June 20, 1963

1963Kirk Baptiste, American sprinter^[†]

Kirk Baptiste was an American track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 200 metres. He was born in Beaumont, Texas. He competed for the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States, where he won the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 19.96 seconds. This was the first time anyone had broken 20 seconds and come second in the race. In his first race following the Olympics, on 18th August 1984 in Crystal Palace, England, Bapstiste broke the world record for 300 metres. In that race, Baptiste ran 31.70 seconds, beating the record of his compatriate, Mel Lattany and finishing ahead of Carl Lewis, the 200 metres gold medalist from the Los Angeles games. He decided to forgo his final season of eligibility at the University of Houston after his successful junior year.

1963Mark Ovenden, British author and broadcaster^[†]

Mark Ovenden F.R.G.S. is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subjects of graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit.

1963Raphaël Salem, Greek-French mathematician and academic (born 1898)^[†]

Raphaël Salem was a Greek mathematician after whom are named the Salem numbers and Salem–Spencer sets, and whose widow founded the Salem Prize.

1963Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow.^[†]

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis, was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.