Caroline's+A+Year+in+History

**1964 Caroline Clark** The year 1964 began on a Wednesday and was a lucky year not only for The Beatles, but also for the ones who have a birthday falling on February 29th. It was a year packed with political events, social justice and human rights, and you guessed it, a lot of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

On the very first day in 1964, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved. The establishment created in August of the previous year had ultimately crumbled. The next day, the assassination planned for president Nkrumah of Ghana failed and two TV stations in MN and CO began broadcasting. On January 5th, the first meeting between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity leaders since 1439 took place and San Diego Chargers fans rejoiced as their team won the AFL-championship. A few days later, President Johnson declared “War on Poverty” in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent. In the same month the 24th Amendment was ratified, the US Surgeon General reported that smoking may be hazardous, and Hindu-Muslim rioting broke out in Calcutta, resulting in more than 100 deaths.

On the first day of February, The Beatles were sitting pretty at #1 on the US charts, but things in the Big Apple were not as pleasant. Protesting broke out quickly on the issue of racial segregation and Black and Puerto Rican groups in NYC started to boycott public schools. This wouldn’t be the last protest of 1964, that’s for sure. On February 4th, the 24th Amendment outlawed poll tax and President Johnson said, “There can be no one too poor to vote.” The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, which marked their first live performance on American television, and this was seen by an estimated 73 million viewers. In politics, The Wesberry v. Sanders Supreme Court case ruled congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population, while the government in Italy asked for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over. February came to a close as President Johnson announced the US had developed the A-11 jet airplane.

In March of 1964, the most powerful earthquake in US history struck South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and left the city of Anchorage broken on many levels. Later that month, Malcolm X left the Black Muslim Movement and resigned from the Nation of Islam. Later in the month, the popular game show, Jeopardy, debuted. April started out mighty cold in Cleveland, where the temperature was recorded 10 degrees Fahrenheit. People in 1964 probably thought they were being fooled! As far as technological advances go, IBM announced the System/360, which marked the first family of computers designed to cover a range of applications. On April 17th, the first game was played at Shea Stadium. Although the New York Mets lost, this later becomes a legendary stadium for New Yorkers. Boycotts were spreading like wildfire and at the end of April, 86% of Black students boycott schools in Cleveland. It is safe to say Americans were struck with Beatlemania, “Love me do” was #1 for a whole week at the end of April.

May brought the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War, where students marched through Times Square and San Francisco. Ku Klux Klan members kidnapped and beat two hitchhikers to death and they were later found by civil rights workers. Those working towards equal rights must have been outraged. How could they get away with this? A devastating 319 persons were killed on May 25th at a soccer match in Peru, where riots broke out over a referees decisions in a match against Argentina. In June of 1964, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to a life in prison in South Africa and the Ku Klux Klan murdered three civil rights workers. African Americans and Civil rights activists had to fear for their lives. At the end of June, Malcolm X formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

July of 1964 started off with a major high point as US President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. The next day, he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting segregation in public places. There would be no more different drinking fountains or Whites Only signs. The hard work put in by thousands had paid off, but trouble continued as a race riot in Rochester, NY killed four innocent people. The number of United States forces in Vietnam had risen to 21,000 as more military advisers were sent to South Vietnam. Ranger 7 was launched toward the moon and took 4,316 pictures before crashing. The images were 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from an earth-bound telescope. At the beginning of August, North Vietnam fired on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Four days later, US began bombing North Vietnam. There were several race riots that took place and on August 28th, the race riot in Philadelphia started. On a positive note, Walt Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” was released the next day.

In September, Malta became independent from the UK and the world found out via the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy. October of ‘64 marked the start of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and American Civil Rights movement leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. On October 3rd, Lyndon B. Johnson soundly beat Barry Goldwater for President. Racial issues remained a problem for the US as J. Edgar Hoover described Martin Luther King, Jr. as the “most notorious liar.” At the end of November, the Mariner 4 was launched in an effort to fly by Mars. As the year of 1964 came to a close, America, as a nation, was still trying to resist to civil rights for everyone and the war in Vietnam was a hot topic as well. In December, President Johnson met with advisers to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement occurred, where 800 students were arrested for their protesting the decision to forbid Vietnam War protests on UC property.

Maybe John Lennon should’ve told everyone to give peace a chance in 1964.