Timeline 1964 - Everything That Happened in The Year 1964

Up the 36 steps to the rotunda, the coffin-bearers strain under their burden. A watching nation lifts it with them. As 1964 began, the world was still reeling over the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But history wasn't about to slow down and let everyone catch their breath. The new year would see a declaration of martial law in South Korea, six days of race riots in Harlem, and a coup d'etat in South Vietnam. There were some bright spots, too, however. Tim Hortons opened their first location. England and France agreed to collaborate on the Channel Tunnel. And some guy named Darren met the girl of his dreams. Except it so happens that this girl is a witch. So now we're going to take you through the news, culture, sports, entertainment, and all that was weird in 1964. Because this is Timeline. Now, watch out for Oreck Goldfinger, because this one is all about 1964. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. And let us know what aspects of the 60s you're most interested to hear about in the comments below. Now, are you ready to learn what happened the year the Addams Family and the Munsters premiered? Tied up right now. I get the feeling you're not telling me everything. On January 1, the BBC started the year with the debut of Top of the Pops, which featured performances of the week's most popular songs and a review of the latest singles chart. The first episode featured Dusty Springfield performing I Only Want to Be With You, followed by the Rolling Stones rocking their way through Lennon and McCartney's I Want to Be Your Man. The series, which also served as a launching pad for up and coming artists, would run until 2006. It's still number one. It's Top of the Pops. Making it the world's longest running weekly music show at the time of its cancellation. A poll tax is a tax that must be paid as a prerequisite to voting in an election. If you can't pay, you can't vote. After the Civil War, numerous states instituted such taxes as a way of preventing impoverished black citizens from exercising the right to participate in democracy. But in January of 1962, Congress proposed an amendment to the Constitution to remedy the situation. On January 23, 1964, the 24th Amendment was ratified, preventing the federal and state governments from imposing poll taxes on federal elections. January 25 was a big day for University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight, because that was the day he partnered up with his coach, Bill Bowerman, to found Blue Ribbon Sports. Blue Ribbon was a distributor for Japanese shoemaker Onosuka Tiger. And Knight sold their wares out of his car during track meets. The company made $8,000 its first year and opened its first retail outlet in 1966. In 1971, Bowerman would start developing original running shoes for the company, which would then change its name to Nike. The radioactivity would never penetrate a mine some thousands of feet deep. How long would you have to stay down there? Possibly 100 years. People could actually stay down there for 100 years? Would not be difficult, my Fuhrer. Nuclear reactors could, I'm sorry, Mr. President. Nuclear reactors could provide power almost indefinitely. G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe, fighting man from head to toe, on the land, on the sea, in the air. G.I. Joe, attack! In 1963, Manhattan-based licensing agent Stanley Weston came up with an idea for a line of soldier dolls. He made prototypes and showed them to a friend at Hasbro, who saw their potential and licensed the idea for $100,000. However, the conventional wisdom at the time held that boys would not play with dolls. So Hasbro came up with a new name for the toy, Action Figures. The line itself was then named G.I. Joe. Look at Jimmy. I built an airstrip with G.I. Joe pilots. And it was first released to stores on February 1st. The G.I. Joe line evolved quite a bit over the years. And in 1983, the figures, originally 12 inches tall, were shrunk to 3 and 3 1⁄4 inches, not coincidentally the same size as Kenner's Star Wars figures. To promote the relaunch, Marvel Comics created a G.I. Joe comic book and a series of animated commercials. Those commercials proved so popular, a cartoon series called G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero, was commissioned. It debuted September 12th, 1983, and became a hit, running 95 episodes. The British invasion began on February 9th, when the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles. Sullivan's 728-seat studio received over 50,000 requests for tickets, trouncing the 7,000 received for the first appearance of Elvis Presley. The Fab Four performed five songs that night, including All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want to Hold Your Hand. All told, the episode was viewed by a record 73 million viewers. There was no reported crime. Even the criminals had arrest for, like, 10 minutes while we were on. Heavyweight champion Sonny Liston took on challenger Cassius Clay. Clay, an underdog, would later admit, it frightened me just knowing how hard he hit. Once the fight started, however, it was clear Liston had no answer for Clay's speed and was having difficulty landing punches. At the start of the seventh round, Liston spit out his mouth guard. They might be sharp against that. Might be all, ladies and gentlemen. When it became apparent he wasn't answering the bell, Clay was declared the winner and new champion. Less than two weeks later, he would officially change his name to Muhammad Ali. I'm great. I don't have a mark on my face, and I upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned 22 years old. I must be the greatest. This episode of Timeline is brought to you by. Wake up in the morning, there's a snap around the place. Wake up in the morning, there's a crackle in your face. Wake up in the morning, there's a pop that really says life. This is for you and you and you. On the milk and listen to the snap that says it's nice. Or on the milk and listen to the crackle of that rice. Get up in the morning to the pop that says it's twice. Hear them talking, Chris. Rice Krispies. In 1964, the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa hung 17 feet south of its base. And experts agreed that an earthquake, or even a strong storm, could easily topple the 180-foot-tall medieval monument. So on February 27, the Italian government announced it was open to suggestions on what to do. An attempt to save the tower began two years later, but was halted when its tilt worsened. It wouldn't be until 2000 that engineers figured out how to reduce the tilt enough to stabilize the structure. I've been silent for the past 90 days because of some statements I made concerning the president of the United States, which were distorted. After his comments about the assassination of John F. Kennedy brought a wave of bad PR to the Nation of Islam, the group's leader, Elijah Muhammad, ordered Malcolm to observe a 90-day period of silence. Since you decided to make the changes, you discussed it with your leader, Muhammad? No, I did receive word from him that the 90-day suspension that I was under was not to be lifted. I frankly didn't think that I would ever be an active member of the Nation of Islam anymore. Despite apologizing for his remarks, however, X decided it was time to move on and resigned from the organization on March 8. He would subsequently make a pilgrimage to Mecca and convert to Sunni Islam, at which time he took on the Muslim name, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. I've always had the name on my passport, Malik El-Shabazz. I only used it in the Muslim world. Hajj is a title that is given to any Muslim who makes the pilgrimage to Mecca during the official Hajj season. Hi, Rosie. What you doing, bird watching? No, Mustang watching. Here, take a look. Oh, boy, what a car. On March 9, the Ford Motor Company began production on a new model, the Mustang. The first in a new class of automobiles known as pony cars, the Mustang had a long hood, a short deck, four bucket seats, a floor-mounted shifter, and came in both hardtop and convertible models. The first Mustang would be sold at a dealership in Newfoundland before the now iconic car made its official debut at the World's Fair on April 17. The Supreme Court struck a blow for freedom of the press on March 9, when it decided New York Times v. Sullivan. The landmark case arose in 1960, when the paper published an ad placed by supporters of Martin Luther King, Jr., criticizing the police in Montgomery, Alabama. The ad contained several non-factual statements, prompting the police to sue for defamation. An Alabama court found the ad defamatory. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that public officials must prove false. Defamatory statements were made with actual malice in order to be actionable. In 1964, Jack Ruby went on trial for killing presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. During the proceedings, Ruby would deny killing Oswald to prevent him from revealing a larger conspiracy, instead claiming his grief over the president's death caused him to experience psychomotor epilepsy and act unconsciously. The jury, however, didn't buy it. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder with malice as charged in the indictment and assess his punishment at death. The verdict would be overturned by the Texas Court of Appeals, and Ruby would die of lung cancer in 1967 while awaiting a new trial. And welcome to a brand new show called Jeopardy. This is a very unusual question and answer show. You see, we give the contestants the answers, and all they have to do is come up with a question. Bits and pieces 30. The answer is Spied on Lady Godiva. Spied on Lady Godiva. Jesse, you would know that. Let this peeping Tom do it. Yeah. It's this knee-knocking hour here, and I won't delay anymore to present the award for the best actor, a very brilliant Academy Award winning actress of last year, Miss Anne Bancroft. The 36th Academy Awards were presented on April 13th. Tom Jones would win Best Picture. But what made the night historic was the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, which, for the first time in history, went to an African-American actor. The winner is Sidney Portman. Recognized for his powerhouse performance as a construction worker who helped build a chapel in Lilies of the Field. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you, not even Solomon in all his glories was arrayed as one of these. Consider the lilies. The award was presented by actress Anne Bancroft, who kissed Poitier on the cheek during the presentation, causing something of a mini scandal among viewers. It is a long journey to this moment. All I can say is a very special thank you. Sidney Poitier may have been the first African-American to win Best Actor in a Leading Role, but the first African-American to win an Oscar was actress Hattie McDaniel for her supporting role in 1939's Gone with the Wind. This is one of the happiest moments of my life. McDaniel's win, however, turned out to be something of an isolated event, and it wouldn't be until March 24, 2002, that a black woman would win Best Actress in a Leading Role. That actress was Halle Berry, recognized for her work in director Mark Forster's Monsters Ball. Sentence for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance, because this door tonight has been opened. On March 19th, pilot Geraldine Frederick-Smock, or Jerry to her friends, departed Columbus, Ohio, in her single-engine Cessna 180, which she named the Spirit of Columbus and nicknamed Charlie. And on April 17th, 29 days, 11 hours, 59 minutes, and nearly 23,000 miles later, she landed that same plane right back in Columbus, making her the first woman to fly solo around the world. This episode of Timeline is brought to you by. You probably think I'm just an ordinary guy, but in the sinister world of counter-espionage, I'm known as Agent Zero-M. Interesting equipment in counter-intelligence, like this portable radio. Supposing I'm here in Monte Carlo, trapped by enemy agents. I'd play it cool. Just want to hear a little music. The new Zero-M radio rifle. Looks like a radio, but touch this button. Rather neat, eh? To get your Zero-M radio rifle and jet coder, just remember the password. Bobby, are you going to mow the lawn or not? The password, Zero-M. The 1964 World's Fair was held in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York. It opened on April 22nd, and like previous World Fairs, it left its impression on the world. The fair, for example, hosted North America's first Thai food restaurant and Belgian waffles, while giving visitors a sneak peek at technologies of the future, including picture phones and personal computers. We'll be able to ask for the news of any date that you like. This little mobile is a scale model of our Tower of the Four Winds that spans at the entrance to the UNICEF Pavilion at the World's Fair. It also featured a number of exhibits and technologies later incorporated into Disney theme parks, including It's a Small World, the Progress Land Carousel, and the Magic Skyway. In the 1960s, most computers operated on custom software, which greatly limited their use. But that changed with the arrival of BASIC, or the Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz of Dartmouth College and released on May 1st, BASIC was modeled on the programming language FORTRAN 2, but was easier to use. For that reason, it was widely installed on the microcomputers of the 1970s and home computers of the 1980s, leading to an explosion in its use. Between 1964 and 1968, President Johnson enacted a series of programs designed to combat racial oppression and poverty while expanding social welfare programs. The initiative was known as the Great Society, a term Johnson first used in a speech at Ohio University on May 7th. But it would be his speech at the University of Michigan on May 22nd that spelled out the details and found Johnson telling the crowd, The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we're totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. On May 24th, football teams from Peru and Argentina faced off at the Estadio Nacional in Lima. With Argentina up 1-0 in just six minutes on the clock, Victor Lovaton scored a tying goal, only to see it disallowed by a ref. Angry fans stormed the field, and police responded by firing tear gas, causing a rush for the exits, which were blocked by steel shutters. By the time it was over, at least 328 were dead, making it one of the deadliest sports riots in history. Ken Kesey became famous for writing 1962's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He then started throwing LSD parties for his friends, some of who formed a proto-hippie group called the Merry Pranksters. Original prankster credo was never trust a prankster, because no matter how I try, I will eventually lie to you, even though I may not want to, if I say you lie. Go ahead. Would you repeat that again? On June 14, 1964, Kesey and the Prankster set out for New York in a psychedelically painted school bus, adorned with a wooden sign on its roof that read, Berger. Along the way, they made stops to see the effect their hallucinogenic-fueled antics would have on average Americans. The trip would turn Kesey into a spokesman for counterculture and the Pranksters into 1960s icons. On June 21, members of the Ku Klux Klan killed civil rights activists James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi. The three, who had been working for organizations like CORE to register African-Americans to vote, had been arrested for speeding earlier in the day and were subsequently tailed by officers with ties to the Klan. One of those officers later pulled the three men over again. They got in the car and said they were going to Meridian, Mississippi. Got in the police car with the city policemen. We followed them several blocks to be sure that they did go that way. And then led them into a deadly ambush. They're being held somewhere, or something happened. And I am going to find the answer. Their bodies would be discovered in an earthen dam southeast of Philadelphia, sparking national outrage and kicking off a major federal investigation. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. Prior to his assassination, President Kennedy proposed sweeping legislation to outlaw discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The proposal was filibustered at the time, but after Kennedy was gone, Lyndon Johnson flexed his presidential muscles and pushed it through Congress and the Senate in June before being signed by Johnson on July 2nd. Purpose of this law is simple. There are those who are equal before God shall now also be equal in the polling booths, in the classrooms, in the factories, and in hotels and restaurants and movie theaters, and other places that provide service to the public. The act continued to face resistance even after becoming law, but the Supreme Court would uphold its constitutionality in December. The Girl from Ipanema is a bossa nova pop song written in 1962 by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Manisius de Moraes, with English lyrics later added by Norman Gimbel. The lyrics were inspired by a 17-year-old girl who the composers noticed walking past the Veloso Bar Cafe every day on her way to a beach in the Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Did you know someone was sitting at this table watching? No, I didn't know anything. Why? I am so shy. The recording by jazz saxophonist Stan Getz entered the Billboard charts on May 31st and peaked at number five on July 12th. In 1954, Dr. Sam Shepard was convicted of murdering his wife, Marilyn. After serving 10 years of a sentence, however, Shepard's attorney, F. Lee Bailey, convinced the Supreme Court to reverse the conviction on the grounds Shepard's trial was tainted by a carnival atmosphere and the judge was biased against him. He didn't keep control of his courtroom. The newsmen were bouncing up and down like jacks in a box and taking pictures of jurors. Shepard was released on bail on July 15th and would be acquitted in 1966. Although denied by producers, many believe this crime inspired the 1964 TV series The Fugitive, which changed the bushy-haired intruder Shepard claimed committed the crime into a six-fingered man. On July 18th, Warner Brothers released the Looney Tunes short, False Hair, which found Bugs Bunny squaring off with a big bad wolf. Relax a bit. This is a good pose. Oh, boy. Look, Mac. Can't you just stand straight, arms down, like this? Oh, I get it now. Surprise, surprise. And when he comes out of the dark room, let me know what develops, eh? What the public didn't realize at the time, though, was that False Hair would be the last cartoon produced by Warner's original animation division. As such, it was also the final cartoon to open with the iconic Target symbol, and the studio's well-known version of The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down. As for Bugs, he wouldn't appear in theaters again until the 1991 theatrical short, Box Office Bunny, released February 8th, 1991. On August 2nd, the destroyer USS Maddox confronted three North Vietnamese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. In response, the US sent in a second destroyer to back up the Maddox. And on August 4th, intelligence intercepted communication suggesting an attack on both ships was imminent. Repeated acts of violence against the armed forces of the United States must be met, not only with alert defense, but with positive reply. We still seek no wider war. Those reports proved false, but it didn't matter. On August 5th, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, drastically increasing the US's role in the war by authorizing President Johnson to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States. This episode of Timeline is brought to you by. Got a date? Needs a wash? Take a bottle? Take a tap? And you. It's as easy as that with Silvicrin shampoo. Only Silvicrin shampoo contains the gentle conditioner pure Silvicrin that leaves your hair just right. No fuss, no fuzz, go out at onceable hair. And it's as easy as Silvicrin shampoo. As his daughters became fans of the book series and begged him to turn them into a movie, Walt Disney spent 20 years convincing author P.L. Travers to sell him the film rights to Mary Poppins. Travers didn't think Disney was the man for the job, but eventually relented. We'll set new attendance records August 27 when we open with Mary Poppins at the Chinese Theater. This is P.L. Travers. Hello. I'm looking forward to seeing what he has done tonight very much. Well, I won't hold you any longer. Despite serving as an advisor on the movie, Travers was so disillusioned by the final product she swore she'd never allow another film adaptation. Audiences, however, felt differently. Released on August 27, Disney's Mary Poppins would become the highest grossing movie of 1964. On September 7, Lyndon Johnson attempted to solidify Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's image as a warmonger by releasing a campaign commercial called Peace, Little Girl. The ad depicted a three-year-old girl standing in the field after an ominous voiceover warns. We must either love each other or we must die. The girl stood soon in a nuclear explosion. It only aired once, but was seen by roughly 40 million people, more than enough to win Johnson the election. Vote for President Johnson on November 3. She's feeling real bad. Huh? My mule. See, I understand you men were just playing around. But the mule, he just doesn't get it. Of course, if you were to all apologize. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I think it's nice you laughing. Damn it. Well, if you're the sheriff, you better get these men on the ground. On February 16, Post Consumer Products unveiled its newest product to the press, a fruit-filled toaster pastry called Country Squares that didn't have to be refrigerated. But that was a mistake. Post wasn't quite ready to release Country Squares, and their chief competitor, Kellogg's, was watching. The company was working on a similar product, and Post's announcement put them into high gear. So while Post was still tinkering, Kellogg's released their version, called Pop Tarts, a play on the term pop art. This is Johnny Quest, where gripping adventure stories explode to life with blazing realism. Watch as full living animation makes possible a new kind of excitement never before seen on television. You will travel to exotic places. You will brave perils plotted by the most diabolical minds of the century. And it will happen every time you enter the incredible world of Johnny Quest, every week on ABC's Wide World of Entertainment. Then if you learn how to dance well, she'll think you're boss. Boss? Neat, groovy. Come on, try it. This is my line. You've got to learn it. Tevye the Dairyman was a character who appears in a series of Yiddish stories written by Sholem Aleichem in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though they were the subject of several previous adaptations, producer Harold Prince enlisted Jerry Bach, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein to turn them into a musical called Fiddler on the Roof, which opened September 14th. Despite animosity between director Jerome Robbins and star Zero Mostel, the production was a massive hit, becoming the first show in history to run more than 3,000 performances. Man overboard. Gilligan, the minnow's been beached. Beached? When the passengers wake up and want to get off at the marina, what are you going to tell them? Think of something. How are we going to get home? Look at those holes. No, Skipper, I'm very happy to be here. I'm so happy I could kiss the ground. This island tastes terrible. In the wake of JFK's assassination, President Johnson established the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, informally known as the Warren Commission, after its head, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. On September 24th, that commission sent its conclusion to President Johnson. We come now to the second overriding question the Warren Commission must answer. Was there a conspiracy against the life of John F. Kennedy? Their report, finding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone, was released to the public. Over the subsequent decades, a cottage industry of books, articles, and films would work to make the case that Oswald was, as he claimed, just a patsy. Those theories would all come to a head on December 20th, 1991, when director Oliver Stone would combine them all into the plot of his film, JFK. Despite being criticized for playing fast and loose with the facts, Stone's film would be a huge success, even influencing legislators to release classified files on the assassination more than a decade earlier than originally scheduled. On October 1st, UC Berkeley student Jack Weinberg was arrested for breaking a rule prohibiting student organizations from political fundraising on campus. But the police car he was loaded into was quickly surrounded by hundreds of students who blocked it from moving for 30 hours. Thus began the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, a sustained series of student protests that constituted one of the first mass acts of civil disobedience on a university campus. I'm confident that the students, the faculty, the University of California will exercise their freedom with the same responsibility they've shown in winning their freedom. A defining moment of the 1960s, the movement's legacy continues to influence political views both on and off college campuses to this very day. Japan Shinkansen, known in English-speaking countries as the bullet train, is a high-speed railway that connects Tokyo to other regions of the country. Its first line, the Tokaido Shinkansen, connected Tokyo to Yokohama, Nagoya, and Osaka. And it went into service on October 1st, just in time for the 1964 Olympic Games. The first trains could reach speeds of 130 miles per hour, reducing end-to-end trip times by hours and enabling same-day service between Japan's two biggest cities, Tokyo and Osaka. There's no need to fear. Underdog is here. And tomorrow, I'll save the town. I'll stop Simon with a real shakedown. And true to his word, Underdog grasped the tall building and began shaking it wildly. Hey, stop that, you harebrained Hercules. You're shaking my whole building apart with my tenants inside. On October 14th, Martin Luther King Jr. became the then youngest person to ever be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Then just 34 years old, King was recognized for his nonviolent resistance to racial oppression in the United States. I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. As you might expect, the Georgia-born minister donated the $54,600 prize, worth roughly $571,026, to civil rights-related causes. On October 12th, Supreme Soviet Presidium Chairman Leonid Brezhnev contacted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to inform him that a special presidium meeting about agriculture had been called for the next day. When Khrushchev arrived at Vnukovo Airport, he was met by the chairman of the KGB and his guards, who informed him that he was being deposed. Khrushchev's ouster became official on October 14th, when the presidium and the Central Committee accepted his totally voluntary request to retire due to his age and poor health. All right, Eliza, say it again. The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain. Didn't I say that? No, Eliza, you didn't say that. You didn't even say that. On November 1st, fullback Jim Brown led the Cleveland Browns to victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. And it was the 47th time Brown rushed for over 100 yards in a single game. More impressively, however, the feat also made him the first NFL player to rush for more than 10,000 career yards. As icing on the cake, Brown would go on to lead his team to a victory in the championship that year. It's all over, and the men become boys. The presidential election of 1964 saw incumbent Democrat Lyndon Johnson facing off with Republican Senator Barry Goldwater. Long story short, Johnson and Humphrey won in a blowout. This is more than a victory of party. It is a tribute to the program that was begun by our beloved president, John F. Kennedy. Johnson actually won 61.1% of the popular vote, which to this day is the highest popular vote percentage of any candidate since the US began having widespread popular elections in 1824. Rudolph, Rudolph, please, would you tone it down a bit? That nose, that beautiful, wonderful nose. What I'm trying to say is, Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight? It will be an honor, sir. An unrehearsed news interview with Ernesto Che Guevara, Cuban minister of industry. Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara visited the United States to speak about economics and imperialism on December 11th. And anti-Castro activists made two attempts on his life that day. First, a woman tried to skip past the barricades with a hunting knife. Then, a man tried to hit the building with a timer-initiated rocket fired from a bazooka on a boat in the East River. The shot missed, but Guevara would say the explosion gave his speech more flavor, adding, it is better to be killed by a woman with a knife than a man with a gun. Singer Sam Cooke, known for songs like Twistin' the Night Away, was shot and killed in the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles on December 11th. A fatal shot was fired by the motel's manager, who claimed to be acting in self-defense. That story was backed up by the motel's owner, who was listening on the phone when Cooke, wearing only a jacket and a single sock, attempted to break into the office in search of a woman he had checked in with earlier. That woman, however, had already fled and called police to report that Cooke had kidnapped her. And that's how 1964 ended. Jim Brown was on his way to the record books. The Civil Rights Act was enshrined in law. And President Johnson was telling Americans that their country could be a great society. Would he be right? See you back here for 1965. So what do you think? And which of these items did you find most interesting? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other Timeline videos.