MAJOR EVENTS

1962 - 7 Years After 1955

MAJOR EVENTS:

The Cuban Missile Crisis - Soviet missile bases detected in Cuba; President Kennedy demands their removal. The confrontation is the closest the U.S. and U.S.S.R. ever come to war. Crisis is resolved when Soviets agree to remove Cuban missiles in exchange for removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey.
Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann executed in Israel
U.S. establishes semi-permanent military presence in Vietnam
Pope John XXIII convenes the Second Vatican Council, which will modernize many practices of the Catholic Church when it concludes three years later

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr. becomes first American to achieve earth orbit; his Mercury 6 mission is followed by two other Mercury flights
Ranger IV first U.S. space probe to reach the moon, where it crash lands by design
Telstar becomes the first communications satellite intended for regular service; relays television signals between North America and Europe
Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, bringing attention to a number of environmental crises for the first time
Morning sickness drug thalidomide found to be causing birth defects
Niels Bohr dies

SPORTS:

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

Songs: Blowin' in the Wind, Go Away Little Girl, Days of Wine and Roses, The Loco-Motion, Sherry, Monster Mash, Big Girls Don't Cry
TV Shows: I've Got a Secret, Beverly Hillbillies, Route 66, The Flinstones, Price is Right, Ben Casey
Books: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee; Letting Go, Philip Roth; Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck; One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey; The Thin Red Line, James Jones; Happiness is a Warm Puppy, Charles Schultz
Marilyn Monroe dies, apparently from an overdose of sleeping pills

EVERYDAY LIFE: