Beatlemania Has Landed
Beatlemania arrived in the U.S. on February 7, 1964, after the band’s Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London landed at New York Kennedy’s Airport. It was the Beatles’ first visit to the U.S., and the boys were nervous. They were used to their star status back home in England, and America was a whole new territory.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison arriving at JFK on February 7th, 1964. Photo by GAB Archive / Redferns / Getty Images
As the plane neared the gate, the high-pitched screaming grew closer. John Lennon’s former wife, Cynthia, told Rolling Stone magazine: “We could hear this screaming. We thought it was the engines, but the screaming was that of the fans.”