1962 in the United States explained
Events from the year 1962 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
vacant (until January 10)
John William McCormack (D-Massachusetts) (starting January 10)
Events
January
- January 1
- 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
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 21 – The Taco Bell fast food restaurant chain is founded by Glen Bell, in Downey, California.
- March 26 – Baker v. Carr: the U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.
April
May
June
the court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
the court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines.
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
- July 22 – Mariner program: the Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
- July 23 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to be inducted into the Baseball Museum And Hall Of Fame.
August
September
October
- 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.
- Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance return to TV with The Lucy Show, two years after the end of I Love Lucy (Vance is the first person to portray a divorcée on a weekly series).
- 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.
- Jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus presents a disastrous concert at Town Hall in New York City. It will gain a reputation as the worst moment of his career.
- October 13 – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway.
- 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 27 – The British revue play Beyond the Fringe makes its Broadway debut.
- 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
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
Ongoing
Births
- January 4 – Peter Steele, singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2010)[2]
- January 5 – Suzy Amis Cameron, actress and model[3]
- January 6
- 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 24 – Stephen Gould, opera singer (died 2023)[4]
- January 25 – Christopher Coppola, film director and producer
- January 26
- January 28 – Creflo Dollar, evangelist
- January 30 – Mary Kay Letourneau, child rapist (died 2020)[5]
- January 31 – David Oliver, actor (died 1992)
- February 2 – Michael T. Weiss, actor
- February 4
- February 6 – Axl Rose, rock singer
- February 7
- February 10 – Lisa Blunt Rochester, politician
- February 11
- Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 2013
- Sheryl Crow, musician and singer
- February 22 – Lenda Murray, bodybuilder
- February 23 – Frank Luntz, political consultant
- March 2 – Jon Bon Jovi, American musician[6]
- March 3
- March 7
- March 10
- March 11
- March 12 – Titus Welliver, actor
- March 15 – Jimmy Baio, actor
- March 18
- March 21
- March 24 – Star Jones, TV personality
- March 26
- 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
- March 31 – Stockton Rush, engineer, pilot, and businessman (died 2023)
- 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
- April 14 – Laura Richardson, politician
- April 15 – Tom Kane, voice actor
- April 16
- 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
- April 26
- April 28 – Scott La Rock, hip-hop DJ and producer (died 1987)
- April 30 – Tom Fahn, voice actor
- May 2 – Elizabeth Berridge, actress
- May 5 – Robby Robbins, politician
- May 7 – Robbie Knievel, motorcyclist and daredevil performer (died 2023)[11]
- May 12 – Emilio Estevez, actor, director, and writer
- May 22 – Brian Pillman, pro wrestler (died 1997)
- May 25 – Lionel James, American football player (died 2022)[12]
- May 28 – James Michael Tyler, actor (died 2021)[13]
- June 1 – Sherri Howard, Olympic athlete
- June 3 – David Cole, DJ, producer and songwriter (died 1995)
- June 4 – Pam Shriver, tennis player
- June 5 – Jeff Garlin, comedian and actor
- June 7
- June 12 – Jodi Thelen, actress
- June 13
- June 19 – Paula Abdul, musician and judge on American Idol
- June 23
- June 24
- June 25 – Anthony Allen Shore, serial killer and child molester (died 2018)
- June 28 – Don Chambers, newspaper comic strip artist
- June 29 – Michael J. Juneau, jurist (died 2023)[17]
- June 30 – Deirdre Lovejoy, actress
- July 1 – Andre Braugher, actor (died 2023)
- July 2 – Doug Benson, comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor
- July 3
- July 4 - Pam Shriver, tennis player
- July 5 – Jeff Innis, baseball player (died 2022)[19]
- July 7
- 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
- July 20 – Carlos Alazraqui, actor
- July 22 – Steve Albini, musician and music producer (died 2024)[21]
- July 31 – Kevin Greene, footballer (died 2020)
- August 4
- August 8 – Jim Sweeney, footballer (died 2022)[23]
- August 10 – Suzanne Collins, author and television writer
- August 16 – Steve Carell, comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer and director
- August 17 – John Marshall Jones, actor
- August 24 – Major Garrett, journalist and author
- August 25 – Tommy Blacha, comedy writer
- August 26 – Bob Mionske, cyclist and attorney
- August 28
- 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)[24]
- September 15
- September 17 – Don Rogers, American football player (died 1986)
- September 26
- October 1 – Esai Morales, actor
- October 6 – Rich Yett, baseball player
- October 11
- October 12
- October 13
- October 15 – Aron Ra, author, podcaster and atheist activist
- October 21 – Drew Griffin, journalist (died 2022)[25]
- October 23
- October 24
- 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
- November 18 – Kirk Hammett, metal guitarist (Exodus and Metallica)
- November 19
- November 20 – Gail Ann Dorsey, musician
- November 27 – Conrad Anker, mountaineer
- November 28 – Jon Stewart, comedian and political commentator
- December 9 – Felicity Huffman, actress[27]
- December 12 – Peter Bergen, journalist and author
- December 17 – Richard Jewell, victim of defamation
- December 21 – Steven Mnuchin, 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- December 24 – Kate Spade, born Katherine Brosnahan, fashion designer (died 2018)
- December 31
Deaths
- January 9 – Leroy Shield, film score and radio compose (born 1893)
- 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)[29]
- January 25 - Lucy Robins Lang, political activist (born 1884 in Russia)
- January 26 - Lucky Luciano, gangster (born 1897 in Italy)
- January 29 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-born American violinist and compose (born 1875 in Austria-Hungary)
- 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
- February 27 - Willie Best, actor (born 1916)
- February 28 - Chic Johnson, actor (born 1891)
- March 1
- 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)
- April 8 - Esther Kerr Rusthoi, author, poet, composer, singer, and evangelist (born 1909)
- April 10
- April 15 – Clara Blandick (born 1876)
- April 20 – Grover Whalen, politician (born 1886)
- April 24 – Milt Franklyn, film composer (born 1897)
- April 27 – Wendell Holmes, actor (born 1914)
- May - Helen Tufts Bailie, social reformer and activist (born 1874)
- May 12 - Dick Calkins, comic book writer (Buck Rogers) (born 1894)
- May 28 - Robert Francis Anthony Studds, admiral and engineer, fourth Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (born 1896)
- May 31 - Henry F. Ashurst, politician (born 1874)
- June 6 – Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, actor (born 1899)
- June 9 - Polly Adler, brothel owner (born 1900 in Russia)[30]
- June 19
- July 2 - Valeska Suratt, stage actress and silent film star (born 1882)
- July 6 - William Faulkner, fiction writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 (born 1897)
- July 25 - Nelle Wilson Reagan, mother of United States President Ronald Reagan (born 1883)
- August 5 - Marilyn Monroe, film actress and icon (born 1926)
- August 23 – Hoot Gibson, actor (born 1892)
- August 28 – John Collum, child actor (born 1926)
- September 2 – Morris Louis, painter (born 1912)
- September 3 - E. E. Cummings, poet (born 1894)
- September 7 - Louis King, film director (born 1898)
- September 19 - Ben J. Tarbutton, interpreter (born 1885)
- September 24
- October 2 – Frank Lovejoy, actor (born 1912)
- October 6 – Tod Browning, film director, actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and entertainer (born 1880)
- October 7 – Scrapper Blackwell, blues guitarist and singer (born 1903)
- October 26 – Louise Beavers, actress (born 1900)
- November 7 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (born 1884)
- November 8
- November 9 - Carroll McComas, actress (born 1886)[32]
- 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 7 – Bobo Newsom, baseball player (born 1907)
- December 10 - Robert C. Giffen, admiral (born 1886)
- December 15 – Charles Laughton, British-American actor (born 1899 in the United Kingdom)
- December 17 – Thomas Mitchell, Irish-American actor and writer (born 1892)
- December 22 - Roy Palmer, jazz trombonist (born 1892)
- December 31 - Al Mamaux, baseball player and manager (born 1894)
See also
Notes and References
- News: Charles Masson, Owner Of La Grenouille, Is Dead. Lawrence . Van Gelder. 1975-02-06. The New York Times.
- Web site: Type O Negative . Heavy Metal Encyclopedia . April 14, 2010 . September 20, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140824155558/http://heavymetalencyclopedia.com/bands/802-type-o-negative . August 24, 2014 . mdy-all .
- News: UPI Almanac for Saturday, Jan. 5, 2019 . United Press International. January 5, 2019. September 6, 2019. January 5, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190105134420/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/01/05/UPI-Almanac-for-Saturday-Jan-5-2019/9081546481545/. live. actor Suzy Amis in 1962 (age 57).
- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/arts/music/stephen-gould-dead.html Stephen Gould, Tenor Best Known for Tackling Wagner, Dies at 61
- https://books.google.com/books?id=Jl2EuFEou6cC&pg=PA514 Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues - Vickie Jensen - Google Books
- Book: Rodale, Inc.. Best Life. August 2008. Rodale, Inc.. 78.
- Web site: Jackie Joyner. IOC. March 18, 2021.
- Book: Leszczak, Bob . From Small Screen to Vinyl: A Guide to Television Stars Who Made Records. 2001 . Rowman & Littlefield . 9781442242746. September 24, 2017 .
- Book: Jill C. Wheeler. Getting Gritty with Mike Rowe . June 2015. ABDO. 978-1-62969-835-9.
- Book: Aaseng, Nathan. Sports Great John Stockton. 1995. Enslow Publishers. 978-0-89490-598-8. 13.
- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/14/us/robbie-knievel-dies/index.html Daredevil Robbie Knievel, son of Evel Knievel, dies at 60
- https://www.nfl.com/news/former-chargers-rb-lionel-little-train-james-dies-at-age-of-59 Former Chargers RB Lionel 'Little Train' James dies at age of 59
- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/friends-james-michael-tyler-dead-gunther-central-perk-barista-1235036165/ James Michael Tyler, Gunther the Central Perk Barista on ‘Friends,’ Dies at 59
- https://basketnews.com/news-191552-cecil-exum-passes-away-at-60.html Cecil Exum, the father of Dante Exum, died at the age of 60.
- News: Lance Reddick, Star of 'The Wire' and 'John Wick,' Dies at 60. Levenson. Michael. Genzlinger. Neil. The New York Times. March 17, 2023. March 17, 2023.
- News: Today in history . June 13, 2014 . . . June 14, 2014 . July 16, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150716174111/http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/06/12/us/ap-history.html. dead.
- https://eu.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2023/05/12/former-louisiana-federal-judge-michael-juneau-dies/70213927007/ Former Louisiana federal judge Michael Juneau dies
- Book: Cahill, Marie. Tom Cruise. May 1992. Smithmark. 978-0-8317-8669-4. 9.
- https://nypost.com/2022/01/30/jeff-innis-former-mets-pitcher-dead-from-cancer-at-59/ Jeff Innis, former Mets pitcher, dead from cancer at 59
- Book: Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2007–2008) . 2007 . Welch . William F. . James . Steven T. . 101 . Massachusetts General Court.
- https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68980304 Steve Albini: US indie-music giant dies at 61
- https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/18/politics/jim-hagedorn-dies-republican-minnesota-congressman/index.html GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota has died
- https://www.newyorkjets.com/news/longtime-jets-o-lineman-jim-sweeney-dies-at-60-i-just-loved-to-play-the-game Longtime Jets O-Lineman Jim Sweeney Dies at 60; 'I Just Loved to Play the Game'
- https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/former-canadiens-defenceman-tom-kurvers-dies-from-lung-cancer-at-58 Former Canadiens defenceman Tom Kurvers dies from lung cancer at 58
- https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/19/us/drew-griffin-obit-invs/index.html Veteran CNN investigative journalist Drew Griffin dead at 60
- Web site: Jodie Foster . https://web.archive.org/web/20160206211244/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1524978 . dead . February 6, 2016 . BFI . 30 March 2022 . en.
- Web site: Famous birthdays for Dec. 9: Judi Dench, John Malkovich. UPI.
- Book: Congress (U.S.), Joint Committee on Printing. Official Congressional Directory 115th Congress, 2017-2018. 6 September 2018. Government Printing Office. 978-0-16-094208-2. 9–.
- Book: Robinson Jeffers. Tim Hunt. The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers. 2001. Stanford University Press. 978-0-8047-4108-8. 6.
- Book: Sicherman . Barbara . Green . Carol Hurd . Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary . 1980 . Harvard University Press . 978-0-674-62733-8 . 7 . en.
- Book: Katchmer . George A. . A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses . May 20, 2015 . McFarland . 978-1-4766-0905-8 . 13 . September 12, 2020 . en.
- News: Carroll McComas Dies at 76; Actress Began Career in 1907 . December 20, 2021 . The New York Times . November 10, 1962 . 19. subscription.