1964 - What happened in 1964 ?

January 1964

Wednesday 01:

The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.

Sunday 05:

Pope Paul VI meets the Greek patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem, the first meeting of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity leaders since 1439.

Thursday 09:

Several Panamanian youths put up the Panamanian flag, and are fired on from the Canal Zone, setting off four days of anti-imperialist insurrection around the country.

Monday 20:

Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released.

Thursday 30:

Ranger 6 is launched by NASA. Its mission is to carry television cameras and to crash-land on the moon.

February 1964

Friday 07:

The Beatles arrived on their first visit to the United States.

Sunday 09:

The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Monday 10:

1964 - The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, collides with the Voyager off the south coast of NSW, Australia.

Wednesday 19:

Paul Simon writes "The Sounds of Silence," the song which, in a year and a half, will catapult him and Art Garfunkel to stardom as Simon & Garfunkel.

Saturday 29:

In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).

March 1964

Tuesday 10:

The Ford Mustang is first produced by the Ford Motor Company.

Saturday 21:

In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Non ho l'età" (I'm not old enough).

Friday 27:

The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.

Saturday 28:

The first pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is established.

Tuesday 31:

The Dictatorship in Brazil, under the aegis of general Castello Branco, begins.

April 1964

Saturday 04:

The Beatles occupy all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.

Tuesday 14:

A Delta rocket's third-stage motor prematurely ignites in an assembly room at Canaveral, killing 3.

Wednesday 22:

The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its first season.

Friday 24:

Mexico becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

Sunday 26:

Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.

May 1964

Saturday 02:

Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.

Friday 15:

The Smothers Brothers give their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Tuesday 19:

Vietnam War: The United States Air Force begins Operation Yankee Team.

Friday 22:

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America.

Thursday 28:

The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed.

June 1964

Saturday 06:

Under a temporary order, the rocket launches at Cuxhaven, Germany, are terminated, though they never resume.

Thursday 11:

World War II veteran Walter Seifert runs amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.

Friday 12:

South Africa sentences Nelson Mandela to life in prison.

Sunday 21:

Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Friday 26:

The Beatles release the album A Hard Day's Night.

July 1964

Thursday 02:

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law.

Friday 03:

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.

Monday 06:

Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.

Monday 27:

Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

Friday 31:

Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes).

August 1964

Sunday 02:

North Vietnam allegedly fires on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

Tuesday 04:

Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks two, possibly three North Vietnamese gunboats.

Wednesday 05:

American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Friday 07:

Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving US President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.

Friday 28:

The Philadelphia race riot began.

September 1964

Friday 04:

Scotland's Forth Road Bridge, near Edinburgh, officially opens.

Monday 14:

The opening of the third period of the Second Vatican Council.

Tuesday 15:

The Sun newspaper launches, replacing the Daily Herald.

Monday 21:

Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

Tuesday 29:

Argentine cartoonist Quino publishes his first Mafalda comic strip.

October 1964

Saturday 10:

The 1964 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan

Monday 12:

The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits

Wednesday 14:

American civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thursday 22:

Canada: A Multi-Party Parliamentary Committee selects the design which becomes the new official Flag of Canada.

Thursday 29:

A collection of irreplaceable gems, including the 565 carat (113 g) Star of India, is stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

November 1964

Monday 02:

King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother King Faisal.

Tuesday 03:

U.S. presidential election, 1964: Incumbent US President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater, Sr with over 60 percent of the popular vote.

Saturday 21:

Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.

Saturday 28:

Vietnam War: National Security Council members agree to recommend that US President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam.

December 1964

Thursday 03:

Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and massive sit-in at the administration building protesting the UC Regents' decision to forbid Vietnam War protests on UC property.

Saturday 05:

Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.

Monday 14:

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States 379 US 241 1964 decided by U.S. Supreme Court

Tuesday 22:

Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity

Wednesday 23:

Beach Boys' bassist/keyboardist Brian Wilson suffers a nervous breakdown on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, eventually precipitating his retirement.