Context By the 1960s, the Cold War had heightened tensions between the democratic world lead by the United States and the communist world lead by the Soviet Union. Various near-trigger moments such as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis nearly brought nuclear war. In the United States, the Civil Rights movement and the escalating war in Vietnam largely divided the nation. In Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union tightened the hold of its satellite states, putting down major signs of dissent. Decolonization took full force in the 1960s throughout Western European imperial states. Despite such turmoil, the innovation sparked in the previous decade continued to benefit the masses.
The Space Race While during the 1960s, the technologies that fueled the Space Race didn't directly impact consumers, they would eventually make their way into new inventions. The Space Race saw NASA's budget increased nearly 500%, and despite not putting the first man in space, the US effectively 'won' the competition with July 1969's Apollo 11 bringing the first men on the surface of the Moon. As interest in lunar and space mission faded, the technologies that made them possible began to make their way to the consumer market, beginning the possibility for the computers of the next decades to exist.
Timeline 1960 - First weather satellite 1960 - Birth control pills 1961 - First typewriter 1962 - First cassette tapes 1962 - President Kennedy introduces the Consumer Bill of Rights 1962 - First Walmart 1963 - First touch tone telephone 1963 - Zoning Improvement Plan (ZIP) Codes introduced 1964 - First Ford Mustangs 1965 - Home smoke detectors 1966 - Fiber optics, paved the way for long-distance communications 1967 - Commercial GPS systems 1967 - First ATM machine (UK) 1968 - 911 system 1969 - ARPA net released (precursor to the World Wide Web)
Evaluation The technologies introduced in the 1960s continued to revolutionize the everyday life of consumers. Between things which we now consider to be necessities and others we deem luxurious consumerism manifested itself in this decade. As possessions began to be increasingly for leisure, people had the necessities and therefore could focus their energies on problems in society. Between the Civil Rights movements and protests of the Vietnam War, this change of focus resulting from a more leisurely life was clear. Consumers' rights began to be recognized seen especially with JFK's Consumer Bill of Rights and the beginning of vehicle regulations.