the media is critical, and leads to changes in the city’s discrimination laws.

1963 12th Apr

King writes his letter from a Birmingham Jail

1963 10th Jun

Kennedy gives American University address. In it, he addressed superpower relations and spoke of a need for a nuclear test ban treaty. A softer stance to the Soviets is taken. The hotline is installed in the White House.

1963 10th Jun

Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act. It allowed 171,000 women to reclaim pay amounting to $84 million over the next 10 years.

1963 11th Jun

Thich Quang Duc immolates himself in a wave of Buddhist uprisings against Diem’s regime in South Vietnam.

1963 11th Jun

Governor George Wallace attempts to block the desegregation of the University of Alabama.

1963 12th Jun

Medgar Evers of the NAACP is assassinated outside his home in Mississippi. He was initially denied entry to the local hospital due to his race, but was finally admitted, becoming the first black person admitted to an all-white hospital in the state. He died within an hour.

1963 26th Jun

JFK’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech to West Berlin

1963 28th Aug

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Around 250,000 attend and they hope to put pressure on the government to pass meaningful civil rights legislation.

1963 15th Sep

Baptist Street bombings kill four girls. Four members of the KKK were never convicted, with the FBI closing their investigation.

1963 7th Oct

Kennedy signs a partial nuclear test-ban treaty with the USSR and the UK

1963 1st Nov

Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated in a CIA-supported coup

1963 22nd Nov

Kennedy shot in Dallas