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| 1962, Jan. 11 |
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| In his State of the Union message to Congress, Pres. Kennedy called for a reduction of tariff barriers, expansion of welfare programs, and measures to help the economy. | 1 |
| Publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring helped to launch the environmental movement. | 2 |
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| Feb. 20 |
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| Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first U.S. astronaut to make an orbital flight, circling the earth three times. | 3 |
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| April 25 |
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| The U.S. resumed nuclear testing by exploding a nuclear device at the Christmas Island test site in the Pacific Ocean. | 4 |
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| July 10 |
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| Telstar, a 170-lb. communications rocket, was put into orbit in a joint effort by the government and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. | 5 |
| Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy authorized wiretaps on the Atlanta home of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.; the government believed King was linked to Communists. | 6 |
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| Oct. 15–28 |
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| Cuban missile crisis (See Oct. 22–Nov. 20). For 13 days, the U.S. and the Soviet Union stood at the brink of nuclear war after aerial photography showed Soviet missile bases, complete with missiles, under construction in Cuba. The U.S. quarantined Soviet ships from Cuba until the missiles were removed. | 7 |
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| Oct. 23 |
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| Pres. Kennedy signed the $3.9 billion foreign aid bill, clauses of which forbade aid to 18 Communist nations and to any country shipping arms to Cuba. | 8 |
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