Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things that happened 50 years ago (1963).

1. The Civil Rights Movement in the US was heating up as Martin Luther King marched on Washington DC on August 28, 1963. That same year, black college students staged sit-ins at restaurants and other venues in the South. Many were arrested. Others were doused with water from fire hoses during marches and demonstrations. Alabama governor, George Wallace, elected to office in 1963, stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in defiance of federal court order that allowed blacks entrance to the university in order to keep blacks from entering the school. He was eventually ordered by a National Guard commander to step aside. Cross-burnings were also frequent. An explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, killed four young black girls and injured 22 others. The bombs were planted by members of the KKK.

2. President John F. Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963. Vice President Lyndon Johnson became the 36th US president the same day.

3. The Mercury Atlas 9 rocket with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board took off from Launch Pad 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 5, 1963. Mercury Atlas 9 was the final manned space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, successfully completing 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

4. Twenty-six-year-old Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel in space, going up on June 16, 1963, in the Russian spacecraft, Vostok 6.

5. Iron Man and the X-Men both debuted in Marvel Comics. The first episode of Dr. Who was shown on British TV.

6. The Beatles released their first album, Please Please Me.

7. Coca-Cola introduced Tab, its first diet drink. Studebaker ceased production of its cars.

8. The first push-button (touch tone) telephone became available to ATT customers.

9. Cassette tapes were introduced in Europe; they came to the US a year later.

10. Pop Tarts were invented, not by Kellogg's, but by Post. Post called them "Country Squares" and a year later Kellogg's introduced the Pop Tart. Country Squares did not take off but Pop Tarts did.

11. In 1963, the year end close of the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 762. The average cost of a new house was $12,650.00. The average income per year $5,807.00. Gas cost per gallon was $0.29 (twenty-nine cents). The average cost of a new car was $3,233.00. A loaf of bread cost $0.22 (twenty-two cents). A bedroom air conditioner cost $149.95.

12. The US Postal Service implemented Zip Codes.

13. I was born in June. Yep, I'll hit the big 5-0 soon.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 296th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.