July 1964

The following events occurred in July 1964:

July 1, 1964 (Wednesday)

*Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, president of Pakistan, visited Kabul briefly, where he met King Mohammad Zahir. For the first time in several years, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan were relatively amicable following the decision of the government of Afghanistan to deal with the Pakhtunistan dispute only through diplomatic negotiations, and to carry on normal relations with Pakistan in other respects.
*In an event at the Bislett stadion in Oslo, Norwegian athlete Terje Pedersen broke the Men's javelin world record. Pedersen's throw of broke the record of set by Carlo Lievore of Italy on June 1, 1961.
*Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina adopted its current name, Clemson University.
*Born:
**Bernard Laporte, French rugby union player and head coach of the French national team from 1999 to 2007; in Rodez, département of Aveyron
**Yu Long, chief conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra; in Shanghai
*Died:
** Pierre Monteux, 85, French-born conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, the San Francisco Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra
**Roscoe Pound, 93, American legal scholar

July 2, 1964 (Thursday)

*U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, abolishing racial segregation in the United States in public schools, public accommodations and travel, and in voting registration. The move came hours after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 289 to 126 to approve the bill as amended by the U.S. Senate. Of the 126 against, 91 were Democrats (88 from the Deep South) and 35 were Republicans. Charles L. Weltner of Georgia was the only southern Democrat to vote for the bill, saying, "We must not remain forever bound to another lost cause." The law took effect at 6:45 in the evening Eastern time when President Johnson signed the bill at a White House ceremony in the East Room, commenting that "Years ago I realized a sad truth. To the extent that black people were imprisoned by racial segregation, so was I."
*After watching the signing of the bill on national television, two African-American men in Jacksonville, Florida, became the first to put the desegregation law to a test. Robert Ingraham and Prince McIntosh "went to a cafeteria where they previously had been arrested when they previously sought service" and were asked "May I help you?" by a white employee behind the counter. The manager of the Morrison's Cafeteria told a reporter, "We decided to go along and obey the law of the land. There were no incidents."
*The National Labor Relations Board decertified the Independent Metal Workers Union as a collective bargaining agent for the Hughes Tool Company (and effectively for any other companies whose employees were members of the IMWU) because of the union's policy of racial segregation and because the union "had failed to fairly represent all workers at the company and systematically discriminated against African Americans" on matters of wages and benefits.
*Born: Jose Canseco, Cuban-born American major league baseball player from 1985 to 2001 who was twice the home run leader (in 1988 and 1991), along with his twin brother, MLB player Ozzie Canseco; in Havana
*Died: Glen "Fireball" Roberts, 35, American stock car driver, following injuries and burns sustained in a crash during the World 600, nearly six weeks earlier on May 24.

July 3, 1964 (Friday)

*Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), under the command of U.S. Army General Paul D. Harkins, sent a request to Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr., CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief, Pacific) asking authorization for a patrol of the Gulf of Tonkin to get information about North Vietnam's coastal defense. Admiral Sharp would dispatch the destroyer to the area, leading to the first Gulf of Tonkin incident on August 2.
*Fifteen of the 49 crewmen of the Spanish tanker ''MV Bonifaz'' were killed when their ship collided with the French ship ''MV Fabiola'' off Cape Finisterre in a fog. The ''Bonfiaz'' caught fire and sank. Six of her 50 crew were rescued by the West German ship ''MV Sloman Malaga''. ''Bonifaz'' was also carrying six passengers. The Dutch ship ''MV Setas'' picked up 22 crew and three passengers. Four of the crew would subsequently die of their injuries.
*Two 12-year-old African American girls in Bogalusa, Louisiana tested the reach of the Civil Rights Act that had been passed the day before, sitting down at the lunch counter in the local Woolworth department store, which had previously been able to limit sit-down service to white people. Despite being shouted out by a group of white customers, the two children received service.
*The French Quarter of New Orleans quietly integrated, along with most other public accommodations in the city with "near total compliance with the Civil Rights Act passed the previous day".
*On the other hand, Georgia politician Lester Maddox and a crowd of white people carrying ax handles chased three African-Americans out of Maddox's Pickrick restaurant in Atlanta. The U.S. Department of Justice would join in a lawsuit filed by the three men. Maddox would later be elected governor of Georgia.
*A group of demonstrators, organized by pacifist David Dellinger, stood outside the White House and conducted the first American public protest against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

*Following the successful mating of its modules, Gemini spacecraft No. 2 began the second phase of Spacecraft Systems Tests (SST) at McDonnell. SST continued through September 1964. During August and September 1964, test operations alternated with the receipt and installation of a number of flight items in the spacecraft. Vibration testing of the spacecraft and systems was successfully conducted August 20-24. No altitude chamber tests were performed on spacecraft No. 2 because the Gemini 2 mission was to be uncrewed. Phase II mated SST concluded with the Simulated Flight Test September 3-15. The spacecraft acceptance review was held September 17-18, after which it was flown to Cape Kennedy September 21.
*Four Black Muslim inmates at Stateville Prison in Illinois began an uprising in the wake of the June 22 decision in '' Cooper v. Pate''.
*Born:
**Joanne Harris, English novelist known as the author of '' Chocolat''; in Barnsley, Yorkshire
**Yeardley Smith, French-born American voice actress best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson on ''The Simpsons''; in Paris as Martha Yeardley Smith

July 4, 1964 (Saturday)

*Viet Cong guerrillas attacked an American training camp in South Vietnam at Polei Krong, in an action apparently timed to coincide with the American 4th of July holiday.
*The Rhodesian Bush War, which would last more than 15 years until the white minority government of Rhodesia relinquished control of the southern African nation to the black majority, began in the first violent attack by the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) against a white target. Petrus Oberholzer, a white farmer, was ambushed and murdered near Umtali.
*South of Atlanta, Alabama governor George Wallace gave a speech condemning the Civil Rights Act, claiming that it would threaten individual liberty, free enterprise and private property rights and adding: "The liberal left-wingers have passed it. Now let them employ some pinknik social engineers in Washington, D.C., to figure out what to do with it." The event, coming two days after the Civil Rights Act became law, included Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, and would degenerate into violence after members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began booing and were attacked by angry audience members; the negative publicity from the event was such that Wallace, who had done better than expected in northern states in the 1964 presidential primaries, would withdraw from the race on July 19.
*The Universal City Tour, where paying customers were driven around the backlot of Universal Pictures movie studio in special trams, was inaugurated after a four-million-dollar renovation of the California location. The tour and its concession stands were the original features of what would become the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.
* The Beach Boys' " I Get Around" reached number one on the ''Billboard'' charts.
*Born:
**Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania since 2013; in Tirana
**Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer; in Beirut
*Died:
** Sebastián Salazar Bondy, 40, Peruvian playwright and poet
** Hank Sylvern, 56, American composer of radio theme songs

July 5, 1964 (Sunday)

*In the 1964 elections in Mexico, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was elected President without significant opposition. Diaz, of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) received 8,368,446 votes, or 88% of those cast, while his opponent, José González Torres of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), got 1,034,337. In addition, the PRI won all 64 seats in the Mexican Senate, and 175 of the 210 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. PAN won 20 seats, the Popular Socialist Party 10, and the Authentic Party got five.
*The ''Sunday Times'' linked mercenaries, involved in the North Yemen Civil War, to former RAF pilot Tony Boyle.
*For the first time in the 20th century, hotels in Mississippi were integrated and admitted African-American guests. In the state capital at Jackson, the Heidelberg Hotel, the King Edward Hotel, and the Sun-N-Sand Motel accepted 14 members of the NAACP.
*Died: Turkish Army Colonel Talat Aydemir, 47, was hanged after two attempted coups d'etat in 1962 and 1963. His collaborator, Fethi Gürcan, had been put to death on June 27.

July 6, 1964 (Monday)

*The Battle of Nam Dong, the first in the Vietnam War to have numerous American casualties, began at 2:26 in the morning in South Vietnam when an 800-man contingent of the Viet Cong began firing mortar rounds at a South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) camp at Nam Dong, near South Vietnam's border with Laos. The outnumbered group of 311 ARVN soldiers, along with 12 members of the U.S. Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) and one Australian adviser, defended the camp for ninety minutes until air support could arrive. When the battle ended by dawn, 53 South Vietnamese, two Americans and the Australian, Kevin Conway, were dead; 65 were wounded, including U.S. Army Captain Roger Donlon, who would be awarded the Medal of Honor for annihilating an enemy demolition team, dragging wounded men to safety, and directing the defenders despite multiple shrapnel wounds.
*The African nation of Malawi, formerly the British protectorate of Nyasaland, received its independence from the United Kingdom one minute after midnight. At Blantyre, the national capital, Prince Philip of the United Kingdom and representatives of other 80 other nations watched the hoisting of the new red, green and black Malawian flag after the Union Jack had been lowered a minute before midnight. Hastings Kamuzu Banda continued as Prime Minister, and the former Nyasaland governor, Sir Glyn Smallwood Jones, became the first (and last) Governor-General of Malawi. In 1966, Banda would become the first President of Malawi.
*The Beatles' first feature film, '' A Hard Day's Night'', premiered in the United Kingdom before 1200 ticketholders at the London Pavilion. It would be released in the United States on August 11. The movie soundtrack would be released on July 10 in the UK.
*An early morning earthquake killed 31 people in villages in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
*From July 6 to 12, the first design review of the Project Gemini extravehicular life support system chest pack was conducted. Manned Spacecraft Center conditionally approved the AiResearch basic design but recommended certain changes.
*Demanihi Tepa of Tahiti was rescued alive after 155 days drifting in a boat across the South Pacific Ocean. Tepa and his friend, Natua Faioho, had set off from the island of Maupiti on February 2 on what was supposed to be a short trip to the island of Bora Bora, but the outboard motor had broken down. The boat drifted more than westward over the next five months. Two weeks after Faioho died, Tepa's boat washed ashore on the island of Ta‘ū, part of American Samoa.
*Died: Zeng Junchen, 75, Chinese philanthropist and opium merchant

July 7, 1964 (Tuesday)

*Ram Kishan became Chief Minister of Punjab.
*The 14th Berlin International Film Festival ended.
*An avalanche, on Mont Blanc in the French Alps, killed 14 mountain climbers, including former world champion slalom skier Charles Bozon, 31.
*In Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S. District Judge Sidney Mize ordered the first integration of public schools anywhere in the state, directing the school districts in Biloxi, Jackson and Leake County to desegregate starting with the 1964–1965 school year.
*The National League won the 35th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Shea Stadium.
*Died: Lillian Copeland, 59, American track and field athlete, 1932 Olympic gold medalist in the women's discus throw

July 8, 1964 (Wednesday)

*Peace negotiations regarding the future of Cyprus began in Geneva between representatives of Greece and Turkey. United Nations mediator Sakari Tuomioja, the former Prime Minister of Finland, moderated the talks, and former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson served as mediator, but no representative from Cyprus was present to appear for either the Greek-speaking or Turkish-speaking Cypriots.
*In Haiti, that nation's secret police force, the ''Tonton Macoutes'', arrested Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian soccer football player who had been on the U.S. National Team in the 1950 World Cup, who was never seen in public again. Gaetjens, whose family opposed the dictatorship of Francois Duvalier, was taken to the prison at Fort Dimanche, tortured and, presumably, killed.
*A U.S. Department of Defense spokesman announced that American casualties in Vietnam had risen to 1387 "since American forces became fully involved in the jungle war in 1961", a number broken down as "152 killed in action, 96 deaths not related to combat, 971 wounded in action, 151 non-battle injuries and 17 missing in action."
*After two previous failures, the United States Air Force successfully launched the much maligned and oft-troubled Athena missile from the Green River Launch Complex in Utah on a shot to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

July 9, 1964 (Thursday)

*All 39 people on board United Airlines Flight 823 were killed after an uncontrollable fire broke out inside the Viscount turbo-jet, which crashed two miles northeast of Parrottsville, Tennessee, The plane had originated in Philadelphia and was on its way to a stop in Knoxville with a final destination in Huntsville, Alabama with 35 passengers and a crew of four. The fire had originated below the passenger floor and eventually entered the passenger cabin. One passenger attempted to abandon the aircraft through an escape window prior to impact but did not survive the free-fall. The fire eventually burned through the cockpit and it was likely the crew was unconscious by that time. The exact cause of the fire remains unknown.
*In Alabama, Circuit Judge James Hare issued "an injunction that almost destroyed Alabama's civil rights movement", prohibiting members of organizations favoring or opposing civil rights from gathering together. Specifically named in the order were the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Dallas County Voters League (in Selma, Alabama), as well as various Ku Klux Klan groups and the American Nazi Party. Forty-one civil rights leaders were specifically named, including Martin Luther King Jr. of the SCLC and John Lewis of the SNCC. Under the order, if three or more people from the named organizations, or the specific individuals, gathered together, they would be subject to arrest and jail for contempt of court, with enforcement at the discretion of local law enforcement. "Hare's injunction was ruinous," a historian would later note. "Mass meetings and rallies disappeared in Alabama and voter applications declined to their lowest number in years.". Daniel H. Thomas, the federal judge whose district included Judge Hare's circuit, would delay a ruling on a motion to dismiss the injunction until 1965.
*Ahmed bin Abdullah, the Sultan of Fadhli on the Gulf of Aden, was deposed by a vote of the Supreme Council of the Federation of South Arabia for attempting to pull Fadhli out of membership in the British-protected federation. On July 11, the Federation Council would elect his brother, Nasser bin Abdullah as his successor. Three years later, Britain would withdraw from the Aden region and all of the sultanates within the South Arabian Federation would be abolished.
* Francis Russell, a historian, announced that he had found 250 love letters that had been written by Warren G. Harding and said that they were the first confirmation of speculation that Harding, the 29th President of the United States, had had an extramarital affair prior to taking office. The letters and postcards, written by Harding to Carrie Fulton Phillips between 1905 and 1920, had been found in a locked closet at Mrs. Phillips' home in Marion, Ohio, after her death in 1960. One of the last letters showed that Mrs. Phillips had demanded $5000 a year in a blackmail scheme. Harding's heirs would sue to prevent the release of the letters, or their description in Russell's upcoming biography of Harding. In 1971, the suit would be settled with the provision that the letters would be presented, under seal, to the Library of Congress, and not to be released until July 29, 2014.
*Born: Courtney Love (stage name for Courtney Michelle Harrison), American singer and actress, and widow of Kurt Cobain; as in San Francisco

July 10, 1964 (Friday)

*Despite having once led an attempt to secede from the former Belgian Congo, Moïse Tshombe was named as the new Congolese Prime Minister by his former enemy, President Joseph Kasavubu, who fired Premier Cyrille Adoula, who fled into exile. Tshombe, brought in to halt a mutiny in the Katanga region, would serve for more than a year, until President Kasavubu dismissed him on October 13, 1965. Tshombe's first act was to order several thousand Katangese gendarmes to come back to the Congo in order to receive amnesty.
*The Parliament of France approved a reorganization of its national subdivisions to take effect in 1968, with the increase in the number of ''Départements'' of metropolitan France from 90 to 95. The two ''départements'' around Paris and its metro area were divided, to be replaced by seven new ''départements'' over the next four years. Seine (governed by Paris) was split into the new ''départements'' of Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, while Seine-et-Oise) was split into Essonne, and Yvelines

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