It's hard to overstate what a crucial year 1963 proved to be. The Atlantic's In Focus blogger, Alan Taylor, takes a look back at 50 indelible photos of an indelible year. From the March on Washington to Vietnam. From Beatlemania to the crowning of "America's Junior Miss," 17-year-old Diane Sawyer. And, of course, those searing images from Nov. 22 and the days after, which transfixed a nation and haunted a city.
A half century ago, much of the news in the United States was dominated by the actions of civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and those who opposed them. Our role in Vietnam was steadily growing, along with the costs of that involvement. It was the year Beatlemania was born, and the year President John F. Kennedy died.