The Year 1962 in Review: Facts, Trivia, and Historic Highlights

This quick read is a collection of fun facts, trivia, and historic events from the year 1962. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, sports facts, historic firsts, grocery prices, entertainment trivia, and much more.

1. In 1962, John F. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) was the president of the United States, and Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) was the nation’s vice president.
2. The median household income in the U.S. was $6,000, a new house cost $12,550, and the average price for a new car was $2,924. Milk was $1.04 a gallon, eggs were 32 cents a dozen, and one pound of bacon cost 69 cents.
3. American companies and brands established in 1962 included AccuWeather, Crate & Barrel, Dress Barn, Enterprise Car Sales, Kohl’s, Lotus Communications, National Stores, Pier 1, Rite Aid, Rodeway Inn, Taco Bell, Walmart, Wet Seal, and Woolco.
4. Consumer products launched during the year included frozen bread, frozen pie crust, Hawaiian pizza, Planters dry roasted peanuts, powdered butter, and the pull tab for soft drink cans.
5. On January 1, President Kennedy commissioned the first two United States Navy SEAL teams. Team One was located at the Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) on Coronado Island in San Diego, California. Team Two was located at the Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) in Little Creek, Virginia. The SEAL teams' mission was “to conduct unconventional warfare, counter-guerrilla warfare, and clandestine operations.”
6. On January 3, Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.
7. On January 12, Operation Ranch Hand—a controversial U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War—was officially launched. Ranch Hand “involved spraying an estimated 20 million U.S. gallons of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover.”
8. Ranger was “a space exploration mission conducted by NASA to study the moon.” On January 26, the Ranger 3 spacecraft was launched as part of the Ranger program. Due to a series of malfunctions, the spacecraft “missed the moon by 22,000 miles and entered a heliocentric orbit.”
9. On February 2, President Kennedy banned all trade with Cuba except for food and drugs.
10. On February 4, the first Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital opened in Memphis.
11. February 5: During an extremely rare solar eclipse, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus were on one side of the sun, and Mercury and Earth were on the opposite side.
12. On February 14, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave the first televised tour of the White House.
13. On February 20, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.
14. On April 9, President Kennedy “threw the first pitch for the Washington Senators' season opener at the newly built D.C. Stadium (later renamed RFK Stadium) located near the Anacostia River.”
15. The 34th Academy Awards on April 9 honored the best films of 1961. West Side Story won an Oscar for Best Picture, and Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (West Side Story) jointly won Oscars for Best Director. Maximilian Schell (Judgment at Nuremberg) won an Oscar for Best Actor, and Sophia Loren (Two Women) won an Oscar for Best Actress.
16. On April 12, President Kennedy accused executives from the U.S. steel industry of being “traitorous” in their “pursuit of private power and profit.” According to CrossingWallStreet.com, JFK “demanded that U.S. Steel and other domestic steel companies roll back their recently announced $6 per ton price increase.” Kennedy also stated that “the Department of Defense would only order steel from the firms that rolled back prices.” The nation’s eight biggest steel companies, including U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel, quickly complied and rolled back prices the very next day.
17. At the 14th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 22, The Bob Newhart Show (NBC) won an Emmy for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor, and The Defenders (CBS) won an Emmy for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama. E.G. Marshall (The Defenders) (CBS) won an Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead), and Shirley Booth (Hazel) (NBC) won an Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead).
18. On June 1, Adolf Eichmann was executed in Israel after being found guilty of war crimes. (Eichmann was one of the major organizers of the Holocaust.)
19. On June 14, Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler, murdered his first victim.
20. On July 2, Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas.
21. On July 10, the Telstar 1 communications satellite was launched by NASA and allowed “the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe.”
22. On August 4, American actress Marilyn Monroe died at the age of 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills at her home in Brentwood, California. Monroe “had been one of the most popular Hollywood stars during the 1950s and early 1960s and was a top-billed actress for the preceding decade. Her films had grossed $200 million by the time of her death.”
23. On September 27, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, her environmental science book “about the deleterious impacts of pesticide use in the U.S.” Carson’s findings were “a landmark in the development of the modern environmental movement” and “sparked widespread debate within the scientific community and the broader public about the effect of pesticides on the natural world.”
24. On September 30, César Chávez—the Mexican-American labor leader—founded the United Farm Workers.
25. On October 12, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, also known as the Terrible Tempest or Big Blow, “was the most powerful windstorm to strike the Pacific Northwest in the 20th century.” The damage figure was comparable to eastern hurricanes that made landfall between 1957 and 1961, including Audrey ($150 million during 1957), Donna ($387 million during 1960), and Carla ($408 million during 1961).
26. On October 16, the Cuban Missile Crisis began when President Kennedy was shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
27. History.com explains that from October 16 to October 28, “leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff . . . over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores.” On October 22, President Kennedy “notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba, and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.”
28. On October 26, Nikita Khrushchev, the premier of the Soviet Union, sent a message to President Kennedy “in which he offered to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for a promise by U.S. leaders not to invade Cuba. The following day, the Soviet leader sent a letter proposing that the USSR would dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their missile installations in Turkey.”
29. On November 29, Great Britain and France decided to build the Concorde supersonic airliner.
30. On December 8, a 114-day newspaper strike began in New York City.
31. In 1962, broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite became the anchor of the CBS Evening News, and Jack Paar made his final appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show.
32. The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom about a nouveau riche family that moves to Beverly Hills, debuted on CBS, and the musical My Fair Lady closed on Broadway after 2,715 performances.
33. In 1962, Bo Jackson, Jerry Rice, Jodie Foster, Kate Spade, Paula Abdul, Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Cruise, and Wesley Snipes were all born.
34. In 1962, the words "bait and switch," "Belgian waffle," "carpool," "coffee table," "CPU," "database," "get-go," "kissing disease," "miniskirt," "Oval Office," "paraprofessional," "satellite dish," "trendy," and "zip code" all appeared in print for the first time.
35. AFL champions: Dallas Texans
36. Indianapolis 500: Roger Ward
37. Kentucky Derby: Decidedly
38. NBA champs: Boston Celtics
39. NCAA basketball champions: Cincinnati
40. NCAA football champs: USC
41. NFL champions: Green Bay Packers
42. Orange Bowl: LSU over Colorado
43. Rose Bowl: Minnesota over UCLA
44. Stanley Cup champs: Toronto Maple Leafs
45. Sugar Bowl: Alabama over Arkansas
46. U.S. Open Golf: Jack Nicklaus
47. U.S. Open Tennis (men/women): Rodney Laver/Margaret Smith
48. Wimbledon (men/women): Rodney Laver/Karen Susman
49. World Series champions: New York Yankees.
50. Finally, ground was broken for the Houston Astrodome, and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to stay in Cincinnati for 10 more years.

References:

1. https://popculturemadness.com/1962-history-trivia-and-fun-facts/
2. https://www.infoplease.com/year/1962
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_in_the_United_States
4. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1961.html
5. https://www.citizensvoice.com/2012/03/05/food-flashback-diner-serves-up-1962-prices/
6. https://www.babyboomers.com/1962
7. https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-on-the-economy-and-taxes
8. https://www.lovefood.com/gallerylist/64013/foods-we-fell-in-love-with-in-the-1960s
9. https://m.the-numbers.com/market/1962/top-grossing-movies
10. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1962.html
11. https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/most-popular/1964
12. https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-1960s/Historic-Prices-1964

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 202Gregory DeVictor