ABSTRACT
When the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, it marked the first successful invasion of the United States since British troops burned Washington 150 years earlier. There had been some warning, but the impact of their arrival was much greater than anyone anticipated. The American press had reported on British Beatlemania, although they tended to be more amused than impressed. After months of ignoring their releases, Capitol Records finally initiated a significant advertising campaign that largely followed rather than led grassroots appeal. Thousands of fans met the Beatles at the New York airport on February 7, and 200 journalists covered their first press conference.
