Portal:1960s

The Beatles in 1964; clockwise from top left: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band in Western popular music and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.

Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles evolved from Lennon's previous group, the Quarrymen, and built their reputation by playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, starting in 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before inviting Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after they signed with EMI and achieved their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four". Epstein, Martin or other members of the band's entourage were sometimes informally referred to as a "fifth Beatle". (Full article...)

Jimi Hendrix on stage at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden in May 1967

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that originally emerged during the mid-1960s, inspired by psychedelic culture and primarily centered around the influence of psychoactive and hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording techniques, extended instrumental solos, and improvisation. Many psychedelic groups differ in style with the label often applied spuriously.

Originating in the mid-1960s among British and American musicians, the sound of psychedelic rock invokes three core effects of LSD: depersonalization, dechronicization (the bending of time), and dynamization (when fixed, ordinary objects dissolve into moving, dancing structures), all of which detach the user from everyday reality. Musically, the effects may be represented via novelty studio tricks, electronic or non-Western instrumentation, disjunctive song structures, and extended instrumental segments. Some of the earlier 1960s psychedelic rock musicians were based in folk, jazz, and the blues, while others showcased an explicit Indian classical influence called "raga rock". In the 1960s, there existed two main variants of the genre: the more whimsical, surrealist British psychedelia and the harder American West Coast "acid rock". While "acid rock" is sometimes deployed interchangeably with the term "psychedelic rock", it also refers more specifically to the heavier, harder, and more extreme ends of the genre. (Full article...)

• ... that Jacqueline Kennedy wore her pink Chanel suit (pictured) at the inauguration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, even though it was stained with her husband's blood?
• ... that the black Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's has been called "perhaps the most famous little black dress of all time"?
• ... that Bo Schembechler praised Pete Newell for traveling to Iowa with the 1969 Michigan football team rather than to a large antiwar rally "with the damn hippies where he really wanted to be"?

Official portrait, 1972

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California in both houses of the United States Congress before serving as the 36th vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.

Nixon was born into a poor family of Quakers in Yorba Linda, Southern California. He graduated from Whittier College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1934 and from Duke University with a Juris Doctor in 1937, practiced law in California, and then moved with his wife Pat to Washington, D.C., in 1942 to work for the federal government. After serving in the Naval Reserve during World War II, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946. His work on the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist. In 1950, he was elected to the Senate. Nixon was the running mate of Eisenhower, the Republican Party's presidential nominee in the 1952 and 1956 elections. Nixon served for eight years as vice president and his two terms saw an increase in the notability of the office. He narrowly lost the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy. After his loss in the 1962 race for governor of California, he announced his retirement from politics. However, in 1968, he made another run for the presidency and defeated the Democratic incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey. (Full article...)

Official portrait, 1993

Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian military general, politician and dictator who served as the country's second and longest-serving president from 1967 to 1998. Rising to prominence amid political turmoil and anti-communist purges in the mid-1960s, Suharto gradually sidelined Sukarno and formally assumed the presidency after MPRS forced Sukarno (who proclaimed himself as President for a lifetime), to resign. His three-decade rule, characterised as authoritarian and kleptocratic, was marked by widespread corruption, political repression, and human rights abuses. Suharto's regime ultimately collapsed in 1998 amid mass protests, violent unrest, and the fallout of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, leading to his resignation.

Suharto was born in Kemusuk, near the city of Yogyakarta, during the Dutch colonial era. He grew up in humble circumstances. His Javanese Muslim parents divorced not long after his birth, and he lived with foster parents for much of his childhood. During the Japanese occupation, Suharto served in the Japanese-organized Indonesian security forces. During Indonesia's independence struggle, he joined the newly formed Indonesian Army and rose to the rank of major general some time after full Indonesian independence was achieved. An attempted coup on 30 September and 1 October 1965 was countered by Suharto-led troops. The army subsequently led a nationwide violent anti-communist purge. In March 1967, the MPRS appointed Suharto as acting President, and he was appointed President the following year. When Suharto came to power, inflation was running at over 650%. He appointed an economic advisory group that implemented free market policies, and by 1969 the country entered a period of price stability. Suharto ordered an invasion of East Timor in 1975, followed by a 23-year occupation of the country and genocide. (Full article...)

Promotional poster designed by Arnold Skolnick. Originally, the bird was perched on a flute.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 60 miles (95 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Woodstock Rock Festival, it attracted an audience of more than 460,000. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite overcast and sporadic rain. It was one of the largest music festivals in history and would become the peak musical event to reflect the counterculture of the 1960s.

The festival has become widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, as well as a defining event for the silent and baby boomer generations. The event's significance was reinforced by a 1970 documentary film, an accompanying soundtrack album, and a song written by Joni Mitchell that became a major hit for both Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Matthews Southern Comfort. Musical events bearing the Woodstock name were planned for anniversaries, including the 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, and 50th. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine listed it as number 19 of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock and roll. In 2017, the festival site became listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Full article...)

• ... that the historic water stream Seil Amman was roofed to make way for a road in the 1960s?
• ... that in the 1960s one could have tea and toast served to your changing room at the Carlisle Turkish baths in England?
• ... that American teenagers of the 1960s and 1970s used to chat and arrange dates over the sound of the busy signal?
• ... that Isabel Garcés provided a comical counterpoint to "child prodigy" protagonists in many 1960s musical comedy films?
• ... that Japanese actress Junko Ikeuchi was known as the "Queen of TV Dramas" from the 1960s to the 1980s?
• ... that Patricia Davies and Jean Argles, two sisters who signed the Official Secrets Act as World War II codebreakers, did not find out about each other's top-secret work until the 1960s?