Deadly riots broke out in Panama City and the Canal Zone after American students refused to raise the Panamanian flag alongside the U.S. flag, killing over 20 people.

Rioting broke out in Panama City after Panamanian students clashed with American students over the flying of Panama's flag in the Canal Zone.

U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry released a landmark report declaring cigarette smoking a definitive cause of lung cancer and other diseases.

African revolutionaries overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar in a violent uprising, toppling one of the last Arab-ruled monarchies in Africa within hours.

African revolutionaries overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar in a bloody uprising, one of the shortest and most consequential revolutions of the 20th century.

IBM unveils the System/360, a revolutionary family of compatible mainframe computers that standardized computing and defined the industry for decades.

22-year-old Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, upset heavily favored Sonny Liston to win the world heavyweight boxing title in Miami Beach.

The Beatles' single 'Can't Buy Me Love' broke advance sales records as the band's first US tour momentum peaked, cementing the British Invasion just weeks after their Ed Sullivan debut.

Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form the United Republic of Tanzania, uniting mainland Africa with the spice islands off its coast.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and architect of its post-independence identity, died in New Delhi after 17 years in power.

Klansmen in Mississippi murdered civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, a crime that galvanized the Freedom Summer movement.

Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) achieved independence from Britain, with Hastings Banda becoming the nation's first prime minister.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

The USS Maddox exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats off Vietnam, an incident that catapulted America into full-scale war.

US destroyers reported a second attack by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin, a disputed incident that propelled America into full-scale war in Vietnam.

The U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Johnson broad authority to escalate American military involvement in Vietnam.

Malta became an independent state within the Commonwealth, ending 164 years of British colonial rule over the Mediterranean archipelago.

Kwame Nkrumah's government pushed through measures cementing one-party rule in Ghana, a pivotal moment in the arc of post-colonial African politics.

The Summer Olympics opened in Tokyo, the first Games held in Asia, showcasing Japan's postwar recovery with the Shinkansen bullet train debuting days earlier.

The Nobel Committee awarded Martin Luther King Jr. the Nobel Peace Prize for leading nonviolent resistance against racial injustice in the United States.

China conducted its first nuclear weapons test at Lop Nur, becoming the fifth nation to join the nuclear club amid the Cold War's escalating arms race.

Tanganyika and Zanzibar formally adopted the name United Republic of Tanzania, cementing the union agreed months earlier between the two East African states.

Lyndon Johnson crushed Barry Goldwater in a landslide, and Democrats swept Congress, paving the way for Medicare, Medicaid, and the Voting Rights Act.