Condensed 50s-60s timeline

1938

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1940

House Committee on Un-American Activities founded, intended to hunt fascists and American Nazis, but instead mostly used by chairman Martin Dies (D.-Tex) to hunt suspected Communists; HUAC lasts until 1975, though mostly politically irrelevant after about 1960.

 

 

Smith Act denies federal employment and jail time up to 20 years for anyone who "with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or...organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof." How the Smith Act was applied.

 

1947

Truman Doctrine enunciated in regard to Greece and Turkey; 9 days later, Truman institutes loyalty-security program with Exec. Order 9835 (March); HUAC visits Hollywood (Oct.); Marshall Plan offers aid to rebuilding Europe; National Security Act creates Defense Dept. and CIA. How can you tell if someone's a Communist? Watch here. US Army training film shows you how to handle these situations (watch through end of song).

1948

Hiss-Chambers case breaks; NATO formed; Communist coup in Czechosolvakia

1949

Soviets explode A-bomb (Aug.); Mao and Chinese Communists win civil war (October)

1950

McCarthy's Wheeling, W.Va speech attacks State Dept. coddling of Communists (Feb.); Korean War breaks out (June 25), spurred on by Soviet encouragment of Kim Il-Sung; two reviews of a big recent book on anti-Communism; popular anti-Communism, as incarnated in pageants (watch through the part where he talks about shopping centers), is at its height; historian Ellen Schrecker explains what McCarthyism was

1952

Eisenhower elected President; Dulles: massive retaliation
Between 1950-59, the budget for defense contracts increases 246%, that for nonmilitary business expenses only 76%. By 1962, defense makes up 62% of the federal budget. This is actually down from 68% in 1953:

1953

Stalin dies (March); Executive Order 10450 (April) creates "Lavender Scare"--see especially Sec.8(a)(1)(iii) (watch trailer); USSR invades East Germany; CIA-backed overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran (August); Ethel and Julius Rosenberg executed (June); Korean War ends (July)

1954

Army-McCarthy hearings finally break McCarthy's spell; French surrender at Dienbienphu; Brown v. Board of Ed. (both May); CIA-backed overthrow of Arbenz Guzmán in Guatemala (June); US signs Geneva Accords, promising national elections in Vietnam within 2 years (July)

1955

Montgomery Bus Boycott begins, led by MLK’s SCLC

1956

Khruschev “Secret Speech” admits that Stalin made some mistakes, such as creating a "cult of personality" (Feb.); USSR crushes democracy movement in Hungary (Oct. 23-Nov.11); Suez Crisis (Oct. 29-Nov. 7)

1957

Little Rock desegregation crisis (Sept.); Sputnik terrifies Americans into heavier investment in space programs, science & math in schools (Oct.) McCarthy drinks himself to death. But Glenn Beck carries on his legacy. Jon Stewart's Beck parody. Another way McCarthy's argument carries on: his assistant, Roy Cohn, and his most famous protege.

1959

Fidel Castro leads revolution in Cuba; 1st US troops killed in Vietnam

1960

first SNCC sit-ins (Feb.); U-2 shot down (May); SDS founded (June); JFK/ Nixon debate reveals power of TV to sway electorate; Kennedy wins, on “missile gap”; promises “New Frontier”

1961

Bay of Pigs invasion fails completely (Apr.); first Freedom Rides (May); Soviets erect Berlin Wall (Aug.)

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis brings world to brink of nuclear war (Oct.)

1963

March on Washington (King’s “I have a dream” speech) (Aug.); JFK assassinated (Nov.); Supreme Court hands down Gideon v. Wainwright, stipulating right of any arrested individual to representation

1964

In State of the Union speech, LBJ proposes “Great Society” to finish work of New Deal, especially via “War on Poverty” (Jan.); JFK’s tax cut passes (Feb.); Civil Rights Act (June)—high point of Great Society; Freedom Summer in South; Tonkin Gulf Resolution provides flimsy pretext for direct US involvement in Vietnam (Aug.); Free Speech Movement begins in Berkeley (Fall); LBJ crushes Goldwater in election (Nov.); also, “British Invasion”: Beatles, Rolling Stones, Animals dominate pop charts, set off massive popular fad

1965

Malcolm X assassinated (Feb.); 1st “teach-ins” to protest Vietnam War (spring); Voting Rights Act (Aug.)—end of Great Society; immigration laws loosened to end 1920s quota system; riots in Watts, other inner cities (summer)

1966

SNCC expels white members; beginning of Black Power movement; Miranda v. Arizona, stipulating that police must advise anyone arrested of his/her rights; Ronald Reagan elected Gov. of Ca.

1967

Summer of Love”; psychedelia nears mainstream;  split opens between New Left and counterculture

1968

Tet offensive (Jan.); My Lai massacre in Vietnam, though not publicized for about 18 months (Mar.); LBJ decides not to run again (Mar.); MLK assassinated (Apr.); RFK assassinated (June); police riot at Democratic convention in Chicago (Aug.); Nixon defeats Humphrey with “secret plan” to end war (Nov.); acid rock (eg. Doors, Hendrix) in mainstream, hip consciousness v. “square” consciousness both a mark of generational divide and a source of power for Nixon, who claims “silent majority” not engaged in protest supports him