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.

Sunday 10:

A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

Thursday 14:

United Kingdom troops deploy in Northern Ireland

Friday 15:

The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens.

Sunday 17:

Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.

Monday 18:

Jimi Hendrix plays the unofficial last day of Woodstock.

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.