by David and Te'var

1960  1961  1962  1963  1964  1965  1966  1967  1968  1969

1962 was filled with big events ranging from the sports to politics. Huge leaps were taken technology-wise and culture-wise. The first Kmart opens, and is immediately a success, while The Los Angeles Times becomes the first newspaper to be typed on a computer. The U.S. national debt exceeds $300 billion for the first time on August 26, during the same time the first nuclear-powered destroyer is built by the U.S., and is dubbed the Bainbridge; and Royal Crown Cola releases Diet-Rite Cola, the first sugar-free soda.

• On January 1, the hit movie, The Manchurian Candidate, starring Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Laurence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury is released.

• The Soviets exchanged spy pilot Gary Powers  on February 10, for their own spy, Col. Rudolf Abel who had been with the U.S. since 1957.
• On February 14 Jacqueline Kennedy gives a televised tour of the renovated White House.

• American astronaut, John Glenn, becomes the first American to orbit the earth, on February 20. He makes three orbits in Mercury capsule Friendship 7.

• On March 2, Hall of Famer, Wilt Chamberlain breaks his own single-game NBA record, scoring 100 points against the New York Knicks.

• On March 26, Cincinnati defeats Ohio State in the NCAA Basketball Championship.

• For the fourth successive year, the Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship over the Los Angeles Lakers in a four to three series fought from April 7 to April 18.

• U.S. spacecraft, Ranger 4 becomes the first spaceship to touch the moon on April 26

• Sam Moore Walton opens the first Wal-Mart on July 2 at Rogers, Arkansas. There will be 1500 stores by 1990 and a year later, its sales will exceed those of Sears.

• On August 5, Marilyn Monroe dies from an overdose of sleeping pills, at the age of 36.

• ABC color telecasts for 3½ hours a week beginning in September, 68 percent of NBC prime evening time was already in color.
• Although President Kennedy appealed to the Southern people on TV, race riots still broke out on September 30 at the University of Mississippi's campus. The reason? 29-year-old black student and Air Force veteran James Meredith was trying to enter--allowed by the Supreme Court. Ultimately, on October 1, US Marshals accompany him and federal troops stand guard as he enters then lives on the "Ole Miss" campus for 10 more months with constant federal guard.

• On October 16 the New York Yankees defeat the San Francisco Giants in a seven game series to win the World Series for the nineteenth time in franchise history.

• On October 22, the Cuban Missile Crisis begins. President John F. Kennedy declares that the USSR has put missile bases in Cuba, and calls for a blockade of the island

• On October 28, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has withdrawn nuclear missiles from Cuba. President Kennedy promises that the U.S. will not invade Cuba.

• 32-year-old Cesar Chavez forms the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA, now UFW--United Farm Workers), to represent stoop-labor in the Coachella, Imperial, and San Joaquin Valleys in California.
• K Mart opens; by 1977 only Sears exceeds its sales (it becomes third to Wal-Mart by the 1980s).
• After begin found guilty after trying to desegregate a bus in Louisiana, six Freedom Riders are pardoned by the Supreme Court.

• Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru fires defense minister Krishna Menon and takes over his duties on October 31, after a Chinese attack on the Indian border.

• Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt dies on November 7 in New York, New York.

• The theater version of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is released on Christmas Day. It stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.

• The Nobel Prize for Literature is given to John Steinbeck.

• The 24th Amendment is approved by Congress, allowing all citizens to vote without restrictions of any kind, including but not limited to poll taxes, and discrimination laws.

• Andy Warhol paints the famous 100 Cans for Campbell's Beef Noodle Soup, along with Green Coca-Cola Bottles.

• James and the Giant Peach is published Roald Dahl.

• The Mets and the Houston Colt '45, now the Astros, begin their first respective seasons. The Mets take the place of the Brooklyn Dodgers that were displaced to California in 1958.

• The first successful measles vaccine was produced by John F. Enders, but was not released until 1966.

• The Music Man, starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, with music and lyrics by Meredith Jones, became a popular Hollywood musical.
• Dallas salesman, Henry Ross Perot, founded Electronic Data Systems, a data processing firm that made him a billionaire.
• Philip Morris introduced a new PR ploy called "Marlboro Country," pushing Marlboro to be the leading cigarette brand worldwide.

35th Annual Academy Awards:
Best Actor: Gregory Peck – To Kill A Mockingbird
Best Actress: Anne Bancroft – The Miracle Worker
Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia

Emmy Awards:
Outstanding Drama Series – The Defenders
Outstanding Comedy Series – The Dick Van Dyke Show

5th Annual Grammy Awards:
Album of the Year: - The First Family by Vaughn Meader
Best New Artist: - Robert Goulet
Song of the Year: - What Kind of Fool Am I by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
Record of the Year: - I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett

1960  1961  1962  1963  1964  1965  1966  1967  1968  1969

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