January 3 – U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President.

January 8 – In his first State of the Union Address, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson declares a "War on Poverty".

January 10 – Introducing...the Beatles is released by Chicago's Vee-Jay Records to get the jump on Capitol Records' release of Meet the Beatles!, scheduled for January 20.

January 11 – United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health (the first such statement from the U.S. government).

January 17 – John Glenn announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.

January 20 – Meet the Beatles!, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released.

January 28 – A U.S. Air Force jet training plane that strays into East Germany is shot down by Soviet fighters near Erfurt; all 3 crew men are killed.

January 29 – Ranger 6 is launched by NASA, on a mission to carry television cameras and crash-land on the Moon.

February 1 – The Beatles vault to the #1 spot on the U.S. singles charts for the first time, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand", starting the British Invasion in America.

February 6 – Cuba cuts off the normal water supply to the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in reprisal for the U.S. seizure 4 days earlier of 4 Cuban fishing boats off the coast of Florida.

February 7 – The Beatles arrive from England at New York City's JFK International Airport, receiving a tumultuous reception from a throng of screaming fans, marking the first occurrence of "Beatlemania" in the United States.

February 9 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, marking their first live performance on American television. Seen by an estimated 73 million viewers.

February 25 – Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston: Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Florida, and is crowned heavyweight boxing champion of the world. This evening he celebrates in a hotel room with his three closest friends, activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and American football fullback Jim Brown, and soon afterwards changes his name.

March 4 – Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa is convicted by a federal jury of tampering with a federal jury in 1962.

March 9 – New York Times Co. v Sullivan (376 US 254 1964): The United States Supreme Court rules that under the First Amendment, speech criticizing political figures cannot be censored.

March 14 – A Dallas, Texas jury finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

April 20 – U.S. President Lyndon Johnson in New York, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, simultaneously announce plans to cut back production of materials for making nuclear weapons.

May 2 – Some 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War.

May 2 – Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, hitchhiking in Meadville, Mississippi, are kidnapped and beaten by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their badly decomposed bodies are found by chance in July during the search for the three victims of the Mississippi civil rights workers' murders.

June 21 – African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68): Mississippi civil rights workers' murders – Three Congress of Racial Equality workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, are abducted and murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, by local members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan with local law enforcement officials involved in the conspiracy.

July 2 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, abolishing racial segregation in the United States.

July 27 – Vietnam War: The U.S. sends 5,000 more military advisers to South Vietnam, bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

August 2–4 – Vietnam War – Gulf of Tonkin incident: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin.

August 7 – Vietnam War: The United States Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

August 24–27 – The Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City nominates incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson for a full term, and U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota as his running mate.

August 28 – Bob Dylan turns The Beatles on to cannabis for the first time.

September 7 – President Lyndon Johnson's re-election campaign airs the controversial and influential "Daisy" ad.

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Though only aired once (by the campaign), it is considered to be an important factor in Johnson's landslide victory over Barry Goldwater

September 27 – The Warren Commission Report, the first official investigation of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, is published.

October 10–24 – The United States participates in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and ranks first for the 10th time, bringing home 36 gold, 26 silver and 28 bronze medals for a total of 90 medals.

October 14 – American civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.

October 31 – Campaigning at Madison Square Garden in New York City, President Lyndon Johnson pledges the creation of the Great Society.

November 3 – U.S. presidential election, 1964: Incumbent U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater with over 60 percent of the popular vote.

November 28 – Vietnam War: United States National Security Council members, including Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and Maxwell Taylor, agree to recommend a plan for a 2-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam, to President Lyndon B. Johnson

December 3 – 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.

December 6 – The 1-hour stop-motion animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the popular Christmas song, premieres on NBC. It becomes a beloved Christmas tradition, still being shown on television more than 50 years later.

December 14 – 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.

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Ongoing

• Cold War (1945–1991)

• Space Race (1957–1975)

• Vietnam War, U.S. involvement (1962–1973)

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