December 1964
The following events occurred in December 1964:
- Gustavo Díaz Ordaz takes office as President of Mexico.
- Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam (after some debate, they agree on a 2-phase bombing plan).
- The Panamanian cargo ship Fury is driven ashore at Wedge Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, in a storm. She is declared a constructive total loss.[1]
- Died: J. B. S. Haldane, 72, British geneticist
- Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest about 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover of and massive sit-in at the Sproul Hall administration building. The sit-in most directly protested the U.C. Regents' decision to punish student activists for what many thought had been justified civil disobedience earlier in the conflict.
- The Danish football club Brøndby IF is founded as a merger between the two local clubs Brøndbyøster Idrætsforening and Brøndbyvester Idrætsforening. The club has won the national championship Danish Superliga 10 times and the national Danish Cup six times.
- An LGM-30B Minuteman I missile is on strategic alert at Launch Facility (LF) L-02, Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, US, when two airmen are dispatched to the LF to repair the inner zone (IZ) security system. In the midst of their checkout of the IZ system, one retrorocket in the spacer below the Reentry Vehicle (RV) fires, causing the RV to fall about 75 feet to the floor of the silo. When the RV strikes bottom, the arming and fusing/altitude control subsystem containing the batteries are torn loose, thus removing all sources of power from the RV. The RV structure receives considerable damage. All safety devices operate properly in that they do not sense the proper sequence of events to allow arming the warhead. There is no detonation or radioactive contamination.[3]
- The 1-hour stop-motion animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the popular Christmas song, is broadcast for the first time on NBC. It becomes a Christmas tradition in the US, still being shown on television more than 40 years later.
- Died: Consuelo Vanderbilt, 87, US-born Duchess of Marlborough
- The Danish ship MV Scantic founders in Saint George's Channel, United Kingdom.
- USAF Convair B-58A-15-CF Hustler, 60-1116, of the 305th Bomb Wing, taxiing for take-off on icy taxiway at Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana, is blown off the pavement by exhaust of another departing Convair B-58 Hustler. It strikes a concrete manhole box adjacent to the runway, and the landing gear collapses. The navigator is killed in a failed ejection, but two other crew members escape. Four B43 nuclear bombs and either a W39 or W53 warhead are on board the weapons pod, but no explosion takes place and contamination is limited to the crash site.[4]
- Died: Edith Sitwell, 77, English poet
- Born: Mojca Golub, Ljubljančanka, naša 'mati'
- The West German coaster Deutschland collides with Norway's SS Vera in the Lower Elbe and sinks with the loss of four crew.[6]
- British cargo ship Yewcroft runs aground at IJmuiden, Netherlands.[6]
- Canadian cargo ship Fury loses her steering gear and is driven ashore at Canso, Nova Scotia.[7]
- Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodations must refrain from racial discrimination.
- Died: William Bendix, US actor, 58 (chronic stomach ailment leading to lobar pneumonia); Francisco Canaro, 76, Uruguayan-born composer
- In the wake of deadly riots in January over control of the Panama Canal, the U.S. offers to negotiate a new canal treaty.
- The deadly Christmas flood of 1964 begins; It becomes one of the most destructive weather events to affect Oregon in the 20th century.
- Liberian cargo ship SS San Patrick, a converted T2 tanker,[11] runs aground on Udak Island, Alaska, United States, with the loss of over 30 crew.[12]
- As part of his Order of the Day,[13] a regular message to the armed forces over Radio Vietnam, General Nguyen Khanh goes back on his promise to leave the country and announces that "We make sacrifices for the country's independence and the Vietnamese people's liberty, but not to carry out the policy of any foreign country."[14]
- At the conclusion of a 6-month obscenity trial, US comedian Lenny Bruce is sentenced to 4 months in prison.
- A cyclone in the Palk Strait destroys the Indian town of Dhanushkodi, killing 1800 people.
- The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird makes its first flight at Palmdale, California.
- Danish coaster MV North Wind is driven ashore at Preston, Devon, UK. Crew rescued by breeches buoy.[15]
- Sinhalese Navy Algerine-class minesweeper Vijaya runs aground during a cyclone in the Gulf of Mannar.[16]
- "Wonderful Radio London" commences transmissions with American top 40 format broadcasting, from a ship anchored off the south coast of England.
- Born: Eddie Vedder, US singer-songwriter, in Evanston, Illinois
- Flying Tiger Line Flight 282, a Lockheed Constellation aircraft, crashes near San Bruno, California, US, after an unexplained course deviation, killing its crew of three.
- Died: Michael Munnelly, 23, killed while assisting the victims of a riot and posthumously awarded the George Cross[17]
- Lesley Ann Downey, 10, is abducted by "Moors murderers" Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in Manchester, UK. They murder her that evening and bury her body in a shallow grave on Saddleworth Moor the following morning.[18]
- Born: Moïse Katumbi Chapwe, Congolese businessman and politician, in Lac Moreo
- Died: Frederick Fleet's wife died
- Created: Syuaib
References
- ↑ Mitchell, W H, and Sawyer, L A (1995). The Empire Ships. London, New York, Hamburg, Hong Kong: Lloyd's of London Press Ltd. p. not cited. ISBN 1-85044-275-4.
- ↑ "Acadia Seahawk - 1964". Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/ops/broken-arrow.htm
- ↑ Gibson, James N. Nuclear Weapons of the United States – An Illustrated History . Atglen, Pennsylvania.: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996, LCCN 96-67282, ISBN 978-0-7643-0063-9, page 74.
- ↑ "Chronology (1964-66)". Misión permanente de la república de Cuba ante las naciones unidas. Permanent Missions To The United Nations. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Four Die After Ships Collide" The Times (London). Monday, 14 December 1964. (56194), col B, p. 10.
- ↑ "Fury - 1964". Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ↑ "Cat Survives After Week Under Water" The Times (London). Wednesday, 23 December 1964. (56202), col D, p. 6.
- ↑ Moyar, Mark (2004). "Political Monks: The Militant Buddhist Movement during the Vietnam War". Modern Asian Studies (New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press) 38 (4): 749–784. doi:10.1017/S0026749X04001295, p. 769
- ↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1173 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ↑ Rowbotham, Mark. "The T2 tankers". Shipping Today and Yesterday (St. Leonard's-on-Sea: HPC Publishing) (October 2012): 38–42.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Crew of Over 30 Feared Lost" The Times (London). Tuesday, 22 December 1964. (56201), col G, p. 10.
- ↑ Hammond, William M. (1988). Public Affairs : The Military and the Media, 1962–1968. Washington, D.C.: Center for Military History, United States Army. ISBN 0-16-001673-8, p. 118
- ↑ Moyar, Mark (2006). Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-86911-0, p. 346.
- ↑ "Ship goes aground on the Devon coast" The Times (London). Tuesday, 22 December 1964. (56202), col A-D, p. 16.
- ↑ "1,500 Bodies Washed Ashore" The Times (London). Monday, 28 December 1964. (56204), col A-F, p. 8.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 43698. p. 6203. 25 June 1965. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ↑ Topping, Peter (1989), Topping: The Autobiography of the Police Chief in the Moors Murder Case, Angus & Robertson, ISBN 0-207-16480-0
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Picture Gallery" The Times (London). Tuesday, 29 December 1964. (56205), col C-D, p. 6.
- ↑ "Captain Attacks Crew's Action" The Times (London). Friday, 8 January 1965. (56214), col B, p. 9.