Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
A smaller Viet Cong force repels an attack by South Vietnamese troops with US advisers near Mỹ Tho.
Generals led by Dương Văn Minh overthrow President Ngô Đình Diệm, who is killed with his brother Ngô Đình Nhu the next day.
US President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
The US Air Force sprays herbicides, including dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, over large areas of South Vietnam, with lasting health and environmental effects.
A 13-day standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles in Cuba brings the world closest to nuclear war.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.