World Events
Population: 3.205 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: Intl. Comm. of Red Cross; League of Red Cross Societies (both Geneva)
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
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
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)
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).
Sports
World Series
LA Dodgers d. NY Yankees (4-0)
NBA Championship
Boston d. LA Lakers (4-2)
Stanley Cup
Toronto d. Detroit (4-1)
Wimbledon
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
Chateaugay
NCAA Basketball Championship
Loyola-IL d. Cincinnati (60-58 OT)
NCAA Football Champions
Texas (11-0-0)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Reivers, William Faulkner
Music: Piano Concerto No. 1, Samuel Barber
Oscars awarded in 1963
Academy Award, Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia, Sam Spiegel, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Giorgios Seferis (Seferiades) (Greece)
Grammy Awards
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)
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
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.
Deaths
John Fitzgerald Kennedy 11/22/1963
W.E.B. Du Bois
Robert Frost
Rogers Hornsby
Aldous Huxley