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

• 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

Sports

World Series

NBA Championship

Stanley Cup

Wimbledon

Kentucky Derby Champion

NCAA Basketball Championship

NCAA Football Champions

World Cup

Entertainment

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

• 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

Death

• Montgomery Clift
• Walt Disney

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