In December 1965 Harold S. Geneen, CEO of International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), announced plans to acquire the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The Justice Department did not allow the merger.

On 4 March 1964 James ("Jimmy") Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was convicted of tampering with a federal jury in 1962; in July he was also convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges. Fined ten thousand dollars and sentenced to eight years in prison, he was pardoned by President Richard Nixon in 1971.

In his January 1966 budget message President Lyndon Johnson gave his famous "guns and butter" speech, explaining that the United States could fight a war and expand social-welfare programs simultaneously. He said, "We are a rich nation and can afford to make progress at home while meeting our obligations abroad — in fact, we can afford no other course if we are to remain...