1969

• Richard M. Nixon became President of the United States of America and established the Nixon Doctrine.
• The Montreal Stock Exchange was bombed by FLQ terrorists.
• Honduras and El Salvador briefly went to war over the result of a soccer game.
• Willy Brandt became chancellor of West Germany.
• Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel in the midst of its War of Attrition with Egypt.
• France left the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
• The al-Aqsa Mosque burned down.
• Henry Kissinger and Xuan Thuy began secret negotiations to end the Vietnam War, and Nixon proposed the Vietnamization plan to bring American troops home.
• Nixon and Japanese premier Sato Eisaku agreed to return Okinawa to Japan.
• A new round of "the Troubles" began in Northern Ireland after Catholic-Protestant clashes in Belfast.
• Canada became officially bilingual.
• U.S. senator Edward Kennedy drove off a bridge in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, killing a young female aide.

• HOLY SHIT! MAN WALKS ON FUCKING MOON! Apollo 9, 10, 11, and 12 were launched—America's first real triumph in the space race against the Soviet Union. The Soviets had their own little victory when Venera 5 became the first probe to land on Venus.
• ARPAnet was founded.
• The first artificial heart was installed.
• Concorde flew for the first time, and the Harrier entered service with the Royal Air Force.
• Intel was founded.

• Woodstock. 'Nuff said.
• A group of Hell's Angels stabbed a fan to death at a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California.
• Bob Marley and David Bowie released their debut records.
• The Beatles gave their last public concert. John Lennon then took a lot of drugs and married Yoko Ono.
• Rod Laver won all four events in the Grand Slam of tennis for the second time.
• Baseball legend Mickey Mantle retired, and the New York Mets went on to win the World Series.
• Joe Namath led the New York Jets to win Super Bowl III.
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was released.
• Bolivia's entire soccer team was killed in a plane crash.
• The Brady Bunch was aired for the first time. So was Sesame Street. More importantly, so was Monty Python's Flying Circus. More importantly, Star Trek was cancelled.
• Mario Puzo published The Godfather.

• Patron saint of free software Linus Torvalds
• Singers Marilyn Manson, Marc Anthony, Brian McKnight, K-Ci Hailey, and Bobby Brown
• Actors Catherine Zeta-Jones, Matthew Perry, Jason Priestly, Edward Norton, Jennifer Aniston, and Renée Zellweger
• Rappers Jay-Z, Ice Cube, and Scarface
• Sean Combs, aka Puff Daddy, aka P. Diddy, aka Puffy, ad nauseam
• Gay rights spokesperson Chastity Bono
• South Park creator Trey Parker
• Football player Emmitt Smith
• Soccer player Andrei Kanchelskis
• Baseball players Kurt Abbott and Ken Griffey, Jr.
• Tennis player Steffi Graf
• Hockey player Sergei Fedorov
• Race car driver Michael Schumacher
• Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan
• Composer Sugizo
• Comedy writer Mo Rocca
• TV host Mike O'Malley
• Takako Minekawa, voice of the Sony Playstation
• Verne Troyer, aka Mini-Me

• U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower
• Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh
• Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol
• Spanish queen Victoria Eugenia von Battenberg
• Czech student protestor Jan Palach
• Spymaster Allen Dulles
• Actress Judy Garland
• Author Jack Kerouac
• Boxer Rocky Marciano

• Charles Manson's cult carried out its famous murders.

1968 << 1969 >> 1970