1968

January

January 30: Tet begins.

• January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.^[1]
• January 8 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson endorses the I'm Backing Britain campaign for working an additional half-hour each day without pay.^[2]
• January 10 – John Gorton is sworn in as the 19th Prime Minister of Australia, taking over from John McEwen after being elected leader of the Liberal Party the previous day, following the disappearance of Harold Holt. Gorton became the first and so far only Senator to become Prime Minister; though he immediately transferred to the House of Representatives through a by-election in Holt's vacant seat of Higgins.
• January 14 – The Green Bay Packers defeat the Oakland Raiders by the score of 33-14 in Super Bowl II at the Miami Orange Bowl.
• January 15 – An earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000.^[3][4]
• January 17 – Lyndon B. Johnson requests a bill ending the gold convertibility of the U.S. dollar.
• January 21
  • Vietnam War – Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8.
  • A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs.
• January 22 – Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In debuts on NBC.
• January 23 – North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.
• January 25 – The Israeli submarine INS Dakar sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 69.

January 23 USS Pueblo

• January 28 – The French submarine Minerve sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 52.
• January 30 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.
• January 31
  • Việt Cộng soldiers attack the US Embassy, Saigon.
  • Nauru president Hammer DeRoburt declares independence from Australia.

February

• February 1
  • Vietnam War: A Viet Cong officer named Nguyễn Văn Lém is executed by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The event is photographed by Eddie Adams. The photo makes headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war.
  • The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad merge to form Penn Central, the largest ever corporate merger up to this date.
• February 6–February 18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France.
• February 8 – American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen; 3 college students are killed.
• February 11
  • Border clashes take place between Israel and Jordan.
  • Madison Square Garden in New York City opens at its current location.
• February 12 – Vietnam War: Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.
• February 13 – Civil rights disturbances occur at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• February 17 – Administrative reforms in Romania divide the country into 39 counties.
• February 19
  • The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers' strike in the United States.
  • NET televises the very first episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
• February 24 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Huế.
• February 25 – Vietnam War: Hà My massacre.
• February 27 – Ex-Teenagers singer Frankie Lymon is found dead from a heroin overdose in Harlem.

March

• March 2 – Baggeridge Colliery closes marking the end of over 300 years of coal mining in the Black Country of England.^[5]
• March 6 – Un-recognized Rhodesia executes 3 black citizens, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.
• March 7 – Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon ends.
• March 8
  • The first student protests spark the 1968 Polish political crisis.
  • The Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 sinks with all 98 crew members, about 90 nautical miles (104 miles or 167 km) southwest of Hawaii.^[6][7]
• March 10–11 – Vietnam War: Battle of Lima Site 85, the largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members (12) during the (at this time) secret war later known as the Laotian Civil War.
• March 11 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson mandates that all computers purchased by the federal government support the ASCII character encoding.^[8]
• March 12
  • Mauritius achieves independence from British rule.
  • U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson barely edges out antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, and the party, over Vietnam.
• March 13 – The first Rotaract club is chartered in North Charlotte, North Carolina.
• March 14 – Nerve gas leaks from the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground near Skull Valley, Utah.
• March 15 – British Foreign Secretary George Brown resigns.
• March 16
  • Vietnam War – My Lai Massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
  • U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy enters the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
• March 17 – A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence; 91 people are injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.
• March 18 – Gold standard: The United States Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.
• March 19–23 – Afrocentrism, Black Power, Vietnam War: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.
• March 22 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit ("Danny the Red") and 7 other students occupy the administrative offices of the University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that lead France to the brink of revolution in May.
• March 24 – Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashes en route from Cork to London near Tuskar Rock, Wexford, killing 61 passengers and crew.
• March 28 – Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death is one of the first major events against the military dictatorship.
• March 31 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election.

April

• April 2
  • Bombs explode at midnight in two department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main; Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin are later arrested and sentenced for arson.
  • The film 2001: A Space Odyssey premieres in Washington, D.C.
• April 3 – The American movie Planet of the Apes is released in theaters.
• April 4
  • Martin Luther King Jr. is shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities, lasting for several days afterwards.
  • Apollo program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched, as the second and last unmanned test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.
  • AEK Athens wins the FIBA European Cup Winners Cup Final against Slavia Prague, in front of a record attendance of 80,000 spectators. It was the first major European trophy won at club level of any sport in Greece.
• April 6
  • La, la, la by Massiel (music and lyrics by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 for Spain, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
  • A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 17-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.
  • A double explosion in downtown Richmond, Indiana kills 41 and injures 150.
• April 7 – Racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim.
• April 8 – The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (under Department of Justice) (BNDD) is created.
• April 10 – The ferry TEV Wahine strikes a reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, in Cyclone Giselle, which created the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.
• April 11
  • Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.
  • German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them Ulrike Meinhof).
  • U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
  • MGM's classic film The Wizard of Oz makes its NBC debut after being telecast on CBS since 1956. It will remain on NBC for the next 8 years.
• April 18 – John Rennie's 1831 New London Bridge is sold to Arizona entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch and is rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, reopening on October 5, 1971.
• April 20
  • Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.^[9]
  • English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.^[10]
• April 23
  • President Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in the Congo.
  • Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain.
  • The United Methodist Church is created by the union of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.
• April 23–30 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university (see main article Columbia University protests of 1968).
• April 26 – The nuclear weapon "Boxcar" is tested at the Nevada Test Site in the biggest detonation of Operation Crosstie.
• April 29 – The musical Hair officially opens on Broadway.

May

• May 2 – The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.
• May 3 – Braniff Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas, killing all 85 people on board.
• May 13 – Paris student riots: One million march through the streets of Paris.
• May 13 – Manchester City wins the 1967–68 Football League First Division by 2 clear points, over club rivals Manchester United
• May 14 – The Beatles announce the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference.
• May 15 – An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes, causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.
• May 16 – Ronan Point, a 23 floor tower block in Canning Town, east London, partially collapses after a gas explosion, killing 5.
• May 17 – The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.
• May 18 – Mattel's Hot Wheels toy cars are introduced.
  • West Bromwich Albion win the Football Association Cup, defeating Everton 1-0 after extra time. The winning goal was scored by Jeff Astle.
• May 19
  • A general election is held in Italy.
  • Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around the Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.
• May 22 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
• May 29 – Manchester United wins the European Cup Final, becoming the first English team to do so.
• May 30 – Bobby Unser wins the Indianapolis 500.

June

• June 2 – Student protests have started in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
• June 3 – Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol at his New York City studio, The Factory; he survives after a 5-hour operation.
• June 4 – The Standard & Poor's 500 index closes above 100 for the first time, at 100.38.
• June 5 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.
• June 7 – The Ford sewing machinists strike started in the United Kingdom.
• June 8 – James Earl Ray is arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr..
• June 10 – Italy beats Yugoslavia 2–0 in a replay to win the 1968 European Championship. The original final on June 8 ended 1–1.
• June 12 – The film Rosemary's Baby premieres in the U.S.
• June 17 – The Malayan Communist Party launches a second insurgency and the state of emergency is again imposed in Malaysia.
• June 20 – Austin Currie, Member of Parliament at Stormont in Northern Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations.
• June 23
  • A football stampede in Buenos Aires leaves 74 dead and 150 injured.
  • The first round of voting took place in the French National Assembly elections that had been scheduled following the public unrest of May.
• June 26
  • The Bonin Islands are returned to Japan after 23 years of occupation by the United States Navy.
  • The “March of the One Hundred Thousand” took place in Rio de Janeiro as crowds demonstrated against the Brazilian military government.
• June 30 – The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy heavy military transport aircraft first flies in the U.S. This model will still be in service 50 years later.

July

• July 1
  • The Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established.
  • The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for signature.
• July 4 – Yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero's welcome as he sails into Portsmouth, England after his 354-day round-the-world trip.
• July 15
  • – The soap opera One Life to Live premieres on ABC.
• July 17 – Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état.
• July 18 – The semiconductor company Intel is founded.
• July 20 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
• July 23–28 – Black militants led by Fred (Ahmed) Evans engage in a fierce gunfight with police in the Glenville Shootout of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.
• July 25 – Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical entitled Humanae vitae, on birth control.
• July 26 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to 5 years hard labor, for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
• July 29 – Arenal Volcano erupts in Costa Rica for the first time in centuries.
• July 30 – Thames Television starts transmission in London.
• July 31 – BBC TV series Dad's Army was broadcast for the first time.

August

• August 2 – The 7.6 M_w Casiguran earthquake affects the Aurora province in the Philippines with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing at least 207 and injuring 261.
• August 5–8 – The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.
• August 11 – The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A selection of British Railways steam locomotives make the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and return to Liverpool – the journey is known as the Fifteen Guinea Special.
• August 18 – Two charter buses are forced into the Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed.
• August 20–21 – Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia: The 'Prague Spring' of political liberalization ends, as 750,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 6,500 tanks with 800 aircraft invade Czechoslovakia, the largest military operation in Europe since the end of World War II.
• August 21 – The Medal of Honor is posthumously awarded to James Anderson Jr.; he is the first black U.S. Marine to be given this award.
• August 24 – Canopus (nuclear test): France explodes its first hydrogen bomb in a test at Fangataufa atoll in French Polynesia.
• August 22–30 – Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President and Edmund Muskie for Vice President. The riots and subsequent trials are an essential part of the activism of the Youth International Party.
• August 28 – John Gordon Mein, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, is assassinated on the streets of Guatemala City, the first U.S. Ambassador assassinated in the line of duty.
• August 29 – Crown Prince Harald of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen, the commoner he has dated for 9 years.

September

• September 6 – Swaziland becomes independent.
• September 7 – 150 women (members of New York Radical Women) arrive in Atlantic City, New Jersey to protest against the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women. Led by activist and author Robin Morgan, it is one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism as Women's Liberation begins to gather much media attention.
• The crash of Air France Flight 1611 kills 95 people, including French Army General René Cogny as the Caravelle jetliner plunges into the Mediterranean Sea while making its approach to Nice following its departure from the island of Corsica.
• The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is founded.
• September 13
  • Albania officially withdraws from the Warsaw Pact upon the Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, having already ceased to participate actively in Pact activity since 1962.
  • U.S. Army Major General Keith L. Ware, World War II Medal of Honor recipient, is killed when his helicopter is shot down in Vietnam. He is posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
  • An agreement for merger between the General Electric Company and English Electric, the largest industrial merger in the UK up to that time.
• September 14 – Detroit Tiger Denny McLain becomes the first baseball pitcher to win 30 games in a season since 1934. He remains the last player to accomplish the feat.
• September 17 – The D'Oliveira affair: The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of South Africa is cancelled when the South Africans refuse to accept the presence of Basil D'Oliveira, a Cape Coloured, in the side.
• September 20 – Hawaii Five-O debuts on CBS, and eventually becomes the longest-running crime show in television history, until Law & Order overtakes it in 2003.
• September 21 – The Soviet's Zond 5 unmanned lunar flyby mission returns to earth, with its first-of-a-kind biological payload intact.
• September 23 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive comes to an end in South Vietnam.
• September 24 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS and is still on the air as of 2018.
• September 27 – Marcelo Caetano becomes prime minister of Portugal.
• September 29 – A referendum in Greece gives more power to the military junta.
• September 30 – Boeing introduces its largest passenger aircraft up to that time, the Boeing 747 at a public event at Paine Field, near Everett, Washington.

October

1968 Summer Olympics

• October 1 – Night of the Living Dead premieres in the United States.
• October 2 – Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics. 300-400 are estimated to have been killed.
• October 3 – In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes power in a revolution.
• October 5 – Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of The Troubles.
• October 7 – At the height of protests against the Vietnam War, José Feliciano performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Tiger Stadium in Detroit during Game 5 pre-game ceremonies of the 1968 World Series between the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. His personalized, slow, Latin jazz performance proved highly controversial, opening the door for later interpretations of the national anthem.
• October 8 – Vietnam War – Operation Sealords: United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.
• October 10 – 1968 World Series: The Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in the best of 7 series (4 games to 3) after being down 3 games to 1, completing an unlikely comeback against the heavily favored Cardinals led by the overpowering right-handed pitcher Bob Gibson. The final score of Game 7 is 4-1.
• October 11
  • Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.
  • In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.
• October 12–27 – The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico.
• October 12 – Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from Spain.
• October 14 – Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
• October 16
  • In Mexico City, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists in a black power salute after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze medals in the Olympic men's 200 metres.
  • Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, provoked by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country.
• October 18 – US athlete Bob Beamon breaks the long jump world record by 55 cm / 21¾ ins at the Olympics in Mexico City. His record stands for 23 years, and is still the second longest jump in history.
• October 20 – Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios.
• October 22 – The Gun Control Act of 1968 is enacted.
• October 25 – Led Zeppelin makes their first live performance, at Surrey University in England^[11]
• October 31 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.

November

• November 5
  • U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeats the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace.
  • Luis A. Ferré, of the newly formed New Progressive Party is elected Governor of Puerto Rico, by beating incumbent governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella of the People's Party, Luis Negrón López of the Popular Democratic Party and Antonio J. Gonzalez of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, he also becomes the first "statehooder" governor of the Island.
• November 11 – A second republic is declared in the Maldives.
• November 14 – Yale University announces it is going to admit women.
• November 15 – Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt is initiated to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. By the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos, slowing but not seriously disrupting trail operations. ^{[12] [13]}
• November 17 – The Heidi Game: NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders–New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.
• November 17 - British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.
• November 19 – In Mali, President Modibo Keïta's regime is overthrown in a bloodless military coup led by Moussa Traoré.^[14]
• November 20 – The Farmington Mine disaster in Farmington, West Virginia, kills seventy-eight men.
• November 22
  • The Beatles release their self-titled album popularly known as the White Album.
  • "Plato's Stepchildren", 12th episode of Star Trek 3rd season is aired, featuring the first-ever interracial kiss on U.S. national television between Lieutenant Uhura and Captain James T. Kirk.
• November 24 – 4 men hijack Pan Am Flight 281 from JFK International Airport, New York to Havana, Cuba.
• November 26 – Vietnam War: United States Air Force First Lieutenant and Bell UH-1F helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire, earning a Medal of Honor for his bravery.

December

• December 3 – The videotaped NBC television special Singer Presents...ELVIS (sponsored by The Singer Company, the American sewing machine manufacturer) marks the comeback of Elvis Presley after the legendary musician had been away from singing.
• December 6 – The Rolling Stones release Beggars Banquet, which contains the classic song "Sympathy for the Devil."
• December 9 – Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco, together with the computer mouse, at what becomes retrospectively known as "The Mother of All Demos".
• December 10 – Japan's biggest heist, the never-solved "300 million yen robbery", occurs in Tokyo.
• December 11
  • The film Oliver!, based on the hit London and Broadway musical, opens in the U.S. after being released first in England. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is filmed but is not released until 1996.
• December 13 – Prompted by growing unrest and proliferation of pro-communist terrorist actions, Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva enacts the so-called AI-5, the fifth of a series of non-constitutional emergency decrees that helped stabilize the country after the turmoils of the early 1960s.
• December 17 – In England, Mary Bell, aged 11, is found guilty of murdering two small boys and sentenced to life in detention, but is later released from prison in 1980 and granted anonymity.
• December 20 – The Zodiac Killer is believed to have shot Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman Road, Benicia, San Francisco Bay, California.
• December 22
  • David Eisenhower, grandson of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, marries Julie Nixon, the daughter of U.S. President-elect Richard Nixon.
  • Mao Zedong advocates that educated urban youth in China be sent for re-education in the countryside. It marks the start of the "Up to the mountains and down to the villages" movement.
• December 24 – Apollo program: The manned U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole, as well as having traveled further away from Earth than any people in history. Anders photographs Earthrise. The crew also reads from Genesis.
• December 26 – Led Zeppelin make their American debut in Denver.
• December 28 – Israeli forces fly into Lebanese airspace, launching an attack on the airport in Beirut and destroying more than a dozen aircraft.

Dates unknown

• The Khmer Rouge is officially formed in Cambodia as an offshoot movement of the Vietnam People's Army from North Vietnam to bring communism to the nation. A few years later, they will become bitter enemies.
• United Artists pulls eleven Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons in its library from television due to the depiction of racist stereotypes towards African-Americans. These cartoons come to be known as the Censored Eleven.

January

Cuba Gooding Jr.

LL Cool J

Mary Lou Retton

Felipe VI of Spain

• January 1 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
• January 2 – Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor
• January 5
  • Andrzej Gołota, Polish boxer
  • Carrie Ann Inaba, American choreographer, game show host and singer
• January 6 – John Singleton, American film director and writer
• January 7 – James Brokenshire, British politician
• January 9 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
• January 12
  • Keith Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
  • Rachael Harris, American actress and comedian
• January 13 – Pat Onstad, Canadian footballer
• January 14 – LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
• January 15 – Chad Lowe, American actor
• January 16
  • Stephan Pastis, American cartoonist
  • Atticus Ross, English musician, songwriter, record producer, and audio engineer
• January 17 – Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete
• January 19 – Matt Hill, Canadian voice actor
• January 21 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
• January 22 – Guy Fieri, American chef
• January 24
  • Michael Kiske, German musician
  • Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
• January 26
  • Novala Takemoto, Japanese author and fashion designer
  • Eric Davis, American football player
• January 27 – Mike Patton, American singer
• January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer
• January 29 – Edward Burns, American actor
• January 30 – King Felipe VI of Spain

February

Lisa Marie Presley

Gary Coleman

Lavinia Agache

Josh Brolin

Kelly Hu

Molly Ringwald

Andy Berman

• February 1
  • Lisa Marie Presley, American singer
  • Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Pauly Shore, American actor
• February 3
  • Vlade Divac, Serbian basketball player
  • Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer and composer
• February 5
  • Roberto Alomar, American baseball player
  • Marcus Grönholm, Finnish rally driver
  • Qasim Melho, Syrian television actor
• February 7
  • Peter Bondra, Slovakian ice hockey player
  • Porntip Nakhirunkanok, Miss Universe 1988
• February 8
  • Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)
  • April Stewart, American voice actress
• February 10
  • Laurie Foell, New Zealand/Australian actress
  • Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster
• February 11
  • Lavinia Agache, Romanian artistic gymnast
  • Mo Willems, American animator
• February 12
  • Josh Brolin, American actor
  • Chynna Phillips, American singer and actress
• February 13
  • Kelly Hu, American actress
  • Niamh Kavanagh, Irish singer, Eurovision Song Contest 1993 winner
• February 14 – Jules Asner, American model and television personality
• February 15 – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
• February 18
  • Molly Ringwald, American actress
  • Dennis Satin, German film director
• February 22
  • Bradley Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)
  • Jeri Ryan, American actress
• February 24
  • Andy Berman, American actor
  • Mitch Hedberg, American comedian (d. 2005)
• February 27
  • Shuhaimi Shafiei, Malaysian politician (d. 2018)
  • Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player
• February 29 – Sam Sneed, American producer and rapper

March

Daniel Craig

Gordon Bajnai

Mara Maravilha

Aaron Eckhart

Mark McGrath

Damon Albarn

Celine Dion

• March 1
  • Kat Cressida, American voice actress
  • Kunjarani Devi, Indian weightlifter
  • Muho Noelke, German Zen master
• March 2 – Daniel Craig, British actor
• March 3 – Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player
• March 4
  • Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
  • Patsy Kensit, British actress
• March 5 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian Prime Minister
• March 6
  • Moira Kelly, American actress
  • Mara Maravilha, Brazilian singer, songwriter, television presenter, actress and businesswoman
• March 7 – Jeff Kent, American baseball player
• March 11 – Lisa Loeb, American singer
• March 12 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor
• March 13
  • Akira Nogami, Japanese professional wrestler
  • Masami Okui, Japanese singer
• March 14
  • Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress
  • James Frain, British actor
• March 15
  • Mark McGrath, American singer
  • Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician
  • Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer
• March 16 – Trevor Wilson, American basketball player
• March 19 – Mots'eoa Senyane, Lesotho diplomat
• March 20
  • Carlos Almeida, Cape Verdean long-distance runner
  • Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter
• March 22 – Euronymous, Norwegian musician (d. 1993)
• March 23
  • Damon Albarn, English singer-songwriter and musician
  • Mike Atherton, English cricketer
  • Mitch Cullin, American novelist
• March 25 – Cathy Dennis, British singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
• March 26
  • Kenny Chesney, American country music singer
  • James Iha, American rock musician
• March 27 – Ben Koldyke, American actor
• March 28
  • Iris Chang, American author (d. 2004)
  • Nasser Hussain, English cricketer
• March 29 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer
• March 30 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer

April

Patricia Arquette

Anthony Michael Hall

Vickie Guerrero

Carnie Wilson

• April 1
  • Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer
  • Andreas Schnaas, German director
• April 5
  • Paula Cole, American singer
  • Stewart Lee, English stand-up comedian
• April 8
  • Patricia Arquette, American actress
  • Shawn Fonteno, American actor and rapper
  • Stretch, American rapper and record producer (d. 1995)
• April 12
  • Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Ott, English musician and record producer
• April 13 – Jørn Stubberud, Norwegian musician
• April 14 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor and singer
• April 15 – Stacey Williams, American model
• April 16
  • Greg Baker, American actor and musician
  • Martin Dahlin, Swedish football player
  • Vickie Guerrero, American professional wrestler
• April 17
  • Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer
  • Adam McKay, American film director, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and actor
• April 18 – David Hewlett, English-born Canadian actor, writer and director
• April 19
  • Bekka Bramlett, American singer
  • Ashley Judd, American actress
• April 20
  • J.D. Roth, American television host
  • Yelena Välbe, Russian cross-country skier
• April 23 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
• April 24
  • Stacy Haiduk, American actress
  • Yuji Nagata, Japanese professional wrestler
• April 28 – Howard Donald, British singer (Take That)
• April 29
  • Michael Herbig, German film director, actor and author
  • Darren Matthews, English professional wrestler
  • Carnie Wilson, American singer and television host

May

Traci Lords

Tony Hawk

Kyle Eastwood

John Ortiz

Kylie Minogue

• May 1 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
• May 2
  • Jeff Agoos, American soccer player
  • Hikaru Midorikawa, Japanese voice actor
• May 4 – Julian Barratt, English comedian, actor, musician and music producer
• May 7 – Traci Lords, American porn star, actress
• May 9 – Marie-José Pérec, French athlete
• May 10 – Al Murray, English comedian
• May 12
  • Tony Hawk, American skateboarder
  • Catherine Tate, English actress, comedian, and writer
• May 13
  • Sonja Zietlow, German television presenter
  • Scott Morrison, 30th Prime Minister of Australia
• May 16 – Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress
• May 17 – Constance Menard, French professional dressage rider
• May 18 – Vanessa Leggett, American freelance journalist, author, lecturer and First Amendment advocate
• May 19 – Kyle Eastwood, American jazz bass musician
• May 20
  • Timothy Olyphant, American actor
  • Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player
• May 22
  • Michael Kelly, American actor
  • Graham Linehan, Irish television writer and director
• May 23 – John Ortiz, American actor
• May 24 – Charles De'Ath, English actor
• May 26 – Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
• May 27
  • Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player
  • Frank Thomas, American baseball player
• May 28 – Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer
• May 30 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French-Moroccan 9/11 conspirator

June

Scott Wolf

Faizon Love

James Patrick Stuart

Robert Rodriguez

Paolo Maldini

Chayanne

• June 1 – Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer
• June 2
  • Beetlejuice, member of the Wack Pack (The Howard Stern Show)
  • Jon Culshaw, English impressionist
• June 4
  • Faizon Love, Cuban-American actor and comedian
  • Scott Wolf, American actor
• June 9 – Alexandr Konovalov, Russian lawyer and politician
• June 10
  • Bill Burr, American comedian
  • Nobutoshi Canna, Japanese voice actor
• June 13 – Regan Burns, American actor and comedian
• June 14 – Yasmine Bleeth, American actress
• June 16 – James Patrick Stuart, American actor and voice actor
• June 20
  • Masashi Honda, Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "Mr. Gannosuke"
  • Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish banker and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Poland
  • Robert Rodriguez, American film director
• June 21 – Sonique, British singer
• June 23 – Lee Jae-yong, South Korean business magnate
• June 24 – Boris Gelfand, Israeli chess grandmaster
• June 25 – Albert Fulivai, Tongan rugby league player
• June 26
  • Paolo Maldini, Italian football player
  • Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer
• June 28
  • Chayanne, Puerto Rican-American singer
  • Adam Woodyatt, British actor
• June 29
  • Theoren Fleury, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Brian d'Arcy James, American actor and musician
• June 30
  • Philip Anselmo, American musician
  • Matthew James Harris, Australian serial killer

July

Ramush Haradinaj

Billy Crudup

Beth Littleford

Stephanie Seymour

Robert Korzeniowski

• July 1 – Jordi Mollà, Spanish actor, director, filmmaker, writer, and artist
• July 3 – Ramush Haradinaj, 3rd Prime Minister of Kosovo
• July 5
  • Ken Akamatsu, Japanese manga artist
  • Michael Stuhlbarg, American actor
• July 6 – Rashid Sidek, Malaysian badminton player and coach
• July 7
  • Jorja Fox, American actress
  • Danny Jacobs, American actor and voice actor
  • Allen Payne, American actor
  • Sarah Thyre, American actress and writer
  • Jeff VanderMeer, American writer
• July 8
  • Billy Crudup, American actor
  • Akio Suyama, Japanese voice actor
  • Josephine Teo, Singaporean politician
  • Michael Weatherly, American actor
• July 9 – Eduardo Santamarina, Mexican actor
• July 10 – Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete
• July 11 – Conrad Vernon, American voice actor and director
• July 12 – Paul Hopkins, Canadian actor
• July 13
  • Robert Gant, American actor
  • Omi Minami, Japanese voice actress
• July 15
  • Leticia Calderón, Mexican actress
  • Eddie Griffin, American actor and comedian
• July 16
  • Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
  • Barry Sanders, American football player
• July 17
  • Darren Day, British actor and TV presenter
  • Beth Littleford, American actress and comedian
• July 18 – Grant Bowler, New Zealand-born Australian actor
• July 19
  • Robert Flynn, American vocalist and guitarist (Machine Head)
  • Jim Norton, American comedian
• July 21 – Johnnie Barnes, American football player
• July 23
  • Gary Payton, American basketball player
  • Stephanie Seymour, American model and actress
• July 24
  • Kristin Chenoweth, American soprano and actress
  • Laura Leighton, American actress
• July 27 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor
• July 30
  • Terry Crews, American actor and former NFL player
  • Robert Korzeniowski, Polish athlete

August

Eric Bana

Gillian Anderson

Debra Messing

Rachael Ray

• August 3 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (d. 2007)
• August 4
  • Lee Mack, English actor and stand-up comedian
  • Olga Neuwirth, Austrian composer
• August 5
  • Terri Clark, Canadian country music singer
  • Marine Le Pen, French politician
  • Colin McRae, Scottish rally car driver (d. 2007)
• August 8 – Kimberly Brooks, American actress and voice artist
• August 9
  • Gillian Anderson, American actress
  • Eric Bana, Australian actor
  • James Roy, Australian author
• August 10 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player
• August 11
  • Anna Gunn, American actress
  • Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist terrorist (d. 2009)
• August 12
  • Pablo Rey, Spanish painter
  • Paul Tucker, English songwriter and record producer
  • Kōji Yusa, Japanese voice actor
• August 14
  • Catherine Bell, American actress
  • Darren Clarke, Northern Irish professional golfer
  • Jason Leonard, English rugby player
• August 15 – Debra Messing, American actress
• August 17
  • Ed McCaffrey, American football player
  • Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Belgian economist
• August 18 – Justin Strzelczyk, American football offensive tackle (d. 2004)
• August 20
  • Klas Ingesson, Swedish footballer (d. 2014)
  • Yuri Shiratori Japanese actress and singer
• August 21 – Dina Carroll, British singer
• August 24
  • Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler
  • Hiroshi Kitadani, Japanese singer
  • Tim Salmon, American baseball player
• August 25 – Rachael Ray, American television chef and host
• August 27 – Luis Tascón, Venezuelan politician (d. 2010)
• August 28
  • Billy Boyd, Scottish actor
  • Tom Warburton, American animator
• August 31
  • Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician and Australian football player
  • Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player

September

John DiMaggio

Big Daddy Kane

Guy Ritchie

Laura Cutina

Marc Anthony

Ricki Lake

Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau

Will Smith

Mari Kiviniemi

Naomi Watts

• September 1
  • Mohamed Atta, 9/11 ringleader of the hijackers and pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)
  • Atsuko Yuya, Japanese voice actress
• September 3 – Raymond Coulthard, English actor
• September 4
  • John DiMaggio, American voice actor
  • Phill Lewis, American actor
  • Mike Piazza, American baseball player
• September 5 – Thomas Levet, French golfer
• September 7
  • Marcel Desailly, French footballer
  • Lucy Robinson, British actress
• September 9 – Julia Sawalha, English actress
• September 10
  • Big Daddy Kane, American hip-hop artist
  • Guy Ritchie, British film director
• September 11
  • Kay Hanley, American musician
  • Tetsuo Kurata, Japanese actor
• September 13 – Laura Cutina, Romanian artistic gymnast
• September 15 – Danny Nucci, American actor
• September 16 – Marc Anthony, American actor and singer
• September 17
  • Anastacia Newkirk, American singer-songwriter
  • Tito Vilanova, Spanish football manager (d. 2014)
• September 18 – Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player
• September 20
  • Philippa Forrester, British TV presenter
  • Van Jones, American author
  • Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
  • Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004)
• September 21
  • Lisa Angell, French singer
  • Kevin Buzzard, British mathematician
  • Ricki Lake, American actress, producer, and television presenter
• September 22
  • Megan Hollingshead, American voice actress
  • Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu, 62nd Prime Minister of Romania
• September 23
  • Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
  • Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
• September 25
  • Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, (d. 2013)
  • John A. List, American economist
  • Will Smith, American rapper and actor
• September 26
  • James Caviezel, American actor
  • Michelle Meldrum, American guitarist (d. 2008)
  • Tricia O'Kelley, American actress
  • Ben Shenkman, American television, film and stage actor
• September 27
  • Mari Kiviniemi, 62nd Prime Minister of Finland
  • Paul Rudish, American voice actor and animator
• September 28
  • Mika Häkkinen, Finnish double Formula 1 world champion
  • Naomi Watts, English-born Australian actress
• September 29
  • Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator and television personality
  • Alex Skolnick, American jazz/heavy metal guitarist
  • Samir Soni, Indian film and TV actor

October

Thom Yorke

Hugh Jackman

Didier Deschamps

Ziggy Marley

Shaggy

Juan Orlando Hernández

• October 1
  • Mark Durden-Smith, British television presenter
  • Jay Underwood, American actor
• October 2
  • Lucy Cohu, English actress
  • Victoria Derbyshire, English broadcast presenter
  • Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player (d. 2017)
• October 3 – Paul Crichton, English footballer
• October 4 – Beverley Allitt, British serial killer of children
• October 7
  • Luminița Anghel, Romanian dance/pop recording artist, songwriter, television personality and politician
  • Thom Yorke, British singer-songwriter
• October 8
  • Daniela Castelo, Argentine journalist (d. 2011)
  • Emily Procter, American actress
• October 9
  • Troy Davis, American high-profile death row inmate and human rights activist (d. 2011)
  • Pete Docter, American animator, director
• October 10
  • Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker
  • Feridun Düzağaç, Turkish rock singer-songwriter
• October 11
  • Tiffany Grant, American voice actress
  • Jane Krakowski, American actress
  • Brett Salisbury, American football quarterback
• October 12 – Hugh Jackman, Australian actor
• October 13 – Tisha Campbell-Martin, American actress and singer
• October 14
  • Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer
  • Timothy Lincoln Beckwith, Last descendant of Abraham Lincoln
• October 15
  • Didier Deschamps, French footballer
  • Jyrki 69, Finnish singer
  • Vanessa Marcil, American actress
• October 17 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician and oldest son of Bob Marley
• October 20 – Damien Timmer, British joint-managing director, television producer, television executive producer
• October 22 – Shaggy, Jamaican singer
• October 24 – Mark Walton, American story artist, actor
• October 27 – Alain Auderset, Swedish writer
• October 28 – Juan Orlando Hernández, 55th President of Honduras
• October 29
  • Tsunku, Japanese singer, music producer and song composer
  • John Farley, American actor and comedian

November

Sam Rockwell

Tracy Morgan

Owen Wilson

Sean Schemmel

Jill Hennessy

Jonathan Knight

• November 1 – Silvio Fauner, Italian cross-country skier
• November 3 – Debbie Rochon, Canadian actress
• November 4
  • Lee Germon, New Zealand cricketer
  • Daniel Landa, Czech composer, singer and actor
  • Miles Long, American pornographic actor and director
• November 5
  • Mr. Catra, Brazilian musician (d. 2018)
  • Terry McGurrin, Canadian actor
  • Sam Rockwell, American actor
• November 6
  • Caesar Meadows, American cartoonist
  • Kelly Rutherford, American actress
• November 8
  • Parker Posey, American actress
  • Zara Whites, Dutch actress
• November 9 – Nazzareno Carusi, Italian classical pianist
• November 10 – Tracy Morgan, American actor and comedian
• November 12
  • Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress
  • Sammy Sosa, Dominican Major League Baseball player
• November 13 – Pat Hentgen, American baseball player
• November 15
  • Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (d. 2004)
  • Fausto Brizzi, Italian screenwriter and film director
• November 16 – Tammy Lauren, American actress
• November 18
  • Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
  • Luizianne Lins, Brazilian politician
  • Gary Sheffield, American retired baseball player
  • Owen Wilson, American actor and comedian
• November 20
  • Chew Chor Meng, Singaporean Chinese television actor
  • John Trobaugh, American artist and photographer
• November 21
  • Qiao Hong, Chinese table tennis player
  • Alex James, English musician
  • Sean Schemmel, American voice actor
• November 23 – Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar
• November 24
  • Phil Starbuck, former English footballer
  • yukihiro, Japanese musician
• November 25
  • Tunde Baiyewu, British singer
  • Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host
  • Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress
• November 27
  • Michael Vartan, French actor
  • Veronika Neugebauer, German actress and voice actress (d. 2009)
• November 28 – Ken, Japanese musician
• November 29
  • Iolanda Nanni, Italian politician (d. 2018)
  • Eiji Ezaki, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2016)
  • Jonathan Knight, American singer

December

Lucy Liu

Brendan Fraser

Eula Valdez

Rachel Griffiths

Lior Ashkenazi

• December 2
  • Lucy Liu, American actress
  • Joshua Seth, American voice actor and hypnotist
  • Rena Sofer, American actress
• December 3
  • Brendan Fraser, Canadian-American actor
  • Montell Jordan, American singer
• December 5 – Margaret Cho, American actress and comedian
• December 7
  • Greg Ayres, American voice actor
  • Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player
• December 8
  • Michael Cole, American television sports commentator
  • Wendi Deng, Chinese-born American businesswoman
  • Mike Mussina, American baseball player
• December 9 – Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler, 1996 Olympic gold medalist
• December 11
  • Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt, German speed skater
  • Eula Valdez, Filipino actress
• December 17 – Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
• December 18
  • Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
  • Casper Van Dien, American actor and producer
• December 19 – Ken Marino, American actor and comedian
• December 21
  • Khrystyne Haje, American actress
  • Vanessa Marquez (actress) American actress (d. 2018)
• December 22 – Dina Meyer, American actress
• December 23 – Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, American photographer
• December 24 – Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model
• December 25 – Helena Christensen, Danish model
• December 26
  • Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler
  • Malcolm L. McCallum, American herpetologist, conservation biologist, and environmental scientist
• December 28
  • Corey Scott, American motorcycle stunt rider (d. 1997)
  • Deanna Favre, American activist and wife of Brett Favre
  • Lior Ashkenazi, Israeli actor
• December 29 – Tricia Leigh Fisher, American actress and singer
• December 30 – Fabrice Guy, French Olympic skier
• December 31 – Gerry Dee, Canadian actor and stand-up comedian

Date unknown

• Jeff Forshaw, British particle physicist
• Andrei Ivanovitch, Russian classical pianist

January

Eben Dönges

• January 4 – Joseph Pholien, Belgian politician, 37th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1884)
• January 6 – Karl Kobelt, 2-time President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1891)
• January 7
  • Hugo Butler, Canadian screenwriter (b. 1914)
  • Gholamreza Takhti, Iranian wrestler (b. 1930)
  • Mario Roatta, Italian general (b. 1887)
• January 10 – Eben Dönges, acting Prime Minister of South Africa and elected President of South Africa (b. 1898)
• January 11 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1876)
• January 15
  • Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1938)
  • Leopold Infeld, Polish physicist (b. 1898)
• January 18 – Bert Wheeler, American actor and comedian (b. 1895)
• January 19 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879), winner of the first Indianapolis 500 (1911)
• January 21 – Will Lang Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
• January 22 – Duke Kahanamoku, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1890)
• January 26 – Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
• January 30 – Robert Wood Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893)

February

Georg Hackenschmidt

• February 1
  • Jacob van der Hoeden, Dutch-Israeli veterinary scientist (b. 1891)
  • Lawson Little, American golfer (b. 1910)
• February 11 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1888)
• February 13 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1894)
• February 18 – John Westdahl, American politician (b. 1916)
• February 19 – Georg Hackenschmidt, German strongman and professional wrestler (b. 1877)
• February 20 – Anthony Asquith, British director and writer (b. 1902)
• February 21 – Howard Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
• February 22 – Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
• February 23 – Fannie Hurst, American novelist (b. 1885)
• February 25 – Camille Huysmans, Belgian politician, 34th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1871)
• February 27 – Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)
• February 29 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)

March

Yuri Gagarin

• March 6 – Léon Mathot, French actor (b. 1886)
• March 14 – Erwin Panofsky, German-Jewish art historian (b. 1892)
• March 15 – Khuang Aphaiwong, 4th Prime Minister of Thailand, country leader during World War II (b. 1902)
• March 16
  • Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (b. 1891)
  • Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
  • June Collyer, American actress (b. 1906)
• March 20
  • Charles Chaplin Jr., American actor (b. 1925)
  • Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (b. 1889)
• March 27 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, first human in space (b. 1934)

April

Martin Luther King Jr.

• April 1 – Lev Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
• April 4 – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)
• April 7 – Jim Clark, Scottish Racing Driver and Double Formula One World Champion (b. 1936)
• April 10 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian politician (b. 1899)
• April 16
  • Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893)
  • Edna Ferber, American writer (b. 1885)
• April 25 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
• April 29 – Oliver Hill, British architect (b. 1887)

May

• May 5 – Albert Dekker, American actor (b. 1905)
• May 9 – Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (b. 1878)
• May 10 – Scotty Beckett, American child actor (b. 1929)
• May 14 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
• May 21 – Arturo Basile, Italian conductor (b. 1914)
• May 23 – James Burke, American actor (b. 1886)
• May 31 – Preben Uglebjerg, Danish actor (b. 1931)

June

Helen Keller

Robert F. Kennedy

• June 1 – Helen Keller, American activist and spokeswoman for the deaf and blind (b. 1880)
• June 6
  • Randolph Churchill, British politician, son of Winston Churchill (b. 1911)
  • Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (United States Senator, U.S. Attorney General) (b. 1925)
• June 14 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• June 25 – Tony Hancock, English Comedian and Actor (b. 1924)
• June 29 – Paddy Driscoll, American football player (Chicago Cardinals) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1895)

July

Otto Hahn

• July 1 – Virginia Weidler, American actress (b. 1927)
• July 6 – Johnny Indrisano, American boxer and actor (b. 1906)
• July 18 – Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
• July 21 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (b. 1878)
• July 28
  • Otto Hahn, German chemist, discoverer of nuclear fission, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
  • Ángel Herrera Oria, Spanish journalist, Roman Catholic politician, cardinal and servant of God (b. 1886)
• July 31 – Jack Pizzey, Premier of Queensland, Australia (b. 1911)

August

• August 5 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928)
• August 25 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (b. 1910)
• August 26 – Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1905)
• August 27
  • Robert Z. Leonard, American film director (b. 1889)
  • Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
• August 29 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (b. 1881)
• August 31 – Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (b. 1908)

September

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

• September 3 – Juan José Castro, Argentine composer and conductor (b. 1895)
• September 7 – Lucio Fontana, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1899)
• September 12 – Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894)
• September 13 – Frank Barson, English footballer (b. 1891)
• September 17 – Armand Blanchonnet, French Olympic cyclist (b. 1903)
• September 18 – Francis McDonald, American actor (b. 1891)
• September 19 – Red Foley, American singer (b. 1910)
• September 23 – Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian Roman Catholic priest and saint (b. 1887)
• September 24 – Virginia Valli, American actress (b. 1898)
• September 26 – Lipman Heilprin, Israeli physician and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1902)
• September 28 – Sir Norman Brookes, Australian tennis champion (b. 1877)

October

Bea Benaderet

John L. Hines

Ramon Novarro

• October 1 – Romano Guardini, Italian-German Catholic priest and theologian (b. 1885)
• October 2 – Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
• October 4 – Hitoshi Imamura, Japanese general (b. 1886)
• October 13
  • Bea Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906)
  • John L. Hines, American general, former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army (b. 1868)
• October 18 – Lee Tracy, American actor (b. 1898)
• October 20 – Bud Flanagan, British entertainer and comedian (b. 1896)
• October 27 – Lise Meitner, German-Austrian physicist, discoverer of nuclear fission (b. 1878)
• October 30
  • Pert Kelton, American actress (b. 1907)
  • Ramon Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
  • Conrad Richter, American writer (b. 1890)

November

• November 1 – Georgios Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1888)
• November 3 – Vern Stephens, American baseball player (b. 1920)
• November 7 – Gordon Coventry, Australian rules footballer (b. 1901)
• November 9 – Gerald Mohr, American actor (b. 1914)
• November 14 – Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Spanish philologist and historian (b. 1869)
• November 20
  • Helen Gardner, American actress (b. 1884)
  • Cathy Lewis, American actress (b. 1916)
• November 23 – Shangguan Yunzhu, Chinese actress (b. 1920)

December

Tallulah Bankhead

John Steinbeck

• December 2 – Adamson-Eric, Estonian artist (b. 1902)
• December 4 – Archie Mayo, American actor and director (b. 1891)
• December 9 – Enoch L. Johnson, American political boss and racketeer (b. 1883)
• December 10
  • Karl Barth, German Protestant theologian (b. 1888)
  • Thomas Merton, American author (b. 1915)
• December 12 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
• December 14 – Margarete Klose, German soprano (b. 1902)
• December 19 – Norman Thomas, American socialist who ran in six consecutive U.S. presidential elections as the nominee of the Socialist Party of America (b. 1884)
• December 20
  • Van Nest Polglase, American art director and head of the design department at RKO Pictures (b. 1898)
  • John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• December 30
  • Trygve Lie, 1st Secretary General of the United Nations (b. 1896)
  • Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (b. 1904)
• December 31 – George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)

Date unknown

• Sami as-Solh, 5-Time Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1887)
• Alan Stuart Paterson, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1902)