1966 Clinical Congress Memories

About Clinical Congress 1966

The 52nd Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons took place October 10–14, 1966, in San Francisco, CA. Below we have curated photos from the Clinical Congress and Convocation, as well as the 1966 Convocation booklet. Make sure to take a look at our memories from 1966.

1966 Convocation Booklet

Hover over the booklet and click on the arrows to flip through the Convocation booklet for the 1966 Fellowship class of the American College of Surgeons. Flip through the booklet to find your name and those of your fellow Initiates.

Photos from Clinical Congress 1966

What Was Happening in 1966?

U.S. Cost of Living

• Yearly inflation rate: 3.01%
• Dow Jones year-end close: 785
• Average cost of a new home: $14,200
• Average income per year: $6,900
• Average cost of a new car: $2,650
• Gas per gallon: 32 cents
• 1LB of bacon: 79 cents
• A dozen of eggs: 55 cents
• Minimum wage: $4.25 per hour

U.S. News

• U.S. population exceeds 195 million
• First U.S. bombing of Hanoi
• Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations throughout the world
• U.S. performs nuclear tests at Nevada test site
• U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
• National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington D.C.
• Race riots erupt in the Watts section of Los Angeles
• Formation of the Black Panthers
• 2,400 people attend White House conference on Civil Rights
• Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information and National Traffic and Motor Vehicles Safety Acts
• NASA launches Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Moon
• Ronald Reagan enters politics, becoming the governor of California
• Supreme Court rules in Miranda vs. Arizona that detained criminal suspects, prior to police questioning, must be informed of their constitutional right to an attorney and against self-incrimination (be read their “Miranda rights”)
• 12-day transit worker strike shuts down NYC subway
• Richard Speck murders eight nurses in Chicago
• A sniper atop the tower at the University of Texas kills 12 and wounds 31
• Creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• The Salvation Army celebrates 100 years
• Uniform daylight saving time is the first observed in most parts of North America
• Pampers create the first disposable Diaper
• Kevlar invented

World News

• Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union, as well as Leader of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.
• France withdraws its force from NATO; President De Gaulle visits the U.S.S.R.
• Chairman Mao launches China’s Cultural Revolution and begins purging intellectuals
• Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India
• Four people dig under the Berlin Wall to gain freedom from East Germany
• Botswana, Lesotho, and Guyana become independent states within the British Commonwealth
• Canada introduces an earnings-related social insurance program, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
• Fidel Castro declares martial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack
• India suffers the worst famine in 20 years; Lyndon Johnson asks for $1 billion in aid to the country
• Earthquakes in Varto, Turkey, and Tashkent, Russia claim hundreds of lives
• Flood in Italy take several lives, ruin irreplaceable works of art, and result in millions of dollars worth of property damage
• Aberfan, South Wales coal slag avalanche decimates schoolhouse, killing 137 children and adults
• 200,000 face starvation on the island of Lombak, Indonesia
• Fibre Optics invented in Englan

Health Care

• First operation for implanting an artificial heart
• Medicare goes into effect
• All cigarette packets in the United States are required to carry the heath warning “Caution! Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”
• AMA publishes the first edition of the “Current Procedural Terminology”(CPT), a system of standardized terms for medical procedures used to facilitate documentation
• AMA encourages physicians to promote exercise as a means to better health
• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is divided equally between Peyton Rous “for his discovery of tumor-inducing viruses” and Charles Brenton Huggins “for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer”
• Henry Knowles Beecher publishes “Ethics and Clinical Research” in the New England Journal of Medicine, which focused on unethical medical experimentation which was instrumental in the implementation of federal rules on human experimentation and informed consent
• Child Nutrition Act (CNA) signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson
• MIT biochemist Har Khorana finishes deciphering the DNA code
• The Food and Drug Administration declares “the Pill” safe for human use
• Gynecologist John McLean Morris and biologist Gertrude Van Wagenen at the Yale School of Medicine report the successful use of oral high-dose estrogen pills for post-coital contraception in women and rhesus macaque monkeys respectively
• Victor A. McKusick publishes the first edition of his catalog of all known genes and genetic disorders, Mendelian Inheritance in Man
• Andreas Rett first describes Rett syndrome

Entertainment and Pop Culture

• Time magazine cover story asks “Is God Dead?”
• Truman Capote publishes In Cold Blood
• Mini skirts and bell-bottoms become the fashion
• Beatles release Revolver; “Rubber Soul” album goes #1 and stays #1 for 6 weeks
• Rolling Stones release the “Paint It Black” album and perform on the Ed Sullivan Show
• Simon & Garfunkel released the “Sounds of Silence” album
• The Supremes released “You Can’t Hurry Love”
• Young singer David Jones changes his last name to Bowie to avoid being confused with Davy Jones of the Monkees
• ”The Sound of Music” wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards
• Color Television sets become popular
• ”Star Trek” and “The Monkees” premiere on NBC
• ”Batman” television series starring Adam West debuts on ABC
• Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” airs for the first time on CBS
• CBS backs out of plans to broadcast “Psycho”, deeming the movie too violent for at-home viewing
• The Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) opens in New York City
• Jerry Lewis’ 1st Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day telethon raises $1 million
• Death of Walk Disney and Buster Keaton

Sports

• Baltimore Orioles win the World Series and after his greatest season Los Angeles Dodger’s ace Sandy Koufax retires
• Green Bay Packers edge out Dallas Cowboys for the NFL championship
• Bill Russell leads the Celtics to its eighth consecutive NBA championship
• Jack Nicklaus establishes himself as the world’s greatest golfer by winning the Masters and the British Open
• Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns retires from football with 12,312 yards of rushing
• Houston Astrodome is built with the dome measuring 710 ft in diameter
• Two years after winning the heavyweight title Muhammad Ali refuses to be conscripted into the U.S. military
• Billie Jean King wins second Wimbledon titles
• U.S. Supreme Court votes 4-3 allowing Braves to move