1964

Henkels & McCoy establishes a Communications Engineering office in Elkhart, Indiana. Within a short time the company offers Engineering services nationwide. Photo: H&M Engineers examining a telephone switchboard unit.

February 4
The twenty-fourth amendment to the Constitution, is declared ratified by 38 of 50 state legislatures on this day and makes US poll taxes unconstitutional.

February 9 and 16
The Beatles appear live on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York City, and again a week later in Miami. Beatlemania is born in the US.

February 10
The US House of Representatives passes the Civil Rights Bill by a vote of 290 to 130. The Bill now goes to the US Senate for further debate and behind the scenes battles.

February 25
Cassius Clay (later Muhammed Ali), left, defeats defending champ Sonny Liston in a stunning upset to win the World Heavyweight boxing title, in Miami. "The hand can’t hit what the eye can’t see. Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," is the mantra coined by Clay corner-man Drew "Bundini" Brown.

March
President Johnson declares war on poverty. He signs an Economic Opportunity Act in August and appoints R. Sargent Shriver, to head the new Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).

July 2
In an effort to end discrimination, the Civil Rights Bill is passed. After much personal persuasion and exertion of his influence in the US Senate as a former Majority Leader, LBJ signs the Bill into law this day.

August 4
The bodies of three civil rights workers (Schwerner, Goodman, and Cheney) are found in Philadelphia, Mississippi. They have been missing since June.

August 10
Congress’ Gulf of Tonkin Resolution effectively begins American military involvement in Vietnam War.

August 28
Civil unrest and racial tension simmer in America’s cities. Police arrest a black suspect in North Philadelphia. A race riot ensues which lasts all night. Other riots in the summer of 1964 rock Harlem and Rochester in New York; Paterson, Jersey City and Elizabeth, New Jersey; in Chicago over three hundred people are injured in riots there.






September 3
Robert Francis Kennedy resigns his office as US Attorney General under Lyndon B. Johnson and announces his bid for US Senator for the state of New York. He will win easily in November.

October 10-24
XVIII Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. It is the first time the games are held in Asia.

October 16
The first Chinese atomic bomb is exploded.

October 27
Police arrest the "Boston Strangler," Albert DeSalvo, after his final victim, a young woman identifies him. The serial rapist/murderer will himself be murdered in prison in 1973.

November 3
Lyndon Baines Johnson is elected President, defeating Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona in a landslide. LBJ ran a scare tactic ad, one time only, which initially depicted a little girl (below) picking petals from a flower. The "daisy ad" played on America’s fears a year after the JFK killing, with a burgeoning land-war in Asia, and a hostile USSR on the move. Senator Goldwater served a long career in Congress following his defeat and was hailed at his death, even by his former foes as a great American patriot.

To see the daisy ad click the link. You may need Quicktime installed to view this file. Click your browser's "Back" button to return to this page.

December
President Johnson announces a substantial increase in US aid to South Vietnam "to restrain the mounting infiltration of men and equipment by the Hanoi regime in support of the Vietcong." There are 15,000 US military advisers in South Vietnam by New Year's Eve.
 
ALSO IN 1964:

Shaken... not stirred.
The Red Chinese may now have The Bomb...and the Russians might have an iron grip on Eastern Europe... but in the West we have... Bond. James Bond. Agent 007 makes his screen debut in Doctor No. Sean Connery (left), a struggling young Scotsman, will see his acting career jettison into the stratosphere with the role of the risk taking, card playing, fast driving, martini drinking, cigarette smoking, heart breaking British naval commander with a license to kill ...More from Hollywood: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain and the Academy award for Best Picture goes to My Fair Lady... Julie Andrews wins for Best Actress in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins... On Broadway, Hello Dolly, Funny Girl, and Fiddler on the Roof premier in New York.

PLUS:
President Johnson's commission on the assassination of President Kennedy -- headed by US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The so called Warren Report remains a source of controversy 40 years later... Jack Ruby is convicted of murder in the televised slaying of Oswald... Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, is sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa... Dr. Luther L. Terry, the US Surgeon General, issues a report linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer and other diseases.
First Bullet Train service in Japan.

 Craig Breedlove breaks world land speed record (407 mph).

Skateboarding craze begins in California (where else, dude?)

A gallon of gasoline costs a whopping 30 cents.

Hasbro introduces the GI Joe doll.

Leonid Brezhnev assumes power in the Soviet Union after Nikita Khrushchev is deposed.

Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa is convicted of misappropriating $1.7 million in union funds.

 What's On TV
 Peyton Place premieres on ABC and is the first prime-time soap opera. Color TV makes great inroads into American homes... The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and become instant cultural icons... Bonanza (NBC) rides herd on all other TV programming in 1964, followed by that nose twitching anti-witch, Samantha, on ABC's Bewitched...Gomer Pyle, USMC, at number three (CBS), a spin-off sitcom based on a recurring character from Andy Griffith's' Mayberry (number 4), follows the travails of a backcountry recruit through boot camp and beyond. Like the main character in film's No Time for Sergeants (where Andy Griffith made his own debut in the 1950s), the seemingly thick protagonist provides a positive example through his open faced honesty and single minded dedication to duty... Meanwhile, at number five, the unjustly convicted Dr. Richard Kimble eludes Lieutenant Philip Girard in a non-stop cross country marathon while "seeking the real killer" as The Fugitive on ABC...

Sports
 The St. Louis Cardinals beat the NY Yankees 4-3... in NBA action, the Celtics decisively defeat the San Francisco Warriors 4-1... in the Stanley Cup it's Toronto over Detroit in seven games ...in college sports, for the NCAA Basketball Championship UCLA beats Duke (98-83)... Arkansas is 11-0-0

Bob Dylan, right, expresses young America's growing discontent and disenchantment with the country's institutions and social conditions. Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary and many others turn the comfortable folk music movement into a voice of protest on college campuses nationwide... meanwhile, "psychedelic" bands such as The Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane form in San Francisco, home of America's avant garde music scene.

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

Books
John Cheever The Wapshot Scandal
Ernest Hemingway A Moveable Feast
Hubert Selby Last Exit to Brooklyn

At the '64 Grammys...
Record of the Year The Days of Wine and Roses, Henry Mancini
Album of the Year The Barbra Streisand Album, Barbra Streisand
Song of the Year The Days of Wine and Roses, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, composers
Best New Artist of 1963 Swingle Singers
Best Vocal Performance, Male "Wives and Lovers," Jack Jones
Best Vocal Performance, Female The Barbra Streisand Album, Barbra Streisand
Best Performance By a Vocal Group Blowin' in the Wind, Peter, Paul and Mary

Deaths
Herbert Clark Hoover, US President 1929-1933
Douglas MacArthur, US Army General, Pacific Commander, World War II
Harpo Marx, Comic

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