1969 - What happened in 1969 ?

January 1969

Wednesday 01:

Marien Ngouabi formally becomes the President of the Republic of Congo.

Wednesday 15:

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.

Sunday 19:

Student Jan Palach died after setting himself on fire 3 days ago in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turned into another major protest.

Monday 20:

The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula.

Tuesday 21:

An experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.

February 1969

Monday 03:

In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestinian Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.

Tuesday 04:

Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Saturday 08:

The last weekly issue of the Saturday Evening Post hits magazine stands.

Saturday 22:

Barbara Jo Rubin wins a United States thoroughbred horse race making history as the first woman to do so.

Tuesday 25:

George Jones marries Tammy Wynette

March 1969

Sunday 02:

Soviet and Chinese forces clash at a border outpost on the Ussuri River.

Monday 10:

In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. Ray would later retract his guilty plea.

Thursday 13:

Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

Sunday 16:

A Venezuelan Airlines DC-9 crashes shortly after takeoff in Maracaibo, Venezuela killing 155

Thursday 27:

Mariner 7 is launched.

April 1969

Tuesday 01:

The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the RAF.

Friday 04:

1969 - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is cancelled after the brothers failed to submit an episode before its broadcast date.

Monday 07:

The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.

Wednesday 09:

The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

Thursday 17:

Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dub?ek is deposed.

May 1969

Sunday 11:

Vietnam War: Operation Apache Snow – Near the Laos border, American and South Vietnamese forces fight North Vietnamese troops for Ap Bia Mountain (aka Hill 937 or "Hamburger Hill").

Tuesday 13:

Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the 13 May Incident.

Saturday 17:

Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.

Sunday 18:

Apollo program: Apollo 10 launches.

Wednesday 28:

Sound engineer Glyn Johns mixes the second of the Beatles Bootlegs.

June 1969

Tuesday 03:

Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.

Sunday 08:

After the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) cancels the program, the last Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour airs.

Sunday 15:

Hee Haw debuts on CBS television, quickly becoming an institution.

Monday 23:

Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.

Saturday 28:

Stonewall riots in New York city mark the beginning of the modern gay rights era.

July 1969

Monday 07:

The Official Languages Act is adopted making the French language is equal to English language throughout the Federal government.

Tuesday 08:

IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer.

Wednesday 16:

Apollo program: Apollo 11 launches from Cape Kennedy, Florida and will become the first manned space mission to land on the moon.

Friday 18:

1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.

Sunday 20:

Project Apollo: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface.

August 1969

Monday 04:

Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, US representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.

Tuesday 05:

Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).

Saturday 09:

Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder five people,Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Parent, and Abigail Folger.

Thursday 14:

United Kingdom troops deploy in Northern Ireland

Wednesday 27:

The first installment of the Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man) movies is released in Japan. Director and screenplay writer Yoji Yamada went on to make 48 installments of the series, which is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running movie series.

September 1969

Monday 01:

A coup in Libya brings Col. Moammar Qaddafi to power, ousting King Idris I.

Friday 05:

My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

Monday 15:

Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Steve Carlton sets a record by striking out 19 New York Mets in a single game.

Tuesday 23:

The Chicago 8 trial opens in Chicago, Illinois

Friday 26:

The Beatles album Abbey Road is released in the UK.

October 1969

Tuesday 14:

A race riot occurs in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Wednesday 15:

Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in National Moratorium antiwar demonstrations across the United States.

Thursday 16:

The "miracle" New York Mets win the World Series.

Saturday 18:

Jefferson Airplane member Paul Kantner is charged with possession of marijuana on Hawaii.

Wednesday 29:

The first computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET.

November 1969

Monday 03:

Vietnam War: US President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.

Monday 10:

National Educational Television (the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States debuts the children's television program Sesame Street.

Wednesday 19:

Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

Friday 21:

US President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Sato agree in Washington, DC on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under terms of the agreement, the US is to retain its rights to bases on the island, but these are to be nuclear-free.

Monday 24:

Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.

December 1969

Monday 01:

Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.

Thursday 04:

1969 - Legendary surfer Greg "Da Bull" Noll rode a 65-foot wave on the North Shore of Oahu, still the highest ever recorded.

Monday 08:

An Olympic Airways DC-6B crashes near Athens during a storm killing 93 people.

Wednesday 17:

1969 - SALT I talks begin

Thursday 18:

Capital punishment is ended in the United Kingdom