Mood:
"Dreams of progress are shaken by violence."
Events: "John F. Kennedy is assassinated and civil rights protests intensify."
Events: "John F. Kennedy is assassinated and civil rights protests intensify."
- Mar 21: Alcatraz Prison Closes – The infamous, maximum-security federal penitentiary located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay is officially shuttered due to extraordinarily high maintenance costs and severely deteriorating infrastructure.
- May 15: Faith 7 Concludes Mercury Project – Astronaut Gordon Cooper launches on the final mission of Project Mercury, spending 34 hours in space and becoming the first American to spend an entire day in Earth orbit.
- Jun 11: Self-Immolation of Thich Quang Duc – In a highly publicized and shocking protest against the South Vietnamese government's severe persecution of Buddhists, monk Thich Quang Duc calmly burns himself to death on a busy intersection in Saigon.
- Jun 12: Medgar Evers Assassinated – Prominent African American civil rights activist and NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is fatally shot in the back by a white supremacist outside his family home in Jackson, Mississippi.
- Jun 26: JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" Speech – Speaking entirely in front of the heavily fortified Berlin Wall, US President John F. Kennedy publicly voices immense American solidarity with democratic West Germany by famously declaring, "Ich bin ein Berliner."
- Aug 28: The March on Washington – Over 250,000 civil rights demonstrators peaceably gather at the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his legendary and deeply inspiring "I Have a Dream" speech, demanding racial equality.
- Nov 22: JFK Assassinated in Dallas – President John F. Kennedy is shockingly assassinated by a sniper while riding in an open-top motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is immediately sworn in aboard Air Force One.
- Nov 23: Doctor Who Premieres – The British science fiction television program "Doctor Who" debuts on the BBC, introducing the time-traveling alien known as the Doctor and eventually becoming a legendary, generation-spanning cultural staple.
- Nov 24: Lee Harvey Oswald Murdered – Just two days after being arrested for Kennedy's assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald is fatally shot by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters, an event broadcast live on national television.