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Highlights from 1969
• On January 12, the New York Jets took victory over the Baltimore Colts 16–7 in Miami, Florida, before 73,389 spectators to become the first team from the American Football League to win Super Bowl III.
• On January 20, Richard Milhous Nixon is inaugurated 37th President of the United States.
• Boris Karloff, famous horror movie star, dies on February 3, in Midhurst, England.
• The U.S. football coach Vince Lombardi joins the Washington Redskins as head coach, part owner, and executive vice president on February 7.
• On February 24, the United States launched space probe Mariner 6. The mission is to photograph the planet Mars.
• On March 27, Mariner 7 is launched with the same mission.
• Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961, dies in Washington, D.C. on March 28.
• In March Beatle John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono make their honeymoon, at the Hilton Hotel, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, a “bed-in” for peace.
• In March James Earl Ray is sentenced to 99 years in prison, after being convicted of assassinating Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• The Pentagon reports that it is spending approximately $350 million a year on the production of chemical and biological weapons in March.
• On April 4 Dr. Denton Cooley implants the world's first completely artificial heart, a combination of Dacron and plastics, in Houston, Texas.
• For the second year running the Montreal Canadians defeat the St. Louis Blues in four straight games to win the National Hockey League Stanley Cup from April 27, 1969 to May 4.
• On May 17, David Corn of Dallas bids $404,000 to buy a copy of the first printing of The Declaration of Independence.
• On June 22 Judy Garland dies in London, England.
• On June 27 the Gay Rights movement begins has a symbolic beginning in Manhattan's Greenwich Village when homosexuals assault police officers raiding the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar.
• Jacuzzi Bros. introduce the hot tub at the Orange County Fair in California in June.
• In July Senator Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Kennedy escapes the wreck, but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowns.
• On July 4 Ann Jones of Great Britain defeats Billie Jean King of the United States in three sets in the final of the women's singles at the Wimbledon tennis championships, London, England.
• July 16 – July 24 Apollo 11 takes place. On July 20 astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the moon, famously saying “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Over 700 million people worldwide watch as Apollo 11 touches down on the moon.
• From August 15-17 half a million people attend the three-day Woodstock Musical and Arts Fair on a farm in New York State. The line-up includes Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana.
• On August 17, the Mississippi Gulf coast and southern U.S. states are hit by Hurricane Camille. This hurricane was the most severe hurricane in nearly 35 years; it kills 248 people, leaves 200,000 homeless, and causes $1.5 billion in property damage.
• On August 9 members of the Charles Manson cult murder the actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of film director Roman Polanski. Also murdered at the Polanski house in Bell Air, California, are Abigail Folgers, Wojiciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and Stephen Earl Parent. Later the same day Leno and Rosemary La Bianca are murdered in Los Angeles.
• On September 15 the world's first heart and lung transplant is performed at the Stanford Medical Center in California.
• On September 22 the San Francisco Giants Willie Mays becomes the first person since the Babe Ruth to hit 600 home runs in major-league baseball.
• On October 12 Sonja Henie dies in an airplane on her way to Oslo, Norway
• On October 16 the New York Mets defeat the Baltimore Orioles to become the first “expansion” team to win baseball's World Series.
• On December 6, during a Rolling Stone set at the Altamont Festival in Altamont, California, the teenage fan Meredith Hunter is killed by Hell's Angels.
• In December the Boeing 747 joins the Pan Am airlines fleet and makes its first commercial flight, from Seattle, Washington, to New York, New York.
• December Chicago police raid the headquarters of the militant Black Nationalist group the Black Panthers. They shoot and kill Fred Hampton, the group's chairman. Los Angeles police raid the local headquarters of the militant Black Nationalist group, the Black Panthers. Eleven Black Panther members surrender after a four-hour siege.
• The Gap is founded.
• Johnny Cash releases the single “A Boy Named Sue.” and the album “Johnny Cash at San Quentin”.
• Cream releases the album Goodbye Cream.
• Led Zeppelin releases the albums Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II.
• The Who releases the single Pinball Wizard and the album Tommy, the soundtrack of their rock opera.
• The Beatles make their last ever public appearance in London, England. It is recorded as part of their film Let It Be.
• The Beatles release the album Abbey Road and the single Something by George Harrison, the first Beatle hit not to have been written by John Lennon or Paul McCartney.
• Stevie Wonder releases the single My Cherie Amour.
• Elvis Presley releases the single Suspicious Minds.
• West Side Story is the best-selling album of the 1960s in the United States.
• Neil Diamond releases the single Sweet Caroline.
• Frank Sinatra releases the single My Way.
• Santana releases an album by the same name. The band introduces a Latin flavor into rock.
• Mario Puzo publishes his novel The Godfather.
• 1969 MOVIES: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Goodbye, Columbus, True Grit, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and The Love Bug.
• The Smothers Brothers Show becomes popular. The show openly criticizes President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War.
• Ralph Lauren opens his first designer shop selling Polo items inside Bloomingdale’s in New York City.
• Bill Cosby becomes the first black man to star in a comedy program since 1953. He plays a high school gym teacher in The Bill Cosby Show.
• Sesame Street first appears on television. The show is created by Jim Henson and introduces Big Bird, Bert and Ernie to preschoolers across the nation.
#1 Songs from 1969
December 8 1968 – January 25 1969 Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
January 26 – February 8 1969 Tommy James and The Shondells - Crimson And Clover
February 9 – March 8 1969 Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People
March 9 – April 5 1969 Tommy Roe - Dizzy
April 6 – May 17 1969 Fifth Dimension - Aquarius Let The Sunshine In
May 18 – June 21 1969 Beatles - Get Back
June 22 – July 5 1969 Henry Mancini - Love Theme From 'Romeo And Juliet'
July 6 – August 16 1969 Zager And Evans - In The Year 2525
August 17 – September 13 1969 Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women
September 14 – October 11 1969 Archies - Sugar, Sugar
October 12 – 25 1969 Temptations - I Can't Get Next To You
October 26 – November 1 1969 Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
November 2 – 22 1969 Fifth Dimension - Wedding Bell Blues
November 23 – 29 1969 Beatles - Come Together/Something
November 30 – December 13 1969 Steam - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
December 14 – 20 1969 Peter, Paul and Mary - Leaving on a Jet Plane
December 21 – 27 1969 Supremes - Someday We'll Be Together
December 28 1969 – January 24 1970 B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
