Top News Stories from 1966
World Events
- France withdraws its forces from NATO. President De Gaulle visits the USSR (June 20).
- Sukarno leaves office in Indonesia; Suharto assumes power.
- Botswana, Lesotho, and Guyana become independent states within the British Commonwealth.
- India suffers the worst famine in 20 years; Lyndon Johnson asks for $1 billion in aid to the country.
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: Lyndon B. Johnson
Vice President: Hubert H. Humphrey
Population: 196,560,338
Life expectancy: 70.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 26.7
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 24.5
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 5.9
More U.S. Statistics... - Medicare begins (July 1).
- Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona, protecting rights of the accused.
- Stokeley Carmichael elected president of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).Background: Student movements
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $787.8 billion
Federal spending: $134.53 billion
Federal debt $328.5 billion
Consumer Price Index: $32.4
Unemployment: 4.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.05
Sports
World Series
Baltimore d. LA Dodgers (4-0)NBA Championship
Boston d. LA LakersStanley Cup
Montreal d. DetroitWimbledon
Women: Billie Jean King d. M. Bueno (6-3 3-6 6-1)Men: Manuel Santana d. D. Ralston (6-4 11-9 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Kauai KingNCAA Basketball Championship
Texas Western d. KentuckyNCAA Football Champions
Notre Dame (AP, UPI, FW, NFF-tie) (9-0-1) & Michigan St. (NFF-tie) (9-0-1)World Cup
England d. W. GermanyEntertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, Katherine Anne Porter
Music: Variations for Orchestra, Leslie Bassett
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Sound of Music, Robert Wise, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Israel) and Nelly Sachs (Sweden)
Record of the Year: "A Taste of Honey," Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Album of the Year: September of My Years, Frank Sinatra (Reprise)
Song of the Year: "The Shadow of Your Smile" (Love Theme From The Sandpiper), Paul Francis Webster and Johnny Mandel, songwriters
Miss America: Deborah Irene Bryant (KS)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- The first Star Trek episode, "The Man Trap," is broadcast on September 8. The plot concerns a creature that sucks salt from human bodies.
- CBS backs out of plans to broadcast Psycho, deeming the movie too violent for at-home viewing.
- The old Metropolitan Opera House is abandoned as the company moves to Lincoln Center. The new Metropolitan Opera opens with Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra.
Movies
- A Man for All Seasons, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Alfie, A Man and a Woman
Books
- John Barth, Giles Goat-Boy
- Paul Bowles, Up Above the World
- Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
- Robert Coover, The Origin of the Brunists
- Bernard Malamud, The Fixer
- Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Robert Sanderson Mulliken (US), for research on bond holding atoms together in molecule
Physics: Alfred Kastler (France), for work on energy levels inside atom
Physiology or Medicine: Charles Brenton Huggins (US), for studies in hormone treatment of cancer of prostate; Francis Peyton Rous (US), for discovery of tumor-producing viruses
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - Insulin is first synthesized in China. Background: Health & Nutrition
- MIT biochemist Har Khorana finishes deciphering the DNA code. Background: genetic engineering
- The Food and Drug Administration declares "the Pill" safe for human use. Background: Birth & Contraception
