1960s

1960

• Reagan: Ronald Reagan resigns SAG presidency for production interests. George Chandler, prolific TV character actor and SAG treasurer since 1948 succeeds him.
• Virginia Payne re-elected AFTRA national president.
• Contract negotiations: Three SAG contracts expire this year: Theatrical, television, and commercial
• Blacklisting: Exodus director, Otto Preminger publicly announces his script is by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the "Hollywood Ten" and that Trumbo will receive screen credit
• Strikes/Residuals: Third SAG strike called: primary issue is post August 1, 1948 residuals for feature films sold/licensed/released  to TV - small "dissident" group opposes striking
• Strikes/Residuals: SAG theatrical strike March 7-April 18 halts 8 major productions, including Elizabeth Taylor's Butterfield 8, Gina Lollobrigida's Go Naked in the World, Jack Lemmon's The Wackiest Ship in the Army and Marilyn Monroe's Let's Make Love
• Strikes/Residuals:  SAG theatrical strike settlement results in residuals only for films commencing after January 31, 1960, but producers' lump payment of $2.65 million creates the Guild's first Pension and Welfare Plan
• Merger: David L. Cole's recommendations on merging SAG & AFTRA rejected by the SAG board.  Membership votes to back the board’s decision and support an alternative: “positive cooperative action between S.A.G. and AFTRA, including joint negotiations and administration in the fields of TV commercials and taped TV entertainment.” [add AFTRA results]
• Actors' Equity strikes, wins pension plan
• Diversity: at annual meeting, SAG Executive Secretary Jack Dales tells membership about meetings investigating "alleged racial discrimination in hiring practices in the motion picture production industry."
• Contract negotiations/firsts:  SAG and AFTRA conduct first joint negotiations, in Commercials contracts.

1961

• George Chandler re-elected SAG president
• Art Gilmore, announcer and voice actor including radio, TV and movie trailers elected AFTRA national president, succeeding Virginia Payne.
• SAG health plan takes effect Jan. 1

1962 – AFTRA’s 25th Anniversary year

• George Chandler re-elected SAG president
• Art Gilmore re-elected AFTRA national president
• SAG pension plan begins paying benefits starting Jan. 2

1963

• Dana Andrews, film and TV leading man, elected SAG president succeeding George Chandler
• Vicki Vola, voice artist and actress in radio, television and stage becomes AFTRA’s second elected female national president. From 1939-1952 she was nationally known to radio, later TV, audiences from her featured role on crime drama Mr. District Attorney.
• Diversity: [need to add AFTRA’s role during this time, as they may have had an “American Scene” clause first] SAG attacks discrimination, producers agree to add "American Scene" clause, which reads: "The parties mutually affirm their policy of non-discrimination in the treatment of any actor because of race, creed, color or national origin. In accordance with this policy, the producer will make every effort to cast performers belonging to all groups in all types of roles, having due regard for the requirements of a suitability for the role, so that, for example, the American scene may be portrayed realistically"
• Harry Belafonte, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, SAG  2nd VP Charlton Heston and other SAG and AFTRA members join Dr. Martin Luther King in civil rights March on Washington
• President John F. Kennedy assassinated, Lyndon Johnson assumes presidency.

1964

• Dana Andrews re-elected SAG president
• Vicki Vola re-elected AFTRA national president.
• Merger between the Association of Motion Picture Producers (founded 1924) and Alliance of Television Film Producers (founded 1951) is announced in Los Angeles Times April 6.  New organization will be known as the Association of Motion Picture and TV Producers – the first AMPTP.
• Legislation – Civil Rights: SAG President Dana Andrews, and public relations director Buck Harris, represent the Guild at President Johnson's conference at the White House, relating to the role labor can play in support of the newly-signed Civil Rights Act of 1964.

1965

• Charlton Heston elected SAG President, succeeding Dana Andrews.
• Tyler McVey, president of the AFTRA Los Angeles local, elected AFTRA national president, succeeding Vicki Vola.
• Malcolm X assassinated in New York
• Communism: McCarran Act weakened as Supreme Court decides Communists be allowed to refuse to register as such with the US government
• Vietnam War: "Hollywood Overseas Committee" formed to coordinate USO entertainment of troops in Vietnam, SAG 1st VP George Chandler named Committee President
• Residuals: New SAG foreign TV residuals boost monthly total over $1 million.

1966

• Charlton Heston re-elected SAG president
• Tyler McVey re-elected AFTRA national president.
• Former SAG president Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California, in November.

1967

• Charlton Heston re-elected SAG president
• Mel Brandt, announcer and actor, elected AFTRA national president, succeeding Tyler McVey.
• SAG petitions FCC, charging "The three television network corporations now have a virtual monopoly on all phases of television network programming and its by-products with the result that the market available to independent producers has been severely restricted"
• AFTRA calls its first national strike March 29, 1967, after negotiations breakdown over staff announcer contracts at owned-and-operated stations in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and over first-time contracts for “newsmen” at networks and owned-and-operated stations. Since AFTRA adhered to a bargaining principle that no general agreement exists until all Codes and Contracts are acceptable, the 13-day strike involves all 18,000 members in more than 100 locations across the country. Agreement is reached on the outstanding issues at 8:05 pm, EST, on Monday, April 10, 1967—just in time to allow broadcast of the annual Academy Awards program live from the Santa Monica Auditorium. It established the first staff newspersons contract for network correspondents at ABC, CBS and NBC.
• Communism: The Guild’s anti-Communist "loyalty oath" for members, in place since 1953, made optional after members of the San Francisco-based band The Grateful Dead, appearing in feature film Petulia, refuse to sign it and scratch out the oath from their membership applications. Loyalty oath remains requirement for Board of Directors.  Oath will be eliminated in 1974.
• Contract negotiations: SAG announces TV and Theatrical contracts will no longer be negotiated separately

1968

• Charlton Heston re-elected SAG president
• Mel Brandt re-elected AFTRA national president.
• SAG's "Conflict of Interest" rule, in place since 1946, which placed restrictions on eligibility for those with production interests seeking a Board seat, is tightened by SAG Board of Directors to read "...no person who has an interest in motion picture production...shall be eligible to become or remain an officer of the Guild" Unlike in 1946, Guild members do not vote on the issue.
• Dr. Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis
• Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles
• Auto-insurance discrimination against actors becomes issue.
• Richard Nixon elected President of the United States.

1969

• Charlton Heston re-elected SAG president
• Mel Brandt re-elected AFTRA national president
• Contracts: Recognizing growth of independent filmmaking, SAG initiates low-budget theatrical contract [check this re. economic conditions and the “Comeback contract”]
• Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon
• Vietnam War: Largest antiwar rally in US history (250,000 people) held in Washington, D.C.