How Well Do You Know This Decade in History? 1960-1969
Written by Colleen Curran History Expert
Last updated · 6 min play time
Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and war – it's the 1960s! Think you know history? Challenge your 1960s knowledge with this Decade's quiz.
Quiz written by
Colleen Curran1960s Quiz Questions
20 Questions · 965.6K Plays · 17 Comments
Question 1
Who were the first two astronauts to walk on the moon?
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AEugene Cernan and Pete Conrad
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BNeil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
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CSally Ride and Michael Collins
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DJim Lovell and Fred Haise
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
During the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first two men to walk on the surface of the moon.
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?
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ALed Zeppelin
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BThe Rolling Stones
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CThe Beatles
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DThe Who
The Beatles
Rock emerged in the 1950s in the US, but gained popularity in the 1960s. Consumer culture/television helped its growth. The Beatles brought quick, simple, yet "risky" music into the homes of young American consumers. During their Ed Sullivan show performance, they started out with "All My Loving" and ended with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
Question 3
Before he changed it to Muhammad Ali, by what name was the World Heavyweight Boxing champion known?
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ACassius Clay
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BSugar Ray Leonard
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CJoe Louis
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DSugar Ray Robinson
Cassius Clay
Ali was a talented and famous boxer. He refused to go to the war in Vietnam due to his religious beliefs and his opposition to the war in general. He was stripped of his titles and arrested for draft evasion, but he successfully appealed this decision in 1971 to the Supreme Court. He was a cultural and sports icon.
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'?
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ALouis Gossett, Jr.
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BSidney Poitier
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CCharles Dutton
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DBilly Dee Williams
Sidney Poitier
Poitier is an acclaimed actor who worked odd jobs to make ends meet while learning how to act. He helped disrupt the color-barrier in the film industry. Later in life, he became the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan!
Question 5
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald while traveling in the presidential motorcade in what state?
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AAlabama
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BOklahoma
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CArkansas
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DTexas
Texas
The Kennedys were accompanied by the Texas governor and his wife. JFK and the governor were both shot, Kennedy fatally. JFK was declared dead thirty minutes later. Shortly after, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States.
Question 6
What iconic music and pop culture magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967?
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ARolling Stone
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BThe Atlantic
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CThe New Yorker
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DEntertainment Weekly
Rolling Stone
The magazine was used in the 1960s through the 1970s to cover not only music, but politics at the time. Its name is said to have been inspired by a Bob Dylan song.
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?
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ACatholicism
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BBuddhism
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CIslam
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DProtestantism
Catholicism
Some voters (and politicians) feared that Kennedy's loyalty would be to the Pope first before his constituents, but he was voted in nonetheless.
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?
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AHarry Truman
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BJohn F. Kennedy
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CLyndon Johnson
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DWoodrow Wilson
Lyndon Johnson
LBJ was more involved with the civil rights movement than his predecessor, Kennedy. He worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists on developing the Civil Rights Act and later the Voting Rights Act. (Of course, like all presidents, LBJ was flawed, but he did use his presidency to expand the rights of people of color, women, and others during the 1960s).
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?
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ASilent Majority
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BStrong Willed
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CSun Belt Voters
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DQuiet Supporters
Silent Majority
The Silent Majority was a group of Americans who had previously kept their opinions about the Vietnam War and other cultural changes during that time to themselves. Nixon thought this group was being overshadowed while minority groups marched for their civil rights against the war, out loud, in public, and in the news. (The vocal minority challenged Nixon and mainstream concepts of equality and normalcy).
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?
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AZoot Suit Riots
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BBlack Sunday Riots
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CAccra Riots
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DWatts Riots
Watts Riots
The riots weren't just a reaction to the arrest. Rather, the outrage stemmed from institutional racism. Things including high unemployment, lack of jobs, housing/redlining, and poor quality schools all contributed to the cause of the riots.
Question 11
The first Super Bowl was held in January of 1967. What team won the first ever Super Bowl?
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AGreen Bay Packers
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BNew England Patriots
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CClevland Browns
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DMinnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers
The first Super Bowl was the result of a conflict between the NFL and a competing league that emerged, the AFL. The leagues decided to merge in 1966 and a championship game between the two sects was established.
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?
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AThe Tet Offensive
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BEaster Offensive
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CThe Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
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DBattle of Pleiku
The Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a series of surprise attacks led by communists in the north and the Viet Cong on southern cities. This was the turning point of the War, and the US slowly began to withdraw troops from the area as a result. It took place during Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year.
Question 13
Sam Walton, the creator of Walmart, opened his first store in 1962 in what state?
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ATennessee
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BSouth Carolina
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CArkansas
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DGeorgia
Arkansas
Walmart started in Walton's home state and has since become a global corporation and is the third largest employer in the world.
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?
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ASonya Sotomayor
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BThurgood Marshall
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CBenjamin N. Cardozo
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DClarence Thomas
Thurgood Marshall
Marshall was denied acceptance to the University of Maryland Law School due to his race. This event surely shaped how he approached cases on civil rights in his career. He was appointed by President Kennedy to the Supreme Court in 1967 and retired in 1991.
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?
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ABay of Pigs Invasion
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BCuban Missile Crisis
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CBattle of Santa Clara
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D26 of July Movement
Cuban Missile Crisis
This direct crisis was the closest the Soviet Union and the United States came to nuclear war during the Cold War. The Soviets had secured an agreement with Cuba to station missiles on the island in order to prevent an invasion. There was direct communication between Washington and the Kremlin as a result of the crisis as they attempted to avoid nuclear war diplomatically. Missiles were removed from Cuba and later Turkey and Italy.
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?
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AImpressionism
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BArt Deco
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CAbstract Expressionism
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DPop Art
Pop Art
Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and images of Marilyn Monroe in bright colors are two memorable examples of Pop Art in the 1960s.
Question 17
Whites and blacks could finally legally marry in the United States in 1967 as a result of what landmark Supreme Court case?
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AMapp v. Ohio
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BMiranda v. Arizona
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CSweatt v. Painter
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DLoving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia
Miscegenation laws determined the legality of interracial marriages in the US until 1967. (Loving v. Virginia was decided around the same time of the successes of the Civil Rights movement in '64 and '65).
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?
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AMiles Davis
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BSam Cooke
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COtis Redding
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DMarvin Gaye
Sam Cooke
Cooke's music influenced Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and other popular and talented R&B musicians. He was killed at the young age of 33.
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?
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AMartin Luther King, Jr.
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BMedgar Evers
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CMalcom X
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DJames Baldwin
James Baldwin
Baldwin traveled the world as a writer, poet, and activist, and wrote about his experience as a black man in the US. He was born in Harlem in the 1920s and was the grandson of a former slave.
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?
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AGabriel Garcia Marquez
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BTruman Capote
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CMaurice Sendak
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DJoseph Heller
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Marquez was part of the Latin American boom of poetry and literature during the 1960s and 1970s.
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.
I did good if you look at the fact that I was bone in the late 70's but I am well read.
I was in my twenties in the sixties so I lived through all of the questions. I thought the quiz was super easy.
Rly rly rly hard but I tried my best
pretty good - some years (or something) off, pretty sure. Kennedy did not appoint Thurgood Marshall in 1967-
Great collection of 60’s histore. Brought back a mixed bag of memories.
Good quiz about a tumultuous time in history. Things seemed so much simpler than .
Had fun. I was a little girl in the 60s but Iremember some stuff. Learned a lot in school.
it was fun. Missed 2/60. one had no idea. one had a 50/50 chance
These answers should be common knowledge for most Americans born by 1950.
It was fun. Remember each and every event as I was there
Cool quiz
Great Quiz
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.
Interesting how the 60's were revolutionary back then. Even those born after can get most questions right.
when I'm not reading the Bible I'll need to play solitaire or these quizzes that's what disabled guys do
I like it, was fun