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1958_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
September 2
Hendrik Verwoerd becomes the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa.
China's first television broadcasts start at Beijing Television Station, a predecessor of China Central Television.
September 4 – Jorge Alessandri is the winner of Chile's presidential election.
September 12 – Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit, while working at Texas Instruments.
September 14 – Two rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.
September 18 – BankAmericard, the first credit card to be widely offered, is launched in Fresno, California in what becomes known as the "Fresno Drop".
September 27
Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 people in Honshū, Japan.
Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.
September 28
In the 1958 French constitutional referendum, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
Fernando Rios, a Mexican tour guide in New Orleans, dies from injuries suffered in an incident of gay bashing.
September 30 – The U.S.S.R. performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya.
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1958_9 | Section: October (2):
October – GoldStar, predecessor of LG Electronics, is founded in South Korea.
October 1
Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League.
The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty of Christmas Island from Singapore to Australia.
NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.
October 2 – Guinea declares itself independent from France, rejecting that nation's new constitution.
October 4
The new Constitution of France is signed into law, establishing the French Fifth Republic.
The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) uses one of its new de Havilland Comet 4s, G-APDB, to make the first commercial transatlantic flight by a jet airliner, from London to New York International Airport, Anderson Field via Gander.
October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
October 17 – An Evening with Fred Astaire, the first television show recorded on color videotape, is broadcast on NBC in the United States.
October 18 – Tennis for Two, a game invented by William Higinbotham and considered to be the first pure entertainment computer game, is introduced at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitors' Day Exhibit in the United States.
October 26 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.
October 28 – Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.
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1958_10 | Section: November (2):
November 3
The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.
Jorge Alessandri is sworn in as President of Chile.
November 10 – Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
November 18 – En route to Rogers City, Michigan, United States, the Lake freighter SS Carl D. Bradley breaks up and sinks in a storm on Lake Michigan; 33 of the 35 crewmen on board perish.
November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc. in the United States.
November 22 – 1958 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first election where television is used as a medium for communicating with voters. Evatt will eventually resign as Labor leader and will be replaced by his deputy Arthur Calwell.
November 25 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French colonial empire.
November 28 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French colonial empire.
November 30 – Gaullists win the French parliamentary election.
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1958_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1
Our Lady of the Angels School fire: 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire in Chicago.
Adolfo López Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.
December 14 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.
December 15 – Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser.
December 16
A fire breaks out in the Vida Department Store in Bogotá, Colombia and kills 84 persons.
Soviet polar pilot V. M. Perov on Li-2 rescues four Belgian polar explorers, led by Gaston de Gerlache, who have survived a plane crash in Antarctica 250 km from their base five days earlier.
December 18
The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.
The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.
December 19 – A message from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from the SCORE satellite.
December 21 – General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78.5% of the votes.
December 24 – 1958 BOAC Bristol Britannia crash: A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England, during a test flight, killing nine people. Three crew members survive.
December 29 – Battle of Santa Clara: Rebel troops under Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.
December 30 – The Guatemalan Air Force fires on Mexican fishing boats which had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering the Mexico–Guatemala conflict.
December 31 – After the fall of Santa Clara, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista flees the country.
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1959_0 | 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1959th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 959th year of the 2nd millennium, the 59th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1950s decade. |
1959_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the vicinity of Earth's Moon, where it was intended to crash-land, but instead becomes the first spacecraft to go into heliocentric orbit.
January 3
Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
The southernmost island of the Maldives archipelago, Addu Atoll, declares its independence from the Kingdom of the Maldives, initiating the United Suvadive Republic.
January 4
In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo.
January 6 – The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated.
January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
January 8 – Charles de Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.
January 9 – The Vega de Tera disaster in Spain, a flood caused by a dam collapse, nearly destroys the town of Ribadelago and kills 144 residents.
January 10 – The Soviet government recognizes the new Castro government of Cuba.
January 11 – The Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques is founded in Monaco.
January 12 – Motown Records was founded by Berry Gordy in Detroit,
January 15 – The Soviet Union conducts its first census after World War II.
January 21 – The European Court of Human Rights is established.
January 22 – Knox Mine disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith, near Pittston, Pennsylvania, United States; 12 miners are killed.
January 25
American Airlines begins the first U.S. domestic jet service with a Boeing 707 airliner flight between New York and Los Angeles.
Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.
January 30 – Danish passenger/cargo ship MS Hans Hedtoft, returning to Copenhagen after its maiden voyage to Greenland, strikes an iceberg and sinks off the Greenland coast with the loss of all 95 on board.
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1959_1 | Section: February (2):
February 2 – Nine ski hikers mysteriously perish in the northern Ural Mountains in the Dyatlov Pass incident and are all found dead a few weeks later.
February 3
A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper with pilot Roger Peterson goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie".
American Airlines Flight 320, a Lockheed L-188 Electra from Chicago crashes into the East River on approach to New York City's LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.
February 6 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
February 9 – Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones).
February 13 – TAT-2, AT&T's second transatlantic telephone cable goes into operation between Newfoundland and France.
February 16 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
February 17 – Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, is launched to measure cloud cover for the United States Navy.
February 18
Jesús Sosa Blanco, a colonel in the Cuban army of Fulgencio Batista, is executed in Cuba after being convicted of committing 108 murders for Batista.
Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
February 19 – First of the London and Zürich Agreements under which the United Kingdom agrees to grant independence to Cyprus.
February 20 – The Canadian Government cancels the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft project.
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1959_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1
The USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia are stricken from the United States Naval Vessel Register.
Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
March 3 – Lunar probe Pioneer 4 becomes the first American object to escape dominance by Earth's gravity.
March 9 – Mattel's Barbie doll debuts in the United States.
March 10 – The Tibetan uprising erupts in Lhasa when Chinese officials attempt to arrest the Dalai Lama.
March 11 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1959, staged in Cannes, is won for the Netherlands by "'n Beetje" sung by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, lyrics by Willy van Hemert).
March 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama escapes Tibet and arrives in India.
March 18 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Hawaii Admission Act, granting statehood to Hawaii.
March 19 – The other two southern islands of the Maldives, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah, join Addu Atoll in forming the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963).
March 28 – The Kashag, the government of Tibet, is abolished by an order signed by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. The Dalai Lama is replaced in China by the Panchen Lama.
March 31 – The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.
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1959_3 | Section: April (2):
April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood. Musical film Gigi receives a record 9 Oscars.
April 8 – The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is established.
April 9 – NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts, later known as the 'Mercury Seven'.
April 10 – Crown Prince Akihito of Japan marries Shōda Michiko, the first commoner to marry into the Imperial House of Japan.
April 25 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway linking the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
April 27 – National People's Congress elects Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as a successor of Mao Zedong.
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1959_4 | Section: May (2):
May – In the United Kingdom:
Import tariffs are lifted.
The first Ten Tors event is held on Dartmoor.
May 2 – 1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest defeats Luton Town 2–1 at Wembley Stadium.
May 18 – The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.
May 21 – Gypsy: A Musical Fable, starring Ethel Merman in her last new musical, opens on Broadway and runs for 702 performances.
May 23 – In Laos the Laotian Civil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and the communist rebels the Pathet Lao.
May 24 – British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.
May 28 – Jupiter AM-18 rocket launches two primates, Miss Baker and Miss Able, into space from Cape Canaveral in the United States along with living microorganisms and plant seeds. Successful recovery makes them the first living beings to return safely to Earth after space flight.
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1959_5 | Section: June (2):
June 3
Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
Real Madrid beats Stade Reims 2–0 at Neckarstadion, Stuttgart and wins the 1958–59 European Cup (Association football).
June 5 – A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former ministers are re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
June 8 – The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
June 9 – The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
June 14 – A 3-front invasion of the Dominican Republic by exile forces backed by Fidel Castro and Venezuela attempt to overthrow Rafael Trujillo.
June 18 – The film The Nun's Story, based on the best-selling novel, is released. Audrey Hepburn stars as the title character; she later says that this is her favorite film role. The film is a box-office hit, and is nominated for several Oscars.
June 23
Seán Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after nine years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.
June 26 – Elizabeth II (as monarch of Canada) and United States President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
June 30 – Twenty-one students are killed and more than a hundred injured when a North American F-100 Super Sabre jet crashes into Miamori Elementary School on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The pilot ejected before the plane struck the school.
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1959_6 | Section: July (2):
July 2 – Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
July 4 – With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia.
July 7 – At 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. The rare event (which will next occur on October 1, 2044) is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
July 9 – Wing Commander Michael Beetham flying a Royal Air Force Vickers Valiant sets a record of 11 hours 27 minutes for a non-stop London-Cape Town flight.
July 14 – Groups of Kurdish and communist militias rebel in Kirkuk, Iraq against the central government.
July 17 – The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.
July 22 – A Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease concludes that it is caused by mercury.
July 24 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, United States Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev engage in the "Kitchen Debate".
July 25 – The SR.N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Blériot's first crossing by heavier-than-air craft.
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1959_7 | Section: August (2):
August 4 – Martial law is declared in Laos.
August 7
Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Roseburg Blast in Oregon, caused when a truck carrying explosives catches fire, kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
August 8 – A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.
August 14 – Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from orbit.
August 15 – Cyprus gains independence.
August 17 – In the United States:
The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
Miles Davis' influential jazz album Kind of Blue is released.
August 19 – The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) is established.
August 21 – Hawaii is admitted as the 50th and last U.S. state.
August 26 – The original Mini car, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis, is launched in England.
August 30 – 1959 South Vietnamese legislative election: South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Dan is elected to the National Assembly despite soldiers being bussed in to vote for President Ngo Dinh Diem's candidate.
August 31 – The Workers' Stadium sports venue in Beijing (China) is officially opened.
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1959_8 | Section: September (2):
September 14 – Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 becomes the first human-made object to crash on the Moon.
September 15–28 – USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his wife tour the United States, at the invitation of U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower.
September 16 – The Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier, is introduced to the public.
September 17 – The hypersonic North American X-15 research aircraft, piloted by Scott Crossfield, makes its first powered flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
September 23 – The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia's first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across the Bass Strait.
September 26
Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, Japan, as a 160 miles per hour (260 km/h) Category 5 storm, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.
First large unit action of the Vietnam War takes place, when two companies of the ARVN's 23rd Division are ambushed by a well-organized Viet Cong force of several hundred, identified as the "2nd Liberation Battalion".
September 30 – Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.
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1959_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is celebrated with pomp across the country.
October 7 – The Soviet probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever images of the far side of the Moon.
October 12 – At the national Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana Congress in Peru, a group of leftist radicals is expelled from the party; they later form APRA Rebelde.
October 13 – The United States launches Explorer 7.
October 21
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of modern art (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who died on April 9) opens to the public in New York City.
October 29 – First appearance of Astérix the Gaul, in a French comic magazine.
October 31 – Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.
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1959_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1 – In Rwanda, Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa is beaten up by Tutsi forces, leading to a period of violence known as the wind of destruction.
November 2 – At a ceremony near Toddington, British Minister of Transport Ernest Marples opens the first section of the M1 Motorway, between Watford and Crick, along with two spur motorways, the M45 and M10. Three decades of large scale motorway construction follow, leading to the rapid expansion of the UK motorway network.
November 15 – The brutal Clutter family murders are committed in Holcomb, Kansas, inspiring Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1966).
November 18 – Religious epic film Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, which will be by far the highest-grossing film of the year and will go on to win a record 12 Academy Awards, premieres at New York City's Loews Theater in Ultra Panavision 70.
November 20 – The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.
The MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor), also known as the MOS transistor, is invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in the United States. It revolutionizes the electronics industry, becomes the fundamental building block of the Digital Revolution and goes on to become the most widely manufactured device in history.
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1959_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1 – Cold War: Antarctic Treaty – 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty that sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent (the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
December 2 – Malpasset Dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Fréjus, killing 412.
December 8 – The life-boat Mona, based at Broughty Ferry in Scotland, capsizes during a rescue attempt with the loss of 8 lives.
December 11 – Charles Robberts Swart is appointed the 11th Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.
December 14 – Makarios III is selected as the first president of Cyprus.
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1960_0 | 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1960th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 960th year of the 2nd millennium, the 60th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1960s decade. |
1960_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Cameroon becomes independent from France.
January 9–11 – Aswan Dam construction begins in Egypt.
January 10 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the "Wind of Change" speech for the first time, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana).
January 19 – A revised version of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan ("U.S.-Japan Security Treaty" or "Anpo (jōyaku)"), which allows U.S. troops to be based on Japanese soil, is signed in Washington, D.C. by Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The new treaty is opposed by the massive Anpo protests in Japan.
January 21
Coalbrook mining disaster: A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica killing 37, the worst air disaster in Jamaica's history and the first for Avianca.
January 22
Charles de Gaulle, President of France, dismisses Jacques Massu as commander-in-chief of French troops in Algeria.
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Mariana Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching the depth of 10,911 meters (35,797 feet), and become the first human beings to reach the lowest spot on Earth.
January 24 – A major insurrection occurs in Algiers against French colonial policy.
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1960_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1 – Greensboro sit-ins: In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar non-violent protests throughout the Southern United States, and six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.
February 3 – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town (although he had first made the speech, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast – modern-day Ghana – on January 10).
February 5 – The first CERN particle accelerator becomes operational in Geneva, Switzerland.
February 8 – Hollywood Walk of Fame is established.
February 10 – A conference about the proposed independence of the Belgian Congo begins in Brussels, Belgium.
February 11 – China–India relations: Twelve Indian soldiers die in clashes with Red Chinese troops along their small common border.
February 13 – Gerboise Bleue: France tests its first atomic bomb, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.
February 18 – The 1960 Winter Olympics begin at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Placer County, California.
February 26 – Alitalia Flight 618: An airliner en route to New York crashes into a cemetery at Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
February 29 – The 5.7 Mw Agadir Earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.
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1960_2 | Section: March (2):
March 5 – Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Che Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico, in Havana.
March 6
Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.
The Canton of Geneva in Switzerland gives women the right to vote.
March 17
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 crashes near Tell City, Indiana, killing all 63 on board.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a covert Central Intelligence Agency plan to train a paramilitary force against Cuba, which will result in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion.
March 21 – The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa results in more than 69 black protesters shot dead by police, 300 injured.
March 22 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser, in the United States.
March 23 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev meets French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
March 29 – "Tom Pillibi" sung by 18-year-old Jacqueline Boyer (music by André Popp, lyrics by Pierre Cour) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 (staged in London) for France.
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1960_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1
Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.
The 1960 United States Census begins. There are 179,323,175 U.S. residents on this day. All people from Latin America are listed as white, including blacks from the Dominican Republic, European whites from Argentina and Mexicans who resemble Native Americans.
April 4 – At the 32nd Academy Awards Ceremony, Ben-Hur wins a record 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.
April 9 – White gunman David Pratt shoots South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg, wounding him seriously.
April 12 – Eric Peugeot, the youngest son of the founder of the Peugeot Corporation, is kidnapped in Paris. He is released on April 15, in exchange for $300,000 in ransom.
April 19 – April Revolution: South Korean students hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against President Syngman Rhee, eventually leading him to resign from office.
April 21 – In Brazil, the country's capital (Federal District) is relocated from the city of Rio de Janeiro to the new city, Brasília, in the highlands. The actual city of Rio de Janeiro becomes the State of Guanabara.
April 27 – Togo gains independence from France, with the French-administered United Nations Trust Territory being terminated.
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1960_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1
The U-2 incident: Several Soviet surface-to-air missiles shoot down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers of the Central Intelligence Agency, is captured.
In India, this day is declared as 'Maharashtra Divas', i.e., Maharashtra Day (also celebrated as 'Kaamgaar Divas', i.e., Workers Day).
May 3 – The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is established.
May 4 – West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is dismissed because of his Nazi past.
May 6 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law.
May 10 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach Jr., completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth (codenamed Operation Sandblast).
May 11 – In Buenos Aires, four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi German war criminal Adolf Eichmann in order that he can be taken to Israel and put on trial. This is announced on May 23 by Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion. Eichmann is convicted and executed in 1962.
May 13 – A joint Swiss and Austrian expedition makes the first ascent of the Asian mountain Dhaulagiri, the world's 7th highest.
May 14 – The Kenyan African National Congress Party is founded in Kenya, when 3 political parties join forces.
May 15 – The satellite Sputnik 4 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.
May 16
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the U-2 reconnaissance plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus aborting their summit meeting scheduled for Paris this year.
Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
May 18 – Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 at Hampden Park, Glasgow, and win the 1959–60 European Cup in Association football, their 5th successive victory in the competition.
May 22 – The 9.5 Mw Valdivia earthquake affects Chile with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). This megathrust earthquake ruptures from Arauco to Chiloé Archipelago, causing the most powerful earthquake on record and a destructive basin-wide tsunami.
May 27 – In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celâl Bayar, and installs General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.
May 30 – Cemal Gürsel forms the new government of Turkey (its 24th government, composed mostly of so-called "technocrats").
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1960_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1 – New Zealand's first television station begins broadcasting, in the city of Auckland.
June 5 – The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland.
June 9 – 1960 Pacific typhoon season: Typhoon Mary kills 1,600 people in China.
June 10 – The "Hagerty Incident": As part of the ongoing Anpo protests in Japan against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, a car carrying Dwight D. Eisenhower's press secretary James Hagerty and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Douglas MacArthur II is mobbed by protesters outside of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, requiring the occupants to be rescued by a U.S. Marine helicopter.
June 15
The "June 15 Incident": As part of the massive Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in Japan, radical student activists from the Zengakuren student federation attempt to storm the National Diet compound, precipitating a battle with police in which female Tokyo University student Michiko Kanba is killed.
The BC Ferries company, later to become the second-largest ferry operator in the world, commences service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay, British Columbia, Canada.
June 16 – Premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's landmark thriller film Psycho in the United States.
June 19 – The new U.S.-Japan Security Treaty is automatically ratified 30 days after passing the Lower House of the Diet.
June 20
The short-lived Mali Federation, consisting of the Sudanese Republic (modern-day Republic of Mali) and Senegal, gains independence from France.
Floyd Patterson becomes the first person to regain the world heavyweight boxing championship, with a knock-out of Ingemar Johansson in New York City.
June 22 – 1960 Quebec general election: the ruling Union nationale, led by Antonio Barrette, is defeated by the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage, beginning the 'Quiet Revolution' in the historically conservative Canadian province.
June 23 – Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi announces his resignation.
June 24
Joseph Kasa-Vubu is elected as the first President of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Assassination attempt of Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt.
June 26
The State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland protectorate) receives its independence from the United Kingdom. Five days later, it unites as scheduled with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland), to form the Somali Republic.
The Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) becomes independent from France.
June 28 – King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand arrives in Washington, D.C. for a 4-day royal visit to the U.S.
June 30
The Belgian Congo receives its independence from Belgium, as the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). A civil war follows shortly.
Public demonstrations by democratic and left forces against Italian government support of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement are heavily suppressed by police.
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1960_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
Ghana becomes a republic, and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President.
Cold War: A Soviet Air Force MiG-19 fighter plane flying north of Murmansk, Russia, over the Barents Sea, shoots down a six-man RB-47 Stratojet reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force. Four of the U.S. Air Force officers are killed, and the two survivors are held prisoner in the Soviet Union.
The Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) gains its independence from Italy. Concurrently, it unites as scheduled with the five-day-old State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.
July 3 – The French Grand Prix is won by Australian Jack Brabham driving a Cooper T53.
July 4 – Following the admission of the State of Hawaii as the 50th state in August 1959, the new (and continuing) 50-star flag of the United States is first officially flown over Philadelphia.
July 10 – The Soviet Union national football team defeats the Yugoslavia national football team 2–1 in Paris to win the first UEFA European Championship.
July 11 – Congo Crisis: Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent. He requests and receives help from Belgium.
July 12 – Chin Peng is exiled from Malaysia to Thailand, and the Malayan state of emergency is lifted.
July 14 – The United Nations Security Council decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee the withdrawal of Belgian troops.
July 20 – Ceylon elects Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike as its Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government (she takes office the following day).
July 21 – English navigator Francis Chichester wins the first Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, arriving in New York aboard Gypsy Moth III having made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days.
July 25 – The Woolworth Company's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the location of a sit-in that has sparked demonstrations by Negroes across the Southern United States, serves a meal to its first black customer.
July 25–28 – In Chicago, the 1960 Republican National Convention nominates Vice President Richard Nixon as its candidate for President of the United States, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. for vice-president.
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1960_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1 – Dahomey (modern-day Benin) becomes independent from France.
August 3 – Niger becomes independent from France.
August 5 – Upper Volta (modern-day Burkina Faso) becomes independent from France.
August 6 – In the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) (later the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Albert Kalonji declares the independence of the Autonomous State of South Kasai.
August 7
The Ivory Coast becomes independent from France.
The world's first standard gauge passenger preserved railway, the Bluebell Railway, opens to the public in southern England.
August 9 – The government of Laos is overthrown in a coup.
August 11 – Chad becomes independent from France.
August 13 – Ubangi-Shari becomes independent from France, as the Central African Republic. It later becomes the Central African Empire.
August 15 – Middle Congo becomes independent from France, as the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).
August 16
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus receives its independence from the United Kingdom.
Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at an altitude of about 102,800 feet (31,300 meters). Kittinger sets world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16.0 miles (25.7 kilometers) before opening his parachute; first space dive, and fastest speed attained by a human being without mechanical or chemical assistance, about 982 k.p.h (614 m.p.h.). Kittinger survives more or less uninjured. He is also the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon, and the first man fully to witness the spherical curvature of the Earth. (Felix Baumgartner breaks his space diving record in 2012.)
August 17
Newly named English group The Beatles begin a 48-night residency at the Indra Club in Hamburg, West Germany.
Gabon becomes independent from France.
The trial of American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
August 19 – In the Soviet Union:
Cold War: American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced in Moscow to 10 years in prison for espionage.
Sputnik program: The satellite Sputnik 5 is launched, with the dogs Belka and Strelka (the Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants. This satellite returns to Earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
August 20 – Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
August 25 – The 1960 Summer Olympic Games begin in Rome.
August 29 – Hurricane Donna kills 50 people in Florida and New England.
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1960_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1
Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the United States, marking the first shutdown in the company's history (the event lasts two days).
September 2 – The first elections of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration (in exile in India) are held. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
September 5
1960 Summer Olympic Games: Muhammad Ali (at this time Cassius Clay) of the United States wins the gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing.
Congolese President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismisses Patrice Lumumba's entire government, and also places Lumumba under house arrest.
Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal.
September 6 – Martin and Mitchell defection: William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, two American cryptologists, announce their defection to the Soviet Union at a press conference in Moscow.
September 8 – In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which had been activated by NASA on July 1).
September 9 – The first regular season game in the American Football League (established as a rival league to the NFL) takes place at Boston's Nickerson Field. The Denver Broncos defeat the Boston Patriots, 13–10.
September 10 – 1960 Summer Olympic Games: Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wins the gold medal in the marathon, running barefoot in a world time, and becoming the first person from Sub-Saharan Africa to win Olympic gold.
September 14
Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Republic of the Congo via a military coup.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
September 18 – The first international Summer Paralympics open in Rome under the title "9th International Stoke Mandeville Games", the first quadrennial paralympic event outside of England.
September 21 – Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos nationalizes the country's electricity supply system.
September 22 – Mali, the sole remaining member of the "Mali Federation" (following the withdrawal of Senegal one month earlier), declares its full independence as the Republic of Mali.
September 26 – 1960 United States presidential debates: The two leading candidates in the 1960 United States presidential election, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, participate in the first live televised presidential debate.
September 29 – At the United Nations General Assembly, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev angrily interrupts British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, banging the desk and shouting in Russian. Macmillan drily says "I should like that to be translated, if I may".
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1960_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – Nigeria becomes independent from the United Kingdom, and Nnamdi Azikiwe becomes its first native-born Governor General.
October 3 – Jânio Quadros is elected President of Brazil, for a five-year term.
October 7 – Nigeria becomes the 99th member of the United Nations.
October 12 – Cold War: Shoe-banging incident – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, his way of protesting the discussion of the Soviet Union's policies toward Eastern Europe.
October 14
Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps of the United States.
The Premier of New South Wales officially opens Warragamba Dam, one of the world's largest domestic water supply dams.
October 24 – Nedelin catastrophe: A large rocket explodes on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, killing at least 92 people of the Soviet space program.
c. October 31 – Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Ten makes landfall in East Pakistan, followed by a storm surge, just three weeks after a previous storm devastated the country.
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1960_10 | Section: November (2):
November 8 – 1960 United States presidential election: In a close race, Democratic U. S. Senator John F. Kennedy is elected over Republican U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon, to become (at 43) the second youngest man to serve as President of the United States, and the youngest man elected to this position.
November 14
Belgium threatens to leave the United Nations over criticism of its policy concerning the Republic of the Congo.
Stéblová train disaster: A head-on collision between two trains in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, kills 118 people.
November 22 – The United Nations supports the government of Joseph Kasavubu and Joseph Mobutu in the Republic of the Congo.
November 26 – 1960 New Zealand general election: The National Party defeats the governing Labour Party after only three years in office. National leader Keith Holyoake becomes Prime Minister of New Zealand for a second time.
November 28 – Mauritania becomes independent of France.
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1960_11 | Section: December (2):
December – The African and Malagasy Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OAMCE – Organisation Africain et Malagache de Coopération Économique) is established.
December 1
Patrice Lumumba, deposed premier of the Republic of the Congo, is arrested by the troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu.
A Soviet satellite containing live animals (dogs Pcholka and Mushka) and plants is launched into orbit. Due to a malfunction, it burns up during re-entry.
Striking coal miners at the Miike Coal Mine in Japan return to work, ending the unprecedented 312-day-long Miike Struggle.
December 2 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1.0 million for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who have been arriving in Florida at the rate of about 1,000 per week.
December 4 – The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations is vetoed by the Soviet Union.
December 7 – The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union, in order to consider Soviet demands for the Security Council to seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
December 8 – For the first time, Mary Martin's Peter Pan is presented as a stand-alone 2-hour special on NBC television in the United States, instead of as part of an anthology series. This version, rather than being presented live, is shown on videotape, enabling NBC to repeat it as often as they wish without having to restage it. Although nearly all of the adult actors repeat their original Broadway roles, all of the original children have, ironically, outgrown their roles and are replaced by new actors.
December 9 – French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is bloodied by European and Muslim rioters in Algeria's largest cities. These riots cause 127 deaths.
December 13
1960 Ethiopian coup attempt: While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Kebur Zabagna (Imperial Bodyguard) leads a military coup against his rule, proclaiming that the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen Taffari, is the new emperor.
The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua announce the formation of the Central American Common Market.
The U.S. Navy's Commander Leroy Heath (pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (bombardier/navigator) establish a world flight-altitude record of 91,450 feet (27,870 m), with payload, in an A-5 Vigilante bomber carrying 2,200 lb (1,000 kg), and better the previous world record by over four miles (6.4 km).
December 14
Antoine Gizenga proclaims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that he has taken over as the country's premier.
The first tied test is held by the West Indian cricket team in Australia in Brisbane.
December 15
King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the democratic government in his country and takes direct control himself.
King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.
December 16
Secretary of State Christian Herter announces that the United States will commit five nuclear submarines and eighty Polaris missiles to the defense of the NATO countries by the end of 1963.
New York mid-air collision: A United Airlines DC-8 collides in mid-air with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island in New York City. All 128 passengers and crewmembers on the two airliners, and six people on the ground, are killed.
December 17 – Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia overcome the coup that began on December 13, returning the reins to the Emperor upon his return from a trip to Brazil. The Emperor absolves his own son of any guilt.
December 19 – Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, to become the U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier, while she is under construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; killing 50 workers and injuring 150.
December 23 – Hilkka Saarinen née Pylkkänen is murdered in the so-called the "oven homicide" case in Krootila, Kokemäki, Finland.
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1961_0 | 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1961st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 961st year of the 2nd millennium, the 61st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1960s decade. |
1961_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union.
January 3
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
Aero Flight 311 (Koivulahti air disaster): Douglas DC-3C OH-LCC of Finnish airline Aero crashes near Kvevlax (Koivulahti), on approach to Vaasa Airport in Finland, killing all 25 on board, due to pilot error: an investigation finds that the captain and first officer were both exhausted for lack of sleep, and had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol at the time of the crash. It remains the deadliest air disaster to occur in the country.
January 5
Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti enters the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
After the 1960 military coup, General Cemal Gürsel forms the new government of Turkey (25th government).
January 7 – Following a four-day conference in Casablanca, five African chiefs of state announce plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involves the Casablanca Group: Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.
January 8 – In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies on independence for Algeria.
January 9 – British authorities announce they have uncovered a large Soviet spy ring, the Portland spy ring, in London.
January 17
President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a "military–industrial complex."
Patrice Lumumba of the Republic of Congo is assassinated.
January 20 – John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th President of the United States.
January 23 – Congress of Venezuela adopts a new constitution (in force until 1999).
January 24 – 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash: A B-52 Stratofortress, carrying two nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
January 25
In Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has freed the two surviving crewmen from the July 1 1960 RB-47 shootdown incident involving a USAF reconnaissance airraft and a MiG-19 over the Barents Sea.
Acting to halt 'leftist excesses', a junta composed of two army officers and four civilians takes over El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for three months.
January 27 – Soviet submarine S-80 sinks in the Barents Sea, killing all 68 crew.
January 28 – Supercar, the first family sci-fi TV series filmed in Supermarionation, debuts on ATV in the UK.
January 30 – President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address.
January 31 – Ham, a 37-pound (17-kg) male chimpanzee, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury spacecraft, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.
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1961_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1 – The United States tests its first Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile.
February 4 – The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.
February 5–9 – In Congo, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu names Joseph Iléo as the new Prime Minister.
February 9 – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg, George Harrison's first appearance at the venue. On March 21 they begin regular performances here.
February 12 – The USSR launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
February 13 – The Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba.
February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.
February 15
United States President John F. Kennedy warns the Soviet Union to avoid interfering with the United Nations' pacification of the Congo.
Sabena Flight 548 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.
American soul singer Jackie Wilson is shot and seriously wounded at his Manhattan apartment by jealous girlfriend Juanita Jones (claimed publicly to be an obsessive fan).
The total solar eclipse of February 15, 1961, visible in the southern part of Europe, occurs.
February 26 – Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.
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1961_2 | Section: March (2):
March–April – Drilling for Project Mohole is undertaken off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
March 1 – United States President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
March 3 – Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.
March 8
Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth by light plane in 8 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes, setting a new world record.
The first U.S. Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch in Scotland.
March 11 – "Barbie" gets a boyfriend, when the "Ken" doll is introduced in the United States.
March 13
1961 Kurenivka mudslide: A dam bursts in Kiev, USSR, killing 145.
United States delegate to the United Nations Security Council Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese policies in Africa.
United States President John F. Kennedy proposes a long-term "Alliance for Progress", between the United States and Latin America.
Cyprus joins the Commonwealth of Nations, becoming the first small country in the Commonwealth.
Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender in the UK.
Monash University in Melbourne, Australia takes in its first students.
A second B-52 crashes near Yuba City, California, after cabin pressure is lost and the fuel runs out. Two nuclear weapons are found unexploded.
March 15
South Africa announces it will withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations, upon becoming a republic (31 May). The nation rejoins the organization in 1994.
The Union of Peoples of Angola, led by Holden Roberto, attacks strategic locations in the north of Angola. These events result in the beginning of the colonial war with Portugal.
March 18
A ceasefire takes effect in the Algerian War of Independence.
"Nous les amoureux" sung by Jean-Claude Pascal (music by Jacques Datin, lyrics by Maurice Vidalin) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 (staged in Cannes) for Luxembourg.
March 29 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.
March 30 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.
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1961_3 | Section: April (2):
April 5 – The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.
April 8 – British India Steam Navigation Company passenger ship MV Dara blows up and sinks off Dubai; 238 passengers and crew are killed.
April 10 – South African golfer Gary Player becomes the first non-American to win the Masters Tournament.
April 11 – The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
April 12
Vostok 1: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space, orbiting the Earth once before parachuting to the ground.
Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai.
April 13 – In Portugal, a coup attempt against António de Oliveira Salazar fails.
April 17
The U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins; it fails by April 19.
The 33rd Academy Awards ceremony is held in Santa Monica, California: The Apartment (1960) wins most awards, including Best Picture.
April 18 – Portugal sends its first military reinforcement to Angola.
April 20 – Fidel Castro announces that the Bay of Pigs Invasion has been defeated.
April 22 – Algiers putsch: Four French generals who oppose de Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.
April 23 – Judy Garland performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
April 24 – Swedish warship Vasa, sunk on her maiden voyage in 1628, is recovered from Stockholm Harbor.
April 27
Sierra Leone becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
President Kennedy urges newspapers to consider national interest in times of struggle against "a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy", in an address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association.
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1961_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – National Airlines Flight 337, internal to Florida, is forced by an armed hijacker to fly to Cuba, the first of a spate of such aircraft hijackings.
May 4 – U.S. Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides, to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision.
May 5 – Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space, aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.
May 6 – Tottenham Hotspur F.C. becomes the first team in the 20th century to win the English league and cup double. As of 2025, this is the last time Tottenham have won the English League.
May 8 – British intelligence officer George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying, having been found guilty of being a double agent in the pay of the Soviet Union, the longest non-life sentence ever handed down by a British court.
May 9 – In a speech on "Television and the Public Interest" to the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States, FCC chairman Newton N. Minow describes commercial television programming as a "vast wasteland".
May 14 – Civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob of Ku Klux Klan members.
May 15 – J. Heinrich Matthaei alone performs the Poly-U-Experiment, and is the first person to recognize and understand the genetic code. This is the birthdate of modern genetics.
May 16 – Park Chung Hee takes over in a military coup, in South Korea.
May 19 – Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however, the probe lost contact with Earth a month earlier, and does not send back any data).
May 21 – Civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order, after race riots break out.
May 22 – 1961 New South Wales earthquake.
May 24 – Civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace", after disembarking from their bus.
May 25 – Apollo program: U.S. President Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of Congress, his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
May 27 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya, holds a press conference in Singapore, announcing his idea to form the Federation of Malaysia, comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo (Sabah).
May 28 – Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This is later considered the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, ruler of the Dominican Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush.
May 31
In France, rebel generals Maurice Challe and Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison.
South Africa becomes a republic, and officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.
President John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle meet in Paris.
Benfica beats FC Barcelona 3–2 at Wankdorf Stadium, Bern and wins the 1960–61 European Cup in association football.
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1961_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1 – Ethiopia experiences its most devastating earthquake of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 6.7. The town of Majete is destroyed, 45% of the houses in Karakore collapse, 17 kilometers (11 mi) of the main road north of Karakore are damaged by landslides and fissures, and 5,000 inhabitants in the area are left homeless.
June 4 – Vienna summit: John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during two days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
June 12 – A patent for the body electrode invented by Richard M. Berman and Bernard Schwartz is applied for.
June 16 – Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to the West at Paris–Le Bourget Airport while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.
June 17
A Paris-to-Strasbourg train derails near Vitry-le-François; 24 are killed, 109 injured.
The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded, with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
June 19 – The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.
June 22 – Moise Tshombe is released for lack of evidence of his connection to the murder of Patrice Lumumba.
June 23 – The Antarctic Treaty comes into effect.
June 25 – Iraqi president Abd al-Karim Qasim announces his intention to annex newly independent Kuwait (such an annexation will occur in 1990).
June 27 – Kuwait requests British help against the Iraqi threat; the United Kingdom sends in troops.
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1961_6 | Section: July (2):
July 4 – Soviet submarine K-19 suffers a reactor leak in the North Atlantic.
July 5 – The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched.
July 8 – A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia leaves 108 dead.
July 12
A Czechoslovakian Ilyushin Il-18 crashes while attempting to land at Casablanca, Morocco, killing all 72 on board.
Two dams that supply water to the city of Pune in India burst, causing the death of more than 1000 residents.
July 19
Trans World Airlines becomes the first airline to show regularly scheduled movies during its flights, presenting By Love Possessed to 1st-class passengers.
Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 644, a Douglas DC-6, encounters severe turbulence not long after takeoff from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and crashes, killing all 67 on board.
July 21 – Mercury program: Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 spacecraft Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). After splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the spacecraft sinks (it is recovered in 1999).
July 25 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives a widely watched TV speech on the Berlin Crisis, warning "we will not be driven out of Berlin." Kennedy urges Americans to build fallout shelters, setting off a four-month debate on civil defense.
July 31
At Fenway Park in Boston, the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game tie occurs, when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain (the only tie until 2002).
Ireland submits the first application from a non-founding country to join the European Economic Community.
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1961_7 | Section: August (2):
August – The United States founds the Alliance for Progress.
August 1 – The Six Flags Over Texas theme park officially opens to the public.
August 6 – Vostok 2: Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov becomes the second human to orbit the Earth, and the first to be in outer space for more than one day.
August 7 – Vostok 2 lands in the Soviet Union.
August 10 – The United Kingdom applies for membership in the European Economic Community.
August 11 – An annular solar eclipse is visible from the Southern Ocean.
August 13 – Berlin Crisis of 1961: Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin, and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. On August 22 Ida Siekmann jumps from a window in her tenement building trying to flee to the West, becoming the first of at least 138 deaths at the Wall.
August 21 – Jomo Kenyatta is released from prison in Kenya.
August 25 – João Goulart replaces Jânio Quadros as President of Brazil (he is ousted in 1964).
August 29 – A French military aircraft clips a cable of the aerial tramway connecting Pointe Helbronner and the Aiguille du Midi in the French Alps. Three cars of the tramway fall, killing five people, but the remaining 63 cable car passengers are rescued and the pilot lands his plane safely.
August 30 – The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness is signed at the United Nations in New York, coming into effect December 13, 1975.
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1961_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1
The Eritrean War of Independence begins with the Battle of Adal in which Hamid Idris Awate and his companions shoot at Ethiopian police and military. The war will continue until 1991.
The first meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement is held. The Soviet Union resumes nuclear testing, escalating fears over the ongoing Berlin Crisis.
September 7 – Tom and Jerry make a return with their first cartoon short since 1958, Switchin' Kitten. The new creator, Gene Deitch, makes 12 more Tom and Jerry shorts through 1962.
September 10 – During the F1 Italian Grand Prix on the circuit of Monza, German Wolfgang von Trips, driving a Ferrari, crashes into a stand, killing 14 spectators and himself.
September 12 – The African and Malagasy Union is founded.
September 14
The new military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death.
The religious Focolare Movement opens its first North American center in New York (state).
September 17
Military rulers in Turkey hang former prime minister Adnan Menderes, together with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and former Minister of Finance Hasan Polatkan.
London police arrest over 1,300 protesters in Trafalgar Square during a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally.
The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
September 18 – 1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash: Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.
September 19 – An American couple, Barney and Betty Hill, claimed that they saw a UFO as they were returning from a trip to Canada through New Hampshire where they lived. They later claimed that they were abducted by aliens, among the first claimants of such an abduction.
September 21 – In France, the Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS) slips an anti-de Gaulle message into TV programming.
September 24
The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is returned to its newly rebuilt house, as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
In the U.S., the Walt Disney anthology television series, renamed Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, moves from ABC to NBC after seven years on the air, and begins telecasting its programs in color for the first time. Years later, after Disney's death, the still-on-the-air program will be renamed The Wonderful World of Disney.
September 28 – 1961 Syrian coup d'état: A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
September 30 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is formed to replace the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC).
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1961_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1
Unification Day (Cameroon): The formerly British Southern Cameroons gains independence from the United Kingdom by vote of the UN General Assembly and joins with formerly French Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, setting a new record for the longer baseball season. The record for the shorter season is still held by Babe Ruth.
October 5 – Breakfast at Tiffany's (film) is theatrically released by Paramount Pictures, to critical and commercial success.
October 10 – A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha causes the whole population to be evacuated to Britain, where they will remain until 1963.
October 12 – The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand.
October 17 – Paris massacre of 1961: French police in Paris attack about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. The official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.
October 18 – West Side Story is released as a film in the United States.
October 19 – The Arab League takes over protecting Kuwait; the last British troops leave.
October 25 – The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published.
October 26 – Cemal Gürsel becomes the fourth president of Turkey (his former title is head of state and government; he is elected as president by constitutional referendum).
October 27
An armistice begins in Katanga, Congo.
Mongolia and Mauritania join the United Nations.
Berlin Crisis: Confrontation at Checkpoint Charlie – A standoff between Soviet and American tanks in Berlin, Germany, heightens Cold War tensions.
Fahrettin Özdilek becomes the acting prime minister of Turkey.
October 29
DZBB-TV Channel 7, the Philippines' third TV station, is launched.
Devrim, the first ever car designed and produced in Turkey, is released. The project has been completed in only 130 days almost from scratch, a period including decision on the project, research, design, development and production of four vehicles.
October 30
Nuclear weapons testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58-megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba, over Novaya Zemlya (it remains the largest ever man-made explosion).
The Note Crisis: The Soviet Union issues a diplomatic note to Finland, proposing military co-operation.
October 31
Hurricane Hattie devastates Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan.
Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow.
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1961_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1
The Hungry generation Movement is launched in Calcutta, India.
The U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission's federal order banning segregation at all interstate public facilities officially comes into effect.
November 2 – Kean opens at Broadway Theater in New York City for 92 performances.
November 3 – The United Nations General Assembly unanimously elects Burmese diplomat U Thant to the position of acting Secretary-General.
November 6 – The US government issues a stamp honoring the 100th birthday of James Naismith.
November 8
Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 crashes while attempting to land at Richmond, Virginia, killing 77 people on board.
KVN, Russia's longest running TV show, airs for the first time on Soviet television.
November 9 – Robert White records a world air speed record of 4,093 mph (6,587 km/h), in an X-15.
November 10 – Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is first published, in the US.
November 11
Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations pilots.
Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd.
November 14 – The Yves Saint Laurent luxury fashion brand is founded in Rue La Boetie, Paris (France), by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé.
November 17 – Michael Rockefeller, son of Governor of New York and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea.
November 18 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 "military advisors" to South Vietnam.
November 19 – Rebellion of the Pilots: A military uprising overthrows the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic.
November 20 – İsmet İnönü of the CHP forms the new government of Turkey (26th government, first coalition in Turkey, partner AP).
November 21 – The "La Ronde" opens in Honolulu, the first revolving restaurant in the United States.
November 24 – The World Food Programme (WFP) is formed as a temporary United Nations program.
November 30 – The Soviet Union vetoes Kuwait's application for United Nations membership.
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1962_0 | 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1962nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 962nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 62nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1960s decade. |
1962_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
January 3 – The office of Pope John XXIII announces the excommunication of Fidel Castro for preaching communism and interfering with Catholic churches in Cuba.
January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the worst Dutch rail disaster.
January 9 – Cuba and the Soviet Union sign a trade pact.
January 12 – The Indonesian Army confirms that it has begun operations in West Irian.
January 13 – Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China.
January 15
Portugal abandons the United Nations General Assembly due to the debate over Angola.
French designer Yves Saint Laurent launches his own fashion house.
January 16 – A military coup occurs in the Dominican Republic.
January 19 – A counter-coup occurs in the Dominican Republic; the old government returns, except for the new president Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly.
January 22 – The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership; the suspension is lifted in 2009 (47 years later).
January 24 – The Organisation armée secrète (OAS, a right-wing paramilitary organisation opposed to Algerian independence) bombs the French Foreign Ministry.
January 26 – U.S. spacecraft Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon; it later misses the Moon by 22,000 mi (35,000 km).
January 27 – The Soviet government changes all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgy Malenkov.
January 30 – Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed when their famous seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit.
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1962_1 | Section: February (2):
February 3 – A United States embargo against Cuba is announced.
February 4 – First successful winter ascent of the Matterhorn's north face, by Hilti von Allmen and Paul Etter, is completed.
February 4–5 – During a new moon and solar eclipse, an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurs (it includes all five of the naked-eye planets plus the Sun and Moon), all of them within 16° of one another on the ecliptic. The total solar eclipse of February 5, 1962 is visible in Asia, Australia and the Pacific Ocean, and is the 49th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
February 5 – President of France Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
February 7
The United States embargo against Cuba comes into effect, prohibiting all U.S.-related Cuban imports and exports.
Luisenthal Mine Disaster: A coal mine explosion in Saarland, West Germany kills 299.
February 10 – Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, in Berlin.
February 11 – The inaugural 24 Hours of Daytona sports car endurance race is run as a 3-hour event, at Daytona Beach, Florida.
February 12 – Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the U.K. are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
February 14 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
February 15 – Urho Kekkonen is re-elected president of Finland.
February 17 – Heavy storms and high tides result in the North Sea flood of 1962 on Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die and thousands lose their homes.
February 18 – 1962 NHRA Winternationals: Carol Cox becomes the first woman allowed to race at a National Hot Rod Association national event in the United States; she wins in the Super Stock class.
February 20 – Project Mercury: Aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
February 21 – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first dance together in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle, in London.
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1962_2 | Section: March (2):
March–May – Yi–Ta incident: At least 60,000 Chinese citizens migrate from the People's Republic of China to the Soviet Union, predominantly (but not exclusively) ethnic Kazakhs.
March 1 – In the United States:
American Airlines Flight 1 (a Boeing 707) crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll, resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all 95 on board.
Hulk, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, is introduced by Marvel Comics with the publication of The Incredible Hulk #1 as the first issue of the comic book, with cover date of May 1962.
The S. S. Kresge Company opens its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan.
March 2 – A military coup in Burma brings General Ne Win to power.
March 7 – Ash Wednesday Storm: A snow storm batters the Mid-Atlantic.
March 8–12 – In Geneva, France and the Algerian FLN begin negotiations.
March 15 – Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin the Congo.
March 16 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation chartered by the United States Military Air Transport Service, and carrying mainly United States Army personnel bound for South Vietnam, vanishes over the western Pacific Ocean, with the loss of all 107 on board (no wreckage or bodies are ever found).
March 18
Évian Accords: France and Algeria sign an agreement in Évian-les-Bains, ending the Algerian War.
"Un premier amour", sung by Isabelle Aubret (music by Claude-Henri Vic, lyrics by Roland Stephane Valade), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 (staged in Luxembourg) for France.
March 19 – An armistice begins in Algeria; however, the OAS continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians.
March 23 – The Scandinavian States of the Nordic Council sign the Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation.
March 24 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is arrested in Oran.
March 26 – France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18.
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1962_3 | Section: April (2):
April 3 – Jawaharlal Nehru is elected de facto Prime Minister of India, for the fourth time.
April 6 – Belgium reestablishes diplomatic relations with the Congo.
April 7 – Milovan Đilas, author and former vice-president of Yugoslavia is re-arrested.
April 8 – In France, the Évian Accords are adopted in a referendum, with a majority of 90%.
April 9 – The 34th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in the United States; West Side Story wins Best Picture.
April 13 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is sentenced to death in France.
April 14 – A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers.
April 18 – The Commonwealth Immigrants Act in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, requiring proof of employment in the U.K. This comes into effect on 1 July.
April 20 – OAS leader Raoul Salan is arrested in Algiers.
April 21 – The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair opens in Seattle, United States.
April 26 – The U.S. Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the far side of the Moon without returning any scientific data.
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1962_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1
Norwich City F.C. wins the English Football League Cup, beating Rochdale in the final.
Dayton Hudson Corporation opens the first of its Target discount stores, in Roseville, Minnesota.
May 2
An OAS bomb explodes in Algeria; this and other attacks kill 110 and injure 147.
S.L. Benfica beats Real Madrid 5–3 at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam to win the 1961–62 European Cup in association football.
May 3 – Mikawashima train crash: 160 die in a triple-train disaster near Tokyo.
May 5 – Twelve East Germans escape to the West via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
May 6
Antonio Segni is elected President of the Italian Republic.
A test of a W47 warhead fired from a Polaris missile – the only time a nuclear missile has been test fired with its warhead detonated – occurs near Palmyra Atoll south of Hawaii.
May 14
Juan Carlos of Spain marries the Greek Princess Sophia in Athens.
Milovan Đilas is given a further sentence in Yugoslavia, for publishing Conversations with Stalin.
May 22 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes near Unionville, Missouri, after the in-flight detonation of a bomb near the rear lavatory in a suicide bombing committed as insurance fraud; all 45 passengers and crew aboard are killed.
May 23
Drilling for the new Montreal Subway commences.
Raoul Salan, founder of the French terrorist Organisation armée secrète, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France.
Ruben Jaramillo, Mexican peasant leader, and his wife and children, are gunned down by the Mexican army and federal police in Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico.
May 24 – Project Mercury: Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times, in the U.S. Aurora 7 space capsule.
May 25 – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated in England. On 30 May, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is premiered here.
May 29 – Negotiations between the OAS and the FLA lead to a real armistice in Algeria.
May 30 – The 1962 FIFA World Cup begins in Chile.
May 31 – The British West Indies Federation is officially wound up (under terms of the U.K. West Indies Act of 18 April) due to internal dissention.
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1962_5 | Section: June (2):
June – Rachel Carson's Silent Spring begins serialization in The New Yorker; it is released as a book on September 27 in the U.S., giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement.
June 3 – Air France Flight 007 (a Boeing 707) crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 people on board are killed, 2 flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta.
June 5 – Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, is introduced by Marvel Comics with the publication of Amazing Fantasy #15 with a cover date of August.
June 11 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at Yale University.
June 12 – Alcatraz escape attempt: Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin escape from the Alcatraz Island prison in the United States; it is never confirmed that they make it ashore.
June 15 – Students for a Democratic Society in the United States complete the Port Huron Statement.
June 17
The OAS signs a truce with the FLN in Algeria, but a day later announces that it will continue the fight on behalf of French Algerians.
Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3–1, to win the 1962 FIFA World Cup.
June 22 – Air France Flight 117 (a Boeing 707 jet) crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe in the West Indies, killing all 113 on board, the airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks, and the third fatal 707 crash of the year.
June 25
Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
MANual Enterprises v. Day: The United States Supreme Court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines.
İsmet İnönü of the CHP forms the new government of Turkey (27th government, coalition partners; YTP and CKMP).
June 26 – A 2-day steel strike begins in Italy in support of increased wages and a five-day working week.
June 30 – The last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria.
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1962_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
Rwanda and Burundi gain full independence from Belgium.
1962 Algerian independence referendum in French Algeria: Supporters of Algerian independence win a 99% majority in a referendum.
A heavy smog develops over London.
The Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation of March 23 comes into force in the Nordic countries.
July 2
Charles de Gaulle accepts Algerian independence; the French government recognizes it the next day.
The first Walmart retail store, at this time known as Wal-Mart, is opened for business by brothers Sam and James "Bud" Walton in Rogers, Arkansas.
July 5 – Algeria becomes independent from France.
July 6 – Gay Byrne presents the first edition of The Late Late Show on RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland. Byrne goes on to present the show for 37 years, the longest period through which any individual hosts a televised talk show anywhere in the world, and the show itself becomes the world's second longest-running talk show.
July 9 – American artist Andy Warhol premieres his Campbell's Soup Cans exhibit in Los Angeles.
July 10 – AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit and activated the next day.
July 12 – The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, opening for Long John Baldry.
July 13 – In what the press dubs the "Night of the Long Knives", United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet.
July 14 – Norma Nolan of Argentina is crowned Miss Universe 1962.
July 17 – Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation, at the Nevada Test Site.
July 19 – The first annual Swiss & Wielder Hoop and Stick Tournament is held.
July 20 – France and Tunisia reestablish diplomatic relations.
July 22 – Mariner program: The U.S. Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
July 23 – Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.
July 25
The first attack helicopter company, Utility Tactical Transport Helicopter Company, of the United States Army is formed on Okinawa Island, Japan.
The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed in Geneva.
July 30 – Trans-Canada Highway officially opens throughout the 4,645-mile (7,475 km) between St. John's, Newfoundland, and Victoria, British Columbia, by completion of the Rogers Pass section, making it at this time the world's longest uninterrupted highway.
July 31
Algeria proclaims independence; Ahmed Ben Bella is the first President.
A crowd assaults a rally of Sir Oswald Mosley's right-wing Union Movement in London.
Solar eclipse of July 31, 1962: An annular solar eclipse is visible in South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and the Indian Ocean, and is the 36th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 135.
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1962_7 | Section: August (2):
"Sherry" by the Four Seasons was released, their first number one hit!
August 5
Death of Marilyn Monroe: Actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead aged 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills and chloral hydrate at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles; it is officially ruled a "probable suicide" (the exact cause has been disputed).
Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is arrested by the South African government near Howick, and charged with incitement to rebellion. On November 7, he is sentenced to imprisonment.
August 6 – The Caribbean island of Jamaica becomes independent of the U.K.
August 11 – King Kong vs. Godzilla is released in Japan, becoming the first Godzilla and King Kong film in colour. It also becomes the 3rd film in both franchises.
August 13 – First successful ascent of the Matterhorn's west face, by Renato Daguin and Giovanni Ottin.
August 15 – The New York Agreement is signed, transferring the Dutch West New Guinea colony to Indonesia.
August 16 – Algeria joins the Arab League.
August 17 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin, leading to mass protests on the Western side.
August 18 – Norway launches its 1st sounding rocket, Ferdinand 1, from Andøya Space Center and becomes a space nation.
August 22 – An assassination attempt is made against French President Charles de Gaulle by machine-gunning his car in the Paris suburbs. The mastermind, Jean Bastien-Thiry, will later be executed.
August 24
A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat.
Indonesia officially launches television with the establishment of TVRI television network or Televisi Republik Indonesia (Indonesian National Channel), broadcasting the opening of the 1962 Asian Games.
August 27 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.
August 31 – The Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes fully independent of the U.K.
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1962_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1
A referendum in Singapore supports the Malayan Federation.
Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, killing at least 130 and injuring more than 600.
September 2 – The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba.
September 8 – Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a constitution.
September 12 – President John F. Kennedy, in his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.
September 19 – Atlantic College opens its doors for the first time in Wales, marking the birth of the pioneering United World College educational movement.
September 22 – Bob Dylan premieres his song "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
September 23 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 923, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation registered as N6923C, ditched into the Atlantic Ocean killing 28 occupants out the 76 onboard. The remaining 48 were rescued six hours later.
September 25 – Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson two minutes into the first round of his fight for the boxing world title in Chicago.
September 26 – The North Yemen Civil War erupts.
September 27 – A flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, kills more than 440 people.
September 29 – The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
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1962_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – In the United States:
The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals to protect him from official obstruction and violent segregationalist protest, the "Ole Miss riot of 1962".
Johnny Carson takes over as permanent host of NBC's The Tonight Show on television, a post he will hold for 30 years.
October 3 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Atlas 8 – U.S. astronaut Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times, in the Sigma 7 space capsule.
October 5
The French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate; Prime Minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office.
The Beatles' first single in their own right, "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You", is released in the U.K. on EMI's Parlophone label. This version was recorded on September 4, at Abbey Road Studios in London, with Ringo Starr as drummer.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premieres at the London Pavilion, featuring Sean Connery as the hero.
October 8
Spiegel affair: German magazine Der Spiegel publishes an article revealing NATO criticism of the Bundeswehr (West German defence forces)' poor preparedness; a political scandal erupts.
Algeria is accepted into the United Nations.
October 9 – Uganda becomes independent of the U.K. within the Commonwealth of Nations.
October 11 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
October 16 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins when U.S. President Kennedy is told of photographs (taken from U-2 flights) showing Soviet nuclear weapon installations being constructed on Cuba in the Caribbean. A stand-off ensues for 12 days between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.
October 20 – The Sino-Indian War, a border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (India and the People's Republic of China), erupts into fighting.
October 22
Cuban Missile Crisis: In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba and the U.S. naval blockade of the island.
John Vassall, a former clerical officer in British naval intelligence, is sentenced to 18 years imprisonment after admitting to passing secret material to the Soviet Union.
October 24 – Cuban Missile Crisis: The first confrontation occurs between the U.S. Navy and a Soviet cargo vessel; the vessel changes course.
October 26 – Spiegel affair: German police occupy the offices of Der Spiegel in Hamburg.
October 27 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Vasily Arkhipov, executive officer of Soviet submarine B-59, refuses to launch nuclear torpedoes against the U.S. Navy. This event is widely regarded as crucial in averting a worldwide nuclear war.
October 28
Cuban Missile Crisis ends: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. In a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, Kennedy agrees to the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. The fact that this deal is not made public makes it look as though the Soviets have backed down.
A referendum in France favors the election of the president by universal suffrage.
October 31 – The United Nations General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), but it comes into effect on November 1.
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1962_10 | Section: November (2):
November
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Russian: Оди́н день Ива́на Дени́совича, Odin den' Ivana Denisovicha), the author's pseudo-autobiographical account of life in the gulag, is published in Novy Mir, in an unprecedented acknowledgement of the Soviet Union's Stalinist past.
Slavery in Saudi Arabia is abolished.
November 1
The Soviet Union begins dismantling its missiles in Cuba.
The comic book antihero Diabolik first appears in Italy.
November 2 – Greville Wynne, a British trader acting as a courier for MI6, is arrested by the KGB in Budapest and imprisoned in Moscow after confessing to espionage.
November 3 – Earliest recorded use of the term "personal computer", in the report of a speech by computing pioneer John Mauchly in The New York Times.
November 5
West German defense minister Franz Josef Strauß is relieved of his duties over the Spiegel affair due to his alleged involvement in police action against the magazine.
Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt following a period of unrest, partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt.
A coal mining disaster in Ny-Ålesund kills 21 people; the Norwegian government is forced to resign in the aftermath of this accident, in August 1963.
November 6 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.
November 17 – Dulles International Airport, in Washington, D.C., is dedicated by President John F. Kennedy.
November 20 – Cuban Missile Crisis: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, President John F. Kennedy ends the blockade of the island.
November 21 – The Sino-Indian War ends with a Chinese ceasefire.
November 23 – United Air Lines Flight 297 crashes in Columbia, Maryland due to a bird strike, killing all 17 on board.
November 24 – The first episode of That Was the Week That Was, the groundbreaking satirical comedy program hosted by David Frost, is broadcast on BBC Television in the United Kingdom.
November 26
Spiegel affair: German police end their occupation of the offices of Der Spiegel.
Mies Bouwman starts presenting the first live TV-marathon fundraising show (Open Het Dorp in the Netherlands), which lasts 23 hours non-stop.
November 27 – French President Charles De Gaulle orders Georges Pompidou to form a government.
November 29 – An agreement is signed between Britain and France, to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner.
November 30 – The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma, as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations.
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1963_0 | 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1963rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 963rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 63rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1960s decade. |
1963_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove River, Sydney, Australia.
January 2 – Vietnam War – Battle of Ap Bac: The Viet Cong win their first major victory.
January 9 – A total penumbral lunar eclipse is visible in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, and is the 56th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 114. Gamma has a value of −1.01282. It occurs on the night between Wednesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 10, 1963.
January 13 – 1963 Togolese coup d'état: A military coup in Togo results in the installation of coup leader Emmanuel Bodjollé as president.
January 17 – A last quarter moon occurs between the penumbral lunar eclipse and the annular solar eclipse, only 12 hours, 29 minutes after apogee.
January 19 – Soviet spy Gheorghe Pintilie is removed from his position as Deputy Interior Minister of the Romanian People's Republic, as a step in ensuring Romania's political independence; the Workers' Party Politburo discusses way of neutralizing "Soviet intelligence networks [...] which Gheorghe Pintilie had coordinated."
January 22 – France and West Germany sign the Élysée Treaty.
January 25 – A large annular solar eclipse covers 99.5% of the Sun and a narrow path (at most 19.6 km (12.2 mi)). It is visible in Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Madagascar, and is the 26th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 140. Gamma has a value of -0.48984.
January 26 – The Australia Day shootings rock Perth; 2 people are shot dead and 3 others injured by Eric Edgar Cooke.
January 29 – French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes the United Kingdom's entry into the European Common Market.
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1963_1 | Section: February (2):
February 5 – The European Court of Justice's ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the basic tenets of European Union law.
February 8 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.
February 10 – Five Japanese cities located on the northernmost part of Kyūshū are merged and become the city of Kitakyūshū, with a population of more than 1 million.
February 12 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 crashes in the Florida Everglades, killing all 43 aboard.
February 14 – Harold Wilson becomes leader of the opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom; in October 1964 he becomes prime minister.
February 21 – The 5.6 Mw Marj earthquake affects northern Libya with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 290–375 deaths and 375–500 injuries.
February 27 – Juan Bosch takes office as the 41st president of the Dominican Republic.
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1963_2 | Section: March (2):
March 4 – In Paris, six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle pardons five, but the other conspirator, Jean Bastien-Thiry, is executed by firing squad several days later.
March 5 – Country music star Patsy Cline is killed in a plane crash along with country performers Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and manager Randy Hughes, during a flight from Kansas City, Missouri, back to Nashville.
March 17 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali, killing approximately 1,500.
March 23 – "Dansevise" by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann (music by Otto Francker, text by Sejr Volmer-Sørensen) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 (staged in London) for Denmark.
March 30 – Indigenous Australians are legally allowed to drink alcohol in New South Wales.
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1963_3 | Section: April (2):
April 7 – Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a socialist republic, and Josip Broz Tito is named President for Life.
April 8 – The 35th Academy Awards ceremony is held. Lawrence of Arabia wins Best Picture.
April 10 – The U.S. nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 mi (190 nmi; 350 km) east of Cape Cod; all 129 aboard (112 crewmen plus yard personnel) die.
April 11 – Pope John XXIII issues his final encyclical, Pacem in terris, entitled On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty, the first papal encyclical addressed to "all men of good will", rather than to Roman Catholics only.
April 12 – The Soviet nuclear powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish Straits. Although severely damaged, both vessels make it to port.
April 14 – The Institute of Mental Health (Belgrade) is established.
April 16 – Martin Luther King, Jr. issues his "Letter from Birmingham Jail".
April 20 – In Quebec, Canada, members of the terrorist group Front de libération du Québec bomb a Canadian Army recruitment center, killing night watchman Wilfred V. O'Neill.
April 21–23 – The first election of the Supreme Institution of the Baháʼí Faith (known as the Universal House of Justice, whose seat is at the Baháʼí World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel) is held.
April 22 – Lester Bowles Pearson becomes the 14th Prime Minister of Canada.
April 28 – 1963 general election is held in Italy.
April 29 – Buddy Rogers becomes the first WWWF Champion.
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1963_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – The Coca-Cola Company introduces its first diet drink, Tab cola.
May 2 – Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a 3-stage rocket with a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 km (62 mi) (the only sounding rocket developed in Germany).
May 4 – The Le Monde Theater fire in Dioirbel, Senegal, kills 64 people.
May 8 – Huế Phật Đản shootings: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam opens fire on Buddhists who defy a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha, killing 9. Earlier, President Ngô Đình Diệm allowed the flying of the Vatican flag in honour of his brother, Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục, triggering the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam.
May 13 – A smallpox outbreak hits Stockholm, Sweden, lasting until July.
May 14 – Kuwait becomes the 111th member of the United Nations.
May 15 – Project Mercury: NASA launches Gordon Cooper on Mercury-Atlas 9, the last Mercury mission (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb tells Congress the program is complete).
May 22 – A.C. Milan beats Benfica 2–1 at Wembley Stadium, London and wins the 1962–63 European Cup (football).
May 23 – Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union.
May 25 – The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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1963_5 | Section: June (2):
June 3 – Huế chemical attacks: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam rains liquid chemicals on the heads of Buddhist protestors, injuring 67 people. The United States threatens to cut off aid to the regime of Ngô Đình Diệm.
June 4 – President of the United States John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 11110, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to continue issuing silver certificates.
June 5 – The first annual National Hockey League Entry Draft is held in Montreal, Canada.
June 11 – In Saigon, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức commits self-immolation to protest the oppression of Buddhists by Ngô Đình Diệm’s government.
June 13
The cancellation of Mercury-Atlas 10 effectively ends the United States' manned spaceflight Project Mercury.
The New York Commodity Exchange begins trading silver futures contracts.
June 15 – The AC Cobra makes its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It will go on to win its class the following year.
June 16 – Vostok 6 carries Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman into space.
June 17 – In Abington School District v. Schempp, the US Supreme Court ruled that compulsory prayer and Bible-reading violated the First Amendment.
June 19 – Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space, returns to Earth, landing in the Soviet Union.
June 20
Establishment of the Moscow–Washington hotline (officially, the Direct Communications Link or DCL; unofficially, the "red telephone"; and in fact a teleprinter link) is authorized by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Geneva by representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States.
Swedish Air Force Colonel Stig Wennerström is arrested as a spy for the Soviet Union.
War film The Great Escape (starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough) is premiered in London.
June 21 – Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) succeeds Pope John XXIII as the 262nd pope.
June 26
John F. Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in West Berlin, Germany.
David Ben-Gurion is replaced by Levi Eshkol as prime minister of Israel.
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1963_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1 – ZIP codes are introduced by the United States Postal Service.
July 5 – Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassy level.
July 7 – Double Seven Day scuffle: Secret police loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, attack American journalists including Peter Arnett and David Halberstam at a demonstration during the Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam.
July 11 – South Africa: police raid Liliesleaf Farm to the north of Johannesburg, arresting a group of African National Congress leaders.
July 19 – American test pilot Joe Walker, flying the X-15, reaches an altitude of 65.8 miles (105.9 kilometers), making it a sub-orbital spaceflight by recognized international standards.
July 26
An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia) leaves 1,800 dead.
NASA launches Syncom 2, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite.
July 30 – The Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that British diplomat and double agent Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow.
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1963_7 | Section: August (2):
August 5 – The United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
August 8 – The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England.
August 14 – A huge and devastating forest fire hits the region around Paraná State, Brazil. According to government documents, two million hectares (4.94 million acres) are lost to burning and 110 persons perished.
August 15 – Trois Glorieuses: President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of Congo after a three-day uprising in the capital, Brazzaville.
August 21 – Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, vandalise Buddhist pagodas across South Vietnam, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead. In the wake of the raids, the Kennedy administration by Cable 243 orders the United States Embassy, Saigon to explore alternative leadership in the country, opening the way towards a coup against Diệm.
August 22 – American test pilot Joe Walker again achieves a sub-orbital spaceflight according to international standards, this time by piloting the X-15 to an altitude of 67.0 miles (107.8 kilometers).
August 24 – First games played in the Bundesliga, the primary professional Association football league in West Germany, replacing the Oberliga.
August 28 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It is, at that point, the single largest protest in American history.
August 30 – The Moscow–Washington hotline (a direct teleprinter link) is inaugurated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
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1963_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – Establishment of language areas and facilities in Belgium comes into effect. This will become the foundation for further state reform in Belgium.
September 6 – The Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
September 10 – Sicilian Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano is indicted for murder (he is captured 43 years later, on April 11, 2006).
September 15 – American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in Birmingham, Alabama, kills 4 and injures 22.
September 16 – Malaysia is formed through the merging of the Federation of Malaya and the British crown colony of Singapore, North Borneo (renamed Sabah) and Sarawak.
September 18 – Rioters burn down the British Embassy in Jakarta, to protest the formation of Malaysia.
September 19 – Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is founded at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland
September 23 – King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals is established by a Saudi Royal Decree as the College of Petroleum and Minerals.
September 24 – The United States Senate ratifies the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
September 25 – In the Dominican Republic, Juan Bosch is deposed by a coup d'état led by the military with civilian support.
September 29 – The second period of the Second Vatican Council in Rome opens.
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1963_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy toasts Emperor Haile Selassie at a luncheon in Rockville, Maryland.
October 2
Nigeria becomes a republic; The 1st Republican Constitution is established.
The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women in the United States issues its final reports to President Kennedy.
October 3 – 1963 Honduran coup d'état: A violent coup in Honduras pre-empts the October 13 election, ends a period of reform under President Ramón Villeda Morales and begins two decades of military rule under General Oswaldo López Arellano.
October 4 – Hurricane Flora, one of the worst Atlantic storms in history, hits Hispaniola and Cuba, killing nearly 7,000 people.
October 7 – Buddhist crisis: Amid worsening relations, outspoken South Vietnamese First Lady Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu arrives in the US for a speaking tour, continuing a flurry of attacks on the Kennedy administration.
October 9 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
October 10 – Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed on August 5, takes effect.
October 14 – A revolution starts in Radfan, South Yemen, against British colonial rule.
October 16 – Ludwig Erhard replaces Konrad Adenauer as Chancellor of West Germany.
October 19 – Alec Douglas-Home succeeds Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
October 24 – Fire at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome in an R-9 Desna underground missile silo; seven people are killed.
October 30 – The car manufacturing firm Lamborghini is founded in Italy.
October 31 – 1963 Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum gas explosion: 81 die in a gas explosion during a Holiday on Ice show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis, United States.
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1963_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1 – Arecibo Observatory, a radio telescope, officially begins operation in Puerto Rico.
November 2 – 1963 South Vietnamese coup: Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the South Vietnamese President.
November 6 – 1963 South Vietnamese coup: Coup leader General Dương Văn Minh takes over as leader of South Vietnam.
November 7
11 German miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days in what becomes known as the "Wunder von Lengede" ("miracle of Lengede").
The star-studded movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World premieres in Los Angeles.
November 8 – Finnair aircraft OH-LCA crashes before landing at Mariehamn Airport on Åland.
November 9 – Two disasters in Japan:
Miike coal mine explosion: A coal mine explosion kills 458 and sends 839 carbon monoxide poisoning victims to the hospital.
Tsurumi rail accident: A triple train disaster in Yokohama kills 161.
November 10 – Malcolm X makes an historic speech in Detroit, Michigan ("Message to the Grass Roots").
November 14 – A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey.
November 22 – Assassination of John F. Kennedy: In a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, U.S. President John F. Kennedy is fatally shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, and Governor of Texas John Connally is seriously wounded at 12:30 CST. Upon Kennedy's death, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the 36th president of the United States. A few hours later, President Johnson is sworn in aboard Air Force One, as Kennedy's body is flown back to Washington, D.C. Stores and businesses shut down for the next four days, in tribute.
November 23
The Golden Age Nursing Home fire kills 63 elderly people near Fitchville, Ohio, United States.
The long-running sci-fi television series Doctor Who premieres on BBC TV in the United Kingdom.
November 24
Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy, is shot dead by Jack Ruby in Dallas, an event seen on live national television.
Vietnam War: New U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically.
November 25 – State funeral of John F. Kennedy: President Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Schools around the nation cancel classes that day; millions watch the funeral on live international television. Lee Harvey Oswald's funeral takes place on the same day.
November 29
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831, a Douglas DC-8 crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval International Airport near Montreal, killing all 118 on board, the worst air disaster for many years in Canada's history.
Foundation stone for Mirzapur Cadet College is laid in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).
November 30 – 1963 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with an increased majority to an unprecedented eighth term in office, defeating the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell. (This would be the final lower house election won by Menzies, who would retire from office during the term as the longest-serving Prime Minister in Australian history; he would be replaced by Harold Holt.)
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1963_11 | Section: December (2):
December 3 – The Warren Commission begins its investigation into the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.
December 4 – The second period of the Second Vatican Council closes.
December 5 – The Seliger Forschungs-und-Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH demonstrates rockets for military use to military representatives of non-NATO-countries near Cuxhaven. Although these rockets land via parachute at the end of their flight and no allied laws are violated, the Soviet Union protests this action.
December 7 – The first instant replay system to use videotape instead of film is used by Tony Verna, a CBS-TV director, during a live televised sporting event, the Army–Navy Game of college football played in Philadelphia, United States.
December 8 – A lightning strike causes the crash of Pan Am Flight 214 near Elkton, Maryland, United States, killing 81 people.
December 10
Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom, as a constitutional monarchy under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.
Chuck Yeager narrowly escapes death while testing an NF-104A rocket-augmented aerospace trainer when his aircraft goes out of control at 108,700 feet (nearly 21 miles up) and crashes. He parachutes to safety at 8,500 feet after vainly battling to gain control of the powerless, rapidly falling craft. In this incident he becomes the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights.
December 12 – Kenya gains independence from the United Kingdom, with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister.
December 20 – The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials begin.
December 21 – Cyprus Emergency: Inter-communal fighting erupts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
December 22 – The cruise ship TSMS Lakonia burns 180 miles (290 km) north of Madeira, with the loss of 128 lives.
December 25 – İsmet İnönü of the Republican People's Party (CHP) forms the new government of Turkey (28th government, coalition partners; independents, İnönü has served ten times as a prime minister, this is his last government).
December 31 – Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolves.
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1964_0 | 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1964th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 964th year of the 2nd millennium, the 64th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1960s decade. |
1964_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople meet in Jerusalem.
January 6 – A British firm, the Leyland Motor Corp., announces the sale of 450 buses to the Cuban government, challenging the United States blockade of Cuba.
January 9 – Martyrs' Day: Armed clashes between United States troops and Panamanian civilians in the Panama Canal Zone precipitate a major international crisis, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and 4 U.S. soldiers.
January 11 – United States Surgeon General Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health (the first such statement from the U.S. government).
January 22 – Kenneth Kaunda is inaugurated as the first Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia.
January 28 – A U.S. Air Force jet training aircraft that strays into East Germany is shot down by Soviet fighters near Erfurt; all three crewmen are killed.
January 29–February 9 – The 1964 Winter Olympics are held in Innsbruck, Austria.
January 29
The Soviet Union launches two scientific satellites, Elektron I and II, from a single rocket.
Ranger 6 is launched by the US space agency NASA, on a mission to carry television cameras and crash-land on the Moon.
January 30 – General Nguyễn Khánh leads a bloodless military coup d'état, replacing Dương Văn Minh as Prime Minister of South Vietnam.
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1964_1 | Section: February (2):
February 4 – The Government of the United States authorizes the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, outlawing the poll tax.
February 5 – India backs out of its promise to hold a plebiscite in the disputed territory of Kashmir. In 1948, India had taken the issue of Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council and offered to hold a plebiscite in the held Kashmir under UN supervision.
February 9 – The Beatles perform for the first time for an American audience on The Ed Sullivan Show to a record television audience of 73 million people, launching Beatlemania in the United States, as part of The British Invasion.
February 10 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: 82 Australian sailors die when a Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier and a destroyer collide off New South Wales, Australia.
February 11
Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with France because of French recognition of the People's Republic of China.
February 17 – Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a military coup and his arch-rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place. However, French intervention restores M'ba's government the next day.
February 25 – Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) beats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Florida, and is crowned the heavyweight champion of the world.
February 27 – The Italian government asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
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1964_2 | Section: March (2):
March 6
Constantine II becomes King of Greece, upon the death of his father King Paul.
American boxer Cassius Clay announces the change of his name to Muhammad Ali.
March 18 – 1964 Moscow protest: Approximately 50 Moroccan students break into the embassy of Morocco in the Soviet Union and stage an all-day sit-in protesting against sentencing of eleven people to death for the alleged assassination attempt of King Hassan II of Morocco.
March 20–June 6 – The first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development takes place.
March 20 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
March 21 – Non ho l'età (music by Nicola Salerno, text by Mario Panzeri), sung by Gigliola Cinquetti, wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 (staged in Copenhagen) for Italy.
March 27 (Good Friday) – The Great Alaskan earthquake, the second-most powerful known (and the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history) at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
March 28 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia abdicates. His brother, Prince Faisal, does not officially assume the throne until November.
March 31 – The military overthrows Brazilian President João Goulart in a coup, starting 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil, lasting until 1985.
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1964_3 | Section: April (2):
April 8 – The U.S. Gemini 1 is launched, the first unmanned test of the 2-man spacecraft.
April 9 – The United Nations Security Council adopts by a 9–0 vote a resolution deploring a British air attack on a fort in Yemen 12 days earlier, in which 25 persons were reported killed.
April 11 – The Brazilian Congress elects Field Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco as President of Brazil.
April 13 – At the 36th Academy Awards ceremony, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American to win an Academy Award in the category Best Actor in a Leading Role in Lilies of the Field.
April 16 – In the Assize Court at Buckingham, England, sentences totalling 307 years are passed on twelve men who stole £2,600,000 in used bank notes, after holding up the night train from Glasgow to London in August 1963 – a heist that becomes known as the Great Train Robbery.
April 19 – In Laos, the coalition government of Prince Souvanna Phouma is deposed by a right-wing military group, led by Brig. Gen. Kouprasith Abhay. Not supported by the United States, the coup is ultimately unsuccessful, and Souvanna Phouma is reinstated, remaining as Prime Minister until 1975.
April 20
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in New York, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, simultaneously announce plans to cut back production of materials for making nuclear weapons.
Nelson Mandela makes his "I Am Prepared to Die" speech at the opening of the Rivonia Trial, a key event for the anti-apartheid movement.
In the UK, BBC Two television starts broadcasting for the first time.
British businessman Greville Wynne, imprisoned in Moscow since 1963 for spying, is exchanged for Soviet spy Gordon Lonsdale.
April 25 – Thieves steal the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although the attack is attributed to Jørgen Nash, the Danish media blame painter Henrik Bruun, who never confesses to the crime.
April 26 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
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1964_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – At 4:00 a.m., John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz run the first computer program written in BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level programming language which they have created. BASIC is eventually included on many computers and even some games consoles.
May 2
Vietnam War: Attack on USNS Card – An explosion caused by Viet Cong commandos causes carrier USNS Card to sink in the port of Saigon.
Some 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York, and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Smaller marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, WI.
Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, hitchhiking in Meadville, Mississippi, are kidnapped, beaten and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their badly decomposed bodies are found by chance in July during the search for missing activists Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
May 7
Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
At a mail rockets demonstration by Gerhard Zucker on Hasselkopf Mountain near Braunlage (Lower Saxonia, Germany), three people are killed by a rocket explosion.
May 9 – South Korean President Park Chung Hee reshuffles his Cabinet, after a series of student demonstrations against his efforts to restore diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.
May 12 – Twelve young men in New York City publicly burn their draft cards to protest against the Vietnam War, the first such act of war resistance.
May 23 – Madeline Dassault, 63, wife of a French plane manufacturer and politician, is kidnapped while leaving her car in front of her Paris home; she is found unharmed the next day in a farmhouse 27 miles (43 km) from Paris.
May 24–25 – The crowd at a football match in Lima, Peru, riots over a referee's decision in the Peru-Argentina game; 319 are killed, 500 injured.
May 27 – The ongoing Colombian conflict starts, with an assault by 1,000 Colombian soldiers, backed by fighter planes and helicopters, against about 50 guerrillas in the community of Marquetalia.
May 28 – The Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is released by the Arab League.
May 29 – Having deposed them in a January coup, South Vietnamese leader Nguyen Khanh has rival Generals Tran Van Don and Le Van Kim convicted of "lax morality".
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1964_5 | Section: June (2):
June 3 – South Korean President Park Chung Hee declares martial law in Seoul, after 10,000 student demonstrators overpower police.
June 11
Greece rejects direct talks with Turkey over Cyprus.
Cologne school massacre: In Cologne, West Germany, Walter Seifert attacks students and teachers in an elementary school with a flamethrower, killing 10 and injuring 21.
June 12 – Nelson Mandela and 7 others are sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa, and sent to the Robben Island prison.
June 14 – Freedom Summer, a volunteer Civil Rights project in the United States intended to promote voter registration for as many African Americans as possible in Mississippi, begins with orientation sessions for the 300 volunteers at Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio.
June 20 – The Ford GT40 makes its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its first victory will come 2 years later in 1966.
June 21 – Spain beats the Soviet Union 2–1 to win the 1964 European Nations Cup.
June 26 – Moise Tshombe returns to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from exile in Spain.
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1964_6 | Section: July (2):
July 2 – The United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is enacted.
July 6 – Malawi receives its independence from the United Kingdom.
July 18
Six days of race riots begin in Harlem, New York, United States, apparently prompted by the shooting of a teenager.
Judith Graham Pool publishes her discovery of cryoprecipitate, a frozen blood clotting product made from plasma primarily to treat hemophiliacs around the world.
July 19 – Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister and military leader Nguyễn Khánh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.
July 20
Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack a provincial capital, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
The National Movement of the Revolution is established in the Republic of the Congo, becoming the country's sole legal political party.
July 21 – Race riots begin in Singapore between ethnic Chinese and Malays.
July 22 – The second meeting of the Organisation of African Unity is held.
July 24 – A minor criticality accident takes place at a United Nuclear Corporation Fuels recovery plant in Wood River Junction, Rhode Island, United States, causing the death of one worker.
July 27 – Vietnam War: The U.S. sends 5,000 more military advisers to South Vietnam, bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
July 31 – Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the Moon (images are 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth-bound telescopes).
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1964_7 | Section: August (2):
August 2 – Vietnam War: United States destroyer Maddox is attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks one gunboat, while the other two leave the battle.
August 5
Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – Aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
The Simba rebel army in the Democratic Republic of the Congo captures Stanleyville, and takes 1,000 Western hostages.
August 7 – Vietnam War: The United States Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.
August 8 – A Rolling Stones gig in Scheveningen gets out of control. Riot police end the gig after about fifteen minutes, upon which spectators start to fight the riot police.
August 13 – The last judicial hanging in the United Kingdom takes place when murderers Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen are executed at Walton Prison in Liverpool.
August 16 – Vietnam War: In a coup, General Nguyễn Khánh replaces Dương Văn Minh as South Vietnam's chief of state and establishes a new constitution, drafted partly by the U.S. Embassy.
August 18 – The International Olympic Committee bans South Africa from the Tokyo Olympics on the grounds that its teams are racially segregated.
August 20 – The International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat) began to work.
August 22 – Goalkeeper Derek Foster of Sunderland becomes the youngest-ever player to play in the English Football League, aged 15 years and 185 days.
August 24–27 – The Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City nominates incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson for a full term, and U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota as his running mate.
August 27 – Walt Disney's Mary Poppins has its world premiere in Los Angeles. It will go on to become Disney's biggest moneymaker, and winner of 5 Academy Awards, including a Best Actress for Julie Andrews. It is the first Disney film to be nominated for Best Picture.
August 28–30 – Philadelphia 1964 race riot: Tensions between African American residents and police lead to 341 injuries and 774 arrests.
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1964_8 | Section: September (2):
September 2 – Indian Hungry generation poets, including Malay Roy Choudhury, are arrested on charges of conspiracy against the state and obscenity in literature.
September 4 – The Forth Road Bridge opens over the Firth of Forth in Scotland.
September 10 – The African Development Bank (AfDB) is founded.
September 11 – In Jacksonville, Florida, during a tour of the United States, John Lennon announces that the Beatles will not play to a segregated audience.
September 14
The third period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
The London Daily Herald ceases publication, replaced by The Sun.
September 18 – In Athens, King Constantine II of Greece marries Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, who becomes Europe's youngest Queen at age 18 years, 19 days.
September 21 – The island of Malta obtains independence from the United Kingdom.
September 24 – The Warren Commission, the first official investigation of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, submits its written report.
September 25 – The Mozambican War of Independence is launched by FRELIMO.
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1964_9 | Section: October (2):
October – Robert Moog demonstrates the prototype Moog synthesizer.
October 1
Three thousand student activists at the University of California, Berkeley, surround and block a police car from taking a CORE volunteer arrested for not showing his ID, when he violated a ban on outdoor activist card tables. This protest eventually explodes into the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
The Shinkansen high-speed rail system, the world's first such system, is inaugurated in Japan, for the first sector between Tokyo and Osaka.
October 5
Twenty-three men and thirty-one women escape to West Berlin through a narrow tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh begin an 8-day visit to Canada.
October 10–24 – The 1964 Summer Olympics are held in Tokyo, Japan, the first in an Asian country.
October 12 – The Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits. The flight is cut short and lands again on October 13 after 16 orbits.
October 14 – American civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.
October 14–15 – Nikita Khrushchev is deposed as leader of the Soviet Union; Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin assume power.
October 15 – 1964 United Kingdom general election: The Labour Party wins a narrow victory over Sir Alec Douglas-Home's Conservative Party, which has been in power for 13 years. The new prime minister is Harold Wilson.
October 17 – 596 (nuclear test): The People's Republic of China explodes an atomic bomb in Sinkiang.
October 22
Canada: A Federal Multi-Party Parliamentary Committee selects a design to become the new official Flag of Canada.
A 5.3 kiloton nuclear device is detonated at the Tatum Salt Dome, 21 miles (34 km) from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as part of the Vela Uniform program. This test is the Salmon phase of the Atomic Energy Commission's Project Dribble.
October 24 – Northern Rhodesia, a former British protectorate, becomes the independent Republic of Zambia, ending 73 years of British rule.
October 26 – Eric Edgar Cooke becomes the last man executed in Western Australia, for murdering 8 citizens in Perth between 1959 and 1963.
October 27 – In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rebel leader Christopher Gbenye takes 60 Americans and 800 Belgians hostage.
October 29 – A collection of irreplaceable gemstones, including the 565-carat (113.0 g) Star of India, is stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
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1964_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1 – Mortar fire from North Vietnamese forces rains on the Bien Hoa Air Base, killing four U.S. servicemen, wounding 72, and destroying five B-57 jet bombers and other planes.
November 3
1964 United States presidential election: Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater with over 60 percent of the popular vote.
The Bolivian government of President Víctor Paz Estenssoro is overthrown by a military rebellion led by General Alfredo Ovando Candía, commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
November 5 – Mariner program: Mariner 3 spacecraft is launched from Cape Kennedy but fails.
November 10 – Australia partially reintroduces compulsory military service due to the Indonesian Confrontation.
November 19 – The United States Department of Defense announces the closing of 95 military bases and facilities, including Fort Jay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
November 21
Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes. Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is promulgated.
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge across New York Bay opens to traffic (the world's longest suspension bridge at this time).
November 24 – Belgian paratroopers and mercenaries capture Stanleyville, but a number of hostages die in the fighting, among them American Evangelical Covenant Church missionary Paul Carlson.
November 28
Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 space probe from Cape Kennedy toward Mars to take television pictures of that planet in July 1965.
Vietnam War: United States National Security Council members, including Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and Maxwell Taylor, agree to recommend a plan for a 2-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam, to President Lyndon B. Johnson.
France performs an underground nuclear test at In Ecker, Algeria.
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1964_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz takes office as President of Mexico.
December 3
Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest about 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover of and massive sit-in at the Sproul Hall administration building. The sit-in most directly protested the U.C. Regents' decision to punish student activists for what many thought had been justified civil disobedience earlier in the conflict.
The Danish football club Brøndby IF is founded as a merger between the two local clubs Brøndbyøster Idrætsforening and Brøndbyvester Idrætsforening. The club wins the national championship Danish Superliga 10 times, and the Danish Cups six times, after joining the Danish top-flight football league in 1981.
December 5 – Australian Senate election, 1964: The Liberal/Country Coalition Government led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies hold their status quo, while the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell lose one seat to the Democratic Labor Party, who hold the balance of power in the Senate alongside independent Reg Turnbull.
December 10 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
December 11 – Che Guevara addresses the United Nations General Assembly. A bazooka attack is launched at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.
December 12 – Jamhuri Day: Kenya becomes a republic, with Jomo Kenyatta as its first President.
December 14 – Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodation must refrain from racial discrimination.
December 18 – The Christmas flood of 1964 begins in the United States, affecting the Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California. It will continue until January 7, resulting in 19 deaths, serious damage to buildings, roads and bridges, and the loss of 4,000 head of livestock.
December 21 – The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark supersonic attack aircraft, developed for the U.S. Air Force, makes its first flight, at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
December 22
A cyclone in the Palk Strait destroys the Indian town of Dhanushkodi, killing 1800 people.
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird makes its first flight at Palmdale, California.
December 24 – The Brinks Hotel in Saigon, Vietnam, is bombed by the Viet Cong, resulting in the deaths of two US soldiers and injuries to a further 60 people, including civilians.
December 30 – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is established as a permanent organ of the UN General Assembly.
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1965_0 | 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1965th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 965th year of the 2nd millennium, the 65th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1960s decade. |
1965_0 | Section: January (2):
January 4
Julia Ormond, British actress
Yvan Attal, Israeli-born French actor and director
January 5
Vinnie Jones, British footballer-turned-actor
Patrik Sjöberg, Swedish high jumper
January 9
Haddaway, German singer
Farah Khan, Indian choreographer, film director
Joely Richardson, British actress
January 10 – Butch Hartman, American animator and voice actor
January 12
Nikolai Borschevsky, Russian ice hockey player
Maybrit Illner, German television journalist and presenter
Rob Zombie, American musician
January 14
Shamil Basayev, Chechen terrorist (d. 2006)
Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player
Bob Essensa, Canadian ice hockey player
January 15
Adam Jones, American musician, guitarist of metal band Tool
James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
January 20 – Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
January 21 – Jam Master Jay, American DJ, rapper and producer (d. 2002)
January 22
DJ Jazzy Jeff, American disc jockey
Diane Lane, American actress
January 23 – Catherine Guillouard, French businesswoman
January 24 – Porfirio Fisac, Spanish basketball coach
January 25 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
January 26 – Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet artistic gymnast
January 27
Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
Ignacio Noé, Argentine artist
January 29
Dominik Hašek, Czech hockey player
Jo Min-su, South Korean actress
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1965_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1
Dave Callaghan, South African cricketer
Brandon Lee, Chinese-American actor (d. 1993)
Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
February 3 – Maura Tierney, American actress
February 5 – Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer, manager and club owner
February 7 – Chris Rock, African-American actor, comedian, and film director
February 8 – Dicky Cheung, Hong Kong actor
February 11 – Roberto Moya, Cuban athlete (d. 2020)
February 12 – Brett Kavanaugh, American attorney and Supreme Court Justice
February 15 – Héctor Beltrán Leyva, Mexican drug lord (d. 2018)
February 16 – Adama Barrow, Gambian politician, 3rd President of Gambia
February 17 – Michael Bay, American film director
February 18 – Dr. Dre, African-American rapper and music producer
February 23
Kristin Davis, American actress
Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer
Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, French producer
Helena Suková, Czech tennis player
February 25 – Sylvie Guillem, French ballerina
February 27 – Claudia Zobel, Filipina actress (d. 1984)
February 28 – Park Gok-ji, South Korean film editor
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1965_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1
Mike Dean, Record producer
Stewart Elliott, Canadian jockey
Jack Tu, Taiwanese-Canadian cardiologist (d. 2018)
March 2 – Ami Bera, American politician
March 3
Tedros Adhanom, Director of the World Health Organization
March 4
Greg Alexander, Australian rugby league player
Paul W. S. Anderson, British filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
March 5 – Harry Bevers, Dutch politician
March 8
Mac Jack, South African educator and politician (d. 2020)
Caio Júnior, Brazilian football forward and manager (d. 2016)
March 9 – Antonio Saca, 43rd President of El Salvador
March 11
Catherine Fulop, Venezuelan actress, model, beauty pageant contestant, and television presenter
Jesse Jackson Jr., African-American politician
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, British designer and television presenter
March 14 – Aamir Khan, Indian film director, producer, film and scriptwriter and actor
March 16
Utut Adianto, Indonesian chess grandmaster and politician
Mark Carney, Canadian-born economist and central banker
March 23 – Marti Pellow, Scottish singer (Wet Wet Wet)
March 24
Rob MacCachren, American racecar driver
The Undertaker, American professional wrestler
March 25
Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper and president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee
Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress
March 26 – Prakash Raj, Indian actor, producer and director
March 29 – Voula Patoulidou, Greek athlete
March 30 – Piers Morgan, British journalist and television personality
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1965_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1
Brian Marshall, Canadian retired track and field athlete
Bekir Bozdağ, Turkish theologian, lawyer, and politician
April 3 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (d. 2000)
April 4 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor, producer, and singer
April 6
Black Francis, American musician
Rica Reinisch, German swimmer
April 9 – Paulina Porizkova, Swedish-American model and actress
April 10
Anna-Leena Härkönen, Finnish author
Jure Robič, Slovenian cyclist (d. 2010)
April 11 – Eelco van Asperen, Dutch computer scientist
April 12 – Kim Bodnia, Danish actor and director
April 15 – Linda Perry, American musician
April 16 – Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
April 18 – Camille Coduri, English actress
April 19 – Suge Knight, American record producer and convicted felon
April 20 – Jovy Marcelo, Filipino racing driver (d. 1992)
April 21 – Julio Robaina, Republican politician, Mayor of Hialeah, Florida
April 23 – Leni Robredo, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
April 24 – Michel Leclerc, French director and screenwriter
April 25 – Édouard Ferrand, French politician (d. 2018)
April 26 – Kevin James, American comedian and actor
April 27 – Edwin Poots, Irish politician
April 29 – David Shafer, American politician, Georgia
April 30 – Adrian Pasdar, Iranian-American actor and voice artist
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1965_4 | Section: May (2):
May 2 – Myriam Hernández, Chilean singer
May 3
Gary Mitchell, Irish playwright
Rob Brydon, Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist and presenter
May 7
Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish football player
May 9 – Steve Yzerman, Canadian hockey player
May 10 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian supermodel
May 11 – Monsour del Rosario, Filipino Olympic athlete and actor
May 12 – Renée Simonsen, Danish model and writer
May 13 – José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountain climber (d. 2006)
May 14 – Eoin Colfer, Irish novelist
May 16
Rodica Dunca, Romanian artistic gymnast
Krist Novoselic, American musician and activist (Nirvana)
May 17 – Trent Reznor, American rock musician (Nine Inch Nails)
May 19 – Philippe Dhondt, French singer
May 23
Melissa McBride, American actress (The Walking Dead)
May 24
Carlos Franco, Paraguayan golfer
John C. Reilly, American actor and comedian
Shinichirō Watanabe, Japanese anime director
May 25 – Yahya Jammeh, President of the Gambia
May 29 – Emilio Sánchez, Spanish tennis player
May 30 – Guadalupe Grande, Spanish poet (d. 2021)
May 31 – Brooke Shields, American actress and model
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1965_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1
Larisa Lazutina, Russian cross-country skier
Nigel Short, English chess player
June 2 – Steve and Mark Waugh, Australian cricketers
June 4
Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player
June 6
Cam Neely, Canadian ice hockey player
Megumi Ogata, Japanese voice actress and singer
June 7
Mick Foley, American professional wrestler
Damien Hirst, British artist
Christine Roque, French singer
June 8
Frank Grillo, American actor
Rob Pilatus, German model, dancer and singer (d. 1998)
June 10
Veronica Ferres, German actress
Elizabeth Hurley, English model and actress
June 11 – Manuel Uribe, morbidly obese Mexican (d. 2014)
June 12 – Carlos Luis Morales, Ecuadorian journalist (d. 2020)
June 13 – Infanta Cristina of Spain, Spanish princess
June 15 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
June 16 – Andrea M. Ghez, American astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics
June 17
Dana Eskelson, American actress
Dan Jansen, American speedskater
Dara O'Kearney, Irish ultra runner and professional poker player
June 18
Kim Dickens, American actress
Hani Mohsin, Malaysian celebrity, actor and host (d. 2006)
June 21
Yang Liwei, Chinese major general, military pilot and China National Space Administration astronaut
Gabriella Selmeczi, Hungarian jurist and politician
Tim Lajcik, Czech American mixed martial artist, stuntman, actor and writer
June 22 – Anubhav Sinha, Indian film director
June 23 – Paul Arthurs, English Musician (Oasis)
June 24 – Son Hyun-joo, South Korean actor
June 25 – Jean Castex, French politician
June 26 – Jana Hybášková, Czech politician and diplomat
June 27
Frédéric Lemoine, French businessman
S. Manikavasagam, Malaysian politician
June 28 – Belayneh Dinsamo, Ethiopian long-distance runner
June 29
Véronique Laury, French businesswoman
Dado Villa-Lobos, Brazilian musician
Matthew Weiner, American television writer, director and producer
June 30
Philippe Duquesne, French actor
Cho Jae-hyun, South Korean actor
Mitch Richmond, American basketball player
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1965_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
Teddy McCarthy, hurler and Gaelic footballer
Carl Fogarty, English motorcycle racer
Mohammed Abdul Hussein, Iraqi former footballer
July 2 – Fredrik Sejersted, Norwegian jurist
July 3
Komsan Pohkong, Thai lawyer
Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2005)
Connie Nielsen, Danish actress
Tommy Flanagan, Scottish actor
July 4 – Tracy Letts, American actor, playwright and screenwriter
July 5
Kathryn Erbe, American actress
Eyran Katsenelenbogen, Israeli jazz pianist
July 7
Paula Devicq, Canadian actress
Jeremy Kyle, English radio and television presenter
July 10
Danny Boffin, Belgian footballer
Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
Alec Mapa, American comedian
July 11 – Ernesto Hoost, Dutch kickboxer
July 12 – Mama Kandeh, Gambian politician
July 13 – Akina Nakamori, Japanese singer and actress
July 14 – Lou Savarese, American boxer
July 15 – Dafna Rechter, Israeli actress and singer
July 17
Santiago Segura, Spanish actor, screenwriter, producer and director
Rosa Gumataotao Rios, 43rd Treasurer of the United States
Alex Winter, British actor
July 18 – Eva Ionesco, French actress, film director and screenwriter
July 19
Dame Evelyn Glennie, Scottish virtuoso percussionist
Hailemariam Desalegn, 15th Prime Minister of Ethiopia
July 21 – Guðni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
July 22 – Shawn Michaels, American professional wrestler
July 23
Grace Mugabe, First Lady of Zimbabwe
Slash (Saul Hudson), English-born American rock guitarist
July 25 – Illeana Douglas, American actress and producer
July 26
Vladimir Cruz, Cuban actor
Jeremy Piven, American actor
Jimmy Dore, American comedian and political commentator
July 27
José Luis Chilavert, Paraguayan footballer
Trifon Ivanov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 2016)
July 28 – Daniela Mercury, Brazilian singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, actress and television host
July 29 – Chang-Rae Lee, Korean-American novelist
July 31 – J. K. Rowling, English author
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1965_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1 – Sam Mendes, English film director
August 2
Sandra Ng, Hong Kong actress
Hisanobu Watanabe, Japanese baseball player and coach
August 4
Terri Lyne Carrington, American jazz drummer
Dennis Lehane, American crime writer
Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister
August 5 – Monica Ward, Italian actress and voice actress
August 6 – David Robinson, American basketball player
August 10
Claudia Christian, American actress, writer, singer, musician, and director
Mike E. Smith, American jockey
John Starks, American basketball player
August 11 – Viola Davis, African-American actress
August 15 – Vincent Kok, Hong Kong director and actor
August 16 – Michael O'Gorman, American coxswain (d. 2018)
August 19
Kevin Dillon, American actor
Maria de Medeiros, Portuguese actress
Kyra Sedgwick, American actress
James Tomkins, Australian rower
August 22 – David Reimer, Canadian man, born male but reassigned female and raised as a girl after a botched circumcision (d. 2004)
August 24 – Reggie Miller, American basketball player and commentator
August 25 – Mia Zapata, American singer (d. 1993)
August 26 – Azela Robinson, Mexican actress
August 28
Satoshi Tajiri, Japanese video game designer and Pokémon creator
Amanda Tapping, Canadian actress
Shania Twain, Canadian country singer and songwriter
August 31 – Daniel Bernhardt, Swiss actor and martial artist
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1965_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – Craig McLachlan, Australian actor and singer
September 2 – Lennox Lewis, British boxer
September 3
Costas Mandylor, Greek-Australian actor
Charlie Sheen, American actor and producer
September 5 – Derby Makinka, Zambian footballer (d. 1993)
September 6 – Gleisi Hoffmann, Brazilian lawyer and politician
September 7 – Jörg Pilawa, German television presenter
September 8
Tutilo Burger, German Benedictine monk and abbot
Darlene Zschech, Australian singer and worship leader
September 10 – Marco Pastors, Dutch politician
September 11
Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria
Moby, American musician
September 12
Einstein Kristiansen, Norwegian cartoonist, designer, and television host
September 14 – Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia
September 15 – Fernanda Torres, Brazilian actress
September 16 – Katy Kurtzman, American actress, director and producer
September 17
Kyle Chandler, American actor
Yuji Naka, Japanese video game programmer
September 19
Goldie, English record producer and DJ
Iliya Lazarov, Bulgarian politician
Tim Scott, African-American politician and businessman
Tshering Tobgay, former Prime Minister of Bhutan
September 20 – Robert Rusler, American actor
September 21
Cheryl Hines, American actress
Johanna Vuoksenmaa, Finnish film director
David Wenham, Australian actor
Pramila Jayapal, American politician
September 23 – Mark Woodforde, Australian tennis player
September 25 – Scottie Pippen, American basketball player
September 26
Radisav Ćurčić, Serbian-Israeli basketball player
Alexei Mordashov, Russian businessman
Petro Poroshenko, former President of Ukraine
September 27 – Steve Kerr, American basketball player
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1965_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – Andreas Keller, German field hockey player
October 2
Gerardo Reyero, Mexican voice actor
Ferhan and Ferzan Önder, Turkish-Austrian pianists
October 3
Adriana Calcanhotto, Brazilian singer and composer
Jan-Ove Waldner, Swedish table tennis player
October 5
Mario Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
Patrick Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
October 6 – Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip and U.S. Representative of Louisiana's 1st district
October 8
Matt Biondi, American swimmer
C. J. Ramone, American musician
October 9 – Dionicio Cerón, Mexican long-distance runner
October 10 – Chris Penn, American actor (d. 2006)
October 11
Julianne McNamara, American artistic gymnast
Lennie James, English actor, screenwriter, and playwright
October 13 – Kalpana, Indian film actress (d. 2016)
October 14
Steve Coogan, British comedian and actor
Jüri Jaanson, Estonian rower and politician
October 16 – Kang Kyung-ok, South Korean artist
October 17
Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
Rhys Muldoon, Australian actor, writer, and director
October 18 – Zakir Naik, Indian doctor and Islamic activist
October 19
The Renegade, American professional wrestler (d. 1999)
Ty Pennington, American television presenter
Tracy Griffith, American actress, sushi chef, and painter
October 20
Amos Mansdorf, Israeli tennis player
Stefano Pioli, Italian football player and manager
October 22 – Sumito Estévez, Venezuelan chef
October 26
Aaron Kwok, Hong Kong singer and actor
Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress
Kenneth Rutherford, New Zealand cricketer
October 29 – Christy Clark, Canadian politician
October 30 – Zaza Urushadze, Georgian film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2019)
October 31 – Rob Rackstraw, British actor
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1965_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1
Patrik Ringborg, Swedish conductor
November 2
Paweł Adamowicz, Polish politician and lawyer (d. 2019)
Shah Rukh Khan, Indian actor, film/television producer and television presenter
November 4 – Wayne Static, American singer and musician (Static-X) (d. 2014)
November 7 – Sigrun Wodars, German athlete
November 8 – Patricia Poleo, Venezuelan journalist
November 9 – Sir Bryn Terfel, Welsh baritone
November 10 – Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racing driver
November 11 – Max Mutchnick, American television producer
November 13 – Rick Roberts, Canadian actor
November 19
Paulo Barreto, Brazilian cryptographer
Laurent Blanc, French football player and manager
November 20 – Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese rock composer, pianist and drummer
November 21
Björk, Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician
Reggie Lewis, American basketball player (d. 1993)
Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-British actor
November 22 – Mads Mikkelsen, Danish actor
November 23 – Radion Gataullin, Uzbek-Russian pole-vaulter
November 24 – Shirley Henderson, Scottish actress
November 25 – Ana Paula Padrão, Brazilian journalist, chief editor, entrepreneur, writer and television presenter
November 26 – Scott Adsit, American actor
November 29
Lauren Child, American author
Raffaella Reggi, Italian tennis player
November 30
Ben Stiller, American actor, comedian and filmmaker
Tashi Tenzing, Indian mountaineer
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1965_11 | Section: December (2):
December 3
Steve Harris, American actor
Katarina Witt, German figure skater
Andrew Stanton, American animator, storyboard artist, film director, and screenwriter
December 5 – Johnny Rzeznik, American rock singer and guitarist
December 7
Teruyuki Kagawa, Japanese actor
Jeffrey Wright, African-American actor
December 8 – David Harewood, English actor
December 9 – Brad Savage, American actor
December 10 – Stephanie Morgenstern, Canadian actress
December 15 – Luis Fabián Artime, Argentine footballer
December 16 – J. B. Smoove, African-American actor and comedian
December 18 – John Moshoeu, South African footballer (d. 2015)
December 19 – Jessica Steen, Canadian actress
December 21
Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
Anke Engelke, German comedian, actress and voice-over actress
December 23 – Andreas Kappes, German cyclist (d. 2018)
December 27 – Salman Khan, Indian actor, television presenter
December 30
Valentina Legkostupova, Soviet and Russian pop singer, teacher and producer (d. 2020)
Robert Rep, Dutch politician
December 31
Nicholas Sparks, American author
Gong Li, Chinese actress
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1966_0 | 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1966th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 966th year of the 2nd millennium, the 66th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1960s decade. |
1966_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is deposed by a military coup in the Republic of Upper Volta (modern-day Burkina Faso).
January 10
Pakistani–Indian peace negotiations end successfully with the signing of the Tashkent Declaration, a day before the sudden death of Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
The House of Representatives of the US state of Georgia refuses to allow African-American representative Julian Bond to take his seat, because of his anti-war stance.
January 15 – 1966 Nigerian coup d'état: A bloody military coup is staged in Nigeria, deposing the civilian government and resulting in the death of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
January 17
The Nigerian coup is overturned by another faction of the military, led by Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, leaving a military government in power and beginning a long period of military rule.
1966 Palomares B-52 crash: A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea. Carl Brashear, the first African-American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter, which results in the amputation of his leg.
January 19 – Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India; she is sworn in on January 24.
January 20 – 1966 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election: Harold Holt is elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia unopposed when Sir Robert Menzies retires after an unprecedented 16 years in office; consequently Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia six days later.
January 21 – Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro resigns due to a power struggle in his party.
January 22 – The military government of Nigeria announces that ex-prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was killed during the coup a week previously.
January 24 – Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc, killing all 117 people on board, including Homi J. Bhabha, chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission.
January 26 – Disappearance of the Beaumont children: Three children disappear on their way to Glenelg, South Australia, never to be seen again. Their fate remains unknown.
January 27
The British government promises the U.S. that British troops in Malaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions occur in the region.
Britain's Labour Party unexpectedly retains the parliamentary seat of Hull North in a by-election, with a swing of 4.5% to their candidate from the opposition Conservatives, and a majority up from 1,181 at the 1964 General Election to 5,351.
January 31 – The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.
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1966_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1 – Around 2,600 political prisoners are released by East Germany, in return for "donations" worth approximately $10,000 a head from West Germany.
February 3 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
February 4 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay; 133 people are killed.
February 7
The Great Fire of Iloilo, Philippines, breaks out in a lumber yard and burns for almost half a day, destroying nearly three-quarters of the City Proper area and causing 50 million pesos in total property damage.
Lyndon B. Johnson of the United States and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam convene with other officials in a summit in Honolulu, Hawaii to discuss the course of the Vietnam War.
February 14 – The Australian dollar is introduced at a rate of 2 dollars per pound, or 10 shillings per dollar.
February 19 – The naval minister of the United Kingdom, Christopher Mayhew, resigns over defence policy.
February 20 – While Soviet author and translator Valery Tarsis is abroad, the Soviet Union negates his citizenship.
February 23 – 1966 Syrian coup d'état: An intra-party military coup in Syria replaces the previous government of Amin al-Hafiz by one led by Salah Jadid.
February 24 – A coup led by the police and military of Ghana raises the National Liberation Council to power while president Kwame Nkrumah is abroad.
February 28 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson calls a General Election in the United Kingdom, to be held on March 31.
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1966_2 | Section: March (2):
March – The DKW automobile ceases production in Germany.
March 1
The British Government announces plans for the decimalisation of the pound sterling (hitherto denominated in 20 shillings and 240 pence to the £), to come into force on 15 February 1971 (Decimal Day).
Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashes on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.
The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria.
March 2 – Kwame Nkrumah arrives in Guinea and is granted asylum.
March 4
Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashes during a night landing in poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing 64 of 72 people on board.
In an interview with London Evening Standard reporter Maureen Cleave, John Lennon of The Beatles states: "We're more popular than Jesus now."
March 5
BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 people on board.
"Merci, Chérie" by Udo Jürgens (music by Udo Jürgens, lyrics by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 (staged in Luxembourg) for Austria.
March 7 – Charles de Gaulle asks U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state of NATO equipment in France.
March 8
Anti-communist demonstrations occur at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.
Vietnam War: The U.S. announces it will substantially increase the number of its troops in Vietnam.
Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street, Dublin, is clandestinely blown up by former Irish Republican Army volunteers marking this year's 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
March 10 – Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg. Some spectators demonstrate against the groom because he is German.
March 11
Transition to the New Order in Indonesia: President Sukarno gives all executive powers to General Suharto by signing the "Supersemar" order.
French President Charles de Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and headquarters must be closed within a year.
March 16 – NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) conducts the first docking in space, with an Agena target vehicle.
March 20 – Football's FIFA World Cup Trophy is stolen while on exhibition in London; it is found seven days later by a mongrel dog named "Pickles" and his owner David Corbett, wrapped in newspaper in a south London garden.
March 22 – in the Chinese city of Xingtai a magnitude 6.8 earthquake leaves more than 8,000 dead and 38,000 injured.
March 24 – Pope Paul VI meets Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in Rome, and gives him an episcopal ring.
March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the United States against the Vietnam War.
March 28 – Cevdet Sunay becomes the fifth president of Turkey.
March 29 – The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held: Leonid Brezhnev demands that U.S. troops leave Vietnam, and announces that Chinese-Soviet relations are not satisfactory.
March 31
The British Labour Party led by Harold Wilson wins the 1966 United Kingdom general election, gaining a 96-seat majority (compared with a single seat majority when the election was called on February 28).
The Soviet Union launches Luna 10, which becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
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1966_3 | Section: April (2):
April 2 – The Indonesian army demands that the country rejoin the United Nations.
April 3 – Luna 10 is the first manmade object to enter lunar orbit.
April 5 – During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese military prime minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down.
April 7 – The United Kingdom asks the United Nations Security Council for authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the embargo against Rhodesia (authority is given April 10).
April 8
Buddhists in South Vietnam protest against the fact that the new government has not set a date for free elections.
Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union, as well as Leader of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.
April 14
Kenyan Vice President Oginga Odinga resigns, saying "invisible government" representing foreign interests now runs the country. He will head a new party, the Kenya People's Union.
The South Vietnamese government promises free elections in 3–5 months.
April 15 – An anti-Nasser conspiracy is exposed in Egypt.
April 18
China declares that it will stop economic aid to Indonesia.
The 38th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Santa Monica, California: The Sound of Music wins Best Picture.
April 19 – Moors murders: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court in north west England for the murders of 3 children who vanished between November 1963 and October 1965.
April 21
An artificial heart is installed in the chest of Marcel DeRudder in a Houston, Texas, hospital.
The opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.
Haile Selassie visits Jamaica for the first time, meeting with Rasta leaders.
April 24 – Uniform daylight saving time is first observed in most parts of North America.
April 26
A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
April 27 – Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican (the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union).
April 28 – In Rhodesia, security forces kill seven ZANLA men in combat; Chimurenga, the ZANU rebellion, begins.
April 30 – Regular hovercraft service begins over the English Channel (discontinued in 2000).
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1966_4 | Section: May (2):
May 4
Fiat signs a contract with the Soviet government to build a car factory in the Soviet Union.
May 1966 lunar eclipse: A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place, the 64th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 111.
May 5 – The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey.
May 6 – The Moors murders trial ends in the UK with Ian Brady being found guilty on all three counts of murder and sentenced to three concurrent terms of life imprisonment. Myra Hindley is convicted on two counts of murder and of being an accessory in the third murder committed by Brady, receiving two concurrent terms of life imprisonment and a seven-year fixed term for being an accessory.
May 7 – Irish bank workers go on strike.
May 12
African members of the UN Security Council say that the British army should blockade Rhodesia.
Radio Peking claims that U.S. planes have shot down a Chinese plane over Yunnan (the U.S. denies the story the next day).
May 14 – Turkey and Greece intend to start negotiations about the situation in Cyprus.
May 15
Indonesia asks Malaysia for peace negotiations.
The South Vietnamese army besieges Da Nang.
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators again picket the White House, then rally at the Washington Monument.
May 16
The Chinese Communist Party issues the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
A strike is called by the National Union of Seamen in the United Kingdom.
In New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his first public speech on the Vietnam War.
May 19 – Gertrude Baniszewski is found guilty of torturing and murdering 16-year-old Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis, United States, and is sentenced to life in prison (she is released on parole in December 1985).
May 24
Battle of Mengo Hill: Ugandan army troops arrest Mutesa II of Buganda and occupy his palace.
The Nigerian government forbids all political activity in the country until January 17, 1969.
May 25
Explorer program: Satellite Explorer 32 (Atmosphere Explorer-B) is launched from the United States.
No. 9 Squadron RAAF becomes part of the 4,500 strong Australian Task Force assigned to duties in Vietnam, leaving for Southeast Asia aboard the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney.
May 26 – British Guiana achieves independence from the United Kingdom, becoming Guyana.
May 28
Fidel Castro declares martial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack.
The Indonesian and Malaysian governments declare that the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation is over (a treaty is signed on August 11).
Boat ride "It's a Small World" opens at Disneyland.
May 29 – Sports stadium Estadio Azteca officially opens in Mexico City in advance of the 1968 Summer Olympics.
May 31 – The Philippines reestablishes diplomatic relations with Malaysia.
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1966_5 | Section: June (2):
June 2
Éamon de Valera is re-elected as Irish president, aged 84.
Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
Four former cabinet ministers including Évariste Kimba are executed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for alleged involvement in a plot to kill Mobutu Sese Seko.
June 3 – Joaquín Balaguer is elected president of the Dominican Republic.
June 5 – Gemini 9A: Gene Cernan completes the second U.S. spacewalk (2 hours, 7 minutes).
June 6 – Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot by a sniper while traversing Mississippi in the March Against Fear.
June 8
A North American XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with an F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.
1966 Topeka tornado: Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita scale, the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, and the campus of Washburn University suffers catastrophic damage.
June 12 – Chicago's Division Street riots begin in response to police shooting of a young Puerto Rican man.
June 13 – Miranda v. Arizona: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
June 14 – The Vatican abolishes the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
June 17 – An Air France personnel strike begins.
June 18 – CIA chief William Raborn resigns; Richard Helms becomes his successor.
June 28 – Argentine Revolution: In Argentina, a military junta calling itself Revolución Argentina deposes president Arturo Umberto Illia in a coup and appoints General Juan Carlos Onganía to power.
June 29
Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong.
The strike by the National Union of Seamen in the United Kingdom is called off.
June 30
France formally leaves the military structure of NATO.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington, D.C.
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