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| 1960 |
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| Introduction of the birth control pill easily and reliably helped women control their fertility and curtail the baby boom. This helped lead to the so-called sexual revolution. Encouraged by a rise in marriage, sexual activity before marriage increased (notably among middle-class women), and age of first sexual intercourse decreased. Illegitimacy rates increased as well. | 1 |
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| Jan. 5 |
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| After six months during which Pres. Eisenhower had invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to end the steelworkers' strike, steel companies and unions came to an agreement on wages, benefits, and work rules. | 2 |
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| Feb. 1 |
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| Four black college students staged a “sit-in” at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. More than 50,000 people, mostly African Americans, participated in sit-ins throughout the country that winter and the following spring. | 3 |
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| April 21 |
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| Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which provided voting referees in areas where African Americans were barred from the polls by state barriers. Pres. Eisenhower signed it on May 6. | 4 |
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| July 20 |
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| A Polaris missile was launched from a submerged submarine. | 5 |
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| Nov. 8 |
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| JOHN F. KENNEDY DEFEATED RICHARD M. NIXON for the presidency. Kennedy was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1961. Four televised debates between the two presidential candidates had signaled the growing importance of television in American politics. | 6 |
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