How Well Do You Know This Decade in History? 1960-1969

Last updated · 6 min play time

Sex, drugs, rock & roll, apple pie, and war – it's the 1960s! Young Americans were drafted into the Vietnam War as tensions grew between the United States and the Soviet Union as part of their global Cold War. Rock and R&B hit the charts, and protestors marched in the streets, fighting for their civil rights. Think you know history? Challenge your 1960s knowledge with this decade's quiz.
This quiz was expert written by Colleen Curran. Colleen earned an MA in History at Boston College in 2016. She specialized in nineteenth and twentieth-century American race and labor history. She currently works as an Editor for the Massachusetts Historical Commission and continues her education in the Sustainable Development Program at the Harvard Extension School.

Colleen earned an MA in History at Boston College. She currently works as an Editor for the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and continues her education in the Sustainable Development program at the Harvard Extension School.

She specialized in nineteenth and twentieth-century American race and labor history.

1960s Quiz Questions

20 Questions · 965.6K Plays · 17 Comments

Question 1

Who were the first two astronauts to walk on the moon?

  • A
    Eugene Cernan and Pete Conrad
  • B
    Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
  • C
    Sally Ride and Michael Collins
  • D
    Jim Lovell and Fred Haise

Question 2

Rock music changed mainstream sounds and gained popularity among American youths. What British rock band performed for American audiences for the first time in 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show?

  • A
    Led Zeppelin
  • B
    The Rolling Stones
  • C
    The Beatles
  • D
    The Who

Question 3

Before he changed it to Muhammad Ali, by what name was the World Heavyweight Boxing champion known?

  • A
    Cassius Clay
  • B
    Sugar Ray Leonard
  • C
    Joe Louis
  • D
    Sugar Ray Robinson

Question 4

In 1963, who became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film 'Lilies of the Field'?

  • A
    Louis Gossett, Jr.
  • B
    Sidney Poitier
  • C
    Charles Dutton
  • D
    Billy Dee Williams

Question 5

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald while traveling in the presidential motorcade in what state?

  • A
    Alabama
  • B
    Oklahoma
  • C
    Arkansas
  • D
    Texas

Question 6

What iconic music and pop culture magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967?

  • A
    Rolling Stone
  • B
    The Atlantic
  • C
    The New Yorker
  • D
    Entertainment Weekly

Question 7

The 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was one of the closest in American history, with Kennedy taking the victory. JFK's religious affiliations caused many voters to be wary of his loyalty to American citizens during the election. What religion did JFK practice?

  • A
    Catholicism
  • B
    Buddhism
  • C
    Islam
  • D
    Protestantism

Question 8

What president signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an act that banned discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or national origin?

  • A
    Harry Truman
  • B
    John F. Kennedy
  • C
    Lyndon Johnson
  • D
    Woodrow Wilson

Question 9

"And so tonight to you, the great ________ of my fellow Americans - I ask for your support," stated president Richard Nixon in his famous 1969 speech. The group he was referring to were those who did not protest the Vietnam war or participate in the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. What term did Nixon use to describe them?

  • A
    Silent Majority
  • B
    Strong Willed
  • C
    Sun Belt Voters
  • D
    Quiet Supporters

Question 10

What is the name of the group of riots that took place in Los Angeles, California in 1965 following the arrest of a black motorist, that resulted in over forty million dollars worth of property damage?

  • A
    Zoot Suit Riots
  • B
    Black Sunday Riots
  • C
    Accra Riots
  • D
    Watts Riots

Question 11

The first Super Bowl was held in January of 1967. What team won the first ever Super Bowl?

  • A
    Green Bay Packers
  • B
    New England Patriots
  • C
    Clevland Browns
  • D
    Minnesota Vikings

Question 12

What was the name of the surprise attack directed by Viet Cong forces on South Vietnamese cities and American troops in 1968 that further increased American disapproval of the Vietnam War?

  • A
    The Tet Offensive
  • B
    Easter Offensive
  • C
    The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  • D
    Battle of Pleiku

Question 13

Sam Walton, the creator of Walmart, opened his first store in 1962 in what state?

  • A
    Tennessee
  • B
    South Carolina
  • C
    Arkansas
  • D
    Georgia

Question 14

Known for arguing cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and Miranda v. Arizona, who became the first African American Supreme Court Justice in 1967?

  • A
    Sonya Sotomayor
  • B
    Thurgood Marshall
  • C
    Benjamin N. Cardozo
  • D
    Clarence Thomas

Question 15

What is the name of the 13-day confrontation between the US and the USSR concerning American missiles located in Italy and Turkey, and Soviet missiles in Cuba?

  • A
    Bay of Pigs Invasion
  • B
    Cuban Missile Crisis
  • C
    Battle of Santa Clara
  • D
    26 of July Movement

Question 16

What type of art, often featuring movie stars or consumer products, was popularized throughout the 1960s by artists including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist?

  • A
    Impressionism
  • B
    Art Deco
  • C
    Abstract Expressionism
  • D
    Pop Art

Question 17

Whites and blacks could finally legally marry in the United States in 1967 as a result of what landmark Supreme Court case?

  • A
    Mapp v. Ohio
  • B
    Miranda v. Arizona
  • C
    Sweatt v. Painter
  • D
    Loving v. Virginia

Question 18

Commonly known as the "King of Soul", what American singer, famous for songs including "A Change is Gonna Come" and "Twistin' the Night Away", died in 1964?

  • A
    Miles Davis
  • B
    Sam Cooke
  • C
    Otis Redding
  • D
    Marvin Gaye

Question 19

Civil Rights groups worked to ensure the rights of all citizens. Some Americans, however, were not longing for change and opposed these movements. Which of the following African American Civil Rights leaders was NOT assassinated during the 1960s?

  • A
    Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • B
    Medgar Evers
  • C
    Malcom X
  • D
    James Baldwin

Question 20

'One Hundred Years of Solitude', a magic realism novel published in 1967, received popular recognition worldwide and helped earn what author the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982?

  • A
    Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • B
    Truman Capote
  • C
    Maurice Sendak
  • D
    Joseph Heller

Comments (17)

We want to hear your feedback! Share your scores and discuss the quiz, but keep it civil.

Perfect score - I was a child in the 60s, but I am well read as well.

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I did good if you look at the fact that I was bone in the late 70's but I am well read.

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I was in my twenties in the sixties so I lived through all of the questions. I thought the quiz was super easy.

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Rly rly rly hard but I tried my best

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pretty good - some years (or something) off, pretty sure. Kennedy did not appoint Thurgood Marshall in 1967-

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Great collection of 60’s histore. Brought back a mixed bag of memories.

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Good quiz about a tumultuous time in history. Things seemed so much simpler than .

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Had fun. I was a little girl in the 60s but Iremember some stuff. Learned a lot in school.

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it was fun. Missed 2/60. one had no idea. one had a 50/50 chance

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These answers should be common knowledge for most Americans born by 1950.

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It was fun. Remember each and every event as I was there

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Cool quiz

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Great Quiz

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phnx505. The news media did their jobs then rather than become cash cows for the corporate media. The lack of hateful false news right-wing propaganda networks also helped.

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Interesting how the 60's were revolutionary back then. Even those born after can get most questions right.

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when I'm not reading the Bible I'll need to play solitaire or these quizzes that's what disabled guys do

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I like it, was fun

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