Born in 1964

If you were born in 1964, four young men from Liverpool arrived in America on February 9th and remade everything. The Beatles landed at JFK, and when Ed Sullivan introduced them, seventy-three million Americans watched—still one of the largest television audiences in history. The screaming in the studio could be heard on the street outside.

British Invasion was the phrase, but it was really a collision—American rock and roll going to England, being transformed, and coming back transformed again. The Civil Rights Act passed in July after the longest Senate filibuster in history. Freedom Summer brought violence in Mississippi.

Cassius Clay shocked the world by defeating Sonny Liston in February, then announced his name was Muhammad Ali, which shocked people all over again. The Mustang debuted at the World's Fair in New York in April and forty thousand were sold on the first day—Ford had somehow designed exactly what every young American wanted. LBJ won the presidency in a landslide.

*Mary Poppins* and *A Hard Day's Night* were in the theaters simultaneously, which seemed to capture the year's peculiar mix perfectly. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" gave way to "A Hard Day's Night" gave way to "She Loves You," and the country was still hearing the echo.