An American Dream Expanded/Timeline of Events, 1962–1966: Difference between revisions

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Norman Mailer’s Letters on ''An American Dream'', 1963–1969/Timeline of Events, 1962–1966}}

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| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="11"|1962||align=left|January 30|| style="background:#fed;"|NM’s first volume of poems, [[Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters)|''Deaths for the Ladies (and Other Disasters)'']], is published by Putnam’s.

|align=left| Late March  || style="background:#fed;"| NM divorces his second wife, [[w:Adele Morales|Adele Morales]], in Juarez, Mexico.

|align=left| April  || style="background:#fed;"| NM marries Lady Jean Campbell and they move into his apartment at 142 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn.

|align=left| Mid-August  || style="background:#fed;"| NM submits the first (of 14) columns, titled [[The Big Bite|“The Big Bite,”]] for publication in the November [[w:Esquire (magazine)|''Esquire'']].

|align=left| August   18|| style="background:#fed;"| NM’s third daughter, Kate, born to Jean Campbell.

|align=left| September   22|| style="background:#fed;"| NM debates [[w:William F. Buckley, Jr.|William F. Buckley, Jr.]] on “The Role of the Right Wing” before an audience of 4,000 in Chicago.

|align=left| September   25 || style="background:#fed;"| NM covers the heavyweight prizefight between [[w:Floyd Patterson|Floyd Patterson]] and [[w:Sonny Liston|Sonny Liston]] in Chicago.

|align=left| October-November  || style="background:#fed;"| '''[[w:Cuban Missile Crisis|Cuban Missile Crisis]]. The Soviet Union removes missile sites from Cuba after the U.S. threatens a military attack.'''

|align=left| Late fall  || style="background:#fed;"| NM separates from Jean Campbell.

|align=left| December  || style="background:#fed;"| NM publishes the first of six columns of reflections on [[w:Martin Buber|Martin Buber’s]] [[w:Tales of the Hasidim|''Tales of the Hasidim'']] in [[w:Commentary (magazine)|''Commentary'']].

|align=left| December   20 || style="background:#fed;"| “An Open Letter to JFK from Norman Mailer” appears in the [[w:Village Voice|''Village Voice'']].

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="18"|1963||align=left| January-February   || style="background:#fee;"| [[w:Playboy|''Playboy'']] publishes in two parts the NM-Buckley debate.  

|align=left| February   || style="background:#fee;"| “Ten Thousand Words a Minute,” NM’s account of the first Patterson-Liston fight, is published in ''Esquire''.

|align=left| March   || style="background:#fee;"| NM meets [[w:Beverly Bentley|Beverly Bentley]].

|align=left|March   24 || style="background:#fee;"| NM speaks on [[w:existentialism|existentialism]] and [[w:psychoanalysis|psychoanalysis]] at [[w:Harvard University|Harvard]].

|align=left|May   31 || style="background:#fee;"| NM presents “An Existential Evening” at [[w:Carnegie Hall|Carnegie Hall]], discussing the [[w:Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], [[w:John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy]] and [[w:Communism|Communism]] with the audience.

|align=left| Summer   || style="background:#fee;"| “The First Presidential Paper,” NM’s essay on heroes and leaders, is published in [[w:Dissent (American magazine)|''Dissent'']].

|align=left| July-August   || style="background:#fee;"| NM and Beverly drive cross-country and back, stopping in Arkansas, Las Vegas (where they see Liston defeat Patterson for the second time), San Francisco and Georgia.

|align=left|August  28|| style="background:#fee;"| '''[[w:Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King, Jr.]] delivers his [[w:I Have a Dream|“I Have a Dream”]] speech at the [[w:Washington Monument|Washington Monument]] during the [[w:March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|Civil Rights March]] on the [[w:Washington, D.C.|Capital]].'''

|align=left| Late Summer   || style="background:#fee;"| [[w:Scott Meredith|Scott Meredith]] becomes NM’s literary agent and helps broker the sale of an unwritten novel to [[w:Dial Press|Dial Press]] and [[w:Dell Publishing|Dell Books]]. NM proposes and ''Esquire'' editor [[w:Harold Hayes|Harold Hayes]] agrees to the serial publication of this novel in the magazine, January through August 1964.

|align=left|September   29 || style="background:#fee;"| NM’s review of [[w:Victor Lasky|Victor Lasky’s]] ''J.F.K.: The Man and the Myth'' appears in ''Book Week ([[w:New York Herald Tribune|N.Y. Herald Tribune]])''.

|align=left| Mid-October   || style="background:#fee;"| NM turns in the first of eight installments of the novel to ''Esquire''.

|align=left|November   8 || style="background:#fee;"| Putnam’s publishes [[The Presidential Papers|''The Presidential Papers'']], a collection of assorted prose focused on J.F.K.

|align=left| Mid-November   || style="background:#fee;"| The December ''Esquire'' containing NM’s final “Big Bite” column is published. NM announces in it that he will write a novel called [[An American Dream|''An American Dream'']], in eight installments, beginning in the January 1964 issue.

|align=left|November   22 || style="background:#fee;"| '''President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. [[w:Lyndon B. Johnson|Vice President Johnson]] is sworn in as President.'''

|align=left|November   27 || style="background:#fee;"| NM begins working on the third installment.

|align=left| Mid-December   || style="background:#fee;"| The January issue of ''Esquire'' containing the first installment appears.

|align=left|November   16 || style="background:#fee;"| After obtaining a Mexican divorce from Jean Campbell, NM marries Beverly Bentley in New York.

|align=left|December   26 || style="background:#fee;"| NM contributes to a [[w:New York Review of Books|''New York Review of Books'']] symposium on J.F.K.

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="17"|1964||align=left| Mid-January   || style="background:#dfd;"| The fourth installment of the novel is completed.  

|align=left| Late January   || style="background:#dfd;"| NM debates William F. Buckley, Jr. in New York on a taped television program.

|align=left| January   29 || style="background:#dfd;"| '''American premiere of [[w:Dr. Strangelove|“Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”]]'''.

|align=left| February   3 || style="background:#dfd;"| '''[[w:The Beatles|The Beatles]] arrive in America.'''

|align=left| February   11 || style="background:#dfd;"| The fifth installment is completed.

|align=left| February   25 || style="background:#dfd;"| NM is in the audience in Miami when [[w:Muhammad Ali|Muhammad Ali]] defeats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship.

|align=left| March   17 || style="background:#dfd;"| Beverly gives birth to Michael Burks Mailer, NM’s first son, at about the same time that he completes the sixth installment.

|align=left| April   20 || style="background:#dfd;"| The seventh installment is completed.

|align=left| Late May   || style="background:#dfd;"| [[w:Warner Bros.|Warner Brothers]] buys an option on the film rights to ''An American Dream''.

|align=left| Early June   || style="background:#dfd;"| The final long installment of the novel is completed. The Mailers go to Provincetown where NM will revise the ''Esquire'' version for book publication.

|align=left| July   2 || style="background:#dfd;"| '''President Johnson signs the [[w:Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights Act]] against discrimination.'''

|align=left| Mid-July   || style="background:#dfd;"| NM break off work on the revision to the novel to cover the [[w:Republican National Convention|Republican Convention]] in San Francisco. His account, “In the Red Light,” appears in the November ''Esquire''.

|align=left| August   7 || style="background:#dfd;"| '''The U.S. Congress passes the [[w:Gulf of Tonkin Resolution|Tonk Gulf Resolution]] in authorizing the President to use military force in Vietnam.'''

|align=left| September   || style="background:#dfd;"| '''The [[w:Free Speech Movement|Free Speech movement]] begins at the [[w:University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]].'''

|align=left| October   12 || style="background:#dfd;"| An advertisement for ''An American Dream'' in book form appears in [[w:Publishers Weekly|''Publishers’ Weekly'']] and gives a January 1965 publication date.

|align=left| November   3 || style="background:#dfd;"| '''Johnson elected President.'''

|align=left| December   20 || style="background:#dfd;"| Working on the Dial Press galleys, NM completes a second revision of the novel.

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="20"|1965||align=left| Early January   || style="background:#ffd;"| NM testifies on behalf of [[w:William S. Burroughs|William Burroughs’s]] novel, [[w:Naked Lunch|''Naked Lunch'']], at its Boston obscenity trial.  

|align=left| January   27 || style="background:#ffd;"| NM writes to his Japanese translator that Warner Brothers has purchased the film rights to the novel. It sells for $200,000.

|align=left| February   21 || style="background:#ffd;"| '''[[w:Malcolm X|Malcolm X]] is assassinated.'''

|align=left| March   || style="background:#ffd;"| '''U.S. troops arrive in force in Vietnam, escalating the [[w:Vietnam War|War]].'''

|align=left| March   14 || style="background:#ffd;"| [[w:Tom Wolfe|Tom Wolfe’s]] negative review of the novel appears in ''Book Week ([[w:The Washington Post|Washington Post]])''.

|align=left| March   15 || style="background:#ffd;"| Official publication date of ''An American Dream'' by Dial Press.

|align=left| March   19 || style="background:#ffd;"| [[The Big Comeback of Norman Mailer|“The Big Comeback of Norman Mailer,”]] a positive review by [[w:John W. Aldridge|John W. Aldridge]], appears in [[w:Life (magazine)|''Life'']]. NM pays to reprint the heart of the review in the spring number of [[w:Partisan Review|''Partisan Review'']] to “accompany” [[w:Elizabeth Hardwick (writer)|Elizabeth Hardwick’s]] negative review.

|align=left| March   27 || style="background:#ffd;"| The novel rises to number four on the bestseller list of the [[w:Chicago Daily News|''Chicago Daily News'']].

|align=left| April   1 || style="background:#ffd;"| NM travels to Alaska for a four-day visit, speaking at the [[w:University of Alaska system|University of Alaska]]. He uses his impressions for his 1967 novel, [[Why Are We in Vietnam?|''Why Are We in Vietnam?'']]

|align=left| April   11 || style="background:#ffd;"| The novel rises to number eight on the bestseller list of the ''New York Times Book Review''.

|align=left| April   20 || style="background:#ffd;"| NM arrives in London to promote the British edition of ''An American Dream'', published by [[w:André Deutsch|Andre Deutsch]] on 26 April.

|align=left| May   21 || style="background:#ffd;"| NM speaks out against the Vietnam War at the Berkeley campus of the University of California.

|align=left| July   15 || style="background:#ffd;"| NM speaks at a [[w:Teach-in|Harvard teach-in against the Vietnam War]].

|align=left| Late July   || style="background:#ffd;"| NM travels to Puerto Rico for the [[w:José Torres|Jose Torres]]-[[w:Tom McNeeley|Tom McNeeley]] prizefight and meets with Muhammad Ali.

|align=left| August   6 || style="background:#ffd;"| '''[[w:Voting Rights Act of 1965|Voting Right Act of 1965]] signed into law by President Johnson.'''

|align=left| August   11 || style="background:#ffd;"| '''Race riots break out in Watts, Los Angeles.'''

|align=left| Fall   || style="background:#ffd;"| NM contributes to a ''Partisan Review'' symposium, “On Vietnam.”

|align=left| September   24 || style="background:#ffd;"| [[w:Brock Brower|Brock Brower’s]] biographical article on NM appears in ''Life''.

|align=left| September   29 || style="background:#ffd;"| '''[[w:National Endowment for the Arts|National Endowment for the Arts]] signed into law by President Johnson.'''

|align=left| Late December   || style="background:#ffd;"| NM addresses the [[w:Modern Language Association|Modern Language Association]] meeting in Chicago on the American novel. His talk is published in the March 1966 issue of ''Commentary''.

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="8"|1966||align=left| March   || style="background:#eff;"| The Dell paperback edition of ''An American Dream'' is published.

|align=left| March   10 || style="background:#eff;"| NM’s second son, [[w:Stephen Mailer|Stephen McLeod Mailer]], is born to Beverly.

|align=left| June   || style="background:#eff;"| NM purchases a house at 565 Commercial Street in Provincetown.

|align=left| August   || style="background:#eff;"| The first stage version of NM’s 1955 novel, [[The Deer Park|''The Deer Park'']], with Beverly Bentley as Lulu Meyers, is presented at Act IV, a Provincetown theater.

|align=left| August   26 || style="background:#eff;"| The film version of ''An American Dream'' premiers.

|align=left| August   28 || style="background:#eff;"| NM’s review of [[w:Mark Lane (author)|Mark Lane’s]] [[w:''Rush to Judgment''|''Rush to Judgment'']], an analysis of the [[w:Warren Commission|Warren Commission Report]] on J.F.K.’s assassination, appears in ''Book Week (Washington Post)''.

|align=left| August   29 || style="background:#eff;"| Dial Press publishes [[Cannibals and Christians|''Cannibals and Christians'']], NM’s third volume of collected prose and poetry.

|align=left| October   29 || style="background:#eff;"| [[w:National Organization for Women established|'''National Organization for Women established''']].