Untitled Document

Key events of 1969

Year in topic

1969 in film
Midnight Cowboy
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
True Grit starring John Wayne, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper and others
1969 in literature
Portnoy's Complaint
1969 in music
The National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame founded.
August 15 - August 17: The Woodstock Music and Art Festival was held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, near Woodstock. Although 10,000 or 20,000 people were expected, over 400,000 attended. Among the many artists who performed were Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, The Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Grateful Dead. The weekend was rainy, the facilities were overcrowded, and attendees shared food, alcohol, and drugs, although no violence was reported. The Woodstock Festival represented the culmination of the counterculture of the 1960s and the high point of the "hippie era."
The #1 Song was "Aquarius (Let the Sunshine In)"
Graffiti art had fully developed into an art form, with distinctive styles, trends and schools, by 1969; graffiti art is one of the four elements of hip hop, the musical form of which is influenced by the success of the Last Poets and similar artists, beginning in 1969
1969 in television
A live transmission from the moon is viewed by 600 million people around the world when Neil Armstrong walks in the moon.
Tiny Tim gets married on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
The Brady Bunch premieres

Man walk on the Moon
US Units withdrawn from Vietnam
Test-tube fertilization of human eggs
Pele scores 1000th goal
Boing 747 and Concorde first flight
Monty Python's Flying Circus first broadcast
Woodstock
Births
- January 3 - Michael Schumacher, Formula One driver; six-time champion of that series
- January 5 - Marilyn Manson, singer
- January 14 - Jason Bateman, actor
- January 14 - David Grohl, drummer, composer
- February 1 - Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine football player
- February 5 - Bobby Brown, singer
- February 9 - Gabby Hayes, actor
- February 11 - Jennifer Aniston, American actress
- March 1 - Dafydd Ieuan, drummer with the band Super Furry Animals
- April 25 - Renée Zellweger, actress (Bridget Jones's Diary, Chicago)
- May 14 - Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
- May 15 - Emmitt Smith, American football player
- June 14 - Steffi Graf, German tennis player
- July 5 - John LeClair, American NHL star
- August 13 - Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
- August 18 - Edward Norton, actor
- August 18 - Christian Slater, actor
- August 19 - Matthew Perry, actor
- September 5 - Dweezil Zappa, actor, musician, eldest son of Frank Zappa
- September 25 - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
- October 3 - Gwen Stefani, No Doubt frontwoman
- October 10 - Brett Favre, American football player
- October 13 - Nancy Kerrigan, figure skater
- October 17 - Ernie Els, South African golfer
- October 19 - Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park
- November 4 - Matthew McConaughey, American actor
- November 7 - Bryant H. McGill, Major Poet
- November 21 - Ken Griffey, Jr., baseball player
- November 29 - Mariano Rivera, baseball relief pitcher
- December 28 - Linus Torvalds, Finnish programmer; original developer of Linux
Message between two computers marks birth of ARPAnet (Original Internet)
Richard Nixon succeeds Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States of America
The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple
Major league baseballer Mickey Mantle announces his retirement
During a performance at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium, Jim Morrison of the Doors is arrested for exposing himself during the show. Morrison is officially charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent behavior, open profanity and public drunkenness.
John Kerry officially leaves active duty in Vietnam
In Toulouse, France the first Concorde test flight is conducted
Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel
Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart
Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.
Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Mary Jo Kopechne, an aide who was in the car with him, dies in the incident
Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder five people including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and, Abigail Folger. The next day The Family would murder Rosemary and Leno LaBianca
August 15 - The Woodstock Festival of music begins in upstate New York lasting three days and featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era
A coup in Libya brings Col. Moammar Qaddafi to power
My Lai Massacre: Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai
Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in National Moratorium antiwar demonstrations across the United States
October 16 - The ("miracle") New York Mets win the World Series, besting the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, four games to one.
Sesame Street premieres
Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II (on January 4, 1970, the New York Times ran a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random").

Popular Television Shows

Year in topic

Births

Top Grossing Films of the Year

Academy Awards

Other Movies Released