July 1964

[July 1], 1964 (Wednesday)

• Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, president of Pakistan, visited Kabul briefly, where he met King Mohammad Zahir. For the first time in several years, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan were relatively amicable following the decision of the government of Afghanistan to deal with the Pakhtunistan dispute only through diplomatic negotiations, and to carry on normal relations with Pakistan in other respects.
• In an event at the Bislett stadium in Oslo, Norwegian athlete Terje Pedersen broke the Men's javelin world record. Pedersen's throw of broke the record of set by Carlo Lievore of Italy on June 1, 1961.
• Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina adopted its current name, Clemson University.
• Born: Bernard Laporte, French rugby union player and head coach of the French national team from 1999 to 2007; in Rodez, Aveyron
• Died: Pierre Monteux, 85, French-born musical conductor

  [July 2], 1964 (Thursday)

• U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, abolishing racial segregation in the United States in public schools, public accommodations and travel, and in voting registration. The move came hours after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 289 to 126 to approve the bill as amended by the U.S. Senate. Of the 126 against, 91 were Democrats and 35 were Republicans. Charles L. Weltner of Georgia was the only southern Democrat to vote for the bill, saying, "We must not remain forever bound to another lost cause." The law took effect at 6:45 in the evening Eastern time when President Johnson signed the bill at a White House ceremony in the East Room, commenting that "Years ago I realized a sad truth. To the extent that black people were imprisoned by racial segregation, so was I."
• After watching the signing of the bill on national television, two African-American men in Jacksonville, Florida, became the first to put the desegregation law to a test. Robert Ingraham and Prince McIntosh "went to a cafeteria where they previously had been arrested when they previously sought service" and were asked "May I help you?" by a white employee behind the counter. The manager of the Morrison's Cafeteria told a reporter, "We decided to go along and obey the law of the land. There were no incidents."
• The National Labor Relations Board decertified the Independent Metal Workers Union as a collective bargaining agent for the Hughes Tool Company because of the union's policy of racial segregation and because the union "had failed to fairly represent all workers at the company and systematically discriminated against African Americans" on matters of wages and benefits.
• Born: Jose Canseco, Cuban-born American major league baseball player from 1985 to 2001 who was twice the home run leader, along with his twin brother, MLB player Ozzie Canseco; in Havana
• Died: Glen "Fireball" Roberts, 35, American stock car racing driver; of injuries and burns sustained in a crash during the World 600, nearly six weeks earlier on May 24.

  [July 3], 1964 (Friday)

• A group of demonstrators, organized by pacifist David Dellinger, stood outside the White House and conducted the first American public protest against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
• On the day after the passing of the Civil Rights Act in the United States:
• *Two 12-year-old African American girls in Bogalusa, Louisiana, sat down at the lunch counter in the local Woolworth department store, which had previously been able to limit sit-down service to white people. Despite protests by a group of white customers, the two children were served.
• *Georgia politician Lester Maddox, a future governor of Georgia, along with white customers carrying axe handles, forced three African-Americans out of Maddox's Pickrick restaurant in Atlanta. The U.S. Department of Justice would join in a lawsuit filed by the three men. Maddox would later be elected.
• *The French Quarter of New Orleans quietly integrated, along with most other public accommodations in the city with "near total compliance.
• Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, under the command of U.S. Army General Paul D. Harkins, sent a request to Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr., CINCPAC asking authorization for a patrol of the Gulf of Tonkin to get information about North Vietnam's coastal defense. Admiral Sharp would dispatch the destroyer to the area, leading to the first Gulf of Tonkin incident on August 2.
• Fifteen of the 49 crewmen of the Spanish tanker MV Bonifaz were killed when their ship collided with the French ship MV Fabiola off Cape Finisterre in a fog. The Bonfiaz caught fire and sank. Six of her 50 crew were rescued by the West German ship MV Sloman Malaga. Bonifaz was also carrying six passengers. The Dutch ship MV Setas picked up 22 crew and three passengers. Four of the crew would subsequently die of their injuries.
• Following the successful mating of its modules, Gemini spacecraft No. 2 began the second phase of Spacecraft Systems Tests at McDonnell. SST continued through September 1964.
• Four Black Muslim inmates at Stateville Prison in Illinois began an uprising in the wake of the June 22 decision in Cooper v. Pate.

  [July 4], 1964 (Saturday)

• The Rhodesian Bush War, which would last more than 15 years until the white minority government of Rhodesia relinquished control of the southern African nation to the black majority, began in the first violent attack by the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army against a white target. Petrus Oberholzer, a white farmer, was ambushed and murdered near Umtali.
• The Universal City Tour, where paying customers were driven around the backlot of Universal Pictures movie studio in special trams, was inaugurated after a $4,000,000 renovation of the California location. The tour and its concession stands were the original features of what would become the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.
• Viet Cong guerrillas attacked an American training camp in South Vietnam at Polei Krong, in an action apparently timed to coincide with the American 4th of July holiday.
• George Wallace, governor of the U.S. state of Alabama, condemned the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in a speech, claiming that it would threaten individual liberty, free enterprise and private property rights and added, "The liberal left-wingers have passed it. Now let them employ some pinknik social engineers in Washington, D.C., to figure out what to do with it." Coming two days after the Civil Rights Act became law, the Wallace rally included Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, became violent when members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began booing and were attacked by angry audience members. The negative publicity was such that Wallace, who had done better than expected in northern states in the 1964 presidential primaries, would withdraw from the race for the Democratic Party nomination on July 19.
• The Beach Boys' "I Get Around" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard magazine chart of best-selling songs.
• Born:
• *Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania since 2013; in Tirana
• *Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer; in Beirut
• Died: Hank Sylvern, 56, American composer of radio theme songs

  [July 5], 1964 (Sunday)

• In the 1964 elections in Mexico, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was elected President without significant opposition. Diaz, of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional received 8,368,446 votes, or 88% of those cast, while his opponent, José González Torres of the Partido Acción Nacional, got 1,034,337. In addition, the PRI won all 64 seats in the Mexican Senate, and 175 of the 210 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. PAN won 20 seats, the Popular Socialist Party 10, and the Authentic Party got five.
• For the first time in the 20th century, hotels in the U.S. state of Mississippi were integrated and admitted African-American guests. In the state capital at Jackson, the Heidelberg Hotel, the King Edward Hotel, and the Sun-n-Sand Motor Hotel accepted 14 members of the NAACP.
• The Sunday Times linked mercenaries, involved in the North Yemen Civil War, to former RAF pilot Tony Boyle.
• Died: Turkish Army Colonel Talat Aydemir, 47, was hanged after two attempted coups d'etat in 1962 and 1963. His collaborator, Fethi Gürcan, had been put to death on June 27.

  [July 6], 1964 (Monday)

• The African nation of Malawi, formerly the British protectorate of Nyasaland, received its independence from the United Kingdom one minute after midnight. At Blantyre, the national capital, Prince Philip of the United Kingdom and representatives of other 80 other nations watched the hoisting of the new red, green and black Malawian flag after the Union Jack had been lowered a minute before midnight. Hastings Kamuzu Banda continued as Prime Minister, and the former Nyasaland governor, Sir Glyn Smallwood Jones, became the first Governor-General of Malawi. In 1966, Banda would become the first President of Malawi.
• The Battle of Nam Dong in the Vietnam War began at 2:26 in the morning in South Vietnam when an 800-man contingent of the Viet Cong began firing mortar rounds at a South Vietnamese Army camp at Nam Dong, near South Vietnam's border with Laos. The outnumbered group of 311 ARVN soldiers, along with 12 members of the U.S. Army Special Forces and one Australian adviser, defended the camp for ninety minutes until air support could arrive. When the battle ended by dawn, 53 South Vietnamese, two Americans and the Australian, Kevin Conway, were dead. Of the ARVN force and the 13 supplemental troops; 65 were wounded, including U.S. Army Captain Roger Donlon, who would be awarded the Medal of Honor for annihilating an enemy demolition team, dragging wounded men to safety, and directing the defenders despite multiple shrapnel wounds.
• Demanihi Tepa of Tahiti was rescued alive after 155 days drifting in a boat across the South Pacific Ocean. Tepa and his friend, Natua Faioho, had set off from the island of Maupiti on February 2 on what was supposed to be a short trip to the island of Bora Bora, but the outboard motor had broken down. The boat drifted more than westward over the next five months. Two weeks after Faioho died, Tepa's boat washed ashore on the island of Ta‘ū, part of American Samoa.
• The Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, premiered in the United Kingdom before 1200 ticketholders at the London Pavilion. It would be released in the United States on August 11. The movie soundtrack would be released on July 10 in the UK.
• An early morning earthquake killed 31 people in villages in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
• The first design review of the Project Gemini extravehicular life support system chest pack began and would last until July 12. Manned Spacecraft Center conditionally approved the AiResearch basic design but recommended certain changes.
• Died: Zeng Junchen, 75, Chinese philanthropist and opium merchant