June 1962

The following events occurred in June 1962:

June 1, 1962 (Friday)

*The Soviet Union raised the price of consumer goods by more than 25 percent in order to cover higher operating expenses for the U.S.S.R.'s collective farm program. Butter was up 25%, and pork and beef by 30%. In protest, workers walked off of the job at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Factory and the strike soon turned into an uprising.
*A list of the aerospace ground equipment required to handle and check out the Gemini spacecraft before flight was presented at the first spacecraft operations coordination meeting.
*Died:
** Adolf Eichmann, 56, German SS officer and war criminal, hanged in Ramlah, Israel, after his conviction for war crimes
** Josef Ospelt, 81, first Prime Minister of Liechtenstein

June 2, 1962 (Saturday)

*The day after price rises took effect in the Soviet Union, protests in the city of Novocherkassk were brutally suppressed in what is remembered as the Novocherkassk massacre. Strikers marched to the center of town, where they were joined by other protesters. After word spread that some of the strike leaders had been arrested, the local Communist party headquarters was invaded, after which the group marched into the police station and at 1:10 pm, after firing a warning volley of shots, one of the units of soldiers fired into the crowd. It was revealed thirty years later that 23 people were killed, and 116 arrested. Of those arrested, seven were convicted of sedition and executed, while others received prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years. The news was kept out of the Soviet press. Months later, unofficial reports in the West referred to "hundreds" of deaths and in 1976, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's book ''The Gulag Archipelago'' would report that there had been more than 70 deaths. The Soviet government would finally confirm the killings on June 3, 1989, in an article in '' Komsomolskaya Pravda''.
*''El Porteñazo'', a military rebellion, was launched in Venezuela.
*Born: Paula Newby-Fraser, Zimbabwean triathlete and eight time gold medalist in women's Ironman World Championship; in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe)
*Died: Vita Sackville-West, 70, English poet, novelist and landscape gardener (cancer)

June 3, 1962 (Sunday)

*Air France Flight 007, chartered as the '' Chateau de Sully'', overran the runway on takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris, at 12:29 pm local time, killing all 122 passengers and 8 of the 10 crew members. Two flight attendants survived. Most (106 of the 122) of the victims were cultural and civic leaders of the Atlanta Art Association, returning home from a tour of Europe. The Boeing 707 crashed through an airport fence and into the woods near the village of Villeneuve-le-Roi.
*The 1954 peace agreement between India and China, which had taken effect on June 4, 1959, expired pursuant to its Article 6, "This Agreement shall remain in force for eight years". The two most populous nations in the world would fight the Sino-Indian War beginning on October 20.
*The Albanian parliamentary election was won by the only party on the ballot, the Democratic Front, which officially received 889,868 of the 889,875 votes cast. The other seven were "no" votes against the slate of candidates.
*The 1962 Monaco Grand Prix was won by Bruce McLaren.
*The 1962 Six Hour Le Mans was run at the Caversham Airfield circuit in Western Australia and won by Derek Jolly and John Roxburgh.

June 4, 1962 (Monday)

*Plans to detonate an American nuclear weapon, above the Earth, were halted one minute and 40 seconds before the scheduled explosion. Failure of the tracking system in the Thor missile led to the decision to blow the warhead apart without an atomic blast.
*The 1962 Isle of Man TT races were held at the Snaefell Mountain Course. Winners included Luigi Taveri, Derek Minter and Ernst Degner.
*The first atomic energy was generated in Canada as the Nuclear Power Demonstration went online at Rolphton, Ontario.
*In the Bolivian legislative election, a new National Congress was elected for one-third of the seats.
*The U.S. Air Force School of Aviation Medicine, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, began a simulated long-duration Project Gemini mission. Two men were to live for 14 days in a 100-percent-oxygen atmosphere maintained at a pressure of , the proposed spacecraft environment.
*Died:
**William Beebe, 84, American ornithologist
**Bela Lapusnyik, 26, Hungarian intelligence officer, four weeks after defecting to Austria. Lapusnyik had provided secrets to Western investigators until June 1, when he suddenly became ill, apparently from poisoning.
**Clem McCarthy, 79, American sportscaster

June 5, 1962 (Tuesday)

* Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, was introduced by Marvel Comics with the publication of '' Amazing Fantasy #15'' With a cover date of August 1962, the issue was placed on newsstands on June 5, 1962, according to the copyright renewal filed in 1990.
*Hendrik Meijer and Frederik Meijer opened the first Thrifty Acres hypermarket in the United States. It combined a grocery store and a large department store, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, inaugurating the "supercenter" concept in groceries.
*Former U.S. Vice-President Richard M. Nixon won the Republican Party nomination for Governor of California, to challenge the Democratic nominee, Governor Pat Brown.
*The Honda S360 was unveiled at the 11th National Honda Meeting General Assembly, held at Suzuka Circuit.
*William Philbin was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland.
*Born:
**Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este, former President of the Belgian Red Cross; in Laeken
**Jeff Garlin, American actor and comedian; in Chicago, Illinois
*Died:
**Jacques Gréber, 79, French architect
** Sandra Tewkesbury, 20, Canadian Olympic figure skater, was killed in a car accident at Guelph, Ontario.

June 6, 1962 (Wednesday)

*Sir Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston became the first indigenous Governor-General of Sierra Leone.
*France's Colonial Medal (Médaille Coloniale) became the Médaille d'Outre-Mer.
*The Beatles first auditioned for record producer George Martin at the Abbey Road Studios, London, UK.
*U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
*Helicopter pilot Ron Boyd led Canadian searchers to the wreckage of a Fairchild 24 single-engine plane that had been missing since August 28, 1951, along with the skeletons of Toronto Maple Leafs star Bill Barilko and pilot Henry Hudson. Another helicopter pilot, Cary Fields, had spotted signs of the wrecked plane on May 31. The crash site was found about north of Cochrane, Ontario, about off course.
*McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was authorized to procure an additional boilerplate Gemini spacecraft for parachute landing system tests. McDonnell estimated, however, that modifying the existing boilerplate would cost at least $17,000, while a new boilerplate would cost at most $12,000.
*Whirlpool Corporation Research Laboratories received a contract to provide the Project Gemini food and waste management system, comprising water dispenser, food storage, and waste storage components. Food and zero-gravity feeding devices were to be provided by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Food and Container Institute. MSC's Life Systems Division was responsible for directing the development program.
*Woolco, the attempt by the F.W. Woolworth Company to enter the discount department store market, opened its first store, in Columbus, Ohio.
*Born: Albita Rodríguez, Cuban singer, producer and composer; in Havana
*Died:
**Abba Ahimeir, 64, Jewish journalist, historian and political activist
**Yves Klein, 34, French artist, of a heart attack

June 7, 1962 (Thursday)

*President Kennedy announced in a press conference that he would seek "an across-the-board reduction in personal and corporate income taxes", commenting that "Our tax structure, as presently weighted, exerts too heavy a drain on a prospering economy." At the time, earnings of more than $200,000 were in a 91% federal tax bracket. In 1965, the top rate would drop to 70%. By 1988, the highest rate would be 28% for income over $31,050. The current high rate is 40% on income over $378,250. On the same day, he presented a Congressional gold medal to the mother of Thomas Anthony Dooley III at a White House ceremony.
*Born:
** Thierry Hazard, French singer; as Thierry Gesteau in Compiègne, Oise
**Lance Reddick, American actor; in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 2023)
*Died:
**Albert Dovecar, 24, Croatian soldier, and Claude Piegts, 28, Algerian pied-noir, both executed by firing squad at the Fort du Trou d'Enfer for their part in the assassination of French National Police Divisional Commissaire Roger Gavoury during the Algerian War.
**Andrés Ignacio Menéndez, 83, President of El Salvador, 1934–1935 and 1944

June 8, 1962 (Friday)

*Marilyn Monroe was fired by 20th Century Fox because of her frequent absences from the filming of the movie ''Something's Got to Give''. Over a course of seven weeks of shooting, she had only appeared on five days.
* Pakistan's new constitution took effect, giving President Muhammad Ayub Khan veto power over a new, single-chamber National Assembly, elected by a group of 80,000 "basic democrats". The document would remain in effect until 1969.
*Soviet authorities gave the go-ahead for the construction of the Ust-Ilimsk Hydroelectric Power Station.
*Bob Hope received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal.
*Sir Alfred Dudley Ward became Governor of Gibraltar.
*The city of Villa Hills, Kentucky, was incorporated.
*Born:
**Juan Carlos Osorio, Colombian footballer and football manager for the Mexico national team; in Santa Rosa de Cabal.
** Bogusław Pawłowski, Polish biologist; in Prudnik.
*Died: William Stanley Braithwaite, 82, American writer and poet

June 9, 1962 (Saturday)

*South Korea's military leader Park Chung Hee ordered a surprise currency reform, freezing all bank accounts and ordering that the South Korean hwan be exchanged by the end of Monday in favor of the new South Korean won, at the rate of 10 hwan for each new won. On June 16, a decree was issued to take individual bank account money, above a set limit, for a required purchase of stock in the government-owned Korean Industrial Development Corporation, and Park would later be forced to rescind both emergency measures under pressure from the United States.
*Spain's dictator Francisco Franco announced a two-year suspension of the constitutional right of Spanish citizens to live elsewhere in the country. Franco limited the privilege to supporters of his government, in response to strikes that had halted activity in the nation.
*As part of its immigration reform, Canada granted amnesty to Chinese persons who had entered the nation illegally prior to July 1, 1960.
*The 1962 Giro d'Italia cycle race was won by Franco Balmamion.
*The Roman Catholic Diocese of Veracruz was established in Mexico.
*The frigate was launched at Westwego, Louisiana.
*Died: Polly Adler, 62, Russian-born American bordello operator

June 10, 1962 (Sunday)

*The first popular vote in Cambodia took place, as citizens went to the polls to approve the Sangkum candidates for Parliament. Although there were no choices, an author notes that the election "did get people used to the mechanics of voting, which would be of significant value in 1966".
*Operation Anadyr, to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, was approved unanimously by the Presidium of the Soviet Union on the recommendation of Defense Minister Rodion Malinovsky and Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev. Under the plan, 24 medium-range nuclear missiles and 16 intermediate-range missiles would be placed in Cuba, and a total of 50,874 Soviet military personnel would be placed on the island to defend against an invasion. The decision would precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis in October.
*Soviet athlete Igor Ter-Ovanesyan set a new world long jump record of 8.31 metres (27'3"), breaking the record set by Ralph Boston.
*In the elections for President of Peru, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre obtained more votes (557,047) than the other two major candidates, Fernando Belaúnde Terry (544,180) and former president Manuel A. Odría (480,798), while another 108,593 votes were split among four minor candidates. However, the Constitution required that a candidate receive at least one-third of the popular vote to win, and Haya had 32.95% of the 1,690,618 ballots cast, falling 6,493 votes short. Before the Congress of Peru could meet to decide the election, the government would be overthrown on July 18 and the results annulled. A new election would be held on June 6, 1963, with Belaúnde winning the presidency.
*Born: Gina Gershon, American film and TV actress, singer and author; in Los Angeles
*Died: Trygve Gulbranssen, 68, Norwegian novelist, businessman and journalist

June 11, 1962 (Monday)

*A crisis in Laos, which threatened to become a major war, was resolved when warring princes Souvanna Phouma, Souphanouvong and Boun Oum agreed to form a coalition government.
*Innes Ireland won the 1962 Crystal Palace Trophy motor race.
*In Buenos Aires in Argentina, at least 31 schoolchildren were killed along with a teacher and a driver, when a municipal bus with 120 children on board crossed into the path of an oncoming train. Reportedly, a crossing attendant had raised a barrier to allow a truck to cross the tracks and the bus driver followed. Most of the dead were children less than 13 years old who lived on Lacarra Street in the Villa Soldati neighborhood and were on their way to school in a dense fog.
*President Kennedy gave the commencement address at Yale University.
* Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin became the last prisoners to escape from the Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary. They were not recaptured, nor were their bodies ever located by searchers, and they were presumed to have drowned. Actor Clint Eastwood would later portray Morris in the 1979 film '' Escape from Alcatraz''.

June 12, 1962 (Tuesday)

*The European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters entered into effect, after having been opened for signing on April 20, 1959.
*Three days before his high school graduation, 18-year-old George Lucas survived a near-fatal car crash caused by a fellow student. Lucas would abandon a dream to become a race car driver, and went on to become a successful filmmaker.
*The mother of 15-year-old William Jefferson Blythe filed a petition to change her son's name, at his request, to that of her recently divorced husband. Afterward, Blythe would be known as Bill Clinton and would become President of the United States under that name in 1993.
*The Canaima National Park was established in Venezuela.
*Sir Dawda Jawara became the first prime minister of The Gambia.
*Khan Habibullah Khan became Interior Minister of Pakistan.
*Born:
** Michael Aondoakaa, Nigerian Minister of Justice, 2007 to 2010, in Benue State
** Michael Link, Caucasian-American child actor who co-starred on the 1968 sitcom ''Julia'' as "Earl J. Waggedorn"; in Provo, Utah
**Jordan Peterson, Canadian psychologist and professor of psychology; in Edmonton
*Died: John Ireland, 82, English composer

June 13, 1962 (Wednesday)

*Lee Harvey Oswald arrived back in the United States on the Dutch cruise ship S.S. ''Maasdam'', after more than two years away in Russia. Oswald, who would be accused of killing U.S. President Kennedy less than 18 months later, brought with him his wife and daughter. The family was greeted on arrival in New York by Mr. Spas T. Rankin of the Travelers Aid Society of New York.
*The Manned Spacecraft Center proposed a recoverable meteoroid experiment with two sheets of aluminium to be extended from the Mercury spacecraft for a period of two weeks. The sheets would then be retracted into the spacecraft for protection during reentry and recovery.
*Rookie baseball pitcher Bo Belinsky, having spent the previous night partying with celebrities including Eddie Fisher, Dean Martin, Keely Smith and Henry Fonda, was arrested and charged with assaulting a nightclub attendant.
*Born: Ally Sheedy, American film actress known for ''WarGames'' and ''The Breakfast Club''; in New York City

June 14, 1962 (Thursday)

*The Convention for a European Space Research Organisation was signed in Paris by ten European nations. It would take effect on March 20, 1964, and establish the forerunner of the European Space Agency.
*Following a successful pilot episode shown in January, the classic British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'' began its 12-year run on the BBC
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