1963 - Definition and Overview

Events

January-February

• January 11 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.
• January 14 - George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama.
• January 22 - Elysée treaty between France and Germany
• January 28 - Black student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson College in South Carolina, the last US state to hold out against racial integration
• January 29 - Charles De Gaulle vetos United Kingdom's entry into the EEC
• February 8 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
• February 11 - CIA Domestic Operations Division is created.
• February 21 - An earthquake in Libya destroys the village of Barce - 500 dead
• February 27 - Female suffrage in Iran

March-April

• March 1 - Yoko Ono's marriage to American Christian fundamentalist filmmaker Tony Cox is annulled
• March 4 - In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
• March 16 - Mount Agung erupts on Bali - 11,000 dead
• March 18 - Court decides poor must have lawyers (Gideon vs. Wainwright Supreme Court trial)
• March 21 - Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere
• March 27 - In Britain Dr Beeching issues report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network; See Beeching axe
• April 7 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life
• April 10 - The US nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 miles east of Cape Cod with all hands - 129 dead
• April 15 - 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermarston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons
• April 22 - Lester B. Pearson becomes Canada's fourteenth prime minister.

May-June

• May 2 - 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.
• May 15 - Mercury program: NASA launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb told Congress the program was complete)
• May 23 - Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union
• May 25 - The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• June 1 - Kenya gains autonomy.
• June 2 - Slavery declared illegal in Saudi Arabia
• June 5 - Profumo Affair - British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns in a sex scandal
• June 11 – Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc publicly sets himself on fire in Saigon, Vietnam, to protest against Ngo Dinh Diem's policies
• June 11 - Prime Minister of Greece Constantine Karamanlis resigns in protest of king's visit to Britain
• June 12 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi.
• June 16 - Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) becomes the first woman in space.
• June 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.
• June 21 - Pope Paul VI is elected by College of Cardinals.
• June 30 - Ciaculli Massacre - mafia car bomb explodes in Ciaculli, Sicily, killing 7 police officers

July-August

• July 1 - ZIP Codes introduced in the USA
• July 5 - Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassies' level.
• July 26 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1800 dead
• July 26 - Syncom, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite is orbited by NASA
• July 27 – Indonesian president-for-life Sukarno declares that he will crush Malaysia – official start of Indonesian Confrontation
• July 30 - Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow
• August 5 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
• August 8 - The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England
• August 18 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi
• August 28 - Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

September-October

• September 5 - Christine Keeler arrested for perjury. On December 6 she is sentenced to nine months in prison
• September 15 - American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing results in 4 deaths and 22 injuries.
• September 16 – Federation of Malaysia formed through the merging of the Federation of Malaya and the British crown colony of Singapore, North Borneo (renamed Sabah) and Sarawak.
• September 18 – Rioters burn down British embassy in Jakarta to protest formation of Malaysia
• September 23 - King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals was was established by a Saudi Royal Decree as the College of Petroleum and Minerals
• September 25 - Denning Report on Profumo affair
• September 29 - Opening of second period of Second Vatican Council in Rome.
• October 9 - Uganda becomes a republic.
• October 9 - 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.

November

• November 2 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem is assassinated following a military coup
• November 6 - Vietnam War: Coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam
• November 7 - Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, 11 miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days
• November 9 - 1963 Miike coal-mine explosion: In Japan, a coal mine explosion kills 458 and sends 839 carbon monoxide poisoning victims to the hospital
• November 14 - A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey
• November 16 - Newspaper strike begins in Toledo, Ohio
• November 18 - Dartford Tunnel opens
• November 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
• November 23 - The first episode of the BBC television series Doctor Who is broadcast in the United Kingdom.
• November 24 - John F. Kennedy assassination: Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is mortally shot by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television
• November 24 - Vietnam War: Newly sworn in US President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically
• November 25 - John F. Kennedy assassination: The late US President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery
• November 29 - John F. Kennedy assassination: US President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
• November 29 - A Douglas DC-8 carrying Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831 crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval Airport near Montreal, killing all 118 on board (for many years this was the worst air disaster in Canada's history).

December

• December 4 - Closing of second period of Second Vatican Council.
• End of the Mercury program of United States manned spaceflight
• December 5 - The Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH shows military usable rockets to representants to military staff of non-NATO-countries near Cuxhaven. Although these rockets landed after their flight on parachutes and no allied laws were hurted, this action led to protests by the Soviet Union.
• December 12 – Kenya becomes independent with Jomo Kenyatta as a prime minister
• December 24 - Cyprus Emergency - A brief civil war in Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots erupts
• December 31 - Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland formally dissolved

unknown date

• D. H. Frisch and J. H. Smith prove radioactive decay of mesons is slowed by their motion. (See Einstein's special relativity and general relativity).
• Full deployment of SAGE, the semi-automated ground environment.
• TAT-3 cable goes into operation.
• Geneticist J. B. S. Haldane coins the word "clone".
• Arecibo Observatory officially begins operation.
• Ostankino Tower in Moscow begins construction.
• The divorce case of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll causes scandal in the United Kingdom
• Harvey Ball invents the ubiquitous smiley

Literature

• March 1 - First appearance of John Rockerduck (a character in the Scrooge McDuck Universe) in Italian story Zio Paperone e il kiwi volante ("Uncle Scrooge and the flying kiwi") by Giampaolo Barosso and Giorgio Bordini

Year in topic

1963 is the year dubbed "Annus Mirabilis" (http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/writings/poems/plam.htm) by British poet Philip Larkin.

• 1963 in film
  • Tom Jones
  • Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
  • Charade starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn
  • McLintock! starring John Wayne
• 1963 in literature
• 1963 in music
  • February 11 - The Beatles tape 10 tracks for their 1st album, including Please, Please Me (released on March 2).
• 1963 in rail transport
• 1963 in sports
  • January 29 - First inductees into the "Pro Football" Hall of Fame are announced
• 1963 in television
  • May 15 - First television pictures transmitted from a U.S. manned space capsule ("Faith 7.") Due to the poor picture quality, only NBC carries the transmission, and on tape-delay, not live
  • September 2 ? CBS becomes first network to expand its evening network news from 15 to 30 minutes.
  • September 9 - NBC expands its evening network news program to 30 minutes
  • November 22 - regular television programming is suspended following news of John F. Kennedy's assassination
  • November 23 - first episode of Dr Who is broadcast in the UK.
  • November 24 - Jack Ruby murders John F. Kennedy's suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald live on television.
  • The television remote control is authorized by the FCC.

Births

January-February

• January 14 - Steven Soderbergh, director
• January 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player
• January 21 - Detlef Schrempf, basketball player
• January 23 - Gail O'Grady, actress
• January 26 - Andrew Ridgely, musician
• January 30 - Thomas Brezina Austrian author
• February 9 - Travis Tritt, country music singer
• February 11 - Todd Benzinger, American baseball player
• February 17 - Michael Jordan, basketball legend
• February 19 - Seal, singer
• February 20 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
• February 21 - William Baldwin, actor
• February 22 - Vijay Singh, golfer

March-April

• March 1 - Dan Michaels, producer, saxophonist, member of the rock band The Choir and also The Swirling Eddies, owner of Galaxy21 Music.
• March 4 - Jason Newsted, former bassist of Metallica
• March 6 - D.L. Hughley, actor, comedian
• March 10 - Neneh Cherry, musician
• March 12 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
• March 14 - Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
• March 18 - Vanessa Williams, actress, singer, Miss America
• March 20 - Kathy Ireland, supermodel and actress
• March 27 - Quentin Tarantino, actor, director, writer, producer
• March 27 - Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
• April 4 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
• April 4 - Graham Norton, talk show host
• April 9 - Joe Scarborough, American cable news host
• April 13 - Garry Kasparov, World Chess Champion 1985-2000
• April 18 - Conan O'Brien, American television entertainer
• April 21 - Ken Caminiti, baseball player (d. 2004)
• April 21 - Roy Dupuis, actor
• April 26 - Jet Li, martial arts fighter, actor
• April 27 - Cali Timmins, actress

May-August

• May 8 - Helena Blagne Zaman, Slovene singer
• May 9 - Barry Douglas Lamb, rock musician, author, Christian preacher
• May 11 - Natasha Richardson, actress
• May 12 - Vanessa Williams actress
• May 24 - Joe Dumars, basketball star
• May 25 - Mike Myers, actor, comedian
• June 6 - Jason Isaacs, actor ( Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets )
• June 9 - Johnny Depp, actor (Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean)
• June 13 - Bettina Bunge, tennis player.
• June 17 - Greg Kinnear, actor (As Good As It Gets, Mystery Men)
• June 18 - Bruce Smith, American football player
• June 23 - Colin Montgomerie, golfer.
• June 25 - George Michael, singer
• June 27 - Meera Syal, comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress
• July 16 - Phoebe Cates, actress
• July 24 - Karl Malone, basketball
• July 30 - Lisa Kudrow, American actress
• August 3 - James Hetfield, Metallica frontman and co-founder
• August 19 - John Stamos, actor
• August 23 - Kenny Wallace, NASCAR race car driver
• August 24 - Hideo Kojima, video game director
• August 30 - Paul Oakenfold, DJ

September-December

• September 10 - Randy Johnson, baseball pitcher, five-time Cy Young Award winner
• September 21 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
• September 29 - Dave Andreychuk, NHL player
• October 1 - Mark McGwire, baseball star
• October 10 - Daniel Pearl, journalist (d. 2002)
• October 22 - Brian Boitano, figure skater
• October 26 - Natalie Merchant, singer/songwriter/musician
• October 31 - Fred McGriff, baseball player
• November 13 - Vinny Testaverde, American football quarterback
• November 18 - Dante Bichette, baseball player
• November 19 - Terry Farrell, actress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
• November 21 - Nicolette Sheridan, actress (Knots Landing, Desperate Housewives)
• [November 24]] - Iris Erlingsdottir, OMD, writer, journalist
• December 2 - John Kennedy Morrisey, entertainer/athlete/storyteller
• December 13 - Ilkka Remes, writer
• December 16 - Benjamin Bratt, actor (Law & Order)
• December 18 - Brad Pitt, actor
• December 23 - Jim Harbaugh, American football player

Deaths

• January 5 - Rogers Hornsby, Baseball Hall of Famer
• January 29 - Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)
• January 30 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899)
• February 11 - Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist (suicide) (b. 1932)
• March 4 - William Carlos Williams, American writer (b. 1883)
• March 5 - Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas, country music singers
• April 6 - Otto Struve, astronomer (b. 1897)
• April 9 - Eddie Edwards, jazz musician (b. 1891)
• May 12 - Bobby Kerr, Canadian sprinter (b. 1882)
• May 31 - Edith Hamilton, educator and author (b. 1867)
• June 3 - Pope John XXIII (b. 1881)
• June 11 - Thich Quang Duc, Vietnamese Bhuddist monk (suicide)
• August 5 - Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
• September 11 - Suzanne Duchamp, French Dada painter (b. 1889)
• October 11 - Edith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
• October 11 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
• November 1 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (b. 1901)
• November 15 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (b. 1888)
• November 22 - John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (b. 1917)
• November 22 - Aldous Huxley, English novelist (b. 1894)
• November 22 - C.S. Lewis - English novelist, Christian apologist (b. 1898)
• November 24 - Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy assassin (shot) (b. 1939)
• December 1 - Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, American spy in World War II
• December 2 - Thomas Hicks, American marathon runner (b. 1875)
• December 5 - Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji, Hindu saint (b. 1828)
• December 5 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905)
• December 28 - Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen
• Chemistry - Karl Ziegler, Giulio Natta
• Medicine - Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding Huxley
• Literature - Giorgos Seferis
• Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies