1964
Jan 5

FBI Installs First “Bug” in Martin Luther King’s Hotel Room

Jan 8

FBI’s William C. Sullivan Proposes Bureau Promote “A New Negro Leader”

Jan 23

The Federal Poll Tax Is Abolished

Feb 8

House Debates Adding Sex Discrimination to Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act

Feb 22

California Teacher Fights Attacks by American Legion

Feb 29

Chicago Loyola University Cancels George Wallace Speech; ACLU Protests

Mar 2

“Fish-In” Challenges Limits on Native-American Fishing Rights

Mar 4

Frank Wilkinson Assassination Plot: FBI Stands By, Does Nothing

Mar 9

“Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open:” The Meaning of the First Amendment

Mar 12

15,000 White Parents March in NYC to Protest Busing of Students to Achieve Racial Balance

Mar 25

LBJ Lectures Southern Ministers on Need for Civil Rights Bill

Mar 30

Filibuster Against 1964 Civil Rights Bill Begins

Apr 3

Malcolm X Gives Famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” Speech in Cleveland

Apr 20

Mississippi Passes Package of Anti-Civil Rights Activity Laws

Apr 26

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Founded

May 20

FBI Can’t Decode “Louie Louie” Lyrics; U.S. Will Not Prosecute

May 25

Supreme Court Orders Virginia County to Reopen Public Schools

May 27

AG Kennedy Opens National Conference on Bail: Reform Soon Follows

Jun 9

CIA Pressures Publisher of Second-Ever Book on Agency

Jun 10

Historic Filibuster Ends – Path Cleared for 1964 Civil Rights Act

Jun 15

Supreme Court Establishes “One Man, One Vote” Rule

Jun 20

Lesbian Conference Hears Two Drs. Challenge Idea that Homosexuality is a Disease

Jun 21

Mississippi Freedom Summer Project Begins – Three Civil Rights Workers Murdered

Jun 22

“Tropic of Cancer” Ruled Not Obscene

Jun 22

Escobedo: A Right to Counsel During Police Interrogations

Jun 22

Pornography? Justice Stewart Knows It When He Sees It

Jul 2

President Johnson Signs Historic 1964 Civil Rights Act

Jul 16

Police Shooting Sparks Harlem Riot – Four Years of “Long Hot Summers” Begin

Jul 29

Civil Rights Groups Split on Suspending Protests Because of Riots

Jul 30

FBI Adds KKK to Notorious COINTELPRO Program

Aug 2

First Gulf of Tonkin Incident — Government Lies to Justify Vietnam Escalation

Aug 4

Bodies of Murdered Civil Rights Workers Found

Aug 7

Congress Passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – False Claims Justify Vietnam Escalation

Aug 19

U.S. Group Returns from Illegal Visit to Cuba

Aug 22

Fannie Lou Hamer Delivers Historic Speech at Democratic Party Convention

Aug 25

FBI Spies on Civil Rights Groups at Democrats’ Convention — Under Orders from President Johnson

Sep 3

Secret CIA Funding of Private Foundations Revealed, But No Outrage Follows

Sep 16

Berkeley Bans Off-Campus Political Advocacy on Campus, Sparks Free Speech Movement

Sep 19

Nation’s First Gay Rights Demonstration Held

Oct 1

Jack Weinberg Arrested; Berkeley Free Speech Movement Escalates

Oct 14

Martin Luther King to Receive Nobel Peace Prize

Oct 21

American Mental Health Association Denounces “Hysteria” Over Homosexuality

Nov 3

First Washington, D.C., Vote for President

Nov 4

Lenny Bruce, Radical Comedian, Convicted of Obscenity in New York City

Nov 6

Conflict Arises Over Role of Women in the Civil Rights Movement

Nov 9

Marxist Folk Music Critic Famously Criticizes Bob Dylan for Abandoning Protest Music

Nov 18

FBI Director Hoover Calls Martin Luther King the “Most Notorious Liar”

Nov 21

FBI Sends Infamous Blackmail Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King

Dec 1

Tense J. Edgar Hoover – Martin Luther King Meeting

Dec 2

Free Speech Movement Historic Moment – Mario Savio Denounces “The System”

Dec 7

Florida Law Banning Interracial Co-Habitation Unconstitutional

Dec 11

Post Office to End “Observation Stations” in Men’s Restrooms

Dec 11

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Receives Nobel Peace Prize

Dec 14

Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds 1964 Civil Rights Act

Dec 20

Fannie Lou Hamer: “I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired”

Dec 26

Philadelphia Bar to Vote on Crime News Censorship Proposal

1964

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