1963

Events from the year **1963 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: John F. Kennedy (D-MA) (until November 22), Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) (starting November 22)
* Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) (until November 22), *vacant* (starting November 22)
* Chief Justice: Earl Warren (CA)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: John William McCormack (D-MA)
* Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-MT)
* Congress: 87th (until January 3), 88th (starting January 3)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: John M. Patterson (Democratic) (until January 14), George Wallace (Democratic) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Alaska: William A. Egan (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Paul Fannin (Republican)
* Governor of Arkansas: Orval Faubus (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Pat Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Colorado: Stephen L. R. McNichols (Democratic) (until January 8), John Arthur Love (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Connecticut: John N. Dempsey (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Elbert N. Carvel (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: C. Farris Bryant (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Ernest Vandiver (Democratic) (until January 15), Carl E. Sanders (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Hawaii: John A. Burns (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Robert E. Smylie (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Otto Kerner Jr. (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: Matthew E. Welsh (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: Norman A. Erbe (Republican) (until January 17), Harold E. Hughes (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Kansas: John Anderson Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Bert T. Combs (Democratic) (until December 10), Edward T. Breathitt (Democratic) (starting December 10)
* Governor of Louisiana: Jimmie H. Davis (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: John H. Reed (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: J. Millard Tawes (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: John A. Volpe (Republican) (until January 3), Endicott Peabody (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Michigan: John Swainson (Democratic) (until January 1), George W. Romney (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: Elmer L. Andersen (Republican) (until March 25), Karl F. Rolvaag (Democratic) (starting March 25)
* Governor of Mississippi: Ross R. Barnett (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: John M. Dalton (Democratic)
* Governor of Montana: Tim M. Babcock (Republican)
* Governor of Nebraska: Frank B. Morrison (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Grant Sawyer (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Wesley Powell (Republican) (until January 3), John W. King (Democratic) (starting January 3)
* Governor of New Jersey: Richard J. Hughes (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Tom Bolack (Republican) (until January 1), Jack M. Campbell (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of New York: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Terry Sanford (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: William L. Guy (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Michael DiSalle (Democratic) (until January 14), Jim Rhodes (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Governor of Oklahoma:
	+ until January 6: J. Howard Edmondson (Democratic)
	+ January 6-January 14: George Nigh (Democratic)
	+ starting January 14: Henry Bellmon (Republican)
* Governor of Oregon: Mark Hatfield (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: David L. Lawrence (Democratic) (until January 15), William Scranton (Republican) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Rhode Island: John A. Notte Jr. (Democratic) (until January 1), John Chafee (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of South Carolina: Ernest Hollings (Democratic) (until January 15), Donald S. Russell (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of South Dakota: Archie M. Gubbrud (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Buford Ellington (Democratic) (until January 15), Frank G. Clement (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Texas: Price Daniel (Democratic) (until January 15), John Connally (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Utah: George Dewey Clyde (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: F. Ray Keyser Jr. (Republican) (until January 10), Philip H. Hoff (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Virginia: Albertis S. Harrison Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Washington: Albert D. Rosellini (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: William Wallace Barron (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Gaylord A. Nelson (Democratic) (until January 7), John W. Reynolds Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 7)
* Governor of Wyoming: Jack R. Gage (Democratic) (until January 7), Clifford P. Hansen (Republican) (starting January 7)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Albert B. Boutwell (Democratic) (until January 14), James B. Allen (Democratic) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Hugh Wade (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Nathan Green Gordon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Glenn Malcolm Anderson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Robert Lee Knous (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Anthony J. Armentano (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Samuel J. Tedesco (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Eugene Lammot (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Garland T. Byrd (Democratic) (until January 15), Peter Zack Geer (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: William S. Richardson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: W. E. Drevlow (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Samuel H. Shapiro (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Richard O. Ristine (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: W. L. Mooty (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Harold H. Chase (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Wilson W. Wyatt (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Harry Lee Waterfield (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: C. C. Aycock (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Edward F. McLaughlin Jr. (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Francis X. Bellotti (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: T. John Lesinski (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Karl Rolvaag (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Alexander M. Keith (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Carroll Gartin (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Hilary A. Bush (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: David F. James (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Dwight W. Burney (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Maude Frazier (Democratic) (until January 1), Paul Laxalt (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: vacant (until January 1), Mack Easley (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Malcolm Wilson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Orville W. Hagen (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Frank A. Wenstrom (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John W. Donahey (Democratic) (until January 14), John William Brown (Republican) (starting January 14)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: George Nigh (Democratic) (until January 6), Leo Winters (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: John Morgan Davis (Democratic) (until January 15), Raymond P. Shafer (Republican) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Edward P. Gallogly (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Burnet R. Maybank Jr. (Democratic) (until January 15), Robert Evander McNair (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: vacant (until month and day unknown), Nils Boe (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: vacant (until month and day unknown), James L. Bomar Jr. (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: vacant (until January 15), Preston Smith (Democratic) (starting January 15)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Ralph A. Foote (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Mills E. Godwin Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Warren P. Knowles (Republican) (until January 7), Jack B. Olson (Republican) (starting January 7)

## Events

### January

* January 8 – Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa* is exhibited in the United States for the only time, being unveiled at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
* January 14 – George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. In his inaugural speech, he defiantly proclaims "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!"
* January 28 – African American student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson University in South Carolina, the last U.S. state to hold out against racial integration.

### February

* February 8 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.
* February 11 – The CIA's Domestic Operations Division is created.
* February 12 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 crashes in the Florida Everglades, killing everyone aboard.
* February 19 – The publication of Betty Friedan's *The Feminine Mystique* launches the reawakening of the Women's Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness-raising groups spread.
* February 28 – Dorothy Schiff resigns from the New York Newspaper Publisher's Association, feeling that the city needs at least one paper. Her paper, the *New York Post*, resumes publication on March 4.

### March

* March 1 – Iron Man debuts in Marvel Comics's *Tales of Suspense* #39, cover-dated this month.
* March 5 – In Camden, Tennessee, country music star Patsy Cline (Virginia Patterson Hensley) is killed in a plane crash along with fellow performers Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and Cline's manager and pilot Randy Hughes, while returning from a benefit performance in Kansas City, Kansas for country radio disc jockey "Cactus" Jack Call.
* March 18 – *Gideon v. Wainwright*: The Supreme Court rules that state courts are required to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who cannot afford to pay their own attorneys.
* March 21 – The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
* March 31 – The 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike ends after 114 days.

### April

* April 1 – The long-running soap opera *General Hospital* debuts on ABC Television in the United States.
* April 3 – Southern Christian Leadership Conference volunteers kick off the Birmingham campaign against racial segregation with a sit-in.
* April 8 – The 35th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Frank Sinatra, is held at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. David Lean's *Lawrence of Arabia* wins and receives the most respective awards and nominations with seven and ten, winning Best Picture and Lean's second Best Director win.
* April 10 – The U.S. nuclear submarine *Thresher* sinks 220 mi (190 nmi; 350 km) east of Cape Cod; all 129 aboard (112 crewmen plus yard personnel) die.
* April 12 – Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a Birmingham protest for "parading without a permit".
* April 16 – Martin Luther King Jr. issues his *Letter from Birmingham Jail*.
* April 20 – Martin Luther King Jr. posts bail and begins to plan more demonstrations (the Children's Crusade).

### May

* May 1 – The Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, TaB cola.
* May 2 – Thousands of African Americans, many of them children, are arrested while protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor later unleashes fire hoses and police dogs on the demonstrators.
* May 8 – *Dr. No*, the first James Bond film, is shown in U.S. theaters.
* May 15 – Mercury program: NASA launches Gordon Cooper on *Mercury 9*, the last mission (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb tells Congress the program is complete).
* May 27 – *The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan*, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's second studio album, and most influential, is released by Columbia Records.

### June

* June 3 – Huế chemical attacks: Members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam pour chemicals on the heads of Buddhist protesters. The U.S. threatens to cut off aid to Ngo Dinh Diem's regime.
* June 4 – President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 11110.
* June 10
	+ President John F. Kennedy delivers "A Strategy of Peace" speech at the American University in Washington, D.C., outlining a road map for the complete disarmament of nuclear weapons and world peace.
	+ The University of Central Florida is established by the Florida legislature.
* June 11
	+ Alabama Governor George Wallace stands in the door of the University of Alabama to protest against integration, before stepping aside and allowing African Americans James Hood and Vivian Malone to enroll.
	+ President John F. Kennedy delivers a historic Civil Rights Address, in which he promises a Civil Rights Bill, and asks for "the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves."
* June 12
	+ Medgar Evers is assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi. His killer, Byron De La Beckwith, is convicted in 1994.
	+ The film *Cleopatra*, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, is released in the United States.
* June 13 – The cancellation of Mercury 10 effectively ends the Mercury program of U.S. manned spaceflight.
* June 17 – *Abington School District v. Schempp*: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that state-mandated Bible reading in public schools is unconstitutional.
* June 23
	+ Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room opens at Disneyland, premiering the first Audio-Animatronics in the park.
	+ Detroit Walk to Freedom occurs in Detroit drawing a crowd of roughly 125,000 people.
* June 26 – In a speech in West Berlin, President John F. Kennedy famously declares "Ich bin ein Berliner".

### July

* July 1 – ZIP codes are introduced in the U.S.
* July 7 – Double Seven Day scuffle: Secret police loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, attack American journalists including Peter Arnett and David Halberstam at a demonstration during the Buddhist crisis.
* July 26 – NASA launches Syncom, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite.

### August

* August 5 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
* August 18 – James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
* August 21 – Cable 243: In the wake of the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, the Kennedy administration orders the US Embassy, Saigon to explore alternative leadership in South Vietnam, opening the way towards a coup against Diem.
* August 28 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

### September

* September 7 – The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio, with 17 charter members.
* September 15 – The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four children and injures 22.
* September 19 – Iota Phi Theta fraternity is founded.
* September 24 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the nuclear test ban treaty.

### October

* October 1 – The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women issues its final reports to President Kennedy.
* October 6 – The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees, 4 games to 0, to win their third World Series title in baseball.
* October 8 – Sam Cooke and his band are arrested after trying to register at a "whites only" motel in Louisiana. In the months following, he records "A Change Is Gonna Come".
* October 22 – Chicago Public Schools Boycott.
* October 28 – Demolition of the 1910 Pennsylvania Station begins in New York City, continuing until 1966.
* October 31 – 1963 Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum gas explosion: 81 die in a gas explosion during a Holiday on Ice show at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum in Indianapolis.

### November

* November 2 – 1963 Freedom Ballot, a mock election organized to protest and combat the systematic disenfranchisement of blacks in Mississippi.
* November 10 – Malcolm X makes his "Message to the Grass Roots" speech in Detroit.
* November 16 – A newspaper strike begins in Toledo, Ohio.
* November 18 – The first push-button telephone is made available to AT&T customers in the United States.
* November 22 – John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, President John F. Kennedy is shot to death, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the 36th President. All television coverage for the next three days is devoted to the assassination, its aftermath, the procession of the horsedrawn casket to the Capitol Rotunda, and the funeral of President Kennedy. Stores and businesses shut down for the entire weekend and Monday, in tribute.
* November 23 – The Golden Age Nursing Home fire kills 63 elderly people near Fitchville, Ohio.
* November 24
	+ Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy, is shot dead by Jack Ruby in Dallas on live national television. Later that night, a hastily arranged program, *A Tribute to John F. Kennedy from the Arts*, featuring actors, opera singers, and noted writers, all performing dramatic readings and/or music, is telecast on ABC-TV.
	+ Vietnam War: President Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically.
* November 25 – President Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Schools around the nation do not have class on that day, and millions around the world watch the funeral on live television.
* November 29 – President Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.

### December

* December 1 – Wendell Scott becomes the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR race at Speedway Park
* December 8
	+ Frank Sinatra Jr. is kidnapped at Harrah's Lake Tahoe.
	+ A lightning strike causes the crash of Pan Am Flight 214 near Elkton, Maryland, killing 81 people.
* December 10
	+ The X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled.
	+ Chuck Yeager becomes the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights.
* December 14 – Baldwin Hills Dam disaster floods South Los Angeles, causing five deaths.
* December 25 – Walt Disney releases his 18th feature-length animated motion picture, *The Sword in the Stone*, about the boyhood of King Arthur. It is Disney's final animated film to be released during his lifetime, before his death in 1966.
* December 26 – The Beatles' songs "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the U.S., marking the beginning of full-scale Beatlemania.

## Memoriam

* January 1 – Robert S. Kerr, businessman and politician (aged 66; Washington, DC, USA)
* January 2 – Dick Powell, actor (aged 58; West Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 5 – Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals) (aged 66; Chicago, IL, USA)
* January 6
	+ Frank Tuttle, film director (aged 70; Hollywood, CA, USA)
	+ Stark Young, teacher, playwright, novelist, painter, literary critic and essayist (aged 81; Austin, TX, USA)
* January 8
	+ Boris Morros, film producer and FBI double agent (aged 72; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Jack Okey, art director (aged 73; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
	+ Kay Sage, poet (aged 64; Woodbury, CT, USA)
* January 9 – Enea Bossi Sr., aerospace engineer and aviation pioneer (aged 74; Dayton, OH, USA)
* January 22 – Richard Spikes, inventor (aged 84; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 29 – Robert Frost, poet (aged 88; Boston, MA, USA)
* March 4 – William Carlos Williams, poet (aged 79; Rutherford, NJ, USA)
* March 5
	+ Patsy Cline, country music singer (aged 30; Camden, TN, USA)
	+ Cowboy Copas, country music singer (aged 49; Camden, TN, USA)
	+ Hawkshaw Hawkins, country music singer (aged 41; Camden, TN, USA)
* April 3 – Alma Richards, high jumper (aged 73; Long Beach, CA, USA)
* May 2 – Van Wyck Brooks, literary critic and writer (aged 77; Bridgewater, CT, USA)
* May 6 – Monty Woolley, character actor (aged 74; Albany, NY, USA)
* May 11 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (aged 74; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 18 – Ernie Davis, American football player, first African American to win the Heisman Trophy (aged 23; Cleveland, OH, USA)
* May 19 – Walter Russell, polymath (aged 92; Waynesboro, VA, USA)
* May 24 – Elmore James, African American blues guitarist (aged 45; Chicago, IL, USA)
* June 7 – ZaSu Pitts, film actress (aged 69; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 10 – Anita King, actress and race-car driver (aged 78; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* June 12 – Medgar Evers, field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, assassinated in Mississippi due to civil rights activity (aged 37; Jackson, MS, USA)
* July 2 – Alicia Patterson, newspaper editor (aged 56; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 18 – Jack Solomon, restaurateur (aged 67; Manhattan, NY, USA)
* July 30 – Patrick J. Hurley, 51st U.S. Secretary of War from 1929 to 1933 (aged 80; Santa Fe, NM, USA)
* August 1
	+ Walter Burgwyn Jones, judge, legislator, and writer (aged 74; Montgomery, AL, USA)
	+ Theodore Roethke, poet (aged 55; Bainbridge Island, WA, USA)
* August 2 – Oliver La Farge, fiction writer and anthropologist (aged 61; Santa Fe, NM, USA)
* August 4 – Tom Keene, Western film actor (aged 66; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 9 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, son of President and Mrs. Kennedy (aged 0; Boston, MA, USA)
* August 10 – Estes Kefauver, politician (aged 60; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* August 11 – Clem Bevans, character actor (aged 82; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
* August 14 – Clifford Odets, playwright (aged 57; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 27 – W. E. B. Du Bois, leading African American sociologist, historian and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (aged 95; Accra, Ghana)
* September 11 – Claude Fuess, 10th Headmaster of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts (aged 78; Brookline, MA, USA)
* October 4
	+ Lloyd Fredendall, U.S. Army general (aged 79; San Diego, CA, USA)
	+ Kate Gordon Moore, psychologist (aged 85; Glendale, CA, USA)
* October 11 – John W. Nordstrom, Swedish-born American co-founder of the Nordstrom department store chain (aged 92; Seattle, WA, USA)
* October 20 – Everett Warner, impressionist painter and printmaker (aged 86; Bellows Falls, VT, USA)
* October 24 – Douglas Croft, actor (aged 37; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* November 5 – Vernon Dent, American actor and comedian, main antagonist of the Three Stooges (aged 68; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* November 22
	+ Aldous Huxley, writer (aged 69; Los Angeles County, CA, USA)
	+ John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (aged 46; Dallas, TX, USA)
	+ J. D. Tippit, Dallas police officer (aged 39; Dallas, TX, USA)
* November 24 – Lee Harvey Oswald, sniper, assassinated John F. Kennedy (aged 24; Dallas, TX, USA)
* December 14 – Dinah Washington, African American blues singer (aged 39; Detroit, MI, USA)
* December 22 – Roy Palmer, jazz trombonist (aged 76; Chicago, IL, USA)
* December 26 – Gorgeous George, professional wrestler (aged 48; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* December 28
	+ A. J. Liebling, journalist (aged 59; New York City, NY, USA)
	+ Joseph Magliocco, mobster (aged 65; West Islip, NY, USA)