This is a list of notable events that took place in 1966 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) Vice President: Hubert Humphrey (D-Minnesota) Chief Justice: Earl Warren (California) Speaker of the House of Representatives: John William McCormack (D-Massachusetts) Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) Congress: 89th

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January January 2 – 1966 New York City transit strike: A wildcat strike by public transportation workers in New York City, led by Mike Quill, begins, designed to coincide with the beginning of Republican John V. Lindsay's mayoralty. (The strike ends on January 13.) January 3 Sammy Younge Jr. is shot in Tuskegee, Alabama, the first African American university student to be murdered due to his actions in support of the civil rights movement. The first of the Acid Tests is conducted at The Fillmore in San Francisco. January 10 – The 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 before being convicted in 1998.) January 11 – The first SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft 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. Batman premieres on ABC television. January 13 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. January 16 – The Chicago Bulls are granted entry to the National Basketball Association. January 17 – 1966 Palomares B-52 crash: A USAF 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. Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter 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 27 – The British government promises the U.S. that British troops in Malaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions occur in the region. January 29 – The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.

February February 8 – The National Hockey League awards Pittsburgh a second franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins. February 9 – The National Hockey League awards the Twin Cities area a franchise, the Minnesota North Stars. February 28 – U.S. astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliot See are killed in a plane crash in St. Louis, Missouri.

March March 4 – The Beatles: In an interview published in the London Evening Standard, John Lennon comments, "We're more popular than Jesus now," sparking a controversy in the United States. March 7 – French president Charles De Gaulle asks U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state of NATO equipment in France. March 8 – Vietnam War: U.S. announces it will substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam. 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 16 Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) docks with an Agena target vehicle. The last Studebaker production facility is closed. March 17 – Palomares incident: 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 21 – In a landmark obscenity case, Memoirs v. Massachusetts, the Supreme Court rules that the hitherto banned 18th-century English novel Fanny Hill does not meet the Roth Standard for obscenity. 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 24 – Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections, decided in the Supreme Court, rules that requiring payment of a poll tax as eligibility to vote in state elections is unconstitutional.. March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the U.S. against the Vietnam War. March 28 – The Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, visits Washington, D.C. March 29 – The 23rd Communist Party Conference is held in the Soviet Union; Leonid Brezhnev demands that American troops leave Vietnam, and announces that Chinese-Soviet relations are unsatisfactory.

April April 1 – Animated sitcom The Flintstones airs its series finale on the ABC network. April 8 – Time magazine cover story asks "Is God Dead?" April 13 Time's cover story is "London: The Swinging City". President Lyndon Johnson signs the 1966 Uniform Time Act, dealing with daylight saving time. April 18 – The 38th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope, is held at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Robert Wise's The Sound of Music jointly wins and receives the most awards and nominations with David Lean's Doctor Zhivago, respectively winning five and receiving ten each. The former's wins include Best Picture and Wise's second Best Director award. 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. April 29 – U.S. troops in Vietnam total 250,000. April 30 – The Church of Satan is formed by Anton Szandor LaVey in San Francisco. April – Hidden Valley Downs horse racing track opens in Kansas. April – Playboy publish its interview with the leader of the American Nazi Party George Lincoln Rockwell.

May May 5 – The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey. May 12 Busch Memorial Stadium opens in St. Louis. 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 15 – Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators again picket the White House, then rally at the Washington Monument. May 16 In New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his first public speech on the Vietnam War. The album Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys is released. May 19 – Murder of Sylvia Likens: Gertrude Baniszewski is found guilty of torturing and murdering 16-year-old Sylvia Likens in Indiana and is sentenced to life in prison (she is released on parole in December 1985).Sylvia Likens: The 1965 torture and murder of the 16-year-old girl May 25 – In St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Vice-president Hubert Humphrey and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicate the Gateway Arch. May 28 Fidel Castro declares martial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack. Boat ride "It's a Small World" opens at Disneyland.

June June 1 The final new episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show airs (the first episode was on October 3, 1961). White House Conference on Civil Rights opens. June 2 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another planet. 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 while trying to march across Mississippi; he survives. June 8 An XB-70 Valkyrie prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with an F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed. 1966 Topeka tornado: 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. 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 18 – CIA chief William Raborn resigns; Richard Helms becomes his successor. June 20 – Bob Dylan's seminal album Blonde on Blonde is released. June 29 – Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong. June 30 – The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington, D.C.

July July – The Chicago Surrealist Group is founded by Franklin and Penelope Rosemont with others. July 4 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) endorses the goal of Black Power at a well attended convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Martin Luther King Jr., and Roy Wilkins criticize this declaration. July 13 – The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is founded in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. July 14 – Richard Speck murders eight student nurses in their Chicago dormitory. He is arrested on July 17. July 18 Gemini 10 (John Young, Michael Collins) is launched. After docking with an Agena target vehicle, the astronauts then set a world altitude record of 474 miles (763 km). The Hough Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio, the city's first race riot. July 28 – The U.S. announces that a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane has disappeared over Cuba. July 29 – Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, New York. He is not seen in public for over a year.

August

August 1 – Sniper Charles Whitman kills 13 people and wounds 31 from atop the University of Texas at Austin Main Building tower, after earlier killing his wife and mother. August 5 Groundbreaking takes place for the World Trade Center in New York City. Martin Luther King Jr. leads a civil rights march in Chicago, during which he is struck by a rock thrown from an angry white mob. Caesars Palace hotel and casino opens on the Las Vegas Strip. August 6 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, Nebraska, killing all 42 on board. August 7 – Race riots occur in Lansing, Michigan. August 10 – Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit another world, is launched. August 11 – The Beatles hold a press conference in Chicago, during which John Lennon apologizes for his "more popular than Jesus" remark, saying, "I didn't mean it as a lousy anti-religious thing." August 15 – It is announced that the New York Herald Tribune will not resume publication. August 16 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee starts investigating Americans who have aided the Viet Cong, with the intent to make these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 are arrested. August 22 The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), is formed. The first Best Buy opens in St. Paul, Minnesota. August 24 – Rock band The Doors record their self-titled debut LP. August 29 – The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. Meanwhile, on NBC, Hullabaloo airs its last episode, a rerun with guest star Elvis Presley, which previously aired in April of that year.

September September 1 – While waiting at a bus stop Ralph Baer, an inventor with Sanders Associates, writes a four-page document that lays out the basic principles for creating a video game to be played on a television: the beginning of a multibillion-dollar industry. September 7 – The ocean liner catches fire and burns in New York Harbor.