News and Events of 1964

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1964 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 3.276 billion
population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (US)

More World Statistics...

Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa (June 11).
Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attack US destroyers (Aug. 7). Background: Vietnam War
Khrushchev is deposed; Kosygin becomes premier and Brezhnev becomes first secretary of the Communist Party (October). Background: Rulers of Russia since 1533
China detonates its first atomic bomb. Background: nuclear weapons

More History...

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Vice President: none
Population: 191,888,791
Life expectancy: 70.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 23.9
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 22.0
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.1

More U.S. Statistics...

US Supreme Court rules that Congressional districts should be roughly equal in population (Feb. 17).
Three civil rights workers—Schwerner, Goodman, and Cheney—murdered in Mississippi (June). Background: Civil Rights
President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy issues Warren Report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Jack Ruby convicted of murder in slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald.

More History...

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $663 billion
Federal spending:   $118.53 billion
Federal debt:   $316.1 billion
Consumer Price Index:   31
Unemployment:   5.7%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.05

More Economics...

Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

St. Louis Cardinals d. NY Yankees (4-3)

NBA Championship

Boston d. SF Warriors (4-1)

Stanley Cup

Toronto d. Detroit (4-3)

Wimbledon

Women: Maria Bueno d. M. Smith (6-4 7-9 6-3)
Men: Roy Emerson d. F. Stolle (6-4 12-10 4-6 6-3)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Northern Dancer

NCAA Basketball Championship

UCLA d. Duke (98-83)

NCAA Football Champions

Alabama (AP, UPI), (10-1-0); Arkansas (FW), (11-0-0) & Notre Dame (NFF), (9-1-0)

1964 Summer Olympics

1964 Winter Olympics

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Oscars awarded in 1964
Academy Award, Best Picture: Tom Jones, Tony Richardson, producer (United Artists-Lopert Pictures)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Jean-Paul Sartre (France) (declined)

1964 Emmy Awards

1964 Tony Awards

Grammys awarded in 1964
Record of the Year: "The Days of Wine and Roses," Henry Mancini
Album of the Year: The Barbra Streisand Album, Barbra Streisand (Columbia)
Song of the Year: "The Days of Wine and Roses," Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, composers

Miss America: Donna Axum (AR)

More Entertainment Awards...

Events

Folk musician Bob Dylan becomes increasingly popular during this time of social protest with songs expressing objection to the condition of American society.
Psychedelic bands such as The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane enjoy great success with songs celebrating the counterculture of the '60s.
Peyton Place premieres on ABC and is the first prime-time soap opera. Color television makes its way into U.S. homes.
The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Movies

Red Desert, Dr. Strangelove, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Zorba the Greek, Becket

Books

Donald Barthelme, Come Back, Dr. Caligari
John Berryman, 77 Dream Songs
John Cheever, The Wapshot Scandal
James Dickey, Helmets, Two Poems of the Air
John Hawkes, Second Skin
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
Katherine Anne Porter, Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
Hubert Selby, Last Exit to Brooklyn

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (UK), for determining structure of compounds needed in combatting pernicious anemia

Physics: Charles Hard Townes (US), Nikolai G. Basov, and Aleksandr M. Prochorov (both USSR), for developing maser and laser principle of producing high-intensity radiation

Physiology or Medicine: Konrad E. Bloch (US) and Feodor Lynen (Germany), for research on mechanism and regulation of cholesterol and fatty-acid metabolism

Ranger VII takes 4,316 high-resolution pictures of the moon. Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs
US Surgeon General Luther Terry affirms that cigarette smoking causes cancer. Background: nuclear energy