1969

Years: 1966 1967 1968 - 1969 - 1970 1971 1972
Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1969 in aviation 1969 in literature 1969 in music 1969 in rail transport 1969 in sports 1969 in television 1969 in Canada

For other uses, see Number 1969.

For the movie, see 1969 (movie).

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Events

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January

January 1 - Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News Of The World
January 5 - The Derry Riots leave over 100 people injured
January 6 - Cheryl Winters begins her career at the Federal Reserve in Jacksonville.
January 10 - After 147 years, the last issue of the Saturday Evening Post is published
January 14 - An explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 25
January 15 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5
January 16 - Ten paintings defaced in New York's Metropolitan Art Gallery
January 16 - Student Jan Palach has set himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968 and three days after he died.
January 20 - Richard Nixon succeeds Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States of America
January 24 - Martial Law declared in Madrid, the University is closed and over 300 students are arrested
January 27 - 14 men, nine of them Jews, were executed in Baghdad for spying for Israel
January 27 - Reverend Ian Paisley, radical protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for three months for illegal assembly
January 30 - The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. The impromptu concert was broken up by the police

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February

February 1 - Birth, in Paris, France, of Denis Cheyrouze, French media guru.
February 4 - In Cairo Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress and takes command the next day
February 8 - The last issue of the Saturday Evening Post hits magazine stands
February 13 - FLQ terrorists bomb the Stock Exchange in Montreal, Quebec
February 24 - Launch of the Mariner 6 Mars probe

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March

March 1 - Major league baseballer Mickey Mantle announces his retirement
March 1 - Dad's Army episode Operation Kilt is first broadcast
March 1 - During a performance at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium, Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested for exposing himself during the show. Morrison is officially charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent behavior, open profanity and public drunkenness.
March 1 - John Kerry officially leaves active duty in Vietnam
March 2 - In Toulouse, France the first Concorde test flight is conducted
March 2 - Soviet and Chinese forces clash at a border outpost on the Ussuri River
March 3 - In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy
March 3 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module
March 10 - In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. Ray would later retract his guilty plea
March 13 - Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module
March 17 - Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel
March 19 - British paratroopers and Marines land on the island of Anguilla expecting resistance from the "Republican Defence Force"’ of self-declared "President" Ronald Webster. Locals bid the soldiers welcome instead
March 28 - Dwight D Eisenhower dies after a long illness in the Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington DC.

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April

April 1 - The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the RAF
April 4 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart
April 20 - British troops arrive in Northern Ireland
April 22 - Robin Knox-Johnston becomes the first person to sail around the world solo without stopping
April 29 - First anniversary of the Broadway production of the musical Hair is celebrated with free concert at Wollman Skating Rink

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May

May 16 - Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus
May 17 - Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins to descend into Venus', atmosphere sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure
May 17 - Tom McClean completes the first solo transatlantic crossing by a rowboat
May 18 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 launches
May 20 - National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California
May 22 - Apollo program: Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 15,400 m of the moon's surface
May 26 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned moon landing
May 26-June 2: John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct their Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, and record the song "Give Peace a Chance."

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June

June 2 - In Ottawa, Canada the National Arts Center opens its doors to the public for the first time
June 2 - Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne collides with the US destroyer Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea - 74 US sailors dead
June 8 - After the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) cancels the program, the last Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour airs
June 20 - Georges Pompidou elected President of France
June 23 - Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.
June 24 - United Kingdom and Rhodesia sever diplomatic ties
June 27 - The Stonewall riots mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S.

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July

July 5 – Assassination of Mboya, Kenyan Minister of Development
July 7 - French is made equal to English throughout the Canadian national government
July 8 - Vietnam War: The very first U.S. troop withdrawals are made
July 14 - Football War - after Honduras lost a soccer game against El Salvador, rioting broke out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant workers. Of the 300,000 Salvadorean workers in Honduras, tens of thousands were expelled, prompting a brief Salvadoran invasion of Honduras. The OAS worked out a cease-fire on July 18, taking effect on July 20
July 18 - Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Mary Jo Kopechne, an aide who was in the car with him, dies in the incident
July 20 - Apollo program: The human race, represented by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, lands on the Moon. Apollo 11 lifted off for the moon on July 16 and returned safely on July 24
July 25 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This was the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war
July 30 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and with US military commanders
July 31 - Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in the UK

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August

August 4 - Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, US representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail
August 5 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers)
August 9 - Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder five people including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and, Abigail Folger. The next day The Family would murder Rosemary and Leno LaBianca
August 12 - Jack Lynch, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, makes a speech to the nation in which he asks the British Government to deploy a UN Peace-Keeping mission in Northern Ireland.
August 13 - Serious border clash between Soviet Union and People's Republic of China
August 14 - British troops deployed in Northern Ireland
August 15 - The Woodstock Festival of music begins in upstate New York lasting three days and featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era
August 17 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars)
August 21 - Part of the al-Aqsa Mosque is destroyed by arson

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September

September 1 - A coup in Libya oust King Idris an brings Col. Moammar Qaddafi to power
September 2 - The first automatic teller machine in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York.
September 5 - My Lai Massacre: Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai
September 22 - 25 Islamic conference in Rabat, Morocco after al-Aqsa Mosque fire (Augusr 21) condemns Israeli occupation of Jerusalem
September 28 - Social Democrats and Liberals have received a majority of votes in the German parliamentary elections and decide to form a common government

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October

October 1 - In Sweden, Olof Palme is elected Labour party leader, replacing Tage Erlander as prime minister on October 14
October 9 - In Chicago, Illinois, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection to the trial of the "Chicago Eight" (trial started on September 24)
October 15 - Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in National Moratorium antiwar demonstrations across the United States
October 16 - The ("miracle") New York Mets win the World Series, beating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, four games to one.
October 21 - Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor of West Germany
October 21 - Siad Barre comes to power in Somalia in a coup
October 31 - Wal-Mart incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

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November

November - Creation of ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet
November 3 - Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon addresses his nation on television and radio asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies
November 10 - Sesame Street premieres
November 12 - Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre - Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story
November 13 - Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, DC stage a symbolic "March Against Death"
November 14 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of the Moon (landed on the Moon on November 19)
November 15 - Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea
November 15 - Vietnam War: In Washington, DC, 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war
November 17 - Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides
November 19 - Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon
November 20 - Vietnam War: The Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam
November 21 - U.S. President Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Sato agree in Washington on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972 Under the terms of the agreement, the US is to retain its rights to bases on the island, but these are to be nuclear-free
November 21 - The first ARPANET link is established
November 24 - Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon
November 25 - John Lennon returns his OBE to protest the British government's support of the US war in Vietnam
November 28 - The Newcomers stopped airing on the BBC

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December

December 1 - Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II (on January 4, 1970, the New York Times ran a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random")
December 2 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut. It carries 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle to New York City.
December 4 - Black Panther members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot to death in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
December 12 - Piazza Fontana Slaughter in Italy (Strage di Piazza Fontana). A U.S. officer and C.I.A. agent called David Carrett involved.

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Undated events

Parker Morris Standards became mandatory for all Council housing in the UK.

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Ongoing events

Vietnam War (1964 - 1975)
War of Attrition, between Egypt and Israel, which lasted until August 1970. This conflict was characterized by escalating artillery duels, air raids and commando missions

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Year in topic

1969 in film
- Midnight Cowboy
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- True Grit starring John Wayne, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper and others
1969 in literature
- Portnoy's Complaint
1969 in music
- The National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame founded.
- August 15 - August 17: The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, near Woodstock. Although 10,000 or 20,000 people were expected, over 400,000 attended. Among the many artists who performed were Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, The Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Grateful Dead. The weekend was rainy, the facilities were overcrowded, and attendees shared food, alcohol, and drugs, although no violence was reported. The Woodstock Festival represented the culmination of the counterculture of the 1960s and the high point of the "hippie era."
- The #1 Song was "Aquarius (Let the Sunshine In)"
- Graffiti art had fully developed into an art form, with distinctive styles, trends and schools, by 1969; graffiti art is one of the four elements of hip hop, the musical form of which is influenced by the success of the Last Poets and similar artists, beginning in 1969
1969 in rail transport
- ALCO ceases manufacuring of new diesel locomotives.
1969 in sports
1969 in television
- A live transmission from the moon is viewed by 600 million people around the world when Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.
- Tiny Tim gets married on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
- The Brady Bunch premieres