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 26 - Guyana achieves independence.
- 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.
- 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.
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1966 in film
- 1966 in literature
- 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
- Baltimore Orioles win Major League Baseball's World Series.
- Ted Williams is inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame.
- England wins Football World Cup on home ground (see 1966 World Cup Final).
- British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Kingston, Jamaica.
- Lucien Aimar wins the Tour de France.
- David Pearson wins the NASCAR Championship.
- Roberto Clemente is the National League MVP.
- Frank Robinson is the American League MVP.
- 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 16 - Krist Novoselic, a musician of Nirvana (band)
- July 15 - Irène Jacob, actress
- August 3 - Oliver Brown, ukulele performer and theorist
- 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
- December 20 - Chris Robinson, singer, songwriter of The Black Crowes
- 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
- 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
- Physics - Alfred Kastler
- Chemistry - Robert S. Mulliken
- Medicine - Peyton Rous, Charles Brenton Huggins
- Literature - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Nelly Sachs
- Peace - Not Awarded