Top News Stories from 1963
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: Intl. Comm. of Red Cross; League of Red Cross Societies (both Geneva)
More World Statistics... - France and West Germany sign treaty of cooperation ending four centuries of conflict (Jan. 22).
- Pope John XXIII dies (June 3), and is succeeded June 21 by Cardinal Montini, who becomes Paul VI.
- British Secretary of War John Profumo resigns in the wake of an affair with Christine Keeler, a teenage showgirl who was also involved with the Soviet naval attaché (June).
- Washington-to-Moscow "hot line" communications link opens, designed to reduce risk of accidental war (Aug. 30). Background: cold war
- Kenya achieves independence.
- There are 15,000 US military advisers in South Vietnam. Background: Vietnam War
- 32 independent African nations establish the Organization for African Unity.
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: John F. Kennedy
Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Population: 189,241,798
Life expectancy: 69.9 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 21.8
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 20.1
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.9
More U.S. Statistics... - Michael E. De Bakey implants artificial heart in human for first time at Houston hospital (April 21).
- US Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools (June 17). Background: Church and State
- "March on Washington," civil rights rally held by 200,000 blacks and whites in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers "I have a dream" speech (Aug. 28).
- President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas, Tex. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President same day (Nov. 22). Background: Timeline of Kennedy tragedies
- Lee Harvey Oswald, accused Kennedy assassin, is shot and killed by Jack Ruby (Nov. 24).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $617.4 billion
Federal spending: $111.32 billion
Federal debt $310.3 billion
Consumer Price Index: $30.6
Unemployment: 5.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.04 ($0.05 as of 1/7/63)
Sports
World Series
LA Dodgers d. NY Yankees (4-0)NBA Championship
Boston d. LA LakersStanley Cup
Toronto d. DetroitWimbledon
Women: Margaret Smith d. B.J. Moffitt (6-3 6-4)Men: Chuck McKinley d. F. Stolle (9-7 6-1 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
ChateaugayNCAA Basketball Championship
Loyola-IL d. CincinnatiNCAA Football Champions
Texas (11-0-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
The Reivers, William Faulkner
Music: Piano Concerto No. 1, Samuel Barber
Academy Award, Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia, Sam Spiegel, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Giorgios Seferis (Seferiades) (Greece)
Record of the Year: "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Tony Bennett
Album of the Year: The First Family, Vaughn Meader (Cadence)
Song of the Year: "What Kind of Fool Am I," Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, songwriters
Miss America: Jacquelyn Mayer (OH)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- Viewers tuned into NBC witness Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on camera – the first live telecast of a murder.
- Beatlemania hits the U.K. The Beatles, a British band composed of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, take Britain by storm.
- The Rolling Stones emerge as the anti-Beatles, with an aggressive, blues-derived style.
- The French Chef with Julia Child debuts on educational television.
Movies
- Tom Jones, Lilies of the Field, America, America
Books
- James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
- e e cummings, 73 Poems
- Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique
- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
- Thomas Pynchon, V
- John Rechy, City of Night
- Charles M. Schulz, Happiness is a Warm Puppy
- John Updike, The Centaur
- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Carl Ziegler (Germany) and Giulio Natta (Italy), for work in uniting simple hydrocarbons into large molecule substances
Physics: Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert Mayer (both US), and J. Hans D. Jensen (Germany), for research on structure of atom and its nucleus
Physiology or Medicine: Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding Huxley (both UK), and Sir John Carew Eccles (Australia), for research on nerve cells
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - Quasars are discovered by Marten Schmidt (US).
- The first liver transplant is performed by F.D. Moore and T.E. Starzl. Background: Health & Nutrition
- The first commercial nuclear reactor goes online at the Jersey Central Power Company. Background: nuclear energy
- The sedative Valium (chlordiazepoxide) is developed by Roche labs.
