What Happened in 1964 — Events, Births & Deaths

President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.

Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.

Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.

Rebels in Zanzibar begin a revolt known as the Zanzibar Revolution and proclaim a republic.

Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, in response to anti-Hindu riots in East Pakistan. About one hundred people are killed.

In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971).

The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.

Blue Ribbon Sports, which would later become Nike, is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes.

An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.

In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam.

The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

The Beatles land in the United States for the first time, at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States.

Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.

In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.

Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.

The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

British Eagle International Airlines Flight 802/6 crashes into the Glungezer mountain in the Tux Alps of Austria, killing all 75 people aboard.

Villarrica Volcano begins a strombolian eruption causing lahars that destroy half of the town of Coñaripe.

Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crashes near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, killing 85.

Kitty Genovese is murdered in New York City, prompting research into the bystander effect due to the false story that neighbors witnessed the killing and did nothing to help her.

Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin who had shot and killed John F. Kennedy the previous year.

Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty, in protest against the government of João Goulart and against communism.

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

The Good Friday earthquake, 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.

Brazilian General Olímpio Mourão Filho orders his troops to move towards Rio de Janeiro, beginning the coup d'état and 21 years of military dictatorship.

The British Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry are replaced by a unified Defence Council of the United Kingdom.

The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.

IBM announces the System/360.

Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected president by the National Congress.

At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American man to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.

Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the Spirit of Columbus, which took 29+1⁄2 days, took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio.

A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.

Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship's hull. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.

First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.

The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.

Pacific Airlines Flight 773 is hijacked by Francisco Gonzales and crashes in Contra Costa County, California, killing 44.

Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson launches his Great Society program.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader.

The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Having deposed them in a January coup South Vietnamese leader Nguyễn Khánh has rival Generals Trần Văn Đôn and Lê Văn Kim convicted of "lax morality".

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.

DSV Alvin is commissioned.

United States Senate breaks a 75-day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, leading to the bill's passage.

World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks 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.

Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela's original 5-year sentence is extended to life sentence for high treason together with Denis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi and Walter Sisulu in the Rivonia Trial for sabotage in South Africa.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate.

A Curtiss C-46 Commando crashes in the Shengang District of Taiwan, killing 57 people.

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

Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.

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

Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).

A series of racial riots break out in Singapore. In the next six weeks, 23 die with 454 others injured.

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

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.

The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.

Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident: U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy mistakenly report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow: American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

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

South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies.

Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom.

Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Dương Văn Minh with General Nguyễn Khánh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.

Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.

South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh enters into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, who had both been involved in plots to unseat Khánh.

The Philadelphia race riot begins.

Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens.

South Vietnamese Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức fail in a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh.

Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a crowd of 20,000 West Berliners on Sunday, in Waldbühne.

The wedding of Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark takes place in Athens.

The first television adaptation of Charles Addams's "The Addams Family" premieres on ABC Television.

Malta gains independence from the United Kingdom, but remains in the Commonwealth.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's fastest bomber, makes its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.

Typhoon Wilda, one of the strongest typhoons to ever strike Japan, makes landfall, causing at least 30 fatalities and sinking at least 64 ships.

The Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal begins.

The British TSR-2 aircraft XR219 makes its maiden flight.

The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

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

The Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony is the first to be relayed live by satellites.

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

Martin Luther King Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.

The Soviet Presidium and the Communist Party Central Committee each vote to accept Nikita Khrushchev's "voluntary" request to retire from his offices.

China detonates its first nuclear weapon.

Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.

Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he does not accept the prize.

Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes Zambia.

Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of the Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launches his political career and comes to be known as "A Time for Choosing".

The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed to the United Republic of Tanzania.

Biggest jewel heist in American history when Murph the Surf and gang burgle the American Museum of Natural History stealing the Star of India and other gems.

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

Lyndon B. Johnson is elected to a full term as U.S. president, winning 61% of the vote and 44 states, while Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time, casting the majority of their votes for Lyndon Johnson.

The Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge opens to traffic. At the time it is the world's longest bridge span.

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

Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars.

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

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

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

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

Lloyd J. Old discovers the first linkage between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and disease—mouse leukemia—opening the way for the recognition of the importance of the MHC in the immune response.

Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.

The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, United States.

Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.

Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 crashes after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing three.

Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894)