Top News Stories from 1969
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: International Labour Organization
More World Statistics... - 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
U.S. Statistics
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
More U.S. Statistics... - 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).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $982.2 billion
Federal spending: $183.64 billion
Federal debt $365.8 billion
Consumer Price Index: $36.7
Unemployment: 3.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.06
Sports
Super Bowl
NY Jets d. BaltimoreWorld Series
NY Mets d. Baltimore (4-1)NBA Championship
Boston d. LA LakersStanley Cup
Montreal d. St. LouisWimbledon
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 PrinceNCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. PurdueNCAA Football Champions
Texas (11-0-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday
Music: String Quartet No. 3, Karel Husa
Drama: The Great White Hope, Howard Sackler
Academy Award, Best Picture: Oliver!, John Woolf, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Samuel Beckett (Ireland)
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)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- 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.
- Children's Television Workshop introduces Sesame Street.
- The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television and radio.
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
Nobel Prizes in 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
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - 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.
