January 13 –
Elvis Presley 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" and "Back in Memphis." The sessions yield the popular and critically acclaimed singles "Suspicious Minds", "In the Ghetto" and "Kentucky Rain."
January 26 –
Elvis Presley 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 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.
Four hundred
Major League Baseball players boycott
spring training 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 in its original form hits magazine stands after 147 years.
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 20 – 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".
May 10 –
Zip to Zap, a harbinger of the Woodstock Concert, ends with the dispersal and eviction of youth and young adults at
Zap, North Dakota, by the National Guard.
May 15 – A teenager known as '
Robert R.' dies in
St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the first confirmed case of
HIV/AIDS in North America.
May 26 – Apollo program:
Apollo 10 returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first crewed
Moon landing.
June 18–22 – The National Convention of the
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), held in
Chicago, 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.
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. Mageau survives the attack while Ferrin is pronounced dead-on-arrival at
Richmond Medical Center.
July 8 –
Vietnam War: The first U.S. troop withdrawals are made.
July 20 –
Apollo programMoon landing: At 3:17 pm ET (20:17 UTC)
Apollo 11'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
Neil Armstrong takes the first historic steps by a human on the surface.
July 25 –
Vietnam War: U.S. President
Richard Nixon declares the
Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This starts the "Vietnamization" of the war.
July 26 – The New York Chapter of the
Young Lords is founded to fight for empowerment of Puerto Ricans.
July 30 –
Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to
South Vietnam, 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 and North Vietnamese representative
Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. They eventually fail since both sides cannot agree to any terms.
August 9 – Members of a
cult led by
Charles Manson murder
Sharon Tate (who was 8 months pregnant) and her friends:
Folgers coffee heiress
Abigail Folger,
Wojciech Frykowski, and Hollywood hairstylist
Jay Sebring at
Roman Polanski's home in
Los Angeles. Also killed was
Steven Parent, 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 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 is held in upstate
New York, featuring some of the era's top rock musicians.
August 17 – Category 5
Hurricane Camille, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, hits the
Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
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 series is released: Injun Trouble.
October 1 – The 5.6
MwSanta Rosa earthquake shook the North Bay area of California with a maximum
Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). This first event in a
doublet earthquake was followed two hours later by a 5.7 Mw shock. Total financial losses from the events was $8.35 million.
October 2 – A 1.2
megaton thermonuclear device is tested at
Amchitka Island,
Alaska. This test is code-named Project Milrow, the 11th test of the
Operation Mandrel 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.
Willard S. Boyle and George Smith invent the
CCD at
Bell Laboratories (30 years later, this technology is widely used in digital cameras).
Fourteen black athletes are dismissed from the
University of Wyoming football team for wearing black armbands into their
coach's office.
October 31 –
Wal-Mart incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
November
November 3 –
Vietnam War: U.S. President
Richard Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "
silent majority" to join him in solidarity with the
Vietnam War effort, and to support his policies. Vice President
Spiro T. Agnew 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 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 premieres on
NET (now
PBS).
Vietnam War: 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. He names the chain Wendy's after his 8-year-old daughter Melinda Lou (nicknamed Wendy by her siblings).
November 17 –
Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in
Helsinki, to begin the
SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
U.S. President
Richard Nixon 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.
November 24 –
Apollo program: The
Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second crewed mission to the
Moon.
November 25 –
John Lennon returns his
MBE medal to protest the British government's support of the U.S. war in Vietnam.
December
December 1 –
Chicago: Blues musician
Magic Sam dies at the age of 32 of a heart attack.
December 1 –
Vietnam War: The first
draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II (on January 4, 1970, The New York Times will run a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random").
December 2 – The
Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut. It carries 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from
Seattle to New York City.
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 rallies from 14–0 deficit with two fourth quarter touchdowns to edge #2
Arkansas 15–14 at
Fayetteville in a game attended by
President of the United StatesRichard Nixon 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 21–17 in the
Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day.
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
Young Lords take over the First Spanish Methodist Church in
East Harlem.
The weather station of
Mount Washington, New Hampshire, records the heaviest calendar year precipitation in the US east of the Cascades with 130.14 inches (3,305.6 mm), beating the previous record of
Rosman, North Carolina, by 0.54 inches (13.7 mm).[11]
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
Columbus, Ohio opens for business.
^"Singer Sought for 'Lewd Show'", AP report in Bridgeport (CT) Post, March 6, 1969, p22
^"Trio of Best-Sellers?", Books Happening column by
Gene Shalit, Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1969, "Calendar" section, p46 ("'The Godfather'... could be the sleeper of the season... Putnam is the publisher, March 10 is the publication date, and a second printing is already off the press.")
^Sibley, George. Water Wranglers. The 75-Year History of the Colorado River District: A Story About the Embattled Colorado River and the Growth of the West. Grand Junction, Colorado: Distributed in the U. S. by Colorado River District. Copyright and first printing September 13, 2012, by George Sibley and Colorado River District. P. 282.
^"Rich Eisen Biography". Grabow.biz. Archived from
the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2007. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 24, 1969, and raised in Staten Island...
^Anthony J. Mayo, Nitin Nohria. In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2005.