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Job Corps

Job Corps

Job Corps is a program in the United States administered by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor and run by various agencies for disadvantaged and at-risk youth to give them a job and social skills to succeed in the workforce. at-risk Since its inception in 1964, under the Economic Opportunity Act, Job Corps has provided more than 2 million disadvantaged young people with the integrated academic, vocational, and social skills training they need to gain independence and get quality, long-term jobs or further their education. Job Corps continues to help 70,000 youths annually at 122 Job Corps centers throughout the country. Besides vocational training, many Job Corps also offers GED programs as well as high school diplomas and programs to get students into college.

History

The Job Corps was initiated as central program of Johnson Administration's War on Poverty, part of domestic agenda known as the Great Society. Sargent Shriver, the first Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, modeled the program on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Established in the 1930s as an emergency relief program, the CCC provided room, board, and employment to thousands of unemployed young people. Though the CCC was discontinued after World War II, Job Corps built on many of its methods and strategies.

Job Corps Mission Statement

As a national, primarily residential, career development program, Job Corps' mission is to: # Attract eligible young adults. # Involve them in a career development services system which begins prior to enrollment and continues through post-center services. # Assist them in acquiring the skills they need to achieve their career goals and live independently. # Support them in entering and remaining in meaningful jobs or further education.

Eligibility

To enroll in Job Corps, students must meet the following requirements: # Be between 16 and 24 # Be a United States citizen or legal resident # Meet income requirements, and # Be ready, willing, and able to participate fully in an educational environment

Career Paths

Below are some career paths offered by Job Corps:
- Agriculture and Related Occupations
- Allied Health and Health Sciences
- Business Technologies
- Computer Repair
- Construction
- Consumer, Personal and Miscellaneous
- Education
- Engineering and Engineering Related
- Extension Programs
- Information Technology and Related Fields
- Marketing and Distribution
- Mechanics and Repairers
- Precision Production
- Protective Services
- Renewable and natural resources
- Transportation and Material Moving
- Vocational Home Economics

External link


- [http://jobcorps.doleta.gov/ Official Job Corps Web Site]

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Disadvantaged

"The disadvantaged" refers to people without power, money, or other means of influence. They are similarly called "the poor", "the disenfranchised", etc. Although in some cultures there upward mobility gives people hope to change their futures, statistically a person born into poverty is likely to die there and have children who live powerless as well. The current economy in the United States is one that has divided the rich and the poor, with the rich taking the bulk of the gains in productivity of the last several decades. According to Paul Krugman in a recent article titled [http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/magazine/20INEQUALITY.html For Richer] in the New York Times about the distribution of wealth, there is even more of a divide between the classes today than in the 1920s, meaning that the disadvantaged are becoming more so (and the middle class may be headed that way as well). Most of the most truly disadvantaged people live in the developing world with no running water, electricity or sanitation. A current problem for the richest nations is the fact that many terrorists come from parts of the world where they have limited opportunities for advancement.

1964

:For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January


- January 1 - Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
- January 3 - Senator Barry Goldwater announces that he will seek the Republican nomination for President.
- January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the 15th century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I meet in Jerusalem.
- January 7 - A British firm, the Leyland Motor Corp., announces the sale of 450 buses to the Cuban government, challenging the United States blockade of Cuba.
- January 8 - In his first State-of-the-Union address, President Lyndon Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- January 9 - Armed clashes between United States troops and Panamanian mobs in the Canal Zone precipitate a major international crisis and result in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and 4 U.S. soldiers.
- January 11 - United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health. First such statement from the U.S. government.
- January 12 - The predominantly Arab government of Zanzibar is overthrown by African nationalist rebels. A U.S. destroyer evacuates 61 U.S. citizens.
- January 12 - Terry C. Soto, Founder of PPI Enterprises of Houston, Texas, is born.
- January 13 - I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles released in the United States. It will become their first North American hit and the beginning of Beatlemania.
- January 16 - Hello Dolly! opens in New York City's St. James Theatre.
- January 16 - John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, resigns from the space program and announces the next day that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.
- January 18 - Esther Armstrong Scottish Landscape Artist born in Dingwall,Scotland. Plans to build the World Trade Center announced.
- January 20 - Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released.
- January 22 - Kenneth Kaunda inaugurated as the first President of Northern Rhodesia.
- January 23 - Thirteen years after its proposal and nearly two years after the measure had been passed by the United States Senate 77-16, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
- January 23 - Arthur Miller's After the Fall opens on Broadway. A semi-autobiographical work, it will arouse controversy over his portrayal of late ex-wife Marilyn Monroe.
- January 27 - France and the People's Republic of China announce their decision to establish diplomatic relations.
- January 27 - Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me.), 66, announces her candidacy for the Republican nomination for President.
- January 28 - A U.S. Air Force jet training plane that strays into East Germany is shot down by Soviet fighters near Erfurt. All three crew men are killed.
- January 29 - 1964 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruckand concludes on February 9. The Soviet Union launches two scientific satellites, Elektron I and II, from a single rocket.
- January 30 - The junta ruling South Vietnam since the overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem is itself toppled from power in a bloodless coup led by Maj. Gen. Nguyen Khanh.
- January 30 - Ranger 6 is launched by NASA. Its mission is to carry television cameras and to crash-land on the moon.

February


- February 3 - In protests against alleged de-facto school racial segregation, black and Puerto Rican groups in New York City boycott public school.
- February 6 - Cuba cuts off the normal water supply to the United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay in reprisal for U.S. seizure 4 days earlier of 4 Cuban fishing boats off the coast of Florida.
- February 7 - A jury trying Bryon De La Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers in June 1963 reports in Jackson, Mississippi that it was unable to agree on a verdict, resulting in a mistrial; The Beatles land in New York City.
- February 9 - The Beatles make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The 1964 Winter Olympics concludes.
- February 11 - Greeks & Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
- February 11 - The Republic of China (Taiwan) drops diplomatic relations with France because of French recognition of the People's Republic of China.
- February 17 - In Wesberry v. Sanders 376 US 1 1964, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
- February 26 - John Glenn slips on a bathroom rug in his Columbus, Ohio apartment and hits his head on the bathtub, injuring his left inner ear, and prompting him (later that week) to withdraw from the race for the Senate nomination.
- February 27 - The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.
- February 29 - President Johnson announces that the United States had developed a jet airplane (the A-11), capable of sustained flight at more than 2,000 MPH and of altitudes of more than 70,000 feet.

March


- March 4 - Jimmy Hoffa, President of the Teamsters, is convicted by a Federal jury of tampering with a Federal jury in 1962.
- March 4 – Malta gains independence.
- March 6 - Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
- March 8 - Malcolm X, suspended from the Nation of Islam, says in New York City that he is forming a black nationalist party.
- March 9 - In New York Times Co. v Sullivan 376 US 254 1964, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that under the First Amendment, speech criticizing political figures cannot be censored.
- March 9 - The first Ford Mustang rolls off the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.
- March 10 - Soviet Union military forces shoot down an unarmed reconnaissance bomber that had strayed into East Germany; the three U.S. flyers parachute to safety.
- March 10 - The New Hampshire primary is won by Henry Cabot Lodge, Ambassador to South Vietnam.
- March 12 - Malcolm X withdraws from the Nation of Islam
- March 13 - 38 residents of a neighborhood in Queens, New York City fail to respond to the cries of Kitty Genovese, 28, as she is being stabbed to death. The incident will become notorious.
- March 14 - A jury in Dallas, Texas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
- March 20 - The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
- March 26 - Defense Secretary Robert McNamara delivers an address that reiterated the United States determination to give South Vietnam increased military and economic aid in its war against Communist insurgency.
- March 27 - The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes South Central Alaska killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
- March 29 - The first pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is established.
- March 31 - The military overthrows Brazilian President João Goulart, starting 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil.

April


- April 2 - Mrs. Malcolm Peabody, 72, mother of Governor Endicott Peabody of Massachusetts, is released on $450 bond after spending two days in jail in St. Augustine, Florida, because of her participation in an anti-segregation demonstration there.
- April 4 - The Beatles hold the top five positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America, an unprecedented accomplishment. Owing mostly to the explosive growth, fragmentation, and marketing of popular music since, this is certain to never happen again. The top songs in America as listed on April 4, in order, were: "Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and "Please Please Me."
- April 5 - Jigme Dorfi, Premier of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is shot dead by an unidentified assassin in Puncholing, near the Indian border.
- April 7 - IBM announces the System/360.
- April 8 - Four of five railroad operating unions strike against the Illinois Central Railroad without warning to bring to a head the five-year dispute over railroad work rules.
- April 9 - The United Nations Security Council adopts by a 9-0 vote a resolution deploring a British air attack on a fort in Yemen 12 days earlier in which 25 persons were reported killed.
- April 11 - The Brazilian Congress elects General Humberto Castelo Branco as President of Brazil.
- April 14 - A Delta rocket's third stage motor ignites prematurely in an assembly room at Cape Canaveral, killing 3.
- April 16 - Geraldine Mock is the first woman to fly solo around the world.
- April 17 - In the United States, the Ford Mustang is officially unveiled to the public.
- April 19 - The coalition government of Laos, headed by Prince Souvanna Phouma, is deposed by a right-wing military group led by Brig. Gen. Kouprasith Abhay.
- April 20 - President Lyndon Johnson in New York and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow announce simultaneously plans to cut back production of materials for making nuclear weapons.
- April 20 - Nelson Mandela makes his "I Am Prepared to Die" speech at the opening of the Rivonia Trial, a classic of the anti-apartheid movement.
- April 20 - BBC2 starts broadcasting in the UK.
- April 22 - British businessman Greville Wynn, who had been imprisoned in Moscow since 1963 accused of spying, is exchanged for Soviet spy Gordon Lonsdale.
- April 22 - NY World's Fair opens to celebrate the 300th anniversary of New Amsterdam being taken over by British forces under the command of the Duke of York (later King James II) and being renamed New York in 1664. It will run until Oct. 18, 1964 and will reopen April 21, 1965, finally closing Oct. 17 of that year. Because there can only be one official world's fair in any one country within ten years and the previous officially sanctioned World's Fair was held in Seattle in 1962, this fair was never officially recognized and many countries declined to be represented.
- April 25 - Thieves steal the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen (Henrik Bruun confesses in 1997).
- April 26 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.

May


- May 2 - Senator Barry Goldwater receives more than 75% of the votes in the Texas Republican Presidential primary.
- May 7 - A Pacific Air Lines Fairchild F-27 crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
- May 7 - At a show of post rockets from Gerhard Zucker on the mountain Hasselkopf near Braunlage (Lower Saxonia, Germany) three persons were killed by an explosion of a rocket.
- May 9 - South Korean President Chung Hee Park reshuffles his Cabinet after a series of student demonstrations against his efforts to restore diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.
- May 11 - Terence Conran opened the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road.
- May 19 - The United States State Department says that more than 40 hidden microphones have been found embedded in the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
- May 19 - Jovan Petronic was born in Beograd, Serbia. He is now an International Chess Master & FIDE Senior Trainer. Jovan maintains his personal website at: http://www.jovanpetronic.com
- May 23 - Mrs. Madeline Dassault, 63, wife of a French plane manufacturer and politician, is kidnapped while leaving her car in front of her Paris home; she is found unharmed the next day in a farmhouse 27 miles from Paris.
- May 23 - Pablo Picasso painted his fourth Head of a Bearded Man.
- May 24-25 - The crowd at a football match in Lima, Peru riot over a referee's decision in Peru-Argentina game - 319 dead, 500 injured in a riot.
- May 27 - Prime Minister Nehru of India dies; he is succeeded by Lal Shastri.

June


- June 2 - Senator Barry Goldwater wins the California Republican Presidential primary, making him the overwhelming favorite for the nomination.
- June 2 - Five million shares of stock in the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat) are offered for sale at $20 a share, and the issue is quickly sold out.
- June 3 - South Korean President Park Chung Hee declares martial law in Seoul after 10,000 student demonstrators overpower police.
- June 6 - With a temporary order the rocket launches at Cuxhaven are terminated.
- June 9 - In Federal Court in Kansas City, Kansas, army deserter George John Gessner, 28, is convicted of passing United States secrets to the Soviet Union.
- June 11 - Greece rejects direct talks with Turkey over Cyprus.
- June 11 - In Cologne, Germany, Walter Seifert attacks students and teachers in elementary school with a flamethrower - kills 10 and injures 21
- June 12 Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton announces his candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination, as part of a 'stop-Goldwater' movement.
- June 12 - Nelson Mandela and seven others are sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa and sent to the Robben Island prison.
- June 19 - Senator Edward Kennedy, 32, is seriously injured in a private plane crash at Southampton, Massachusetts; the pilot is killed.
- June 21 - Three civil rights workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, are murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, by local segregationist law enforcement officials.
- June 21 - Spain beat the Soviet Union 2-1 to win the 1964 European Championship.
- June 25 - The Vatican condemns the female contraceptive pill.
- June 26 – Moise Tshombe returns to Congo from his exile from Spain.

July


- July 2 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
- July 6 - Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
- July 8 - U.S. military personnel announces that U.S. casualties in Vietnam have risen to 1,387, including 399 dead and 17 MIA.
- July 19 - Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.
- July 20 - Vietnam War - Viet Cong forces attack a provincial capital, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
- July 22 – Second meeting of Organization of African Unity.
- July 27 - Vietnam War: 5,000 more U.S. military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
- July 31 - Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon (images are 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth-bound telescopes).

August


- August 4 - American civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.
- August 4 - Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks two, possibly three North Vietnamese gunboats.
- August 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow - aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
- August 5 – Simba rebel army in Congo capture Stanleyville and takes 1000 western hostages.
- August 7 - Vietnam War: The United States Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.
- August 8 - A Rolling Stones gig in Scheveningen gets out of control. Riot police end the gig after about 15 minutes, upon which spectators start to fight the riot police.
- August 13 - Murderers Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen are executed. They are the last people to be executed in the United Kingdom.
- August 16 - Vietnam War: In a coup, General Nguyen Khanh replaces Duong Van Minh as South Vietnam's chief of state and establishes a new constitution, which the U.S. Embassy helped draft.

September


- September 4 - Forth Road Bridge opens over the Firth of Forth.
- September 10 - Germany receives its 1,000,000th foreign worker.
- September 14 - Opening of third period of Second Vatican Council.
- September 14 - the Daily Herald ceases publication, replaced by The Sun.
- September 16 - Shindig! premieres live on the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) featuring top musical acts of the sixties.
- September 21 - the island of Malta obtains independance from the United Kingdom.
- September 24 - The Warren Commission Report, the first official investigation of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, is published.

October


- October - In Photoplay magazine, Hedda Hopper announces that Sophia Loren and Paul Newman will star in the film version of Arthur Miller's play, After the Fall, with Loren in the role that was written about Marilyn Monroe. However, the film was never made.
- October 5 - Twenty-three men and 31 women escape to West Berlin through a narrow tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
- October 5 - Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip begin an 8-day visit to Canada.
- October 10 - 1964 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo.
- October 12 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits.
- October 14 - American civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.
- October 14 - 15 - Nikita Khrushchev is deposed as leader of the Soviet Union; Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin assume power.
- October 15 - United Kingdom's Labour Party wins the parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom, ending 13 years of Conservative Party rule.
- October 15 - Norman Breedlove's jet-powered car Spirit of America goes out of control in Bonnevile Salt Flats in Utah and makes skid marks 9.6 km long
- October 16 - Harold Wilson becomes British Prime Minister.
- October 16 - People's Republic of China explodes an atomic bomb in Sinkiang.
- October 18 - NY World's Fair closes for the year. It will reopen April 21, 1965.
- October 22 - Canada: A Federal Mult-Party Parliamentary Committee selects a design to become the new official Flag of Canada.
- October 24 - Northern Rhodesia, a former British protectorate, becomes the independent Republic of Zambia, ending 73 years of British rule.
- October 24 - 1964 Summer Olympics close in Tokyo.
- October 27 - In Congo, rebel leader Christopher Gbenye takes 60 Americans and 800 Belgians as hostages.
- October 29 - A collection of irreplaceable gemstones, including the 565 carat (113 g) Star of India, is stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
- October 31 - Campaigning at Madison Square Garden, New York, President Lyndon Johnson pledges the creation of the Great Society.

November


- November 1 - Mortar fire from North Vietnamese forces rains on the USAF base at Bein Hoa, South Vietnam, killing 4 U.S. servicemen and wounding 72, and destroying five B-57 jet bombers and other planes.
- November 3 - The Bolivian government of President Victor Paz Estenssoro is overthrown by a military rebellion led by General Alfredo Ovando Candía, commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
- November 3 - U.S. presidential election, 1964: Incumbent U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater with over 60 percent of the popular vote.
- November 5 - Mariner program: Mariner 3, a U.S. space probe, intended for Mars is launched from Cape Kennedy, but fails.
- November 9 - British House of Commons votes to abolish the death penalty for murder in Britain.
- November 10 - Australia partially reintroduces compulsory military service due to Indonesian Confrontation.
- November 19 - The U.S. Defense Department announced the closing of 95 military bases and facilities, including the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, and Fort Jay, New York.
- November 21 - Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.
- November 21 - The Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens to traffic (at the time it was the world's longest suspension bridge).
- November 24 - Belgian paratroopers and mercenaries capture Stanleyville but a number of hostages die in the fighting.
- November 28 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 space probe from Cape Kennedy toward Mars to take television pictures of that planet in July 1965.
- November 28 - Vietnam War: National Security Council members, including Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and Maxwell Taylor agree to recommend that U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam.

December


- December 1 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam (after some debate, they agreed to enact a two-phase bombing plan).
- December 3 - Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover and massive sit-in at the administration building protesting the UC Regents' decision to forbid Vietnam War protests on U.C. property.
- December 14 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules, in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States 379 US 241 1964, that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodations must refrain from racial discrimination.
- December 15 - The Washington Post publishes an article about James Hampton, who had built a glittering religious throne out of recycled materials
- December 18 - In the wake of deadly riots in January over control of the Panama Canal, the US offers to negotiate a new canal treaty

Date unknown


- 7000 residents of New Hanover, Australia, refuse to pay taxes and found a fund to purchase Lyndon B. Johnson.
- Jerome Horowitz synthesizes zidovudine, an antiviral drug used in treating HIV.
- The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is founded.
- John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz create BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level programming language that has been included on many computers and even some games consoles.
- First Moog synthesizer designed by Robert Moog.

Births

January-March


- January 2 - Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
- January 6 - Henry Maske, German boxer
- January 6 - Rafael Vidal, Venezuelan swimmer and sports commentator (d. 2005)
- January 7 - Nicolas Cage, American actor
- January 12 - Jeff Bezos, American president of amazon.com
- January 13 - Penelope Ann Miller, American actress
- January 23 - Mariska Hargitay, American actress
- January 27 - Bridget Fonda, American actress
- January 29 - Andre Reed, American football player
- February 4 - Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring)
- February 5 - Laura Linney, American actress
- February 5 - Duff McKagan, American musician (Guns N'Roses)
- February 15 - Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (d. 1997)
- February 16 - Christopher Eccleston, British actor
- February 17 - Mark Kennedy Shriver, nephew of John F Kennedy, son of Eunice Mary Kennedy.
- February 18 - Matt Dillon, American actor
- March 7 - Bret Easton Ellis, American author
- March 9 - Juliette Binoche, French actress
- March 10 - Edward, Earl of Wessex
- March 11 - Shane Richie, British actor
- March 17 - Rob Lowe, American actor
-