S. S. Fehr's Letters to Mom

1964:

• January 1964 - President Johnson (LBJ) declares a "War on Poverty" in his State of the Union speech.
• 11 January 1964 - U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Luther L. Terry issues a report linking cigarette smoking to lung cancer.
• January 1964 - I Want to Hold Your Hand by the Beatles is #1 in the U.S. By March 1964, the Beatles invasion of America is going fabulously! The Fab Four have four hits on the charts accounting for more than a majority of all records (no CDs) sold. Some of AG2 Fehr's other beloved Beatles tunes in 1964, include I Saw Her Standing There, A Hard Day's Night and Can't Buy Me Love.
• 23 January 1964 - The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passes prohibiting poll taxes.
• 9 February 1964 - The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
• 25 February 1964 - Boxer Cassius Clay beats Sonny Liston and changes his name to Muhammed Ali.
• 24 April 1964 - In preparation for Freedom Summer, the Klan burns 84 crosses in 82 counties in Mississippi.
• 19 June 1964 - Topless dancing is born in the Condor club in San Francisco.
• June 1964 - One thousand civil rights volunteers begin the Freedom Summer drive to register Negro voters.
• 21 June 1964 - Three civil rights volunteers are murdered on arrival in Mississippi. In August, the bodies of James Chaney (21), Andrew Goodman (20) and Michael Schwerner (24) are discovered in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
• June 1964 - Six Negro churches are burned in Mississippi (and 21 more by September 1964).
• 2 July 1964 - LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which opens public facilities to all.
• Summer 1964 - Negro uprisings and racial violence are reported in major cities including Harlem (July 18), Brooklyn (July 20), Rochester (July 22), New Jersey (August 11-14), Chicago (August 16 -17) and Philadelphia (August 28 - 30).
• August-September 1964 - The Beatles tour 25 North American cities on their first U.S. "tour."
• 27 September 1964 - The Warren Commission Report on the assassination of JFK is released and concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
• 14 October 1964 - In the U.S.S.R., Krushchev is deposed by Leonard Brezhnev and Aleksey Kosygin.
• 16 October 1964 - China tests its first atomic bomb becoming the 5th member of the nuclear club.
• 26 October 1964 - The Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan TV Show.
• November 1964 - President Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater for the presidency in a landslide victory.
• 10 December 1964 - The Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr. (MLK) is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

• 1964 - The Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting is awarded to Malcolm W. Browne and David Halberstam of Associated Press and New York Times, respectively, for their individual reporting of the Vietnam War and the overthrow of the Diem regime. Halberstam also publishes The Making of a Quagmire, which AG2 Fehr absorbs in the coming year.
• 1964 - The Academy Award for the Best Picture goes to My Fair Lady.
• 1964 - Broadway premiers Hello Dolly, Funny Girl and Fiddler on the Roof.
• 1964 - New York is surpassed in population by California.
• 1964 - TV shows Gomer Pyle, Gilligan's Island and UNCLE debut.

  Vietnam experiences the beginnings of the escalation in 1964:
  

• 20 January 1964 - A new military junta led by General Nguyen Khanh takes over in South Vietnam.
• February 1964 - LBJ orders the evacuation of American dependents.
• March 1964 - Focused on the need to keep the Communists from winning, and believing the credibility of the U.S. would suffer throughout the world, LBJ decides to increase military aid. In GI vernacular, to save face the U.S. is on a course to pay through the nose and lose ass.
• March 1964 - Secret bombing raids begin on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos by CIA mercenaries.
• June 1964 - General Westmoreland becomes MAC-V (Military Assistance Command - Vietnam) commander.
• July 1964 - U.S. announces plans to increase its military contingent by 5,000 to a total of 21,000 advisors.
• July 1964 - As part of covert operations (Operation Plan 34 A), South Vietnamese commandos in unmarked speed-boats shell North Vietnamese military sites. The U.S.S. Maddox is patrolling in the vicinity unaware of those secret attacks.
• 2 August 1964 - In the Gulf of Tonkin ten miles off the North Vietnamese coast, three North Vietnamese patrol boats attack the Maddox during the early morning hours.
• 4 August 1964 - Three Operation 34 A speed boats return to base at Danang at 0715 after shelling a radar facility at Vinh Son and another security post on the Ron River in North Vietnam. At 0700, the Maddox, joined by the Turner Joy, head for North Vietnamese coastal waters. That night amid thunderstorms, which affect accuracy of electronic gear on the destroyers, low clouds and a moonless night, crew members relying on their instruments believe they are under torpedo attack from patrol boats. Although both destroyers open fire, accounts differ whether any attacking boats were actually sighted. Post-war accounts deny any attack occurred.
• 5 August 1964 - LBJ orders a retaliatory attack, the first bombing of North Vietnam, by 67 planes from the decks of the carriers Ticonderoga and Constellation.
• 7 August 1964 - The White House's proposal known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is approved by Congress authorizing the President a carte blanche to take all necessary measures to repel an armed attack against the forces of the U.S. ...to prevent further aggression...(and) assist any member...of SEATO requesting assistance.
• September 1964 - The Selective Service calls up 27,500 draftees, more than any month since 1953 during the Korean War.
• 1 November 1964 - Viet Cong forces mortar attack the Bien Hoa Airbase damaging several aircraft, killing four Americans and wounding 72.
• November 1964 - The 8th RRU (Radio Research Unit) is organized at Phu Bai to provide support to MACV.
• 24 December 1964 - The Viet Cong sabotage the American Bachelor Officers' Quarters in Saigon's Brinks Hotel killing two and injuring over 100 persons.
• 28 December 1964 - The 9th Viet Cong Division annihilates two ARVN (Army of the Republic of South Vietnam) units at Binh Gia. U.S. intelligence learns that North Vietnam has begun sending the 325th NVA (North Vietnamese Army) Division into South Vietnam alarming General Westmoreland. The character of the war has changed. He views it as an invasion of one sovereign nation by another.

• In 1964, Fehr's Air Force roommate would inquire practically every day where Steve was going, and then without hesitation answer loudly, "Downtown!" as articulated by Petula Clark in her hit record. She exhorted all to go Downtown!
  "You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
  So go Downtown, things'll be great when you're
  Downtown…no finer place, for sure
  Downtown… everything's waiting for you."<

• Other now golden or moldy oldies from 1964 were Eric Burden and the Animals' folk-rock hit House of the Rising Sun, Gary & the Pacemakers promised I'll Be There, and Dionne Warwick sang Walk On By. The Supremes recorded Baby Love and the Searchers used Love Potion Number 9 to climb the charts. One of the biggest in 1964 was Roy Orbison's classic hit Oh Pretty Woman. Barbara Streisand gained fame belting out People.
• Other hits still instantly recognizable by the Baby Boomer generation include the Four Seasons (Rag Doll), Terry Stafford (Suspicion), Lesley Gore (You Don't Own Me) and Bobby Vinton (Mr. Lonely). Fehr's favorite specialty tune was by Roger Miller (Dang Me - they oughta take a rope and hang me, hang me from the highest treee!).