September 1964
The following events occurred in September 1964: September 1, 1964 (Tuesday) Masanori Murakami became the first Japanese player to appear in an American major league baseball game, coming to the mound during the 8th inning as a relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in their game at Shea Stadium against the New York Mets. During his brief first appearance, "Mashi" Murakami, formerly of the Nankai Hawks of Japan's Pacific League, struck out two players and allowed one single in his team's 4-1 loss to the Mets. After he proved to be a successful player during the remainder of the season, the Nankai Hawks would demand to have him back; ultimately, the Giants and the Hawks would agree that Murakami could play the full 1965 National League season and then would have to return to Japan. Spokoynoy nochi, malyshi! (literally, "Good night, kids!"), a ten-minute bedtime story for young children to watch before they went to bed at 9:00 p.m., premiered on Soviet Central Television. Featuring clay animation and puppetry, the series is still broadcast on Russian TV today. The Titan IIIA expendable launch system, on its first test launch, failed to achieve orbit. Only two months before the scheduled election to the New York State Senate, delegates to the Democratic Convention nominated U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy as their candidate for U.S. Senator, favouring him 968 to 153 over Congressman Samuel S. Stratton. On the same day, the Liberal Party of New York nominated Kennedy as its candidate as well, while the Republican Party of New York renominated the incumbent U.S. Senator, Kenneth Keating. Kennedy was a resident of Massachusetts rather than New York, but New York law did not have a residency requirement for its candidates for the U.S. Senate. Later in the day, U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina introduced a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would require that a U.S. Senator to meet the same residency requirements as a voter "in the state he represents", commenting that "Recent occurrences have negated the clear intention of the Constitution. This circumstance should be remedied." Died: George Georgescu, 76, Romanian conductor September 2, 1964 (Wednesday) At the request of President Johnson, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover initiated a COINTELPRO (counter intelligence program) against various Ku Klux Klan organizations and other white supremacist hate groups. "The purpose of this program", Hoover wrote in a memorandum to the FBI field offices, "is to expose, disrupt and otherwise neutralize the activities of the various klans and hate organizations, their leadership and adherents." The murder of a Malay rickshaw driver in the Geylang Serai section of Singapore, believed to have been committed by Singaporean Chinese assailants, triggered rioting within the Malay community. Before the violence abated, 36 people would be killed and more than 500 injured. Melvin D. Synhorst, a Republican as well as being the Iowa Secretary of State, set politics aside and announced that he would order November's election ballots to include the names of U.S.