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.
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1947 |
Truman Doctrine enunciated in regard to |
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 |
1952 |
Eisenhower elected President; Dulles: massive retaliation |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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1959 |
Fidel Castro leads revolution in |
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 |
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1962 |
Cuban Missile Crisis brings world to brink of nuclear war (Oct.) |
1963 |
March on |
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 |
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 |