Date in year · 1966 · The 1960s

August 1, 1966

On August 1, 1966, charles Whitman kills 15 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police. The year's #1 song was "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas. Mando, Véronique Gens, Paul Reiffel would arrive in the same year.

Events

2

Births

0

Deaths

0

Year

1966

1960s

Around 1966

The year in brief

1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1966th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 966th year of the 2nd millennium, the 66th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1960s decade.

Read the full year of 1966 →

What happened

On August 1, 1966

  1. 1966 Charles Whitman kills 15 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.

    American mass murderer (1941–1966)

    Charles Joseph Whitman was an American mass murderer and Marine veteran who became known as the "Texas Tower Sniper". On August 1, 1966, Whitman used knives to kill his mother and his wife in their respective homes, then went to the University of Texas at Austin with multiple firearms and began indiscriminately shooting at people. He fatally shot three people inside UT Austin's Main Building, then accessed the 28th-floor observation deck on the building's clock tower.

  2. 1966 Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

    Period of sociopolitical turmoil in China (1966–1976)

    The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by CCP chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1966

The class of 1966

Others born in 1966

Mando 1966– Greek singer
Véronique Gens 1966– French soprano and actress
Paul Reiffel 1966– Australian cricketer and umpire
David Chalmers 1966– Australian philosopher and academic
David Filo 1966– American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
Mickey Morandini 1966– American baseball player and manager

Step through

Nearby

Keep going

More to explore