1960s

Events:

• Election of JFK 1961-1963: Television producers had coached Kennedy. He looked and spoke better than Nixon. Kennedy also had a tan from campaigning in Southern California and looked rested and fit.

• Assassination of JFK, Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963

• Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham City Jail on April 12, 1963. He was arrested while leading a protest in defiance of an injunction against anti-segregation activities in the city.

• Gulf of Tonkin, escalation of US armed forces in Vietnam. US destroyers and other Naval vessels were attacked by Vietnamese ships. Led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which meant that the US could take any measures necessary to stop any attacks against the US in Southeast Asia

• The Tet Offensive was a series of attacks conducted by the Viet Cong. They attacked South Vietnamese towns during a holiday

• The My Lai massacre involved the gruesome mass murder of South Vietnamese citizens in “Sơn Mỹ village, Quảng Ngãi” province. The soldiers kept it a secret, but it was later found out, and they were punished.

• The Cuban Missile Crisis was when the soviet union was moving missiles into Cuba because the USA had missiles in countries surrounding the soviet union, like Italy and Turkey

• The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was a key organization in the 1960s civil rights movement. The organization was also known for its nonviolent direct action campaigns. They played a major role in the Freedom Rides and the March on Washington

• People:

• JFK - President of the United States for 3 years until assassinated

• Richard Nixon - President of the United States from 1969-1973

• LBJ - Became the president after JFK’s assassination. He was deeply involved in the Vietnam War. Fought poverty and racial inequality. Developed “The Great Society,” which was a bunch of domestic programs that reduced poverty. Later built on the New Deal

• Ngo Dihn Diem - president of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War

• Ho Chi Minh - primary leader of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War (communist)

• Viet Cong - A Group of North Vietnamese guerrilla forces

• James Meredith - an Ole Miss student who joined Ole Miss on October 1st, 1962, and was met with backlash and had to be escorted by the National Guard just to live in Ole Miss.

• Fannie Lou Hammer: Joined the Civil Rights Movement after being fired and evicted for trying to register to vote in 1962 Worked with SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) to register Black voters in the South Co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) to challenge the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party Spoke at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, delivering a powerful televised speech about racial injustice. Helped register thousands of Black voters in Mississippi and other southern states.

• Martin Luther King fought for civil rights in a nonviolent way

• Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus

• Malcolm X - activist, the first Black who attend Alabama

• Stokely Carmichael- A prominent figure in the civil rights movement, played a pivotal role in the emergence and development of the Black Power movement

• Medgar Evers- a prominent civil rights activist and World War II veteran, assassinated in 1963, had a significant role in the civil rights movement. Killed in the driveway of his home, and after the news was spread was a major turning point in the movement. Had people all over the country furious.

• Angela Davis- civil rights activist and feminist

• Betty Friedan- American civil rights activist, feminist, and American writer

• Places:

• In Dallas,