Vietnam War
Troops Withdrawals
U.S. president Richard Nixon began troop withdrawals in 1969.
null
- Iran–Iraq War
Iranian delegation
Iran sent a delegation to Iraq soon after the Ba'ath coup in 1969 and, when Iraq refused to proceed with negotiations over a new treaty, the treaty of 1937 was withdrawn by Iran.
- Shimon Peres
Minister of Immigrant Absorption
In 1969, Peres was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
- Margaret Thatcher
Her First Visit To The Soviet Union
Thatcher made her first visit to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition Transport spokeswoman.
- Lula da Silva
Marriage
In 1969, he married Maria de Lourdes, who died of hepatitis in 1971, while pregnant with their first son, who also died.
- BMW
BMW's first dealership in Canada
BMW's first dealership in Canada, located in Ottawa, was opened in 1969.
- Fidel Castro
Castro's administration's 10th anniversary
Castro publicly celebrated his administration's 10th anniversary in January 1969; in his celebratory speech he warned of sugar rations, reflecting the nation's economic problems.
- Magdi Yacoub
Moving to the United States
Moving to the United States in 1969 he became Instructor and then Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago.
- First Sudanese Civil War
Gordon Muortat Mayen Was Elected Unanimously as The New Leader of The South
In 1969, Gordon Muortat Mayen was elected unanimously as the new leader of the South. Southern Sudan in this time changed their name to the Nile Republic and resumed warfare against Khartoum, however some of the former leader Jaden's troops would not accept a Dinka leader and fought against the Anyanya.
- First Sudanese Civil War
Aggrey Jaden Left The Movement
The South was first led by the late leader Aggrey Jaden; he left the movement in 1969 due to internal political disputes.
- Microprocessor
The CTC 1201
In 1969, CTC contracted two companies, Intel and Texas Instruments, to make a single-chip implementation, known as the CTC 1201.
- Microprocessor
Creating The Four-Phase Systems Inc. AL-1
In 1969, Lee Boysel, based on the 8-bit arithmetic logic units (3800/3804) he designed earlier at Fairchild, created the Four-Phase Systems Inc. AL-1, an 8-bit CPU slice that was expandable to 32-bits.
- Microprocessor
The Origination of The project That Produced The 4004
The project that produced the 4004 originated in 1969, when Busicom, a Japanese calculator manufacturer, asked Intel to build a chipset for high-performance desktop calculators.
- Muhammad Yunus
Assistant Professor of Economics
From 1969 to 1972, Yunus was assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
- Gary Ridgway
Ridgway's Graduation and marriage
Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School in 1969 and married his 19-year-old high school girlfriend, Claudia Kraig.
- Robin Williams
High school graduation
As both his parents worked, Williams was attended to by the family's maid, who was his main companion. When Williams was 16, his father took early retirement and the family moved to Marin County, settling in Tiburon, California. Following their move, Williams attended Redwood High School in nearby Larkspur. At the time of his graduation in 1969, he was voted "Most Likely Not to Succeed" and "Funniest" by his classmates.
- Linux
The Unix operating system
The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969, at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in the United States by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna.
- Cameras
The First semiconductor image Sensor
The first semiconductor image sensor was the CCD, invented by Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith at Bell Labs in 1969. While researching MOS technology, they realized that an electric charge was the analogy of the magnetic bubble and that it could be stored on a tiny MOS capacitor.
- Computer animation
Scanimate
The first machine to achieve widespread public attention in the media was Scanimate, an analog computer animation system designed and built by Lee Harrison of the Computer Image Corporation in Denver. From around 1969 onward, Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television in commercials, show titles, and other graphics. It could create animations in real time, a great advantage over digital systems at the time.
- Ted Bundy
Bundy visited the office of birth records in Burlington
It was at this time in early 1969, Ann Rule (True crime writer) believes, that Bundy visited the office of birth records in Burlington and confirmed his true parentage.
- Neil Armstrong
The official announcement of Apollo 11
The crew of Apollo 11 was officially announced on January 9, 1969, as Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, with Lovell, Anders, and Fred Haise as the backup crew.
- Audrey Hepburn
Andrea Dotti married Hepburn
Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working. They married on 18 January 1969.
- Richard Nixon
Nixon was Inaugurated as President
Nixon was inaugurated as president on January 20, 1969, sworn in by his onetime political rival, Chief Justice Earl Warren. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open at Isaiah 2:4, which reads, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker" a phrase that would later be placed on his gravestone.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Day for Rejoicing
On January 20, 1969, the day Nixon was inaugurated as President, Eisenhower issued a statement praising his former vice president and calling it a "day for rejoicing".
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
Sarawak United People's Party's leadership reversed the party's anti-Malaysia policy
In February 1969, the Sarawak United People's Party's leadership reversed the party's anti-Malaysia policy following a meeting between the party's leader Stephen Yong and Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
- 1973 oil crisis
American domestic output of oil was peaking
By 1969, American domestic output of oil was peaking and could not keep pace with increasing demand from vehicles.
- Black History Month
Black History Month was first proposed
Black History Month was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969.
- Nancy Pelosi
Moved to San Francisco
After the couple married, they moved to New York, and then to San Francisco in 1969, where Paul Pelosi's brother, Ronald Pelosi, was a member of the City and County of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.
- Neil Armstrong
Determining the first person on the Moon
According to Chris Kraft, a March 1969 meeting among Slayton, George Low, Bob Gilruth, and Kraft determined that Armstrong would be the first person on the Moon, in part because NASA management saw him as a person who did not have a large ego.
- 1973 oil crisis
Nixon decided to keep the quotas due to vigorous political opposition
When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he assigned George Shultz to head a committee to review the Eisenhower-era quota program. Shultz's committee recommended that the quotas be abolished and replaced with tariffs but Nixon decided to keep the quotas due to vigorous political opposition.
- Itzak Stern
Death
Stern died at age 68.
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
Indonesian forces eliminated the Third Branch of the SPGF at Songkong
On 25 March 1969, Indonesian forces eliminated the Third Branch of the SPGF at Songkong in West Kalimantan following a two-day battle, wiping out the Sarawak People's Guerrilla Force's largest corps.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Death
On the morning of March 28, 1969, Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., of congestive heart failure at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, at age 78. The following day, his body was moved to the Washington National Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, where he lay in repose for 28 hours.
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Manuel Pérez-Guerrero
Manuel Pérez-Guerrero was appointed Secretaries-General from 1969 to 1974.
- Josip Broz Tito
Tito removed generals Ivan Gošnjak and Rade Hamović in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia
In April 1969, Tito removed generals Ivan Gošnjak and Rade Hamović in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia due to the unpreparedness of the Yugoslav army to respond to a similar invasion of Yugoslavia.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Funeral
A state funeral service was conducted at the Washington National Cathedral on March 31.
- Internet
Host Software
ARPANET development was centered around the Request for Comments (RFC) process, still used today for proposing and distributing Internet Protocols and Systems. RFC 1, entitled "Host Software", was written by Steve Crocker from the University of California, Los Angeles, and published on April 7, 1969. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing.
- Neil Armstrong
The reason for choosing Armstrong to be the First
A press conference on April 14, 1969, gave the design of the LM cabin as the reason for Armstrong's being first; the hatch opened inwards and to the right, making it difficult for the lunar module pilot, on the right-hand side, to exit first.
- Freddie Mercury
Graduation
Mercury studied graphic art and design at Ealing Art College, graduating with a diploma in 1969.
- Freddie Mercury
Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in Kensington Market in London with Roger Taylor
Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in Kensington Market in London with Roger Taylor. He also held a job as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. Friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man with a great interest in music.
- Charles de Gaulle
De Gaulle resigned from the presidency
De Gaulle resigned the presidency at noon, 28 April 1969.
- Freddie Mercury
Mercury joined Liverpool-based band Ibex
In 1969, he joined Liverpool-based band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage. He briefly lived in a flat above the Dovedale Towers, a pub close to Penny Lane in Liverpool's Mossley Hill district.
- Ted Bundy
Bundy met Elizabeth Kloepfer
Bundy was back in Washington by the fall of 1969 when he met Elizabeth Kloepfer (identified in Bundy literature as Meg Anders, Beth Archer, or Liz Kendall), a divorcée from Ogden, Utah who worked as a secretary at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Their stormy relationship would continue well past his initial incarceration in Utah in 1976.
- First Sudanese Civil War
The Second Military Coup
After a second military coup on 25 May 1969, Col. Gaafar Nimeiry became Prime Minister and promptly outlawed political parties.
- Freddie Mercury
Mercury was registered a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies
As Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963, Mercury was born a British subject, and on 2 June 1969 was registered a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies after the family had emigrated to England.
- Richard Nixon
Nixon visited South Vietnam
In July 1969, Nixon visited South Vietnam, where he met with his U.S. military commanders and President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Amid protests at home demanding an immediate pullout, he implemented a strategy of replacing American troops with Vietnamese troops, known as "Vietnamization".
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
Sarawak Communist Organisation created the North Kalimantan People's Guerrilla Force
To replace the decimated SPGF, the Sarawak Communist Organisation created the North Kalimantan People's Guerrilla Force at Nonok on 13 July 1969.
- Neil Armstrong
Apollo 11 Launch
A Saturn V rocket launched Apollo 11 from Launch Complex 39 site at the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969.
- Indira Gandhi
Minister of Finance
On 17 July 1969, She became the Minister of Finance of India until 27 June 1970.
- Richard Nixon
The United States won The Race to Land Astronauts on The Moon
After a nearly decade-long national effort, the United States won the race to land astronauts on the Moon on July 20, 1969, with the flight of Apollo 11. Nixon spoke with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during their moonwalk. He called the conversation "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House"
- Neil Armstrong
The Landing on the surface of the Moon
The landing on the surface of the Moon occurred several seconds after 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969.
- Neil Armstrong
The First Moon walk
The flight plan called for a crew rest period before extravehicular activity, but Armstrong requested the EVA be moved to earlier in the evening, Houston time. When he and Aldrin were ready to go outside, Eagle was depressurized, the hatch was opened, and Armstrong made his way down the ladder. At the bottom of the ladder Armstrong said, "I'm going to step off the LM now". He turned and set his left boot on the lunar surface at 02:56 UTC July 21, 1969, then spoke the now-famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
- Neil Armstrong
The Second human to walk on the Moon
About 19 minutes after Armstrong's first step, Aldrin joined him on the surface, becoming the second human to walk on the Moon. They began their tasks of investigating how easily a person could operate on the lunar surface. Armstrong unveiled a plaque commemorating the flight, and with Aldrin, planted the flag of the United States.
- Juan Carlos I
The Spanish Parliament ratifie on Juan as The Prince of Spain
Franco decided to skip a generation and name Juan de Borbón's son, Prince Juan Carlos, as his personal successor. Franco hoped the young prince could be groomed to take over the nation while still maintaining the ultraconservative and authoritarian nature of his regime. In 1969, Juan Carlos was officially designated heir-apparent and was given the new title of Prince of Spain (not the traditional Prince of Asturias). As a condition of being named heir-apparent, he was required to swear loyalty to Franco's Movimiento Nacional, which he did with little outward hesitation. His choice was ratified by the Spanish parliament on 22 July 1969.
- Neil Armstrong
Return to Earth
After they re-entered the LM, the hatch was closed and sealed. While preparing for the liftoff from the lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin discovered that, in their bulky space suits, they had broken the ignition switch for the ascent engine; using part of a pen, they pushed the circuit breaker in to activate the launch sequence. The Eagle then continued to its rendezvous in lunar orbit, where it docked with Columbia, the command and service module. The three astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, to be picked up by the USS Hornet.
- Flag of Bhutan
Current flag
Beginning in the late 1950s, Dasho Shingkhar Lam, former Secretary to Jigme Dorji Wangchuck and Sixth Speaker of the National Assembly (1971–74), was requested by the king to make several modifications to the flag; he is responsible for its current design, which has remained unchanged since 1969. The king was reportedly dissatisfied that the early square Bhutanese flags did not flutter like the rectangular Indian flag displayed on the visit of an Indian official to the country. The standard measurements of the flag of Bhutan were thereafter altered to resemble the flag of India, which was 9 feet by 6 feet.
- The Beatles
The Last Occasion on which all Four Beatles Were Together
The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August 1969 was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.
- Vietnam War
Ho Chi Minh Death
In September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died at age seventy-nine.
- Ho Chi Minh
The Mourning
A week of mourning for his death was decreed nationwide in North Vietnam from 4 to 11 September 1969.
- River Phoenix
Phoenix's parents marriage
They married on September 13, 1969, less than a year after meeting.
- IBM
Magnetic stripe card
In 1969, IBM engineer Forrest Parry invented the magnetic stripe card that would become ubiquitous for credit/debit/ATM cards, driver's licenses, rapid transit cards, and a multitude of other identity and access control applications.
- The Beatles
Lennon Announced His Departure
Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September, but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.
- Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky Relocated To an Apartment in Essex House In New York City
In October 1969, Stravinsky relocated to an apartment in Essex House in New York City. Among Stravinsky's final projects was orchestrating two preludes from The Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach, but it was never completed.
- Valentine's Day
Removal of saint valentine from the roman catholic calendar of saints
While St. Valentine continues to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint of the church, he was excluded from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 for lack of accurate information about him.
- Vietnam War
The Vietnam Moratorium
On 15 October 1969, the Vietnam Moratorium attracted millions of Americans.
- Vietnam War
Operation Giant Lance
On 27 October 1969, Nixon had ordered a squadron of 18 B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons to race to the border of Soviet airspace to convince the Soviet Union, in accord with the madman theory, that he was capable of anything to end the Vietnam War ("Operation Giant Lance").
- Internet
Bolt Beranek & Newman and the first ARPANET link was established
ARPA awarded the contract to build the network to Bolt Beranek & Newman and the first ARPANET link was established between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Stanford Research Institute at 22:30 hours on October 29, 1969. "We set up a telephone connection between us and the guys at SRI ...", Kleinrock ... said in an interview: "We typed the L and we asked on the phone, "Do you see the L?" "Yes, we see the L," came the response. We typed the O, and we asked, "Do you see the O." "Yes, we see the O." Then we typed the G, and the system crashed ... Yet a revolution had begun" ....
- Best Buy
Sound of Music had three stores
In 1969, Sound of Music had three stores and Schulze bought out his business partner.
- Xerox
Xerox acquired Scientific Data Systems (SDS)
Xerox acquired Scientific Data Systems (SDS), which it renamed the Xerox Data Systems (XDS) division and which produced the Sigma line and its successor XDS 5xx series of mainframe computers in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Xerox
The laser printer was invented in 1969 by Xerox researcher Gary Starkweather
The laser printer was invented in 1969 by Xerox researcher Gary Starkweather by modifying a Xerox 7000 copier. Xerox management was afraid the product version of Starkweather's invention, which became the 9700, would negatively impact their copier business so the innovation sat in limbo until IBM launched the 3800 laser printer in 1976.
- Pedro López (serial killer)
López was imprisoned
Lopez was arrested at 21 years old for stealing a car. Soon after his imprisonment, he was raped by at least two men and in retaliation killed his attackers with a makeshift knife.
- Internet
4-node network was connected
By December 5, 1969, a 4-node network was connected by adding the University of Utah and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Building on ideas developed in ALOHAnet, the ARPANET grew rapidly.
- April Fools' Day
Pranks (Netherlands)
In 1969, the public broadcaster NTS in the Netherlands announced that inspectors with remote scanners would drive the streets to detect people who had not paid their radio/TV tax ("kijk en luistergeld" or "omroepbijdrage"). The only way to prevent detection was to wrap the TV/radio in aluminium foil. The next day all supermarkets were sold out of their aluminium foil, and a surge of TV/radio taxes were being paid.
- Nobel Prize
Economic Science's Prize
The following year, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded for the first time. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences became responsible for selecting laureates. The first laureates for the Economics Prize were Jan Tinbergen and Ragnar Frisch,The Board of the Nobel Foundation decided that after this addition, it would allow no further new prizes.
- Disasters with highest death tolls
1969 East Pakistan Tornado1969 East Pakistan Tornado
1969 East Pakistan tornado was a tornado in East Pakistan. It began in 1969. The death toll from this tornado is estimated to be 660 people.
- Pope Francis
Priesthood
In 1967, Bergoglio finished his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood on 13 December 1969, by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano.
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Philip spoke about his views on republicanism
In Canada in 1969, Philip spoke about his views on republicanism: It is a complete misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn't. It exists in the interests of the people. If at any time any nation decides that the system is unacceptable, then it is up to them to change it.
- James Bond
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a 1969 spy film and the sixth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on the 1963 novel by Ian Fleming. Following Sean Connery's decision to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected George Lazenby, a model with no prior acting credits, to play the part of James Bond. During the making of the film, Lazenby announced that he would play the role of Bond only once.
- Joe Biden
Biden practiced law first as a public defender
In 1969, Biden practiced law first as a public defender and then at a firm headed by a locally active Democrat who named him to the Democratic Forum, a group trying to reform and revitalize the state party; Biden subsequently reregistered as a Democrat.
- Vietnam War
Military Deaths In 1969
In 1969, 11,780 Americans and 21,833 Vietnamese were killed.
- Vietnam War
Troops Withdrawals
U.S. president Richard Nixon began troop withdrawals in 1969.
- Iran–Iraq War
Iranian delegation
Iran sent a delegation to Iraq soon after the Ba'ath coup in 1969 and, when Iraq refused to proceed with negotiations over a new treaty, the treaty of 1937 was withdrawn by Iran.
- Shimon Peres
Minister of Immigrant Absorption
In 1969, Peres was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
- Margaret Thatcher
Her First Visit To The Soviet Union
Thatcher made her first visit to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition Transport spokeswoman.
- Lula da Silva
Marriage
In 1969, he married Maria de Lourdes, who died of hepatitis in 1971, while pregnant with their first son, who also died.
- BMW
BMW's first dealership in Canada
BMW's first dealership in Canada, located in Ottawa, was opened in 1969.
- Fidel Castro
Castro's administration's 10th anniversary
Castro publicly celebrated his administration's 10th anniversary in January 1969; in his celebratory speech he warned of sugar rations, reflecting the nation's economic problems.
- Magdi Yacoub
Moving to the United States
Moving to the United States in 1969 he became Instructor and then Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago.
- First Sudanese Civil War
Gordon Muortat Mayen Was Elected Unanimously as The New Leader of The South
In 1969, Gordon Muortat Mayen was elected unanimously as the new leader of the South. Southern Sudan in this time changed their name to the Nile Republic and resumed warfare against Khartoum, however some of the former leader Jaden's troops would not accept a Dinka leader and fought against the Anyanya.
- First Sudanese Civil War
Aggrey Jaden Left The Movement
The South was first led by the late leader Aggrey Jaden; he left the movement in 1969 due to internal political disputes.
- Microprocessor
The CTC 1201
In 1969, CTC contracted two companies, Intel and Texas Instruments, to make a single-chip implementation, known as the CTC 1201.
- Microprocessor
Creating The Four-Phase Systems Inc. AL-1
In 1969, Lee Boysel, based on the 8-bit arithmetic logic units (3800/3804) he designed earlier at Fairchild, created the Four-Phase Systems Inc. AL-1, an 8-bit CPU slice that was expandable to 32-bits.
- Microprocessor
The Origination of The project That Produced The 4004
The project that produced the 4004 originated in 1969, when Busicom, a Japanese calculator manufacturer, asked Intel to build a chipset for high-performance desktop calculators.
- Muhammad Yunus
Assistant Professor of Economics
From 1969 to 1972, Yunus was assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
- Gary Ridgway
Ridgway's Graduation and marriage
Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School in 1969 and married his 19-year-old high school girlfriend, Claudia Kraig.
- Robin Williams
High school graduation
As both his parents worked, Williams was attended to by the family's maid, who was his main companion. When Williams was 16, his father took early retirement and the family moved to Marin County, settling in Tiburon, California. Following their move, Williams attended Redwood High School in nearby Larkspur. At the time of his graduation in 1969, he was voted "Most Likely Not to Succeed" and "Funniest" by his classmates.
- Linux
The Unix operating system
The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969, at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in the United States by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna.
- Cameras
The First semiconductor image Sensor
The first semiconductor image sensor was the CCD, invented by Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith at Bell Labs in 1969. While researching MOS technology, they realized that an electric charge was the analogy of the magnetic bubble and that it could be stored on a tiny MOS capacitor.
- Computer animation
Scanimate
The first machine to achieve widespread public attention in the media was Scanimate, an analog computer animation system designed and built by Lee Harrison of the Computer Image Corporation in Denver. From around 1969 onward, Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television in commercials, show titles, and other graphics. It could create animations in real time, a great advantage over digital systems at the time.
- Ted Bundy
Bundy visited the office of birth records in Burlington
It was at this time in early 1969, Ann Rule (True crime writer) believes, that Bundy visited the office of birth records in Burlington and confirmed his true parentage.
- Neil Armstrong
The official announcement of Apollo 11
The crew of Apollo 11 was officially announced on January 9, 1969, as Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin, with Lovell, Anders, and Fred Haise as the backup crew.
- Audrey Hepburn
Andrea Dotti married Hepburn
Hepburn met her second husband, Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti, on a Mediterranean cruise with friends in June 1968. She believed she would have more children and possibly stop working. They married on 18 January 1969.
- Richard Nixon
Nixon was Inaugurated as President
Nixon was inaugurated as president on January 20, 1969, sworn in by his onetime political rival, Chief Justice Earl Warren. Pat Nixon held the family Bibles open at Isaiah 2:4, which reads, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In his inaugural address, which received almost uniformly positive reviews, Nixon remarked that "the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker" a phrase that would later be placed on his gravestone.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Day for Rejoicing
On January 20, 1969, the day Nixon was inaugurated as President, Eisenhower issued a statement praising his former vice president and calling it a "day for rejoicing".
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
Sarawak United People's Party's leadership reversed the party's anti-Malaysia policy
In February 1969, the Sarawak United People's Party's leadership reversed the party's anti-Malaysia policy following a meeting between the party's leader Stephen Yong and Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
- 1973 oil crisis
American domestic output of oil was peaking
By 1969, American domestic output of oil was peaking and could not keep pace with increasing demand from vehicles.
- Black History Month
Black History Month was first proposed
Black History Month was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969.
- Nancy Pelosi
Moved to San Francisco
After the couple married, they moved to New York, and then to San Francisco in 1969, where Paul Pelosi's brother, Ronald Pelosi, was a member of the City and County of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors.
- Neil Armstrong
Determining the first person on the Moon
According to Chris Kraft, a March 1969 meeting among Slayton, George Low, Bob Gilruth, and Kraft determined that Armstrong would be the first person on the Moon, in part because NASA management saw him as a person who did not have a large ego.
- 1973 oil crisis
Nixon decided to keep the quotas due to vigorous political opposition
When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he assigned George Shultz to head a committee to review the Eisenhower-era quota program. Shultz's committee recommended that the quotas be abolished and replaced with tariffs but Nixon decided to keep the quotas due to vigorous political opposition.
- Itzak Stern
Death
Stern died at age 68.
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
Indonesian forces eliminated the Third Branch of the SPGF at Songkong
On 25 March 1969, Indonesian forces eliminated the Third Branch of the SPGF at Songkong in West Kalimantan following a two-day battle, wiping out the Sarawak People's Guerrilla Force's largest corps.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Death
On the morning of March 28, 1969, Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., of congestive heart failure at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, at age 78. The following day, his body was moved to the Washington National Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, where he lay in repose for 28 hours.
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Manuel Pérez-Guerrero
Manuel Pérez-Guerrero was appointed Secretaries-General from 1969 to 1974.
- Josip Broz Tito
Tito removed generals Ivan Gošnjak and Rade Hamović in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia
In April 1969, Tito removed generals Ivan Gošnjak and Rade Hamović in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia due to the unpreparedness of the Yugoslav army to respond to a similar invasion of Yugoslavia.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Funeral
A state funeral service was conducted at the Washington National Cathedral on March 31.
- Internet
Host Software
ARPANET development was centered around the Request for Comments (RFC) process, still used today for proposing and distributing Internet Protocols and Systems. RFC 1, entitled "Host Software", was written by Steve Crocker from the University of California, Los Angeles, and published on April 7, 1969. These early years were documented in the 1972 film Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing.
- Neil Armstrong
The reason for choosing Armstrong to be the First
A press conference on April 14, 1969, gave the design of the LM cabin as the reason for Armstrong's being first; the hatch opened inwards and to the right, making it difficult for the lunar module pilot, on the right-hand side, to exit first.
- Freddie Mercury
Graduation
Mercury studied graphic art and design at Ealing Art College, graduating with a diploma in 1969.
- Freddie Mercury
Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in Kensington Market in London with Roger Taylor
Following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in Kensington Market in London with Roger Taylor. He also held a job as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. Friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man with a great interest in music.
- Charles de Gaulle
De Gaulle resigned from the presidency
De Gaulle resigned the presidency at noon, 28 April 1969.
- Freddie Mercury
Mercury joined Liverpool-based band Ibex
In 1969, he joined Liverpool-based band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage. He briefly lived in a flat above the Dovedale Towers, a pub close to Penny Lane in Liverpool's Mossley Hill district.
- Ted Bundy
Bundy met Elizabeth Kloepfer
Bundy was back in Washington by the fall of 1969 when he met Elizabeth Kloepfer (identified in Bundy literature as Meg Anders, Beth Archer, or Liz Kendall), a divorcée from Ogden, Utah who worked as a secretary at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Their stormy relationship would continue well past his initial incarceration in Utah in 1976.
- First Sudanese Civil War
The Second Military Coup
After a second military coup on 25 May 1969, Col. Gaafar Nimeiry became Prime Minister and promptly outlawed political parties.
- Freddie Mercury
Mercury was registered a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies
As Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963, Mercury was born a British subject, and on 2 June 1969 was registered a citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies after the family had emigrated to England.
- Richard Nixon
Nixon visited South Vietnam
In July 1969, Nixon visited South Vietnam, where he met with his U.S. military commanders and President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Amid protests at home demanding an immediate pullout, he implemented a strategy of replacing American troops with Vietnamese troops, known as "Vietnamization".
- Communist insurgency in Sarawak
Sarawak Communist Organisation created the North Kalimantan People's Guerrilla Force
To replace the decimated SPGF, the Sarawak Communist Organisation created the North Kalimantan People's Guerrilla Force at Nonok on 13 July 1969.
- Neil Armstrong
Apollo 11 Launch
A Saturn V rocket launched Apollo 11 from Launch Complex 39 site at the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969.
- Indira Gandhi
Minister of Finance
On 17 July 1969, She became the Minister of Finance of India until 27 June 1970.
- Richard Nixon
The United States won The Race to Land Astronauts on The Moon
After a nearly decade-long national effort, the United States won the race to land astronauts on the Moon on July 20, 1969, with the flight of Apollo 11. Nixon spoke with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during their moonwalk. He called the conversation "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House"
- Neil Armstrong
The Landing on the surface of the Moon
The landing on the surface of the Moon occurred several seconds after 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969.
- Neil Armstrong
The First Moon walk
The flight plan called for a crew rest period before extravehicular activity, but Armstrong requested the EVA be moved to earlier in the evening, Houston time. When he and Aldrin were ready to go outside, Eagle was depressurized, the hatch was opened, and Armstrong made his way down the ladder. At the bottom of the ladder Armstrong said, "I'm going to step off the LM now". He turned and set his left boot on the lunar surface at 02:56 UTC July 21, 1969, then spoke the now-famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
- Neil Armstrong
The Second human to walk on the Moon
About 19 minutes after Armstrong's first step, Aldrin joined him on the surface, becoming the second human to walk on the Moon. They began their tasks of investigating how easily a person could operate on the lunar surface. Armstrong unveiled a plaque commemorating the flight, and with Aldrin, planted the flag of the United States.
- Juan Carlos I
The Spanish Parliament ratifie on Juan as The Prince of Spain
Franco decided to skip a generation and name Juan de Borbón's son, Prince Juan Carlos, as his personal successor. Franco hoped the young prince could be groomed to take over the nation while still maintaining the ultraconservative and authoritarian nature of his regime. In 1969, Juan Carlos was officially designated heir-apparent and was given the new title of Prince of Spain (not the traditional Prince of Asturias). As a condition of being named heir-apparent, he was required to swear loyalty to Franco's Movimiento Nacional, which he did with little outward hesitation. His choice was ratified by the Spanish parliament on 22 July 1969.
- Neil Armstrong
Return to Earth
After they re-entered the LM, the hatch was closed and sealed. While preparing for the liftoff from the lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin discovered that, in their bulky space suits, they had broken the ignition switch for the ascent engine; using part of a pen, they pushed the circuit breaker in to activate the launch sequence. The Eagle then continued to its rendezvous in lunar orbit, where it docked with Columbia, the command and service module. The three astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, to be picked up by the USS Hornet.
- Flag of Bhutan
Current flag
Beginning in the late 1950s, Dasho Shingkhar Lam, former Secretary to Jigme Dorji Wangchuck and Sixth Speaker of the National Assembly (1971–74), was requested by the king to make several modifications to the flag; he is responsible for its current design, which has remained unchanged since 1969. The king was reportedly dissatisfied that the early square Bhutanese flags did not flutter like the rectangular Indian flag displayed on the visit of an Indian official to the country. The standard measurements of the flag of Bhutan were thereafter altered to resemble the flag of India, which was 9 feet by 6 feet.
- The Beatles
The Last Occasion on which all Four Beatles Were Together
The completion and mixing of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" on 20 August 1969 was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.
- Vietnam War
Ho Chi Minh Death
In September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died at age seventy-nine.
- Ho Chi Minh
The Mourning
A week of mourning for his death was decreed nationwide in North Vietnam from 4 to 11 September 1969.
- River Phoenix
Phoenix's parents marriage
They married on September 13, 1969, less than a year after meeting.
- IBM
Magnetic stripe card
In 1969, IBM engineer Forrest Parry invented the magnetic stripe card that would become ubiquitous for credit/debit/ATM cards, driver's licenses, rapid transit cards, and a multitude of other identity and access control applications.
- The Beatles
Lennon Announced His Departure
Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group on 20 September, but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the forthcoming album.
- Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky Relocated To an Apartment in Essex House In New York City
In October 1969, Stravinsky relocated to an apartment in Essex House in New York City. Among Stravinsky's final projects was orchestrating two preludes from The Well-Tempered Clavier by Bach, but it was never completed.
- Valentine's Day
Removal of saint valentine from the roman catholic calendar of saints
While St. Valentine continues to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint of the church, he was excluded from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 for lack of accurate information about him.
- Vietnam War
The Vietnam Moratorium
On 15 October 1969, the Vietnam Moratorium attracted millions of Americans.
- Vietnam War
Operation Giant Lance
On 27 October 1969, Nixon had ordered a squadron of 18 B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons to race to the border of Soviet airspace to convince the Soviet Union, in accord with the madman theory, that he was capable of anything to end the Vietnam War ("Operation Giant Lance").
- Internet
Bolt Beranek & Newman and the first ARPANET link was established
ARPA awarded the contract to build the network to Bolt Beranek & Newman and the first ARPANET link was established between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Stanford Research Institute at 22:30 hours on October 29, 1969. "We set up a telephone connection between us and the guys at SRI ...", Kleinrock ... said in an interview: "We typed the L and we asked on the phone, "Do you see the L?" "Yes, we see the L," came the response. We typed the O, and we asked, "Do you see the O." "Yes, we see the O." Then we typed the G, and the system crashed ... Yet a revolution had begun" ....
- Best Buy
Sound of Music had three stores
In 1969, Sound of Music had three stores and Schulze bought out his business partner.
- Xerox
Xerox acquired Scientific Data Systems (SDS)
Xerox acquired Scientific Data Systems (SDS), which it renamed the Xerox Data Systems (XDS) division and which produced the Sigma line and its successor XDS 5xx series of mainframe computers in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Xerox
The laser printer was invented in 1969 by Xerox researcher Gary Starkweather
The laser printer was invented in 1969 by Xerox researcher Gary Starkweather by modifying a Xerox 7000 copier. Xerox management was afraid the product version of Starkweather's invention, which became the 9700, would negatively impact their copier business so the innovation sat in limbo until IBM launched the 3800 laser printer in 1976.
- Pedro López (serial killer)
López was imprisoned
Lopez was arrested at 21 years old for stealing a car. Soon after his imprisonment, he was raped by at least two men and in retaliation killed his attackers with a makeshift knife.
- Internet
4-node network was connected
By December 5, 1969, a 4-node network was connected by adding the University of Utah and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Building on ideas developed in ALOHAnet, the ARPANET grew rapidly.
- April Fools' Day
Pranks (Netherlands)
In 1969, the public broadcaster NTS in the Netherlands announced that inspectors with remote scanners would drive the streets to detect people who had not paid their radio/TV tax ("kijk en luistergeld" or "omroepbijdrage"). The only way to prevent detection was to wrap the TV/radio in aluminium foil. The next day all supermarkets were sold out of their aluminium foil, and a surge of TV/radio taxes were being paid.
- Nobel Prize
Economic Science's Prize
The following year, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded for the first time. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences became responsible for selecting laureates. The first laureates for the Economics Prize were Jan Tinbergen and Ragnar Frisch,The Board of the Nobel Foundation decided that after this addition, it would allow no further new prizes.
- Disasters with highest death tolls
1969 East Pakistan Tornado1969 East Pakistan Tornado
1969 East Pakistan tornado was a tornado in East Pakistan. It began in 1969. The death toll from this tornado is estimated to be 660 people.
- Pope Francis
Priesthood
In 1967, Bergoglio finished his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood on 13 December 1969, by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano.
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Philip spoke about his views on republicanism
In Canada in 1969, Philip spoke about his views on republicanism: It is a complete misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch. It doesn't. It exists in the interests of the people. If at any time any nation decides that the system is unacceptable, then it is up to them to change it.
- James Bond
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a 1969 spy film and the sixth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on the 1963 novel by Ian Fleming. Following Sean Connery's decision to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected George Lazenby, a model with no prior acting credits, to play the part of James Bond. During the making of the film, Lazenby announced that he would play the role of Bond only once.
- Joe Biden
Biden practiced law first as a public defender
In 1969, Biden practiced law first as a public defender and then at a firm headed by a locally active Democrat who named him to the Democratic Forum, a group trying to reform and revitalize the state party; Biden subsequently reregistered as a Democrat.
- Vietnam War
Military Deaths In 1969
In 1969, 11,780 Americans and 21,833 Vietnamese were killed.