1962 in the United States
Events from the year 1962 in the United States.
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Incumbents
Federal Government
- President: John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
- Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas)
- Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: vacant (until January 10), John William McCormack (D-Massachusetts) (starting January 10)
- Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana)
- Congress: 87th
Events
January
- January 1
- The United States Navy SEALs are activated. SEAL Team One is commissioned in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two in the Atlantic Fleet.
- NBC introduces the "Laramie peacock" before a midnight showing of the series Laramie.
- January 2 – NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins praises U.S. President John F. Kennedy's "personal role" in advancing civil rights.
- January 4 – New York City introduces a subway train that operates without a crew on board.
- January 26 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon but later misses its target by 22,000 miles.
- January 30 – Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed, when their famous 7-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.
February
- February 3 – The United States embargo against Cuba is announced.
- February 6 – Negotiations between U.S. Steel and the United States Department of Commerce begin.
- February 7 – The United States Government bans all U.S.-related Cuban imports and exports.
- February 10 – Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin.
- February 14 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
- February 20 – Project Mercury: while aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
March
- March 1 – American Airlines Flight 1, an American Airlines Boeing 707, crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after its rudder separates from the tail, killing all 87 passengers and eight crew members aboard.
- March 2 – Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA basketball game.
- March 5–9 – Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962: One of the ten worst storms in the United States in the 20th century occurs, killing 40 people, injuring over 1,000, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage in six states.
- March 26 – Baker v. Carr: the U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.
April
- April 6 – Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks before a concert featuring Glenn Gould with the New York Philharmonic.
- April 9 – The 34th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope, is held at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' West Side Story wins ten awards, including Best Motion Picture and a joint Best Director win for Wise and Robbins. The film is tied for the most nominations with Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg; both receive 11.
- April 10 – In Los Angeles, California, the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.
- April 14 – A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers.
- April 21 – The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair opens in Seattle, Washington, opening the Space Needle to the public for the first time.
May
- May – Larry Allen Abshier becomes the first of six (possibly seven) American defectors to North Korea.
- May 1 – Dayton Hudson Corporation opens the first of its Target discount stores in Roseville, Minnesota.
- May 24 – Project Mercury: Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
June
- June 3 – Air France Flight 007, Boeing 707 Chateau de Sully on a charter flight carrying cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta, Georgia, overruns the runway at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 passengers are killed.
- June 6 – President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
- June 11 – President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at Yale University.
- June 15 – Port Huron Statement completed.
- June 25 – United States Supreme Court rulings:
- Engel v. Vitale: the court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
- MANual Enterprises v. Day: the court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines.
- June 28 – The United Lutheran Church in America, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the American Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merge to form the Lutheran Church in America.
July
- July 2 – The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
- July 10 – AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit, and activated the next day.
- July 17
- Nuclear testing: the "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
- Robert M. White flies the X-15 to an altitude of 314,750 feet (59 miles, 96 km) to qualify him for USAF Astronaut Wings becoming the first "winged" astronaut, and one of a few who have flown into space without a conventional spacecraft.
- July 22 – Mariner program: the Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
August
- August 5 – Marilyn Monroe is found dead at age 36 from "acute barbiturate poisoning".
- August 15 – The New York Agreement is signed trading the West New Guinea colony to Indonesia.
- August 27 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.
September
- September 12
- President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University featuring the words "We choose to go to the Moon", reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.
- The first Kohl's department store opens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- September 25 – Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson two minutes into the first round of his fight for the boxing world title at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
- September 29 – The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
- September 30 – CBS broadcasts the final episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, marking the end of the Golden Age of Radio.
October
October 14–28: Cuban Missile Crisis
- October 1
- The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the university of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals.
- Johnny Carson takes over as permanent host of NBC's The Tonight Show, a post he will hold for 30 years.
- October 12
- Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship Incorporated is founded at Morgan State College.
- The infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with wind gusts up to 170 mph (270 km/h); 46 are killed, 11 billion board feet (26 million m3) of timber is blown down, with $230 million U.S. in damages.
- October 14 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins: a U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.
- October 16 – The New York Yankees defeat the San Francisco Giants 1–0 in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series.
- October 22 – In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces to the nation the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
- October 28 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. In a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, Kennedy agrees to the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. The fact that this deal is not made public makes it look like the Soviets have backed down.
November
- November 7 – Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is his "last press conference" and that "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more".
- November 17 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport.
- November 20 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ends: in response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
December
- December 2 – Vietnam War: after a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to make a non-optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
- December 8 – The 1962 New York City newspaper strike begins, affecting all of the city's major newspapers; it lasts for 114 days.
- December 9 – Petrified Forest National Park is established.
- December 14 – U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet.
- December 24 – Cuba releases the last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million.
- December 30 – An unexpected storm buries Maine under five feet of snow, forcing the Bangor Daily News to miss a publication date for the first and only time in its history.
Undated
- American advertising man Martin K. Speckter invents the interrobang, a new English-language punctuation mark.
- Publication of Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl.
Ongoing
- Cold War (1947–1991)
- Space Race (1957–1975)
Births
- January 4 – Peter Steele, singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2010)[1]
- January 6
- Michael Houser, singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2002)
- Kevin Rosier, mixed martial artist and boxer (died 2015)
- January 7 – Hallie Todd, actress, producer, and screenwriter
- January 12 – Luna Vachon, American-Canadian professional wrestler (died 2010)
- January 14 – Michael McCaul, lawyer and politician
- January 17 – Denis O'Hare, actor
- January 18 – Mike Lynch, cartoonist
- January 19 – Cynthia Coffman, convicted murderer
- January 21 – Brian Hildebrand, wrestler, referee and manager (died 1999)
- January 25 – Christopher Coppola, film director and producer
- January 26
- Malcom Gregory Scott, writer, activist, and AIDS survivor
- Anna LaCazio, singer (Cock Robin)
- January 28 – Creflo Dollar, evangelist
- January 30 – Mary Kay Letourneau, child rapist (died 2020)[2]
- January 31 – David Oliver, actor (died 1992)
- February 2 – Michael T. Weiss, actor
- February 4
- Clint Black, country musician, record producer, and actor
- Jim O'Heir, actor and comedian
- February 6 – Axl Rose, rock singer
- February 7
- Garth Brooks, country singer-songwriter
- David Bryan, rock musician (Bon Jovi)
- February 10 – Lisa Blunt Rochester, politician
- February 11 – Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 2013
- February 22 – Lenda Murray, bodybuilder
- March 2 – Jon Bon Jovi, American musician[3]
- March 3
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee, athlete[4]
- Herschel Walker, American football player
- March 7 – Cathy Wood, serial killer
- March 10
- Jasmine Guy, actress, director, singer and dancer[5]
- Dan O'Shannon, television writer and producer
- March 11
- Jeffrey Nordling, actor
- Barbara Alyn Woods, actress
- March 12 – Titus Welliver, actor
- March 15 – Jimmy Baio, actor
- March 18
- Thomas Ian Griffith, actor
- Mike Rowe, television personality and presenter[6]
- March 21 – Matthew Broderick, actor
- March 26
- Chris Bailey, animator and film director
- John Stockton, basketball player[7]
- Keith Diamond, actor and voice actor
- March 30
- Mark Begich, U.S. Senator from Alaska from 2009 to 2015
- MC Hammer, rapper
- Bil Dwyer, stand-up comedian and game show host
- April 2 – Clark Gregg, actor, director, and screenwriter
- April 3 – Mike Ness, musician
- April 4 – Melissa Hart (politician), lawyer and politician
- April 6 – Steven Levitan, director, writer and producer
- April 7 – Hugh O'Connor, actor, son of Carroll O'Connor (died 1995)
- April 8 – Izzy Stradlin, guitarist
- April 10
- Rick Florian, Christian musician and real estate agent
- Steve Tasker, American football player
- April 14 – Laura Richardson, politician
- April 15 – Tom Kane, voice actor
- April 16 – Jason Scheff, bassist
- April 17 – Bill Kopp, actor, voice actor and animator
- April 20
- Scott McGehee, film director and screenwriter
- Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf (Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr.), comedian (died 2001)
- April 21
- Craig Robinson, college basketball coach
- Carmen Osbahr, American-Mexican muppeteer
- April 26
- Michael Damian, actor, recording artist and producer
- Debra Wilson, actress and comedian
- April 28 – Scott La Rock, hip-hop DJ and producer (died 1987)
- April 30 – Tom Fahn, voice actor
- May 25 – Lionel James, American football player (died 2022)[8]
- May 28 – James Michael Tyler, actor (died 2021)[9]
- June 3 – David Cole, DJ, producer and songwriter (died 1995)
- June 12 – Jodi Thelen, actress
- June 13
- Ally Sheedy, actress
- Hannah Storm, television anchor and presenter[10]
- June 23
- Mark DeCarlo, actor
- Billy Wirth, actor, film producer and artist
- June 24
- Sean Vincent Gillis, serial killer
- Andrew P. Gordon, judge
- June 25 – Anthony Allen Shore, serial killer and child molester (died 2018)
- June 28 – Don Chambers, newspaper comic strip artist
- June 30 – Deirdre Lovejoy, actress
- July 3
- Tom Cruise, actor and film producer[11]
- Thomas Gibson, actor
- Hunter Tylo, actress and author, previously model
- July 5 – Jeff Innis, baseball player (died 2022)[12]
- July 7
- Tom Conroy, state legislator[13]
- MC Jazzy Jeff, rapper
- July 12 – Dan Murphy, rock guitarist
- July 13 – Tom Kenny, actor and comedian
- July 14 – Jeff Olson, percussionist (Trouble)
- July 15 – Glen Edward Rogers, serial killer
- July 17 – Fred Wadsworth, professional golfer
- July 18
- Lee Arenberg, actor
- Jack Irons, drummer
- July 31 – Kevin Greene, footballer (died 2020)
- August 4
- Roger Clemens, baseball player
- Jim Hagedorn, politician (died 2022)[14]
- August 16 – Steve Carell, comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer and director
- August 17 – John Marshall Jones, actor
- August 25 – Tommy Blacha, comedy writer
- August 26 – Bob Mionske, cyclist and attorney
- August 28
- Craig Anton, actor and comedian
- David Fincher, director and producer
- August 31 – Dee Bradley Baker, voice actor
- September 5 – Brian A. Joyce, politician (died 2018)
- September 6 – Chris Christie, 55th Governor of New Jersey
- September 9 – Mark Linkous, singer, songwriter and musician (died 2010)
- September 11 – Kristy McNichol, actress and singer
- September 12 – Amy Yasbeck, actress
- September 14 – Tom Kurvers, ice hockey player (died 2021)[15]
- September 15
- Dina Lohan, television personality
- Rebecca Miller, actress and director
- September 17 – Don Rogers, American football player (died 1986)
- September 26
- Gregory Crewdson, photographer
- Al Pitrelli, guitarist
- October 6 – Rich Yett, baseball player
- October 11
- Joan Cusack, actress and comedian
- Leslie Landon, actress
- October 12
- Chris Botti, trumpeter and composer
- Deborah Foreman, actress
- October 13 – T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh, actress and comedian
- October 15 – Aron Ra, author, podcaster and atheist activist
- October 23
- Doug Flutie, American football player
- Mike Tomczak, American football player
- October 24
- Dave Blaney, race car driver
- Mark Miller, motorcycle racer
- Jay Novacek, American football player and coach
- November 3 – Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve
- November 10 – David Petrarca, television, film and theatre director, producer
- November 11 – Demi Moore, actress, film producer, film director, songwriter and model
- November 15
- Mark Acres, basketball player and educator
- Judy Gold, comedian, actress and producer
- November 18 – Kirk Hammett, metal guitarist (Exodus and Metallica)
- November 19
- Jodie Foster, actress, film director and producer[16]
- Sean Parnell, 10th Governor of Alaska
- November 20 – Gail Ann Dorsey, musician
- December 9 – Felicity Huffman, actress[17]
- December 12 – Peter Bergen, journalist and author
- December 21 – Steven Mnuchin, 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- December 24 – Kate Spade, born Katherine Brosnahan, fashion designer (died 2018)
- December 31
- Don Diamont, actor
- Jeff Flake, politician[18]
- Lance Reddick, actor
Deaths
- January 13 – Ernie Kovacs, comedian and actor (born 1919)
- January 19 – Snub Pollard, actor (born 1889 in Australia)
- January 20 – Robinson Jeffers, poet (born 1887)[19]
- January 25 – Lucy Robins Lang, political activist (born 1884 in Russia)
- January 26 – Lucky Luciano, gangster (born 1897 in Italy)
- February 1 – Carey Wilson, screenwriter (born 1889)
- February 6 – Roy Atwell, actor, comedian and composer (born 1878)
- February 17 – Joseph Kearns, actor (born 1907)
- February 19
- James Barton, actor (born 1890)
- Georgios Papanikolaou, cytopathologist, inventor of the Pap smear (born 1883 in Greece)
- February 27 – Willie Best, actor (born 1916)
- February 28 – Chic Johnson, actor (born 1891)
- March 1 – Roscoe Ates, actor (b. 1895)
- March 15 – Arthur Compton, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 (born 1892)
- March 27 – Augusta Savage, African American sculptor (born 1892)
- May – Helen Tufts Bailie, social reformer and activist (born 1874)
- May 28 – Robert Francis Anthony Studds, admiral and engineer, fourth Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (born 1896)
- May 31 – Henry Fountain Ashurst, politician (born 1874)
- June 9 – Polly Adler, brothel owner (born 1900 in Russia)[20]
- July 6 – William Faulkner, fiction writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 (born 1897)
- August 5 – Marilyn Monroe, film actress and icon (born 1926)
- September 3 – E. E. Cummings, poet (born 1894)
- September 19 – Ben J. Tarbutton, interpreter (born 1885)
- November 7 – Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (born 1884)
- November 18 – Dennis Chávez, U.S. Senator from New Mexico from 1935 to 1962 (born 1888)
- December 4 – Jens Christian Bay, writer and librarian (born 1871 in Denmark)
- December 22 – Roy Palmer, jazz trombonist (born 1892)
- December 31 – Al Mamaux, baseball player and manager (b. 1894)
References
- "Type O Negative". Heavy Metal Encyclopedia. April 14, 2010. Archived from the original on August 24, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
- Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues - Vickie Jensen - Google Books
- Rodale, Inc. (August 2008). Best Life. Rodale, Inc. p. 78.
- "Jackie Joyner". IOC. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- Leszczak, Bob (2001). From Small Screen to Vinyl: A Guide to Television Stars Who Made Records. ISBN 9781442242746. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
- Jill C. Wheeler (June 2015). Getting Gritty with Mike Rowe. ABDO. ISBN 978-1-62969-835-9.
- Aaseng, Nathan (1995). Sports Great John Stockton. Enslow Publishers. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-89490-598-8.
- Former Chargers RB Lionel 'Little Train' James dies at age of 59
- James Michael Tyler, Gunther the Central Perk Barista on ‘Friends,’ Dies at 59
- "Today in history". The New York Times. Associated Press. June 13, 2014. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
- Cahill, Marie (May 1992). Tom Cruise. Smithmark. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8317-8669-4.
- Jeff Innis, former Mets pitcher, dead from cancer at 59
- Welch, William F.; James, Steven T., eds. (2007). Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2007–2008). Massachusetts General Court. p. 101.
- GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota has died
- Former Canadiens defenceman Tom Kurvers dies from lung cancer at 58
- "Jodie Foster". BFI. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- "Famous birthdays for Dec. 9: Judi Dench, John Malkovich". UPI.
- Congress (U.S.), Joint Committee on Printing (6 September 2018). Official Congressional Directory 115th Congress, 2017-2018. Government Printing Office. pp. 9–. ISBN 978-0-16-094208-2.
- Robinson Jeffers; Tim Hunt (2001). The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers. Stanford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8047-4108-8.
- Sicherman, Barbara; Green, Carol Hurd (1980). Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-674-62733-8.
External links
Media related to 1962 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
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