This week we’ll take a look back at the years 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016.
January
January 2 – A strike of public transportation workers in New York City begins. (It would end January 13).
January 3 – The first Acid Test is conducted at the Fillmore, San Jose.
January 4
A military coup occurs in Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso).
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan meet in Moscow.
January 10
Pakistani–Indian peace negotiations end successfully in Tashkent. Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri dies the next day.
The French paper L’Express publishes a story by Georges Figon, who took part in the kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka.
Georgia House of Representatives refuses to seat Julian Bond.
Home of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is firebombed. Dahmer’s family escapes but he dies the next day from severe burns. (White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Samuel Bowers will be unsuccessfully tried for this murder on four occasions, and then convicted in 1998.)
Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference convenes in Lagos, Nigeria.
January 11
A conference on Rhodesia begins in Lagos, Nigeria.
The first SR-71 Blackbird spy plane goes into service at Beale AFB.
January 12 – United States President 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 15 – A bloody military coup is staged in Nigeria, deposing the civilian government.
January 16 – Chicago Bulls, a member of National Basketball Association‘s club, officially founded.[citation needed]
January 17
The Nigerian coup is overturned by another faction of the military, leaving a military government in power. This is the beginning of a long period of military rule.
A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea, in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash.
Carl Brashear, the first African-American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of a lost H-bomb which results in the amputation of his leg.
January 18
About 8,000 U.S. soldiers land in South Vietnam; U.S. troops now total 190,000.
January 19 – Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India; she is sworn in January 24.
January 20 – Demonstrations occur against high food prices in Hungary.
January 21 – Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro resigns due to a power struggle in his party.
January 22
The military government of Nigeria announces that ex-prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was killed during the coup.
The Chadian Muslim insurgent group FROLINAT is founded in Sudan, starting the Chadian Civil War.
January 24 – Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc, killing all 117 persons on board, including Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission.
January 26
Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia when Robert Menzies retires.
Beaumont children disappearance: Three children disappear on their way to Glenelg, South Australia, never to be seen again.
January 27
The British government promises the U.S. that British troops in Malaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions occur in the region.
Britain’s Labour Party unexpectedly retains the parliamentary seat of Hull North in a by-election, with a swing of 4.5% to their candidate from the opposition Conservatives, and a majority up from 1,181 at the 1964 General Election to 5,351.
January 29 – The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
January 31 – The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.
February
February 1 – West Germany procures some 2,600 political prisoners from East Germany.
February 3 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
February 6 – The TV series Mister Ed airs its final episode (ran 1961–66).
February 7 – Lyndon Johnson of the United States and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam convene with other officials in Honolulu, Hawaii to discuss the course of the Vietnam War.
February 8 – The National Hockey League announces it will expand to 12 teams for the 1967 season.
February 10 – Soviet writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced to five and seven years, respectively, for “anti-Soviet” writings.
February 14 – The Australian dollar is introduced at a rate of 2 dollars per pound, or 10 shillings per dollar.
February 20 – While Soviet author and translator Valery Tarsis is abroad, the Soviet Union negates his citizenship.
February 23 – An intra-party military coup d’état in Syria replaces the previous government of Amin al-Hafiz by one led by Salah Jadid.
February 24 – A coup d’état led by the police and military of Ghana raises the National Liberation Council to power while president Kwame Nkrumah is abroad.
February 26 – A curfew is declared in Jakarta, Indonesia.
February 28 – U.S. astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliot See are killed in an aircraft accident in St. Louis, Missouri.
March
March 1
The British Government announces plans for the decimalisation of the pound sterling (hitherto denominated in 20 shillings and 240 pence to the £), to come into force in February 1971 (Decimal Day).
Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashes on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet’s surface.
The Ba’ath Party takes power in Syria.
In an interview with London Evening Standard reporter Maureen Cleave, John Lennon of The Beatles states that they are “more popular than Jesus now”.
March 5
BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 people on board.
A massive theft of nuclear materials is revealed in Brazil.
March 7 – Charles de Gaulle asks U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state of NATO equipment in France.
March 8
Anti-communist demonstrations occur at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.
Vietnam War: The U.S. announces it will substantially increase the number of its troops in Vietnam.
Nelson’s Pillar in O’Connell Street, Dublin, is clandestinely blown up by former Irish Republican Army volunteers marking this year’s 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
March 9 – Ronnie, one of the Kray twins, shoots George Cornell (an associate of rivals The Richardson Gang) dead at The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, east London, a crime for which he is finally convicted in 1969.
March 10
Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg. Some spectators demonstrate against the groom because he is German.
The Frost Report, which launched the television careers of John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett and also the careers of other writers and performers, is first broadcast on BBC.
March 11
Transition to the New Order in Indonesia: President Sukarno gives all executive powers to General Suharto by signing the “Supersemar” order.
French President Charles de Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and HQ’s must be closed within a year.
March 12 – Bobby Hull of the Chicago Blackhawks sets the National Hockey League single season scoring record against the New York Rangers with his 51st goal.
March 15 – Racial riots erupt in the Watts section of Los Angeles.
March 16 – NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) conducts the first docking in space, with an Agena target vehicle.
Paul Van Doren established the Vans shoe company in California.
March 17
More anti-communist demonstrations occur in Indonesia.
Off the Mediterranean coast of Spain, the United States Navy submersible DSV Alvin finds a missing U.S. hydrogen bomb.
March 19 – The Texas Western Miners defeat the Kentucky Wildcats with five African-American starters, ushering in desegregation in athletic recruiting.
March 20 – Football’s Jules Rimet Trophy is stolen while on exhibition in London; it is found seven days later by a mongrel dog named “Pickles” and his owner David Corbett, wrapped in newspaper in a south London garden.
March 22 – In Washington, D.C., General Motors President James M. Roche appears before a Senate subcommittee, and apologizes to consumer advocate Ralph Nader for the company’s intimidation and harassment campaign against him.
March 23 – Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, meet in Rome.
March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the United States against the Vietnam War.
March 27 – In South Vietnam, 20,000 Buddhists march in demonstrations against the policies of the military government.
March 28
Cevdet Sunay becomes the fifth president of Turkey.
Indira Gandhi visits Washington, D.C.
March 29 – The 23rd Communist Party Conference is held in the Soviet Union; Leonid Brezhnev demands that U.S. troops leave Vietnam, and announces that Chinese-Soviet relations are not satisfactory.
March 31
The British Labour Party led by Harold Wilson wins the United Kingdom General Election, gaining a 96-seat majority (compared with a single seat majority when the election was called on February 28).[3]
The Soviet Union launches Luna 10, which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
April
April 1 – The Flintstones aired its last episode on the ABC network.
April 2 – The Indonesian army demands that the country rejoin the United Nations.
April 3 – Luna 10 is the first manmade object to enter lunar orbit.
April 7 – The United Kingdom asks the United Nations Security Council for authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the embargo against Rhodesia (authority is given April 10).
April 8
Buddhists in South Vietnam protest against the fact that the new government has not set a date for free elections.
Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union, as well as Leader of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.
Time magazine cover story asks “Is God Dead?”
April 9 – The captain of English football league club Norwich City F.C., Barry Butler, is killed in a car accident.
April 13
United States’ magazine Time‘s cover story is ‘London: The Swinging City’
United States president Lyndon Johnson signs the 1966 Uniform Time Act, dealing with daylight saving time.
April 14
Kenyan Vice President Oginga Odinga resigns, saying “invisible government” representing foreign interests now runs the country. Will head a new party, the Kenya People’s Union.
The South Vietnamese government promises free elections in 3–5 months.
April 15 – An anti-Nasser conspiracy is exposed in Egypt.
April 18
China declares that it will stop economic aid to Indonesia.
The 38th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
April 19 – Bobbi Gibb becomes the first woman to run the Boston Marathon.
April 21
An artificial heart is installed in the chest of Marcel DeRudder in a Houston, Texas hospital.
The opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.
Haile Selassie visits Jamaica for the first time, meeting with Rasta leaders.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court, for the murders of 3 children who vanished between November 1963 and October 1965.
April 24 – Uniform daylight saving time is first observed in most parts of North America.
April 26
A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
April 27 – Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican (the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union).
April 28 – In Rhodesia, security forces kill seven ZANLA men in combat; Chimurenga, the ZANU rebellion, begins.
April 29 – U.S. troops in Vietnam total 250,000.
April 30
Regular hovercraft service begins over the English Channel (discontinued in 2000 due to the Channel Tunnel).
The Church of Satan is formed by Anton Szandor LaVey in San Francisco.
May
May 1 – Floods occur on the Finnish coast.
May 3 – Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio commence broadcasting on AM, with a combined potential 100,000 watts, from the same ship anchored off the south coast of England in international waters.
May 4 – Fiat signs a contract with the Soviet government to build a car factory in the Soviet Union.
May 5 – The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup.
May 6
The Moors murders trial ends with Ian Brady being found guilty on all three counts of murder and sentenced to three concurrent terms of life imprisonment. Myra Hindley is convicted on two counts of murder and of being an accessory in the third murder committed by Brady, and receives two concurrent terms of life imprisonment and a seven-year fixed term for being an accessory.
The hit song “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones is released.
May 7 – Irish bank workers go on strike.
May 12
African members of the UN Security Council say that the British army should blockade Rhodesia.
The Busch Memorial Stadium opens in St Louis, Missouri.
Radio Peking claims that U.S. planes have shot down a Chinese plane over Yunnan (the U.S. denies the story the next day).
May 14 – Turkey and Greece intend to start negotiations about the situation in Cyprus.
May 15
Indonesia asks Malaysia for peace negotiations.
The South Vietnamese army besieges Da Nang.
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators again picket the White House, then rally at the Washington Monument.
May 16
The Communist Party of China issues the ‘May 16 Notice‘, marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
A seamen’s strike is called in Britain.
The legendary album Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys is released.
Bob Dylan‘s seminal album, Blonde on Blonde is released in the U.S.
In New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his first public speech on the Vietnam War.
May 19 – Gertrude Baniszewski is found guilty of murdering and torturing Sylvia Likens and is sentenced to life in prison (she is released on parole in December 1985).
May 24
Battle of Mengo Hill: Ugandan army troops arrest Mutesa II of Buganda and occupy his palace.
The Nigerian government forbids all political activity in the country until January 17, 1969.
May 25 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 is launched.
No. 9 Squadron RAAF becomes part of the 4,500 strong Australian Task Force assigned to duties in Vietnam, leaving for Southeast Asia aboard the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney.[4]
May 26 – Guyana achieves independence.
May 28
It’s a Small World opens at Disneyland.
Fidel Castro declares martial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack.
The Indonesian and Malaysian governments declare that the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation is over (a treaty is signed on August 11).
May 29 – Azteca Stadium, as known well for sports venues in Mexico, officially opened in Mexico City, before 1968 Summer Olympics.
May 31 – The Philippines reestablishes diplomatic relations with Malaysia.
June
June 1
The final new episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show airs (the first episode aired on October 3, 1961).
White House Conference on Civil Rights
June 2
Éamon de Valera is re-elected as Irish president.
Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
Four former cabinet ministers including Évariste Kimba are executed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for alleged involvement in a plot to kill Mobutu Sese Seko.
June 3 – Joaquín Balaguer is elected president of the Dominican Republic.
June 5 – Gemini 9: Gene Cernan completes the second U.S. spacewalk (2 hours, 7 minutes).
June 6 – Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot by a sniper while traversing Mississippi in the March Against Fear.
June 8
An XB-70 Valkyrie prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.
Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an “F5” on the Fujita scale, the first to exceed US $100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed, and the campus of Washburn University suffers catastrophic damage.[5]
June 12 – Chicago’s Division Street riots begin, in response to police shooting of a young Puerto Rican man.
June 13 – Miranda v. Arizona: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.
June 14 – The Vatican abolishes the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (index of banned books).
June 17 – An Air France personnel strike begins.
June 18 – CIA chief William Raborn resigns; Richard Helms becomes his successor.
June 20 – French President Charles de Gaulle starts his visit to the Soviet Union.
June 21 – Opposition leader Arthur Calwell is shot after attending a political meeting in Mosman, Sydney, Australia.
June 27
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention‘s debut album, Freak Out!, is released. It is an initial failure, but gains a massive cult following in subsequent years.
The gothic soap opera Dark Shadows premieres on ABC.
June 28 – In Argentina, a junta calling itself Revolución Argentina deposes president Arturo Umberto Illia in a coup, and appoints General Juan Carlos Onganía to lead.
June 29
Juan Carlos Onganía comes to power in “Argentine Revolution” coup d’état.
A sailors’ strike, organised by the National Union of Seamen, ends in the United Kingdom.
Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong.
June 30
France formally leaves NATO.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington, D.C.
July
July – British gangster Charlie Richardson is arrested by police and sentenced to 25 years in prison in the following year for his part in the Torture Gang assaults.
July 1 – Joaquín Balaguer becomes president of the Dominican Republic.
July 3
31 people are arrested when a demonstration by approximately 4,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters in front of the U.S. Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square turns violent
René Barrientos is elected president of Bolivia.
July 4
North Vietnam declares general mobilization.
American President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year.
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) endorses goal of Black Power at well attended convention in Baltimore. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Roy Wilkins criticize this declaration.
July 6 – Malawi becomes a republic.
July 7 – A Warsaw Pact conference ends with a promise to support North Vietnam.
July 8 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Ntare V, who is in turn deposed by prime minister Michel Micombero.
<a title="July 11" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/