The 60's

Music

The break between the music of the 1950s and the 1960s is imprecise. A reasonable way of "dating" the 1960s is with the "British invasion" of American music. This refers to the numerous British groups, admirers and emulators of American rock and roll, who broke into the U.S. market during the early 1960s.

The Beatles made their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, February 9, 1964 (at 8 PM Eastern Time). In New York City, there were 50,000 requests for seats in the studio that held only 703 people. An estimated audience of 73 million television viewers watched the Beatles perform 5 songs and become the music rage of the United States.

Movies

Psycho  is a 1960 American suspense/horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The screenplay by Joseph Stefano is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The novel was loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein, who lived just 40 miles from Bloch. 

Politics

Counterculture/social revolution: In the second half of the decade, young people began to revolt against the conservative norms of the time, as well as remove themselves from mainstream liberalism, in particular the high level of materialism which was so common during the era. This created a "counterculture" that sparked a social revolution throughout much of the western world. The youth involved in the popular social aspects of the movement became known as hippies. These groups created a movement toward liberation in society, including the sexual revolution, questioning authority and government, and demanding more freedoms and rights for women and minorities. The movement was also marked by the first widespread, socially accepted drug use (including LSD and marijuana) and psychedelic music.

Society

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11, the first human spaceflight landed on the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. Apollo 11 fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s, which he had expressed during a speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."