April 1964

The following events occurred in April 1964:

April 1, 1964 (Wednesday)

*Queen Elizabeth II became the Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom as part of the reorganisation of the defence of the nation. The post of First Lord of the Admiralty, held for the past year by the Earl Jellicoe, was abolished after 163 years. The position of Minister of Defence, held by Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, became the Secretary of State for Defence.
*The Trident jet airliner began regular service, with British European Airways Flight 564 from London to Zürich.
*The Plymouth Barracuda was introduced by the Chrysler corporation.
*Brazil's President João Goulart fled from Rio de Janeiro as rebel units of the 2nd Brazilian Army Corps approached the city to carry out a coup d'état. Goulart flew to Brasília, then to his home in Porto Alegre, where he pledged to take command of the Brazilian 3rd Army in a bid to reclaim his office.
*Most of the 12,000 physicians and dentists in Belgium went on strike and refused to treat patients, as a protest against a medical reform program that had gone into effect on January 1. The strike would end after 18 days, after Belgian government mobilization of all doctors benefiting from government assistance.
*Died: Alejandro Lavorante, 27, Argentine heavyweight boxing champion, died 18 months after being knocked out on September 21, 1962. Earlier in the year, he had fought, and been knocked out by, both Archie Moore and Muhammad Ali. Lavorante never woke up after a bout with Johnny Riggins.

April 2, 1964 (Thursday)

*Ranieri Mazzilli, the presiding officer of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, was sworn in as the new President of Brazil, while João Goulart abandoned further efforts to fight the coup leaders. Goulart and his family drove from his ranch in São Borja, and crossed the border to reach Santo Tomé in Argentina. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who was in favor of the ouster of Goulart by anti-Communist forces, sent a cable to Mazzilli, and called the relationship between the U.S. and Brazil "a precious asset in the interest of peace and prosperity and liberty in this hemisphere and in the whole world." Mazzilli would step down on April 15 when the Brazilian Congress elected Humberto Castelo Branco to the Presidency.
* Alfons Gorbach resigned as Chancellor of Austria and was succeeded by Josef Klaus, who would serve until 1970.
*Mrs. Malcolm Peabody, 72, mother of Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, was released on $450 bond after spending two days in a St. Augustine, Florida, jail, for participating in an anti-segregation demonstration there.
*The Soviet Union launched Zond 1 on a flyby of the planet Venus. Although the probe would pass within of that planet on July 18, no data could be received because of a failure of transmitters in May and in June.
*Died: Carlos Hevia, 64, President of Cuba for three days (January 15 to January 18) in 1934.

April 3, 1964 (Friday)

* Malcolm X gave his speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet", at the Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, calling on African-Americans to reconsider the policy of nonviolent resistance in pursuit of equal rights. "Don't be throwing out any ballots," he told the crowd; "A ballot is like a bullet. You don't throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket." He closed by saying, "in areas where the government has proven itself either unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property of Negroes, it's time for Negroes to defend themselves. This doesn't mean you're going to get a rifle and form battalions and go looking for white folks, although you'd be within your rights ... If the white man doesn't want the black man buying rifles and shotguns, then let the government do its job. That's all ... In 1964, it's the ballot or the bullet."
*The Communist Party of the Soviet Union issued a statement calling the Chinese Communist Party "the main danger to the unity of the world communist movement", and called for a summit of the leaders of the world's communist parties. Printed in the party newspaper ''Pravda'', the CPSU wrote that "Peking is steering a course toward a split among the communist parties, toward the setting up of factions and groups hostile to Marxism-Leninism."
*Panama resumed diplomatic relations with the United States, after a split on January 17. An agreement between representatives of the two nations was signed at a meeting of the Council of the Organization of American States in Washington.
*Born:
** Nigel Farage, British politician, MP of the European Parliament, and co-founder of the right-wing UK Independence Party; in Farnborough, Kent.
** Bjarne Riis, Danish professional bicycle racer; in Herning

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