The following events occurred in December 1963:
December 1, 1963 (Sunday) Malcolm X described the Kennedy assassination as a case of America's "chickens coming home to roost", resulting in his suspension on December 4, and eventual excommunication from the Nation of Islam. Wendell Scott became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR race, finishing in first place at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida for the third race of the 1964 Grand National Series. In voting in Senegal, incumbent president Léopold Sédar Senghor of the Senegalese Progressive Union was elected unopposed, and his party won all 80 seats with 94.2% of the vote. In the Venezuelan presidential election, Raúl Leoni of the Democratic Action party defeated Rafael Caldera and five other challengers. Foreign Minister Auguste Mabika-Kalinda of the former Belgian Congo was arrested. Nagaland became the 16th state of India. Born: Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician; in Gampaha Pete Astudillo, American singer and songwriter; in Laredo, Texas
December 2, 1963 (Monday) What has been called "the first mixed martial arts match of the modern age" took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, when judo champion and professional wrestler Gene LeBell accepted a challenge to fight light heavyweight boxer Milo Savage, who was ranked fifth in the world at the time. LeBell, responding to a $1,000 challenge that no judo practitioner could defeat a boxer in a fight, defeated Savage in the fourth round by choking him and rendering him unconscious. The match itself, staged before 1,500 people, was billed as a "boxer vs. judo man" program. Public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia, remained closed for the fourth year in a row, after the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a District Court ruling in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County that the county had to fund public education. In 1959, the county board of education had closed its separate black and white schools rather than comply with an order to desegregate. Died: Tashi Namgyal, 70, 11th Chogyal of Sikkim and ruler of the Namgyal dynasty of Sikkim since 1914. His second son, Palden Thondup Namgyal, succeeded him as Chogyal.
December 3, 1963 (Tuesday)
Italy reduced the size of its paper currency by 40%. The old lira had been referred to as "bed sheet" size because each bill was almost 25 cm by 12.5 cm (almost 10 inches long by five inches wide). The new size of the lira, 15 centimeters by 7.5 centimeters (almost six inches by three inches) was a little more than one-third as large in total area, and closer in size to other world currencies. The Gemini Program Planning Board acknowledged the need to fix Titan II rocket deficiencies before a launch could be made, including problems related to longitudinal oscillations, combustion instability, and engine improvement. Died: Maurice Baker, 35, a former Dallas policeman, was found shot to death in his apartment in the Oak Cliff neighborhood, apparently having committed suicide. Some conspiracy theorists cite the death as suspicious because Baker lived on the same street where Lee Harvey Oswald lived and was a friend of Jack Ruby. U.S. Army Captain Michael D. Groves, 27, died only eight days after directing the Honor Guard at the funeral of President Kennedy. According to a UPI report, Captain Groves "died unexpectedly... while dining with his family" at his home in Fort Myer, Virginia.
December 4, 1963 (Wednesday) The second period of Second Vatican Council ("Vatican II") closed, exactly 400 years to the day after the closing of the Council of Trent on December 4, 1563.Rita Ferrone, Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium (Paulist Press, 2007) p. 17 When the Sacrosanctum Concilium, the proposed reform of Roman Catholic liturgy, was placed before the Council Fathers, the vote was 2,147 to 4 in favor.Joshua Brommer, et al., A Pastoral Commentary on Sacrosanctum Concilium: The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council (Liturgy Training Publications, 2013) p xv"Reforms in Worship Decreed by Pope", Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1963, p. 1 As one commentator would note later, "Ritual conformity to language, postures and gestures in liturgical celebrations... yielded to a new way of commemorating the mysteries of salvation history. Latin gave way to the vernacular; altars were turned around, and priest celebrants faced their congregations. The congregation that attended mass in a passive and generally silent manner was transformed into a fully active and conscious assembly which celebrated the liturgy. In short, the content and form of ritual worship in the Roman Catholic Church were considerably modified and corrected."Kenneth J. Martin, The Forgotten Instruction: The Roman Liturgy, Inculturation, and Legitimate Adaptations (Liturgy Training Publications, 2007) p. 2 Another commentator would opine that it "also affected, directly and indirectly, worship in most mainstream Western Protestant churches."Bryan D. Spinks, The Worship Mall: Contemporary Responses to Contemporary Culture (Church Publishing, 2011) Malcolm X was suspended from the Nation of Islam (Black Muslim) movement by Elijah Muhammad."Black Muslims Suspend Malcolm X", Kansas City Times, December 5, 1963, p. 2A The 90-day suspension came after Malcolm's earlier remarks about the Kennedy assassination; at the end of the suspension, Malcolm would announce that he was leaving the Black Muslim movement entirely.George Breitman, ed. Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements (Grove Press, 1965) p. 18 Christophe Soglo, the military officer who took control of Dahomey in a coup d'état two months earlier, forced the resignation of former president Hubert Maga from the provisional government, accusing Maga of involvement in an assassination attempt. Following the death of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet space program created the Soyuz crewed space program, returning to the goal of being the first nation to place a man on the Moon.Boris Chertok, Rockets and People: Creating a Rocket Industry (Government Printing Office, 2006) p xviii The United Nations Security Council unanimously (11 to 0) adopted Resolution 182 condemning the apartheid policy of the Government of the Republic of South Africa.Jared Genser, The United Nations Security Council in the Age of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2014) p. 11 In Lemont, Illinois, the Argonne National Laboratory put its new "zero gradient synchrotron" into operation, which was described as opening a "new era in physics".Atom Smasher Opens 'New Era in Physics", Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1963, p. 1 Born: Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian pole-vaulter who has held the record for the highest vault () since 1984; in Voroshilovgrad (now Luhansk), Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
December 5, 1963 (Thursday) Colonel Leuang Kongvongsa, the director of the Deuxiemme Bureau, intelligence agency for the government of Laos, was ambushed while driving home from work. Leuang was driving on a dirt road leading to his house on the outskirts of Vientiane when the assassins' jeeps blocked his way from in front and from behind, and then shot him to death, in the fifth political assassination of the year."Intelligence Chief Slain by Assassins in Laos", Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1963, p. 1 Colonel Leuang, who was hit by 15 bullets from a Thompson submachine gun, had been ambushed on orders from General Kouprasith Abhay.Arthur J. Dommen, The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (Indiana University Press, 2002) p. 576 Aldo Moro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy for the first time, marking the return to government for the first time, since 1947, of several political parties, the Christian Democrats, Italian Social Democratic Party, Italian Republican Party and Italian Socialist Party. The first Moro coalition would last seven uneasy months, and would pass the tax on the financial returns, before being brought down by an economic crisis. The new government would be approved by the Chamber of Deputies on December 17. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) completed its investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy less than two weeks after the crime, as Director J. Edgar Hoover approved the final report of the bureau inquiry. The FBI's conclusion was that Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby had each acted alone, and independently of each other.FBI Turns in Report on Kennedy Slaying, Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1963, p. 1 The Seliger Forschungs-und-Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH demonstrated rockets for military use to military representatives of non-NATO-countries near Cuxhaven. The rockets landed via parachute at the end of their flight and no allied laws were violated, but the Soviet Union protested. The Warren Commission met for the first time to begin its investigation into the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy.Report of the Warren Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (McGraw-Hill, 1964) p x At the time, only 29% of Americans thought that the assassin acted alone."Public Thinks Oswald Didn't Act on His Own", Milwaukee Journal, December 6, 1963, pp. 1–19 The principal of Woodland Elementary School in Woodland, Georgia, resigned after it was revealed that students at the school had cheered when they were given the news of the assassination of President Kennedy.Quits Because Pupils Hailed Assassination, Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1963, p. 1 The bodies of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy and his stillborn sister Arabella were re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery, next to that of their father, President John F. Kennedy."2 Kennedy Babies Rest in Arlington", Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1963, p. 1 Died: Herbert H. Lehman, 85, Governor of New York from 1933 to 1942 and later director-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration from 1942 to 1946 Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, 71, Bengali leader and former Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957 Karl Amadeus Hartmann, 58, German classical composer
December 6, 1963 (Friday) Two weeks after the assassination of President Kennedy, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, her daughter Caroline and her son John, Jr., moved out of the White House shortly after noon. President Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, had agreed that the Kennedy family could have as much time as they needed to pack up their belongings and move to a different home. Mrs. Kennedy and her children then moved into a townhouse in nearby Georgetown, loaned to them by Undersecretary of State W. Averell Harriman."Mrs. Kennedy, 2 Children Move From White House", Chicago Tribune, December 7, 1963, p. 1 On their last full day in the White House, John Jr.'s birthday party, postponed because November 25 had been the day of his father's funeral, was celebrated. Caroline continued to attend her first grade class with friends at the White House until the end of the year, after which the school was disbanded."Mrs. Kennedy, 2 Children Leave White House Today", Chicago Tribune, December 6, 1963, p. 1 U.S. Army Corporal Jerry Wayne Parrish became the third American in 19 months to defect to North Korea."Yank Defects to Get Job", Chicago Tribune, December 16, 1963, p. 2 Parrish would spend the remaining 34 years of his life in North Korea, and die of kidney disease on August 25, 1998.Charles Robert Jenkins, with Jim Frederick, The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea (University of California Press, 2009) p. 134 Brian Booth of Australia scored a century in the first test against South Africa at Brisbane. Born: Antonella Clerici, Italian host of sport and cooking TV shows; in Legnano Ulrich Thomsen, Danish film actor; in Odense