1969 in the United States

1969
in
the United States

Decades:
  • 1940s
  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • 1980s
See also:

Events from the year 1969 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

Events

January 20: Richard Nixon becomes President

January

February

March

April

  • April A grassroots movement of Berkeley community members seizes an empty lot owned by the University of California to begin the formation of "People's Park."
  • April 9 The Harvard University Administration Building is seized by close to 300 students, mostly members of the Students for a Democratic Society. Before the takeover ends, 45 are injured and 184 arrested.[1]

May

May 9, 1969: excursion train on the Salt Lake, Garfield and Western Railway as part of the 1969 Golden Spike Centennial
  • May 10 Zip to Zap, a harbinger of the Woodstock Concert, ends with the dispersal and eviction of youth and young adults at Zap, North Dakota by the National Guard.
  • May 15 A teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the first confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.
  • May 18 Apollo program: Apollo 10 (Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, John Young) is launched, on the full dress-rehearsal for the Moon landing.
  • May 20 United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on protesters in Berkeley, California in the aftermath of the People's Park unrest.
  • May 21 Shirley Chisholm went before Congress and spoke about equal rights for women as in job opportunities an prejudice comparing it to discrimination against African-American people that was dying at the time with equal rights laws being developed specifically for the minority.
  • May 22 Apollo program: Apollo 10's lunar module flies to within 15,400 m of the Moon's surface.
  • May 26 Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned Moon landing.

June

July

  • July 4 The Zodiac Killer attacks 19 year old Michael Mageau and kills 22 year old Darlene Ferrin in Vallejo, California.
July 21, 02:56 UTC: First Moon walk

August

  • August 4 Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, U.S. representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. They eventually fail since both sides cannot agree to any terms.
  • August 5 Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
  • August 9 Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder Sharon Tate, (who was 8 months pregnant), and her friends: Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring at Roman Polanski's home in Los Angeles. Also killed was Steven Parent, leaving from a visit to the home's caretaker. More than 100 stab wounds are found on the victims, except for Parent, who had been shot almost as soon as the Manson Family entered the property.
  • August 10 The Manson Family kills Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, wealthy Los Angeles business people.
  • August 15–18 The Woodstock Festival is held in upstate New York, featuring some of the era's top rock musicians.
  • August 17 Category 5 Hurricane Camille, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
  • August 20 Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, Colorado.

September

October

1969 Wal-Mart logo
  • October 1 The 5.6 Mw Santa Rosa earthquake shook the North Bay area of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). This first event in a doublet earthquake was followed two hours later by a 5.7 Mw shock. Total financial losses from the events was $8.35 million.
  • October 2 A 1.2 megaton thermonuclear device is tested at Amchitka Island, Alaska. This test is code-named Project Milrow, the 11th test of the Operation Mandrel 1969–1970 underground nuclear test series. This test is known as a "calibration shot" to test if the island is fit for larger underground nuclear detonations.
  • October 9–12 Days of Rage: In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in to control demonstrations involving the radical Weathermen, in connection with the "Chicago Eight" Trial.
  • October 11 The Zodiac Killer murders Taxi cab driver Paul Stine in San Francisco, California.
  • October 15 Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in antiwar demonstrations across the United States called by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.
  • October 16 The "miracle" New York Mets win the World Series, beating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.
  • October 17 Fourteen black athletes are kicked off the University of Wyoming football team for wearing black armbands into their coach's office.
  • October 31 Wal-Mart incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

November

December

  • December 1 Chicago: Blues musician Magic Sam dies at the age of 32 of a heart attack.
  • December 1 Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II (on January 4, 1970, The New York Times will run a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random").
  • December 2 The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut. It carries 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle to New York City.
  • December 4 Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot dead in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
  • December 6 The Altamont Free Concert is held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. Hosted by the Rolling Stones, it is an attempt at a "Woodstock West" and is best known for the uproar of violence that occurred. It is viewed by many as the "end of the sixties."
  • December 12 The Piazza Fontana bombing in Italy (Strage di Piazza Fontana) takes place. A U.S. Navy officer and C.I.A. agent, David Carrett, is later investigated for possible involvement.

Undated

  • The first Gap store opens in San Francisco.
  • Reported as being the year the first strain of the AIDS virus (HIV) migrated to the United States via Haiti.[3]
  • The weather station of Mount Washington, New Hampshire records the heaviest calendar year precipitation in the US east of the Cascades with 130.14 inches (3,305.6 mm), beating the previous record of Rosman, North Carolina by 0.54 inches (13.7 mm).[4]

Ongoing

Births

Deaths

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.