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World
Vietnam War: The Viet Cong win their first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac. -
Canada
Defence Minister Douglas Harkness resigns after Prime Minister Diefenbaker refuses to accept nuclear weapons from the United States -
Canada
The Diefenbaker government collapses over the missile issue and an election is called -
World
The Beatles record their debut album Please Please Me in a single day at the Abbey Road Studios in London. -
World
The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique launches the reawakening of the Women's Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness raising groups spread. -
World
An earthquake destroys the village of Barca, Libya, killing 900. -
World
The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere at the order of United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. -
Canada
Federal election: Lester Pearson's Liberals win a minority, defeating John Diefenbaker's PCs -
World
Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a Birmingham, Alabama protest for "parading without a permit". -
Canada
The Front de libération du Québec sets off its first bombs in Quebec -
Canada
Lester Pearson becomes Prime Minister, replacing John Diefenbaker -
World
The Coca-Cola Company introduces its first diet drink, Tab cola. -
World
A smallpox outbreak hits Stockholm, Sweden, lasting until July. -
Canada
Alberta general election, 1963: Ernest Manning's Alberta Social Credit Party wins an eighth consecutive majority -
Canada
Doug Gilmour, ice hockey player and coach was born -
Canada
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism is announced -
World
I Have a Dream Speech Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington -
Canada
Ontario general election, 1963: John Robarts's PCs win a sixth consecutive majority -
World
Assassination of John F. Kennedy: In Dallas, Texas, President of the United States John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes the 36th President. All television coverage for the next four days is devoted to the assassination, its aftermath, the procession of the horsedrawn casket to the Capitol Rotunda, and the funeral of President Kennedy. Stores and businesses shut down for the entire weekend and Monda -
Canada
118 are killed in the Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831 crash near Ste-Thérèse-de-Blainville, Quebec
