Politics

1960-

• President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Vice President:
• The 50 star flag becomes official on July 4, 1960
• John F. Kennedy wins 1960 election
• Hearings for “payola” scandal are held in Congress
• A U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary Powers is shot by the Russians

1961-

• John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 36th president of the United States; Lyndon B. Johnson is vice president
• Diplomatic relations with Cuba are severed
• The Bay of Pigs invasion fails
• The peace corps is established

1962-

• Riots erupt as African American James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi
• The Twenty-fourth Amendment is approved
• The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty goes into effect on October 10
• October 16-28 the Cuban Missile Crisis takes place

1963-

• Medgar Evers, an official with the NAACP, is shot by sniper
• The Court rules that prayer in public schools is unconstitutional
• President Kennedy is assassinated; Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as President

1964-

• President Johnson declares “War on Poverty”
• The Civil Rights Act is passed
• The Warren Report concludes the Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy
• The Twenty-fourth Amendment is ratified, making poll taxes illegal in federal elections
• Nikita Krushchev is deposed as the leader of the Soviet Union
• Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution