Baby Boomers - What Happened in 1964?
If you are a baby boomer born in 1964, you will find this information extremely interesting. Hope you enjoy learning more about the year you were born! If you have a friend or a family member born in 1964, send them a link to this page. They will appreciate it!
Major Events
- Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the United States - there is no vice president
- President Johnson re-elected in a landslide over Barry Goldwater
- President Johnson signs a bill enacting Medicare
- Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attack US destroyers. Many people view this as the "official" start of the Vietnam war, although there was never a declaration of war.
- U.S. Congress authorizes war against North Vietnam
- U.S. Supreme Court rules that Congressional districts should be roughly equal in population
- President Lyndon Johnson declares a War On Poverty Campaign
- 24th Amendment to Constitution adopted, ensuring fair voting practices
- Three civil rights workers (Schwerner, Goodman, and Cheney) are murdered in Mississippi during "Freedom Summer"
- Dr Martin Luther King Jr. awarded Nobel Peace Prize
- President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy issues Warren Report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
- Jack Ruby convicted of murder in slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald
- Race riots break out in Harlem and other U.S. cities
- After riots break out, Panama suspends relations with the United States
- Khrushchev is removed from office - Kosygin becomes premier and Brezhnev becomes first secretary of the Communist Party
- China detonates its first atomic bomb
- Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa
- The PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) is established with Yasser Arafat as the head
Business and Economy
- U.S. GDP (1998 dollars): $663 billion
- Federal spending: $118.53 billion
- Federal debt: $316.1 billion
- Consumer Price Index: 31
- Unemployment: 5.7%
Science and Technology
- Kemeny and Kurtz create BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy-to-learn high-level programming language
- Ranger VII takes 4,316 high-resolution pictures of the moon
- Space probe Mariner IV flies by Mars, transmitting pictures of the planet's surface back to earth
- U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry affirms that cigarette smoking causes cancer
- IBM announces the System/360
- Sony introduces the first VCR home video recorder
- First lung transplant
Sports
- Cassius Clay (the future Muhammad Ali) becomes heavyweight champion when Sonny Liston throws in the towel in the sixth round in Miami
- St. Louis Cardinals defeats the NY Yankees to win the World Series (4-3)
- Boston defeats SF Warriors to win the NBA Championship (4-1)
- Cleveland Browns win the NFL championship
- Olympics held in Tokyo
Famous Baby Boomers Born in 1964
- Bridget Fonda
- Courtney Love
- Elle Macpherson
- Jeff Bezos
- Keanu Reeves
- Kristy McNichol
- Nicolas Cage
- Matt Dillon
- Melissa Gilbert
- Prince Edward
- Rob Lowe
- Russell Crowe
- Sandra Bullock
- Wynonna Judd
Arts and Entertainment
- Books: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Candy, Herzog, Armageddon, The Man, The Rector of Justin, The Martyred, You Only Live Twice, This Rough Magic,
10 Convention
- Movies: Mary Poppins, Red Desert, Dr. Strangelove, My Fair Lady, Zorba the Greek, Becket, The Carpetbaggers, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, My Fair Lady , Goldfinger, Marnie, The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, Last Man on Earth, Lady in a Cage, Dead Ringer
- Songs: You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, My Girl, You Really Got Me, House Of The Rising Sun, Where Did Our Love Go, I Get Around, All Day And All Of The Night, Oh, Pretty Woman, A Hard Day's Night, She's Not There
- Popular Musicians: Righteous Brothers, Temptations, Kinks, Animals, Supremes, Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Beatles, Zombies
- TV Shows: Bonanza, Bewitched, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., The Andy Griffith Show, The Fugitive, The Red Skelton Hour, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lucy Show, Peyton Place II, Combat
- The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, breaking television ratings records
- The Beatles have 13 singles Billboard's Hot 100 at the same time
- The Beatles hold the top five positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America
- "Beatlemania" spreads as the Beatles become a global phenomenon
- Folk musician Bob Dylan becomes increasingly popular during this time of social protest with songs expressing objection to the condition of American society
- Psychedelic bands such as The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane enjoy great success with songs celebrating the counterculture of the 1960s
- Sidney Poitier becomes the first black actor to win the "best actor" Oscar
- Gomer Pyle begins on CBS-TV
- Gilligan's Island premiers on CBS
- The Pink Panther cartoon series premieres
- "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles released in the United States, sparking Beatlemania
- The game show Jeopardy! debuts on television
Everyday Life
- U.S. Population: 191,888,791
- Life expectancy: 70.2 years
- Average yearly income: $6,569
- Cost of a new home: $13,050
- Cost of a new car: $3,500
- Federal hourly minimum wage: $1.25
- Cost of a first-class stamp: $.05
Popular Culture
- Near Anchorage, the strongest earthquake ever to strike North America kills 117
- Worst soccer disaster in history occurs when rioting and panic kills over 300 in Liverpool
- Hundreds of white college students work for civil rights in the south during "Freedom Summer"
- Color television makes its way into U.S. homes
- The abolition of the death penalty in UK
- Concern in Britain over "brain drain," the mass emigration of British scientists to the U.S.
- Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and jury tampering
- The first Ford Mustang from Ford Motor Company is made
- Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time
- Cigarette smoking is enjoyed by 60% of the population
- Police catch the "Boston Strangler," Albert DeSalvo
- The world's longest suspension bridge, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York, opens
- World's Fair held in New York
- Hasbro introduces the G.I. Joe doll
- Sonny and Cher are married
- According to some reports, not a single juvenile crime is reported in New York City the night of the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964
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