Ronald Reagan endorsed the campaign of conservative presidential contender Barry Goldwater in 1964. Speaking for Goldwater, Reagan stressed his belief in the importance of smaller government. He revealed his ideological motivation in a famed speech delivered on October 27, 1964: "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing." This "Time for Choosing" speech raised $1 million for Goldwater's campaign and is considered the event that launched Reagan's political career. California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech and nominated him for Governor of California in 1966. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." Reagan was elected in November 1966, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and was sworn in on January 2, 1967.
As of January 1, 1966, all cigarette packages in the United States must carry a warning message to smokers. The Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 required the following health warning, prescribed by Congress, to be placed on all cigarette packages sold in the United States:
CAUTION: CIGARETTE SMOKING MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.
This warning appeared on cigarette packs from January 1, 1966, through October 31, 1970.
"I Want You" was written and recorded by Bob Dylan. It was issued as a single in June 1966, shortly before the release of its accompanying album, Blonde on Blonde. A live version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" was included as the B-side. Billboard magazine noted the release of "I Want You" in its June 25 issue and predicted it would reach the Top 20. "I Want You" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 2, 1966 at #90. It peaked at #20 on July 30, 1966.
"Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" is the second single by singer-actress Cher from her second studio album The Sonny Side of Chér. The song was written by Sonny Bono and released in 1966. The song reached number three in the UK Singles Chart and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The same year, the song was covered by Nancy Sinatra. The single proved successful, charting high on many national charts worldwide. In the United States, it was Cher's biggest solo hit of the 1960s, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1966.
Tommy Roe continued his string of pop hits in the fall of 1966 with this follow-up to Sweet Pea. Hooray for Hazel peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late October 1966.
The More I See You, written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Mack Gordon, was published in 1945 and originally sung by Dick Haymes in the film Diamond Horseshoe. The song has been subsequently recorded by many artists over the years. Chris Montez produced the most commercially successful and well known version of the song; it peaked at #16 in June 1966. It is this version that has been used many times in movies, notably at the beginning of the famous club scene in Roman Polanski's film Frantic, starring Harrison Ford.
Listen People reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1966. The song can be heard in the film When the Boys Meet the Girls starring Connie Francis.
Gerry & The Pacemakers were a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool and were managed by Brian Epstein. According to Billboard Magazine, the group is the second most successful band to originate from Liverpool after the Beatles. Girl on a Swing was the final single release for Gerry &The Pacemakers. The song reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966, shortly after the group disbanded.
The Pozo-Seco Singers was an American folk band. Group members Don Williams and Lofton Kline were playing together under the name The Strangers Two in Corpus Christi, Texas, when Susan Taylor heard them at a Circle K hootenanny held at Del Mar College. She asked the two if they'd like to form a trio, which became the Pozo-Seco Singers. Taylor, a student at W.B. Ray High School at the time and charter member of the local folk music society, introduced them to Paul Butts, their first manager. "Time" was the group's first recording for local label Edmark Records and it was an instant regional hit. Columbia Records then signed the three and nationally released the song which became the title of their first album. Two more albums followed on Columbia, they signed with Albert Grossman management, and Kline was replaced by veteran folk singer Ron Shaw. When the group disbanded in 1970, Taylor focused on songwriting for JMI Music and had songs recorded by artists such as Tanya Tucker, The Lewis Family, John Conlee, The Forester Sisters, and Mickey Gilley. Shaw joined the popular commercial folk group, The Hillside Singers, and Don Williams went on to a highly successful solo career in country music. I Can Make It With You, written by Chip Taylor, was the group's third single release. It peaked at #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966.
Shapes of Things was written by Paul Samwell-Smith, Keith Relf, and Jim McCarty, originally recorded by The Yardbirds and released as a single in March 1966 on Epic Records. In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Shapes of Things" at number 61 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song is considered to be one of the first psychedelic songs and features a psychedelic-style guitar solo by Jeff Beck using his Fender Esquire guitar. A live version recorded in 1968 with the Jimmy Page line-up was released on the 1971 album Live Yardbirds: Featuring Jimmy Page. Beck re-worked the song two years later with his own group, appearing as the lead-off track to his band's first album, Truth in 1968, with vocals by Rod Stewart. Shapes of Things reached #11 in April 1966 on the Billboard Hot 100.
My Little Red Book from the debut album by the Los Angeles-based rock band Love is a radical reworking of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song, the title of which is likely a tongue-in-cheek reference to Mao Zedong's Little Red Book which was first published by the Communist Party of China in April 1964. My Little Red Book peaked at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1966. The song was first introduced by Manfred Mann in the 1965 film What's New Pussycat and was featured over the final credits of the movie High Fidelity in 2000, and the Beverly Hills 90210 episode "Alone at the Top" in 1995.
Yellow Submarine is a 1966 song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. It was included on the Revolver album and issued as a single, coupled with Eleanor Rigby. McCartney was living in Jane Asher's parents' house when he found the inspiration for the song: "I was laying in bed in the Ashers' garret. I was thinking of it as a song for Ringo, which it eventually turned out to be, so I wrote it as not too rangy in the vocal, then started making a story, sort of an ancient mariner, telling the young kids where he'd lived. It was pretty much my song as I recall...I think John helped out. The lyrics got more and more obscure as it goes on, but the chorus, melody, and verses are mine." In 1980, John Lennon talked about the song: "Yellow Submarine is Paul's baby. Donovan helped with the lyrics. I helped with the lyrics too. We virtually made the track come alive in the studio, but based on Paul's inspiration. Paul's idea. Paul's title... written for Ringo." Donovan added the words, "Sky of blue and sea of green". McCartney also said: "It's a happy place, that's all. You know, it was just... We were trying to write a children's song. That was the basic idea. And there's nothing more to be read into it than there is in the lyrics of any children's song." In the United States, the single reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966, where it was held off #1 by The Supremes' You Can't Hurry Love. It sold 1,200,000 copies in four weeks and earned The Beatles their 21st U.S. Gold Record, beating the record set by Elvis Presley.
Though Eleanor Rigby was not the first pop song to deal with death and loneliness, it came as quite a shock to pop listeners in 1966. It took a bleak message of depression and desolation, written by a famous pop band, with a sombre, almost funeral-like backing, to the #11 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1966. The bleak lyrics were not The Beatles' first deviation from love songs but were some of the most explicit. With a double string quartet arrangement by George Martin and striking lyrics about loneliness, Eleanor Rigby continued the transformation of The Beatles from a mainly pop-oriented act to a more experimental studio-based band. McCartney said he came up with the name Eleanor from actress Eleanor Bron, who had starred with The Beatles in the film Help!. Rigby came from the name of a store in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers, that he noticed while seeing his then-girlfriend Jane Asher act in The Happiest Days Of Your Life. He recalled in 1984, "I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. Eleanor Rigby sounded natural." However, it has been pointed out that the graveyard of St. Peters Church in Liverpool, where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met, contains the gravestone of an individual called Eleanor Rigby. Paul McCartney has admitted he may have been unconsciously influenced by the name on the gravestone.
Rush to Judgment was the first book to challenge the Warren Commission findings of the Kennedy assassination. Mark Lane is an attorney who took it upon himself, in the weeks following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the murder of his alleged killer Lee Harvey Oswald, to represent Oswald's mother and widow and to try to find any information he could to exonerate Oswald of the president's murder. What he found out is the basis of what many consider the "original conspiracy theory" -- that Oswald, even if he did pull the trigger, did not act alone in killing JFK. In his book Rush to Judgment, published in 1966, Lane doesn't set forth a theory of who he thinks did kill JFK. He doesn't even say that he is 100 percent sure Oswald didn't do it. What he does propose is that the Warren Commission appointed by President Johnson to investigate the assassination was too quick to finger Oswald as the lone assassin and that its investigations were badly handled, including ignoring evidence and witnesses that could have cast doubt on Oswald's guilt.
On January 1, 1966, viewers of the Rose Bowl were first introduced to the new "Leader of the Dodge Rebellion", the 1966 Charger. The Charger's debut also followed by a half model year the introduction of a new street version of the 426 cu in Chrysler Hemi engine. With the Charger, Dodge had a new model to build a performance image to go along with this engine. Designed by Carl "CAM" Cameron, the Dodge Charger introduced a fastback roof line and a pot-metal "electric shaver" grille. The grille used fully rotating headlights (180 degree) that when opened or closed made the grille look like one-piece unit. Hidden headlamps were a feature not seen on a Chrysler product since the 1942 DeSoto. In the rear of the new Dodge, the fastback design ended over a full-width six-lamp taillight that featured chromed "CHARGER" lettering. Inside, the standard Charger featured a simulated wood-grain steering wheel, four individual bucket seats with a full length console from front to rear. The rear seats and rear center armrest pad also folded forward while the trunk divider dropped back, which allowed for generous cargo room. Numerous interior features were exclusive to the Charger including door panels, courtesy lights, as well as premium trim and vinyl upholstery. The instrument panel did not use regular bulbs to light the gauges, but rather electroluminescence lit the four chrome-ringed circular dash pods, needles, radio, shifter-position indicator in the console, as well as clock and Air Conditioning controls if equipped. The dash housed a 0 to 6000 rpm tachometer, a 0 to 150 mph speedometer, as well as alternator, fuel, and temperature gauges as standard equipment. Engine selections consisted of only V8s, though a straight-six engine engine became standard by 1968. 1966 transmissions included a three-speed steering-wheel mounted manual with only the base engine, a console mounted four-speed manual or three-speed automatic. In 1966, four engines were offered: the base-model 318 cu in 2-barrel, the 361 cu in 2-barrel, the 383 cu in 4-barrel, and the new 426 Street Hemi. Only 468 Chargers were built with the 426. Total production in 1966 came to 37,344 units for the mid-model year introduction. In 1966 Dodge took the Charger into NASCAR in hopes that the fastback would make their car a winner on the high-banks. But the car proved to have rear end lift around corners which made it very slippery on the faster tracks. The lift was because the air actually traveled faster over the top of the car than under it, causing the car to act like a giant airplane wing. Drivers would later claim that "it was like driving on ice." In order to solve this problem Dodge installed a small lip spoiler on the trunk lid which improved traction at speeds above 150 mph. They also had to make it a dealer-installed option in late 1966 and 1967 because of NASCAR rules. The 1966 Charger was the first U.S. production vehicle to offer a spoiler. David Pearson, driving a #6 Cotten Owens-prepared Charger, went on to win the NASCAR Grand National championship in 1966 with 14 first-place finishes.
The 39th annual Miss America Pageant was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 11, 1965, and was broadcast live on the CBS Network. It was the first color telecast of The Miss America Pageant. Miss Kansas, Deborah Bryant, was chosen as the new Miss America for 1966. The first runner-up was Miss Mississippi, Patricia Puckett. Deborah Irene Bryant, from Overland Park, Kansas, was 19 years old when she won the preliminary swimsuit competition and was announced as the winner of the crown the next day. After graduating in the top ten of her high school graduating class, Bryant went on to attend Columbia College on a full academic scholarship, during which time she represented Kansas in Atlantic City on September 11, 1965, in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant. Following her year of service as Miss America, Bryant continued her education as an English major at the University of Kansas, graduating Cum Laude Phi Beta Kappa. During her year of service, she spoke in support of "Project Concern" which provided medical support to undeveloped countries. Bryant remains active in community service for numerous charitable projects. She was a member of the Mesa Desert Club, which provides scholarships to qualified needy high school graduates, and was also a past member of the Phoenix Junior League. Bryant currently resides in Arizona with husband, Brent. Together they have five children and four grandchildren.
Starring Patrick O'Neal, Cesare Danova, Wayne Rogers, Jeanette Nolan, Laura Devon, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Suzy Parker, Marie Windsor, Vinton Hayworth, Jean Carson, and featuring an unbilled appearance by Tony Curtis. Directed by Hy Averbeck. A claw-handed escaped maniac rampages through late 19th-century Baltimore on a mission of vengeance, using various detachable devices as murder weapons to gain revenge on those he believes have wronged him. Hot on his trail are the proprietors of a "House of Horrors" wax museum and their Mexican dwarf sidekick. The movie features a couple of gimmicks - the "Fear Flasher" and "Horror Horn" - to prepare audiences for upcoming bouts of onscreen bloodletting.
Starring Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Strother Martin, Janet Leigh, Arthur Hill, Julie Harris, Pamela Tiffin, and Harold Gould. Directed by Jack Smight. Lew Harper is a hip down-on-his-luck L.A. private detective whose business has gone south. At the suggestion of his friend, attorney Albert Graves, the Harper takes on the investigation of the disappearance of the wealthy husband of an irritating cripple, getting involved along the way with an assortment of unsavory characters and an illegal-alien smuggling ring.
