WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO DECEMBER 1966
Find out what all happened May to December 1966

Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. (15. July 1966)

Barbados joins the United Nations. (9. December 1966)

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. (8. June 1966)

Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police. (1. August 1966)

The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. (27. December 1966)

The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act is signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. (9. September 1966)

Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap. (24. July 1966)

Aberfan disaster: A slag heap collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren. (21. October 1966)

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction. (8. November 1966)

The Arno River floods Florence, Italy, to a maximum depth of 6.7 m (22 ft), leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. Also Venice was submerged on the same day at its record all-time acqua alta of 194 cm. (4. November 1966)

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation. (15. September 1966)

A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 708 crashes near Berlin, Germany, killing all three people on board. (15. November 1966)

The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200. (8. December 1966)

Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President. (6. July 1966)

Human spaceflight: Gemini 10 is launched from Cape Kennedy on a 70-hour mission that includes docking with an orbiting Agena target vehicle. (18. July 1966)

The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto. (1. July 1966)

Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world. (2. June 1966)

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League. (8. November 1966)

The Severn Bridge is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. (8. September 1966)

The city of Montreal, Quebec, begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid-transit system. (14. October 1966)