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 12:

Rebels in Zanzibar begin a revolt and later proclaim a republic.

Thursday 16:

The first musical version of Hello, Dolly! opens at New York City's St. James Theatre.

Saturday 18:

The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.

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.

Tuesday 11:

The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France.

Tuesday 25:

Ali versus Liston: Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Florida, and was crowned the heavyweight champion of the world.

March 1964

Monday 09:

The first Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.

Tuesday 10:

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

Saturday 14:

A jury in Dallas, Texas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

Friday 20:

1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.

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 07:

IBM announces the System/360

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.

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.

Monday 11:

Terence Conran opened the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road.

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.

Friday 26:

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

Sunday 28:

Malcom X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

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.

Sunday 19:

Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.

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.

Sunday 16:

Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.

Friday 28:

The Philadelphia race riot began.

September 1964

Friday 04:

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

Tuesday 15:

The Sun newspaper launches, replacing the Daily Herald.

Monday 21:

Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

Sunday 27:

The Warren Commission releases its report, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

Tuesday 29:

Argentine cartoonist Quino publishes his first Mafalda comic strip.

October 1964

Thursday 01:

Japanese Shinkansen (or, "bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.

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.

Friday 16:

People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon

Saturday 24:

Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)

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

Tuesday 01:

Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.

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.

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.