April 1962

• The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was established.Bill Francis, ZB: The Voice Of An Iconic Radio Station (HarperCollins Australia, 2010)
• Born: Phillip Schofield, English broadcaster; in Oldham{{cite book|title=Debrett's People of Today 2005|year=2005|edition=18th|isbn=1-870520-10-6|publisher=Debrett's|page=1459}}
• Died: Michel de Ghelderode, 63, Belgian playwright{{cite book|author=Paul F. State|title=Historical Dictionary of Brussels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LErne3-05qoC&pg=PA125|date=27 July 2004|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6555-6|pages=125}}

• The 3rd Lok Sabha began its five-year session in the Parliament of India, with 494 legislators. It would last until March 3, 1967.R. C. Rajamani, Portraits of India's Parliamentarians for the New Millennium: Lok Sabha (Gyan Books, 2000) p14 Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister of India for the fourth time, though with a reduced majority.{{cite book|title=Election Archives and International Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CEvAAAAYAAJ|year=1992|publisher=Shiv Lal|page=113}}
• Born: Clark Gregg, American actor, director and screenwriter; in Boston{{cite book|author1=John Willis|author2=Tom Lynch|title=Theatre World 1998-1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-BkAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-1-55783-433-1|page=230}}

• Hawaii's Governor, William F. Quinn, declared a "state of food emergency" after a strike of American shipworkers entered its third week. Since March 16, longshoremen had refused to unload food from eight ships in Honolulu harbor. Governor Quinn estimated that Hawaii had only two weeks' supply of staple foods left.{{cite news |title=Food Shortage Perils Hawaii |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 4, 1962 |page=1}} Two weeks later, a federal judge in California would invoke the Taft–Hartley Act to halt the strike temporarily.{{cite news |title=Judge Acts To End Logjam Of Ships |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |date=April 19, 1962 |page=2}}
• As the Algerian War for Independence came to an end, European OAS gunmen near Algiers carried out a terrorist attack against a Muslim hospital in the suburb of Beau-Fraisier, killing nine. The 15 former French Army soldiers, armed with sub-machine guns, rushed past hospital employees and targeted bedridden patients, then exited. Most of the victims had been hospitalized for months, due to ailments unrelated to the war.{{cite news |title=Gunmen Slay Nine Lying In Their Hospital Beds |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 3, 1962 |page=1}}
• U.S. District Judge J. Skelly Wright ordered the desegregation of elementary schools in New Orleans, with African-American and White students to attend first through sixth grade together. Wright's order came one week after Roman Catholic private schools in New Orleans were ordered integrated by Archbishop Joseph Rummel.{{cite news |title=N. Orleans Schools Are Integrated |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=April 4, 1962 |page=1}}
• Representatives of Manned Spacecraft Center, Ames Research Center, Martin, and McDonnell began the Project Gemini wind tunnel testing to investigate the effect of hatches on launch stability; the effect of large angles of attach, Reynolds number, and retrorocket jet effects on booster tumbling; (3) exit characteristics of the spacecraft; and (4) characteristics of the reentry module.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Gemini Technology and Operations – A Chronology |chapter=PART I (B) Concept and Design January 1962 through December 1962 |last1=Grimwood |first1=James M. |last2=Hacker |first2=Barton C. |last3=Vorzimmer |first3=Peter J. |series=NASA Special Publication-4002 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4002/p1b.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=19 February 2023}}
• Born: Jaya Prada (stage name for Lalitha Rani), Indian film actress and member of parliament; in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh state{{cite web |title=Detailed Profile – Smt. P. Jaya Prada Nahata – Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) – Who's Who |website=archive.india.gov.in |access-date=29 May 2016 |url=http://www.archive.india.gov.in/govt/loksabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=4165 |archive-date=30 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630142802/http://www.archive.india.gov.in/govt/loksabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=4165 |url-status=live}}

• John Kenneth Galbraith, at the time the U.S. Ambassador to India, wrote a letter to President Kennedy proposing a negotiated peace between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, before the American presence escalated further. Kennedy felt the plan was feasible and instructed Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Averell Harriman to reply favorably to Galbraith's idea. Years later, researcher Gareth Porter would locate Harriman's alteration of the telegram to Galbraith, replacing the President's approval of mutual de-escalation talks with instructions to threaten further escalation if North Vietnam did not withdraw.{{cite book |first=James W. |last=Douglass |author-link=James W. Douglass |title=JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters |title-link=JFK and the Unspeakable |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2010}}
• The Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) awarded a contract to B.F. Goodrich Company for $209,701 to develop and make prototype pressure suits for Project Gemini. Related contracts went to Federal-Mogul Corporation and Protection, Inc. Goodrich was required to produce four successively improved prototypes of an advanced full-pressure suit, and two prototypes of a partial-wear, quick-assembly, full-pressure suit.
• Died: James Hanratty, 25, English criminal, hanged in Bedford Gaol for the 1961 A6 murder. Afterward, witnesses claimed that they had seen him in another town at the time. In 1997, a police committee would conclude that he had been wrongfully convicted, but the decision was reversed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and upheld by a court of appeal in 2002.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Hanratty, James |dictionary=The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2003 |page=681}}

• A federal grand jury indicted Billie Sol Estes, a major supporter of then U.S. Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, along with three of Estes's assistants, for charges of conspiracy to plot a $24,000,000 fraud of investors."Texas Millionaire Indicted In Fraud", Toledo Blade, April 6, 1962, p19
• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter suffered a stroke while in his office, and was never able to return to hearing cases. He would resign on August 28.Joseph M. Siracusa, The Kennedy Years (Infobase Publishing, 2004) p142
• Born:
• Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Kalmyk multimillionaire politician, former President of the FIDE, and leader of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia from 1993 to 2010; in Elista, Kalmyk ASSR, Russian SFSR{{cite book|title=Daily Report: Central Eurasia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2-mP4eiXCMC|date=29 April 1993|publisher=The Service|page=39}}
• Sara Danius, Swedish literary critic and philosopher (d. 2019); in Täby{{cite news | url=https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/former-secretary-of-the-swedish-academy-sara-danius-is-dead/ | title=Former Secretary of the Swedish Academy Sara Danius is dead | work=Dagens Nyheter | date=12 October 2019 | access-date=12 October 2019 | author=Jones, Evelyn}}

• The United Steel Workers of America and steel manufacturers agreed to a new contract, brokered by the U.S. Department of Labor, in which the union reduced its demands for a wage increase from 17 cents to 10 cents an hour, based upon the White House's determination to hold down prices. Four days later, the steel makers raised their prices anyway. A furious President Kennedy forced U.S. Steel and other companies to rescind the increase on April 13.{{cite book |first=Irving |last=Bernstein |author-link=Irving Bernstein |title=Promises Kept: John F. Kennedy's New Frontier |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |pages=143–144}}
• American conductor Leonard Bernstein of the New York Philharmonic orchestra caused controversy with his remarks before a concert featuring pianist Glenn Gould. Bernstein stated that, although he disagreed with Gould's style of playing Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1, he found Gould's ideas fascinating and would conduct the piece anyway. Bernstein's action received a withering review from music critic Harold C. Schonberg of The New York Times.{{cite book |title=Gramophone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTMKAQAAMAAJ |year=1998 |publisher=General Gramophone Publications Limited |page=63 |via=Google Books}}

• Author Milovan Djilas, at one time a vice-president of Yugoslavia and a possible successor to President Tito, was returned to prison after violating a new Yugoslavian law that made it a crime to write about "confidential subjects that may harm Yugoslavia". Djilas had been in prison from 1957 to 1961 after criticizing communism in his book The New Class. The new charges stemmed from a January magazine article in the Italian magazine Tempo Presente, and an upcoming book, Conversations With Stalin.{{cite news |title=Red Critic Jailed Again In Yugoslavia |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 8, 1962 |page=12A}}
• A five-man military tribunal in Cuba convicted the 1,179 surviving attackers of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of an attempt to overthrow the government a year earlier, with a sentence of 30 years' incarceration for each prisoner. The tribunal levied "fines" totaling $62 million for the release of the prisoners.{{cite news |title=Ransom 'Bargain' Is Sought |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 8, 1962 |page=1}} The United States would negotiate release of the men by year's end with the delivery of $53,000,000 worth of medicine and food.{{cite book |first=Jim |last=Rasenberger |author-link=Jim Rasenberger |title=The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2011}}
• At the Ealing Jazz Club in London, Brian Jones was introduced to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The three would become the heart of The Rolling Stones, formed later that year.{{cite book |first=Murry R. |last=Nelson |author-link=Murry R. Nelson |title=The Rolling Stones: A Musical Biography |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=July 1, 2010 |page=11}}
• ACF Industries, Inc., received a $1,000,000 subcontract to provide C-band and S-band radar beacons for the Gemini spacecraft tracking system. Their function was to provide tracking responses to interrogation signals from ground stations.
• Died: Jaroslav Durych, 75, Czech writer{{cite book |first1=Jan |last1=Dvořák |first2=Nella |last2=Mlsová |title=Bloudění časem a prostorem: Jaroslav Durych známý i neznámý : sborník příspěvků z II. literární laboratoře, konané v Hradci Králové 25.-26. ledna 1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHDnAAAAMAAJ |year=1997 |publisher=Gaudeamus |isbn=978-80-7041-661-7 |page=391 |via=Google Books}}

• In France, the Évian Accords were ratified in a referendum, with 9 out of every 10 French voters in favor of letting French Algeria become its own independent nation."French Vote Big De Gaulle Wins; For Algeria Pact", Miami News, April 9, 1962 The final result was 17,866,423 in favor of Algerian independence, and 1,809,074 against.[http://www.france-politique.fr/referendum-1962-algerie.htm France-politique.fr]
• Born: Izzy Stradlin (stage name for Jeffrey D. Isbell), American rock guitarist for the hard rock band Guns N' Roses; in Lafayette, Indiana"Births", The Journal and Courier (Lafayette, Indiana), April 9, 1962, p.3 ("Mr. and Mrs. Richard Isbell, Rt. 12, son")
• Died: Juan Belmonte, 69, Spanish bullfighter who revolutionized the sport{{cite book|author=Ronald Hilton|title=Hispanic American Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPGcsnB5qu4C|year=1962|publisher=Stanford University, Hispanic World Affairs Seminar|page=296}}

• The Cleveland Pipers defeated the Kansas City Steers, 106–102, to win the first and only championship series in the American Basketball League. Cleveland had lost the first two games of the best-of-5 series, then won the next two 116–114 and 100–98, to force the final game, which took place at the small gymnasium at Kansas City's Rockhurst College because the city's arena was unavailable.{{cite news |title=Pipers Perform Like Champions |newspaper=Toledo Blade |date=April 10, 1962 |page=20}} The Steers would be declared the champions of the 1962–63 ABL season based on having the best record when the league disbanded on December 31, 1962.
• Arnold Palmer won a three-way playoff for his third Masters Tournament title, beating defending champion Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald. All three of the golfers had finished the first 72 holes the day before in 280 strokes, after Palmer shot 75, Finsterwald 73 and Player 71. In the playoff, Palmer's 68 was followed by Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19620410&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |title=Palmer's 68 Wins Title In Masters— 3rd Championship; Gary Player Has 71, Finsterwald 71 |first=Phil |last=Gundelfinger |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=April 10, 1962 |page=1}}
• A two-day conference opened in Washington, D.C., between representatives of four of the largest American church organizations. The Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ discussed a possible merger of the denominations to create "United Protestantism in America".{{cite news |title=Four Major Churches Open Talks For Merger |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 9, 1962 |page=3A}}
• Police in Marseille recovered eight Paul Cézanne paintings that had been stolen on August 13 while on loan to a museum in Aix-en-Provence. The value of the works, which included The Card Players, was $2,000,000.{{cite news |title=Famous Art Is Recovered |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 11, 1962 |page=1}}
• The National Geographic Society awarded the Hubbard Medal to John Glenn. Glenn joined such recipients as Admiral Robert E. Peary, Charles A. Lindbergh, Roald Amundsen, and Admiral Richard E. Byrd.{{Source attribution}} {{cite book |title=Project Mercury – A Chronology |chapter=PART III (A) Operational Phase of Project Mercury May 5, 1961 through May 1962 |last=Grimwood |first=James M. |series=NASA Special Publication-4001 |chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/p3a.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=11 February 2023}}
• The Cosmonautics Day holiday was established in the Soviet Union, a year after the first human spaceflight. It remains a holiday (April 12) and is now designated International Day of Human Space Flight.{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/en/events/humanspaceflightday/ |title=UN Resolution A/RES/65/271, The International Day of Human Space Flight (12 April) |date=7 April 2011 |access-date=27 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414133037/http://www.un.org/en/events/humanspaceflightday/ |archive-date=14 April 2011 |url-status=live}}
• The United States Marine Corps' involvement in the Vietnam War began when HMM-362 arrived at Sóc Trăng south of Saigon (South Vietnam).{{cite book |first=Robert F. |last=Dorr |author-link=Robert F. Dorr |title=Marine Air: The History of the Flying Leathernecks in Words and Photos |publisher=Penguin |year=2007 |page=200}}

• U.S. Steel Chairman Roger Blough informed President Kennedy, at a 5:45 p.m. meeting at the White House, that the largest steel manufacturer in the world was planning to raise its prices by six dollars per ton at 12:01 a.m. Kennedy reportedly told Blough, "You've made a terrible mistake." As Blough's press release reached American newspapers, the President announced that he would have a special press conference on Thursday."2d Firm Raises Price", Miami News, April 11, 1962, p1
• Jamaica held its first parliamentary elections, in preparation for its independence from the United Kingdom. The Jamaica Labour Party won 26 of 45 parliamentary seats, making Alexander Bustamante the new Prime Minister. Losing its legislative majority was the People's National Party, led by colonial Chief Minister Norman Manley.Harry S. Pariser, Jamaica: A Visitor's Guide (Hunter Publishing, 1995) p32
• The Houston Colt .45s, later renamed the Houston Astros, played their very first game, defeating the visiting Chicago Cubs, 11–2, and in Los Angeles, the first MLB game was played at Dodger Stadium, where 52,564 fans watched the home team lose, 6–3, to the Cincinnati Reds."Colt 45s Use Heavy Artillery", Bonham (TX) Daily Favorite, April 11, 1962, p6
• Died:
• Michael Curtiz (Kertész Kaminer Manó), 75, Hungarian-American director of multiple films, including Casablanca, for which he won an Academy Award{{cite book|author1=Roy Kinnard|author2=R. J. Vitone|title=The American Films of Michael Curtiz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y29ZAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1883-5|page=6}}
• Stu Sutcliffe, 21, original bass player for The Beatles until being replaced by Paul McCartney, died from a cerebral hemorrhage{{cite book|title=Sight and Sound|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJSRAAAAIAAJ|year=1994|publisher=British Film Institute|page=6}}

• As three other American steelmakers announced a price hike, President Kennedy denounced "Big Steel" in a press conference "with the strongest language he has leveled at anyone or anything since becoming President"."'Utter Contempt For 185 Million Americans'", Miami News, April 12, 1962, p1 In March, the U.S. Department of Labor had helped mediate a contract between the United Steelworkers of America and the companies, with the union agreeing to a smaller wage increase in order to prevent a price rise.
• The New York Mets played their first game, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals, 11–4, at St. Louis."Stan Musial Leads Cardinals To 11-4 Debut Win Over Mets", Ocala (FL) Star-Banner, April 12, 1962, p12
• Died: George Poage, 81, first African-American athlete to win an Olympic medal{{cite book|author=David Kenneth Wiggins|title=African Americans in Sports: M-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=scwZAQAAIAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Sharpe Reference|isbn=978-0-7656-8055-6|page=283}}

• U.S.President Kennedy demanded that American steelmakers completely roll back the price hike that they had announced earlier in the week, and the U.S. Department of Justice ordered a federal grand jury investigation for possible antitrust violations. U.S. Steel Chairman Roger Blough said in a press conference that the $6 per ton increase would not be rescinded. Meanwhile, two smaller companies, Inland Steel and Armco Steel, refused to go along with the six that did raise their prices.{{cite news |title=Steel Firms Face 2 Threats As U.S. Jury Opens Inquiry; Blough Defends Price Boost |newspaper=Toledo Blade |date=April 13, 1962 |page=1}}
• Nine miners were killed and nine injured in an accident at Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, Wales.{{cite book |author=British Museum. Dept. of Printed Books |title=General Catalogue of Printed Books: Ten-year Supplement, 1956-1965 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jxaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA340 |year=1969 |publisher=Readex Microprint Corporation |page=340 |via=Google Books}}
• Born:
• Jarosław Kalinowski, Polish politician who briefly served as Deputy Prime Minister of Poland; in Wyszków{{cite web |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96771/JAROSLAW_KALINOWSKI/home |title=Jarosław Kalinowski |website=European Parliament |date=12 April 1962 |access-date=March 18, 2021}}
• Sheila Kennedy, American model, actress and contestant on Big Brother 9; in Memphis, Tennessee.{{Cite web |last=Britney |first=Free |date=2015-02-12 |title=Big Brother 9 Sheila Kennedy's Nude Penthouse Photos |url=https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/bittenandbound/2008/03/15/big-brother-9-sheila-kennedys-nude-penthouse-photos/ |access-date=2024-08-31 |website=The Hollywood Gossip |language=en-US}}
• Died: Antoine Pevsner, 76, Belarusian Soviet sculptor{{cite book |first1=Kathleen |last1=Burner |first2=Sarah |last2=Wilson |author2-link=Sarah Wilson (art historian) |title=Paris: Capital of the Arts |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FD84AQAAIAAJ |date=March 2002 |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |isbn=978-0-8109-6639-0 |page=432}}

• U.S. Secretary of Labor Arthur J. Goldberg met privately in New York City with U.S. Steel Chairman Roger M. Blough, and outlined the steps that the Kennedy administration would take if the steel price increase continued.{{cite news |title=STEEL PRICE BOOST COLLAPSES |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=April 14, 1962 |page=1}} At 3:05 p.m., Kaiser Steel rescinded its price increase, followed by Bethlehem Steel at 3:21 p.m. The largest of the companies, U.S. Steel, capitulated at 5:25 p.m., followed by Republic Steel (5:57), Pittsburgh Steel (6:26), Jones & Laughlin (6:37), National Steel (7:33) and Youngstown Sheet & Tube (9:09).{{cite news |title=Steel Price Rollback By The Clock |newspaper=Toledo Blade |date=April 14, 1962 |page=1}}
• Edmond Jouhaud, the second-in-command of the Organisation armée secrète, was sentenced to death in France.{{cite news |title=Jouhaud Gets Death Penalty At Paris Trial |newspaper=Toledo Blade |date=April 14, 1962 |page=1}}
• Martin-Baltimore and U.S. Air Force Space Systems Division (SSD) proposed abort criteria for the malfunction detection system (MDS) of the Gemini spacecraft. The MDS would display data to the astronauts, who would have the sole decision on manually initiating a mission abort.
• Born: Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American musician, best known as the founding guitarist of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers; in Haifa, Israel (d. 1988){{Cite episode|title=Behind the Music: Red Hot Chili Peppers|series=Behind the Music|network=VH1|minutes=11:07|language=en}}

• Cuba's new revolutionary socialist prime minister Fidel Castro, "in an unexpected burst of generosity", allowed 60 of the 1,179 Bay of Pigs invaders to be released from Principe Prison for reasons of health, and to be flown from Havana to Miami on a Pan American World Airways jet, without conditions."THEY'RE BACK! Exiles Go Wild", Miami News, April 14, 1962, p1
• Elgin Baylor scored a playoff record 61 points for the Los Angeles Lakers, who won Game 5 of the NBA finals, 128–121, against the Celtics at the Boston Garden."Baylor Bags 61, Lakers Top Celts", Milwaukee Sentinel, April 15, 1962, p3M The record would stand for 24 years, until broken by Michael Jordan on April 20, 1986, also against the Celtics at Boston Garden.David L. Porter, Michael Jordan: A Biography (Greenwood Publishing, 2007) p32
• Michel Debre resigned the office of Prime Minister of France after more than three years, bringing to a close "the longest French parliamentary government since the 18th century"Saskatoon (Sask.) Star-Phoenix, April 14, 1962, p1 and was replaced by Georges Pompidou, who would succeed Charles de Gaulle as President of France.
• Died: Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, 100, Indian engineer and statesman{{cite book|author=Pandri Nath|title=Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya: Life and Work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JctIAAAAMAAJ|year=1987|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|page=121}}

• Scott Carpenter and Walter Schirra, designated as pilot and backup pilot, respectively, for the Mercury 7 mission, began training for boarding a life raft and the use of survival packs.
• The Society of Toxicology assembled for its first meeting, conducted in Atlantic City, New Jersey.{{cite book |first=Ira S. |last=Richards |title=Principles and Practice of Toxicology in Public Health |publisher=Jones & Bartlett Learning |year=2008 |page=10}}
• Born: Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete; in Casablanca{{cite web |url=https://www.olympic.org/nawal-el-moutawakel |title=Nawal El Moutawakel |website=IOC |access-date=March 18, 2021}}
• Died:
• Clara Blandick, 85, American stage and film actress best known for portraying "Aunt Em" in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, committed suicide in her Hollywood apartment after suffering for years from arthritis and facing the loss of her eyesight."Actress Clara Blandick Plays Farewell Scene", Los Angeles Times (Tucson AZ), April 16, 1962, pA1
• Arsenio Lacson, 50, 17th Mayor of Manila since 1952; after suffering a stroke at a hotel suite while preparing to leave to make his weekly radio and television broadcast.{{cite news |title=Arsenio Lacson of Manila Dead (pay site) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/04/16/archives/arsenio-lacson-of-manila-dead-3time-mayor-was-director-of-macapagal.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 April 1962 |access-date=2 February 2008 |quote=The death of Mr. Lacson, who was an active and pugnacious city executive in the tradition of Fiorello La Guardia, marked the end of an era.}}

• Walter Cronkite, a former United Press reporter best known for hosting the CBS program You Are There, replaced Douglas Edwards as the anchorman for the CBS Evening News, at that time a 15-minute program that ran from 6:45 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Cronkite, who would be nicknamed "The Most Trusted Man in America", would anchor the news until his retirement in 1981, when he would be replaced by Dan Rather.Stephen L. Vaughn, Encyclopedia of American Journalism (CRC Press, 2008) pp 125–127
• Byron White was sworn in as a new Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, five days after being confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote. The first Justice to have been a former clerk, and the only former NFL player to ever serve on the High Court, White served until 1993, when he would be replaced by Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Timothy L. Hall, Supreme Court Justices (Infobase Publishing, 2001) p368
• Folk singer Bob Dylan, who had recently released his debut album, made the first public performance of what would become his signature song, "Blowin' in the Wind". The setting was Gerde's Folk City, a "jazz club" located at 11 West 4th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.Tony Fletcher, All Hopped up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York, 1927–77 (W. W. Norton & Company, Oct 26, 2009) p102
• The Spy Who Loved Me, Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond novel, was first published by Jonathan Cape.{{cite web|title=The Spy Who Loved Me|url=http://www.ianfleming.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=65|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227054837/http://www.ianfleming.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=65|archive-date=27 December 2010|work=The Books|publisher=Ian Fleming Publications|access-date=22 December 2011}}
• Born: Martin Zaimov, Bulgarian financier and politician; in Geneva, Switzerland

• After concluding that the sealing of East Germany's borders had been successful, the Politburo for the DDR's Germany's Communist Party, the SED, approved a new policy instructing police to make fewer arrests and for the courts to apply lesser penalties for violations of the law. In June, 6,000 prisoners would be released from prison.Bernd Schaefer, The East German State and the Catholic Church, 1945–1989 (Berghahn Books, 2010) p98
• The Strategic Hamlet Program was started by United States funding in South Vietnam, with the forcible move of residents of small villages to new locations that could be protected from Viet Cong infiltration. Within the first year, nearly eight million people were settled in more than 6,000 such hamlets.David W. P. Elliott, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975 (M.E. Sharpe, 2007) p162
• In a by-election for the UK parliamentary constituency of Derby North, caused by the death of sitting MP Clifford Wilcock, Niall MacDermot retained the seat for the Labour Party.{{cite book|title=Vacher's Parliamentary Companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QL9MAAAAMAAJ|year=1963|publisher=A. S. Kerswill|page=71}}

• What was described as a fireball (a brighter than usual meteoroid) exploded {{Convert|10|mi}} south of the town of Eureka, Utah, at 8:15 p.m. local time. The burst of light was visible across the western United States, as far east as Gridley, Kansas.{{cite news |via=Google News |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC&dat=19620419&printsec=frontpage |title=Brilliant Fireball Flashes In Skies |newspaper=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City |date=April 19, 1962 |page=1A}} Although subsequent retellings of the story have referred to the sighting as an unidentified flying object that "landed near a power plant" in Eureka, stayed for 40 minutes, and blacked out the entire town until its departure,{{cite book |first=Juanita Rose |last=Violini |title=Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored |publisher=Weiser Books |year=2009 |page=83}} contemporary reports indicated that only the town's street lights were off momentarily because the photo-sensors reacted to the daylight-like brightness. Other authors' books have described the object as being seen in Oneida, New York, minutes before reaching Utah, while reports at the time noted that NORAD received one report "from as far away as New York", though all other sightings were from eleven western states.{{cite news |title=Bright Meteor Explodes Near Eureka, Utah |newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel |location=Lodi, California |date=April 20, 1962 |page=1}}
• The first underground ballistic missile base in the U.S. became operational, with the delivery of the first nine Titan I missiles, to silos at Lowry Air Force Base, in Colorado.Milwaukee Sentinel, April 19, 1962, p3 By September 28, all 54 Titans would be activated at bases in five western U.S. states.{{cite book |first=Neil |last=Sheehan |author-link=Neil Sheehan |title=A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon |publisher=Random House Digital |year=2010 |page=400}} However, all of the Titan I group would be removed by April 1, 1965 when they were made obsolete by the more efficient Atlas ICBM rockets, which did not have to be raised from the silo in order to be fueled and armed.{{cite book |title=Air Force Missileers |publisher=Turner Publishing Company |year=1998 |page=27}}
• The Boston Celtics won their 4th consecutive NBA Championship in the 7th game of the best-of-seven series, in overtime. The Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, tied 3–3 in the series, were tied 100–100 at the end of regulation. L.A.'s Frank Selvy had tied the game, then missed a jump shot that would have won in regulation.{{cite news |title=Celtics Win Again But It Was Hard |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 19, 1962 |page=4A}}{{cite magazine |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1073739/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407081618/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1073739/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2014 |title=Too Much To Beat This Year |first=Arlie |last=Schardt |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=April 30, 1962 |page=16}}
• The Commonwealth Immigrants Act in the United Kingdom received royal assent, removing free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, requiring proof of employment in the UK. The law would go into effect on July 1.{{cite book |first=T.W.E. |last=Roche |title=The Key in the Lock: a history of immigration control in England from 1066 to the present day |publisher=John Murray |year=1969 |pages=205–17}}{{cite book |first=Frank |last=Reeves |title=British Racial Discourse: A Study of British Political Discourse About Race and Race-related Matters |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |page=206}}
• NASA began accepting applications for its second group of astronauts, with a goal of getting at least 5, and no more than 10, astronauts to augment the seven-member Mercury astronaut team. An applicant had to (1) be an experienced jet test pilot, preferably working currently with high-performance aircraft; (2) have attained experimental flight test status through experience or as a graduate from a military test pilot school; (3) have earned a degree in the physical or biological sciences or in engineering; (4) be a U.S. citizen less than 35 years old and no taller than {{convert|6|ft}}; and (5) be recommended by his employer. Applications were accepted until June 1. Qualifying candidates would be interviewed in July 1962 and be given written examinations on their engineering and scientific knowledge, then thoroughly examined by a group of medical specialists. Training would include work with engineers, simulator flying, centrifuge training and flights in high-performance aircraft.
• Born: Jeff Dunham, American ventriloquist, stand-up comedian and actor; in Dallas{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/magazine/01ventriloquist-t.html|title=Comedy for Dummies|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 29, 2009|first=Jon|last=Mooallem}}
• Died: Harry A. Franck, 80, American travel writer

• Communist China's Prime Minister Zhou Enlai arrived in Delhi to begin six days of meetings with India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to negotiate an end to a boundary dispute between the world's two largest nations. No resolution was reached, and the two would go to war six months later.{{cite book |first=Byron N. |last=Tzou |title=China and International Law: The Boundary Disputes |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1990 |page=128}}
• McDonnell awarded a $26,600,000 subcontract to IBM to provide the digital computer system for the Gemini spacecraft guidance and control system, as well as an incremental velocity indicator, the manual data insertion unit, and the auxiliary computer power unit.
• NASA announced that John Glenn's Mercury 6 capsule, Friendship 7, would be lent to the United States Information Agency for a world tour with 20 stops on all continents. This worldwide tour was known as the "fourth orbit" of Friendship 7, which had made three orbits of the Earth on February 20.
• Born: Al Unser Jr., American race car driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1992 and 1994; in Albuquerque, New Mexico{{cite book |author=((Editors of Chase's)) |title=Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dKpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA231 |date=24 September 2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-64143-316-7 |page=231 |via=Google Books}}

• OAS leader Raoul Salan was arrested in Algiers, after a tip from a drug dealer led French Army security forces to his hideout on the fifth floor of a luxury apartment building in Algiers. Salan had dyed his gray hair black and grown a mustache. General Salan had once been commander of the French Army in Algeria, before leading a revolt against the plan to separate French Algeria as a state independent of France."SAO Leader Salan Nabbed In Algiers, Arrives In Paris", Montreal Gazette, April 22, 1962, p1
• The National Socialist Movement (NSM) was founded by right-wing Britons Colin Jordan and John Tyndall, as a Neo-Nazi political party and a revival of Oswald Mosley's pre-World War II British Union of Fascists.Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity (NYU Press, 2003) p35
• Died: Grover Whalen, 75, New York City public events co-ordinator credited with inventing the ticker-tape parade"N.Y. Mourns Whalen", Miami News, April 19, 1962, p12A

• The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair opened in Seattle, at 11:00 a.m. local time. A group of 1,000 newsmen had previewed the fair the day before. In addition to the {{Convert|606|foot|adj=on}} tall Space Needle building, which became a symbol of Seattle, the Fair included a carnival that would "fit a working man's budget". The carnival, in operation for the duration of the fair, was called "Gayway".{{cite news |title=World's Fair Gates Swing Open |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Spokane, Washington |date=April 21, 1962 |page=1}} The fair would run until October 21, hosting 9,609,969 guests over six months.{{cite book |first=Bill |last=Cotter |title=Seattle's 1962 World's Fair |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2010 |page=8}}
• A flight formation of 24 U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy jets, part of the opening ceremonies of the Seattle World's Fair, ended in tragedy. One of the F-102 Dagger jet fighters experienced flight trouble. The pilot ejected safely, but the jet crashed into a residential neighborhood at the suburb of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, destroying two homes and killing an elderly couple. A five-member family, that normally resided in the other home, had gone on Easter vacation to avoid the traffic associated with the fair opening.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=ddB7do2jUx8C&dat=19620421&printsec=frontpage |title=FATAL CRASH MARS FAIR'S OPENING |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Spokane, Washington |date=April 21, 1962 |page=1 |via=Google News}}
• Carlos Ortíz defeated Joe Brown to win the world lightweight boxing championship. Ortíz had formerly been in a heavier class as the world junior welterweight champion. Brown had been the lightweight champion for more than five years.{{cite news |title=Brown Loses Title To Underdog Ortiz |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |date=April 22, 1962 |page=1-S}}
• Died: Frederick Handley Page, 76, founder of Britain's first aircraft manufacturing company, Handley Page, Ltd.{{cite book |first=Michael J. F. |last=Bowyer |title=Action Stations Revisited: Central England and the London area |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=daWwAAAAIAAJ |year=2000 |publisher=Crécy |isbn=978-0-947554-94-1 |page=308 |via=Google Books}}

• Soviet citizens who had been living in China's Xinjiang Province began crossing the Chinese-Soviet border to escape famine and persecution. Over the next six weeks, 67,000 people fled from Xinjiang into the Kazakh SSR, without interference from either side.George Ginsburgs, The Citizenship Law of the USSR (BRILL, 1983) p313
• The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 2–1, to win ice hockey's Stanley Cup in the sixth game of a best-of-seven series."Leafs' Late 2-Goal Spree Wins Stanley Cup", Ottawa Citizen, April 23, 1962, p15
• Born: Han Aiping, Chinese badminton player and 1985 and 1987 women's world champion (d. 2019); in Wuhan
• Died: Vera Reynolds, 62, American film actress{{cite book|author=Daniel Blum|title=Daniel Blum's Screen World 1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hyZlAAAAMAAJ|year=1963|publisher=Biblo-Moser|isbn=978-0-8196-0304-3|page=226}}

• The American Ranger 4 satellite was launched at 2:50 p.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, with the objective of gathering data from the Moon. A few hours later, ground control found that the satellite would be unable to keep still enough to provide useful information. One NASA official commented, "All we've got is an idiot with a radio signal.""Dud Tumbles To Moon", Miami News, April 24, 1962, p1
• After starting with nine consecutive losses in their first season, baseball's New York Mets finally won a game, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had started 1962 with ten consecutive wins."Bucs Fail in Bid for Record 11th, 9 to 1- Mets Also Avert NL Losing Mark", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 24, 1962, p18 The Mets would finish the 1962 season with a record of 40 wins and 120 losses, {{frac|60|1|2}} games out of first place.Steven A. Riess, Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Clubs (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006) p 241–242
• At a motor racing meeting at Goodwood Circuit, UK, Graham Hill won the 1962 Glover Trophy and Bruce McLaren won the 1962 Lavant Cup. During the Glover Trophy race, Stirling Moss suffered serious injuries in an accident, which effectively ended his career as a top-level racing driver.{{cite book|author=Sam G. Riley|title=Consumer Magazines of the British Isles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uOBZAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-28562-2|page=13}}
• Born: John Hannah, Scottish actor; in East Kilbride{{cite book|author=Brian Pendreigh|title=The Scot Pack: The Further Adventures of the Trainspotters and Their Fellow Travellers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cFZAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Mainstream Pub.|isbn=978-1-84018-310-8|page=141}}

• In a joint session of the Supreme Soviet in Moscow, Nikita Khrushchev was re-elected as Premier of the Soviet Union, and Leonid Brezhnev was re-elected as President of the Presidium."Nikita Wins Re-Election", Youngstown Vindicator, April 24, 1962, p1 Khrushchev would be replaced on October 14, 1964, as both the Premier (by Alexei Kosygin) and Communist Party First Secretary, by Brezhnev.Lewis Copeland, et al., The World's Great Speeches (Fourth Edition) (Courier Dover Publications, 1999) p782
• The Soviet Kosmos 4 satellite, the first designed to cover the entire land area of the United States from orbit, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1002 UTC. It would circuit the Earth for three days before returning with its data."Red Satellite Orbits Over United States", Lodi (CA) News-Sentinel, April 24, 1962, p1; David Owen, Hidden Secrets (Firefly Books, Apr 6, 2002) p175; Boris Chertok Rockets and People: Hot days of the Cold War (Government Printing Office, 2005) pp 361–362Erik Gregersen, ed., Unmanned Space Missions (Britannica Educational Publishing, 2009)
• Died:
• Prince Sahle Selassie, 31, youngest child of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia{{cite book|author=Taylor & Francis Group|title=The International Who's Who|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsnwF5v_RO0C|year=1974|publisher=Taylor & Francis Group|isbn=978-0-900362-72-9|page=xii}}
• Emilio Prados, 63, Spanish poet{{cite book|author=Eladio Cortés|title=Dictionary of Mexican Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-K-13qmBSoC&pg=PA539|year=1992|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-26271-5|pages=539}}

• "We have created the first synthetic thunderstorm in space", NASA scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun announced, after an American Saturn rocket released {{Convert|95|t}} of water into the ionosphere. At an altitude of {{Convert|65|mi}}, explosives on the rocket were detonated by ground control, creating a {{Convert|25|mi|adj=on}} wide cloud of ice that was visible from Florida. Von Braun announced that electrical charges were detected in the ice mass.{{cite news |title=Big Storm In Space Set Off By Saturn |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 25, 1962 |page=1}}
• In Moscow, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev informed the USSR's legislature, the Supreme Soviet, that the nation would need to replace the constitution that had been in place since 1936.{{cite news |title=Nik Will Rewrite Stalin Constitution For A 'New Look' |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 25, 1962 |page=1}}
• The United States ended its moratorium on atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons at 10:45 p.m. local time near Christmas Island.{{cite news |title=U.S. RESUMES H-TESTS WITH BLAST IN PACIFIC |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 25, 1962 |page=1}}
• Studebaker Corporation received a subcontract for $457,875 to provide two backup heatshields for the Gemini spacecraft. Test results from screening advanced heatshield materials had yielded four promising materials.

• The first British satellite, Ariel 1, was launched at 1800 UTC from the Wallops Flight Facility in the United States, and would remain in Earth orbit until April 24, 1976. The United Kingdom-United States collaboration made the launch the first multinational space effort in history.{{cite news |title=U.S., Britain Put Satellite In Orbit As World's First Cooperative Space Effort |newspaper=Toledo Blade |date=April 27, 1962 |page=1}}
• Ranger 4 landed on the Moon, marking the first time the U.S. had landed an object on an astronomical object. The mission was not fully successful, in that A malfunction in the guidance system prevented Ranger 4 from sending back usable photographs or other data. Tumbling out of control, the satellite crashed (as planned) into the far side of the Moon at 7:49 a.m. Eastern Time (1249 UTC), after a 64-hour journey from Earth. Impacting at nearly {{Convert|6000|mph}}, Ranger 4 was destroyed, but proved that the U.S. could land on the Moon. Ranger 4, in the process, became the first object launched from Earth to impact the far side of the Moon.{{cite news |title=BULLSEYE ON THE MOON! |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 26, 1962 |page=1}}{{cite journal |title=Discussion |journal=Space Policy |volume=14 |issue=1 |year=1998 |pages=5–8 |doi=10.1016/S0265-9646(97)00038-6 |bibcode=1998SpPol..14....5. }}
• Lou Schalk piloted the first flight of the A-12 Blackbird, prototype for the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird jet airplane, taking off and landed at the Groom Lake base in Nevada.{{cite book |first=Richard H. |last=Graham |title=SR-71 revealed: the inside story |publisher=Zenith Imprint |year=1996 |page=42}}
• At a stockholders' meeting at the Studebaker-Packard Corporation, the Packard name was dropped entirely, bringing an end to the automobile brand that had existed since 1902. The company had assumed the name after Packard Motor Car Company had merged with Studebaker Corporation in 1954.{{cite news |title=Studebaker Cuts Losses to $4 Million |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 26, 1962 |page=10B}}{{cite book |first=James Arthur |last=Ward |title=The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1995 |page=256}}
• Representatives of North American Aviation, NASA Headquarters, Langley Research Center, Flight Research Center, Ames Research Center, and Manned Spacecraft Center met to review the Paraglider Development Program. At the end of the review, the board recommended 21 changes in design and test procedures to North American.
• The Cleveland Indians traded catcher Harry Chiti to the New York Mets "for a player to be named later". On June 15, the Mets would name Chiti as the player to be sent to the Indians' farm system, making him the first Major League Baseball player to be "traded for himself".{{cite book |first=Bob |last=Mackin |title=The Unofficial Guide to Baseball's Most Unusual Records |publisher=Greystone Books |year=2004 |pages=41–42}}
• At an Atlas-Agena coordination meeting, Lockheed presented a comprehensive description of its proposed propulsion development plans for the Agena target vehicle.
• Died: Jerry Skinner, 62, New Zealand war hero and Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1957 to 1960{{cite news |title=Mr Skinner, Labour Party Deputy Leader, Dead |work=The Press |date=27 April 1962 |page=10}}

• In Los Angeles, a confrontation outside a mosque between two LAPD officers, and two members of the Nation of Islam, led to a shootout that killed one of the men. When a group of Black Muslims came out of the building, the situation escalated involving 75 police. When the confrontation was over, mosque secretary Ronald Stokes was dead, and six other Muslims and seven policemen were injured. The two policemen claimed self-defense in the face of an attack"Black Muslims Battle LA Police", Miami News, April 28, 1962, p1 while the Muslims said that their secretary, Ronald Stokes, had been beaten and shot at close range, after which the officers fired into an unarmed crowd.Peniel E. Joseph, The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era (CRC Press, 2006) p38 The incident, which heightened racial tensions in L.A., first brought Malcolm X to national attention, and led to a split between him and NOI leader Elijah Muhammad.Claude Andrew Clegg III, An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad (Macmillan, 1998) p170
• Wake Forest University was made fully integrated, after trustees voted 17–9 to allow qualified undergraduates to be admitted regardless of race. A year earlier, the North Carolina college had dropped racial bars to admission to Wake's post-graduate schools, and for nighttime classes."Wake Forest College Is Integrated", St. Joseph (MO) News-Press, April 29, 1962, p10A
• Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, the General Secretary of Romania's Communist Party, announced that the implementation of collective farming nationwide had been successful, with the government fully controlling all agricultural production.Dorin Dobrincu, Transforming Peasants, Property and Power: The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania, 1949–1962 (Central European University Press, 2009) p295
• The USAF Special Air Warfare Center was activated at Eglin Air Force Base near Valparaiso, Florida.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, {{ISBN|0-912799-53-6}}, page 136.
• Died: A. K. Fazlul Huq, 88, Bengali statesman who had served as Governor of East Pakistan (now the nation of Bangladesh) from 1956 to 1958, and Chief Minister of the Bengal state in British India (1937–43)

• Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Baker v. Carr, a federal court in Atlanta ruled that Georgia's county-unit system was unconstitutional. Since 1868, voting in primary elections was done in a system similar to that of the American electoral college, with each of Georgia's 159 counties having at least two "unit votes", and a provision that whichever candidate finished first in a county would receive that county's units. Eight counties had six units, and 30 had four units, so voters in rural and low populated counties had a greater share of representation in a statewide election."Court Kills Georgia Vote System", Miami News, April 29, 1962, p1
• Ipswich Town F.C. finished in first place in the English League, winning the league championship with a record of 24 wins, 8 draws and 10 losses. The team was in its first season in the soccer football league's First Division, having been promoted from Second Division play after its 1960–61 finish. It was the first time since 1889 that the major league championship was captured by a first year team. Dundee F.C. won its first Scottish League title on the same day, with a record of 25–4–5.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3JktAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JZ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7126,5537203&dq=ipswich-town "Ipswich Town, Dundee Win English, Scottis Soccer Titles"], Montreal Gazette, April 30, 1962, p32
• Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist and Nazi Party member who had saved more than 1,200 Polish Jews from extermination by the Nezi government, was honored on his 54th birthday at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, and proclaimed as a ger toshav ("a righteous Gentile").Gretchen Schmidt, German Pride: 101 Reasons to be Proud You're German (Citadel Press, 2003) p117
• Norway's parliament, the Storting, voted 113–37 in favor of Norway applying to join the European Economic Community. France would veto the application later in the year, but Norway would join the Common Market in 1972.Sieglinde Gstöhl, Reluctant Europeans: Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland in the Process of Integration (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002) p103; "Norway to Seek Seat on Market", The New York Times, April 29, 1962, p8
• Died: Gianna Beretta Molla, 39, Italian pediatrician and mother who would be canonized as a Roman Catholic Saint in 2004, died from septic peritonitis one week after having her fourth child delivered by caesarian section.{{cite book|title=Fatima Family Messenger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwfiAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Fatima Family Apostolate|page=25}}

File:JBKwithRobertFrost.jpg

• In one of the largest White House state dinners in modern times, the President and Mrs. Kennedy hosted 173 scientists, educators and writers, including 49 Nobel Prize laureates from the Western Hemisphere. President Kennedy made the famous remark, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge ever gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."{{cite news |title=49 Nobel Winners Kennedy's Guests |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 30, 1962 |page=1}}{{cite book |first=Helen |last=Thomas |author-link=Helen Thomas |title=Front Row At The White House: My Life and Times |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1999 |page=59}} Dr. Linus Pauling, winner of the 1954 prize in chemistry, picketed outside of the White House in an anti-nuclear demonstration earlier in the day, then went inside to join the President for dinner.{{cite news |title=Dr. Pauling Pickets JFK Before Meeting At Dinner |newspaper=Miami News |date=April 29, 1962 |page=13A}} On greeting Dr. Pauling, Kennedy said, "I'm glad you decided to come inside."
• Dick Thompson won the President's Cup Race at Virginia International Raceway.{{cite book |first=Chris |last=Holaday |title=Virginia International Raceway |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpHKSCTEHmIC&pg=PA37 |date=April 2003 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-1516-8 |page=37}}

• The pamphlet "Burmese Way to Socialism" (Myanma Hsoshelit Lanzin) was published and distributed throughout Burma, explaining the political philosophies of General Ne Win, who had overthrown the government on March 2.{{cite book |first=N. John |last=Funston |title=Government and Politics in Southeast Asia |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |year=2001 |pages=232–233}} Ne Win's Revolutionary Council would form the Burma Socialist Programme Party on July 4 to implement his vision for transforming the nation by establishing "a socialist economy based on justice", and would be national dogma until he left office in 1988.{{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Chirot |author-link=Daniel Chirot |title=Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1996 |page=328}}
• NASA test pilot Joseph A. Walker set a new altitude record for a fixed wing aircraft, flying an X-15 jet up to 246,700 feet (75,190 meters). Afterwards, Walker told reporters "there is no question that we can put a winged vehicle in orbit and land it."{{cite news |title=X-15 rockets more than 48 miles into space |newspaper=Regina Leader-Post |date=May 1, 1962 |page=31}} On August 22, 1963, Walker would pass the {{Convert|100|km|adj=on}} mark to reach outer space, though not orbit, in an airplane, attaining {{Convert|107.955|km}} altitude.{{cite book |first=Ray |last=Bonds |title=The Illustrated Directory of a Century of Flight |publisher=Zenith Imprint |year=2003 |page=234}}
• An array of 27 items of bite-size food were sampled and tested for possible inclusion in the Project Mercury space flights. Swimmer training was started for the Mercury 7 mission recovery area. Instruction was given in deploying the auxiliary flotation collar and jumps from a helicopter for the May mission.
• Died: Lester Volk, 77, child prodigy musician, physician, lawyer, journalist, and U.S. Congressman (R-N.Y.) from 1920 to 1923{{cite book |first=George Thomas |last=Kurian |author-link=George Thomas Kurian |title=The Encyclopedia of the Republican Party: The encyclopedia of the Democratic Party |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NAG8HrMbfTEC |year=1997 |publisher=Sharpe Reference |isbn=978-1-56324-729-3 |page=392 |via=Google Books}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Events by month links}}

1962

*1962-04