This is a short list of the items that ring a bell with me. There are a lot of events, births and deaths that happened in 1963 not included in my list. Visit Wikipedia for more information about 1963.

Events

• Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. – January 8
• George C. Wallace becomes governor of Alabama – January 14
• Travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens is made illegal by President Kennedy – February 8
• Iron Man debuts in Marvel Comics – March
• Mount Agung erupts on Bali and kills 11,000 people – March 16
• The federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island closes – March 21
• The Beatles release their first album, Please Please Me – March 22
• General Hospital debuts on ABC – April 1
• Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested in Birmingham, Alabama – April 12
• Dr. No debuts in U.S. – May 8
• Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper launches into space – May 15
• Alabama Governor George C. Wallas tries prevent integration at the University of Alabama – June 11
• Pope Paul VI succeeds Pope John XXIII – June 21
• President Kennedy gives speech in West Berlin – June 26
• Zip codes are introduced in U.S. – July 1
• Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers I Have a Dream speech in Washington, D.C. – August 25
• Marvel Comics release first X-Men comic book – September
• Sports car company Lamborghini is founded – October 30
• President Johnson establishes the Warren Commission – November 19
• The Sword in the Stone debuts – December 25
• I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles are released in U.S. – December 26

Births

• David Cone, baseball player – January 2
• Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian basketball player – January 21
• Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, British singer – February 19
• Charles Barkley, basketball player – February 20
• Joel Osteen, televangelist – March 5
• Bret Michael, rock singer for Poison – March 15
• Vanessa Williams, American beauty queen and actress – March 18
• Kathy Ireland, supermodel – March 20
• Elle Macpherson, Australian supermodel – March 29
• Julian Lennon, British musician and son of John Lennon – April 8
• Conan O’Brien, talk show host – April 18
• Natasha Richardson, actress – May 11
• Mike Myers, Canadian actor – May 25
• Johnny Depp, actor – June 9
• Helen Hunt, actress – June 15
• George Michael, British singer – June 25
• Christopher George Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy – July 4
• Phoebe Cates, actress – July 16
• Lisa Kudrow, actress – July 30
• Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, son of John F. Kennedy – August 7
• Whitney Houston, singer – August 9
• John Stamos, actor – August 19
• Tori Amos, singer – August 22
• Michael Chiklis, actor – August 30
• Randy Johnson, baseball player – September 10
• Mark McGwire, baseball player – October 1
• Elisabeth Shue, actress – October 6
• Norm MacDonald, Canadian comedian – October 17
• Lauren Holly, actress – October 28
• Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister – October 31
• Rob Schneider, actor – October 31
• Rick Allen, drummer for Def Leppard – November 1
• Terri Schiavo, right-to-die cause – December 3
• Benjamin Bratt, actor – December 16
• Brad Pitt, actor – December 18
• Jennifer Beals, actress – December 19
• Jim Harbaugh, football player and coach – December 23
• Patrick Sean Payton, football coach – December 29

Deaths

• Jean Piccard, Swiss-American chemist, engineer, and balloonist – January 28
• Robert Frost, poet – January 29
• Sylvia Plath, poet and writer – February 11
• Patsy Cline, country singer – March 5
• Elmore James, Blues guitarist, singer and band leader – May 24
• Pope John XXIII, Roman Catholic Pope – June 3
• Jacques Villon, French Cubist painter – June 9
• Medgar Evers, civil rights victim – June 12
• Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, son of John F. Kennedy – August 9
• Georges Braque, Cubist painter – August 31
• Jean Cocteau, French writer and artist – October 11
• Edith Piaf, French singer – October 11
• Robert Franklin Stroud, “Birdman of Alcatraz” – November 21
• Aldous Huxley, British writer – November 22
• John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America – November 22
• J. D. Tippit, Dallas Patrolman – November 22
• Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin – November 24
• Dinah Washington, jazz and blues singer – December 14
• Gorgeous George Wagner, wrestler – December 26