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1954
- December
1960
- January
- Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from France.
- European Free Trade Association forms in Stockholm, Sweden.
- USA and Japan sign joint defence treaty.
- April
- Senegal declares independence from France.
- France becomes the fourth nuclear nation, exploding an atomic bomb in Sahara.
- France grants Togo independence.
- May
- Russia shoots down American pilot Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk.
- US President Dwight Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1960.
- Leonid Brezhnev replaces Kliment Voroshilov as President of USSR.
- US atomic submarine USS Triton completes the first circumnavigation of the globe under water.
- World's largest recorded earthquake, 9.5-magnitude, occurs off the coast of Chile, killing about 1700 and leaving 2 million homeless. The resulting tsunami kills people in Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines.
- June
- Mali games independence from France.
- British Somaliland gains independence from Britain.
- Madagascar gains independence from France.
- Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium, as Congo.
- August
- Benin (Dahomey) gains independence from France.
- Niger gains independence from France.
- Upper Volta gains independence from France.
- Ivory Coast declares independence from France.
- Chad declares independence from France.
- Central African Republic proclaims independence from France.
- Congo (Brazzaville) gains independence from France.
- Britain grants independence to crown colony of Cyprus.
- Gabon gains independence from France.
- Senegal declares independence from the Mali federation.
- A world-record low temperature (-88 degrees Celsuis) is measured in Vostok, Antarctica.
- September
- The world's first nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Enterprise, is launched in Virginia, USA.
- October
- Nigeria gains independence from Great Britain.
- France grants Mauritania independence.
- November
- American Senator John Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard Nixon in election to become US President.
- Mauritania gains independence from France.
1961
- January
- Inauguration ceremony declares John Kennedy President of the USA.
- March
- US President John Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
- South Africa withdraws from British Commonwealth.
- April
- 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs and attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.
- Disneyland in Anaheim, California, welcomes its 25-millionth guest.
- Sierra Leone declares independence from United Kingdom.
- May
- Tanganyika granted full internal self-government by Britain.
- US President John Kennedy appeals to Congress that the nation should commit to "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth" by the end of the decade.
- Dominican Republic President Rafael Trujillo Molina is assassinated.
- Union of South Africa becomes a republic, leaving the British Commonwealth.
- June
- Kuwait regains complete independence from Britain.
- August
- Construction on Berlin Wall begins in German Democratic Republic.
- September
- Dag Hammarskjold, secretary general of the United Nations, is killed when his plane is shot down over Zambia in a kidnapping attempt.
- October
- Tanganyika becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
- The Soviet Union detonates a 58-megaton hydrogen bomb over Novaya Zemlya, the largest explosive device ever detonated.
- December
- Tanganyika gains independence from Britain, takes name Tanzania.
1962
- January
- Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium.
- Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand;
- March
- Uganda becomes a self-governing country.
- The Beatles make their broadcasting debut on BBC radio.
- Military coup in Syria, President Nazim al-Kudsi flees.
- July
- Burundi and Rwanda gain independence from Belgium.
- Algeria gains independence from France.
- The world's first communications satellite (Telstar) is launched into orbit.
- Federation of Malaysia forms.
- August
- Jamaica gains independence from Great Britain.
- Trinidad and Tobago gain independence from Britain.
- September
- Earthquake in western Iran kills 10,000.
- United Nations announces Earth human population has hit 3 billion.
- Yemen Arab Republic proclaimed.
- October
- U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discover that the Soviets are building medium-range missile sites in Cuba.
- Cuban missile crisis ends as Soviet premier announces intent to dismantle and remove Soviet weapons in Cuba.
1963
- January
- France and Federal Republic of Germany sign a treaty of friendship.
- February
- Prime Minister Abdul Karim Kassem of Iraq is assassinated.
- May
- Cyclone hits Bangladesh; estimated 22,000 die and one million houses destroyed.
- June
- Zanzibar is granted internal self-government by Britain.
- September
- Malaysia forms from Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo, and Sarawak.
- November
- South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in a military coup.
- US President John Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested as the suspected assassin. Vice President Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as President.
- Jack Ruby shoots and kills President Kennedy assassin suspect Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.
- December
- Zanzibar becomes independent within British Commonwealth.
- Kenya declares independence from United Kingdom.
1964
- February
- GI Joe debuts as a popular American boy's toy.
- First appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show (73.7 million viewers, about 40 percent of US population).
- March
- Most violent earthquake in US history: 9.2 on Richter scale in Anchorage, Alaska. 131 die from quake and resulting tsunami.
- April
- Military coup in Brazil by General Castello Branco, ousting President Goulart.
- IBM introduces the IBM System/360 mainframe computer.
- The Ford Motor Company of the USA introduces the Ford Mustang car at the New York World's Fair.
- Tanganyika and Zanzibar unite to form Tanzania.
- May
- At Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, USA, the BASIC computer programming language runs for the first time.
- July
- U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signs into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting racial discrimination in employment and education and outlaws racial segregation in public places.
- Nyasaland gains independence as Malawi.
- September
- Malta gains independence from Britain.
- October
- China becomes world's fifth nuclear power.
- Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) gains independence from Britain.
1965
- February
- Canada replaces the Union Jack flag with the Maple Leaf as national flag.
- Gambia gains independence from Britain.
- July
- Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain.
- August
- Singapore gains independence from Malaysia.
- November
- Biggest electrical power failure in US history, affecting 30 million people in eight states and two Canadian provinces.
- Rhodesia proclaims independence from Britain.
- France launches its first satellite, becoming the third nation in space.
- December
- Third cyclone of year in Bangladesh kills 10,000 at mouth of Ganges River.
1966
- January
- Indira Gandhi elected prime minister of India.
- May
- Guyana declares independence from United Kingdom.
- September
- Ralph Baer in the USA originates schematic drawings for a primitive video game.
- The Star Trek TV show premieres in the USA.
- Bechuanaland Protectorate becomes independent republic of Botswana.
- October
- Basutoland gains independence from Britain, as Lesotho.
- November
- Barbados gains independence from Britain.
- December
- Walt Disney, American filmaker, creator of Disneyland park, dies from lung cancer, at age 65.
1967
- January
- First National Football League championship game (Super Bowl): Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Los Angeles, California 35 to 10. Each member of the Packers collects $15,000, the largest single-game share in the history of team sports.
- March
- Dominica and Saint Lucia gain independence from Britain.
- April
- Britain grants internal self-government to Swaziland.
- May
- Groundbreaking begins in Florida for Walt Disney World.
- June
- Six-day war between Israel and Arab neighbors begins.
- Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt end "Six Day War" with United Nations' help.
- China becomes world's fourth thermonuclear (hydrogen bomb) power.
- October
- Che Guevara executed in Bolivia.
- November
- Estimated US population hits 200 million.
- People's Republic of South Yemen (Aden) gains independence from Britain.
- December
- First human heart transplant performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa. Recipient Louis Waskansky dies of pneumonia 18 days later.
1968
- March
- Mauritius gains independence from Britain.
- US President Lyndon Johnson signs a bill removing gold backing from US paper money.
- April
- Reverend Martin Luther King Junior, American civil rights leader, is assassinated by a sniper's bullet in Memphis, Tennessee.
- June
- US Senator Robert F. Kennedy is fatally shot by assassins in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. One shooter is identified as Sirhan Sirhan.
- August
- 650,000 Soviet forces enter Czechoslovakia to end a reform movement.
- France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
- September
- Swaziland gains independence from Britain.
- October
- Military coup overthrows President Fernando Belaúnde Terry in Peru.
- Equatorial Guinea gains independence from Spain.
- November
- Richard Nixon wins election for US President over Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace.
- December
- Doug Engelbart demonstrates first computer mouse pointing device at Stanford, California.
1969
- January
- The Beatles hold their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London, England.
- July
- Lunar module Eagle separates from command module Apollo 11, and lands on the Moon. American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin step onto the surface of the Moon.
- September
- Revolution in Libya, as Colonel Moammar Gadhafi deposes King Idris.
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