January
1st	Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand
1st	The United States Navy SEALs are activated. SEAL Team One is commissioned in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two in the Atlantic Fleet
1st	The Beatles have their first and only audition for Decca Records from which they are famously rejected with the quote from Mike Smith saying that, "guitar groups are on the way out"
3rd	Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
5th	The Beatles' first record, "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan, is released by Polydor
8th	Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)
8th	Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in worst Dutch rail disaster
9th	Cuba and the Soviet Union sign a trade pact
10th	An avalanche on Nevado Huascarán in Peru causes 4000 deaths
13th	Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China
15th	Portugal abandons U.N. General Assembly due to the debate over Angola
16th	A military coup occurs in the Dominican Republic
19th	A counter-coup occurs in the Dominican Republic; the old government returns except for the new president Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly
24th	The East German government readopts conscription
24th	The Organisation armée secrète (OAS) bombs the French Foreign Ministry
26th	Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon; it later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles
27th	The Soviet government changes all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgi Malenkov
30th	Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed, when their famous seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan

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February
3rd	The U.S. announces its trade embargo against Cuba.
4th	The Sunday Times becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement
4th	During a new moon and solar eclipse, an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurs (it includes all 5 of the naked-eye planets plus the Sun and Moon), all of them within 16° of one another on the ecliptic. At the precise moment of the new moon/solar eclipse, 5 celestial bodies (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter) are clustered within 3° of each other, with the Earth in close conjunction with them. Taken in totality, this grand conjunction includes the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, with the Earth also in alignment with the Sun and Moon at the exact moment of the new moon/solar eclipse (8 celestial bodies in total)
5th	French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence
7th	The United States Government bans all U.S. related Cuban imports and exports
7th	A coal mine explosion in Saarland, West Germany kills 299
9th	The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation opens
10th	Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin
12th	Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act
14th	First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House
15th	Urho Kekkonen is re-elected president of Finland
16th	Heavy storms flood Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die, thousands lose their homes
20th	While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes
23rd	Twelve European countries form the European Space Agency

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March
1st	An American Airlines Boeing 707 crashes on takeoff at Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport), after its rudder separates from the tail, with the loss of all 95 people on board
2nd	A military coup in Burma brings General Ne Win to power
15th	Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin Congo
18th	France and Algeria sign an agreement in Évian-les-Bains ending the Algerian War
18th	Un premier amour by Isabelle Aubret (music by Claude-Henri Vic, text by Roland Stephane Valade) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 for France
19th	An armistice begins in Algeria; however, the OAS continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians
24th	OAS leader Edmond Jouahud is arrested in Oran
26th	France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18

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April
3rd	Jawaharlal Nehru is elected de facto Prime Minister of India
4th	James Hanratty is hanged in Bedford Gaol for the A6 murder (While many believe he was innocent, DNA testing carried out in 1999 confirmed his guilt)
6th	Belgium reestablishes diplomatic relations with Congo
7th	Author Milovan Djilas is arrested in Yugoslavia
8th	In France, the Évian Accords are adopted in a referendum with a majority of 90%
9th	The 34th Academy Awards ceremony take place in Los Angeles, California
10th	In Los Angeles, California, the first Major League Baseball game is played at Dodger Stadium
13th	OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is sentenced to death in France
14th	A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers
18th	The Commonwealth Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
20th	OAS leader Raoul Salan is arrested in Algiers
26th	The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon

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May
1st	Norwich City wins the League Cup, beating Rochdale in the final
2nd	An OAS bomb explodes in Algeria - this and other attacks kill 110 and injure 147
3rd	160 die in a triple-train disaster near Tokyo
5th	Twelve East Germans escape to the west via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall
6th	Antonio Segni is elected President of the Italian Republic
6th	Totenham Hotspur won The FA cup for the second year running
14th	Juan Carlos of Spain marries the Greek Princess Sophia in Athens
14th	Milovan Djilas, former vice-president of Yugoslavia, is given further sentence for publishing Conversations with Stalin
23rd	Drilling for the new Montreal subway commences
23rd	Raoul Salan, founder of the French terrorist Organisation armée secrète, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France
24th	Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule
25th	The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated
29th	Negotiations between the OAS and the FLA lead to a real armistice in Algeria
30th	The 1962 FIFA World Cup begins in Chile

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June
1st	Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel
3rd	Air France charter flight Chateau de Sully, a Boeing 707, over-runs the runway at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 passengers are killed, two flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta, Georgia
6th	President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York
11th	Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only apparently successful escapees from the Alcatraz Island prison. There is no conclusive evidence that they survived the attempt
17th	The OAS signs a truce with the FLN in Algeria, but a day later announces that it will continue the fight on behalf of French Algerians
17th	Brazil win the FIFA World Cup in Chile, beating Czechoslovakia 3 - 1 in the final
22nd	An Air France Boeing 707 jet crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board. It is the airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks, and the third fatal 707 crash of the year
25th	The United States Supreme Court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines
26th	A two-day steel strike begins in Italy, in support of increased wages and five-day working week
30th	The last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria

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July
1st	Rwanda and Burundi gain independence
1st	Supporters of Algerian independence win 99% majority in a referendum
1st	A heavy smog develops over London
2nd	Charles de Gaulle accepts Algerian independence; France recognises it the next day
2nd	The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas
5th	Algeria becomes independent from France
6th	Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne presents his first edition of The Late Late Show. Byrne goes on to present the talk show for 37 years, making it the longest running in the world
10th	AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit, and activated the next day
12th	The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry
13th	In what the press dubs the "the Night of the Long Knives", United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet
17th	The "Small Boy" nuclear test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site
20th	France and Tunisia reestablish diplomatic relations
22nd	The Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed
23rd	Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal
25th	Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth of the United States of America
28th	A locust swarm threatens New Delhi
31st	Algeria proclaims independence; Ahmed Ben Bella is the first President
31st	A crowd assaults the rally of Sir Oswald Mosley's right-wing Union Movement in London

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August
5th	The South African government arrests Nelson Mandela in Howick, and charges him with incitement to rebellion
6th	Jamaica becomes independent
16th	Algeria joins the Arab League
17th	East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin
22nd	A failed assassination attempt is made against French President Charles De Gaulle
23rd	John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell
24th	A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat
27th	NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe
31st	Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent

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September
1st	A referendum in Singapore supports the Malayan Federation
1st	Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, killing at least 130 and wounding more than 600
2nd	The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba
8th	Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a constitution
12th	President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade
15th	The Beatles are signed by Parlophone Records
21st	A border conflict between China and India erupts into fighting
21st	New Musical Express, a British music magazine, publishes a story about two 13-year-old schoolgirls, Sue and Mary, releasing a disc on Decca and adds "A Liverpool group, The Beatles have recorded 'Love Me Do' for Parlophone Records, set for October 5 release."
26th	Civil war erupts in Yemen
27th	A flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, kills more than 440
27th	Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement
28th	Prime Minister Ahmed Ben Bella founds the first government in Algeria
29th	The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California

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October
1st	The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals
5th	The French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate; Prime Minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office.
5th	Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premieres in UK Cinemas
5th	The Beatles release their first single Love Me Do
8th	The German magazine Der Spiegel publishes an article about the Bundeswehr's poor preparedness; the Spiegel scandal erupts
8th	Algeria is accepted into the United Nations
9th	Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth of Nations
10th	Beginning of the Sino-Indian War, a border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (between India and the People's Republic of China)
10th	Der Spiegel publishes an article on a NATO exercise criticising the weakness of the West German army
11th	Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years
12th	The infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U. S. Pacific Northwest with wind gusts up to 170 mph (270 km/h); 46 dead, 11 billion board feet (26 million m³) of timber is blown down, with $230 million U.S. in damages
12th	Jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus presents a disastrous concert at Town Hall in New York City. It will gain a reputation as the worst moment of his career
13th	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway
14th	Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war
22nd	In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces to the nation the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba
26th	German police occupy Der Spiegel offices in Hamburg
27th	Italian industry tycoon Enrico Mattei dies as his plane crashes in mysterious circumstances
28th	Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba
28th	A referendum in France favours the election of the president by universal suffrage
31st	The UN General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but the constitution comes into effect on November 1

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November
1st	The Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba
1st	The first issue of Diabolik is published in Italy
3rd	The term "Personal computer" is first mentioned by the media
5th	Franz Josef Strauß, the West German defence minister, is relieved of his duties over the Spiegel scandal, due to his alleged involvement in police action against the magazine
5th	Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt, following a period of unrest partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt
6th	The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies, and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation
7th	Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is his "last press conference" and that "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more"
17th	In Washington, D.C., U.S. President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport
20th	The Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation
23rd	United Airlines Flight 297 crashes, killing all 17 on board
26th	German police end their occupation of Der Spiegel offices
27th	French President Charles De Gaulle orders Georges Pompidou to form a government
29th	An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner
30th	The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma as the new UN Secretary-General

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December
2nd	After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official not to make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress
7th	Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his formerly autocratic power to several advisory and legislative councils
8th	The North Kalimantan National Army revolts in Brunei (first stirrings of the Indonesian Confrontation)
9th	Tanganyika (now Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president
11th	In West Germany, a coalition government of Christian Democrats, Christian Socialists, and Free Democrats is formed
14th	U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet
19th	Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (now Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation
19th	The last foreign-occupied territory of India, Daman and Diu, is integrated into India
22nd	The "Big Freeze" starts in Britain: no frost-free nights until March 5, 1963
24th	Cuba releases last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million
30th	United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia