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1960s ‑ Stories

The 1960s was one of the most tumultuous and divisive decades in world history. The era was marked by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, countercultural movements, political assassinations and the emerging "generation gap."

On This Day in History: U.S. Surgeon General announces definitive link between smoking and cancer

When Cigarette Warning Labels Led to a Crackdown on Smoking

The 1965 U.S. law requiring health warnings on cigarette packs played a key role in bringing about a new era of tobacco regulation.

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The 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team as they boarded the ill-fated flight to Brussels on February 4, 1961.

The 1961 Plane Crash That Devastated US Figure Skating

The entire U.S. figure skating team was lost in the horrifying crash. But a memorial fund later helped lay the groundwork for recovery.

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John and Jacqueline Kennedy ride through Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

8 Facts About the John F. Kennedy Assassination

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Here are facts about the assassination, perpetrator, investigations…and conspiracy theories surrounding the event.

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Tupperware Parties: Suburban Women’s Plastic Path to Empowerment

The parties swept the nation during the 1950s and 1960s—and were more than they seemed.

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A crowd of delegates in the 1968 Democratic Convention convention holding up the signs that say Stop the War

We Were There: The 1968 Democratic Convention

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin shares intimate—and harrowing—memories of the turmoil she and her husband witnessed that summer in Chicago.

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Doris Kearns Goodwin: A Personal History of the 1960s

With youthful stints in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the presidential historian and her husband had unparalleled views into the pivotal people and events of that momentous decade.

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This shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion aircraft is seen as it searches for missing MH370.

The Unsolved Mysteries of 8 Missing Passenger Flights

A look back at eight times when commercial airliners suffered unexplained catastrophes—and sometimes seemed to vanish into thin air.

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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a crowd from his front porch, at his home in Montgomery, Ala., on Jan. 30, 1956, after it was bombed.

How MLK Responded When Segregationists Bombed His Home

On the 57th day of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on January 30, 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. was giving a speech when he got the news that his home in the Alabama city had been bombed. His wife, Coretta Scott King, and their 10‑week‑old daughter, Yolanda, who were in the home at the time of […]

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Martin Luther King and Dr. Spock lead protest against Vietnam War.

When Martin Luther King Jr. Considered a Presidential Run

In 1967, several prominent antiwar activists urged MLK to run for president with Dr. Spock as his VP.

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Voters at a polling station in Dunn Loring, Virginia, November 8, 1960.

Here’s Why You Don’t Need to Pay a Tax to Vote

In 1962, Senator Spessard Holland of Florida, a Southern Democrat with a longstanding aversion to the poll tax, attached anti‑poll tax language to a proposal everyone could get behind—a bill designating Alexander Hamilton’s home, the Grange, a national monument. Holland changed the language of the Grange bill outright, turning it into a Constitutional amendment that […]

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A vintage Barbie and Midge with carrying case.

Barbie’s Little‑Known and Discontinued Friends

In 1959, the Mattel toy company debuted what would become its flagship doll: Barbara Millicent Roberts, more commonly known as Barbie. At a time when many of the dolls available in the United States resembled babies or children, Barbie broke the mold by resembling an older teenager or a young adult (more specifically, she looked […]

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A Black Students Union leader in front of a crowd of demonstrators at San Francisco State College in December 1968. The union had gone on strike after racial strife between students and administration.

The Campus Walkout That Led to America’s First Black Studies Department

The 1968 strike was the longest by college students in American history. It helped usher in profound changes in higher education.

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