OTHSTimeline

1966

Sept. 1966

(9-8-66) The science fiction television show Star Trek debuts on NBC-TV, and eventually runs for 79 episodes over a three year period.

(9-12-66) The first episode of The Monkees is broadcast on NBC-TV.

(9-16-66) The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center opens with the premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra.

Oct. 1966

(10-8-66) WOR-FM in NY City becomes the first FM rock music station, led by DJ Murray The K.

(10-15-66) U. S. Department of Transportation created, beginning operations in early 1967.

(10-15-66) The Black Panther Party is founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland, CA.

(10-22-66) The Supremes become the first all-female musical group to reach number one on the US Billboard 200 with their album The Supremes A’Go-Go.

Nov. 1966

(11-8-66) Republican Clifford P. Case is re-elected to his third term in the U. S. Senate. Republican Edward Brooke is elected a U. S. senator from Massachusetts, the first African-American to be elected to the U. S. Senate in 85 years, and the first to be popularly elected to that body.

(11-8-66) Future U. S. President Ronald Reagan is elected Governor of California, a post he would hold for two terms (1967-75).

Dec. 1966

Martin Luther King announces his opposition to the Vietnam War.

(12-15-66) Famed animator, theme park developer and producer and studio head Walt Disney dies at the age of 65 from lung cancer

Significant Film Releases-1966

Alfie

Georgy Girl

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

A Man For All Seasons

Blow Up

Black Girl

Batman

The Battle of Algiers

Born Free

Fantastic Voyage

A Funny Thing Happened On The Wat To The Forum

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

King of Hearts

A Man and a Woman

The Professionals

Seconds

War and Peace

1967

Jan. 1967

(1-4-67) The Doors release their debut album, The Doors.

(1-15-67) The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first Super Bowl.

(1-15-67) The Rolling Stones appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV, and at Sullivan’s request, they change the lyrics of “Let’s Spend the Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together.”

Feb. 1967

(2-10-67) The 25th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is adopted, establishing a process for presidential succession, for filing a vacancy in the office of the vice-president and providing measures to maintain continuity in the executive branch of the federal government if the president becomes disabled.

(2-14-67) Aretha Franklin records “Respect” at New York’s Atlantic Studios.

March 1967

Muhammad Ali is stripped of his heavyweight boxing title following his refusal to be drafted into army service based upon his religious convictions and his opposition to the Vietnam War.

(3-25-67) The Who perform their first U. S. concert in New York.

April 1967

(4-15-67) Over 100,000 protesters in New York City march to the United Nations to protest the Vietnam War.

May 1967

(5-1-67) Elvis Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas NV.

June 1967

(6-1-67) The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in mono and stereo LP versions.

(6-10-67) The KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival occurs at Mount Tamalpais in Marin County California, featuring Canned Heat, The Byrds, The Seeds, Blues Magoos, Jefferson Airplane, The doors, County Joe and The Fish and others.

(6-16 through 18-67) The outdoor Monterey Pop Festival premieres, held in Monterey CA and featuring The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Burdon & the Animals, The Byrds, The Association, Jefferson Airplane, Otis and the MGs, Ravi Shankar, Big Brother and The Holding Company with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

(6-23 through 6-25-67) Governor Richard Hughes hosts U. S. President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin at their summit meeting, held at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University).

(June through August 1967) The “Summer of Love”, referring to the period when San Francisco was the center of the “hippie movement”, occurs when thousands of young people converge on the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood to experience “flower power.”

July 1967

(7-13 through 7-19-67) Riots, arson and looting occur in Newark, resulting in 26 deaths and millions of dollars of property losses. The urban unrest is brought under control after NJ Governor Richard Hughes mobilizes the National Guard to restore order in the city.

(7-23 through 28-67) The Detroit Rebellion, also known as the Detroit Race Riot or 12th Street Riot occurs in Detroit Michigan, resulting in the most destructive urban riot in U. S. history since the 1863 New York City draft riots.

Aug. 1967

(8-30-67) Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African-American to sit on the U. S. Supreme Court.

Sept. 1967

(9-17-67) The Doors appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV, performing the song “Light My Fire” with its original lyrics, which Sullivan had requested be changed. As a result, The Doors are banned from future appearances on the show.

Oct. 1967

(10-2-67) Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nov. 1967

(11-9-67) Rolling Stone Magazine premieres, featuring John Lennon on the cover.

(11-29-67) Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara resigns after months of conflict with President Johnson and U. S. military leaders regarding the war in Vietnam.

Dec. 1967

385,300 U.S. Troops in Vietnam

(12-10-67) Otis Redding and four of the six members of his backup band The Bar-Kays are killed when their Beechcraft Model 18 plane crashes in Madison, Wisconsin.

Significant Film Releases-1967

Belle de Jour

Bonnie and Clyde

Cool Hand Luke

The Dirty Dozen

Far From the Madding Crowd

The Graduate

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Hombre

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

In Cold Blood

In the Heat of the Night

The Jungle Book

Playtime

Point Blank

Two For the Road

Valley of the Dolls

Wait Until Dark

Week End

1968

Jan. 1968

(1-13-68) Johnny Cash and his band perform at Folsom State Prison in California. A recording of the concert is later released by Columbia Records and rejuvenates Cash’s artistic career.

(1-22-68) The comedy/satire TV show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in Premieres on NBC. The show pilot was broadcast in September 1967, but the full run of 140 episodes commenced in January 1968, concluding on March 12, 1973.

(1-23-68) The USS Pueblo is attached by North Korean patrol boats and eventually seized. The crew was imprisoned, and after months of negotiations, the ship’s crew was released to South Korea on Dec. 12, 1968.,

(1-30/31-68) The Tet Offensive is launched by the Vietcong, which results in a military disaster for the Vietcong and North Vietnamese military, but a political victory for them as U. S. public support for the war declines.

Feb. 1968

(2-27-28) Reporting from Vietnam, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite urges negotiations to end the Vietnam war, telling viewers that he is convinced that the Vietnam war will end in a bloody stalemate.

March 1968

(3-6-68) Chicano students begin a series of protests against the poor quality of their education in the Los Angeles Unified School district. These are the first mass mobilizations by Mexican-Americans in Southern California.

(3-16-68) The My Lai Massacre occurs when members of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade participate in a “search and destroy” mission in the hamlet of My Lai. Hundreds of unarmed civilians, including women, children and the elderly experience a violent death. News of the massacre does not reach the public media until November 1969.

(3-31-68) President Lyndon Johnson announces to the nation on television that he will not seek re-election for president in 1968.

April 1968

(4-4-68) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. James Earl Ray is convicted of King’s murder in 1969.

(4-11-68) President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act.

(4-29-68) The musical “Hair” opens on Broadway, the first rock musical to become a mainstream success

April 1968—Governor Richard Hughes signs into law the Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act, which creates the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, which eventually oversees the reclamation and development of the 21,000 acres of public and private land in the Meadowlands, many of them part of one of the nation's largest urban wetlands areas.

May 1968

Representatives of the U. S. and North Vietnam begin peace negotiations in Paris.

June 1968

(6-6-68) U. S. Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles hotel after winning the California Democratic presidential primary.

July 1968

(7-1-68) President Lyndon Johnson signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Aug. 1968

(8-25 to 29-68) Violence scars the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago, with anti-war protestors beaten by Chicago police, and some anti-war activists are charged with inciting riots.

Sept. 1968

(9-7-68) The annual televised presentation of the Miss America Pageant from Atlantic City Nj takes place, and Judi Ford is crowned Miss America. Outside the pageant on the Atlantic City boardwalk, feminists protest the pageant, drawing substantial media attention to their protest. On the same day, the first Black Miss America Contest is held to protest the all-white Miss America pageant.

(9-30-68) Boeing premieres the 747 jumbo jet, at that time the world's largest passenger jet.

Oct. 1968

(10-7-68) Jose Feliciano performs his personal version of the Star-Spangled Banner at the World Series in Detroit Michigan, and controversy erupts over his rendition.

(10-16-68) US Olympic athletes and medal winners John Carlos and Tommie Smith raise their fists during the U.S. National Anthem to protest violence and poverty affecting African-Americans at the Mexico City Summer Olympic Games.

Nov. 1968

(11-5-68) Republican Richard Nixon wins the U. S. presidential election, narrowly defeating Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey and third party candidate George Wallace. Shirley Chisholm is elected to Congress from New York, becoming the first African-American woman elected to Congress.

(11-6-68) A five month student strike begins at San Francisco University, resulting in the creation of the nation’s first ethnic studies program.

(11-22-68) The Beatles' “White Album” is released.

Dec. 1968

Significant Film Releases-1968

Bullitt

Charly

Faces

Flash

Funny Girl

If…

The Lion in Winter

Night of the Living Dead

Oliver!

Once Upon a Time in The West

Petulia

Planet of the Apes

Pretty Poison

The Producers

Rachel, Rachel

Romeo and Juliet

Rosemary’s Baby

Stolen Kisses

The Swimmer

Targets

The Thomas Crown Affair

2001: A Space Odyssey

Yellow Submarine

1969

Jan. 1969

(1-12-69) The New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III.

(1-13-69) The Beatles release their album Yellow Submarine.

(1-30-69) The Beatles perform for the last time in public, on the roof of the Apple building in London, UK.

(1-20-69) Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Feb. 1969

(Month of Feb. 69) Campus uprisings spread across the United States, beginning at the Univ. of California at Berkeley, and continuing with takeovers and sit-ins at the University of Massachusetts, Howard University and Penn State.

March 1969

(3-1-69) NY Yankees star Mickey Mantle retires after 18 seasons, 12 World Series and 3 MVP awards.

(3-13-69) The U. S. Senate ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

(3-20-69) John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

April 1969

(4-4-69) Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first totally artificial heart in a human at the Texas Heart Institute.

(4-28-69) The band Chicago releases its debut album, The Chicago Transit Authority.

May 1969

(5-3-69) Sly & the Family Stone release their album Stand!, which was to become one of the top selling albums of the decade.

(5-23-69) The Who release Tommy, the first rock opera.

June 1969

(6-22-69) Actress and singer Judy Garland dies at age 47 from a drug overdose.

(6-27-69) The Stonewall Riots, considered the event that launched the modern Gay Rights Movement in the US, occur in NY City when conflict between the police and gay mourners of Judy Garland’s death leads to a melee and the arrest of mourners by the NY City Police.

July 1969

(7-18/19-69) Senator Edward Kennedy and his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne are involved in a car accident on Chappaquiddick Island Mass., with the result being the death of Mary Jo Kopechne due to Kennedy’s negligence while driving. The Chappaquiddick incident becomes national news and influences Kennedy’s decision not to seek the Democratic party’s presidential nomination in both 1972 and 1976.

(7-20-69) Over half a billion people watch as Apollo 11 lands on the moon at 4:19 pm EDT. Six hours later, Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon, with millions still riveted to their television sets across the world. Armstrong’s words—“one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”—become an iconic statement about the moon landing and the U. S. space program.

(7-30-69) Columbia Records releases In A Silent Way by Miles Davis, one of the first jazz/rock fusion albums.

Aug. 1969

(8-8/9-69) Charles Manson and his cult followers murder 7 people in California over two days in one of the decade's most notorious mass killings.

8-15/17-69) An estimated 400,000 people gather at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm neat Bethel NY for the Woodstock music festival, which features performances by Janis Joplin, The Who, Canned Heat, the Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Country Joe and the Fish, and Jimi Hendrix, among others.

Sept. 1969

(9-2-69) Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) dies of congestive heart failure in Hanoi.

(9-5-69) Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six counts of premeditated murder for his participation in the massacre at My Lai in 1968.

(9-11-69) Janis Joplin releases I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, her first solo album.

(9-24-69) The trial of the Chicago 7 begins. The purpose of the trial was to prosecute individuals accused of rioting at the 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago, but the defendants turned the tables by putting U. S. policy in Vietnam on trial.

(9-26-69) The Beatles release Abbey Road, the final studio album recorded together by the band.

Oct. 1969

(10-14-69) The final single by Diana Ross & The Supremes, “Someday We’ll Be Together” is released.

(10-15-69) Two million Americans take part in a nationwide Peace Moratorium to protest the Vietnam War. 250,000 demonstrators gather in Washington DC, while other events such as religious services, street rallies, public meetings, school seminars and marches occur across the United States.

(10-16-69) The New York Mets win the World Series, becoming the first expansion team in major league baseball history to do so by defeating the Baltimore Orioles in five games.

Nov. 1969

(11-4-69) Republican William Cahill is elected governor of New Jersey, ending Democratic control of the NJ governorship, which had been controlled by Democrats since 1953.

(11-10-69) The first broadcast of Sesame Street occurs on NET, the predecessor to PBS.

(11-15-690 Half a million people march in Washington DC for peace. In attendance are Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, Mitch Miller, the touring cast of Hair, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

(11-20-69) Native Americans occupy Alcatraz in San Francisco bay, protesting the condition of Native Americans and government policies dealing with Native Americans. The occupation of Alcatraz is considered a landmark event in the modern Native American protest movement.

(11-17-69) The Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) negotiations begin to limit the nuclear arms capabilities of the United States and the Soviet Union.

Dec. 1969

The battleship USS New Jersey is decommissioned after completing a six month deployment in March 1969 to South Vietnam, where it participated in the Vietnam War.

(12-1-69) The first draft lottery is televised nationally. The first date chosen is September 14.

(12-6-69) The Jackson 5 release their debut album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5.

Significant Film Releases-1969

Alice’s Restaurant

Anne of the Thousand Days

The Arrangement

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Easy Rider

Fellini Satyricon

Hello, Dolly

The Italian Job

Kes

The Learning Tree

Medium Cool

Midnight Cowboy

Model Shop

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

The Sorrow and the Pity

Take the Money and Run

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

True Grit

The Wild Bunch

Women in Love

TIMELINE

Timeline: 1966-1970