On May 3, 1963, Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor ordered police and firefighters to unleash high-pressure fire hoses and attack dogs on more than 1,000 young students, some as young as eight years old, who were marching downtown to protest segregation. The previous day, on May 2, …
Bull ConnorMartin Luther King Jr.James BevelBirmingham PoliceBirmingham Fire Departmentcivil-rightsinstitutional-racismpolice-brutalityviolencedemocratic-erosion
The William Volker Fund closes after serving as the primary libertarian organization with significant funding throughout the 1940s-1950s, having played a key role in developing the modern libertarian movement by financing the Chicago School of economics, the Mont Pelerin Society, and free-market …
William Volker FundHarold LuhnowHoover InstitutionInstitute for Humane StudiesF.A. Harper+5 morevolker-fundchicago-schoollibertarian-fundingcorporate-philanthropyhoover-institution
On October 10, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the Kefauver-Harris Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, fundamentally transforming pharmaceutical regulation in the United States. The legislation, driven by the thalidomide disaster in Europe, required drug manufacturers to …
Senator Estes KefauverRepresentative Oren HarrisPresident John F. KennedyFrances KelseyRichardson-Merrell+1 moreregulatory-reformpharmaceutical-industrypublic-healthcorporate-lobbyingfda
In September 1962, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) to organize California’s agricultural workers, who had been systematically excluded from New Deal labor protections and faced conditions resembling debt peonage. Farmworkers endured poverty …
Cesar ChavezDolores HuertaNational Farm Workers AssociationAgricultural Workers Organizing Committeelabor-organizingdemocratic-resistanceworker-power
On September 27, 1962, Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” was published, documenting the devastating environmental and health effects of synthetic pesticides, particularly DDT. The book meticulously detailed how chemical pesticides were poisoning ecosystems, killing wildlife, and …
Rachel CarsonMonsantoAmerican CyanamidVelsicol Chemical CorporationNational Agricultural Chemicals Associationenvironmental-regulationcorporate-disinformationregulatory-capturechemical-industrypublic-health
The King-Anderson bill, President Kennedy’s Medicare proposal introduced by Representative Cecil King and Senator Clinton Anderson, is defeated in committee despite strong public support after intense lobbying by the American Medical Association, corporate healthcare interests, and …
Cecil R. KingClinton AndersonJohn F. KennedyWilbur MillsHarry Byrd+4 moremedicarehealthcarelobbyingamacorporate-opposition+2 more
President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988 granting federal employees the right to collective bargaining for the first time in U.S. history, catalyzing explosive growth in public sector unionization that transforms the American labor movement. Following Kennedy’s executive action, …
John F. KennedyAmerican Federation of State County and Municipal EmployeesFederal employeesJerry Wurflabor-rightspublic-sector-unionsexecutive-ordercollective-bargainingafscme+1 more
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) board selects Werner P. Gullander as the organization’s first full-time permanent president by 1962, following a late 1950s organizational restructuring where declining membership resulted in a takeover by larger corporations that purged …
National Association of ManufacturersWerner P. GullanderNational Defense Committeenammilitary-industrial-complexdefense-contractorscorporate-lobbyingmilitarization
On May 14, 1961, the first Freedom Ride bus—a Greyhound carrying civil rights activists challenging segregated interstate transportation—arrived in Anniston, Alabama, where an angry mob of approximately 200 white people, including Ku Klux Klan members, surrounded it. Local authorities had given the …
Congress of Racial EqualityBull ConnorRobert KennedyKu Klux KlanBirmingham Policecivil-rightsinstitutional-racismviolencepolice-complicitydemocratic-erosion
In his nationally televised farewell address from the Oval Office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued one of the most prescient warnings in American political history about the dangers of the military-industrial complex. The five-star general and Republican president who had led Allied forces in …
Dwight D. EisenhowerMalcolm MoosRalph WilliamsMilton Eisenhowermilitary-industrial-complexdefense-contractorsinstitutional-capturepresidential-warningcorporate-power
The American Medical Association launches Operation Coffee Cup in 1961, funding a sophisticated astroturf campaign to defeat Medicare by distributing a long-play record featuring a young Ronald Reagan outlining the dangers of “socialized medicine” to the Women’s Auxiliary of the …
American Medical AssociationRonald ReaganLoyal DavisWomen's Auxiliary of the AMAhealthcare-profiteeringastroturfingamaronald-reaganmedicare-opposition+2 more
President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, expanding on the 1957 Act by authorizing federal courts to appoint voting referees to register Black voters and imposing criminal penalties for obstruction of court orders. However, the law’s case-by-case approach and dependence on …
Dwight D. EisenhowerCongressLyndon B. JohnsonSouthern DemocratsDepartment of Justicevoting-rightscivil-rightsfederal-legislationvoting-refereesobstruction
On February 1, 1960, at 4:30 PM, four African American freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University—Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil—sat down at the whites-only lunch counter at the F.W. Woolworth Company store in Greensboro, North …
The House Armed Services Special Investigations Subcommittee, led by Rep. F. Edward Hebert (D-La.), released a shocking report documenting the extent of the defense industry revolving door. After questioning 75 witnesses over 25 days in mid-1959, the subcommittee found that more than 1,400 retired …
F. Edward HebertHouse Armed Services CommitteeGeneral DynamicsFrank Pacerevolving-doordefense-contractorscongressional-investigationmilitary-industrial-complexregulatory-capture
At the dawn of the 1960s, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce membership has grown to over 2.5 million dues-paying members, unified behind the organization’s aggressive support of capitalism and anti-communist mobilization in the face of what it characterizes as domestic and foreign threats. The …
U.S. Chamber of CommerceAmerican Legionchamber-of-commerceanti-communistanti-unionred-scarecorporate-lobbying+1 more
Congress passes the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (Landrum-Griffin Act) in response to publicized corruption in the Teamsters, International Longshoremen’s Association, and United Mine Workers, imposing extensive federal oversight of union internal operations including …
U.S. CongressDepartment of LaborLabor unionsPhil LandrumLeo Griffinlabor-suppressionunion-restrictionslandrum-griffinregulatory-burdenlabor-law
On June 26, 1959, the Prince Edward County, Virginia Board of Supervisors refused to appropriate funds to the County School Board, effectively closing the entire public school system rather than comply with federal court orders to integrate. This action represented the most extreme manifestation of …
Prince Edward County Board of SupervisorsVirginia General AssemblyHarry Byrdcivil-rightsinstitutional-racismmassive-resistanceeducationdemocratic-erosion
In June 1959, the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors votes not to appropriate any money to operate public schools, choosing to close all public schools rather than comply with federal desegregation orders. The public schools in Prince Edward County remain closed from 1959 to 1964—the only …
Prince Edward County Board of SupervisorsPrince Edward County School BoardVirginia political establishmentmassive-resistanceschool-closureprince-edward-countysegregation-academieseducational-denial
Congress holds 25 hearings throughout 1959 to investigate the revolving door between defense contractors and senior military officials, marking the first systematic examination of conflicts of interest in weapons procurement. General Omar Bradley, who served as the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs …
U.S. CongressGeneral Omar BradleyDepartment of DefenseDefense Contractorsrevolving-doormilitary-industrial-complexdefense-contractsconflict-of-interestcongressional-oversight
National Association of Manufacturers Executive Vice President Charles R. Sligh Jr. delivers speeches in late 1958 calling for businessmen to become more involved in politics to build a “conservative coalition,” including presentations titled “This Is Public Affairs for the …
Charles R. Sligh Jr.National Association of Manufacturersnamconservative-movementbusiness-political-mobilizationcorporate-lobbying
The AFL-CIO achieves a major victory in its confrontation with the National Right-to-Work Committee’s coordinated efforts to extend right-to-work laws to six additional states through ballot initiatives. Union organizing and voter mobilization efforts result in the defeat of right-to-work …
AFL-CIONational Right to Work CommitteeCalifornia votersOhio votersWashington state voters+3 moreright-to-worklabor-organizingdemocratic-resistancestate-legislationballot-initiatives
The John M. Olin Foundation, established in 1953 by chemical and munitions manufacturer John M. Olin, begins serving as a secret “bank” for the Central Intelligence Agency in 1958, according to Jane Mayer’s Dark Money. Between 1958 and 1966, the foundation launders $1.95 million …
John M. Olin FoundationCentral Intelligence AgencyJohn M. Olinciadark-moneyconservative-fundinganti-communistintelligence-capture+1 more
On September 24, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 and issued Executive Order 10730, federalizing the Arkansas National Guard and dispatching 1,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas. This dramatic federal intervention became …
Orval FaubusDwight EisenhowerLittle Rock Nine101st Airborne DivisionArkansas National Guardcivil-rightsinstitutional-racismsegregationfederal-interventiondemocratic-erosion
President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first federal civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, establishing the Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice and authorizing federal prosecutors to seek injunctions against interference with voting rights. However, …
Dwight D. EisenhowerLyndon B. JohnsonStrom ThurmondRichard RussellAttorney General Herbert Brownell+1 morevoting-rightscivil-rightsfederal-legislationfilibustersouthern-strategy+1 more
On June 17, 1957, the Supreme Court issued three decisions that significantly limited McCarthyist overreach: Yates v. United States, Watkins v. United States, and Service v. Dulles. Known as “Red Monday” to conservative critics, these rulings began the judicial rollback of the security …
Earl WarrenU.S. Supreme CourtOleta O'Connor YatesCommunist Party USADepartment of Justicecivil-libertiesjudicialfirst-amendmentmccarthyismred-scare+1 more
The Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly passes a right-to-work bill in March 1957 over the objections of Democrats, labor leaders, and workers, making Indiana one of the first northern industrial states to adopt such legislation. Time Magazine reports in its March 11, 1957 issue that …
Indiana General AssemblyRepublican PartyDemocratic PartyIndiana labor unionsNational Right to Work Committeeright-to-worklabor-suppressionstate-legislationunion-bustingdemocratic-resistance
On November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the district court ruling in Browder v. Gayle, declaring Montgomery, Alabama’s bus segregation laws unconstitutional. The decision marked the triumphant conclusion of the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott and established Martin Luther …
Martin Luther King Jr.Rosa ParksE.D. NixonJo Ann RobinsonMontgomery Improvement Association+2 morecivil-rightssegregationjudicialnonviolent-resistancedemocratic-breakthrough
Following Senator Harry F. Byrd’s February 24, 1956 call for “massive resistance” to avoid implementing public school integration in Virginia, the Byrd Organization-controlled Virginia General Assembly passes a series of laws in September 1956 known as the Stanley Plan (after …
Harry F. ByrdThomas Bahnson StanleyVirginia General AssemblyByrd Organizationmassive-resistancestanley-planschool-closure-lawsbyrd-organizationvirginia-segregation
On August 28, 1956, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover formally established COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), a covert and illegal program designed to surveil, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt domestic political organizations. Initially targeting the Communist Party USA, the program would …
J. Edgar HooverFBICommunist Party USAsurveillancefbi-abuseinstitutional-corruptiondemocratic-erosionintelligence-manipulation
On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, creating the Interstate Highway System—the largest public works project in American history. While celebrated as an engineering triumph, the $25 billion program (equivalent to over $300 billion today) systematically …
Dwight D. EisenhowerU.S. CongressBureau of Public RoadsGeneral MotorsAmerican Petroleum Institute+2 moreinfrastructureinstitutional-racismurban-renewalcorporate-interestsautomotive-industry
In March 1956, the Mississippi Legislature creates the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC), a state agency tasked with fighting integration and controlling civil rights activism. Active from 1956 to 1973 and directed by the governor and other top elected officials, the Commission employs …
Mississippi LegislatureRoss BarnettMississippi State Sovereignty CommissionWhite Citizens' Councilsmassive-resistancegovernment-surveillancestate-sovereignty-commissioncitizens-councils-fundingcivil-rights-suppression
On March 12, 1956, as the second anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education approaches, Senator Walter F. George rises in the U.S. Senate to announce the latest weapon in the segregationist arsenal—the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles,” known as the Southern Manifesto. Senator …
Walter F. GeorgeHarry F. ByrdStrom Thurmond19 U.S. Senators82 U.S. Representativesmassive-resistancesouthern-manifestocongressional-obstructionstates-rightsconstitutional-defiance
On February 6, 1956, the University of Alabama expelled Autherine Lucy, its first Black student, after a three-day white supremacist riot made her presence on campus untenable. University officials blamed Lucy for the violence and used her NAACP-supported lawsuit challenging her suspension as …
The White Citizens’ Councils reach peak membership of between 250,000 and 300,000 individuals in 1956, establishing a national body known as the Citizens’ Councils of America. The movement, led by Mississippi Circuit Court Judge Tom P. Brady and first formed on July 11, 1954 in response …
White Citizens' CouncilsTom P. BradyRoss BarnettAllen C. ThompsonM. Ney Williamssegregationwhite-supremacybusiness-elitecorporate-resistancecivil-rights-opposition+1 more
The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge on December 5, 1955, creating the AFL-CIO with 16 million members representing one-third of American workers. George Meany, the conservative plumber who led the AFL, becomes president, while the more progressive …
George MeanyWalter ReutherAmerican Federation of LaborCongress of Industrial OrganizationsAFL-CIOlaborunionslabor-consolidationlabor-politicscold-war
On the evening of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American seamstress and NAACP secretary, was arrested for violating Chapter 6, Section 11 of the Montgomery City Code, which upheld racial segregation on public buses. Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a …
Rosa ParksMartin Luther King Jr.Montgomery Improvement AssociationE.D. NixonWomen's Political Councilcivil-rightsinstitutional-racismsegregationnonviolent-resistancedemocratic-erosion
On August 28, 1955, fourteen-year-old Emmett Louis Till, an African American boy visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, was abducted from his great-uncle’s home and brutally murdered by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, two white men. Till had allegedly whistled at or made remarks to Carolyn …
Roy BryantJ.W. MilamMamie TillTallahatchie County Sheriffcivil-rightsinstitutional-racismviolencejudicial-failuredemocratic-erosion
On May 31, 1955, one year after declaring school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court issued Brown II, its implementation ruling. Rather than setting firm deadlines or providing specific remedies, the Court ordered desegregation proceed “with all …
Earl WarrenU.S. Supreme CourtNAACP Legal Defense FundThurgood MarshallSouthern state governmentscivil-rightssegregationjudicialdemocratic-erosionmassive-resistance
Fred A. Hartley—co-sponsor of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act that enabled state right-to-work laws—founds the National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC) as a coordinating organization for corporate anti-union lobbying efforts. The organization brings together “hard-core conservatives, anti-communist …
Fred A. HartleyNational Right to Work CommitteeCorporate fundersConservative donorslabor-suppressionright-to-workanti-union-lobbyingnrtwccorporate-funding
On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted 67-22 to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had led the fight in Congress to root out suspected Communists from the Federal Government. The Democrats voted solidly for McCarthy’s rebuke, but Republicans split straight down the middle with 22 voting for …
Joseph McCarthyRalph FlandersArthur WatkinsMargaret Chase Smithred-scareinstitutional-resistancepolitical-accountabilitysenate-procedures
Congress passes the Communist Control Act of 1954, preventing members of the Communist Party from holding office in labor unions and other labor organizations. The legislation represents the culmination of systematic efforts to weaponize anti-communism against labor organizing, following the …
U.S. CongressDwight EisenhowerHouse Un-American Activities CommitteeAmerican Federation of LaborCongress of Industrial Organizationslabor-suppressionmccarthyismanti-communismred-scareunion-busting+1 more
On August 2, 1954, President Eisenhower signed the Housing Act of 1954, dramatically expanding the urban renewal program that had begun with the 1949 Housing Act. The law introduced the “workable program” requirement for federal funds, mandated comprehensive planning, and provided new …
Dwight D. EisenhowerU.S. CongressUrban Renewal AdministrationReal estate industryRobert Mosesinstitutional-racismurban-renewalhousing-policydisplacementcorporate-interests
Two months after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Mississippi Circuit Court Judge Tom P. Brady delivers a strident speech opposing integration that is later expanded into a ninety-page tract titled “Black Monday” and distributed widely as a rallying cry for organized white …
Robert B. PattersonTom P. BradyWhite Citizens' CouncilsMississippi business classMississippi State Sovereignty Commissionmassive-resistancewhite-citizens-councilssegregation-infrastructurebusiness-backingcivil-rights-opposition
On June 27, 1954, democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz resigned under pressure from a CIA-orchestrated coup known as Operation PBSUCCESS. The intervention, designed primarily to protect United Fruit Company’s vast landholdings, inaugurated decades of military dictatorship, …
Central Intelligence AgencyAllen DullesJohn Foster DullesUnited Fruit CompanyJacobo Arbenz+3 moreintelligence-overreachforeign-interventioncorporate-interestsbanana-republiccold-war+1 more
U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell launches Operation Wetback, a mass deportation initiative using military-style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants. Created by Joseph May Swing, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general heading the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the operation targets …
Dwight D. EisenhowerJoseph May SwingHerbert BrownellImmigration and Naturalization Serviceimmigration-policymass-deportationhuman-rights-violationsmilitarizationracial-profiling
On the 30th day of the Army-McCarthy hearings, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch—hired by the Army to make its case—delivered one of the most famous rebukes in American political history. The hearings, which ran from April to June 1954, investigated conflicting accusations between the U.S. Army and Senator …
Joseph WelchJoseph McCarthyRoy CohnG. David Schinered-scarepolitical-persecutioninstitutional-resistancemedia
On May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court declared that racial segregation in public schools violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, …
On April 22, 1954, the Army-McCarthy hearings began—36 days of televised proceedings that exposed Senator Joseph McCarthy’s methods to a national audience and began his political downfall. The hearings were triggered by the Army’s March 11 report charging McCarthy and his chief counsel …
Joseph McCarthyRoy CohnRobert StevensJoseph WelchG. David Schine+2 moremccarthyismcongressional-actionmilitary-politicspolitical-theaterinstitutional-resistance
On April 12, 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission’s Personnel Security Board commenced hearings against J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist who had directed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. The hearing resulted …
J. Robert OppenheimerLewis StraussGordon GrayJ. Edgar HooverWilliam L. Bordenred-scarepolitical-persecutionsurveillance-statescientific-communityinstitutional-corruption
On February 26, 1954, the United States Senate rejected the Bricker Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have severely limited the President’s treaty-making power. The amendment, backed by conservative Republicans and corporate groups including the American Bar Association …
John BrickerDwight D. EisenhowerAmerican Bar AssociationU.S. SenateAmerican Medical Association+1 moreisolationismcongressional-actionconstitutional-amendmentcold-warcorporate-interests