1963 History, Facts, and Trivia

Quick Facts from 1963

• World-Changing Event: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He was 46 years old. The country had four days of uninterrupted television coverage and has never quite stopped talking about it.
• Other World-Changing Event: Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique and Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech. In the same year that America lost its youngest elected president, two of the most powerful voices for American progress were at their peak.
• Top Song: Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs
• Must-See Movies: Cleopatra, The Great Escape, The Birds, The Pink Panther, From Russia with Love, and Hud
• The Most Famous Person in America: Doris Day
• Notable Books: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
• Postage stamp: 5 cents; turtle kit (bowl, food, ornament, gravel): 44 cents; gallon of gas: 30 cents; average new home: $19,300
• The Funny Late Show Host: Steve Allen; The Funny Lady: Moms Mabley
• Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Rabbit, associated with caution, sensitivity, and a preference for peace — a year that provided none
• The Conversation: Did you hear what happened in Dallas? And have you read The Feminine Mystique?

Top Ten Baby Names of 1963

Girls: Lisa, Mary, Susan, Karen, Linda Boys: Michael, John, David, James, Robert

The Sex Symbols, Hotties, and Fashion Icons

Ursula Andress, Brigitte Bardot, Carroll Baker, Honor Blackman, Claudia Cardinale, Doris Day, Angie Dickinson, Annette Funicello, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, Ann-Margret, Julie Newmar, Kim Novak, Leslie Parrish, Elke Sommer, Stella Stevens, Elizabeth Taylor, Veruschka

Hollywood Hunks and Sex Symbols

Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Sean Connery, Elvis Presley, Gregory Peck

The Quotes

“From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official — President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o’clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.” — Walter Cronkite, November 22, 1963

“Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener. That is what I truly want to be.” — Oscar Mayer commercial

“They’ll put a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run.” — San Francisco Giants manager Alvin Dark, 1963. On July 20, 1969, less than an hour after Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk, Perry hit his first career home run.

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

Martin Luther King Jr. — for the March on Washington and his emergence as the most visible and morally authoritative voice of the civil rights movement

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Jacquelyn Mayer, Sandusky, OH Miss USA: Marite Ozers, Illinois

We Lost in 1963

John F. Kennedy — the 35th President of the United States, was shot and killed on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. He was 46 years old, in the third year of his first term. He had faced the Cuban Missile Crisis, initiated the space program’s Apollo commitment, and sent the first significant troop deployments to Vietnam. His presidency has been the subject of more books, films, investigations, and arguments than any other in American history. He was shot at 12:30 p.m. CST. He died at 1:00 p.m. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, 1963. An estimated one million people lined the streets of Washington. The eternal flame at his grave has burned continuously since.

Patsy Cline — the country singer whose voice defined a generation of Nashville music, died March 5, 1963, at age 30, in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee, along with fellow country stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.

C.S. Lewis — the British author of The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, died November 22, 1963, at his home in Oxford, at age 64. His death received almost no press coverage. The assassination of President Kennedy dominated every newspaper and broadcast that day.

Aldous Huxley — the British novelist who wrote Brave New World and Point Counter Point, died November 22, 1963, at age 69, at his Los Angeles home. He had asked his wife to administer LSD as he died; she complied. His death, like Lewis’s, was almost entirely unreported. On November 22, 1963, even dying was insufficient to attract attention.

Pope John XXIII — the pontiff who convened the Second Vatican Council, which reformed the Catholic Church’s liturgy and opened it to the modern world- died June 3, 1963, at age 81. He was succeeded by Paul VI.

Dinah Washington — one of the most versatile and celebrated American singers of the 1950s, died December 14, 1963, at age 39, from an accidental overdose of diet pills and sleeping medication.

Born in 1963

Brad Pitt — December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Johnny Depp — June 9, 1963, in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Conan O’Brien — April 18, 1963, in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Michael Jordan — February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York. He went on to become the most celebrated basketball player in the history of the sport.
Quentin Tarantino — March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

America in 1963 — The Context

John F. Kennedy entered 1963 with an approval rating in the mid-70s, having navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, and with the optimism of the New Frontier still largely intact. The civil rights movement was entering its most intense phase — Birmingham, the March on Washington, and church bombings. Vietnam was escalating. The economy was growing. The space race was intensifying. Kennedy was planning his reelection campaign.

On November 22, at 12:30 p.m., everything changed.

Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field at 2:38 p.m., administered the oath by federal judge Sarah T. Hughes, with Jacqueline Kennedy standing at his side still wearing the pink suit stained with her husband’s blood. The image is one of the most haunting photographs in American presidential history.

The country spent four days watching television. It was the first time the entire nation had experienced a national tragedy through a simultaneous shared broadcast. An estimated 93% of American households with televisions watched coverage. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Two days later, Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby on live television. The footage was replayed hundreds of times. In the weeks that followed, a substantial portion of the country began to wonder if what they had been told about the assassination was complete.

The Assassination of President Kennedy

At 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on November 22, 1963, the presidential motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Shots were fired. Kennedy was struck twice — once in the upper back and once in the head. Texas Governor John Connally, riding in the same limousine, was also wounded. The limousine raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m.

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at the Texas Theatre in Dallas approximately 80 minutes after the assassination. He denied involvement. Two days later, on November 24, as Oswald was being transferred from Dallas police headquarters to the county jail, nightclub owner Jack Ruby stepped forward in the basement garage and shot Oswald at point-blank range on live national television. Oswald died two hours later. Ruby was convicted of murder and sentenced to death; he died in prison of lung cancer in 1967.

The Warren Commission, appointed by President Johnson and chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, concluded in September 1964 that Oswald had acted alone. The commission’s findings have never been universally accepted. Polls conducted over the following decades have consistently found that a majority of Americans believe others were involved. The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that there was “probably” a conspiracy. The question has never been definitively resolved.

The famous “magic bullet” theory — that a single bullet caused seven wounds to Kennedy and Connally- has been the most contested element of the official account. Supporters argue the trajectory is geometrically consistent with the car’s seating positions. Critics argue that it requires the bullet to have undergone physically implausible changes in direction. Fifty years of ballistics analysis, computer modeling, and argument have produced no consensus.

The March on Washington and “I Have a Dream”

On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — the largest political demonstration in American history to that point. The day culminated with Martin Luther King Jr. at the podium. He delivered a prepared speech about civil rights legislation. Then, at the urging of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who called to him from behind the podium — “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” — he set aside his notes and spoke from memory about a dream of racial equality.

The “I Have a Dream” speech — as it was immediately called — was broadcast live on radio and television and has been reprinted, quoted, cited, and recited more than any other American address except the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence itself. King had been arrested 14 times by 1963. He was 34 years old.

Four days earlier, in Birmingham, Alabama, four young girls — Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair — had been killed when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klan members detonated at the 16th Street Baptist Church during Sunday school. The contrast between the bombing and the dream speech defined the civil rights movement in 1963 with terrible precision.

The Feminine Mystique

Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, published February 19, 1963, identified “the problem that has no name” — a pervasive dissatisfaction experienced by educated American women who had been told that domestic life was their natural fulfillment and found that it was not. Friedan interviewed hundreds of women for the book and documented a pattern of depression, frustration, and underachievement she traced to cultural pressures and limited opportunities.

The book sold three million copies in three years. It is credited with launching the second-wave feminist movement, which produced the National Organization for Women (which Friedan co-founded in 1966), the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act’s gender provisions, and decades of subsequent legal and cultural change. The Feminine Mystique is regularly cited as one of the ten most influential books of the 20th century.

Pop Culture Facts and History

The Beatles released Please Please Me on March 22, 1963, in the United Kingdom — the debut album that launched Beatlemania across Britain and Europe. It was recorded almost entirely in a single day, February 11, 1963, with the band performing their current live setlist in roughly 10 hours, including three takes of Twist and Shout at the end because John Lennon’s voice was nearly gone. By the end of 1963, the Beatles had released four UK singles and two albums and had become the biggest act in Britain. America was next.

Ed Sullivan witnessed Beatlemania firsthand on October 31, 1963, at London’s Heathrow Airport, where he was waiting for a flight and encountered thousands of screaming fans. He initially assumed the crowd was awaiting a member of the British royal family. When told it was for a pop group called the Beatles, he reportedly said: “Who the hell are the Beatles?” He booked them on his show before leaving the airport.

Doctor Who premiered on the BBC on November 23, 1963 — the day after the Kennedy assassination, which significantly reduced the initial viewership. The show was repeated a week later to reach its intended audience. It has aired continuously, with interruptions, ever since, making it the longest-running science fiction television series in history.

The March on Washington was the largest demonstration in American history to that point. It was organized jointly by civil rights, labor, and religious organizations and brought together participants across racial lines. Among the speakers were John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, and representatives of six major civil rights organizations. King spoke last.

The “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech was delivered by President Kennedy in West Berlin on June 26, 1963, before a crowd of over 400,000 people. Kennedy declared solidarity with West Berliners two years after the Berlin Wall was built. The phrase, which translates as “I am a Berliner,” became one of the most quoted lines of his presidency. A persistent legend holds that “ein Berliner” is a term for a jelly-filled pastry and that Kennedy had accidentally called himself a doughnut. German linguists have noted that no Berliner would ever use the term “ein Berliner” to refer to a pastry; they would simply say “Berliner,” without the article. The legend is incorrect but persistent.

The Mona Lisa was exhibited in the United States for the only time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., opening January 8, 1963. President Kennedy attended the private opening. An estimated 500,000 people saw it in Washington before it traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where another million people viewed it. It has not left the Louvre since.

ZIP codes were introduced by the United States Postal Service on July 1, 1963. The Zone Improvement Plan used five-digit codes to identify geographic regions to speed mail sorting. The service created Mr. ZIP — an animated cartoon character — to promote the new system. The two-letter state abbreviations were introduced simultaneously.

The Moscow-Washington hotline — the direct communication link between the White House and the Kremlin established to prevent accidental nuclear war, inspired by the communications failures during the Cuban Missile Crisis — was activated on August 30, 1963. Its first test message from the American side was: “THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG’S BACK 1234567890.” The Soviet translators reportedly asked their American counterparts what the sentence meant.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed on March 21, 1963, officially due to the prohibitive cost of operating an island facility and deteriorating infrastructure. Unofficially, it had also been embarrassed by an escape in June 1962 in which three prisoners — Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin- disappeared and were never definitively found. The FBI case remains officially open.

The smiley face was designed in 1963 by Harvey Ross Ball, a commercial artist in Worcester, Massachusetts, who was hired by State Mutual Life Assurance Company to create a morale-boosting image for company buttons. Ball charged $45 for the work. He never trademarked the design. It became one of the most reproduced images of the 20th century. Ball received no further compensation.

Cleopatra was released in June 1963 after one of the most chaotic productions in Hollywood history. It had cost $44 million — the most expensive film ever made to that point, equivalent to well over $400 million today- and began production in 1960, nearly killing its star Elizabeth Taylor twice, bankrupting 20th Century Fox, and triggering the most famous affair in Hollywood history when Taylor and co-star Richard Burton fell publicly in love. Taylor became the first actress to earn $1 million for a single film.

The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released March 28, 1963, required three years of production and used a combination of live-trained birds, mechanical birds, and optical effects techniques that had never been attempted before. It remains one of the most studied films in the history of cinema. Tippi Hedren’s scenes with live birds were real — she was not warned that the birds would be let loose on her rather than on dummies as initially told.

The first James Bond film, Dr. No, was released in 1962 and had already turned Sean Connery into an international star. The second Bond film, From Russia with Love, released on October 10, 1963, was reportedly President Kennedy’s favorite film, which he watched at the White House on November 20, 1963 — two days before his assassination.

Felicette, a French cat trained by the Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique, was launched into space aboard a Veronique AG1 rocket on October 18, 1963, ascending nearly 100 miles and returning safely via parachute. She was the first cat in space and the only one to survive. Her contribution to space medicine research was considerable; her recognition was minimal until a crowdfunded statue was erected in her honor in 2019.

Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space, launched aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, orbiting Earth 48 times over three days. She was 26 years old, a textile factory worker and amateur skydiver with no formal pilot training. The Soviet Union selected her for her ideological reliability and parachute skills. Her flight was not equaled by another woman until Sally Ride in 1983.

The Great Train Robbery occurred on August 8, 1963, when a gang of 17 men stopped a Royal Mail train in Buckinghamshire, England, and stole £2.6 million in used banknotes. The gang had recruited a train driver to help stop the locomotive; he pulled the wrong emergency stop, so the original driver had to take over. Most of the gang was caught. Most of the money was never recovered. The robbery generated enormous public fascination in Britain, partly because the targets were government property rather than individuals.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak was published on April 9, 1963. It was initially met with some resistance from librarians and educators who found its celebration of childhood anger and defiance inappropriate. It went on to win the Caldecott Medal in 1964 and became the most beloved American picture book of the 20th century.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written on April 16, 1963, while King was imprisoned for participating in civil rights demonstrations, was addressed to eight Alabama clergymen who had published a statement asking civil rights leaders to be more patient. King’s letter — written in the margins of newspapers and on scraps of paper- made the case that there was no such thing as an appropriate time or place to demand justice, and that the “white moderate” who preferred order to justice was a greater obstacle to freedom than the open opponent. It became one of the most important documents in American civil rights history.

Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS in 1963, at age 21. Doctors predicted he had approximately two and a half years to live. He went on to live until March 14, 2018, 55 years after his diagnosis,  and became one of the most celebrated physicists in history.

Donald Currey, a geography doctoral student, cut down a bristlecone pine tree in Wheeler Peak, Nevada, in August 1963 to retrieve a broken core drill bit that had become lodged in the trunk. After counting the growth rings, he discovered he had cut down the oldest known living tree, approximately 4,862 years old, having germinated around 2832 BC. The tree, named Prometheus, was older than the Egyptian pyramids. The discovery prompted significantly more careful protocols for tree-ring studies.

The Doomsday Clock

Setting: 12 minutes to midnight

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock back in recognition of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which ended atmospheric nuclear testing. The treaty represented the first arms control agreement of the nuclear era and demonstrated that the superpowers could negotiate limits on their military programs.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics — Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert Mayer, and J. Hans D. Jensen; Wigner for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles; Mayer and Jensen for discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure
Chemistry — Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta for discoveries in polymer chemistry that led to the development of modern plastics and rubbers
Medicine — Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, and Andrew Fielding Huxley  for discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms of excitation and inhibition in nerve cell membranes, foundational to neuroscience
Literature — Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture
Peace — International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and League of Red Cross Societies — shared, for their humanitarian work globally

Broadway in 1963

Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon opened on October 23, 1963, at the Biltmore Theatre, starring Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. It ran for 1,530 performances and launched Neil Simon as the dominant force in American stage comedy for the next three decades.

She Loves Me opened April 23, 1963, at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick — the same team that wrote Fiddler on the Roof. The show, based on the story that eventually became You’ve Got Mail, won the Tony Award for Best Musical Score.

Best Film Oscar Winner

Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean and starring Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence, won Best Picture at the 35th Academy Awards on April 8, 1963, for the 1962 film year, winning seven awards, including Best Director. At approximately 3 hours and 47 minutes, it was the longest Best Picture winner in Oscar history and one of the most visually ambitious films ever made. It was restored and re-released in 1988 to acclaim from a new generation.

Top Movies of 1963

1. Cleopatra
2. How the West Was Won
3. It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
4. Tom Jones
5. Irma La Douce
6. The Great Escape
7. Charade
8. The Birds
9. The Pink Panther
10. From Russia with Love

Most Popular TV Shows of 1963

1. The Beverly Hillbillies (CBS)
2. Bonanza (NBC)
3. The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS)
4. Petticoat Junction (CBS)
5. The Andy Griffith Show (CBS)
6. The Lucy Show (CBS)
7. Candid Camera (CBS)
8. The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS)
9. The Danny Thomas Show (CBS)
10. My Favorite Martian (CBS)

Doctor Who premiered on November 23, 1963, the day after Kennedy’s assassination; the day the world was watching something else. The Fugitive premiered on September 17, 1963, and became one of the defining dramas of the decade. 1963 was the year CBS dominated American television so completely that eight of the ten most popular shows were on a single network.

1963 Billboard Number One Songs

December 22, 1962 – January 11, 1963: Telstar — The Tornadoes
January 12 – January 25: Go Away Little Girl — Steve Lawrence
January 26 – February 8: Walk Right In — The Rooftop Singers
February 9 – March 1: Hey Paula — Paul and Paula
March 2 – March 22: Walk Like a Man — The Four Seasons
March 23 – March 29: Our Day Will Come — Ruby and the Romantics
March 30 – April 26: He’s So Fine — The Chiffons
April 27 – May 17: I Will Follow Him — Little Peggy March
May 18 – May 30: If You Wanna Be Happy — Jimmy Soul
June 1 – June 14: It’s My Party — Lesley Gore
June 15 – July 5: Sukiyaki — Kyu Sakamoto
July 6 – July 19: Easier Said Than Done — The Essex
July 20 – August 2: Surf City — Jan and Dean
August 3 – August 9: So Much in Love — The Tymes
August 10 – August 30: Fingertips, Pt. 2 — Little Stevie Wonder
August 31 – September 20: My Boyfriend’s Back — The Angels
September 21 – October 11: Blue Velvet — Bobby Vinton
October 12 – November 15: Sugar Shack — Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs
November 16 – November 22: Deep Purple — Nino Tempo and April Stevens
November 23 – December 6: I’m Leaving It Up to You — Dale and Grace
December 7, 1963 – January 3, 1964: Dominique — The Singing Nun

Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto — a Japanese-language song whose actual title translates roughly as “I Look Up as I Walk” — spent three weeks at #1 in June 1963, making it the only non-European language song to reach #1 on the Hot 100 until BTS’s Dynamite in 2020 — a gap of 57 years. Little Stevie Wonder was 13 years old when “Fingertips, Pt. 2” reached #1.

Biggest Pop Artists of 1963

The Four Seasons, The Chiffons, The Beatles (UK dominance), The Angels, Bobby Vinton, Stevie Wonder, Jan and Dean, Lesley Gore, The Crystals, Ruby and the Romantics, Del Shannon, Peter, Paul and Mary, The Impressions, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan released The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan in May 1963, including Blowin’ in the Wind, which became an immediate civil rights anthem despite persistent claims that Dylan had stolen it from a New Jersey high-school student named Lorre Wyatt. Dylan denied this. Wyatt later admitted he had made up the claim. Blowin’ in the Wind was Dylan’s.

Popular and Best-Selling Books of 1963

The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath (published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas in the UK; not published in the U.S. until 1971)
The Feminine Mystique — Betty Friedan
The Fire Next Time — James Baldwin
Cat’s Cradle — Kurt Vonnegut
Where the Wild Things Are — Maurice Sendak
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service — Ian Fleming
Seven Days in May — Fletcher Knebel

The Habits

Troll dolls- everywhere; watching The Beverly Hillbillies; reading The Feminine Mystique and discussing it; watching for any new Beatles record; and arguing about what actually happened in Dallas.

The Doomsday Clock

Setting: 12 minutes to midnight

The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed in August 1963, moved the clock back from 7 minutes, where it had stood during the Cuban Missile Crisis, to 12 minutes — the most optimistic setting since 1953. The treaty was the first concrete arms control achievement of the nuclear age.

Sports Champions of 1963

World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees 4-0; Sandy Koufax was dominant, striking out 15 Yankees in Game 1; the Yankees’ dynasty was ending
NFL Champions: Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 14-10; the last NFL championship before the Super Bowl era began
AFL Champions: San Diego Chargers
NBA Champions: Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2; their fifth consecutive championship; Bill Russell’s dynasty was at its peak
Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs  defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1; their third consecutive championship
U.S. Open Golf: Julius Boros
U.S. Open Tennis:  Men/Women: Rafael Osuna / Maria Bueno
Wimbledon:  Men/Women: Chuck McKinley / Margaret Smith
NCAA Football Champions: Texas
NCAA Basketball Champions: Loyola. Their upset victory over Cincinnati in overtime produced one of the most dramatic championship games in tournament history
Kentucky Derby: Chateaugay

Sports Highlight: Sandy Koufax’s performance in the 1963 World Series, striking out 15 Yankees in Game 1, then returning to close out the sweep, was one of the most dominant pitching performances in postseason history. It announced Koufax as the best pitcher in baseball at a moment when he would spend the next three years proving it. The Boston Celtics’ fifth consecutive championship established a dynasty record that no team in any major American sport has matched.

FAQs: 1963 History, Facts, and Trivia

Q: What happened when President Kennedy was assassinated?
A: Kennedy was shot at 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade. He was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. at Parkland Memorial Hospital. Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president aboard Air Force One that afternoon. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and then shot by Jack Ruby two days later on live television. The Warren Commission concluded Oswald acted alone. The question of whether others were involved has never been resolved to widespread satisfaction.

Q: What was the “I Have a Dream” speech?
A: Martin Luther King Jr.’s address at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, before 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial. King departed from his prepared text — reportedly prompted by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson — to speak about his vision of racial equality. It was broadcast live on radio and television and is regularly cited as the greatest American speech of the 20th century.

Q: What was The Feminine Mystique and why did it matter?
A: Betty Friedan’s 1963 book identified widespread dissatisfaction among educated American women confined to domestic roles, calling it “the problem that has no name.” It sold three million copies in three years, helped launch the National Organization for Women, and is credited with initiating the second-wave feminist movement.

Q: Which two famous authors died the same day as President Kennedy?
A: C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, and Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, both died on November 22, 1963. Their deaths received almost no press coverage. Kennedy’s assassination dominated every newspaper and broadcast for days.

Q: What was the first James Bond film, and which one did JFK watch two days before his assassination?
A: Dr. No (1962) was the first Bond film, turning Sean Connery into a star. Kennedy watched From Russia with Love at the White House on November 20, 1963 — two days before Dallas. It was reportedly his favorite film.

Q: When was Doctor Who first broadcast?
A: November 23, 1963, the day after Kennedy’s assassination,  which drastically reduced initial viewership. The BBC rebroadcast the first episode a week later to reach its intended audience. The show has run continuously since, making it the longest-running science fiction series in television history.

Q: What happened to the oldest known living tree in 1963?
A: Doctoral student Donald Currey accidentally cut it down while trying to retrieve a broken core drill bit. After counting its growth rings, he calculated it had germinated around 2832 BC, approximately 4,862 years old, older than the Egyptian pyramids. The tree, named Prometheus, had survived in the Nevada mountains for nearly five millennia before meeting a drill bit.

Q: Who was the first woman in space?
A: Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, launched June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6. She orbited Earth 48 times over three days. She was a textile factory worker and amateur skydiver with no formal pilot training. The next woman to reach space was Sally Ride in 1983, 20 years later.

More 1963 Facts & History Resources:

BabyBoomers.com (1963)
Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1963X
1963 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Civil Rights
March on Washington
Fact Monster
1960s, Infoplease.com World History
1963 in Movies (according to IMDB)
JFK 1961-1963 PBS
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
1963 Television
1960s Slang
1960s Timeline: Fact City
Wikipedia 1963