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 17:

A ferry linking remote islands off the coast of Okinawa sinks, killing 112.

Sunday 18:

American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

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.