1960's
Life Magazines from the 1960's
Life Magazine called the 1960s “A Divided Decade” that defied efforts to classify and label it. There was a feeling of hope and optimism as old barriers of race, gender and lifestyle began to break down. At the same time, a wave of violence and unrest was sweeping across the US. LIFE Magazine’s reputation as a top news magazine guaranteed that its stories captured the hope and cynicism that were the hallmark of a tumultuous decade.
LIFE Magazine had a lot to cover in the 1960s. The political scene alone, with the space race, civil rights movement, feminist movement, anti-war movement, Cuban Missile Crisis, the Watts race riots and the assassinations of President Kennedy, Malcom X and Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been enough. But covering the cultural revolution - from The Beatles to communes to Woodstock - and the “computer” revolution kept LIFE Magazine reporters scrambling, successfully, for the stories that would make LIFE Magazine that much more important as a historical record.
One of the most important stories that LIFE Magazine would ever cover was the Vietnam War. From sending photographers to the trenches to covering the stories of draft dodgers and deserters, LIFE Magazines during the 1960s explored every aspect of the most highly televised conflict in history. LIFE Magazine would do it’s part to shape the story, as well. One of LIFE’s most memorable stories was from an issue published on June 27, 1969. Editor-in-chief Hedley Donovan approved a yearbook-like spread of photos of the 242 soldiers who died in Vietnam between May 28 and June 3. That feature did what the editor hoped - it burned into the American consciousness the young faces of the men who fought.
So many other pivotal moments in history occurred between 1960 and 1969 that it’s hard to document them here, but LIFE Magazine captured the opinions, words and images that defined an undefinable decade. A look through any one of the LIFE Magazines we carry from the 1960s will give you an up-close look at history being made.
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October 15, 1960 Saturday Evening Post Michigan Avenue, Chicago
Starting at: $15.95
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October 22, 1960 Saturday Evening Post Big Shadow, Little Boy
Starting at: $15.95
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October 10, 1961 Saturday Evening Post Commuters in the Rain
Starting at: $15.95
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October 14, 1961 Saturday Evening Post The Peacemakers
Starting at: $15.95
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October 21, 1961 Saturday Evening Post Rush Hour
Starting at: $15.95
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October 28, 1961 Saturday Evening Post Monument Circle
Starting at: $15.95
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October 6, 1962 Saturday Evening Post Pope John XXIII
Starting at: $15.95
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October 13, 1962 Saturday Evening Post Failsafe
Starting at: $15.95
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October 20, 1962 Saturday Evening Post Walking Home in the Rain
Starting at: $15.95
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October 27, 1962 Saturday Evening Post Antique TV
Starting at: $15.95
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October 5, 1963 Saturday Evening Post Kilgore College Cheerleaders
Starting at: $15.95
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October 12, 1963 Saturday Evening Post Nixons at the Berlin Wall
Starting at: $15.95
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October 19, 1963 Saturday Evening Post Greatest Story Ever Told
Starting at: $15.95
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October 26, 1963 Saturday Evening Post Cossack Stunt Rider
Starting at: $15.95
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October 3, 1964 Saturday Evening Post Lassie! Get Help!
Starting at: $15.95
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October 10, 1964 Saturday Evening Post Olympic Pentathlete
Starting at: $15.95
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October 17, 1964 Saturday Evening Post Latest Fashions 1964
Starting at: $15.95
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October 24, 1964 Saturday Evening Post Campaigning Barry Goldwater
Starting at: $15.95
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October 31, 1964 Saturday Evening Post LBJ
Starting at: $15.95
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October 9, 1965 Saturday Evening Post Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Starting at: $15.95
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October 23, 1965 Saturday Evening Post Green Beret Capt. Roger Donlon
Starting at: $15.95
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October 8, 1966 Saturday Evening Post Smoke Stacks
Starting at: $15.95
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October 22, 1966 Saturday Evening Post Auschwitz
Starting at: $15.95
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October 7, 1967 Saturday Evening Post Twin Coeds in Kilts
Starting at: $15.95
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October 21, 1967 Saturday Evening Post Sophia Loren
Starting at: $15.95
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October 5, 1968 Saturday Evening Post Big Four Auto Execs
Starting at: $15.95
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October 19, 1968 Saturday Evening Post Dancer Merce Cunningham
Starting at: $15.95