Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th president of the U.S. (Jan. 20). Â He begins 'Vietnamization' in Southeast Asia.
Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins—take man's first walk on moon (July 20).
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass. (July 18), in which Mary Jo Kopechne was drowned—gets two-month suspended sentence (July 25).
The United States, USSR, and about 100 other countries sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT).
Russian and Chinese troops clash along the Ussuri River.
27-year-old Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi deposes King Idris of Libya and establishes a pro-Arabic, anti-Western, Islamic republic.
Woodstock Festival (Aug. 15–17).
Sesame Street debuts. Internet (ARPA) goes online.
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $982.2 billion
Federal spending: $183.64 billion
Federal debt: $365.8 billion
Median Household Income (current dollars): $8,389
Consumer Price Index: 36.7
Unemployment: 3.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.06
Sports
Super Bowl
NY Jets d. Baltimore (16-7)
World Series
NY Mets d. Baltimore (4-1)
NBA Championship
Boston 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)
Entertainment2
Events
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.
Golden Oldies 1969
A Rolling Stones fan is killed at the group's Altamont, California, concert by members of Hell's Angels.
The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television and radio.
Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman (Live in Hyde Park 1969)
Beach Boys - Surf in USA 1969
1969 Capitol Hill Senior Song
SONNY & CHER - THE BEAT GOES ON
Children's Television Workshop introduces Sesame Street.
Movies
Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, Anne of the Thousand Days
Books
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-Five
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday
Music: String Quartet No. 3, Karel Husa
Drama: The Great White Hope, Howard Sackler
Oscars awarded in 1969
Academy Award, Best Picture: Oliver!, John Woolf, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Samuel Beckett (Ireland)
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
Miss America: Judith Anne Ford (IL)
Science
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the moon. Background: US Staffed Space Flights
The first in vitro fertilization of a human egg is performed in Cambridge, England. Background: Birth & Contraception
ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) goes online in December, connecting four major US universities. Designed for research, education, and government organizations, it is the foundation upon which the Internet will eventually be built.
The scanning electron microscope is developed.
The use of DDT is banned in residential areas.
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Derek H. R. Barton (UK) and Odd Hassel (Norway), for study of organic molecules
Physics: Murray Gell-Mann (US), for study of subatomic particles
Physiology or Medicine: Max Delbruck, Alfred D. Hershey, and Salvador E. Luria (all US), for study of mechanism of virus infection in living cells
