Date in year · 1963 · The 1960s

May 8, 1963

On May 8, 1963, south Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis. The year's #1 song was "Surfin' U.S.A." by The Beach Boys. Garry Kasparov, Conan O'Brien, Rachel Whiteread would arrive in the same year.

Events

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Births

2

Deaths

0

Year

1963

1960s

Around 1963

The year in brief

1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1963rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 963rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 63rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1960s decade.

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What happened

On May 8, 1963

  1. 1963 South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.

    1963 shootings in South Vietnam

    On 8 May 1963, nine unarmed Buddhist civilians were shot by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and security forces in Huế, South Vietnam. The army and police fired guns and launched grenades into a crowd of Buddhists who had been protesting against a government ban on flying the Buddhist flag on the day of Phật Đản, which commemorates the birth of Gautama Buddha.

Arrivals

Born on May 8, 1963

Anthony Field 1963– Australian musician and actor (born 1963)
Michel Gondry 1963– French film director

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1963

The class of 1963

Others born in 1963

Garry Kasparov 1963– Russian chess player and author
Conan O'Brien 1963– American television host, comedian, and writer
Rachel Whiteread 1963– English sculptor
Ken Caminiti 1963– American baseball player (died 2004)
Rosalind Gill 1963– English sociologist and academic
Sean Lock 1963– English comedian and actor (died 2021)

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