Top News Items from 1965

 

World Events &  Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion

Nobel Peace Prize: UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)

• The first US combat troops arrive in Vietnam. By the end of the year, 190,000 American soldiers are in Vietnam. Background: Vietnam War

• France withdraws its Atlantic fleet from NATO.

• Rhodesia unilaterally declares its independence from Britain (Nov. 11).

• US Marines land in the Dominican Republic as fighting persists between rebels and Dominican army (April 28).

 

U.S. Events & Statistics

President: Lyndon B. Johnson

Vice President: Hubert H. Humphrey

Population: 194,302,963

Life expectancy: 70.2 years

Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 24.5

Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 22.5

Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.5

 

In the News

• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 2,600 others arrested in Selma, Ala.,

• during demonstrations against voter-registration rules (Feb. 1). 

• Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, shot to death at Harlem rally (Feb. 21).

• Blacks riot for six days in Watts section of Los Angeles: 34 dead,

• over 1,000 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested (Aug. 11-16).​

 

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $719.1 billion

Federal spending: $118.23 billion

Federal debt $322.3 billion

Consumer Price Index: $31.5

Unemployment: 5.2%

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05

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Sports

World Series: LA Dodgers d. Minnesota (4 games to 3)

NBA Championship; Boston d. LA Lakers (4 games to 1)

Stanley Cup; Montreal d. Chicago (4 games to 3)

Wimbledon - Women: Margaret Smith d. Maria Bueno (6-4 7-5)

                       Men: Roy Emerson d. Fred Stolle (6-2 6-4 6-4)

Kentucky Derby Champion; Lucky Debonair (2:01:20)

NCAA Basketball Championship; UCLA d. Michigan (91-80)

NCAA Football Champions: Alabama (AP, FW-tie) (9-1-1) & Michigan St. (UPI, NFF, FW-tie) (10-1-0)

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Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes: Fiction: The Keepers of the House, Shirley Ann Grau

Drama: The Subject Was Roses, Frank D. Gilroy

Academy Award, Best Picture: My Fair Lady, Jack L. Warner, producer (Warner Bros.)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Mikhail Sholokhov (USSR)

Record of the Year: "The Girl From Ipanema," Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto

Album of the Year: Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto (Verve)

Song of the Year: "Hello, Dolly!," Jerry Herman, songwriter

Miss America: Vonda Kay Van Dyke (AZ)

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Events

• The Sound of Music premieres. An instant hit, the film was one of the top-grossing films of 1965 and remains one of film's most popular musicals.

• ABC pays an unprecedented $32 million for a four-year contract with the NCAA to broadcast football games on Saturday afternoons.

• Bill Cosby, starring in I Spy, becomes the first African American to headline a television show.

 

Top Grossing Movies

• Dr. Zhivago, The Sound of Music, A Thousand Clowns, Darling

 

Books

• James Baldwin, Going to Meet the Man

• Amiri Baraka, The Dead Lecturer

• Heinrich Böll, The Clown

• Peter Matthiessen, At Play in the Fields of the Lord

• Ralph Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed

• Sylvia Plath, Ariel, The Uncollected Poems

• Eudora Welty, Thirteen Stories

• Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X

 

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Robert B. Woodward (US), for work in synthesizing complicated organic compounds

Physics: Richard P. Feynman, Julian S. Schwinger (both US), and Shinichiro Tomonaga (Japan), for research in quantum electrodynamics

Physiology or Medicine: François Jacob, André Lwolff, and Jacques Monod (all France), for study of regulatory activities in body cells

Also ...

• Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson's (US) discovery of cosmic background radiation confirms the "Big Bang" theory. Background: Astronomy

• Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite, is launched.

• Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford aboard Gemini VI perform the first rendezvous with another spacecraft, Gemini VII, with Frank Borman and James Lovell. Background: US Staffed Space Flights

• Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov performs the first spacewalk (Mar. 18). Edward White II becomes the first American to walk in space (June 3). Background: Space Exploration

 

Notable Deaths

• Winston Churchill

• Nat King Cole

• T.S. Eliot

• Adlai Stevenson

 

Top News Stories from 1967

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World Events & Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion

population by decadeMore World Statistics...

• Biafra secedes from Nigeria (May).

• Israeli and Arab forces battle; Six-Day War ends with Israel occupying Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank (June 5). Background: Arab-Israeli Wars

• Right-wing military coup deposes King Constantine II of Greece.

• Communist China announces explosion of its first hydrogen bomb (June 17).

• The US and USSR propose a nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Background: nuclear disarmament

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U.S. Events & Statistics

President: Lyndon B. Johnson

Vice President: Hubert H. Humphrey

Population: 198,712,056

Life expectancy: 70.5 years

Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 29.9

Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 27.4

Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 6.8

• Racial violence in Detroit; 7,000 National Guardsmen aid police after night of rioting. Similar outbreaks in New York City's Spanish Harlem, Rochester, N.Y., Birmingham, Ala., and New Britain, Conn. (July 23).

• Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first black US Supreme Court justice (Oct. 2).

• Astronauts Col. Virgil I. Grissom, Col. Edward White II, and Lt. Cmdr. Roger B. Chaffee killed in fire during test launch (Jan. 27).

 

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $833.6 billion

Federal spending: $157.46 billion

Federal debt $340.4 billion

Median Household Income(current dollars): $7,143 billion

Consumer Price Index: $33.4

Unemployment: 3.8%

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05

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Sports

 

Super Bowl: Green Bay d. Kansas City (35-10)

World Series - St. Louis Cardinals d. Boston Red Sox (4 games to 3)

NBA Championship: Philadelphia 76ers d. SF Warriors (4 games to 2)

Stanley Cup: Toronto d. Montreal (4 games to 2)

Wimbledon - Women: Billie Jean King d. Ann Jones (6-3 6-4)

                       Men: John Newcombe d. Wilhelm Bungert (6-3 6-1 6-1)

Kentucky Derby Champion: Proud Clarion (2:00:35)

NCAA Basketball Championship: UCLA d. Dayton (79-64)

NCAA Football Champions: USC (10-1-0)

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Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes

Fiction: The Fixer, Bernard Malamud

Music: Quartet No. 3, Leon Kirchner

Drama: A Delicate Balance, Edward Albee

Academy Award, Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons, Fred Zinnemann, producer (Columbia)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala)

Record of the Year: "Strangers in the Night," Frank Sinatra

Album of the Year: Sinatra: A Man and His Music, Frank Sinatra (Reprise)

Song of the Year: "Michelle," John Lennon and Paul McCartney, songwriters

Miss America: Jane Anne Jayroe (OK)

• Congress creates PBS.

• Rolling Stone and New York Magazine debut, spawning the popularity of special-interest and regional magazines.

 

Top Grossing Movies

• The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, In the Heat of the Night, Cool Hand Luke

 

Music

• The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

 

Books

• Donald Barthelme, Snow White

• Elizabeth Bishop, Selected Poems

• Robert Bly, The Light Around the World

• Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America

• Stanley Elkin, A Bad Man

• W. S. Merwin, Lice

• Marianne Moore, Complete Poems

• Joyce Carol Oates, A Garden of Earthly Delights

• William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner

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Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Manfred Eigen (Germany), Ronald G. W. Norrish, and George Porter (both UK), for work in high-speed chemical reactions

Physics: Hans A. Bethe (US), for work on energy production of stars

Physiology or Medicine: Haldan K. Hartline, George Wald, and Ragnar Granit (all US), for work on human eye

Also ...

• Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell Burnel (UK) discover pulsars. Background: Astronomy

• Jerome Friedman, Henry Kendall, Richard Taylor (US) discover protons and neutrons to be composed of even smaller particles called quarks.

• The MIRV (Multiple Indepenently Targetable Reetry Vehicle), which allows one missile to carry several nuclear warheads, is developed. Background: nuclear weapons

• Dr. Christiaan N. Barnard and team of South African surgeons perform world's first successful human heart transplant (Dec. 3). The patient dies 18 days later.

 

Notable Deaths

• Ernesto "Che" Guevara

• Spencer Tracy

• Woody Guthrie

• Langston Hughes

• Alice B. Toklas

• John Coltrane

 

Top News Stories from 1969

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World Events & Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion

population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize: International Labour Organization

More World Statistics...

• Nixon begins "Vietnamization" in Southeast Asia. Background: Vietnam War

• The United States, USSR, and about 100 other countries sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT). Background: nuclear disarmament

• Russian and Chinese troops clash along the Ussuri River.

• 27-year-old Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi deposes King Idris of Libya and establishes a pro-Arabic, anti-Western, Islamic republic.

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U.S. Statistics

President: Richard M. Nixon

Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew

Population: 202,676,946

Life expectancy: 70.5 years

Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 36.8

Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 33.5

Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 7.7

• Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th President of the US (Jan. 20).

• Stonewall riot in New York City marks beginning of gay rights movement (June 28).

• Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass. (July 18) in which Mary Jo Kopechne was drowned—gets two-month suspended sentence (July 25). Background: Timeline of Kennedy tragedies

• Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., —take first walk on the Moon (July 20).

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $982.2 billion

Federal spending: $183.64 billion

Federal debt $365.8 billion

Median Household Income(current dollars): $8,389 billion

Consumer Price Index: $36.7

Unemployment: 3.6%

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.06

 

Sports

 

Super Bowl: NY Jets d. Baltimore (16-7)

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World Series: NY Mets d. Baltimore (4 games to 1)

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NBA Championship: Boston d. LA Lakers (4 games to 3)

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Stanley Cup: Montreal d. St. Louis

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Wimbledon - Women: Ann Jones d. Billie Jean King (3-6 6-3 6-2)

                      Men: Rod Laver d. John Newcombe (6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4)

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Kentucky Derby Champion: Majestic Prince (2:01:80)

The Kentucky Derby record time is 1:59.40, set by the legendary Secretariat in 1973.

This record, which broke the two-minute barrier at the Derby, still stands today.

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NCAA Basketball Championship: UCLA d. Purdue (92-72)

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NCAA Football Champions: Texas (11-0-0)

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Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes

Fiction: House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday

Music: String Quartet No. 3, Karel Husa

Drama: The Great White Hope, Howard Sackler

Academy Award, Best Picture: Oliver!, John Woolf, producer (Columbia)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Samuel Beckett (Ireland)

Record of the Year: "Mrs. Robinson," Simon and Garfunkel

Album of the Year: By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Glen Campbell (Capitol)

Song of the Year: "Little Green Apples," Bobby Russell, songwriter

Miss America: Judith Anne Ford (IL)

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Events

• In August, more than half a million people gather in the small, upstate New York town of Bethel (near Woodstock, N.Y.) for four days of rain, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Performers include Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jefferson Airplane and Sly and the Family Stone.

• A Rolling Stones fan is killed at the group's Altamont, California, concert by members of the Hell's Angels.

• Children's Television Workshop introduces Sesame Street.

• The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television and radio.

 

Movies

• Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, Anne of the Thousand Days

 

Books

• Robert Coover, Pricksongs and Descants

• John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman

• Mario Puzo, The Godfather

• Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint

• Jean Stafford, Collected Stories

• Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

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Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Derek H. R. Barton (UK) and Odd Hassel (Norway), for study of organic molecules

Physics: Murray Gell-Mann (US), for study of subatomic particles

Physiology or Medicine: Max Delbruck, Alfred D. Hershey, and Salvador E. Luria (all US), for study of mechanism of virus infection in living cells.

Also ...

• Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the moon. Background: US Staffed Space Flights

• The first in vitro fertilization of a human egg is performed in Cambridge, England. Background: Birth & Contraception

• ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) goes online in December, connecting four major US universities. Designed for research, education, and government organizations, it is the foundation upon which the Internet will eventually be built. Background: Computers and Internet

• The scanning electron microscope is developed.

• The use of DDT is banned in residential areas.

 

Notable Deaths

• Dwight David Eisenhower

• Joseph P. Kennedy

• Jack Kerouac