World Events
Population: 3.276 billion
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
U.S. Events
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
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
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.
Sports
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)
Entertainment
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)
Grammy Awards
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)
Folk musician Bob Dylan becomes increasingly popular during this time of social protest with songs expressing objection to the condition of American society.
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
Deaths
Herbert Clark Hoover 10/20/1964
Douglas MacArthur
Harpo Marx