1960 Timeline

Timeline of the 1960's
1960
• The first debate for a presidential election was televised. It was between Senator John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Nikon seemed nervous, but Kennedy stood tall. The debate on TV changed many people's minds about Kennedy.
• This year NASA sent up ECHO, the first communications satellite to be seen with the naked eye.
• American "U2" spy plane shot down over the USSR.
• The Olympic Games were held in Rome and Wilma Rudolf won three gold medals.
1961
• John F Kennedy moves into the White House. He gives his famous speech - "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
• The soviets have sent the first man into space and the Americans need a man in space, too. The event came on May 5, 1961. Alan Shepard was sent to space in the "Freedom 7". On May 25, Kennedy wanted to have a man on the moon and back before the decade was over.
1962
• John Glenn became the first man to orbit the earth - 3 times. It was a five hour flight.
• Rachel Carson, a scientist and writer, warned that our earth would die of pollution and chemicals. Especially chemicals that were developed to kill bad insects. DDT was a real bad chemical. It killed bad insects, along with good insects, along with plants, along with animals. She wrote the book Silent Spring with a warning. At least five states banned DDT.
1963
• Martin Luther King Jr. made the speech, "I have a Dream" on August 28, 1963. More than 200,000 peaceful demonstrators came to Washington DC to demand equal rights for Black and Whites. Part of the speech was - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…"
• President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was never sent to trial. While being moved by police to a different jail, a man named Jack Ruby shot Oswald. Who killed President Kennedy nobody knows for sure.