1963 - What happened in 1963 ?

January 1963

Friday 11:

The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.

Monday 14:

George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama.

Tuesday 22:

Elysée treaty between France and Germany.

Tuesday 29:

First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.

February 1963

Friday 08:

Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.

Monday 11:

The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their first album, including "Please, Please Me".

March 1963

Saturday 02:

Release of Please Please Me in the United Kingdom, the first LP from The Beatles.

Friday 15:

Victor Feguer, a Federal prisoner, is put to death at the Fort Madison, Iowa prison. This would be the last execution of a Federal prisoner until the execution of Timothy McVeigh in 2001.

Tuesday 19:

Saxophonist Stan Getz records Getz/Gilberto, including The Girl from Ipanema, sung by Astrud and João Gilberto.

Thursday 21:

Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.

Wednesday 27:

Dr Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the United Kingdom's rail network. See Beeching axe.

April 1963

Sunday 07:

Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.

Wednesday 24:

1963- Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus James Bruce Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.

May 1963

Thursday 02:

Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a rocket with three stages with a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.

Wednesday 15:

Mercury program: America launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb told Congress the program was complete).

Saturday 25:

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.

Sunday 26:

The Organisation of African Unity is formed.

Monday 27:

Folk music singer Bob Dylan releases The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album, which features "Blowin' in the Wind" and several other of his best-known songs.

June 1963

Tuesday 11:

Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.

Sunday 16:

Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space

Monday 17:

The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.

Thursday 20:

The so-called "red telephone" was established between Soviet Union and United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Saturday 22:

Pope Paul VI elected by College of Cardinals.

July 1963

Monday 01:

1963 - U.S President John F. Kennedy arrives in Rome

Tuesday 16:

Timothy Leary takes LSD for the first time.

Sunday 21:

Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini is elected Pope Paul VI by the College of Cardinals.

Friday 26:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.

August 1963

Monday 05:

United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.

Thursday 08:

Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.

Saturday 24:

The 200-metre freestyle is swum in less than 2 minutes for the first time by Don Schollander (1:58).

Wednesday 28:

During a 200,000-person civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his famous I have a dream speech.

Friday 30:

1963 - Hotline between U.S. and Soviet leaders goes into operation.

September 1963

Monday 02:

CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.

Wednesday 04:

Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, killing all on board.

Saturday 07:

The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.

Tuesday 10:

1963 - 20 African-American students enter public schools in the U.S. state of Alabama.

Sunday 29:

The second period of the Second Vatican Council opens.

October 1963

Tuesday 01:

California State Board of Education created.

Monday 07:

Hurricane Flora hits Haiti and Dominican Republic, kills 7,190.

Wednesday 09:

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.

Monday 14:

The term "Beatlemania" is coined by the British press to describe the scene at the previous night's performance by The Beatles on the TV show "Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium," a top-rated program that was the British equivalent to "The Ed Sullivan Show."

November 1963

Saturday 02:

South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem is assassinated following a military coup.

Wednesday 06:

Vietnam War: Following the November 1 coup and murder of President Ngo Dinh Diem, coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam.

Thursday 07:

Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, 11 miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days.

Friday 22:

John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and US Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn-in as the 36th President of the United States.

Saturday 23:

The first episode of the science fiction television series Doctor Who debuts on the BBC.

December 1963

Sunday 01:

Nagaland becomes the 16th state of India

Thursday 12:

Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

Monday 16:

Park Chung-Hee is sworn in as South Korea's fifth president.

Sunday 22:

Cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.

Tuesday 31:

Central African Federation officially collapsed, and eventually became Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.