Soldiers come home after WWII to make babies at the rate of one every eight seconds over the next two decades.

Dr. Benjamin Spock’s “Baby and Child Care” published. Parents get the okay to become emotionally involved with their children.

Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaks the color barrier in major league baseball.

The “Kinsey Report” on sexual behavior in the human male is published.

Disc jockey Alan Freed coins the term “rock ‘n’ roll.”

“Bandstand” begins its long run on TV, showcasing popular music, dance, fashion and hairstyles.

Swanson introduces TV dinners. Look Ma, no dishes.

Supreme Court deems racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.

Elvis Presley ushers in a new age of rock ‘n’ roll with “That’s All Right.”

Rosa Parks arrested after she refuses to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. A citywide bus boycott follows.

Soviets launch Sputnik. Space race begins as the Cold War heats up.

WHAM-O introduces the first Frisbee.

Kennedy defeats Nixon to become president.

U-2 spy plane shot down by Soviet Union, U.S. pilot Gary Powers captured.

Birth control pill approved for sale by the FDA.

Cuban Missile Crisis - President Kennedy decides not to attack Soviet missiles in Cuba, avoids nuclear war.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

JFK assassinated in Dallas.

The Beatles arrive in the U.S., appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.

North Vietnam launches the Tet offensive.

Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated.

Robert Kennedy assassinated.

Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon.

Woodstock festival held on a dairy farm in upstate New York.

Four students killed at Kent State by National Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam War.

Break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters leads to Nixon’s resignation two years later.

Roe v. Wade gives women the right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

Facing impeachment, Nixon resigns and is later pardoned by President Ford.

U.S. evacuates from Vietnam. South Vietnamese government surrenders.

“Star Wars” opens. Legions of faithful Jedis follow.

John Lennon shot and killed in New York.

IBM PC introduced, business boots up.

Pac-Man introduced, takes arcade games to a new level.

The CDC publishes report on AIDS epidemic.

Chrysler minivan introduced. Soccer moms abandon station wagons.

Newsweek declares 1983 “the year of the yuppie.”

Bob Geldof spearheads Live Aid concerts, raising over $100 million to fight famine in Africa.

The space shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff.

Berlin Wall falls, leading to the reunification of East and West Germany.

Persian Gulf War liberates Kuwait.

Riots erupt in Los Angeles after jury acquits four policemen of beating Rodney King.

Branch Davidian compound burned down near Waco, Texas.

Truck bomb explodes outside federal office building in Oklahoma City.

O. J. Simpson trial captivates a nation.

Viagra hits the shelves. Blue jokes commence.

Shootings at Columbine High School.

Clinton’s impeachment trial ends without a conviction.

Bush wins election after Florida vote recount.

Attack on World Trade Center September 11.

First boomers turn 60.