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1960 - 1969

In contrast to the 1950s, the decade of the 1960s was a turbulent one. The Bay of Pigs invasion, constructional of the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile Crisis increased tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The developing nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America had become known as the Third World. The other two "worlds" were the U.S. and its allies, and the Soviet Union and the communist bloc. By the end of the decade, the war in Vietnam had overshadowed assassinations and the struggle for equality among blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and women. 

1961 - Kuwait Protected
Troops from Saudi-Arabia and other Arab states take over defense of Kuwait from British in face of Iraqi threat

1961 - Berlin Wall built to stop East Germans fleeing to the West

1961 - Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis

1963 - President Kennedy assassinated

1964 - Leonid Brezhnev takes over from Khrushchev as leader in Russia

1964 - PLO forms
Arab leaders set up Palestine Liberation Organization to unite
Palestinian refugees

1964 - Military leaders seize power in Brazil

1964 - U.S. Civil Rights Act bans racial discrimination in federal
funding and employment

1965-73 - Vietnam War

1967 - Six Day War between Israel and neighboring Arab states

1968 - Paris erupts into student riots followed by general strike
French students and workers staged strikes and demonstrations against the government.  The economy had been suffering from inflation and currency problems, but President de Gaulle still maintained popular support.

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