January 1962 Explained
The following events occurred in January 1962:
- Western Samoa (now called Samoa) became independent from New Zealand.[1] The two fautua (advisers), Malietoa Tanumafili II and Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole, were named as the two heads of state.[2]
- The Beatles auditioned unsuccessfully for Decca Records with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and, at that time, drummer Pete Best. The first song of 15 performed between 11:00 a.m. and noon was "Like Dreamers Do". The audition tape was officially released in 1982.[3] Decca opted instead to sign the other group that auditioned that day -- Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Both groups would have a hit recording of the song "Twist and Shout", with the Tremeloes hitting #1 in the UK and the Beatles #4 in the U.S.[4]
- The Alabama Crimson Tide, ranked No1 in the AP and UPI polls and crowned as the national college football champion, defeated the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sugar Bowl, 10–3, in New Orleans.[5]
- The People's Revolutionary Party was founded as a Marxist–Leninist political party in South Vietnam, with its leaders receiving instruction directly from the Lao Dong Party of North Vietnam.[6]
- The Anglican Church of Australia became autocephalous, separate from the Church of England, and was headed by its own primate, the Archbishop of Brisbane, Sir Reginald Halse.[7]
- The University of New Zealand was broken up into four universities (Otago, Canterbury, Auckland and Victoria University) and two agricultural colleges at Canterbury and Massey.[8]
- The far-right National Fellowship Party was founded in the United Kingdom.
- Illinois became the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexual activity.[9]
- Died:
- NASA's Mercury Mark II program was officially renamed "Project Gemini". The name for the second phase of the U.S. human spaceflight program, which would use a pair of astronauts in a spacecraft instead of one, had been suggested by Alex P. Nagy of NASA Headquarters based on the twin stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini, the Latin word for twins. Coincidentally, the astronomical symbol (II) for Gemini, the third constellation of the zodiac, corresponded neatly to the Mark II designation.[13]
- A spokesman for Pope John XXIII revealed that Cuban leader Fidel Castro and several other officials had received a decree of excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church in 1961 under two sections of canon law, for impeding bishops in their work and for violence against clergymen. In September, Cuban bishop Eduardo Boza Masvidal and 135 priests had been forced to leave Cuba.[14]
- The Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) prepared its Statement of Work for the division of labor between NASA and the U.S. Air Force Space Systems Division (SSD), as approved in December 1961. The first purchase request was for $27,000,000 for 15 Titan launch vehicles.[13]
- The Winemakers' Union of Graves de Vayres was founded.
- Born:
- Broadway producer David Merrick submitted a full-page advertisement to seven New York City newspapers, with the tagline "7 OUT OF 7 ARE ECSTATICALLY UNANIMOUS ABOUT SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING", his musical comedy that had opened on December 27 to poor reviews. The ad contained favorable quotes, citing the names of seven well-known theater critics. Merrick had found seven other men with the same names. Next to a photo of the other Howard Taubman was the line "One of the few great musical comedies of the last thirty years..." The New York Herald-Tribune ran the ad in its first edition before an editor spotted the hoax and alerted the other newspapers.[15] [16]
- The Transit Authority of New York City introduced a subway train that operated without a crew on board. The "zombie" train kept a motorman on board to deal with any problems.[17]
- Born: André Rouvoet, Dutch politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2007 to 2010; in Hilversum
- Died: Hans Lammers, 82, Nazi leader and Chief of the Reich Chancellery from 1933 to 1945
- Prison inmate Clarence Gideon sent a letter, written in pencil, to the United States Supreme Court, asking them to reverse his conviction for burglary on the grounds that he had not been given the right to an attorney. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and, on March 18, 1963, issued the landmark decision of Gideon v. Wainwright, holding that the Sixth Amendment guarantee of the right to assistance of counsel required the appointment of a lawyer for any person unable to afford one.[18] [19]
- The Manned Spacecraft Center published its first analysis of the Gemini spacecraft schedule, adjusting launch dates for a first flight in late July or early August 1963, and with six-week launch intervals between the first three flights. Subsequent launches would occur at two-month intervals, with the last flight in late April or early May 1965. The first Agena mission targeting was scheduled for late February or early March 1964.[13]
- The first recording on which The Beatles played, the 45 rpm record "My Bonnie", credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded the previous June in Hamburg), was released by Polydor in the United Kingdom; "The Saints" was on the B-side.[20] [21]
- Three crew members were killed in the crash of USAF B-47E-105-BW Stratojet 52-615, piloted by Major Clarence Weldon Garrett, at March AFB, California. This would be the last fatal crash at that base until October 19, 1978.[22]
- The Beany and Cecil show debuted its first episode on ABC, as part of the Matty's Funday Funnies series. Created by Bob Clampett, the cartoon was based on the television puppet show Time for Beany, which Clampett produced for Paramount Television Network from 1949 to 1955.[23]
- The Los Angeles Mirror-News, which had been started in 1948 as an afternoon tabloid newspaper printed by the owners of the Los Angeles Times, published its final issue.[24]
- Born:
- Kim Weon-Kee, South Korean Olympic wrestler, gold medalist in 1984; in Hampyeong (died from heart attack, 2017)
- Idrissa Djaló, Guinea-Bissau politician and one time presidential candidate
- Died: Marziyya Davudova, 60, Azerbaijani actress and People's Artist of the USSR
- Soviet theoretical physicist Lev Landau, who would win the Nobel Prize later in the year, was seriously injured in an auto accident, leaving him in a coma for two months. Landau survived, but was never able to return to work, and died on April 1, 1968.[25]
- A bomb exploded at the Paris apartment building where controversial existentialist author Jean-Paul Sartre lived. Sartre was not home at the time, and his mother was not injured, but the fire destroyed most of his unpublished manuscripts.[26]
- An assassination attempt against Indonesia's President Sukarno failed, but the hand grenades thrown at his automobile killed three bystanders and injured 28 others in Ujung Pandang (at that time, Makassar).[27]
- The UK was blanketed with snow in an unusual winter storm. Overnight temperatures of were recorded during the morning at Benson, Oxfordshire and Woodford, Greater Manchester in Britain.[28]
- Born: Aleksandr Dugin, Russian ideologist and advocate of reclaiming the former Russian Empire, and author of Foundations of Geopolitics; in Moscow
- In a closed session at the Presidium, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev delivered what was later referred to as the "meniscus speech", using the analogy of a wineglass filled to the point that it could overflow at any time. In the speech, which was not revealed until 40 years later, Khrushchev told the ministers that the USSR was weaker militarily than the United States, and that the only way to compete against American superiority was to maintain the threat that world tensions could spill over. "Because if we don't have a meniscus," Khrushchev said, "we let the enemy live peacefully."[29]
- The first two teams of the United States Navy SEALs were commissioned as the United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land teams, with an order backdated to January 1, in order to carry out President Kennedy's recommendation for the development of "unconventional warfare capability". SEAL Team One, based in Coronado, California, served the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two served the Atlantic Fleet out of Little Creek, Virginia. Each team consisted of 50 men and ten officers.[30] [31]
- In the Harmelen train disaster, two trains collided, killing 91 people in the worst rail crash in Netherlands history. An express train running from Leeuwarden to Amsterdam and a slower moving commuter train from Rotterdam struck each other at the same switching point after 9:18 a.m. in a heavy fog.[32] [33]
- Personnel of the Manned Spacecraft and Marshall Space Flight Centers tested special hand tools for use in zero-gravity conditions. Experiments were conducted in simulated space environment to try out non-torque hand tools drawn from a number of industrial sources.[34]
- The Yugoslavian freighter Sabac was cut in two by the British steamer Dorington Court in a collision in the English Channel. Only eight of the 33 men on the Sabac survived.[35]
- Born: Anatoliy Serdyukov, Russian Minister of Defense from 2007 to 2012; in Krasnodar Krai
- Died: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg, 59, eldest son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie
- Rashidi Kawawa was appointed as the last Prime Minister of Tanganyika, by President Julius Nyerere, who had formerly had both posts. The position of Prime Minister would be abolished on December 9, after which Tanganyika and Zanzibar had merged to form Tanzania. Kawawa would become the first Prime Minister of Tanzania when that post was created in 1972.[36]
- Cuba and the Soviet Union signed a trade pact.
- The U.S. House of Representatives elected Majority Leader John W. McCormack of Massachusetts as the 53rd Speaker of the House, to fill the vacancy created by the death of Sam Rayburn. The 253–159 vote was along party lines, with the Democrats voting for McCormack and the Republicans for Minority Leader Charles A. Halleck of Indiana.[37]
- An avalanche on Mount Huascarán, the tallest peak in Peru, killed more than 4,000 people. At 6:13 p.m., melting ice triggered the slide of three million tons of ice, mud and rock down the side of Huascaran, quadrupled in size as it gathered mass, and, within eight minutes, buried the town of Ranrahirca (population 2,700) the village of Yanamachico, and three other villages totaling 800 residents. Ranrahirca, which had only 50 survivors, would be rebuilt, then destroyed again in an earthquake and an even larger avalanche on May 31, 1970.[38] [39] [40] [41]
- NASA announced that the Advanced Saturn launch vehicle, to be used for crewed flights around the Moon and for crewed lunar landings with rendezvous technique, would have five-engined first and second stages. The first stage (S-IB) would be powered by five F-1 engines (total of 7.5 million pounds thrust) and the second stage (S-II) would be powered with five J-2 engines (total of one million pounds thrust). A third stage (S-IVB) with a single J-2 engine would be used on escape missions.[34]
- An explosion at a mine near Carterville, Illinois killed eleven coal miners.[42]
- Soviet submarine B-37, nine days away from being dispatched to Cuba, was moored at Polyarny, conducting maintenance and pressurizing of outdated gas-steam torpedoes. At 8:20 a.m., a fire in the torpedo compartment detonated all twelve torpedoes, instantly destroying the submarine. Captain Anatoly Begeba, who had been outside, inspecting the top of the sub, survived. The 78 men inside the sub drowned as it sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea.[43]
- Piloting the newest model of long-range bombers, the B-52H Stratofortress, crewmembers broke 11 non-stop distance and course-speed records, for its aircraft class and time, when they successfully completed a more-than-21-hour non-refueled flight—flying approximately across the globe.[44]
- Nelson Mandela secretly left South Africa for the first time, as he was driven across the border to Botswana. From there, he went to Ethiopia to speak at a conference in Addis Ababa. He would tour the continent for the next six months. Upon his return to South Africa on August 5, he would be arrested.[45]
- U.S. President Kennedy delivered his State of the Union Address to the United States Congress.[34]
- Born: Kim Coles, American actress; in Brooklyn
- Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission in Vietnam, began as the American pilots transported hundreds of South Vietnamese troops to fight against a Viet Cong force near Saigon. Three days later, President Kennedy told reporters at a press conference that American troops were not being used in combat.[46]
- A spokesman for the Army of Indonesia, Colonel Soenarjo, said that soldiers had begun landing on West Irian, the semi-independent western side of New Guinea that remained under the administration of the Netherlands.[47]
- Born: Richie Richardson, Antiguan cricketer and one time captain of the West Indies cricket team; in Five Islands Village
- First Lady Jackie Kennedy brought Charles Collingwood and a CBS News television crew into the White House for an unprecedented look at the American presidential residence. The tape of the visit was edited into the program A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy and shown on CBS and NBC on February 14.[48]
- With the United States having halted its Lockheed U-2 flights over the Soviet Union, the Republic of China (Taiwan) began regular U-2 surveillance flights over the People's Republic of China, with a group of American-trained pilots nicknamed the Black Cat Squadron.[49]
- Albania allied itself with the People's Republic of China, as the two nations signed a trade pact.[50]
- Born: Trace Adkins, American country music singer; in Springhill, Louisiana
- Died: Ernie Kovacs, 42, an American comedian who was killed in a car accident while driving on Santa Monica Boulevard. Kovacs and his wife, Edie Adams, were driving home separately from a baby shower in honor of Mrs. Milton Berle. At 2:00 in the morning, his station wagon skidded and crashed into a utility pole. Kovacs suffered a fatal head injury and died at the scene.[51]
- The NFL Pro Bowl, described by some as one that "may have been the best in history",[52] was won by the all-stars of the NFL Western Conference, 31–30, on the last play of the game, before a crowd of 57,409 in Los Angeles.[53]
- A Netherlands warship sank an Indonesian torpedo boat after it approached the disputed territory of West Irian, a Netherlands colony claimed by Indonesia.[54]
- Born: Jörgen Elofsson, Swedish songwriter; in Ängelholm
- A 13-year-old boy testified before a Chicago juvenile court judge and confessed to setting the Our Lady of the Angels School fire that had killed 92 children and 3 nuns on December 1, 1958, in Chicago. The boy said that he had asked to be excused from class, then tossed lit matches into a cardboard waste barrel filled with paper.[55] After an investigation, the court concluded that the evidence did not support the boy's confession, and no charges were ever filed.[56]
- After the United Kingdom sought to join the European Economic Community, the Meteorological Office first began using Celsius temperature values in its public weather information, following the Fahrenheit values. In October, the Celsius values were listed first, and by January 1, 1973, when the government entered the EEC and completed its conversion to the metric system, Fahrenheit numbers were only used occasionally.[57]
- Three days of training for recovery area swimmers began at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida for John Glenn's Mercury 6 mission.[58] Kenneth Kleinknecht was appointed Manager of Project Mercury, while James A. Chamberlin became Manager of Gemini Project Office.[13]
- The Derveni papyrus, written in about 340 BC, was discovered in a cist that had been buried at the site of the Greek city of Derveni, near Thessaloniki. The oldest surviving manuscript in Europe, the papyrus roll contained a commentary on philosophy and religion.[59]
- Portugal abandoned the U.N. General Assembly due to the debate over its East African colony in Angola.[60]
- Died: Kenneth MacKenna, 62, American actor and film director
- A Strategic Air Command B-47E Stratojet of the 380th Bomb Wing, Plattsburgh AFB, New York, on low-altitude bombing run training mission, was reported overdue at 0700 hrs. After a four-day search, wreckage was spotted in the Adirondack High Peaks. The bomber had clipped the top of Wright Peak (the 16th tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, at) after veering off course in inclement weather and high winds. The remains of Aircraft Commander 1st Lt. Rodney D. Bloomgren, of Jamestown, New York, copilot 1st Lt. Melvin Spencer, and navigator 1st Lt. Albert W. Kandetski were found after a search, but those of Airman First Class Kenneth R. Jensen KWF were never recovered. A memorial plaque was later erected on a rock near the summit by the 380th Bomb Wing.[61] [62]
- A military coup in the Dominican Republic, led by General Pedro Rodríguez Echavarría, forced President Joaquín Balaguer to resign and go into exile. Earlier in the day in Santo Domingo, soldiers fired into a crowd of people protesting against the new regime, killing 8 people and wounding many more. Balaguer had been the leader of a council of state with seven civilians and had pledged to hold elections on February 27, 1963. The junta consisted of two former state council members, two civilians from the old Trujillo government, and three military officers, but had no presiding leader. The other council members were placed under house arrest.[63]
- Sutan Sjahrir, who had been the first Prime Minister of Indonesia (1945–47), was arrested on orders of the President he had served, Sukarno. He would remain incarcerated for three years until Sukarno sent him into exile for reasons of health and would die in 1966.[64]
- The Jackson State Times, an afternoon daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, published its last issue, leaving the city with the two dailies owned by Mississippi Publishers Corporation, the Jackson Daily News and The Clarion-Ledger.[65]
- Mercury spacecraft No. 16 was delivered to Cape Canaveral for the Mercury 8 mission, which would orbit with Wally Schirra on October 3, 1962.[58]
- Died: Ivan Meštrović, 78, Croatian sculptor
- A furniture warehouse fire in the German city of Nuremberg killed twenty employees, including four who jumped from the fourth story of the building.[66] Police arrested one of the survivors, a paper press operator who had worked in the basement and was believed to have accidentally caused the blaze by throwing a cigarette.[67]
- Ten former game show contestants, all of whom had testified under oath that they had not been given answers in advance of their appearances, pleaded guilty to perjury. The most prominent was former Columbia University instructor Charles Van Doren, who had won $129,000 on the program Twenty One.[68]
- United States government workers were given the right of collective bargaining by President Kennedy, in Executive Order 10988.[69]
- Frank Sinatra completed the recording of his album All Alone, in Los Angeles.
- Born: Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and comedian; in Newmarket, Ontario
- Died: Gerrit Achterberg, 56, Dutch poet
- The drawing to determine the arrangement of the 16 teams of the 1962 World Cup took place at Santiago in Chile, host of the world soccer football championship. The four seeded teams, and the three others in each group, were Uruguay, Colombia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in Group 1; Italy, Chile, Switzerland and West Germany in Group 2; Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Mexico and Spain in Group 3; and England, Argentina, Bulgaria and Hungary in Group 4. Competition would begin on May 30, with the finals on June 17.[70]
- Two days after seizing power in the Dominican Republic, General Pedro Rodriguez Echavarria was overthrown in a countercoup by his own officers, who then freed members of the former council of state who had been under house arrest. The council's first act of business was to accept Balaguer's resignation, with Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly as his successor.[71]
- Former Nazi German General Karl Wolff, who had been chief of staff to Heinrich Himmler and overseer of the SS Einsatzgruppen, was arrested by West German police at his lakeside vacation home in Kempfenhausen.[72]
- In the lead-up to the opening of negotiations on Ireland's entry to the European Community, Irish Prime Minister Seán Lemass addressed the members of the other EC governments at their headquarters in Brussels.[73]
- KGB agents identified Colonel Oleg Penkovsky as the man who was secretly meeting British national Janet Chisholm in Moscow. The agents, who had been shadowing Mrs. Chisholm, had first seen the two together on December 30, and followed Penkovsky to his apartment. Surveillance determined that Colonel Penkovsky, a high clearance official with the Soviet military intelligence agency GRU, had been bringing home classified material relating to ballistic missiles, photographing it, and giving the film to the British intelligence agency MI-6. Penkovsky, whose information alerted the United States to the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba, would be arrested on October 22, when the Cuban Missile Crisis began, and would be executed on May 16, 1963 for treason.[74]
- Dr. John P. Meehan of the University of Southern California reported that Enos, the 37lb chimpanzee who orbited the Earth in Mercury-Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961, developed temporary hypertension during flight due to frustration and confusion caused by equipment malfunction.[34]
- Died:
- The play , by Richard Levinson and William Link, was first presented, with the premiere at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. Character actor Thomas Mitchell portrayed a disheveled police detective named Lt. Columbo. When the play was made into a TV movie in 1968, Peter Falk portrayed the detective, and then in the title role of Columbo, one of the recurring segments of the NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo had been seen once before, on July 30, 1960, in the presentation "Enough Rope", part of The Chevy Mystery Show.[75]
- Petula Clark had her first number one hit in France with "Romeo".
- Died:
- The Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS), opposed to the independence of Algeria, bombed the French Foreign Ministry, by placing a time bomb inside a truck that was going into the compound. A mailroom worker was killed, and three people were seriously injured by the shattering of hundreds of windows at the Quai d'Orsay. Gunmen from the OAS also kidnapped a member of Parliament, Dr. Paul Mainguy, who was rescued that afternoon by French police.[79]
- While cast in the film Cleopatra, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor fell in love on the first day of filming the re-enactment of the romance between Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra, which had taken place in 40 BC. They divorced their respective spouses, Sybil Burton and Eddie Fisher, and married in 1964, divorcing in 1974, remarrying in 1975, and divorcing again in 1976.[80]
- The Organization of American States (OAS) suspended Cuba's membership. Whilst technically still a member, the Cuban government was denied the rights of representation, attendance at meetings and participation in OAS activities.[81]
- Born:
- In his first year of eligibility, Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 124 of the 160 ballots cast and becoming the first African-American to be enshrined at Cooperstown. In addition to being the first black MLB player of the modern era, Robinson had also been a six time All-Star, the 1947 Rookie of the Year, and the 1949 MVP for the National League.[82] Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller, elected on the same day, was also inducted in his first year of eligibility. It was the first time since the original five selections (Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson) that anyone had won 75% of the votes on their first try.[83]
- Singer Tony Bennett first recorded what would become his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". Ralph Sharon, who accompanied Bennett's songs on the piano, had been shown the song in 1959 by writers George Cory and Douglass Cross, then put it away in a dresser drawer. Sharon ran across it again when Bennett was invited to perform in San Francisco, and Bennett sang it in December. The song was released as the B-side of "Once Upon a Time", and went on to sell two million copies and to win two Grammy Awards.[84]
- American inventor Thomas Townsend Brown received U.S. Patent 3,018,394 for an "Electro-kinetic Transducer", a means of using an electric field as a means of propulsion of aircraft.[85]
- Died: Natalia Sedova Trotsky, 79, widow of Leon Trotsky
- An attempt by the United States to launch five satellites into orbit from the same rocket failed when the final stage of the Thor-Able-Star rocket failed to provide sufficient thrust to break the pull of gravity. Falling into the Gulf of Mexico "well south of Cuba" were the 80foot rocket and the satellites SR-4, Injun II, Lofti II, Secor and Surcal, worth $3,500,000 altogether.[86]
- The East German government instituted conscription into its armed forces, which formerly had been filled by volunteers. Western sources speculated that the East Germans had waited until the completion of the Berlin Wall before announcing the draft.[87]
- Brian Epstein made a verbal contract with the four members of The Beatles, becoming their manager in return for receiving up to 25 percent of their gross earnings.[88]
- Died: Stanley Lord, 84, captain of the SS Californian at the time of the sinking of RMS Titanic nearly 50 years earlier
- Anandyn Amar, who had served twice as Prime Minister of Mongolia (1928–30 and 1936–39) and Chairman of the Presidium of State (1932–36) before becoming a victim of a purge by Joseph Stalin, was posthumously rehabilitated, more than 20 years after his execution by the Soviet Union on July 27, 1941.[89]
- Governor of Montana Donald G. Nutter was killed, along with five other people, in a plane crash. Nutter had been on his way from Helena to a speaking engagement in Cut Bank when his C-47 plane went down in a mountain canyon near Wolf Creek. He was succeeded by Lt. Governor Tim M. Babcock.[90]
- The American space probe Ranger 3 was launched from Cape Canaveral at 3:30 p.m. local time with the objective of duplicating the Soviet feat of landing a satellite on the Moon. Hours later, NASA announced that the Atlas rocket had hurled Ranger 3 into its trajectory too quickly, and that the probe would miss its target by .[91] Intersecting the Moon's orbit after 50 hours instead of the planned 66 hours,[92] the spacecraft arrived too soon, got no closer than from the Moon and went into orbit around the Sun.[93]
- The Martin Marietta company recommended only minimal modifications to the modified Titan II Gemini Launch Vehicle, including a malfunction detection system; backup guidance, control, and hydraulic systems; and selective electrical redundancies.[13]
- Seventeen employees at the National Steel Company in Volta Redonda, Brazil, were killed when a ladle of molten steel poured down upon them during the morning shift.[94]
- Died:
- Charles "Lucky" Luciano, 64, Sicilian-born American mafioso who had been deported from the U.S. months earlier. Exiled in Italy, Luciano had just greeted film producer Martin Gosch, who had arrived at the Capodichino Airport in Naples to discuss plans for a film about Luciano's life. As the two men walked out of the terminal with policeman Marcello Resta, Luciano, who had ordered the murder of more than 40 rival gangsters during his career, collapsed from a fatal heart attack at 5:25 in the afternoon. A deputy commissioner of the U.S. Narcotics Bureau told reporters later that day that Luciano had been facing re-arrest for his role in a major drug ring.[95] The film, Lucky Luciano, would be made eleven years later and released in 1974, with Italian actor Gian Maria Volonté portraying Luciano.
- Gerald Rudolff Ford, 71, adoptive father of future U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and owner of a paint and varnish manufacturing company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, died of injuries after slipping on an icy sidewalk. In 1917, the elder Ford had married Ford's mother and then changed the name of her 3-year-old son, Leslie Lynch King, Jr. to his own, with the exception of spelling the middle name as Rudolph.[96]
- Eunice Gray, 77, died in a fire at the Waco Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, which she had operated for 40 years. Theories abound that Gray was the same person as Etta Place, former girlfriend, last seen in 1907, of Harry Longabaugh, the Sundance Kid.[97]
- At a major conference in Beijing, Liu Shaoqi, President of the People's Republic of China, criticized the "Great Leap Forward", the disastrous 1958 economic program created by of Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. "People do not have enough food, clothes or other essentials... agricultural output has dropped tremendously," Liu told the assembly, adding "There is not only no Great Leap Forward, but a great deal of falling backward." Chairman Mao made a rare self-criticism three days later, and eventually took revenge on Liu, who disappeared in 1968 and reportedly died in 1969.[98]
- With the publication of a January 15 decree of the Supreme Soviet, the Soviet Union changed all remaining street names and place names honoring Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Georgi Malenkov, and Kliment Voroshilov two months after the five aides to Joseph Stalin had been denounced by the Soviet Communist Party.[99] The Azerbaijan SSR city of Molotov would become Oktyabrkend, and the city of Perm, Russia, had reverted to its name after Molotov's ouster in 1957; Voroshilovgrad was renamed Luhansk and Voroshilov in the far east became Ussuriysk.
- Countdown for the first launch of a U.S. astronaut into orbit was halted 20 minutes before the scheduled 7:30 a.m. liftoff. U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr. had been inside the Mercury 6 capsule since 5:10 a.m., while much of the United States watched live television coverage. After technical difficulties halted the countdown, the skies became overcast with thick cloud cover, and the mission was scrubbed at 9:20 a.m.[58] [100]
- Peter Snell set a new world record for the mile, running the distance in 3 minutes, 54.4 seconds, at Cook's Gardens, Wanganui. Herb Elliott of Australia had held the record since August 6, 1958.[101] [102]
- Died: Frances Glessner Lee, 83, American forensic scientist who created the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death[103]
- The last streetcar in Washington, D.C. ran for the final time at 2:00 a.m., as the transit company retired its 27-car fleet. The day before, free rides were offered for all children accompanied by a paying adult and thousands took advantage of the offer. By 1962, only ten American cities still had trolleys.[104]
- Johannes Relleke, a tin miner at Kamativi in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), survived 2,443 bee stings and earned a spot in the Guinness World Records category "Most bee stings removed".[105]
- Wasfi al-Tal succeeded Bahjat al-Talhouni as Prime Minister of Jordan, serving as Prime Minister until his assassination in 1971.[106]
- Born: Peter Verhelst, Belgian writer; in Bruges
- Died: Robert J. O. Compston, 64, British World War I fighter pilot
- The Automobile Manufacturers Association of the U.S. announced that all 1963 model American vehicles would be equipped with amber-colored turn signals on the front, rather than being the same color as the headlights, which had been the standard since the signals had first been introduced in 1938. The change was made after the manufacturers had lobbied for the repeal of bans in 25 states against amber-colored lights.[107]
- The Miss Dominican Republic competition was held in Santo Domingo and was won by Sarah Olimpia Frómeta Pou.
- Born: Olga Tokarczuk, Polish writer; in Sulechów
- Died: Fritz Kreisler, 86, Austrian violinist
January 30, 1962 (Tuesday)
- In what became known as the "Tanganyika laughter epidemic", three students at a girls' boarding school in the Tanzanian village of Kashasha began laughing, and other students reacted. Within six weeks, 95 of the school's 159 students were laughing uncontrollably, and on March 18, the school closed and sent the pupils back to their home villages. The mass reaction spread to the villages of Nshamba, Ramanshenye, and Kanyangereka and affected hundreds of people before halting in 1963.[108] [109]
- Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" were killed when their famous 7-person pyramid collapsed during a tightrope walking performance at the Shrine Circus at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit. Dieter Schepp, who had lost his footing and caused the group to topple, and Richard Faughnan both died of head injuries after falling to the concrete arena floor. Mario Wallenda was paralyzed as a result of the accident, and Karl Wallenda and Jana Schepp were hospitalized for their injuries.[110]
- Fourteen of the 21 member states of the Organization of American States voted to oust Cuba. Six other nations abstained, and Cuba voted against the resolution, which barely passed by a rds majority.[111]
- Born:
- The Manned Spacecraft Center requested the Marshall Space Flight Center (located in Huntsville, Alabama) of MSC's need for 11 Atlas-Agena rockets for future use as rendezvous vehicles. Among the modifications needed were incorporation of radar and visual navigation and tracking aids; main engines capable of multiple restarts; addition of a secondary propulsion system, stabilization system, and command system; incorporation of an external rendezvous docking unit; and provision of a jettisonable aerodynamic fairing to enclose the docking unit during launch. The first Agena rendezvous vehicle was to be delivered to the launch site in 20 months (by August 1964), with one thereafter every 60 days.[13]
- An accident killed 11 people who were on their way to a labor camp in Mendota, California, after their bus was struck by a Southern Pacific freight train. An unusually heavy fog in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys of central California had led to 17 other deaths on U.S. Highway 99 since January 28 because of visibility of less than . The cloud cover would dissipate by February 2.[114]
- Telling reporters that "It's a tradition that the show must go on," tightrope walkers Gunther Wallenda and his father, Herman Wallenda, walked the high wire at the Shrine Circus in Detroit, 24 hours after the disaster that had killed two members of the troupe and put three others in the hospital.[115]
- The rescheduled liftoff of John Glenn and the Mercury 6 mission was postponed again because of technical difficulties with the launch vehicle.[58]
- Snowfall with accumulation was recorded on the Mediterranean island of Malta, a very rare meteorological occurrence.[116]
- Born: Alexey Miller, Russian industrialist; in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg)
- Died: Noel Purcell, 70, Irish rugby union and Olympic champion water polo player who represented the Ireland national team in both sports during the 1920s.[117]
Notes and References
- Web site: Towards independence - New Zealand in Samoa | NZHistory, New Zealand history online . nzhistory.govt.nz.
- Book: Craig, Robert D. . Historical Dictionary of Polynesia . . 2002 . 72–73.
- Web site: The Complete Silver Beatles . www.jpgr.co.uk.
- Book: Perone, James E. . Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion . . 2009 . 66.
- News: Alabama Proves Right To No. 1 . . January 2, 1962 . 6C.
- Honey . P. J. . P. J. Honey . North Vietnam's Workers' Party and South Vietnam's People's Revolutionary Party . . Winter 1962–1963 . 375–383.
- Web site: anglican.org.au . A History of Anglicanism - Part 2: The Anglican Church in Australia.
- Book: Beaglehole, Tim . Tim Beaglehole . A Life of J.C. Beaglehole: New Zealand Scholar . . 2006 . 462–463.
- Web site: The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States - Illinois . 2021-06-01 . www.glapn.org.
- News: Wilkins Of NAACP, Lauded by JFK, Asks Campaign Pledges Be Kept . . January 3, 1962 . 14.
- Web site: 1962 Non-World Championship Formula One Races . www.silhouet.com.
- Web site: Your First Impression (TV Series 1962–1964) - IMDb . IMDb.
- Book: Project Gemini Technology and Operations - A Chronology . PART I (B) Concept and Design January 1962 through December 1962 . Grimwood . James M. . Hacker . Barton C. . Vorzimmer . Peter J. . NASA Special Publication-4002 . https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/p1b.htm . . 19 February 2023.
- News: Vatican Expels Castro . . January 4, 1962 . 1.
- News: A 4-Star Smash? Says Who? . Miami News . January 6, 1962 . 4A.
- Web site: Subways Are For Sleeping (1962) . . 2015 . Alex Boese . May 19, 2022.
- News: Shuttle to Begin Automated Runs . . January 4, 1962 . 21.
- Book: Schwartz, Bernard . Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases . Oxford University Press . 1997 . 110–112.
- Book: VanMeter, Larry A. . Miranda versus Arizona . . 2006 . 46.
- Book: Everett, Walter . Walter Everett (musicologist) . 2001 . The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul . . 978-0-19-514105-4 . 100 . registration .
- Book: Spitz, Bob . 2005 . Bob Spitz . . . . 978-0-316-80352-6.
- News: . . October 20, 1978 . 3-A.
- Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 124–127.
- Dennis McDougal, Privileged Son: Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty (Da Capo Press, 2002) p232
- Francis Leroy, A Century of Nobel Prizes Recipients: Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine(CRC Press, 2003) p171
- John Gerassi, Jean-Paul Sartre: Protestant or Protester? (University of Chicago Press, 1989) p32
- Angus McIntyre, The Indonesian Presidency: The Shift from Personal toward Constitutional Rule (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) p46
- News: Icy conditions strike after snow. BBC News . 9 January 2010 . 7 January 2010.
- Book: Aleksandr . Fursenko . Aleksandr Fursenko . Timothy . Naftali . Timothy Naftali . Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary . . 2007 . 5–6.
- Web site: Navy Seals History. https://web.archive.org/web/20100305095400/http://www.sealswcc.com/navy-seals-history.aspx#.TtupIWPNn48 . dead . March 5, 2010 .
- Book: Fawcett, Bill . Bill Fawcett (writer) . Hunters & Shooters: An Oral History of the U.S. Navy SEALs in Vietnam . . 2008.
- News: HOLLAND: Trains Ram, Killing 87 . Miami News . January 8, 1962 . 1.
- Book: Haine, Edgar A. . Railroad Wrecks . . 1993 . 161–162.
- News: Space News Of Five Years Ago . Space News Roundup . Page 6, columns 4-5 . 6 . 6 . 6 January 1967 . . . 19 March 2023.
- News: ENGLAND: Ships Collide, 25 Sailors Lost . Miami News . January 8, 1962 . 1.
- David Lawrence, Tanzania: The Land, Its People and Contemporary Life (New Africa Press, 2009) p202
- News: House Elects McCormack . Miami News . January 10, 1962 . 1.
- News: SLIDE DEATHS MAY TOP 3,000 . . January 11, 1962 . 1.
- News: 2008 . 1962: Thousands killed in Peru landslide . . . On This Day.
- Book: Jenkins, McKay . The White Death: Tragedy and Heroism in an Avalanche Zone . . 2000 . 74.
- Book: Davis, Lee . Natural Disasters . Infobase Publishing . 2008 . 17.
- News: Mine Rescuers Find 11 Bodies . Montreal Gazette . January 12, 1962 . 2.
- Book: Flynn, Ramsey . Cry from the Deep: The Sinking of the Kursk, the Submarine Disaster That Riveted the World and Put the New Russia to the Ultimate Test . HarperCollins . 2005 . 27–28.
- News: Record long-range bomber flight turns 50 . https://archive.today/20130713025755/http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123286043 . Hernandez . Jose L. . January 12, 2012 . July 13, 2013 . www.af.mil . November 3, 2020 . live.
- Book: Meredith, Martin . Martin Meredith . Mandela: A Biography . . 2011 . 209.
- Jessica McElrath, Everything John F. Kennedy Book: Relive the History, Romance, and Tragedy of Americas Camelot (Everything Books, 2008) p183; News Conference 20 (January 15, 1962), JFKLibrary.org
- "Suspects put under arrest", Regina Leader-Post, January 13, 1962, p1
- Book: Modifica, Lisa . A Timeline of the White House . . 2003 . 24.
- Book: I. C. . Smith . Nigel . West . Rupert Allason . Historical Dictionary of Chinese Intelligence . Scarecrow Press . 2012 . 272.
- News: Albania Signs Pact for Peiping Trade . The New York Times . January 14, 1962 . 13.
- News: ERNIE KOVACS DIES AS CAR RAMS POLE . Miami News . January 13, 1962.
- Web site: The 1962 Pro Bowl . 2011-12-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120501163634/http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/The_1962_Pro_Bowl.htm . dead . 2012-05-01 .
- "Unitas' TD Pass Beats East in Last 2 Seconds", Milwaukee Sentinel, January 15, 1962, p2-1
- "Dutch Warships Sink Indonesian Torpedo Boat", Miami News, January 10, 1962, p1
- News: Boy Admits Fire Fatal To 95 . The Miami News . January 16, 1962 . 1 . Google News .
- News: Clears Boy, 13 in School Fire He Confessed . . March 14, 1962 . 3.
- Book: Walker, J. M. . History of the Meteorological Office . Cambridge University Press . 2011 . 355.
- Book: Grimwood, James M. . Project Mercury - A Chronology . PART III (A) Operational Phase of Project Mercury May 5, 1961 through May 1962 . NASA Special Publication-4001 . https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p3a.htm . . 20 March 2023.
- Book: Betegh, Gábor . Gábor Betegh . The Derveni Papyrus: Cosmology, Theology and Interpretation . . 2007 . 56.
- News: Portugal Scorns U.N., Walks Out . Montreal Gazette . January 16, 1962 . 1.
- Collected Jamestown Post-Journal articles relating to January 16, 1962 B-47 Adirondacks crash.
- Web site: An Air Force Bomber Crashes into Wright Peak . adirondack-park.net.
- News: Balaguer Resigns, Junta Takes Over . . January 17, 1962 . 1.
- Book: Friend, Theodore . Theodore Friend . Indonesian Destinies . . 2003 . 124.
- News: Paper in Mississippi Goes Out of Business . Milwaukee Journal . January 17, 1962 . 2.
- "Warehouse Fire Kills 17 Germans", Milwaukee Journal, January 17, 1962, p1
- "Fire Killing 20 Blamed On Cigaret", Miami News, January 17, 1962, p9A
- "Quiz Star Van Doren, 9 Others Plead Guilty", Milwaukee Journal, January 17, 1962, p1
- Eric Arnesen, Encyclopedia of United States Labor and Working-class History (CRC Press, 2007) p72
- Book: Lisi, Clemente A. . A History of the World Cup, 1930-2010 . Scarecrow Press . 2011 . 94–95.
- News: DOMINICAN JUNTA FALLS . Miami News . January 19, 1962 . 1.
- News: Germans Hold Himmler Aide . Miami News . January 22, 1962 . 4A.
- Book: Daly, Mary E. . Mary E. Daly . The Slow Failure: Population Decline and Independent Ireland, 1922-1973 . . 2006 . 257.
- Book: Haslam, Jonathan . Jonathan Haslam . Russia's Cold War: From the October Revolution to the Fall of the Wall . . . 2011 . 978-0300188196.
- http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=48 "Columbo: The Genesis of a Character"
- Anthony Hallett and Diane Hallett, Entrepreneur Magazine Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs (John Wiley and Sons, Oct 24, 1997) pp314-315
- http://www.ncpedia.org/biography/love-james-spencer "Love, James Spencer"
- Cuba: Foreign Policy & Government Guide Volume 1 (International Business Publications, 2001) p75
- "Bomb Rocks Paris Foreign Ministry Bldg.", The Milwaukee Sentinel, January 23, 1962, p1
- Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century (HarperCollins, 2010) p18
- Morris H. Morley, Imperial State and Revolution: The United States and Cuba, 1952-1986 (Cambridge University Press, 1987) p156
- Book: Scott, Richard . Jackie Robinson . Holloway House Publishing . 1990 . 150.
- News: Jackie Robinson And Bob Feller In Hall of Fame . Ottawa Citizen . January 23, 1962 . 15.
- Book: Evanier, David . David Evanier . All the Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennett . . 2011 . 135.
- Book: Valone, Thomas . Electrogravitics Systems: Reports on a New Propulsion Methodology . . 1994 . 122–123.
- News: Canaveral Rocket Shot A 5-Star Blowout . Miami News . January 24, 1962 . 1.
- News: East Germany Orders Draft . . . January 25, 1962.
- Book: Miles, Barry . Barry Miles . Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now . Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now . Macmillan . 1998 . 88.
- Alan J. K. Sanders, Historical Dictionary of Mongolia (Scarecrow Press, May 30, 2010) pp52-53
- "Crash Kills Governor", Reading (PA) Eagle, January 26, 1962, p1
- News: RANGER TO MISS MOON . Milwaukee Sentinel . January 27, 1962 . 1.
- Book: United States Space Science Program Report to COSPAR . May 1962 . 26.
- News: Satellite Misses Moon By 22,862 Miles; Is Doomed To A Long Futile Flight . . . January 29, 1962 . 1.
- News: Molten Steel Spills, 17 Killed . Miami Daily News . January 27, 1962 . 1.
- News: Tim . Newark . Boardwalk Gangster: The Real Lucky Luciano . Macmillan . 2011 . 255.
- Book: Cannon, James M. . James M. Cannon . Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History . . 1998 . 72.
- Book: Sanders, Leonard . Fort Worth . . 2005 . 511.
- Book: Sieff, Martin . Shifting Superpowers: The New and Emerging Relationship between the United States, China, and India . . 2009 . 59–60.
- News: Order Molotov Name Removed from Towns . . . January 27, 1962 . 1.
- "Clouds Stop Glenn Orbit" and "He Was 20 Minutes Away From Destiny", St. Petersburg (FL) Sunday Independent, January 28, 1962, p1
- News: New Zealander Breaks Record For Mile Run . Miami News . January 28, 1962 . 1C.
- http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/timeline&new_date=27/01 NZhistory.net
- Book: Goldfarb, Bruce. 18 tiny deaths : the untold story of Frances Glessner Lee and the invention of modern forensics. 2020. 978-1-4926-8047-5. Naperville, Illinois. 1096529139.
- News: Sentimental Journeys Bid Trolley Farewell . Spokane Daily Chronicle . January 27, 1962 . 2.
- Book: Craig . Glenday . Craig Glenday . Guinness World Records 2009 . Guinness World Records . Random House . 2009 . 68.
- Book: Shalom, Zakai . The Superpowers, Israel and the Future of Jordan, 1960-1963: The Perils of the pro-Nasser Policy . . 1999 . 42.
- "Signals Turn To Amber", Miami News, January 29, 1962, p9A
- News: Laughing Malady Puzzle in Africa . The New York Times . August 8, 1963 . 29.
- Book: Nicholas A. . Christakis . Nicholas Christakis . James H. . Fowler . James H. Fowler . Connected: The Surprising Power of our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives . . 2009.
- News: Horrified Crowd Sees 2 Aerialists Die In Fall . . . January 31, 1962 . 1.
- News: O.A.S. Votes To Oust Red Cuba- Slim Margin Supports Move By United States . . . January 31, 1962 . 1.
- Book: Corboz, Elvire . Guardians of Shi'ism: Sacred Authority and Transnational Family Networks . 2015 . Edinburgh University Press . 978-0-7486-9144-9 . 271 . en.
- News: Mary Kay Letourneau, teacher who raped and married student, dies at 58 . ((Staff Reports and News Services)) . The Washington Post.
- News: California Smothered By Killer Fog- Visibility Is Zero at Times; 28 Die . Miami News . February 1, 1962 . 11A.
- News: 2 Wallendas Back On Top-- 2 Others Dead, 3 Injured, But Show Must Go On And Does . Miami News . February 1, 1962 . 9A.
- Web site: Snow storms in Malta . 2014-07-11 . en-US . 29 September 2016.
- Web site: Noel Purcell . . OlyMADMen . 10 February 2023.