Top News Stories In 1966

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 5

Top News Stories In 1966

AT a time when many * journalists’ organisations were voting on the “10 best news stories of 1965,” a United Press International reporter, Dick West, of Washington, offered this list of the 10 biggest news stories to watch for in 1966.

“1. The United States VicePresident, Hubert Humphrey, on a good-will visit to Japan, stops to shake hands with a group of rickshaw drivers. On

the spur of the moment, he invites one of them to visit the United States. The driver eventually comes to Washington and, with a great splash of publicity, is given a taxicab to take back to Japan.

“2. President Johnson announces that, due to the press of other duties, Vice-President Humphrey will be unable to make any more good-will trips.

“3. A former vice-president, Richard Nixon, sets out on a 365-day speaking tour that will take him to every city and town in the United States. Mr Nixon denies the trip has any political implications. He

explains that he “just likes to travel.” “4. A newspaper publishes an exclusive report that President Johnson will support Democratic candidates in the 1966 Congressional elections. The White House declines to comment. “5. President Johnson urges election of all Republican candidates. The White House denies that his anger over a previous news ‘leak’ is responsible-

“6. Vice-President Humphrey announces he will undergo surgery for removal of gallstones. “7. President Johnson an-

nounces he will undergo surgery to have gallstones previously removed put back. “8. The Soviet Union invites Mao to take a guest ride in the Vostok 26 spaceship as good-will gesture to smooth over Sino-Soviet differences. “9. Soviet officials disclose that Vostok 26, put into orbit with Mao aboard, will make record-setting endurance flight lasting nine years. “10. Entire world is destroyed in history’s first nuclear battle. United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk denies this means war has escalated.”