1966: Definition and Links by Encyclopedian.com

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Years: 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 - 1966 - 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971

Events

January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa takes over the Central African Republic.
January 3 - First Acid Test[?] at the Fillmore Auditorium[?], San Francisco.
January 12 - Lyndon Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.
January 13 - Robert C. Weaver[?] becomes the first African American Cabinet member by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
January 17 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares[?] and one into the sea
January 19 - Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India.
January 26 - Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia when Robert Menzies retires.
January 29 - The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity[?] opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
January - First SR-71 spy plane goes into service.
February 3 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
February 23 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
March 1 - Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.
March 1 - The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria
March 4 - John Lennon says, "We (The Beatles) are more popular than Jesus" later sparking controversy in the United States.
March 8 - Vietnam War: Australian announces it was going to substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam.
March 10 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg.
March 17 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the ALVIN submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
May 25 - Explorer program: Explorer 32[?] launches.
May 25 - In St. Louis, Missouri, US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey[?] and US Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall[?] dedicate the Gateway Arch as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
May 26 - Guyana achieves independence.
March 31 - The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first spaceprobe to enter orbit around the moon.
July 4 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act will go into effect next year.
July 6 - Malawi becomes a republic.
July 18-July 21 - Gemini 10 orbits the earth.
August 10 - Lunar Orbiter 1 is launched.
September 30 - Botswana achieves independence.
October 4 - Lesotho achieves independence.
October 14 - Montreal metro system inaugurated.
December 1 - Kurt Georg Kiesinger becomes Chancellor of Germany.
November 6 - Lunar Orbiter 2[?] is launched.
November 30 - Barbados achieves independence.
December 26 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga[?], the chair of Black Studies[?] at California State University at Long Beach[?]

Cultural Revolution declared in China.
In Burundi, King Mwambutsa IV[?] is deposed by his son Ntare IV[?], who is in turn deposed by prime minister Michel Micombero[?].
Rene Barrientos[?] is elected president of Bolivia.
Joaquin Balaguer becomes president of the Dominican Republic.
US Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona.
Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton found Black Panther Party.
Gwynfor Evans[?] becomes first Plaid Cymru member of Parliament in UK.
Haile Selassie visits Jamaica for the first time, meeting with Rastafarian leaders
Konstantin Chernenko, later leader of Soviet Union, becomes candidate member of the Central Committee.
Surrealist Movement in the United States[?] founded by Franklin and Penelope Rosemont[?].
Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn are awarded the Fermi Prize[?].
US Congress creates National Council for Marine Resources and Engineering Development[?].
Martin Richards[?] designs the BCPL programming language.
The DKW automobile goes out of production.
World Buddhist Sangha Council convened by Theravadins in Sri Lanka with the hope of bridging differences and working together.

Art, Culture & Fashion

1966 in film
- A Man for All Seasons
- Alfie
- The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone
1966 in literature
- The Circle Game[?] by Margaret Atwood
- Expeditions[?] by Margaret Atwood
- Speeches for Doctor Frankenstein[?] by Margaret Atwood
- The Dartmoor Worker anthology of William Crossing
- Der Meteor[?] by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
- The Solid Mandala[?] by Patrick White
1966 in music
- January 16 - Metropolitan Opera House[?] opens in Lincoln Center, New York City.
- January 17 - Simon and Garfunkel release album Sounds of Silence.
- October 10 - Simon and Garfunkel release album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
- August 29 - Beatles give last concert, in San Francisco.
1966 in sports

1966 in television
- January 12 - Batman debuts on ABC.
- September 12 - The Monkees premieres.
- Star Trek premieres.
- Canadian television stations broadcast in color for the first time.

Births

January 12 - Rob Zombie, musician, artist, writer
January 13 - Patrick Dempsey[?], actor
January 17 - Shabba Ranks[?], singer
February 9 - Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
February 11 - Anthony Parker[?], American football player
February 11 - Patrick Kuhnen[?], West German tennis player
February 11 - Stephen Gregory, actor
February 20 - Cindy Crawford[?], model
February 22 - Brian Andrew Greig[?], statesman
February 24 - Billy Zane[?], actor
March 3 - Tone Loc[?], musician
March 10 - Edie Brickell[?], singer
April 18 - Trine Hattestad, Norwegian javelin thrower
May 12 - Stephen Baldwin, actor
May 13 - Darius Rucker[?], musician ("Hootie & the Blowfish")
May 16 - Krist Novoselic, a musician of Nirvana (band)
May 16 - Janet Jackson, singer
May 25 - Sugar Minott, singer
May 26 - Helena Bonham Carter, actress
July 15 - Irène Jacob, actress
August 3 - Oliver Brown, ukulele performer and theorist
August 11 - Juan Maria Solare, classical music composer
August 14 - Halle Berry, actress
September 9 - Georg Hackl, German luger
September 4 - Yanka Dyagileva, Russian punk-rock singer
November 12 - David Schwimmer, American actor.
November 17 - Sophie Marceau, actress
November 17 - Jeff Buckley, singer
Jonathan Edwards, British triple jumper

Deaths

January 11 - Alberto Giacometti, Italian sculptor
January 14 - Barry Fitzgerald, actor
January 18 - Kathleen Norris[?], writer
February 1 - Buster Keaton, American actor and film director
February 1 - Hedda Hopper[?], gossip columnist
February 10 - Billy Rose[?], composer, band leader
February 20 - Chester Nimitz, American admiral
March 3 - Maxfield Parrish[?], artist
April 2 - C.S. Forester, author
June 7 - Jean Arp, sculptor, painter, and poet
June 8 - Anton Melik, Slovene geographer
August 3 - Lenny Bruce, American comedian
August 6 - Cordwainer Smith, science fiction author
September 28 - Andre Breton, founder of surrealism
November 2 - Mississippi John Hurt
December 7 - C. Thomas Howell, actor
December 15 - Walt Disney

Nobel Prizes

Physics - Alfred Kastler[?]
Chemistry - Robert S. Mulliken
Medicine - Peyton Rous[?], Charles Brenton Huggins[?]
Literature - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Nelly Sachs[?]
Peace - Not Awarded