Events from the year 1969 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

( D–

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

) (until January 20),

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

( R–

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

) (starting January 20) *

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing ...

( D–

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

) (until January 20),

Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...

( R–

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

) (starting January 20) * Chief Justice:

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutio ...

(

) (until June 23), Warren E. Burger (

) (starting June 23) * Speaker of the House of Representatives:

John William McCormack John William McCormack (December 21, 1891 – November 22, 1980) was an American politician from Boston, Massachusetts. An attorney and a Democrat, McCormack served in the United States Army during World War I, and afterwards won terms in both t ...

( D–

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

) *

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

Mike Mansfield Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16, 1903 – October 5, 2001) was an American politician and diplomat. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. senator (1953–1977) from Montana. He was the longest-serving Sen ...

( D–

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

) *

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

: 90th (until January 3), 91st (starting January 3)

Events

January

* January 1 – In

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

defeats

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

in the

Rose Bowl Game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Ro ...

to win the national title for the 1968 season. * January 9 – In Washington, D.C., the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

displays the art of

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

for 6 weeks. * January 12 –

Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Su ...

: The

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

defeat the heavily favored

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

16–7. * January 13 –

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

steps into American Studios in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

, recording "Long Black Limousine" thus beginning the recording of what becomes his landmark comeback sessions for the albums "From Elvis In Memphis" and "Back in Memphis." The sessions yield the popular and critically acclaimed singles "Suspicious Minds", "In the Ghetto" and "Kentucky Rain." * January 14 ** USS ''Enterprise'' fire: An explosion aboard aircraft carrier near

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

kills 27 and injures 314. ** CBS greenlights ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and inf ...

'' as a primetime television series. It runs for one season commencing April 10. * January 16 – Ten paintings are defaced in New York's

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. * January 18 – In Washington, D.C., the

displays the art of

for 6 weeks. * January 20 –

is sworn in as the 37th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

, and

is sworn in as

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice p ...

. * January 26 –

steps into American Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, recording "Long Black Limousine", thus beginning the recording of what becomes his landmark comeback sessions for the albums ''

From Elvis in Memphis ''From Elvis in Memphis'' is the tenth studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on June 17, 1969. It was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis in January and February 1969 under the direc ...

'' and ''Back in Memphis''. The sessions yield the popular and critically acclaimed singles "Suspicious Minds", "In the Ghetto", and "Kentucky Rain". * January 27 – The modern-day powerhouse of the Hetch Hetchy Project at Moccasin, California, rated at 100,000 kVA, is completed and placed in operation. On February 7, the original is removed from service. *

January 28 Events Pre-1600 * 98 – On the death of Nerva, Trajan is declared Roman emperor in Cologne, the seat of his government in lower Germany. * 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession ...

–

1969 Santa Barbara oil spill The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters by that time, and now ranks third afte ...

: A

blowout Blowout or Blow out may refer to: Film and television *''Blow Out'', a 1981 film by Brian De Palma * ''The Blow Out'', a 1936 short film * ''Blow Out'' (TV series), a TV series on Bravo * "Blow Out" (''Prison Break''), an episode of ''Prison ...

Union Oil Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

's Platform A in the

Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field The Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field is a large oil and gas field underneath the Santa Barbara Channel about eight miles southeast of Santa Barbara, California. Discovered in 1968, and with a cumulative production of over 260 million barrels of oi ...

spills 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil into a channel and onto the beaches of

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

; on February 5 the

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...

closes Santa Barbara's harbor. The incident inspires

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Gaylord Nelson Gaylord Anton Nelson (June 4, 1916July 3, 2005) was an American politician and environmentalist from Wisconsin who served as a United States senator and governor. He was a member of the Democratic Party and the founder of Earth Day, which launch ...

to organize the first

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

in 1970.

February

* February 5 **

Aquanaut An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as satura ...

Berry L. Cannon Berry Louis Cannon (March 22, 1935 – February 17, 1969) was an American aquanaut who served on the SEALAB II and III projects of the U.S. Navy. Cannon died of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair SEALAB III. It was later foun ...

dies of

carbon dioxide poisoning Hypercapnia (from the Greek ''hyper'' = "above" or "too much" and ''kapnos'' = "smoke"), also known as hypercarbia and CO2 retention, is a condition of abnormally elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood. Carbon dioxide is a gaseous pr ...

while attempting to repair the

SEALAB III SEALAB I, II, and III were experimental underwater habitats developed by the United States Navy in the 1960s to prove the viability of saturation diving and humans living in isolation for extended periods of time. The knowledge gained from the ...

habitat off

San Clemente Island, California San Clemente Island ( Tongva: ''Kinkipar''; Spanish: ''Isla de San Clemente'') is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. It is administered ...

. ** Four hundred

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

players boycott

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

over owners' refusal to increase their pension-fund contributions along with television broadcast revenues. ** The U.S. population reaches 200 million. ** The controversial television show '' Turn-On'' premieres on the ABC network and is canceled after one episode following protests by viewers and ABC affiliate stations. * February 8 – The last issue of ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'' in its original form hits magazine stands after 147 years. * February 9 – The

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

makes its maiden flight, from

Paine Field Paine Field , also known as Snohomish County Airport, is a commercial and general aviation airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington, between th ...

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

. * February 24 **The Mariner 6 Mars probe is launched from

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

. **''

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District ''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District'', 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The ''Tinker'' test, also k ...

'': The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment applies to public schools. * February 26 – The baseball players' boycott of spring training is settled, largely on their terms.

March

* March 3 **In a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

court,

Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, a United States Sena ...

admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. ** Apollo program:

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

launches

Apollo 9 Apollo 9 (March 313, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission that the United States launched via a Saturn V rocket, and was the first flight of the ful ...

(

James McDivitt James Alton McDivitt (June 10, 1929 – October 13, 2022) was an American test pilot, United States Air Force (USAF) pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo programs. He joined the USAF in 1951 and flew 1 ...

David Scott David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and ...

Rusty Schweickart Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart (also Schweikart; born October 25, 1935) is an American aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut, research scientist, U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as well as a former business executive and governme ...

) to test the

Apollo Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

. * March 4 – Arrest warrants are issued by a Florida court for

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...

on charges of indecent exposure during a

Doors A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...

concert three days earlier. * March 10 – In

James Earl Ray James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive convicted for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. After this Ray was on the run and was cap ...

pleads guilty to assassinating

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

(he later retracts his guilty plea). ** The United States Navy establishes the

Navy Fighter Weapons School The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), more popularly known as Top Gun (stylized as TOPGUN), teaches fighter and strike tactics and techniques to selected naval aviators and naval flight officers, wh ...

(also known as Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar. ** The novel ''The Godfather'' by

Mario Puzo Mario Francis Puzo (; ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author, screenwriter, and journalist. He is known for his crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably '' The Godfather'' (1969), whi ...

is first distributed to booksellers by the publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons. * March 13 – Apollo program:

returns safely to Earth after testing the

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

. * March 18 – Operation Breakfast, the covert bombing of Cambodia by U.S. planes, begins. * March 28 – Former United States General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower dies after a long illness in the

Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...

, Washington, D.C..

April

* April – A grassroots movement of Berkeley community members seizes an empty lot owned by the University of California to begin the formation of " People's Park." * April 9 – The

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Administration Building is seized by close to 300 students, mostly members of the

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

. Before the takeover ends, 45 are injured and 184 are arrested. * April 14 – The

41st Academy Awards The 41st Academy Awards were presented on April 14, 1969, the first to be staged at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. For the first time since the 11th Academy Awards, there was no host. ''Oliver!'' is the only Best Picture winne ...

ceremony, the first with no official host since 1939, is held at

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center, which is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt ...

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and ''Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

's ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age Musical theatre, stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre ...

'' receives 11 nominations and wins five awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Reed.

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

also receives his only Oscar win - Best Visual Effects for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. * April 20 – A grassroots movement of Berkeley community members seizes an empty lot owned by the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

, to begin the formation of " People's Park".

May

GWR 75 SLC May 9 1969x1x4RP (12004010574)

* May 1 – Semiconductor company AMD is founded. * May 10 –

Zip to Zap The Zip to Zap riot of May 9–11, 1969, in Zap, North Dakota, was originally intended as a spring break diversion. As a result of an article that originally appeared in the ''NDSU Spectrum, The Spectrum'', student newspaper at North Dakota St ...

, a harbinger of the Woodstock Concert, ends with the dispersal and eviction of youth and young adults at

Zap, North Dakota Zap is a city in Mercer County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 221 at the 2020 census. Zap was founded in 1913 along a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railway that began in Mandan. The exact origin of the name is uncertain ...

, by the National Guard. * May 15 – A teenager known as '

Robert R. Robert Lee Rayford (February 3, 1953 – May 15 1969), sometimes identified as Robert R. due to his age, was an American teenager from Missouri who has been suggested to represent the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America bas ...

' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the first confirmed case of

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

in North America. * May 18 – Apollo program:

Apollo 10 Apollo 10 (May 18–26, 1969) was a human spaceflight, the fourth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, and the second (after Apollo8) to orbit the Moon. NASA described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, and ...

( Tom Stafford,

Gene Cernan Eugene Andrew Cernan (; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the eleventh human being to ...

John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Coll ...

) is launched, on the full dress-rehearsal for the Moon landing. * May 20 –

United States National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, in the aftermath of the People's Park unrest. * May 21 –

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional distr ...

appears before

to speak about

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

s facing women in the workforce and the need for equal rights for women. * May 22 – Apollo program:

's lunar module flies to within 15,400 m of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

's surface. * May 25 – ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film, based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with notable smaller ...

'', an

X-rated An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences. Aust ...

, Oscar-winning

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

film, is released. * May 26 – Apollo program:

returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned

landing.

June

* June 3 – Melbourne-Evans collision: The Australian aircraft carrier collides with the U.S. destroyer in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

; 74 U.S. sailors are killed. * June 8 – U.S. President

and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu meet at

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

. Nixon announces that 25,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn by September. * June 18–22 – The National Convention of the

(SDS), held in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, collapses, and the Weatherman faction seizes control of the SDS National Office. Thereafter, any activity run from the National Office or bearing the name of SDS is Weatherman-controlled. * June 23 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States by retiring Chief Justice

. * June 28 – The

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of ...

in New York City mark the start of the modern

gay rights movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

in the U.S.

July

* July 4 – Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin are shot at Blue Rock Springs in California. They are the second (known) victims of the

Zodiac Killer The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. The case has been described as the most famous unsolved murder case in American history. It became a fixture of popular c ...

. Mageau survives the attack while Ferrin is pronounced dead-on-arrival at

Richmond Medical Center Kaiser Richmond Medical Center is a large Kaiser Permanente hospital in downtown Richmond, California which serves 77,000 members registered under its medical plans.

. * July 8 –

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

: The first U.S. troop withdrawals are made. * July 14 – The $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills are officially removed from circulation. * July 16 – Apollo program:

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

(

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and ...

) lifts off from

Cape Kennedy , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

toward the first human landing on the

. * July 17 – ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' publicly takes back the ridicule of the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard published on January 13, 1920, that stated that

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in ...

is impossible. * July 18 –

Chappaquiddick incident The Chappaquiddick incident occurred on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts some time around midnight between July 18 and 19, 1969, when Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy negligently drove his car off a narrow bridge, causing it to overturn ...

–

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

drives off a bridge after leaving a party on

Chappaquiddick Island Chappaquiddick Island (Massachusett language: ''tchepi-aquidenet''; colloquially known as "Chappy"), a part of the town of Edgartown, Massachusetts, is a small peninsula and occasional island on the eastern end of Martha's Vineyard. Norton Poi ...

Mary Jo Kopechne Mary Jo Kopechne (; July 26, 1940 – July 18 or 19, 1969) was an American secretary, and one of the campaign workers for U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, a close team known as the "Boiler Room Girls". In 1969, she d ...

, a former campaign aide to his brother Robert, dies in the early morning hours of July 19 in the submerged car. * July 20 – Apollo program

Moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

: At 3:17 pm ET (20:17 UTC)

's Lunar Module ''Eagle'' lands on the Moon's surface. At 10:56 pm ET (02:56 UTC July 21), an estimated 650 million people worldwide watch in awe as

takes the first historic steps by a human on the surface. * July 21 – A. D. King, younger brother of

, dies at age 38. * July 24 – Apollo program:

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong, ...

Aldrin Aldrin is an organochlorine insecticide that was widely used until the 1990s, when it was banned in most countries. Aldrin is a member of the so-called "classic organochlorines" (COC) group of pesticides. COCs enjoyed a very sharp rise in popular ...

, and Collins return safely to Earth after the first landing on the

. * July 25 –

: U.S. President

declares the

Nixon Doctrine The Nixon Doctrine (also known as the Guam Doctrine) was put forth during a press conference in Guam on July 25, 1969 by President of the United States Richard Nixon and later formalized in his speech on Vietnamization of the Vietnam War on Novembe ...

, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This starts the "Vietnamization" of the war. * July 26 – The New York Chapter of the

Young Lords The Young Lords, also known as the Young Lords Organization (YLO) or Young Lords Party (YLP), was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. The group aims to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-det ...

is founded to fight for empowerment of Puerto Ricans. * July 30 –

: U.S. President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

, meeting with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.

August

* August 4 – Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, U.S. representative

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

and North Vietnamese representative

Xuan Thuy Xuan () may refer to: * Xuancheng, formerly Xuan Prefecture (Xuanzhou), Anhui, China ** Xuanzhou District, seat of Xuancheng and Xuan Prefecture ** Xuan paper Xuan paper (''xuanzhi'' ), or Shuen paper or rice paper, is a kind of paper origin ...

begin secret peace negotiations. They eventually fail since both sides cannot agree to any terms. * August 5 –

Mariner program The Mariner program was conducted by the American space agency NASA to explore other planets. Between 1962 and late 1973, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) designed and built 10 robotic interplanetary probes named Mariner to explore the in ...

: '' Mariner 7'' makes its closest fly-by of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

(3,524 kilometers). * August 9 – * August 9 – Members of a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

led by

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

murder

Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...

(who was 8 months pregnant) and her friends:

Folgers Folgers Coffee is a brand of ground, instant, and single-use pod coffee produced and sold in the United States, with additional distribution in Asia, Canada and Mexico. It forms part of the food and beverage division of The J.M. Smucker Co ...

coffee heiress Abigail Folger,

Wojciech Frykowski Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojown ...

, and Hollywood hairstylist

Jay Sebring Thomas John Kummer (October 10, 1933 – August 9, 1969), known professionally as Jay Sebring, was an American celebrity hair stylist, and the founder of the hairstyling corporation Sebring International. Sebring was murdered by members of the M ...

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

's home in

. Also killed was

Steven Parent Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

, leaving from a visit to the home's caretaker. More than 100 stab wounds are found on the victims, except for Parent, who had been shot almost as soon as the Manson Family entered the property. * August 10 – The Manson Family kills

Leno and Rosemary LaBianca James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

, wealthy Los Angeles business people. * August 15 – Captain D's is founded as "Mr. D's Seafood and Hamburgers" by Ray Danner with its first location opening in Donelson, Tennessee. * August 15–18 – The

Woodstock Festival Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

is held in upstate

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, featuring some of the era's top rock musicians. * August 17 – Category 5

Hurricane Camille Hurricane Camille was the second most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the United States, behind the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. The most intense storm of the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season, Camille originated as a tropical depression ...

, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, hits the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars). * August 20 – Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, Colorado. * August 21 – Donald and Doris Fisher open the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco.

September

* September 2 – The first

automatic teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, f ...

in the United States is installed in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census. Hist ...

. * September 5 –

My Lai Massacre My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Market ...

: Lieutenant

William Calley William Laws Calley Jr. (born June 8, 1943) is a former American army officer and war criminal convicted by court-martial for the premeditated killings of 200 to 400 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Mỹ Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, d ...

is charged with six counts of premeditated murder, for the deaths of 109

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

ese civilians in My Lai. * September 6 – Children's TV series '' H.R. Pufnstuf'' begins its run on NBC. It was also a segment in ''The Banana Splits Adventure Hour'' season 2. * September 9 –

Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 was a regularly scheduled Allegheny Airlines flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to St. Louis, Missouri, with stops in Baltimore, Maryland, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana. On September 9, 1969, the air ...

DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. Afte ...

collides in flight with a

Piper Piper may refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe Television * Piper Chapman, lea ...

PA-28, and crashes near Fairland, Indiana. * September 13 – ''

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of the network's Saturday morning cartoon schedule on Septem ...

'', ''

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines ''Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines'' (or simply ''Dastardly and Muttley'' in the UK and Ireland) is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a spin-off from '' Wacky Races''. The show was ...

'', and ''

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop ''The Perils of Penelope Pitstop'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. The show ran for one season with a total of 17 half-hour episodes, the last first-run e ...

'' are broadcast for the first time on CBS. * September 14 – Men who were born during the years from 1944 to 1951, and who celebrate their birthdays on this day, mark the occasion without being aware that September 14 will be the first date selected in the new U.S. draft lottery on December 1. * September 20 – The last Warner Bros. cartoon of the original theatrical ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'' series is released: '' Injun Trouble''. * September 23 – ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

'', a film starring

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

and

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award from four nominations, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, the Cec ...

, opens to limited release in the U.S. * September 24 – The Chicago Eight trial begins in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. * September 25 –

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. ...

, a worldwide

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

and delivery service, is founded in

. * September 26 – ''

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, afte ...

'' premieres on ABC.

October

* October 1 – The 5.6 Santa Rosa earthquake shook the North Bay area of California with a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of VII (''Very strong''). This first event in a

doublet earthquake __NOTOC__ In seismology, doublet earthquakes – and more generally, multiplet earthquakes – were originally identified as multiple earthquakes with nearly identical waveforms originating from the same location. They are now characterized as si ...

was followed two hours later by a 5.7 shock. Total financial losses from the events was $8.35 million. * October 2 – A 1.2 megaton thermonuclear device is tested at

Amchitka Island Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Ref ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

. This test is code-named Project Milrow, the 11th test of the

Operation Mandrel The United States's Mandrel nuclear test series was a group of 52 nuclear tests conducted in 1969–1970. These tests followed the '' Operation Bowline'' series and preceded the ''Operation Emery'' series. References {{US Nuclear Tests ...

1969–1970 underground nuclear test series. This test is known as a "calibration shot" to test if the island is fit for larger underground nuclear detonations. * October 9–12 –

Days of Rage The Days of Rage were a series of protests during three days in October 1969 in Chicago, organized by the emerging Weatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society. The group planned the October 8–11 event as a "National Action" ...

: In

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, the

United States National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.Weathermen, in connection with the " Chicago Eight" Trial. * October 11 – The Zodiac Killer murders taxi cab driver Paul Stine in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. * October 15 –

: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in antiwar demonstrations across the United States called by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. * October 16 – The "miracle"

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

win the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

, beating the heavily favored

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

4 games to 1. * October 17 ** Willard S. Boyle and George Smith invent the CCD at

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial Research and development, research and scientific developm ...

(30 years later, this technology is widely used in digital cameras). ** Fourteen black athletes are dismissed from the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

football team for wearing black armbands into their coach's office. * October 31 –

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

November

* November 3 –

: U.S. President

addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "

silent majority The silent majority is an unspecified large group of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. The term was popularized by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a televised address on November 3, 1969, in which he said, " ...

" to join him in solidarity with the

effort, and to support his policies. Vice President

Spiro T. Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...

denounces the President's critics as "an effete corps of impudent snobs" and "nattering nabobs of negativism". * November 9 – A group of American Indians, led by Richard Oakes, seizes

Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pri ...

as a symbolic gesture, offering to buy the property for $24 from the U.S. government. A longer occupation begins 11 days later. The act inspires a wave of renewed Indian pride and government reform. * November 10 – The children's television show ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'' premieres on

NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...

(now PBS). * November 12 –

–

: Independent investigative journalist

Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer. Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...

breaks the My Lai story. * November 14 – Apollo program:

launches

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Charles ...

(

Pete Conrad Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. (June 2, 1930 – July 8, 1999) was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer and aviator, and test pilot, and commanded the Apollo 12 space mission, on which he became the third person to ...

, Richard Gordon,

Alan Bean Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an astron ...

), the second manned mission to the

. * November 15 **

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine in the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian terr ...

. **

: In Washington, D.C., 250,000–500,000 protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death". ** Dave Thomas opens his first restaurant in a former steakhouse in downtown

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. He names the chain ''

Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...

'' after his 8-year-old daughter Melinda Lou (nicknamed Wendy by her siblings). * November 17 –

: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, to begin the

SALT I The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral conferences and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War superpowers dealt with arms control in two rounds of ...

negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides. * November 19 – Apollo program:

astronauts

and

land at

Oceanus Procellarum Oceanus Procellarum ( la, Ōceanus procellārum, lit=Ocean of Storms) is a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of the Moon. It is the only one of the lunar maria to be called an "Oceanus" (ocean), due to its size: Oceanus Proc ...

("Ocean of Storms"), becoming the third and fourth humans to walk on the

. * November 20 **

: ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of M ...

'' (

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

) publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in

. **Occupation of Alcatraz: A group of Native Americans in the United States, Native American Native American civil rights, activists calling themselves "Indians of All Tribes" begin an 18-month occupation of

as Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), surplus federal land, to call attention to Federal Indian Policy, U.S. policies and Outline of United States federal Indian law and policy, treaty obligations to Native American identity in the United States, Native Americans and their List of federally recognized tribes, tribal communities. * November 21 **U.S. President

and Japanese Premier Eisaku Satō agree in Washington, D.C., to the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. retains rights to military bases on the island, but they must be nuclear-free. **The United States Senate votes down the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court nomination of Clement Haynsworth, the first such rejection since 1930. * November 22 – College Football: Michigan Wolverines football, Michigan ends Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio State's 22-game winning streak with a 24–12 upset at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor, denying the 1969 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Buckeyes their second consecutive national championship. * November 24 – Apollo program: The

spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the

. * November 25 – John Lennon returns his Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE medal to protest the British government's support of the U.S. war in Vietnam.

December

* December 1 –

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

: Blues musician Magic Sam dies at the age of 32 of a heart attack. * December 1 –

: The first Draft lottery (1969), draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II (on January 4, 1970, ''

'' will run a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random"). * December 2 – The

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 Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark (Black Panther), Mark Clark are shot dead in their sleep during a raid by 14

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

police officers. * December 6 ** The Altamont Free Concert is held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. Hosted by the Rolling Stones, it is an attempt at a "Woodstock West" and is best known for the uproar of violence that occurred. It is viewed by many as the "end of the sixties." **College football: #1 ranked Texas Longhorns football, Texas rallies from 14–0 deficit with two fourth quarter touchdowns to edge #2 Arkansas Razorbacks football, Arkansas 15–14 at Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville in a game attended by

and several high-ranking government dignitaries, including future President George H. W. Bush. The victory clinches the national championship of the coaches poll for the Longhorns; they would win the Associated Press national championship by defeating Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, Notre Dame 21–17 in the 1970 Cotton Bowl, Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. * December 7 – Frosty the Snowman (TV special), Frosty the Snowman airs for the first time on CBS. * December 12 – The Piazza Fontana bombing in Italy (Strage di Piazza Fontana) takes place. A U.S. Navy officer and C.I.A. agent, David Carrett, is later investigated for possible involvement. * December 28 – The

take over the First Spanish Methodist Church in East Harlem.

Undated

* The first Gap (clothing retailer), Gap store opens in San Francisco. * Reported as being the year the first strain of the AIDS virus (HIV) migrated to the United States via Haiti. * The Water Rights Determination and Administration Act (Colorado), Water Rights Determination and Administration Act is passed in Colorado. * The weather station of Mount Washington (New Hampshire), Mount Washington, New Hampshire, records the heaviest calendar year precipitation in the US east of the Cascades with , beating the previous record of Rosman, North Carolina, by . * Fall – First-generation Dodge Challenger automobile introduced in the United States. * Women are allowed membership in the Future Farmers of America (the later National FFA Organization). * Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips is founded by S. Robert Davis and Dave Thomas and its first location in

opens for business.

Ongoing

(1947–1991) * Space Race (1957–1975) *

, U.S. involvement (1964–1973) * Détente (c. 1969–1979)

Births

* January 1 ** Morris Chestnut, African American actor and producer ** Verne Troyer, film actor (d. 2018 in the United States, 2018) ** Mr. Lawrence, animator, writer, voice actor, and comedian * January 2 ** Robby Gordon, race car driver ** Tommy Morrison, boxer and actor (d. 2013 in the United States, 2013) ** Christy Turlington, fashion model * January 3 – Lorenzo Fertitta, entrepreneur, casino executive and sports promoter * January 4 ** Corie Blount, basketball player and coach ** Marla Runyan, runner and long jumper * January 5 ** Marilyn Manson, born Brian Warner, rock musician and painter ** Shea Whigham, actor * January 6 ** Aron Eisenberg, screen actor and filmmaker (d. 2019 in the United States, 2019) ** Norman Reedus, screen actor and model * January 7 – Rex Lee (actor), Rex Lee, actor * January 8 – J. Hunter Johnson, game designer, author and translator * January 14 ** Jason Bateman, actor, director and producer ** Dave Grohl, rock singer-/songwriter * January 17 – Michael Moynihan (journalist), Michael Moynihan, journalist and publisher * January 18 ** Dave Bautista, actor, mixed martial artist and wrestler ** Jesse L. Martin, actor and singer * January 19 ** Junior Seau, American football player (d. 2012) ** Casey Sherman, journalist and author * January 20 – Patrick K. Kroupa, writer and hacker * January 21 – M. K. Hobson, speculative fiction author * January 27 – Patton Oswalt, stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice artist *

** Doug Ericksen, politician and lobbyist (d. 2021 in the United States, 2021) ** Kathryn Morris, actress ** Mo Rocca, humorist, journalist and actor * February 1 ** Andrew Breitbart, journalist, author, and publisher (d. 2012) ** Brian Krause, actor and screenwriter ** Patrick Wilson (musician), Patrick Wilson, drummer * February 3 – Beau Biden, attorney and politician, son of President Joe Biden (d. 2015 in the United States, 2015) * February 9 ** Ian Eagle, sports announcer ** Tom Scharpling, comedian, television writer and producer * February 11 ** Jennifer Aniston, actress, film director and producer ** Bill Warner (motorcycle racer), Bill Warner, motorcycle racer and world motorcycle land speed record holder (d. 2013 in the United States, 2013) * February 13 – Bryan Thomas Schmidt, science fiction author and editor * February 15 – Birdman (rapper), Birdman, born Bryan Brooks, African American rapper, entertainer and record producer * February 19 – Burton C. Bell, rock vocalist/lyricist * February 22 ** Thomas Jane, screen actor and comic books producer ** Clinton Kelly (TV personality), Clinton Kelly, fashion consultant and television host * February 28 ** Robert Sean Leonard, actor ** Pat Monahan, singer and lead vocalist of Train (band), Train * March 1 – Litefoot, Native American actor * March 4 ** Chaz Bono, child actor and LGBT rights activist ** Thomas McDermott Jr., 20th mayor of Hammond, Indiana ** Adrian Wojnarowski, sports columnist and reporter * March 5 – Kelley Moore, American television personality, event planner and author * March 7 – Todd Williams (athlete), Todd Williams, long-distance runner * March 10 – Paget Brewster, screen actress and voice artist * March 11 – Terrence Howard, actor and singer * March 12 – Jake Tapper, journalist * March 13 – Kevin Samuels, internet personality (d. 2022) * March 19 – Connor Trinneer, actor * March 27 ** Kevin Corrigan, screen actor ** Pauley Perrette, screen actress * March 28 ** Rodney Atkins, country singer-songwriter ** Jake Adelstein, journalist * March 29 ** Jeff Blackshear, American football player (d. 2019 in the United States, 2019) ** Ted Lieu, politician, U.S. Representative * April 4 – Mo Cowan, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts in 2013 * April 6 ** Bret Boone, baseball player ** Paul Rudd, actor, comedian, writer and producer * April 9 – Debbie Schlussel, political commentator and film critic * April 10 – Billy Jayne, actor * April 12 – Michael Jackson (wide receiver), Michael Jackson, former National Football League, NFL wide receiver (d. 2017 in the United States, 2017) * April 16 – Frank J. Mrvan, politician * April 18 – C. Dale Young, poet * May 3 – Daryl F. Mallett, author and actor * May 4 – Christina Billotte, musician * May 12 **Kim Fields, actress **Kevin Nalty, comedian and blogger * May 14 – Danny Wood, singer * May 15 – Emmitt Smith, American football player * May 21 – George LeMieux, U.S. Senator from Florida from 2009 to 2011 * May 25 **Anne Heche, actress (d. 2022 in the United States, 2022) **Stacy London, fashion consultant and media personality * May 26 – Siri Lindley, triathlete * June 2 – Kurt Abbott, baseball player * June 10 – Kasim Reed, lawyer and politician * June 11 **Steven Drozd, singer-songwriter **Kip Miller, ice hockey player * June 14 ** Brooks Ashmanskas, stage actor ** Kyle Hebert, voice actor * June 16 ** Sam Register, television producer and businessman ** MC Ren, rapper * June 17 – Amy Keating Rogers, television producer and writer * June 19 **Thomas Breitling, journalist and businessman **Lara Spencer, journalist * June 21 – Pat Sansone, guitarist * June 23 – Martin Klebba, actor * June 24 – Rich Eisen, television journalist * June 25 – Storm Large, singer and actress * June 26 – Mike Myers (baseball), Mike Myers, baseball pitcher * June 27 – Heather Bresch, business executive, CEO of MylanGornall, Jonathan
"Newsmaker: Heather Bresch"
''The National (Abu Dhabi), The National'', September 1, 2016 * June 28 – Garth Snow, ice hockey player and manager * July 2 ** Matthew Cox, criminal ** Tony Touch, hip hop break dancer, singer-songwriter, producer and DJ * July 3 – Shawnee Smith, screen actress and rock singer * July 4 **Al Golden (American football), Al Golden, American football player and coach **Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach **Jordan Sonnenblick, teacher and novelist * July 5 – John LeClair, hockey player * July 6 ** Beverly McClellan, singer and reality talent show finalist (''The Voice (U.S. season 1), The Voice'') (d. 2018 in the United States, 2018) ** Christopher Scarver, serial killer ** Brian Van Holt, screen actor * July 7 ** Keith Baker (game designer), Keith Baker, game designer and fantasy novelist ** Cree Summer, actress, voice actress and singer * July 8 – George Fisher (musician), George Fisher, vocalist (Cannibal Corpse) * July 10 ** Gale Harold, screen actor ** Ken Wickham, author * July 13 – Ken Jeong, actor, comedian and physician * July 14 – Billy Herrington, gay pornographic actor (d. 2018 in the United States, 2018) * July 15 – Chris Wyse, bassist of Owl and The Cult * July 18 – Elizabeth Gilbert, author * July 19 ** Chris Kratt, educational nature show host ** Courtenay Taylor, voice artist * July 20 – Josh Holloway, screen actor and model * July 21 – Godfrey (comedian), Godfrey, comedian and actor * July 22 ** Jason Becker, heavy metal guitarist (Cacophony) ** James Arnold Taylor, voice artist * July 23 ** John Cariani, actor and playwright ** Raphael Warnock, pastor and junior senator from Georgia * July 24 – Jennifer Lopez, actress and singer * July 25 – Jason Harris Katz, voice artist and television host * July 27 – Triple H (aka Paul Levesque), wrestler * July 28 ** Alexis Arquette, born Robert Arquette, screen actress (d. 2016 in the United States, 2016) ** Dana White, businessman and president of Ultimate Fighting Championship * July 29 – Timothy Omundson, screen actor * August 1 – David Wain, comedian, writer, actor and director * August 4 – Michael DeLuise, screen actor and director * August 5 – Kenny Irwin Jr., NASCAR driver (d. 2000 in the United States, 2000) * August 6 ** Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, Jonathan Aibel, scriptwriter ** Elliott Smith, singer-songwriter (d. 2003 in the United States, 2003) * August 9 – Troy Percival, baseball player * August 16 – Kate Higgins, voice artist and pianist * August 17 ** Christian Laettner, basketball player ** Donnie Wahlberg, singer and actor (New Kids on the Block) * August 18 ** Everlast (musician), Everlast, singer, rapper and songwriter ** Edward Norton, actor, film director, screenwriter and social activist ** Christian Slater, actor, voice artist and producer ** Timothy Snyder, historian * August 19 ** Nate Dogg, African American rapper (d. 2011 in the United States, 2011) ** Doug Langdale, screenwriter, producer and actor ** Paula Jai Parker, actress and comedian ** Matthew Perry, screen actor ** Clay Walker, country singer * August 26 – Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, Glenn Berger, scriptwriter * August 27 – Avril Haines, lawyer, Director of National Intelligence * August 28 – Jack Black, actor and musician * August 30 – Kent Osborne, actor and producer * August 31 – Andrew Cunanan, serial killer (suicide 1997 in the United States, 1997) * September 2 ** K-Ci & JoJo, Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, R&B singer ** Dave Naz, photographer * September 4 – Kristen Wilson, screen actress * September 5 – Dweezil Zappa, actor and musician * September 6 – CeCe Peniston, singer * September 7 ** Angie Everhart, actress and model ** Diane Farr, screen actress ** Jimmy Urine (Euringer), electropunk singer * September 11 – Crystal Lewis, Christian musician * September 13 ** Dominic Fumusa, actor ** Tyler Perry, actor, film director and screenwriter * September 17 – Matthew Settle, screen actor * September 19 – Michael Symon, chef and television personality * September 24 ** Shawn Crahan, Shawn "Clown" Crahan, rock percussionist ** DeVante Swing, music producer * September 25 ** Bill Simmons, sports columnist ** Hal Sparks, actor, writer, comedian and political commentator * September 29 – Erika Eleniak, model and actress * September 30 – Chris Von Erich, professional wrestler (d. 1991 in the United States, 1991) * October 1 – Zach Galifianakis, actor and stand-up comedian * October 2 – Mitch English, actor and television host * October 3 – Gwen Stefani, singer, actress and television host * October 7 ** Karen L. Nyberg, space engineer and astronaut ** DJ Qbert (Richard Quitevis), turntablist * October 8 – Julia Ann, pornographic actress * October 10 ** Loren Bouchard, voice artist, animator and producer ** Brett Favre, American football player ** Molly Kiely, cartoonist) ** Wendi McLendon-Covey, comic screen actress * October 13 ** Rhett Akins, country singer ** Nancy Kerrigan, figure skater ** Cady McClain, actress and director * October 14 – David Strickland, screen actor (suicide 1999 in the United States, 1999) * October 15 – Kim Raver, screen actress * October 16 ** Roy Hargrove, jazz trumpeter (d. 2018 in the United States, 2018) ** Wendy Wilson, singer and television personality * October 17 ** Wood Harris, screen actor ** Nancy Sullivan (American actress), Nancy Sullivan, screen actress * October 19 ** Vanessa Marshall, actress and voice artist ** Trey Parker, voice artist, comedian, screenwriter, composer, director and producer * October 20 – Juan González (baseball), Juan González, baseball player * October 21 – David Phelps (musician), David Phelps, Christian music vocalist, songwriter and vocal arranger * October 22 – Spike Jonze, film director * October 25 ** Nika Futterman, actress and voice artist ** Alex Webster, death metal bassist * October 27 – Jun Pino, artist and photographer * November 2 – Reginald Arvizu ('Fieldy Snuts'), nu metal bassist * November 4 ** Sean Combs (Puff Daddy, P. Diddy), African American rapper and entrepreneur ** Matthew McConaughey, film actor * November 7 – Michelle Clunie, screen actress * November 8 – Jonathan Slavin, actor and activist * November 9 ** Sandra Denton, African American rapper ** Allison Wolfe, punk rock singer-songwriter * November 10 – Ellen Pompeo, screen actress * November 12 ** Ian Bremmer, political scientist ** Rob Schrab, actor and comic book creator * November 13 ** John Belluso, dramatist (d. 2006 in the United States, 2006) ** Stephen Full, actor and comedian ** Josh Mancell, composer and instrumentalist * November 18 ** Sam Cassell, basketball player ** Rocket Ismail, American football player ** Duncan Sheik, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor * November 19 – Erika Alexander, African American actress * November 20 ** Dabo Swinney, college football coach ** Meredith Whitney, business executive * November 21 – Ken Griffey Jr., baseball player * November 26 – Kara Walker, African American artist * November 28 ** Colman Domingo, African American actor and dramatist ** Lexington Steele (Clifton Todd Britt), African American pornographic actor and director * November 29 ** Chris Baker (racing driver), Chris Baker, race car driver ** Kasey Keller, soccer player * November 30 – David Auburn, dramatist * December 1 – Richard Carrier, historian * December 4 – Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter), African American rapper * December 5 – Alex Kapp Horner, television actress * December 7 – Patrice O'Neal, African American comedian and radio personality (d. 2011 in the United States, 2011) * December 8 – Kerry Earnhardt, race car driver * December 9 ** Jakob Dylan, rock singer-songwriter ** Lori Greiner, investor, entrepreneur and television personality * December 11 – Sean Grande, basketball announcer * December 14 – Archie Kao, screen actor * December 15 – Rick Law, illustrator and producer * December 16 – Adam Riess, astrophysicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 * December 17 ** Laurie Holden, actress, producer, model and human rights activist ** Chuck Liddell, mixed martial arts fighter * December 18 – Joe Randa, baseball player and radio talk-show host * December 19 ** Lauren Sánchez, news anchor ** Kristy Swanson, screen actress * December 20 – Bobby Phills, basketball player (d. 2000 in the United States, 2000) * December 23 ** Greg Biffle, race car driver ** Martha Byrne, actress and singer ** Rodney Culver, American football player (d. 1996 in the United States, 1996) ** Rob Pelinka, sports agent * December 24 ** Brad Anderson (wrestler), Brad Anderson, wrestler ** Leavander Johnson, lightweight boxer (d. 2005 in the United States, 2005) ** Clinton McKinnon (musician), Clinton McKinnon, rock saxophonist ** Chen Yueling, race walker ** Jonathan Zittrain, academic internet lawyer ** Michael Zucchet, economist and politician, Mayor of San Diego * December 27 ** Chyna, professional wrestler (d. 2016 in the United States, 2016) ** Sarah Vowell, historian, author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress * December 30 – Matt Goldman, record producer * Undated ** Max Gottlieb, American film and Broadway theatre producer, production designer, screenwriter, and film director

Deaths

* January 1 – Barton MacLane, screen actor (b. 1902 in the United States, 1902) * January 2 – Gilbert Miller, theatrical producer (b. 1884 in the United States, 1884) * January 3 ** Commodore Cochran, Olympic sprinter (b. 1902 in the United States, 1902) ** Howard McNear, screen character actor (b. 1905 in the United States, 1905) * January 17 ** Bunchy Carter, political activist (b. 1942 in the United States, 1942) ** John Huggins, political activist (b. 1945 in the United States, 1945) * January 27 – Charles Winninger, actor (b. 1884 in the United States, 1884) * January 29 – Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (b. 1893 in the United States, 1893) * February 3 – Al Taliaferro, Disney comics artist (b. 1905 in the United States, 1905) * February 5 ** Conrad Hilton Jr., socialite and hotel business heir (b. 1926 in the United States, 1926) ** Thelma Ritter, comedy actress (b. 1902 in the United States, 1902) * February 9 – George "Gabby" Hayes, Western film actor (b. 1885 in the United States, 1885) * February 14 – Vito Genovese, mobster (b. 1897 in Italy) * February 15 – Pee Wee Russell, jazz clarinetist (b. 1906 in the United States, 1906) * February 17 – Paul Barbarin, jazz drummer (b. 1899 in the United States, 1899) * February 27 ** John Boles (actor), John Boles, film actor (b. 1895 in the United States, 1895) ** William T. Innes, writer, ichthyologist and publisher (b. 1874 in the United States, 1874) * March 3 – Fred Alexander, tennis player (b. 1880 in the United States, 1880) * March 4 – Nicholas Schenck, film impresario (b. 1881 in Russia) * March 9 ** Charles Brackett, novelist and screenwriter (b. 1892 in the United States, 1892) ** Richard Crane (actor), Richard Crane, screen character actor (b. 1918 in the United States, 1918) * March 11 – Daniel E. Barbey, admiral (b. 1889 in the United States, 1889) * March 18 – Barbara Bates, film actress, suicide (b. 1925 in the United States, 1925) * March 21 – Pinky Higgins, baseball player and manager (b. 1909 in the United States, 1909) * March 25 – Max Eastman, writer (b. 1883 in the United States, 1883) * March 26 – John Kennedy Toole, novelist, suicide (b. 1937 in the United States, 1937) * March 28 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th

from 1953 to 1961 (b. 1890 in the United States, 1890) * April 4 – Félix Conde Falcón, army soldier, recipient of the Medal of Honor (b. 1938 in the United States, 1938) * April 5 – Shelby Storck, television producer (b. 1917 in the United States, 1917) * April 10 – Harley Earl, automotive designer and business executive (b. 1893 in the United States, 1893) * April 20 – Benny Benjamin, urban and jazz drummer (b. 1925 in the United States, 1925) * May 1 – Ella Logan, actress and singer (b. 1910 in Scotland) * May 14 ** Enid Bennett, silent film actress (b. 1893 in Australia) ** Walter Pitts, logician and cognitive psychologist (b. 1923 in the United States, 1923) * May 15 ** William Gould (actor), William Gould, action film actor (b. 1886 in Canada) ** Robert Rayford, HIV/AIDS victim (b. 1953 in the United States, 1953) * May 18 – Walter Gropius, Modernist architect (b. 1883 in Germany) * May 20 ** Alex Rackley, political activist (b. 1949 in the United States, 1949) ** Fred Sherman (actor), Fred Sherman, film actor (b. 1905 in the United States, 1905) * May 21 – William Lincoln Bakewell, explorer (b. 1888 in the United States, 1888) * May 23 – Jimmy McHugh, song composer (b. 1894 in the United States, 1894) * May 24 ** Paul Birch (actor), Paul Birch, actor (b. 1912 in the United States, 1912) ** Mitzi Green, child actress (b. 1920 in the United States, 1920) * May 26 – Henry Rago, poet and editor (b. 1915 in the United States, 1915) * May 27 – Jeffrey Hunter, screen actor (b. 1926 in the United States, 1926) * June 8 – Robert Taylor (American actor), Robert Taylor, American actor (b. 1911 in the United States, 1911) * June 11 – John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960 (b. 1889) * June 18 – Edgar Anderson, botanist (b. 1897 in the United States, 1897) * June 19 – Natalie Talmadge, silent film actress (b. 1896) * June 24 – Willy Ley, scientific popularizer (b. 1906 in Germany) * June 28 ** Charles Carpenter (bishop), Charles Carpenter, Episcopal bishop (b. 1899 in the United States, 1899) ** Gerald Fitzgerald (priest), Gerald Fitzgerald, Roman Catholic priest (b. 1894 in the United States, 1894) * June 30 ** Roman Richard Atkielski, Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1899 in the United States, 1899) ** Max Fabian (cinematographer), Max Fabian, cinematographer (b. 1891 in Poland) * July 2 – Michael DiBiase, wrestler (b 1923 in the United States, 1923) * July 5 ** Ben Alexander (actor), Ben Alexander, film actor (b. 1911 in the United States, 1911) ** Walter Gropius, architect (b. 1883 in Germany) ** Lambert Hillyer, film director (b. 1889 in the United States, 1889) ** Leo McCarey, film director (b. 1898 in the United States, 1898) * July 7 ** Charlotte Armstrong, fiction writer (b. 1905 in the United States, 1905) ** Gladys Swarthout, operatic mezzo-soprano, died in Italy (b. 1900 in the United States, 1900) * July 17 – Harry Benham, silent film actor (b. 1884 in the United States, 1884) * July 18 **

, teacher, secretary and political campaign specialist, drowned in automobile accident (b. 1940 in the United States, 1940) ** Barbara Pepper, actress (b. 1915 in the United States, 1915) * July 21 – A. D. King, African American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, accidental drowning (b. 1930 in the United States, 1930) * July 26 – Raymond Walburn, character actor (b. 1887 in the United States, 1897) * July 28 – Frank Loesser, songwriter (b. 1910 in the United States, 1910) * August 1 – Donald Keith (actor), Donald Keith, silent film actor (b. 1903 in the United States, 1910) * August 9 – Tate–LaBianca murders **

, celebrity hair stylist (b. 1933 in the United States, 1933) **

, screen actress and model (b. 1943 in the United States, 1943) * August 17 ** Otto Stern, physicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1943 (b. 1888 in Germany) ** Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect (b. 1886 in Germany) * August 18 – Mildred Davis, silent film actress (b. 1901 in the United States, 1901) * August 31 – Rocky Marciano, heavyweight boxer (b. 1923 in the United States, 1923) * September 3 – John Lester, cricketer (b. 1871 in the United Kingdom) * September 8 – Percy Spencer, inventor of the microwave oven (b. 1896 in the United States, 1896) * September 16 – Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr., conservationist (b. 1887 in the United States, 1887) * September 17 – Greye La Spina, dramatist and short story writer (b. 1880 in the United States, 1880) * September 22 – Rachel Davis Harris, African American librarian (b. 1869 in the United States, 1869) * September 24 – Warren Sturgis McCulloch, neurophysiologist and cybernetician (b. 1898 in the United States, 1898) * October 3 – Skip James, blues singer (b. 1902 in the United States, 1902) * October 6 – Walter Hagen, golfer (b. 1892 in the United States, 1892) * October 7 – Johnnie Morris (actor), Johnnie Morris, vaudeville and film actor and comedian (b. 1887 in the United States, 1887) * October 14 – Arnie Herber, American football player (Green Bay Packers) (b. 1910 in the United States, 1910) * October 15 – Rod La Rocque, film actor (b. 1898 in the United States, 1898) * October 21 – Jack Kerouac, novelist and poet (b. 1922 in the United States, 1922) * October 29 – Pops Foster, African American jazz string bass player (b. 1892 in the United States, 1892) * November 1 – Pauline Bush (actress), Pauline Bush, silent film actress (b. 1886 in the United States, 1886) * November 5 – Lloyd Corrigan, screen actor and director (b. 1900 in the United States, 1900) * November 8 ** Dave O'Brien (actor), Dave O'Brien, film actor (b. 1912 in the United States, 1912) ** Vesto Slipher, astronomer (b. 1875 in the United States, 1875) * November 11 – Frank Mills (politician), Frank Mills, politician in Ohio legislature (b. 1904 in the United States, 1904) * November 12 – William F. Friedman, cryptanalyst (b. 1891 in Russia) * November 15 – Roy D'Arcy, silent and sound film actor (b. 1894 in the United States, 1894) * November 18 – Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., political patriarch and businessman (b. 1888 in the United States, 1888) * November 28 – Roy Barcroft, Western film actor (b. 1902 in the United States, 1902) * December 1 – Magic Sam, Chicago blues guitarist and songwriter (b. 1937 in the United States, 1937) * December 3 – Ruth White (actress), Ruth White, actress (b. 1914 in the United States, 1914) * December 4 – Black Panther Party activists, killed in police raid ** Mark Clark (activist), Mark Clark (b. 1947 in the United States, 1947) ** Fred Hampton (b. 1948 in the United States, 1948) * December 7 – Lefty O'Doul, baseball player (b. 1897 in the United States, 1897) * December 13 – Spencer Williams (actor), Spencer Williams, African American screen actor and filmmaker (b. 1893 in the United States, 1893) * December 23 – Donald Foster (actor), Donald Foster, television actor (b. 1889 in the United States, 1889) * December 24 ** Cortelia Clark, African American blues singer and guitarist (b. 1906 in the United States, 1906) ** Seabury Quinn, government lawyer, journalist and pulp magazine author (b. 1889 in the United States, 1889) * December 31 – Joseph Yablonski, labor leader, murdered (b. 1910 in the United States, 1910)

References

External links

* {{Year in North America, 1969 1969 in the United States, 1960s in the United States 1969 by country, United States 1969 in North America, United States Years of the 20th century in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Undated

Ongoing

Births

Deaths

See also

References

External links