Jan 11. In
his inaugural speech as governor of Alabama, George Wallace proclaims "segregation
now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever."
Feb 8. Iraq's ruler, General Kassem,
is overthrown in a coup led members of his military and the Ba'ath party. After
a quick trial he is shot. Kassem had suppressed the Communist Party in Iraq,
and now the killing of Communists, other leftist intellectuals and trade unionists
begins. Saddam Hussein, a junior member and former hit man for the Ba'ath Party,
returns to Iraq.
Feb 27. The leftist former professor, Juan
Bosch, takes office as President of the Dominican Republic.
Mar 22. In Britain a leading Conservative
Party leader and Minister of War, John Profumo, denies to the House of Commons
that back in 1961 he had been involved with Christine Keeler, who is known to
have been involved with a Soviet attaché.
Mar 31. The last of the streetcars disappear
in Los Angeles.
Apr 1. In Dallas, at
his second job since returning from the Soviet Union, Lee
Harvey Oswald has been rude with his fellow workers and inefficient
at his job - as a photoprint trainee. A supervisor finds
him on his lunch break reading the Soviet Union's satirical
magazine Krokodil - available in the United States
as part of a cultural exchange agreement between the U.S.
and the Soviet union. Oswald is fired.
Apr 10 In Dallas, Oswald fires his
rifle into the home of the former general and outspoken anti-Communist, Edwin
Walker, barely missing Walker. Oswald returns home with his rifle, undetected.
Apr 20 President Sukarno of Indonesia
endorses Beijing's foreign policies in exchange for Beijing's support for Sukarno's
opposition to the formation of the new state of Malaysia.
May 1 The UN hands control over what
had been Dutch New Guinea to Indonesia.
May 8 In Vietnam, Buddha's birthday
is being celebrated. President Diem, a Roman Catholic, has a law against Buddhists
displaying their flag. The Buddhists are aware of Papal flags having been flown,
and they line streets defiantly flying their flag. Diem sends troops in armored
vehicles against them. Nine Buddhists are killed. Diem accuses the Buddhists
of sympathizing with the Communists.
May 11 In a television interview, Fidel
Castro, recently returned from red carpet treatment in the Soviet Union, says
that the United States has "taken some steps in the way of peace" in its relations
with Cuba and that these might be the basis of better relations.
May 22 In Greece, the popular member
of parliament, Grigoris Lambrakis is intentionally run down by a truck.
May 27 Lambrakis dies. Unrest follows, with
the government castigated as a moral accomplice in the death of Lambrakis.
Jun 5 John Profumo confesses that he
misled the House of Commons back in March. He resigns.
Jun 12 The Field Director of the NAACP
in Mississippi, Medgar Evers, is shot and killed in front of his home.
Jun 11 At a busy intersection
in Saigon, a Buddhist Monk, sets himself on fire - a scene televised across
the world. President Diem's sister in law, Madam Nhu, acting first lady
of Diem's regime, says she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue
show."
Jun 11 In Alabama, federal troops force
Governor George Wallace to allow black students to enter the University of Alabama.
Aug. British Secretary of War John Profumo
resigns in the wake of an affair with Christine Keeler, a teenage showgirl who was also
involved with the Soviet naval attaché.
Jun 16 The Soviet Union sends the first
woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into space.
Jun 17 The US Supreme Court rules 8-1 to
strike down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord's Prayer or reading of
Biblical verses in public schools.
Jun 20 The United States and Soviet Union
agree to a communications hot line between the two powers and sign a treaty
limiting nuclear testing.
July 19 Since May, Lee Harvey Oswald
has been working at the Reilly Coffee Company. He is fired from this third job
since having returned from the Soviet Union.
Aug 9 Buddhist leaders, fearing more
suicide demonstrations, prohibit suicide by fire.
Aug 12 President Betancourt of Venezuela
wants the former dictator Perez Jiminez back in Venezuela to face charges of
embezzling 13 million dollars. After careful legal study the Kennedy administration
extradites him.
Aug. 17 Forty-seven faculty members
at the University of Hue resign to protest the Government's discharge of the
Roman Catholic rector of the university and what they call government "indifference"
toward settling a 14-week-old religious crisis.
Aug 28 At the Lincoln Memorial, Martin
Luther King makes his "I have a dream" speech.
Sep 16 Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and
North Borneo are united into the Federation of Malaysia.
Sep 21 The government of Indonesia
announces the takeover of all British Companies.
Sep 23 During an interview by Walter
Cronkite, President Kennedy says that South Vietnam's Government cannot win
its war against the Communists unless it recovers popular support. He also expresses
a domino theory: that "if we withdrew from Vietnam, the Communists would control
Vietnam. Pretty soon, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, would go..."
Sep 25 The U.S. Senate, by a vote of
80 to 19, ratifies the treaty outlawing nuclear tests - in the atmosphere, in
space and in the waters of the earth. President Kennedy sets out on an
eleven-state tour to plead for support for his domestic program.
Sep 26 President Sukarno says that
the new federation of Malaysia was created "to corner Indonesia" and that Indonesia
will need to "fight and destroy" it.
Sep 26 In the Dominican Republic, some
are opposed to the reforms of Juan Bosch. In a pre-dawn military coup, the government
of Juan Bosch is overthrown. Coup leaders describe Bosch's government as having
been "corrupt and pro Communist."
Sep 27 The United States halts all economic
aid to the Dominican Republic and suspends diplomatic relations.
Sep 27 Lee Harvey Oswald has taken
a bus to Mexico City where he visits the Cuban consulate, hoping to move to
Cuba, which he believes has a socialism superior to that of the Soviet Union.
Oct 2 President Kennedy sends a message
to Ambassador Lodge in Vietnam, declaring that "no initiative should now be
taken to give any encouragement to a coup" against Diem but that Lodge should
"identify and build contacts with possible leadership as and when it appears."
Oct 5 The rebel generals, led by Duong
Van "Big" Minh, have asked for assurance that U.S. aid to South Vietnam will
continue after Diem's removal from office and assurance that the U.S. will not
interfere with their coup. President Kennedy gives his approval and the CIA
passes it on to the rebel generals.
Oct 7 President Kennedy ratifies a
limited nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union. Nuclear testing
is outlawed in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer space.
Oct 15 Oswald is back from Mexico after
having been denied a visa by Cuba. He has acquired a job at the Texas School
Book Depository at $1.25 per hour filling customer orders for books.
Oct 16 In South Korea the leader of
the ruling junta, Major General Park Chung-hee, is elected President.
Oct 18 In Britain the government of
Harold Macmillan has lost credibility because of the Profumo affair, and Macmillan
is suffering ill-health. He resigns.
Oct 24 This is U.N. Day, and the U.N.
Ambassador, Adlai Stevenson is in Dallas Texas, where he is jeered, pushed,
hit by a sign and spat upon.
Nov 1 The Diem regime is overthrown.
Diem and his younger brother, Madam Nhu's husband, are said to have committed
suicide. In fact they were assassinated. People in Saigon bedeck army tanks
with flowers and parade joyously through the streets.
Nov 4 In elections in Greece, former
Premier George Papandreou and his Center Union party win over former Premier
Constantine Caramanlis and his rightist National Radical Union.
Nov 6 In Greece, King Paul gives Papandreou
a mandate to form a new government.
Nov 12 The Kennedy administration has
hopes for better relations with Cuba and is arranging a meeting with Castro's
regime, a meeting Kennedy does not want leaked to the press.
Nov 14 In Greece hundreds of political
prisoners are freed.
Nov 16 In the United States the touch-tone
telephone is introduced.
Nov 22 In Dallas, President Kennedy
rides in an open limousine on a route of public knowledge. It passes in front
of the building where Oswald works. Oswald takes his rifle to work with him
and shoots the President. Vice President Johnson becomes President.
Nov 24 Jack Ruby, owner of a girly
bar and friend of Dallas policemen, kills Oswald.
Nov 24 After walking in the procession
from the White House behind the Kennedy cortege, President Johnson meets with
Secretary of State Rusk, Secretary of Defense McNamara, CIA Director McCone
and Ambassador Lodge. He expresses doubts that getting rid of Diem was the right
course. He declares that he will not "lose Vietnam." He tells Lodge to tell
Duong Van Minh and the other generals who made up the ruling Military Revolutionary
Council that bickering among them must stop.
Nov 29 President Johnson appoints Chief
Justice Earl Warren as head of a commission to investigate the Kennedy assassination.
Nov 30 In Cyprus, quarrels have erupted
between Greeks and the Turkish minority. President Makarios hopes for better
cooperation between the two communities and proposes thirteen amendments to
the Constitution for consideration by leaders of the Turkish Cypriot community.
Dec 1 In the U.S., Malcolm X, a spokesperson
for Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, describes the assassination of Kennedy
as "the chickens coming home to roost." This irritates Elijah Muhammad,
who suspends Malcolm's right to speak for the movement for 90 days.
Dec 20 In a seventeen-day accord, East
Germany allows West Berliners one-day to visit relatives in East Berlin.
Dec 21 In Cyprus, proposed constitutional
amendments would eliminate most of the special rights of Turkish Cypriots in
exchange for greater integration between the two communities, with some guarantees
for Turkish rights. Among Turkish Cypriots rioting erupts.
Dec 21 In Cyprus, proposed constitutional
amendments would eliminate most of the special rights of Turkish Cypriots in
exchange for greater integration between the two communities, with some guarantees
for Turkish rights. Among Turkish Cypriots rioting erupts.
USA Tidbits for 1963
- President: John F. Kennedy
- Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson
- Population: 189,241,798
- Life Expectancy: 69.9
- Federal Budget: $111 Billion (Ah, the good ole days)
- Unemployment: 5.5%
- World Series: LA Dodgers defeated Yankees (4-0)
- NBA Championship: Boston defeated LA Lakers (4-2)
- Kentucky Derby Winner: Chateaugay
- NCAA Basketball Championship: Loyola-Illinois defeated Cincinnati, 60-58
- NCAA Football Chanmpionship: Texas (11-0-0)
- Oscars: Best Picture- Lawrence of Arabia
- Record of the Year: "I left My Heart in San Francisco," Tony Bennett
- Valium is developed by roche Labs
- Robert Frost, arguably our most beloved American poet, dies. Mr Frost had attended the
inauguration of John F. Kennedy.