World Events

• France and West Germany sign treaty of cooperation ending four centuries of conflict (Jan. 22).
  
  
• Pope John XXIII dies (June 3), and is succeeded June 21 by Cardinal Montini, who becomes Paul VI.
  
  
• British Secretary of War John Profumo resigns in the wake of an affair with Christine Keeler, a teenage showgirl who was also involved with the Soviet naval attaché (June).
  
  
• Washington-to-Moscow "hot line" communications link opens, designed to reduce risk of accidental war (Aug. 30). Background: cold war
  
  
• Kenya achieves independence.
  
  
• There are 15,000 US military advisers in South Vietnam. Background: Vietnam War
  
  
• 32 independent African nations establish the Organization for African Unity.
  
  

U.S. Events

• Michael E. De Bakey implants artificial heart in human for first time at Houston hospital (April 21).
  
  
• US Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools (June 17). Background: Church and State
  
  
• "March on Washington," civil rights rally held by 200,000 blacks and whites in Washington, D.C.; Martin Luther King delivers "I have a dream" speech (Aug. 28).
  
  
• President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas, Tex. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President same day (Nov. 22). Background: Timeline of Kennedy tragedies
  
  
• Lee Harvey Oswald, accused Kennedy assassin, is shot and killed by Jack Ruby (Nov. 24).
  
  

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $617.4 billion
Federal spending:   $111.32 billion
Federal debt:   $310.3 billion
Consumer Price Index:   30.6
Unemployment:   5.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.04 ($0.05 as of 1/7/63)

Sports

World Series

LA Dodgers d. NY Yankees (4-0)

NBA Championship

Boston d. LA Lakers (4-2)

Stanley Cup

Toronto d. Detroit (4-1)

Wimbledon

Women: Margaret Smith d. B.J. Moffitt (6-3 6-4)
Men: Chuck McKinley d. F. Stolle (9-7 6-1 6-4)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Chateaugay

NCAA Basketball Championship

Loyola-IL d. Cincinnati (60-58 OT)

NCAA Football Champions

Texas (11-0-0)

Entertainment

Events

• Viewers tuned into NBC witness Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on camera – the first live telecast of a murder.
• Beatlemania hits the U.K. The Beatles, a British band composed of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, take Britain by storm.
• The Rolling Stones emerge as the anti-Beatles, with an aggressive, blues-derived style.
• The French Chef with Julia Child debuts on educational television.

Movies

• Tom Jones, Lilies of the Field, America, America

Books

• James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
• e e cummings, 73 Poems
• Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique
• Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
• Thomas Pynchon, V
• John Rechy, City of Night
• Charles M. Schulz, Happiness is a Warm Puppy
• John Updike, The Centaur
• Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

Science

• Quasars are discovered by Marten Schmidt (US).
• The first liver transplant is performed by F.D. Moore and T.E. Starzl. Background: Health & Nutrition
• The first commercial nuclear reactor goes online at the Jersey Central Power Company. Background: nuclear energy
• The sedative Valium (chlordiazepoxide) is developed by Roche labs.

Deaths

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy 11/22/1963
  
  
• W.E.B. Du Bois
  
  
• Robert Frost
  
  
• Rogers Hornsby
  
  
• Aldous Huxley

Read more: Top News Stories from 1963 — Infoplease.comInformation Please: http://www.infoplease.com/year/1963.html#ixzz2BGQmR952