January 1964

1964

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

The following events occurred in January 1964:

January 1, 1964 (Wednesday)

• The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolves into Zambia, Malawi, and Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe).
• The rural municipality of Glemmen is merged with the city of Fredrikstad, Norway.
• Died: Bechara El Khoury, 73, President of Lebanon

January 2, 1964 (Thursday)

• A police officer attempts to assassinate Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah; it was the fifth attempt on his life since he came to power in 1957. Nkrumah survives; his bodyguard is killed.
• 52-0968, a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II flying from Wake Island Airfield to Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu disappeared over the ocean, 1,200 km west of Hawaii. Eight crew and one passenger were lost in the accident.

January 3, 1964 (Friday)

• Irish soap opera Tolka Row is broadcast for the first time by Telefís Éireann.
• The Belgian cargo ship MV Schelde collides with French ship MV Francois L D in the Nieuwe Waterweg, Netherlands, and is beached. It is later repaired and returned to service, while Francois L D is towed to Schiedam for repairs.
• The Dutch coaster MV Looiersgracht collides with South African ship MV Langkloof in the Scheldt near Terneuzen. Three of her eleven crew are reported missing.
• The government-in-exile of Angola, led by Holden Roberto, announces it will accept aid from Communist countries.

January 4, 1964 (Saturday)

• A commuter train collides with a standing passenger train at Jajinci, Voždovac, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia, killing at least 66 people, and injuring at least 200.
• Third round matches in the 1963–64 FA Cup football competition are played in England.

January 5, 1964 (Sunday)

• U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
• In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the 15th century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I meet in Jerusalem.

January 6, 1964 (Monday)

• Sir Kenneth Maddocks is replaced as Governor of Fiji by Sir Derek Jakeway.

January 7, 1964 (Tuesday)

• A British firm, the Leyland Motor Corp., announces the sale of 450 buses to the Cuban government, challenging the United States blockade of Cuba.
• Born: Nicolas Cage, US actor (as Nicolas Kim Coppola), in Long Beach, California

January 8, 1964 (Wednesday)

• In his first State of the Union Address, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson declares a "War on Poverty".
• Died: Julius Raab, 72, Austrian politician, Chancellor of Austria 1953–61

January 9, 1964 (Thursday)

• Martyrs' Day: Armed clashes between United States troops and Panamanian civilians in the Panama Canal Zone precipitate a major international crisis, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and 4 U.S. soldiers.

January 10, 1964 (Friday)

• The T-class submarine HMS Tiptoe runs aground in the River Clyde at Greenock. It is refloated after seven hours.
• Introducing...the Beatles is released by Chicago's Vee-Jay Records to get the jump on Capitol Records' release of Meet the Beatles!, scheduled for January 20. The two record companies fight over Vee-Jay's release of this album in court.

January 11, 1964 (Saturday)

• United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health (the first such statement from the U.S. government).
• The UK teenage girls' magazine Jackie is published for the first time.

January 12, 1964 (Sunday)

• The Zanzibar Revolution: African nationalist rebels overthrow the predominantly Arab government of Zanzibar. A U.S. destroyer evacuates 61 U.S. citizens.
• Routine U.S. naval patrols of the South China Sea begin.
• USS Demeter (ARB-10), a battle damage repair ship built for the United States Navy during World War II but resold in 1961 for commercial service, sinks.

January 13, 1964 (Monday)

• The Arab League holds its first summit in Cairo. The leaders make plans which eventually result in the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
• A United States Air Force B-52D Stratofortress carrying two Mark 53 nuclear bombs loses its vertical stabilizer in turbulence during a winter storm and crashes on Savage Mountain near Barton, Maryland. Only two of the five crewmen survive. The bombs are recovered two days later.
• In Manchester, New Hampshire, US, 14-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment Case "Coolidge vs. New Hampshire (1971)."
• The cable-laying ship ACS Bullfinch is grounded in the Firth of Clyde. Refloated the next day.

January 14, 1964 (Tuesday)

• A partial solar eclipse takes place.
• In the 14th National Basketball Association All-Star Game at the Boston Garden, the Eastern Conference defeat the Western Conference 111-107.

January 15, 1964 (Wednesday)

• Died: Tawfiq Canaan, 81, pioneering physician, medical researcher, ethnographer and Palestinian nationalist; Jack Teagarden, 58, US jazz trombonist (heart attack)

January 16, 1964 (Thursday)

• Hello, Dolly! opens in New York City's St. James Theatre.
• John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, resigns from the space program.

January 17, 1964 (Friday)

• John Glenn announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.
• Born: Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, First Lady of the United States, in Chicago, Illinois
• Died: T. H. White, 57, English novelist

January 18, 1964 (Saturday)

• Plans to build the New York World Trade Center are announced.
• Born: Jane Horrocks, English actress, in Rawtenstall, Lancashire

January 19, 1964 (Sunday)

• Died: Firmin Lambot, 77, Belgian racing cyclist

January 20, 1964 (Monday)

• Meet the Beatles!, the first The Beatles album from Capitol Records in the United States, is released ten days after Chicago's Vee-Jay Records releases Introducing... The Beatles. The two record companies battle it out in court for months, eventually coming to a settlement.
• Nineteen men go on trial at Buckinghamshire Assizes in the UK charged with the Great Train Robbery five months earlier.
• Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., US Ambassador to South Vietnam, passes the US President a report by Giovanni D'Orlandi, the Italian Ambassador in Saigon, suggesting that Tran Van Don and Ngo Dinh Diem are potential leaders of a group that might go along with the neutralization plans of French President Charles de Gaulle.

January 21, 1964 (Tuesday)

• President Léon M'ba of Gabon dissolves the country's legislature as an "economy measure".

January 22, 1964 (Wednesday)

• Kenneth Kaunda is inaugurated as the first Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia.
• In its first public violation of the 1959 requirement for all aircraft operating from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais to belong to the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian Navy steams Minas Gerais into Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro with four navy T-28 Trojan trainers on her flight deck.
• Died: Marc Blitzstein, 58, US composer, murdered while on holiday in Martinique

January 23, 1964 (Thursday)

• Thirteen years after its proposal and nearly 2 years after its passage by the United States Senate, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
• In Jakarta, Indonesia and Malaysian leaders agree to a ceasefire. US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy is involved in the negotiations.
• Pope Paul VI institutes the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
• Arthur Miller's After the Fall opens on Broadway. A semi-autobiographical work, it arouses controversy over his portrayal of late ex-wife Marilyn Monroe.
• Born: Mariska Hargitay, US actress, in Santa Monica, California, the daughter of Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay

January 24, 1964 (Friday)

• The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group is secretly established by the USA to conduct covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Vietnam War.
• Died: Alistair Fraser, 78, Canadian lawyer, 21st Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia

January 25, 1964 (Saturday)

• Former prime minister Sourou-Migan Apithy replaces General Christophe Soglo as head of state of Dahomey (now Benin), following two months of military rule.
• In Indonesia Serbuni trade unionists occupies the Unilever factory in Surabaya, but are evicted by police.
• Born: Selmo Cikotić, Bosnian military officer and politician, in Berane, Montenegro

January 26, 1964 (Sunday)

• The annual telecasts of The Wizard of Oz in the US resume after being temporarily discontinued in 1963.

January 27, 1964 (Monday)

• France and the People's Republic of China announce their decision to establish diplomatic relations.
• U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith, 66, announces her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
• Born: Bridget Fonda, US actress, in Los Angeles, California, to Peter Fonda and his wife Susan

January 28, 1964 (Tuesday)

• A Soviet MiG-19 shoots down a T-39 Sabreliner which had accidentally entered East German airspace, killing all three men aboard the T-39.
• Families from Springtown Camp in Northern Ireland make a silent march through Derry to demand rehousing.

January 29, 1964 (Wednesday)

• The 1964 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria.
• The Soviet Union launches two scientific satellites, Elektron I and II, from a single rocket.
• Ranger 6 is launched by NASA, on a mission to carry television cameras and crash-land on the Moon.
• The film Dr. Strangelove opens in U.S. theaters, after a delay provoked by the Kennedy assassination.
• Died: Alan Ladd, 50, US actor

January 30, 1964 (Thursday)

• 1964 South Vietnamese coup: General Nguyễn Khánh leads a bloodless military coup d'état, replacing Dương Văn Minh as Prime Minister of South Vietnam.

January 31, 1964 (Friday)

• Died: Nguyễn Văn Nhung, 44 or 45, Vietnamese military officer involved in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup (probably executed on the orders of General Nguyễn Khánh.