News and Events of 1966

 

World Events

 

World Statistics

 

Population: 3.415 billion

 

• 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

 

• 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 Lakers (4-3)

 

Stanley Cup

 

Montreal d. Detroit (4-2)

 

Wimbledon

 

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 King

 

NCAA Basketball Championship

 

Texas Western d. Kentucky (72-65)

 

NCAA Football Champions

 

Notre Dame (AP, UPI, FW, NFF-tie) (9-0-1) & Michigan St. (NFF-tie) (9-0-1)

 

World Cup

 

England d. W. Germany (4-2)

 

Entertainment

 

Entertainment Awards

 

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, Katherine Anne Porter
Music: Variations for Orchestra, Leslie Bassett

 

Oscars awarded in 1966
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)

 

1966 Emmy Awards

 

1966 Tony Awards

 

Grammys awarded in 1966
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)

 

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

 

• 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

 

Deaths

 

Montgomery Clift

 

Walt Disney