|
The Year in Review
The war in Vietnam, the Manson murders, Woodstock, men on the
moon, the Chicago Eight trial, the My Lai massacre, protest
marches -
America was in turmoil as the decade hurtled to a close.
World Events
World Population: 3.631 billion
Nixon begins "Vietnamization" in Southeast Asia
Boeing 747 flies for the first time - February 7
Meteorite weighing over one ton falls in Chihuahua,
México - February 8
Russian and Chinese troops clash along the Ussuri River
- March 2
Gold reaches record high $47 in Paris - March 5
France withdraws from NATO - April 1
Concorde SST first flight - April 9; Only 20 built, one
crash July 25, 2000,
last flight on November 26, 2003, Cruising speed = Mach
2
Vietnam War: The very first U.S. troop withdrawals were
made - July 8
US Apollo 11 lands on the Moon - July 20
27-year-old Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi deposes King
Idris of Libya and
establishes a pro-Arabic, anti-Western, Islamic republic
- September 1
Death of Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam -
September 3
President Nixon orders resumed bombing of North Vietnam
- September 12
Francis Ford Coppola & George Lucus found American
Zoetrop - November 14
Approximately 225 million telephones are in service in
the world, of which
114 million are in the USA
Two of the Beatles were married; John Lennon to Yoko Ono
and
Paul McCartney to Linda Eastman
Gloria Diaz of the Philippines is crowned Miss Universe
Cold War: Nuclear tests; US: 3 USSR: 6
Space Race:
Manned Space Flights: US: 4 flights and 12 men; USSR: 5
flights and 12 men
Unmanned spaceflights: US: 5; USSR: 6 and one failure |
US Events
US Congress doubles presidential salary - January 7
From $100,000 to
$200,000. Adjusted for inflation, $200,000 in 1969 would
be
worth $930,232 today. And don't forget the
$50,000 expense account, free room
and board, car with chauffeur, vacation home, airplane,
helicopter...
After 147 years, the last issue of The Saturday Evening
Post published - January 10
An explosion on the deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier
USS Enterprise, killing 27 and injures 314 crewmen -
January 14
Richard Nixon succeeds Lyndon Johnson as the 37th
President - January 20
Stonewall riot in New York City marks beginning of
Gay Rights Movement - June 28
Senator Edward M. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving the
scene of fatal
accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass., in which Mary Jo
Kopechne drowned...
Kennedy gets two month suspended sentence - July 18
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin Buzz
Aldrin take man's
first walk on Moon while Michael Collins orbits overhead
- July 20
Breathtaking pictures of Mars are transmitted to earth
from NASA's
Mariner 7 as it passes within 2,200 miles of the Red
Planet - August 5
Sharon Tate, pregnant, and four others were murdered by
members of
the infamous Manson Family - August 9
Hurricane Camille causes 256 deaths and leaves 68
persons missing from
Mississippi to West Virginia - August 17
250,000 Vietnam War protesters gather in Washington for
the largest
anti-war rally in U.S. History - November 15
The first draft lottery since WWII is held in New York
City - December 1
Undated Event
Judith Anne Ford of Illinois is crowned Miss America |
US Statistics
President - Richard M. Nixon
Vice President - Spiro T. Agnew
Population - 202,676,946
Life expectancy - 70.5 years
Babies born in U.S. - 3,600,000
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 36.8
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 33.5
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 7.7 |
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $982.2 billion
Federal spending: $183.64 billion
Federal debt: $365.8 billion
Average Income - $9,433 or
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $8,389
Consumer Price Index: 36.7
Unemployment: 3.6%
Federal Minimum Wage - $1.60
Cost of First-Class Stamp - $0.06
Cost of 1 Gallon Milk - $1.35
Cost of 1 Pound Bread - $0.23
Cost of 1 Gallon Gas - $0.35
Cost of New Ford - $3,278
Cost of Average 3 Bedroom Home - $25,600 |
Sports
Super Bowl - New York Jets d.
Baltimore (16-7)
World Series - New York Mets d. Baltimore (4-1)
NBA Championship - Boston Celtics d. LA Lakers (4-3)
Stanley Cup - Montreal d. St. Louis (4-0)
Wimbledon - Women - Ann Jones d. B. J. King (3-6 6-3 6-2)
Men - Rod Laver d. J. Newcombe (6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion - Majestic Prince
NCAA Basketball Championship - UCLA d. Purdue (92-72)
NCAA Football Champions - Texas (11-0-0)
1969 Heisman Trophy Winner - Steve Owens, University of
Oklahoma
US Open Golf - Orville Moody |
Entertainment
The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television
and radio.
Nobel Prize Winner (Literature) - Samuel Beckett -
Ireland
Books
Best Selling Fiction - Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
Best Selling Non-Fiction - American Heritage Dictionary,
William Morris, editor
* Robert Coover, Pricksongs and Descants
* John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman
* Mario Puzo, The Godfather
* Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint
* Jean Stafford, Collected Stories
* Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-FiveEntertainment
Awards
Best Picture - Midnight Cowboy, United Artists
Best Director - John Schlesinger, Midnight Cowboy
Best Actress - Maggie Smith, The Prince of Miss Jean
Brodie
Best Actor - John Wayne, True Grit
Best Actress in a supporting role - Goldie Hawn, Cactus
Flower
Best Actor in a supporting role - Gig Young, They Shoot
Horses, Don't They?
Midnight Cowboy wins the Best Picture Oscar, the first
and only time an
X-rated movie received the honor.
Academy Award, Best Picture: Oliver!, John Woolf,
producer (Columbia)
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday
Music: String Quartet No. 3, Karel Husa
Drama: The Great White Hope, Howard Sackler
Grammys awarded in 1969
Record of the Year: "Mrs. Robinson" Simon and Garfunkel
Album of the Year: "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", Glen
Campbell (Capitol)
Song of the Year: "Little Green Apples," Bobby Russell,
songwriter
Top TV Show - The Beverly Hillbillies
Children's Television Workshop introduces Sesame Street.
Doonsbury comic strip debuts.
In August, more than half a million people gather in the
small, upstate
New York town of Bethel (near Woodstock, N.Y.) for four
days of rain,
sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Performers include Janis
Joplin, Jimi
Hendrix, The Who, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash and
Young, Jefferson
Airplane and Sly and the Family Stone.
A Rolling Stones fan is killed at the group's Altamont,
California,
concert by members of Hell's Angels transcending the end
of
the hippie era. |
Automotive
The AMC AMX was named "Best Engineered Car
of the Year"
Ford Motors introduced the Lincoln Continental
Mark III, a limited production, ultra-luxurious
vehicle to compete with the Cadillac
Nissan introduced the Datsun 240Z sports car.
New Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles were built upon a
Chevy motor home
chassis and featured Ford Thunderbird
taillights.
Svenska Aeroplan, producing Saab vehicles for
years, renamed the
company as Saab and produced the Saab 99.
(General Motors
purchased
the company in 1989. On December 18, 2009, GM
announced it intends to wind down the Saab brand
after negotiations to sell the company to
several possible buyers failed. Spyker Cars
announced a new offer following GM's wind down
announcement though it is uncertain whether a
deal can be salvaged at this point).
The Auburn
(Indiana) Rubber Company was a rubber
products manufacturer best known for its line of
children's toys. Later sold and the company's
plant in Auburn was acquired by Cooper Tire &
Rubber Company. Auburn Rubber went out of
business in 1969.
James Garner had a film crew at the 24-Hour race
event at Daytona filming
a documentary of racing that would be later
called The Racing Scene.
24 Hours of Le Mans Best Finish and Class wins:
Jackie Oliver
British automotive engineering company, Alforder
Newton Ltd, specializing in suspension, brake
and steering gear components used in the Triumph
TR4 and Triumph Spitfire ceased operations.
Fiat 2300, a six cylinder 2.3 litre six cylinder
engine (with twin-carbs on the "S" version), had
power assisted brake discs for all four wheels
ceased production.
Buhler Motors started the first automotive
applications for Delco Electronics, USA.
7 cars completed The Rallye du Maroc (Morocco
Rally) a marathon-rally, out of a starting field
of 68 vehicles
Fiat Automobiles purchased controlling interests
in Ferrari and Lancia. Also, Fiat Aviazione
merged with Aerfer to create Aeritalia (aircraft
manufacturers) |
Science
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first
humans to walk on the moon
“Longest Long Distance Call”
President Richard Nixon spoke with Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin while the
astronauts were on the moon. The words were
transmitted from the Oval Office to
the astronauts through several stations and
satellites.
USAF closes Blue Book after determining that UFOs do
not exist
Message between two computers marks the birth of ARPAnet
(Advanced
Research Projects Agency on November 21, the "Mother of
the Internet" goes
online in December (exact date is unknown), connecting 4
major US
Universities. Designed
for research. education, and government
organizations, it is the foundation upon which the internet will
eventually be built
The first in vitro fertilization of a human
egg is performed in Cambridge, England
The scanning electron microscope is developed.
The use of DDT is banned in residential areas. |
Business
“Oh Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven” campaign
introduced
and 7-Eleven opens its first Canadian store
United States attorney general Ramsey Clark
charges IBM
with unlawful monopolization of the computer
industry, and
requests the federal courts break it up. (13
years later, the
US Justice Department will drop the case) |
Businesses Established in 1969
 
Advanced Micro Devices
Bank of America Home Loans
BT Financial Group
Beatrice Foods Canada
Captain D's
CompuServe
Cracker Barrel
DHL Express
Doubletree
Econo Lodge
Gap (clothing retailer) |
KinderCare Learning Centers
Long John Silver's
O'Charley's
Penske Truck Leasing
PepsiCo
Red Robin
Richard Childress Racing
Samsung Electronics
Target Group Index
Wendy's
Zody's |
Notable Births
Jennifer Aniston, American actress
Renée Zellweger, American actress
Anne Heche, American actress
Kate Snow, TV journalist for ABC News,
now, NBC News
Ice Cube, rap singer/actor
Lara Spencer, American TV personality, 'Insider'
Jennifer Lopez, American singer and actress
Matthew Perry, actor
Catherine Zeta-Jones, British actress
Wendy Wilson, singer
and member of the
pop singing trio Wilson Phillips. She is the
daughter
of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson. Younger
sister
of Carnie Wilson, also of Wilson Phillips.
Matthew McConaughey, American actor
Sean Combs (P. Diddy), rapper
Jakob Dylan, The Wallflowers, son of Bob Dylan |
Notable Deaths
Barton Maclane, actor (General Peterson - I
Dream of Jeannie)
Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses,
appeared in film 'Freak'
Boris Karloff [Pratt], British actor (Frankenstein)
Felix Locher, actor (Frankenstein's Daughter)
Rex Evans, actor (Frankenstein meets the Wolfman)
Karl Freund, cinematographer,
who as director of
photography on
I Love Lucy, developed the practical use of the
three-camera TV sitcom production
Ben Alexander, actor (Frank Smith - Dragnet)
Jeffrey Hunter, actor (Christopher Pike - Star Trek
- "The Cage")
Robert Taylor, actor, (Death Valley Days)
Georges Pompidou, president of France
Judy Garland, singer and actress (Wizard of
Oz)
Stanley Andrews, actor (Old Ranger-Death Valley
Days)
Brian Jones, guitarist, founder member of The
Rolling Stones
Barbara Pepper, actress (Doris Ziffel on Green
Acres)
Mary Jo Kopechne dies at age 28, in Senator Ted
Kennedy's car
Sharon Tate, actress, murdered by disciples of
Charles Manson, wife of director Roman Polanski
Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnamese president
Joseph P Kennedy, father of JFK, RFK, Edward
Kennedy...
Ruth White, actress (Fugitive)
Hugh Williams, actor (Human Monster)
Raymond A Spruance, US admiral (battle of Midway)
Donald Foster, actor (Herbert Johnson-Hazel) |
Popular 1969 Movie Titles
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Midnight Cowboy
The Wild Bunch
Easy Rider
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Where Eagles Dare
True Grit
The Italian Job
Bambi Meets Godzilla
Take The Money And Run
Z
Paint Your Wagon
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Two Mules For Sister Sara
Hello, Dolly!
Topaz
The Love Bug
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie |
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Cactus Flower
Anne Of The Thousand Days
Alice's Restaurant
The Happy Ending
The Reivers
Goodbye, Columbus
The Wild Bunch
Women In Love
Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice
Marooned
Goodbye, Mr.Chips
MacKenna's Gold
Bridge At Remagen
Sterile Cuckoo
The Undefeated
The Assassination Bureau
Change Of Habit |
Top 100 Hit Songs of 1969
1. Aquarius/Let The
Sunshine In - 5th
Dimension
2. Sugar, Sugar - The Archies
3. Honky Tonk Women - The Rolling Stones
4. Get Back - The Beatles
5. Crimson And Clover - Tommy James & The
Shondells
6. Dizzy - Tommy Roe
7. Jean - Oliver
8. Build Me Up, Buttercup - The Foundations
9. Touch Me - The Doors
10. Hair - The Cowsills
11. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
12. Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James &
The Shondells
13. Everyday People - Sly & The Family Stone
14. Good Morning Starshine - Oliver
15. In The Year 2525 - Zager and Evans
16. I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations
17. Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet -
Henry Mancini
18. Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater
Revival
19. Spinning Wheel - Blood, Sweat and Tears
20. One - Three Dog Night
21. Love (Can Make You Happy) - Mercy
22. Traces - The Classics IV
23. You've Made Me So Very Happy - Blood,
Sweat, and Tears
24. This Magic Moment - Jay and the
Americans
25. Worst That Could Happen - The Brooklyn
Bridge
26. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin
Gaye
27. It's Your Thing - The Isley Brothers
28. A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash
29. Wedding Bell Blues - The Fifth Dimension
30. Get Together - The Youngbloods
31. Easy to Be Hard - Three Dog Night
32. Little Woman - Bobby Sherman
33. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - The
Supremes & The Temptations
34. These Eyes - The Guess Who
35. Baby, It's You - Smith
36. I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Tom Jones
37. My Cheri Amour - Stevie Wonder
38. Hooked On A Feeling - B.J. Thomas
39. Smile A Little Smile For Me - The Flying
Machine
40. Baby, I Love You - Andy Kim
41. Time of the Season - The Zombies
42. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
43. 25 Miles - Edwin Starr
44. Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly and the
Family Stone
45. Love Me Tonight - Tom Jones
46. What Does It Take (to Win Your Love) - Jr.
Walker and the All Stars
47. Grazing In The Grass - The Friends of
Distinction
48. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater
Revival
49. Green River - Creedence Clearwater
Revival |
50. Only The Strong
Survive - Jerry Butler
51. The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkel
52. Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins
Singers
53. Games People Play - Joe South
54. Put a Little Love In Your Heart - Jackie
DeShannon
55. I'm Gonna Make You Mine - Lou Christie
56. Come Together - The Beatles
57. I'm Living In Shame - Diana Ross & The
Supremes
58. Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
59. Something - The Beatles
60. More Today Than Yesterday - The Spiral
Staircase
61. For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder
62. In The Ghetto - Elvis Presley
63. Things I'd Like To Say - The New Colony
Six
64. Atlantis - Donovan
65. Sweet Cherry Wine - Tommy James & The
Shondells
66. Galveston - Glen Campbell
67. Hawaii Five-O (instrumental) - The
Ventures
68. My Whole World Ended - David Ruffin
69. Soulful Strut (instrumental) - Young Holt
Unlimited
70. I Started A Joke - The Bee Gees
71. Tracy - The Cufflinks
72. And When I Die - Blood, Sweat and Tears
73. You Showed Me - The Turtles
74. Time Is Tight (instrumental) - Booker T.
and the M.G.'s
75. Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' - The Crazy
Elephant
76. I've Gotta Be Me - Sammy Davis, Jr.
77. Run Away Child, Running Wild - The
Temptations
78. My Pledge Of Love - The Joe Jeffrey Group
79. The River Is Wide - The Grass Roots
80. I'd Wait A Million Years - The Grass Roots
81. Laughing - The Guess Who
82. Love Child - Diana Ross and the Supremes
83. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby - Marvin
Gaye
84. Quentin's Theme - The Charles Randolph
Grean Sound
85. Color Him Father - The Winstons
86. That's The Way Love Is - Marvin Gaye
87. Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
88. Stormy - The Classic IV
89. Abraham, Martin and John - Dion
90. Rock Me - Steppenwolf
91. The Israelites - Desmond Dekker and the
Aces
92. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Dionne
Warwick
93. Cloud Nine - The Temptations
94. Take A Letter Maria - R.B. Greaves
95. Can I Change My Mind - Tyrone Davis
96. This Girl Is A Woman Now - Gary Puckett
and the Union Gap
97. Eli's Coming - Three Dog Night
98. Don't Give In To Him - Gary Puckett and
the Union Gap
99. Cinnamon - Derek
100. This Girl's In Love With You - Dionne
Warwick |
Sources: infoplease.com,
jamesmadison69.com, answers.com,
imdb.com, billboard.com |
