Events from 1969

 Events from 1969

World Statistics
Population: 3.631 billion

U.S. Events 

· Nixon begins "Vietnamization" in Southeast Asia. 

· The United States, USSR, and about 100 other countries sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT). 

· 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. 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

· Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th President of the US (Jan. 20).
· Stonewall riot in New York City marks beginning of gay rights movement.
· Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass. in which Mary Jo Kopechne was drowned.
· 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
Median Household Income (current dollars): $8,389
Consumer Price Index: 36.7
Unemployment: 3.6%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.06

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

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)
Grammys awarded in 1969:
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)

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.

· The FCC bans all cigarette advertising on television and radio.

· Children's Television Workshop introduces Sesame Street.

Popular Movies

· Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, Anne of the Thousand Days

Books
· 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.

· Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the moon.

· The first in vitro fertilization of a human egg is performed in Cambridge, England.

· 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.

· The scanning electron microscope is developed.

· The use of DDT is banned in residential areas.