World Events
Population: 3.631 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: International Labour Organization
Nixon begins "Vietnamization" in Southeast Asia. Background: Vietnam War.
The United States, USSR, and about 100 other countries sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT). Background: nuclear disarmament.
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.
U.S. Events
President: Richard M. Nixon
Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew
Population: 202,676,946
Life expectancy: 70.5 years
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
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $8,389
Consumer Price Index: 36.7
Unemployment: 3.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.06
Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th President of the US (Jan. 20).
Stonewall riot in New York City marks beginning of gay rights movement (June 28).
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). Background: Timeline of Kennedy tragedies.
Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. —take first walk on the Moon (July 20).
Southern California is terrorized by the Manson Family over the summer, culminating in a series of shocking and brutal murders Aug 8-9. Their victims included an 8.5 months pregnant Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Folgers coffee heiress Wojciech Frykowski, and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The murders marked the beginning of a new era of fear in the US.
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)
Entertainment
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)
Grammy Awards
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)
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.
The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television and radio.
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
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.
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. Background: Computers and Internet.
The scanning electron microscope is developed.
The use of DDT is banned in residential areas.
Deaths
Dwight David Eisenhower
Joseph P. Kennedy
Jack Kerouac