1960s

This is a timeline of events that occurred during the 1960s.

1960s

• While vigilantism was illegal, the laws are altered to accommodate strategically useful talents like Doctor Manhattan.^[1]
• Because of the existence of Doctor Manhattan, genetics, quantum physics, engineering, and other sciences, start to leap forward from that year on.

1960

February

• Jon Osterman is named Doctor Manhattan by the government who prepares him as a weapon and gives him a suit. He marks his forehead with the symbol of a hydrogen atom.^[1]

Mid-February

• The National Regaler reports unconfirmed rumors of a "nuclear super-man".^[2]

Early March

• Top officials from the Eisenhower administration announce Doctor Manhattan's existence to the world.^[1]
• News reels of Doctor Manhattan dismantling weaponry and military tanks with his powers are released.

May

• National Comics publishes the first issue of Tales of the Black Freighter, a critically acclaimed pirate comic book series by Max Shea and Joe Orlando. Backup tale Galapagos Jones, illustrated by another artist, is not as highly regarded.^[3]

June

3rd

• Dan Dreiberg graduates from Harvard University with degrees in zoology and aeronautics.^[4]
• Harvard University's commencement ceremony features speeches by Harvard President B.W. Thoreau ("You're New Responsibilities in the New Age"), Dean of Students Lucius Gallsworthy ("Who Would Have Dreamed"), guest speaker Robert F. Kennedy ("The Bright Tomorrow"), and Dan Dreiberg himself as valedictorian ("A Little Nostalgia"), with a closing prayer by Father George Berkeley.^[2]

10th

• Five suitcases containing over a million dollars in cash are found in the collection barrel of a Harlem mission for the underprivileged with anonymous notes reading "for the needy" clipped to their sides.^[2]

11th

• The New York Gazette reports that on the suitcases.^[2]

17th

• Several costumed adventurers attend a Red Cross charity fundraiser for famine in India. Comedian, Captain Metropolis, Doctor Manhattan, Ozymandias, Nite Owl, and Mothman attend. Manhattan feels that only Ozymandias seems interesting. Nite Owl first considers retiring from crime fighting.^[1][5] Ozymandias avoids Comedian.^[6]

June 1960 and Beyond

• Adrian Veidt keeps tabs on the Comedian's activities, disturbed by the immoral actions he commits in the name of fighting crime.

August

16th

• Dan Dreiberg writes a letter to his uncle Alan, gratefully declining his job offer of joining the family banking business.^[2]

September

9th

• Jon Osterman's initial Gila Flats Test Base identification car expires.^[2]

November

• Doctor Manhattan is sent by the Pentagon to justify his name as a crimefighter and sent to Dante's, a vice-den owned by Moloch where he blows up a criminal's head.^[1]

1961

• Eddie Blake beings working as a personal bodyguard for Findlay Setchfield South.^[7]

March

11th

• Science Today reports that Ford and General Motors both actively pursue electric cars, with prototypes expected within three months thanks to Doctor Manhattan's ability to synthesize mass amounts of lithium for battery use.^[2]
• Science Today reports that an electric charge should allow a vehicle to run for two hundred miles for a little as $2.00.^[2]

In or Before May

• William Water Schott, also known as the Bully, and his gang begin a reign of terror in the Bronx, carrying out acts of racketeering, theft, and murder.^[2]

Before May 22

• Hollis Mason adopts a dog and names him Phantom.

May

22nd

• Nite Owl and Phantom apprehend William Water Schott and his entire gang, then deliver them to the NYPD's Area Two Violent Crimes headquarters.^[2]

23rd

• The New York Gazette reports on Nite Owl's takedown of William Water Schott.^[2]

September

• At a press event, Doctor Manhattan meets with President John F. Kennedy at the White House. Milton Glass is in attendance.^[1]

1st

• Byron Lewis is arrested during a civil rights demonstration at a Greyhound bus terminal in Mobile, Alabama. The sit-in's organizers deny his involvement in the event.^[2]

4th

• The New York Gazette reports on Byron Lewis' Alabama arrest.^[2]

1962

• Newspapers dub Wally Weaver "Dr. Manhattan's buddy".^[1]
• Dan Dreiberg contacts Hollis Mason and requests to work with him.
• Sally Jupiter hosts a party and invites Hollis Mason, Nelson Gardner, and Byron Lewis at her house; her daughter Laurie meets them. Hollis mentions his book to her.^[8]

May

11th

• Kitty Genovese orders a dress from Manhattan Fabrics. After she opts not to collect the garment, deeming it ugly, Walter Kovacs decides to take the dress home, admiring it for it's shape-changing quality and black-and-white motif, and cuts the fabric up and uses heated implements to reseal the latex.^[9]

16th

• Hollis Mason officially retires from crimefighting.^[5][7]

Mid to Late May 1962

• Hollis Mason allows Dan Dreiberg to become his successor.
• Jon Osterman attends a civic banquet in Nite Owl's honor. Hollis Mason receives a statuette of himself, bearing the phrase "In Gratitude". When Osterman asks if his decision of retiring was age-based, Mason admits it was the other's arrival that prompted it, as he felt obsolete by comparison to a superhuman.^[1]
• Hollis Mason opens Mason's Auto Repairs, specializing in obsolete vehicles.
• The New York News features front-page headline: "Hero Retires: Opens Own Auto Business"^[10]
• Dan Dreiberg buys a townhouse at Manhattan's 79th Street, located above a forgotten subway tunnel, then creates plans to turn the tunnel into a vast subterranean workshop, which he calls the Owl's Nest.^[2]
• Sally Jupiter tells Hollis Mason that her daughter Laurie wants to be a superheroine like her mother once she's old enough. This is only half-true, however, since Laurie is only giving in to Sally's wishes.
• Hollis Mason finishes writing Under the Hood. Among other things, he popularizes the incorrect theory that Rolf Müller was actually Hooded Justice.
• Under the Hood is published by Chichester House^[2] and released.

August

28th

• Byron Lewis is committed to Holland Valley Alcohol Rehabilitation Center in Maine, following a mental breakdown and long bout of alcoholism.^[2][7][11]

September

• Astonishing Suspense #15 introduces the character of Pontius Pirate. It was a gateway to commercial success for the pirate hero and inspired the launch of the Pontius Pirate franchise by Wil Myerson.^[12]

5th

• The Holland Valley Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre files a patient evaluation on Byron Lewis, reporting no progress after his first week of treatment.^[2]

11th

• Hollis Mason is interviewed on The Martha Edwards Show. He speaks of Ursula Zandt, and Edward Blake's attempt rape of Sally Jupiter.^[2]

1963

February

7th

• Dan Dreiberg finishes constructing the Owl's Nest.

May

27th

• Charlton Home archives an account written by Walter Kovacs of one of his dreams.^[9]

September

23rd

• Adrian Veidt begins to view crime-fighting as a hollow pursuit.

November

22nd

• United States President John F. Kennedy is killed in an electirc limousine in Dealey Plaza, Dallas.^[7][1]
• Janey Slater argues with Jon Osterman, disturbed at his perception of time. Wally Weaver brings her Earrings, a gift from Osterman, and they reconcile.^[1]

December

25th

• The Sword and the Stone, an animated film based on the Arthurian legend, is released in the United States. The film introduces the character of Archimedes, Merlin's pet owl.

1964

• Doctor Manhattan informs the Pentagon that he will change his costume.^[1]

January

13th

• The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan is released, containing the titular song, "The Times They Are a-Changin'".

March

13th

• Kitty Genovese is raped, tortured and murdered outside of her New York City home. Forty neighbors heard screams but nobody reacted. New York Gazette headline: "Woman killed while neighbors looked on". Walter Kovacs decides to make his mask.^[2][9]

18th

• Walter Kovacs finishes his "face" and writes in his journal for the first time.^[2]

20th

• Walter Joseph Kovacs begins crimefighting as Rorschach.^[7]

22nd

• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. airs its first episode.

April

3rd

• The New York City Police Department find the four suspects they sought for the murder of Kitty Genovese bound and gagged lying in front of Area Two Violent Crimes headquarters, with a note reading "With compliments - Rorschach" pinned to one of the suspects.^[2]

4th

• The New York Gazette reports on Rorschach's delivering of the suspects.^[2]

December

3rd

• Dan Dreiberg finishes constructing the Owlcar.^[2]

1965

• Nite Owl II and Rorschach team up to fight street gangs.^[9]

January

2nd

• Dan Dreiberg finishes constructing Archimedes.^[2]

August

• Doctor Manhattan becomes a game changer for the Cold War. The Russians "run scared" and never dare to antagonize the United States.^[11]

22nd

• Nite Owl II and Rorschach apprehend the Big Figure. In the afternoon, they deliver him to Manhattan's Area Two Violent Crimes Police Headquarters. With the crimeboss, they deliver a coded ledger containing hard evidence implicating the Big Figure's organization in at least two homicides and involvement in a massive "narcotics conspiracy" engulfing New York City and parts of New Jersey with instructions on how to decipher the ledger. Nite Owl tells the police "Of course we like to work together. The results speak for themselves."^[2] The Big Figure is later imprisoned in Sing Sing.^[9]

23rd

• The New York Gazette reports on the Big Figure's apprehension.^[2]

30th

• Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan is released, containing the song "Desolation Row".

1966

March

11th

• In the afternoon, Laurie Juspeczyk foils a jewellery store heist as Silk Spectre II, fighting off three armed thieves.^[2]

12th

• The New York Gazette reports on the heist and the new Silk Spectre's involvement.^[2]

April

• The New York Gazette headlines: "Dr. Manhattan 'An Imperialist Weapon' Say the Russians.”, "French Withdraw Military Commitment from NATO" (in the real world, this happened a year later), and "Heart Transplant Patient Stable".^[13]

5th

• Laurie Juspeczyk reveals herself to be Silk Spectre II in a New York press conference. She does not divulge where she lives but reveals she is the daughter of Sally Jupiter, who's real surname was Juspeczyk.^[2]

6th

• The New York Gazette reports on Laurie Juspeczyk's press conference. They note that Laurence Schexnayder, Laurie's father, has been unavailable for comment.^[2]

14th

• Captain Metropolis attempts to bring in the next generation of costumed adventurers together and form a new group of heroes called the Crimebusters. The meeting is a failure after the Comedian pointed out the inevitability of mankind destroying itself with nuclear war before everyone leaves mere minutes after it began.^[13]

  

• The Comedian meets Laurie Juspeczyk after the meeting, who flirts with Doctor Manhattan.^[13] Janey Slater is angered by their attraction.^[1][8] Outside, Edward Blake approaches Laurie but is interrupted by her mother Sally.^[8]
• Captain Metropolis investigates Moloch and plans kidnappings to frame him. He investigates heroes, hires underlings to kidnap victims and leave clues. He contacts underworld members, including Mole Varrows, in guise of "M." He instructs Varrows as to kidnappings and later murders.^[14]
• Captain Metropolis again contacts heroes. He urges associations.^[14]
• Crimebusters roster undertake kidnap investigations. They investigate the American Negro Alliance, follow PFC Newton Ramsey, arrive at Mole Varrow's apartment and find him dead. "Stickman" appears at a concert/rally in Battery Park.^[14]
• The Crimebusters reunite to compare information.^[14]
• Confrontation at Moloch's Penthouse apartment; Crimebusters penetrate defenses, meet / Interrogate Moloch, "find" incriminating note. They rescue kidnap victims from 666 Waterside.^[14]
• Crimebusters meet at Metropolis' home for their final discussion/decisions; possibly reveal Metroplis' ulterior scheme.^[14]
• After being given a file of evidence by Rorschach and Nite Owl II, linking Anthony "Underboss" Rizzoli to a series of illegal payments to top city employees, lawmakers, judges, and law enforcement officials, detectives of Manhattan's Area Two Violent Crimes Unit apprehend Rizzoli in the early morning. He is charged with racketeering and conspiracy. After Underboss' arrest is announced, Nite Owl, Jetting victims away from the flames at the site of a gas explosion, is reached for comment. He says "Rorschach and I are both proud that we were able to help. The announcement of the arrest pleases us greatly. If we continue to win victories like this, I might just keep doing this forever."^[2]

15th

• The New York Gazette reports on Underboss' apprehension.^[2]

May

• Doctor Manhattan and Silk Spectre II go out on patrol together and kiss for the first time.^[1]

August

26th

• Janey Slater leaves Doctor Manhattan after learning of his affair with Laurie Juspeczyk.^[1][7]

1967

• Adrian Veidt sets his master plan into motion to frighten mankind into seeking salvation, by creating a threat so terrible that nations will have no choice but to set aside their differences to fight it together.
• Adrian Veidt develops a patent for public spark hydrants.
• A former runaway and prostitute known as Mother forms a gang-cult called the Brethren as a "family" for New York City's homeless population.
• Mother grows obsessed with the work of William Blake and she and her gang-cult "children" go on a spree of ritual killings and kidnappings, somehow avoiding the notice of the police and costumed adventurers.
• Dimensional Developments begins hiring employees that were associated with Doctor Manhattan including Wally Weaver, Janey Slater, and Edgar Jacobi.^[10]
• Outraged by Adrian Veidt's "unpatriotic" actions, New Frontiersman denounces him as a "Puppet of Peking".

January

30th

• At 11:15 AM, the U.S. Secret Service issues a communique to Agents Abner and Delacroix, ordering them to deny Janey Slater any further access to Jon Osterman. Laurie Juspeczyk is added to Dr. Manhattan's list of cleared visitors.^[2]

February

11th

• Adrian Veidt submits articles of incorporation to New York State for Dimensional Developments, Inc., registered to Veidt Industries. Adrian lists himself as CEO and principal owner, with Leroy Gibbons named as treasurer.

March

6th

• Dan Dreiberg finishes construction on a lightweight underwater suit designed to mimic his standard Nite Owl costume, allowing for four hours of operation while submerged in liquid.

December

27th

• John Wesley Harding by Bob Dylan is released, containing the song "All Along the Watchtower".

1967 to 1970

• The royalties earned from Adrian Veidt's public spark hydrants greatly increase his already vast fortune.

1968

• Nite Owl II arrests Twilight Lady.^[4]
• Last known map of New York City's underground and subway system is published.^[15] Likely because the subway system became obsolete due to the rise of airships.
• Adrian Veidt begins formulating his master plan to bring about world peace.
• Professor Milton Glass publishes Dr. Manhattan: Super-Powers and the Superpowers.^[2]

April

14th

• In Saigon, Vietnam, A platoon of United States Marines from the 6th Division, 43rd company were wiped out by an incendiary strike by an American B-52, killing 43 soldiers were killed. General Walter Scott, commander of air operations in Vietnam later tells reporters the pilot had mistaken a "black light" hung outside the platoon's bivouac for a blue signal flare marking his napalm target.^[2]

16th

• The New York Gazette report on the Saigon disaster.^[2]

June

10th

• In the afternoon, New York City officials announce that the number of homeless people in the city is set to increase more than 11 percent within the next year.^[7]

11th

• Several thousand members of the Grand Old Party begin arriving in Manhattan for the GOP National Convention, set to begin the next day at the McDaniel center.^[7]
• In the morning, Walter Kovacs counts seventeen transients in his neighbourhood. He writes a remindeder in his journal to look for a new apartment the next morning.^[2]

16th

• New York City is blacked out during an attempt on Richard Nixon's life, part of an elaborate scheme concocted by Edgar Jacobi.^[7]

October

• Adrian Veidt buys an island off the Mosquito Coast and sets up the cover firm Pyramid Deliveries.^[7]

November

• Richard M. Nixon is elected President of the United States.^[7]

1969

• Jon Osterman's father passes away, after which his son reveals his true identity to the public, no longer concerned with protecting his father's privacy.^[1]
• Blair Roche is born to a blue-collar family.^[16]

January

22nd

• Twilight Lady intercepts Richard Nixon's network feed as he delivers the State of the Union Address.^[2]

February

• While performing covert duties in Lik Dao, Eddie Blake contracts gonorrhea. Doctor Edward Ross tends to Blake's condition.^[2]

May

9th

• Doctor Manhattan aids inform him that he is slated to be a guest on The Martha Edwards Show. He reacts in surprise, despite knowing his own future.^[2]

11th

• Doctor Manhattan, accompanied by a Secret Service agent, appears on The Martha Edwards Show, where he discusses the nature of his powers.^[2]

12th

• At 11:46 AM, Doctor Manhattan performs gluino experiments.^[2]

Between 1969 and 1971

• A plaque adored with Richard Nixon's name is placed on Earth's moon.

Between the 1960s and 1985

• Dan Dreiberg develops an interest in the music of such jazz and R&B performers as Billie Holiday, Nellie Lutcher, and Louis Jordan.

References