On December 10 , '' CBS Evening News '' anchor Walter Cronkite , looking for something positive to report , re-ran a Beatlemania story that originally aired on the 22 November 1963 edition of the '' CBS Morning News '' with Mike Wallace but was shelved that night because of the assassination of US President John Kennedy . After seeing the report , 15-year-old Marsha Albert of Silver Spring , Maryland , wrote a letter the following day to disc jockey Carroll James at radio station WWDC asking , " Why ca n't we have music like that here in America ? " On December 17 James had Miss Albert introduce " I Want to Hold Your Hand " live on the air . WWDC 's phones lit up , and Washington , D.C. , area record stores were flooded with requests for a record they did not have in stock . James sent the record to other disc jockeys around the country sparking similar reaction . On December 26 , Capitol Records released the record three weeks ahead of schedule . The release of the record during a time when teenagers were on vacation helped spread Beatlemania in the US . On December 29 , '' The Baltimore Sun '' , reflecting the dismissive view of most adults , editorialized , " America had better take thought as to how it will deal with the invasion . Indeed a restrained ' Beatles go home ' might be just the thing . " In the next year alone , the Beatles would have 30 different listings on the Hot 100
assassination of US President John Kennedy
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
British Invasion