It was 55 years ago when the Beatles made their first landing in the United States. The move set a wave of unprecedented excitement and hype dubbed 'Beatlemania.'
By: Phil Akre
When the Beatles' landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York, it was the pop culture event.
The move not only made headlines in New York and the northeast, but across the entire country. It was just two and a half months after president John. F Kennedy was shockingly assassinated. For many, the Beatles arrival was a sign of hope and excitement, something the country had sorely been lacking since Kennedy's tragic death.
Two days later, the Beatles would play their historic show on the Ed Sullivan show, with a then jaw-dropping 73 million viewers. At the time, that was three fourths of the entire adult audience in the U.S. Yes, you read that correctly.
To say that both the JFK landing and Ed Sullivan show were important is a vast understatement. The Beatles' had just embarked on what would become arguably the most prolific and successful career in music history.
55 years later, their music and image is as important as ever.
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Phil is currently a junior at Quinnipiac University where he studies advertising and integrated communications with a journalism minor. You can find him on twitter here.