The year is 1960. Dwight D. Eisenhower is president of the United States. Elvis is the king of rock and roll. The most popular movie in the theaters is Ben Hur. The most popular book is to kill a mockingbird. The Andy Griffiths premiered its first episode. Gas is 25 cents a gallon. The year marked the end of

the 1950s, a time many Americans would later remember with a sense of nostalgia. It was an era

of relative peace and prosperity. The men and women who grew up during the Great Depression

and helped defeat Nazism and fascism in World War II

had gotten married, settled down, and started families.

America had a booming middle class.

But it was also a time that foreshadowed great change in America.

In the South, more and more African Americans and civil rights activists

were challenging the region's

practice of segregation, holding sit-ins at restaurants.

Nationwide, the FDA approved the first oral contraceptive pill.

90% of American households now have televisions, bringing world events right into their own homes.

These developments represented the beginning of dramatic change that would alter the social fabric of America for the rest of the decade.

The change was not limited to the culture.

Americans also felt a sense of unease when it came to international events.

Since the end of World War II, 15 years earlier,

the United States had risen to become the most prosperous, powerful nation in the world,

as well as the leader of the free world. It was the international beacon of freedom.

But the country was also engaged in a global struggle against the communist world led by the Soviet Union.

Both superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, dominated the geopolitical landscape

and competed for influence over various regions throughout the world.

Looming over this conflict was the specter of nuclear war.

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