964, 25,000 fans gathered at Kennedy Airport to greet the Beatles on their first visit to America.
13/1/1964. The Beatles entered the US Charts at no. 45 with I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
8/1/1964, In the US, President Johnson proposed a reduction in defence spending.
11/12/1963, In Los Angeles, Frank Sinatra Jr was set free after his father paid kidnappers a US$ 240,000 ransom.
24/11/1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President Kennedy, was himself shot dead by Jack Ruby.
31/8/1963, The ‘hot line’, linking the Kremlin and the White House, went into operation.
5/8/1963. President Kennedy signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Washington. This treaty forbade testing in the atmosphere, outer space, or underwater, and was aimed at preventing other nations than the USA or USSR developing nuclear weapons. However to allow America and Russia to develop their nuclear weapons, underground testing was allowed under this treaty (see 1/7/1968).
26/6/1963. President Kennedy made his famous ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech. He meant to say ‘I am a Berliner’, to indicate US support for the freedom of West Germany. However what he actually said translated as ‘I am a doughnut’.
20/6/1963. The White House and the Kremlin agreed to set up a ‘hot line’.
9/4/1963, Winston Churchill was given honorary US citizenship.
6/4/1963, Anglo-US Polaris weapons agreement signed.
18/3/1963, In the USA, in Gideon v Wainwright, the Supreme Court required the State to appoint defence counsel if the defendant could not afford a private lawyer.
1962, The Baker v Carr case , in the US Supreme Court; the Court ruled that state electoral districts must contain approximately equal numbers of voters. This ended rural domination of state legislatures.
21/12/1962, The US agreed to sell Polaris missiles to the UK.
18/12/1962, PM Harold MacMillan of the UK and President Kennedy of the USA concluded the Nassau Agreement, at Nassau, Bahamas. This allowed the US navy to provide Polaris missiles for the Royal Navy, normally operating under NATO command. This Anglo-US collaboration was resented by General De Gaulle of France, who saw it as proof that Britain was not sufficiently European. Within a month De Gaulle had vetoed UK membership of the EEC, see 14/1/1963.
5/12/1962, US diplomat Dean Acheson said Britain was 'played out'.
5/11/1962, In the US, elections left Democrats in control of both Houses.
22/12/1961, James Davis became the first US casualty of the war in Vietnam.
18/10/1961. A work by Henri Matisse attracted big crowds in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Only after 116,000 people had seen it over 46 days did someone notice it was hung upside-down.
5/9/1961, The USA announced it would resume underground nuclear tests.
11/5/1961, US President Kennedy sent 400 Special Forces troops to conduct covert anti-Communist operations in North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
5/6/1961, The US Supreme Court ruled that the Communist Party must register as a foreign-dominated organisation. On 17/6/1961 the US Communist Party refused to comply with this ruling.
1/3/1961, US President Kennedy formed the Peace Corps, a group of volunteers to work in less-developed countries.
1960, Click here for map of USA global defence strategy 1960
21/8/1960, David B Steinman, US bridge engineer, died aged 74.
15/7/1960, In Los Angeles, Kennedy accepted the Democratic Party nomination for President.
12/7/1960, President Khrushchev of the USSR asserted that the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was no longer valid; this would legitimate Soviet interference in the Caribbean. On 14/7/1960 the US confirmed that the Monroe Doctrine was still in operation.
24/5/1960, The USA launched the Midas-2 satellite. Weighing over 2.5 tonnes, its purpose was to test the feasibility of a satellite system to give early warning of any ballistic missile attack on the USA.
17/2/1960, Martin Luther King was arrested in the USA.
19/1/1960, President Eisenhower of the USA signed a Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security with Japan in Washington. This confirmed Japan as an integral member of the anti-Communist alliance.
16/11/1959