January 12 – United States President Lyndon Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended

January 18 – About 8,000 U.S. soldiers land in South Vietnam; U.S. troops now total 190,000..

March 4 – The Beatles: In an interview published in The London Evening Standard, John Lennon comments, "We're more popular than Jesus now," eventually sparking a controversy in the United States

March 8 – Vietnam War: U.S. announces it will substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam.

March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the United States against the Vietnam War.

March 28 – Indira Gandhi visits Washington, D.C.

April 29 – U.S. troops in Vietnam total 250,000..

May 15 – Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators again picket the White House, then rally at the Washington Monument

May 16 - Bob Dylan's seminal album, Blonde on Blonde is released in the U.S.

               - In New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his first public speech on the Vietnam War.

June 2 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.

June 6 – Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot while trying to march across Mississippi.

June 13 – Miranda v. Arizona: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them

June 29 – Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong.

July 4 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year.

July 28 – The U.S. announces that a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane has disappeared over Cuba.

August 1 – Sniper Charles Whitman kills 13 people and wounds 31 from atop the University of Texas at Austin Main Building tower.

August 10 – Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit another world, is launched
August 24 – The Doors recorded self-titled debut LP.

August 29 – The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.

September 8 – The classic science fiction series Star Trek premieres on NBC.

October 21 – The AFL-NFL merger is approved by the U.S. Congress.

November 8 – Actor Ronald Reagan, a Republican, is elected Governor of California.

December 15 – Walt Disney dies while producing The Jungle Book, the last animated feature under his personal supervision.

December 18 – How the Grinch Stole Christmas, narrated by Boris Karloff, is shown for the first time on CBS, becoming an annual Christmas tradition.

 

Ongoing

• Cold War (1945–1991)

• Space Race (1957–1975)

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

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