1960s/HBO Timeline

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

1960s

• While vigilantism was illegal, the laws were altered to accommodate strategically useful talents like Doctor Manhattan.^[1]
• Because of the existence of Doctor Manhattan, genetics, quantum physics, engineering, and other sciences started 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 superman".^[2]

Early March

• Top officials from the Eisenhower administration announced 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]

11th

• The New York Gazette reports that the collection barrel of a Harlem mission for the underprivileged has received five suitcases containing more than a million dollars, each case bearing an anonymous clipped note indicating "For the needy".^[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 the 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 to join the family banking business.^[2]

September

9th

• Jon Osterman's initial Gila Flats Test Base identification card 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]

December

4th

• In Style with the Crickets by the Crickets is released, featuring the song "I Fought the Law" by Sonny Curtis.

1961

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

January

20th

• John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States.^[8]

March

11th

• Ford and General Motors both actively pursue electric cars, with prototypes expected within three months thanks to Doctor Manhattan's ability to synthesize massive amounts of lithium for battery use.^[2][9]
• 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' arrest in Alabama.^[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 to her house; her daughter Laurie meets them. Hollis mentions his book to her.^[10]

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 its shape-changing quality and black-and-white motif, and cuts the fabric up and uses heated implements to reseal the latex.^[11]

Mid to Late May 1962

• Hollis Mason officially retires from crimefighting.^[5][7]
• 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"^[12]
• 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 an asylum in Maine, following a mental breakdown and long bout of alcoholism.^[2][7][13]

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.^[14]

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 appears on The Martha Edwards Show to discuss Under the Hood.

1963

February

7th

• Dan Dreiberg finishes constructing the Owl's Nest.

September

16th

• The Outer Limits airs its first episode.^[8][15]

30th

• The Outer Limits airs an episode titled "The Architects of Fear" during its first season, written by Meyer Dolinsky and directed by Byron Haskin.^[8][15]

23rd

• During an argument, Jon Osterman tells Janey Slater that he knows the future. Wally Weaver brings her the earrings and Janey reconciles.^[1]
• Adrian Veidt begins to view crime-fighting as a hollow pursuit.

December

25th

• The Sword and the Stone, an animated film based on the Arthurian legend, was 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.^[8][11]

20th

• Walter Kovacs begins crimefighting as Rorschach.

22nd

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

December

3rd

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

1965

• Nite Owl II and Rorschach team up to fight street gangs. Underboss is brought down and Big Figure is put in prison.^[11]

January

2nd

• Dan Dreiberg finishes constructing Archimedes.^[2]

7th

• Vladimir John Ondrasik III, later known as Five for Fighting, is born.^[8][16]

August

• Doctor Manhattan becomes a game-changer for the Cold War. The Russians "run scared" and never dare to antagonize the United States.^[13]

30th

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

1966

• While in San Francisco, Will Reeves learns about Nelson Gardner's friendship with Adrian Veidt, and their attempt at starting a new team of costumed adventurers from a mutual friend. Reeves sends Gardner a scathing letter to regarding this decision.^[17]

March

26th

• Michael Imperioli is born.^[8][18]

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".^[19]

14th

• Laurie Juspeczyk makes her debut as Silk Spectre II.
• 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.^[19]
• The Comedian meets Laurie Juspeczyk after the meeting, who flirts with Doctor Manhattan.^[19] Janey Slater is angered by their attraction.^[1][10] Outside, Edward Blake approaches Laurie but is interrupted by her mother Sally.^[10]

May

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

17th

• Michael Trent Reznor, later known as Trent Reznor, is born.^[8][16]

August

26th

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

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.^[12]
• Ozymandias exposes a plot by rogue right-wing extremists in the United States military to test biological weapons on the citizens of Nairobi and surrounding areas.^[20][21]
• Outraged by Adrian Veidt's "unpatriotic" actions, the 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.

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.^[22] 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.

January

16th

• Atticus Ross is born.^[8][16]

April

23rd

• Timothy McVeigh is born.^[8][23]

November

5th

• Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States, defeating Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey.^[8][24]

1969

• Hans Osterman^[9] passes away, after which his son Jon 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.^[25]

January

20th

• Richard Nixon is officially inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States.^[8]

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. 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 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]

July

21st

• Neil Armstrong, an astronaut for NASA's Apollo 11 mission, becomes the first human to set foot on Earth's moon.^[8] Doctor Manhattan assists with the mission.^[26]

Between 1969 and 1971

• A plaque adorned 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.

September

23rd

• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, staring Robert Redford, is released in the United States.^[8][27]

References