1960s

Question 1

Nikita Khrushchev

Answer 1

This Soviet leader was responsible for the partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union. He was removed from power after his soft handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Question 2

1960 U-2 incident

Answer 2

During Eisenhower’s presidency, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union and the pilot was captured.

Question 3

Francis Powers

Answer 3

The U-2 spy plane pilot taken as prisoner by the Soviet Union in 1960.

Question 4

Cuban Revolution

Answer 4

Communist Castro ousted sitting president Batista resulting in an American embargo against the nation.

Question 5

Peace Corps

Answer 5

A volunteer program created by President Kennedy in 1961.

Question 6

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Answer 6

Early in Kennedy’s presidency (1961), his military sent a trained force to Cuba where they managed to overrun a local militia before being overran by Castro’s army. It strengthened ties between Cuba and the Soviet Union.

Question 7

Engel v. Vitale

Answer 7

(1962) Declared school prayer to be unconstitutional.

Question 8

Cuban missile crisis

Answer 8

An international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later and was fired.

Question 9

Abington School District v. Schempp

Answer 9

(1963) The Court rules that Bible reading in public schools is unconstitutional.

Question 10

I Have a Dream

Answer 10

A public speech delivered in 1963 by MLK at the March on Washington fueled the Civil Rights Movement.

Question 11

Ralph Nader

Answer 11

Rose to prominence in the 1960s with the book “Unsafe at Any Speed,” he is a consumer advocate who was run for president in several cycles from 1992 to 2008.

Question 12

My Lai Massacre

Answer 12

In 1968 U.S. troops gang-raped and slaughtered masses of Vietnamese civilians. Information of the atrocity leaked to the public one year later.

Question 13

Charles Manson

Answer 13

Leader of a cult which was responsible in 1969 for numerous killings.

Question 14

Apollo 11

Answer 14

The 1969 space flight that landed American men on the surface of the moon.

Question 15

Draft lottery

Answer 15

In 1969 the draft was used for the first time since World War 2, the practice was shown to not actually be random, and Americans grew angry.