1962 - The Senior Year The Senior Year Photo Page Special Graduation Items At Last!! King of the mountain. Just biding my time until it's over with. Being a Senior is great. Everything reveolves around us.We are the leaders! Life is... PERFCT ...........except....what if I don't graduate this year... what if I do graduate this year... three choises: college, work, or the military.... all are scary.... all my friends will be going away.... I'm on my own and life is for real ... no more playing .....can I make it..... jeeez, can't school last a little longer.... ....uh, oh 1962 - U.S. Statistics President: John F. Kennedy Vice President: Lyndon B. Johnson Population: 186,537,737 Life expectancy: 70.1 years Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 20.2 Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 18.6 Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.8 US GDP (1998 dollars): $585.2 billion Federal spending: $106.82 billion Federal debt: $302.9 billion Consumer Price Index: 30.2 Unemployment: 6.7% Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.04 France transfers sovereignty to new republic of Algeria (July 3). Cuban Missile Crisis: USSR to build missile bases in Cuba; Kennedy orders Cuban blockade, lifts blockade after Russia backs down (Aug.-Nov.). Pope John XXIII opens Second Vatican Council (Oct. 11). Cuba releases 1,113 prisoners of 1961 invasion attempt (Dec. 24). Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago become independent. James H. Meredith, escorted by federal marshals, registers at University of Mississippi (Oct. 1). Pat Brown defeats Richard Nixon in the California gubernatorial race Marilyn Monroe dies of a drug overdose at age 36. The first transatlantic television transmission occurs via the Telstar Satellite, making worldwide television and cable networks a reality. Government regulations force studios out of the talent agency business. Johnny Carson takes over hosting duties of The Tonight Show. Movies Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Manchurian Candidate, Divorce-Italian Style Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., is first American to orbit Earth three times in 4 hours 55 minutes (Feb. 20).  Background: US Staffed Space Flights Mariner II, the first interplanetary probe, reaches Venus. Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs Unimation introduces the first industrial robot. The commercially sponsored Telstar communications satellite is launched. Deaths Niels Bohr William Faulkner Ernie Kovacs Eleanor Roosevelt Record of the Year: "Moon River" Henry Mancini Album of the Year: Judy at Carnegie Hall, Judy Garland (Capitol) Song of the Year: "Moon River," Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, songwriters Miss America: Maria Fletcher (NC