January
Main article: January 1962
January 1
Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
The United States Navy SEALs are activated. SEAL Team One is commissioned in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two in the Atlantic Fleet.
The Beatles audition for Decca Records.
NBC introduces the Laramie Peacock before a midnight showing of Laramie.
January 2 – NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins praises U.S. President John F. Kennedy's "personal role" in advancing civil rights.
January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
January 4 – New York City introduces a subway train that operates without a crew on board.
January 5 – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie, credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded last June in Hamburg), is released by Polydor in the U.K.[1][2]
January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the worst Dutch rail disaster.
January 9 – Cuba and the Soviet Union sign a trade pact.
January 10 – An avalanche on Nevado Huascarán in Peru causes 4,000 deaths.
January 12 – The Indonesian Army confirms that it has begun operations in West Irian.
January 13 – Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China.
January 15 – Portugal abandons the U.N. General Assembly due to the debate over Angola.
January 16 – A military coup occurs in the Dominican Republic.
January 19 – A counter-coup occurs in the Dominican Republic; the old government returns except for the new president Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly.
January 22 – The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership. The suspension is lifted in 2009.
January 24
The East German government readopts conscription.
The Organisation armée secrète (OAS) bombs the French Foreign Ministry.
January 26 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon; it later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles.
January 27 – The Soviet government changes all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgy Malenkov.
January 30 – Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed, when their famous 7-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit.
Stena Line
February
Main article: February 1962
February 3 – The United States embargo against Cuba is announced.
February 4 – The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement.
February 4–February 5 – During a new moon and solar eclipse, an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurs (it includes all 5 of the naked-eye planets plus the Sun and Moon), all of them within 16° of one another on the ecliptic.
February 5 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
February 6 – Negotiations between U.S. Steel and the United States Department of Commerce begin.
February 7
The United States Government bans all U.S.-related Cuban imports and exports.
A coal mine explosion in Saarland, West Germany kills 299.
February 9 – The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation opens.
February 10 – Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin.
February 12 – Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
February 14 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
February 15 – Urho Kekkonen is re-elected president of Finland.
February 16 – Heavy storms flood Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die, thousands lose their homes.
February 20 – Project Mercury: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
February 21 – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first dance together in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle in London.
February 23: Friendship 7 inspected by President Kennedy and Astronaut John Glenn.
March
Main article: March 1962
March 1
American Airlines Flight 1 (a Boeing 707) crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll, resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all 95 on board.
The S. S. Kresge Company opens its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan.
March 2
A military coup in Burma brings General Ne Win to power.
Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game: Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single National Basketball Association basketball game.
March 7 – Ash Wednesday Storm: A snow storm batters the Mid-Atlantic.
March 8–12 – In Geneva, France and the Algerian FLN begin negotiations.
March 15 – Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin the Congo.
March 16 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation chartered by the United States Military Air Transport Service and carrying mainly United States Army personnel bound for South Vietnam, vanishes over the western Pacific Ocean with the loss of all 107 on board. No wreckage or bodies are ever found.
March 18
Évian Accords: France and Algeria sign an agreement in Évian-les-Bains ending the Algerian War.
Un premier amour, sung by Isabelle Aubret (music by Claude-Henri Vic, text by Roland Stephane Valade), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 for France.
March 19
An armistice begins in Algeria; however, the OAS continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians.
Bob Dylan releases his debut album, Bob Dylan, in the United States.
March 21
Taco Bell is founded by Glen Bell in Downey, California.
March 23 – The Scandinavian States of the Nordic Council sign the Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation.
March 24 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is arrested in Oran.
March 26
France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18.
Baker v. Carr: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.
April
Main article: April 1962
April 3 – Jawaharlal Nehru is elected de facto Prime Minister of India.
April 4 – James Hanratty is hanged in Bedford Gaol for the A6 murder; many believe he is innocent.
April 6
Belgium reestablishes diplomatic relations with the Congo.
Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks before a concert featuring Glenn Gould with the New York Philharmonic, when he (Bernstein) announces that although he disagrees with Gould's style of playing the Brahms First Piano Concerto, he finds Gould's ideas fascinating and will conduct the piece anyway. Bernstein's action receives a withering review from New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg.
April 7 – Author Milovan Đilas is arrested in Yugoslavia.
April 8 – In France, the Évian Accords are adopted in a referendum with a majority of 90%.
April 9 – The 34th Academy Awards ceremony is held; West Side Story wins Best Picture.
April 10 – In Los Angeles, the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.
April 13 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is sentenced to death in France.
April 14 – A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers.
April 18 – The Commonwealth Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
April 20 – OAS leader Raoul Salan is arrested in Algiers.
April 21 – The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair opens in Seattle.
April 26 – The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
May
Main article: May 1962
May – Larry Allen Abshier defects to North Korea becoming the first of six (possibly seven) American defectors to North Korea.
May 1
Norwich City wins the English League Cup, beating Rochdale in the final.
Dayton Hudson Corporation opens the first of its Target discount stores in Roseville, Minnesota.
May 2 – An OAS bomb explodes in Algeria – this and other attacks kill 110 and injure 147.
May 3 – 160 die in a triple-train disaster near Tokyo.
May 5 – Twelve East Germans escape via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
May 6 – Antonio Segni is elected President of the Italian Republic.
May 14
Juan Carlos of Spain marries the Greek Princess Sophia in Athens.
Milovan Djilas, former vice-president of Yugoslavia, is given further sentence for publishing Conversations with Stalin.
May 22 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes near Unionville, Missouri after the in-flight detonation of a bomb near the rear lavatory. All 45 passengers and crew aboard are killed.
May 23
Drilling for the new Montreal subway commences.
Raoul Salan, founder of the French terrorist Organisation armée secrète, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France.
May 24 – Project Mercury: Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
May 25 – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated.
May 26 – Acker Bilk's Stranger on the Shore becomes the first British recording to reach number one in the US Billboard Hot 100.
May 27 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited.
May 29 – Negotiations between the OAS and the FLA lead to a real armistice in Algeria.
May 30 – The 1962 FIFA World Cup begins in Chile.
May 31 – Nazi Adolf Eichmann is hanged at a prison in Ramla, Israel. His body is cremated and his ashes are spread in the Mediterranean.
June
Main article: June 1962
June 3 – Air France Flight 007 (a Boeing 707) crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 people on board are killed, 2 flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta.
June 6 – President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
June 11
President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at Yale University.
Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin escape from the Alcatraz Island prison; the men are never heard from again.
June 15 – Students for a Democratic Society complete the Port Huron Statement.
June 17
The OAS signs a truce with the FLN in Algeria, but a day later announces that it will continue the fight on behalf of French Algerians.
Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3–1 to win the 1962 FIFA World Cup.
June 22 – An Air France Boeing 707 jet crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board. It is the airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks, and the third fatal 707 crash of the year.
June 25
Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
MANual Enterprises v. Day: The United States Supreme Court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines.
İsmet İnönü of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (27th government, coalition partners; YTP and CKMP)
June 26 – A 2-day steel strike begins in Italy, in support of increased wages and a 5-day working week.
June 28 – The United Lutheran Church in America, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, American Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merge to form the Lutheran Church in America.
June 30 – The last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria.
July
Main article: July 1962
July 1
Rwanda and Burundi gain independence.
Supporters of Algerian independence win 99% majority in a referendum.
A heavy smog develops over London.
Treaty of Nordic Cooperation of Helsinki (23 Mar 1962 signed) in force.
July 2
Charles de Gaulle accepts Algerian independence; France recognizes it the next day.
The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart (which is still the corporate name), opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
July 5 – Algeria becomes independent from France.
July 6 – Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne presents his first edition of The Late Late Show. Byrne goes on to present the talk show for 37 years, making it the longest running in the world.
July 9 – American artist Andy Warhol premieres his Campbell's Soup Cans exhibit in Los Angeles.
July 10 – AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit and activated the next day.
July 12 – The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry.
July 13 – In what the press dubs "the Night of the Long Knives", United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet.
July 17 – Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
July 19 – The first annual Swiss & Wielder Hoop and Stick Tournament is held.
July 20 – France and Tunisia reestablish diplomatic relations.
July 22 – Mariner program: The Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
July 23
Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.
The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed in Geneva, Switzerland.
July 31
Algeria proclaims independence; Ahmed Ben Bella is the first President.
A crowd assaults the rally of Sir Oswald Mosley's right-wing Union Movement in London.
August
Main article: August 1962
August 5
Marilyn Monroe found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills and chloral hydrate, officially ruled a "probable suicide". However, the exact cause of her death has been disputed.
The South African government arrests Nelson Mandela in Howick, and charges him with incitement to rebellion.
August 6 – Jamaica becomes independent.
August 10[citation needed] – Marvel Comics publishes Amazing Fantasy#15, which features the first published appearance of Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
August 15 – The New York Agreement is signed, trading the West New Guinea colony to Indonesia.
August 16
Beatles drummer Pete Best is fired and replaced by Ringo Starr.
Algeria joins the Arab League.
August 17 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
August 22 – A failed assassination attempt is made against French President Charles de Gaulle.
August 23 – John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell.
August 24 – A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat.
August 27 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.
August 31 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
September
Main article: September 1962
September 1
A referendum in Singapore supports the Malayan Federation.
Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, killing at least 130 and wounding more than 600.
September 2 – The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba.
September 8 – Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a constitution.
September 11– The Beatles record their first single, 'Love Me Do' at Abbey Road Studios in London.
September 12 – President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
September 19 – Atlantic College
opens its doors for the first time, marking the birth of the pioneering UWC educational movement.
September 21
A border conflict between China and India erupts into fighting.
New Musical Express, a British music magazine, publishes a story about two 13-year-old schoolgirls, Sue and Mary, releasing a disc on Decca and adds "A Liverpool group, The Beatles, have recorded 'Love Me Do' for Parlophone Records, set for October 5 release."
September 22 – 21-year-old Bob Dylan premiers one of his most preeminent songs, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall".
September 25 – Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the boxing world title.
September 26 – Civil war erupts in Yemen.
September 27
A flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, kills more than 440 people.
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement.
September 28 – Prime Minister Ahmed Ben Bella founds the first government in Algeria.
September 29 – The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California.
September 30 – CBS broadcasts the final episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, marking the end of the Golden Age of Radio.
October
Main article: October 1962
October 14: Pictures of Soviet missile silos in Cuba, taken by US spy planes.
October 1
The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals.
Johnny Carson takes over as permanent host of NBC's Tonight Show, a post he would hold for 30 years.
October 3 – Project Mercury: Walter Schirra orbits the Earth 6 times in the "Sigma 7" space capsule
October 5
The French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate; Prime Minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premieres in UK theaters.
The Beatles release their first single for EMI, Love Me Do.
October 8
The German magazine Der Spiegel publishes an article about the Bundeswehr's poor preparedness; the Spiegel scandal erupts.
Algeria is accepted into the United Nations.
October 9 – Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth of Nations.
October 10 – The Sino-Indian War, a border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (India and the People's Republic of China), begins.
October 11 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
October 12
The infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with wind gusts up to 170 mph (270 km/h); 46 are killed, 11 billion board feet (26 million m³) of timber is blown down, with $230 million U.S. in damages.
Jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus presents a disastrous concert [clarification needed] at Town Hall in New York City; it will become known as the worst moment of his career.
October 13 – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway.
October 14 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues for another 12 days after President Kennedy is told of the pictures, between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.
October 19 – Establishment of Thai Nguyen City, under Thai Nguyen, Vietnam.
October 22 – In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces to the nation the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
October 24 – Cuban Missile Crisis: First confrontation between the US Navy and a Soviet cargo vessel. The vessel changes course.
October 26 – Spiegel scandal: German police occupy Der Spiegel offices in Hamburg.
October 28
Cuban Missile Crisis ends: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. In a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, Kennedy agrees to the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. The fact that this deal is not made public makes it look like the Soviets have backed down.[dubious – discuss]
A referendum in France favors the election of the president by universal suffrage.
October 31 – The UN General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but the constitution comes into effect on November 1.
November
Main article: November 1962
November 1
The Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba.
The first issue of Diabolik is published in Italy.
November 3 – Earliest recorded use of the term "personal computer" in the report of a speech by computing pioneer John Mauchly in The New York Times.[3]
November 5
Franz Josef Strauß, the West German defense minister, is relieved of his duties over the Spiegel scandal, due to his alleged involvement in police action against the magazine.
Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt, following a period of unrest partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt.
A coal mining disaster in Ny-Ålesund kills 21 people. The Norwegian government is forced to resign in the aftermath of this accident in August 1963.
November 6 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies, and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.
November 7 – Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is "Richard Nixon's last press conference" and that "you won't have Nixon to kick around any more".
November 17 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport.
November 20 – Cuban missile crisis: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the blockade of the Caribbean nation.
November 21 – The Sino-Indian War ends with a Chinese ceasefire.
November 23 – United Airlines Flight 297 crashes in Columbia, Maryland, killing all 17 on board.
November 24 – The first episode of the ground breaking Satirical comedy program That Was the Week That Was, Hosted by David Frost is broadcast on BBC Television.
November 26
Spiegel scandal: German police end their occupation of Der Spiegel's offices.
Mies Bouwman starts presenting the first live TV-marathon fundraising show (Open Het Dorp), which lasts 23 hours non-stop.
November 27 – French President Charles De Gaulle orders Georges Pompidou to form a government.
November 29 – An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner.
November 30 – The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma as the new UN Secretary-General.
December
Main article: December 1962
December 2 – Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to make a non-optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
December 7 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his formerly autocratic power to several advisory and legislative councils.
December 8
The first period of the Second Vatican Council closes.
The North Kalimantan National Army revolts in Brunei, in the first stirrings of the Indonesian Confrontation.
The 1962 New York City newspaper strike begins, affecting all of the city's major newspapers; It will last for 114 days.
Former Dutch queen Wilhelmina is buried at the New Church in Delft.
December 9
Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president.
MGM's The Wizard of Oz receives its last of four December telecasts on CBS. It will skip a telecast in 1963, so beginning in 1964, first on CBS, then on NBC, and finally again on CBS, it will nearly always be telecast during the early part of the year until Turner Entertainment buys the rights to the film in the 1990s.
December 10 – David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia, featuring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Anthony Quinn premieres in London. Six days later, it opens in the U.S.
December 11
In West Germany, a coalition government of Christian Democrats, Christian Socialists, and Free Democrats is formed.
The last execution by hanging in Canada takes place.
December 14
U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to transmit data successfully from another planet.
Leonardo da Vinci's early 16th-century painting the Mona Lisa is assessed for insurance purposes at US$100 million before touring the United States for several months, the highest insurance value for a painting in history. However, The Louvre, its owner, chooses to spend the money that would have been spent on the insurance premium on security instead.
December 15 – Storm over the North Sea: Belgian pirate radio station Radio Uylenspiegel is knocked off the airwaves, never to operate again.
December 19 – Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (now Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation.
December 21 – Britain agrees to purchase Polaris missiles from the U.S.
December 22 – Winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom: The "Big Freeze" begins; there are no frost-free nights until March 5, 1963.
December 24 – Cuba releases the last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million.
December 30
United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia.
An unexpected storm buries Maine under five feet of snow, forcing the Bangor Daily News to miss a publication date for the only time in history. The same day, also the Netherlands are covered with several feet of snow.
Main article: January 1962
January 1
Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
The United States Navy SEALs are activated. SEAL Team One is commissioned in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two in the Atlantic Fleet.
The Beatles audition for Decca Records.
NBC introduces the Laramie Peacock before a midnight showing of Laramie.
January 2 – NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins praises U.S. President John F. Kennedy's "personal role" in advancing civil rights.
January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
January 4 – New York City introduces a subway train that operates without a crew on board.
January 5 – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie, credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded last June in Hamburg), is released by Polydor in the U.K.[1][2]
January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the worst Dutch rail disaster.
January 9 – Cuba and the Soviet Union sign a trade pact.
January 10 – An avalanche on Nevado Huascarán in Peru causes 4,000 deaths.
January 12 – The Indonesian Army confirms that it has begun operations in West Irian.
January 13 – Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China.
January 15 – Portugal abandons the U.N. General Assembly due to the debate over Angola.
January 16 – A military coup occurs in the Dominican Republic.
January 19 – A counter-coup occurs in the Dominican Republic; the old government returns except for the new president Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly.
January 22 – The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership. The suspension is lifted in 2009.
January 24
The East German government readopts conscription.
The Organisation armée secrète (OAS) bombs the French Foreign Ministry.
January 26 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon; it later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles.
January 27 – The Soviet government changes all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgy Malenkov.
January 30 – Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed, when their famous 7-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit.
Stena Line
February
Main article: February 1962
February 3 – The United States embargo against Cuba is announced.
February 4 – The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement.
February 4–February 5 – During a new moon and solar eclipse, an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurs (it includes all 5 of the naked-eye planets plus the Sun and Moon), all of them within 16° of one another on the ecliptic.
February 5 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
February 6 – Negotiations between U.S. Steel and the United States Department of Commerce begin.
February 7
The United States Government bans all U.S.-related Cuban imports and exports.
A coal mine explosion in Saarland, West Germany kills 299.
February 9 – The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation opens.
February 10 – Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin.
February 12 – Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
February 14 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
February 15 – Urho Kekkonen is re-elected president of Finland.
February 16 – Heavy storms flood Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die, thousands lose their homes.
February 20 – Project Mercury: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
February 21 – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first dance together in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle in London.
February 23: Friendship 7 inspected by President Kennedy and Astronaut John Glenn.
March
Main article: March 1962
March 1
American Airlines Flight 1 (a Boeing 707) crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll, resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all 95 on board.
The S. S. Kresge Company opens its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan.
March 2
A military coup in Burma brings General Ne Win to power.
Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game: Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single National Basketball Association basketball game.
March 7 – Ash Wednesday Storm: A snow storm batters the Mid-Atlantic.
March 8–12 – In Geneva, France and the Algerian FLN begin negotiations.
March 15 – Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin the Congo.
March 16 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation chartered by the United States Military Air Transport Service and carrying mainly United States Army personnel bound for South Vietnam, vanishes over the western Pacific Ocean with the loss of all 107 on board. No wreckage or bodies are ever found.
March 18
Évian Accords: France and Algeria sign an agreement in Évian-les-Bains ending the Algerian War.
Un premier amour, sung by Isabelle Aubret (music by Claude-Henri Vic, text by Roland Stephane Valade), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 for France.
March 19
An armistice begins in Algeria; however, the OAS continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians.
Bob Dylan releases his debut album, Bob Dylan, in the United States.
March 21
Taco Bell is founded by Glen Bell in Downey, California.
March 23 – The Scandinavian States of the Nordic Council sign the Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation.
March 24 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is arrested in Oran.
March 26
France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18.
Baker v. Carr: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.
April
Main article: April 1962
April 3 – Jawaharlal Nehru is elected de facto Prime Minister of India.
April 4 – James Hanratty is hanged in Bedford Gaol for the A6 murder; many believe he is innocent.
April 6
Belgium reestablishes diplomatic relations with the Congo.
Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks before a concert featuring Glenn Gould with the New York Philharmonic, when he (Bernstein) announces that although he disagrees with Gould's style of playing the Brahms First Piano Concerto, he finds Gould's ideas fascinating and will conduct the piece anyway. Bernstein's action receives a withering review from New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg.
April 7 – Author Milovan Đilas is arrested in Yugoslavia.
April 8 – In France, the Évian Accords are adopted in a referendum with a majority of 90%.
April 9 – The 34th Academy Awards ceremony is held; West Side Story wins Best Picture.
April 10 – In Los Angeles, the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.
April 13 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is sentenced to death in France.
April 14 – A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers.
April 18 – The Commonwealth Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
April 20 – OAS leader Raoul Salan is arrested in Algiers.
April 21 – The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair opens in Seattle.
April 26 – The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
May
Main article: May 1962
May – Larry Allen Abshier defects to North Korea becoming the first of six (possibly seven) American defectors to North Korea.
May 1
Norwich City wins the English League Cup, beating Rochdale in the final.
Dayton Hudson Corporation opens the first of its Target discount stores in Roseville, Minnesota.
May 2 – An OAS bomb explodes in Algeria – this and other attacks kill 110 and injure 147.
May 3 – 160 die in a triple-train disaster near Tokyo.
May 5 – Twelve East Germans escape via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
May 6 – Antonio Segni is elected President of the Italian Republic.
May 14
Juan Carlos of Spain marries the Greek Princess Sophia in Athens.
Milovan Djilas, former vice-president of Yugoslavia, is given further sentence for publishing Conversations with Stalin.
May 22 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes near Unionville, Missouri after the in-flight detonation of a bomb near the rear lavatory. All 45 passengers and crew aboard are killed.
May 23
Drilling for the new Montreal subway commences.
Raoul Salan, founder of the French terrorist Organisation armée secrète, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France.
May 24 – Project Mercury: Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
May 25 – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated.
May 26 – Acker Bilk's Stranger on the Shore becomes the first British recording to reach number one in the US Billboard Hot 100.
May 27 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited.
May 29 – Negotiations between the OAS and the FLA lead to a real armistice in Algeria.
May 30 – The 1962 FIFA World Cup begins in Chile.
May 31 – Nazi Adolf Eichmann is hanged at a prison in Ramla, Israel. His body is cremated and his ashes are spread in the Mediterranean.
June
Main article: June 1962
June 3 – Air France Flight 007 (a Boeing 707) crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 people on board are killed, 2 flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta.
June 6 – President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
June 11
President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at Yale University.
Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin escape from the Alcatraz Island prison; the men are never heard from again.
June 15 – Students for a Democratic Society complete the Port Huron Statement.
June 17
The OAS signs a truce with the FLN in Algeria, but a day later announces that it will continue the fight on behalf of French Algerians.
Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3–1 to win the 1962 FIFA World Cup.
June 22 – An Air France Boeing 707 jet crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board. It is the airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks, and the third fatal 707 crash of the year.
June 25
Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
MANual Enterprises v. Day: The United States Supreme Court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines.
İsmet İnönü of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (27th government, coalition partners; YTP and CKMP)
June 26 – A 2-day steel strike begins in Italy, in support of increased wages and a 5-day working week.
June 28 – The United Lutheran Church in America, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, American Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merge to form the Lutheran Church in America.
June 30 – The last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria.
July
Main article: July 1962
July 1
Rwanda and Burundi gain independence.
Supporters of Algerian independence win 99% majority in a referendum.
A heavy smog develops over London.
Treaty of Nordic Cooperation of Helsinki (23 Mar 1962 signed) in force.
July 2
Charles de Gaulle accepts Algerian independence; France recognizes it the next day.
The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart (which is still the corporate name), opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
July 5 – Algeria becomes independent from France.
July 6 – Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne presents his first edition of The Late Late Show. Byrne goes on to present the talk show for 37 years, making it the longest running in the world.
July 9 – American artist Andy Warhol premieres his Campbell's Soup Cans exhibit in Los Angeles.
July 10 – AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit and activated the next day.
July 12 – The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry.
July 13 – In what the press dubs "the Night of the Long Knives", United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet.
July 17 – Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
July 19 – The first annual Swiss & Wielder Hoop and Stick Tournament is held.
July 20 – France and Tunisia reestablish diplomatic relations.
July 22 – Mariner program: The Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
July 23
Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.
The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed in Geneva, Switzerland.
July 31
Algeria proclaims independence; Ahmed Ben Bella is the first President.
A crowd assaults the rally of Sir Oswald Mosley's right-wing Union Movement in London.
August
Main article: August 1962
August 5
Marilyn Monroe found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills and chloral hydrate, officially ruled a "probable suicide". However, the exact cause of her death has been disputed.
The South African government arrests Nelson Mandela in Howick, and charges him with incitement to rebellion.
August 6 – Jamaica becomes independent.
August 10[citation needed] – Marvel Comics publishes Amazing Fantasy#15, which features the first published appearance of Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
August 15 – The New York Agreement is signed, trading the West New Guinea colony to Indonesia.
August 16
Beatles drummer Pete Best is fired and replaced by Ringo Starr.
Algeria joins the Arab League.
August 17 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
August 22 – A failed assassination attempt is made against French President Charles de Gaulle.
August 23 – John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell.
August 24 – A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat.
August 27 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.
August 31 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
September
Main article: September 1962
September 1
A referendum in Singapore supports the Malayan Federation.
Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, killing at least 130 and wounding more than 600.
September 2 – The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba.
September 8 – Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a constitution.
September 11– The Beatles record their first single, 'Love Me Do' at Abbey Road Studios in London.
September 12 – President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
September 19 – Atlantic College
opens its doors for the first time, marking the birth of the pioneering UWC educational movement.
September 21
A border conflict between China and India erupts into fighting.
New Musical Express, a British music magazine, publishes a story about two 13-year-old schoolgirls, Sue and Mary, releasing a disc on Decca and adds "A Liverpool group, The Beatles, have recorded 'Love Me Do' for Parlophone Records, set for October 5 release."
September 22 – 21-year-old Bob Dylan premiers one of his most preeminent songs, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall".
September 25 – Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the boxing world title.
September 26 – Civil war erupts in Yemen.
September 27
A flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, kills more than 440 people.
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement.
September 28 – Prime Minister Ahmed Ben Bella founds the first government in Algeria.
September 29 – The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California.
September 30 – CBS broadcasts the final episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, marking the end of the Golden Age of Radio.
October
Main article: October 1962
October 14: Pictures of Soviet missile silos in Cuba, taken by US spy planes.
October 1
The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals.
Johnny Carson takes over as permanent host of NBC's Tonight Show, a post he would hold for 30 years.
October 3 – Project Mercury: Walter Schirra orbits the Earth 6 times in the "Sigma 7" space capsule
October 5
The French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate; Prime Minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office.
Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premieres in UK theaters.
The Beatles release their first single for EMI, Love Me Do.
October 8
The German magazine Der Spiegel publishes an article about the Bundeswehr's poor preparedness; the Spiegel scandal erupts.
Algeria is accepted into the United Nations.
October 9 – Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth of Nations.
October 10 – The Sino-Indian War, a border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (India and the People's Republic of China), begins.
October 11 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
October 12
The infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with wind gusts up to 170 mph (270 km/h); 46 are killed, 11 billion board feet (26 million m³) of timber is blown down, with $230 million U.S. in damages.
Jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus presents a disastrous concert [clarification needed] at Town Hall in New York City; it will become known as the worst moment of his career.
October 13 – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway.
October 14 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues for another 12 days after President Kennedy is told of the pictures, between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.
October 19 – Establishment of Thai Nguyen City, under Thai Nguyen, Vietnam.
October 22 – In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces to the nation the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
October 24 – Cuban Missile Crisis: First confrontation between the US Navy and a Soviet cargo vessel. The vessel changes course.
October 26 – Spiegel scandal: German police occupy Der Spiegel offices in Hamburg.
October 28
Cuban Missile Crisis ends: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. In a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, Kennedy agrees to the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. The fact that this deal is not made public makes it look like the Soviets have backed down.[dubious – discuss]
A referendum in France favors the election of the president by universal suffrage.
October 31 – The UN General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but the constitution comes into effect on November 1.
November
Main article: November 1962
November 1
The Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba.
The first issue of Diabolik is published in Italy.
November 3 – Earliest recorded use of the term "personal computer" in the report of a speech by computing pioneer John Mauchly in The New York Times.[3]
November 5
Franz Josef Strauß, the West German defense minister, is relieved of his duties over the Spiegel scandal, due to his alleged involvement in police action against the magazine.
Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt, following a period of unrest partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt.
A coal mining disaster in Ny-Ålesund kills 21 people. The Norwegian government is forced to resign in the aftermath of this accident in August 1963.
November 6 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies, and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.
November 7 – Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is "Richard Nixon's last press conference" and that "you won't have Nixon to kick around any more".
November 17 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport.
November 20 – Cuban missile crisis: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the blockade of the Caribbean nation.
November 21 – The Sino-Indian War ends with a Chinese ceasefire.
November 23 – United Airlines Flight 297 crashes in Columbia, Maryland, killing all 17 on board.
November 24 – The first episode of the ground breaking Satirical comedy program That Was the Week That Was, Hosted by David Frost is broadcast on BBC Television.
November 26
Spiegel scandal: German police end their occupation of Der Spiegel's offices.
Mies Bouwman starts presenting the first live TV-marathon fundraising show (Open Het Dorp), which lasts 23 hours non-stop.
November 27 – French President Charles De Gaulle orders Georges Pompidou to form a government.
November 29 – An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner.
November 30 – The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma as the new UN Secretary-General.
December
Main article: December 1962
December 2 – Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to make a non-optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
December 7 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his formerly autocratic power to several advisory and legislative councils.
December 8
The first period of the Second Vatican Council closes.
The North Kalimantan National Army revolts in Brunei, in the first stirrings of the Indonesian Confrontation.
The 1962 New York City newspaper strike begins, affecting all of the city's major newspapers; It will last for 114 days.
Former Dutch queen Wilhelmina is buried at the New Church in Delft.
December 9
Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president.
MGM's The Wizard of Oz receives its last of four December telecasts on CBS. It will skip a telecast in 1963, so beginning in 1964, first on CBS, then on NBC, and finally again on CBS, it will nearly always be telecast during the early part of the year until Turner Entertainment buys the rights to the film in the 1990s.
December 10 – David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia, featuring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Anthony Quinn premieres in London. Six days later, it opens in the U.S.
December 11
In West Germany, a coalition government of Christian Democrats, Christian Socialists, and Free Democrats is formed.
The last execution by hanging in Canada takes place.
December 14
U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to transmit data successfully from another planet.
Leonardo da Vinci's early 16th-century painting the Mona Lisa is assessed for insurance purposes at US$100 million before touring the United States for several months, the highest insurance value for a painting in history. However, The Louvre, its owner, chooses to spend the money that would have been spent on the insurance premium on security instead.
December 15 – Storm over the North Sea: Belgian pirate radio station Radio Uylenspiegel is knocked off the airwaves, never to operate again.
December 19 – Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (now Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation.
December 21 – Britain agrees to purchase Polaris missiles from the U.S.
December 22 – Winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom: The "Big Freeze" begins; there are no frost-free nights until March 5, 1963.
December 24 – Cuba releases the last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million.
December 30
United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia.
An unexpected storm buries Maine under five feet of snow, forcing the Bangor Daily News to miss a publication date for the only time in history. The same day, also the Netherlands are covered with several feet of snow.