1969

This article is about the year 1969. For the number, see 1969 (number). For other uses, see 1969 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1930s  1940s  1950s  – 1960s –  1970s  1980s  1990s
Years:	1966 1967 1968 – 1969 – 1970 1971 1972

1969 by topic:

Subject

Archaeology Architecture Art Aviation Awards Comics Film Literature (Poetry) Meteorology Music (Country) Rail transport Radio Science Spaceflight Sports Television

By country

Australia Canada People's Republic of China Ecuador France Germany Greece India Ireland Israel Italy Japan Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Singapore South Africa Soviet Union UK USA

Leaders

Sovereign states State leaders Religious leaders Law

Birth and death categories

Births Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments Disestablishments

Works and introductions categories

Works Introductions

1969 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1969 MCMLXIX
Ab urbe condita	2722
Armenian calendar	1418 ԹՎ ՌՆԺԸ
Assyrian calendar	6719
Bahá'í calendar	125–126
Bengali calendar	1376
Berber calendar	2919
British Regnal year	17 Eliz. 2 – 18 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2513
Burmese calendar	1331
Byzantine calendar	7477–7478
Chinese calendar	戊申年十一月十三日 (4605/4665-11-13) — to — 己酉年十一月廿三日 (4606/4666-11-23)
Coptic calendar	1685–1686
Ethiopian calendar	1961–1962
Hebrew calendar	5729–5730
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2025–2026
- Shaka Samvat	1891–1892
- Kali Yuga	5070–5071
Holocene calendar	11969
Iranian calendar	1347–1348
Islamic calendar	1388–1389
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 44 (昭和44年)
Korean calendar	4302
Minguo calendar	ROC 58 民國58年
Thai solar calendar	2512

Year 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. The year is associated with the first manned landing on the Moon (Apollo 11).

Events

January 14: Explosion kills 27 on USS Enterprise

January

• January 2
  • Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper, The News of the World.
  • People's Democracy begins a march from Belfast to Derry, Northern Ireland in support of civil rights.
  • Ohio State defeats USC in the Rose Bowl to win the national title for the 1968 season.
• January 5 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 5 toward Venus.
• January 6 – The final passenger train traverses the Waverley Line, which subsequently closed to passengers.
• January 10
  • Members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) damage property and assault occupants in the Bogside in Derry. In response, residents erect barricades and establish Free Derry.
  • The Soviet Union launches Venera 6 toward Venus.
• January 12
  • Super Bowl III: The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts of the National Football League 16–7.
  • Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin's first studio recorded album, is released.
  • Martial law is declared in Madrid, the University is closed and over 300 students are arrested.
• January 14
  • An explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 27 and injures 314.
  • The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 4.
• January 15 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5, which docked with Soyuz 4 for a transfer of crew.
• January 16 – Student Jan Palach sets himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; 3 days later he dies.
• January 18 – In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian displays the art of Winslow Homer for 6 weeks.
• January 20
  • Richard Milhous Nixon succeeds Lyndon Baines Johnson as the 37th President of the United States of America.
    

    

    37th President Richard M. Nixon
  • After 147 years, the last issue of The Saturday Evening Post is published.
• January 26 – Elvis Presley steps into American Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, recording "Long Black Limousine" thus beginning the recording of what becomes his landmark comeback sessions for the albums From Elvis in Memphis and Back in Memphis. The sessions yield the popular and critically acclaimed singles "Suspicious Minds," "In the Ghetto" and "Kentucky Rain."
• January 27
  • Fourteen men, nine of them Jews, are executed in Baghdad for spying for Israel.
  • Reverend Ian Paisley, hardline Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for 3 months for illegal assembly.
  • The present-day Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse, rated at 100,000 KVA, is completed and placed in operation.
• January 28 – A blow-out on Union Oil's Platform spills 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil into a channel and onto the beaches of Santa Barbara County in Southern California inspiring Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson to organize the first Earth Day in 1970
• January 30 – The Beatles give their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. The impromptu concert was broken up by the police.

February

• February 2
  • Two cosmonauts transfer from Soyuz 5 to Soyuz 4 via a spacewalk while the two craft are docked together, the first time such a transfer takes place. The two spacecraft undock. Soyuz 4 will reenter Earth's atmosphere and land February 17 while Soyuz 5 will have a hard landing February 18.
  • Ten paintings are defaced in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• February 4 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is elected Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
• February 5 – A huge oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California closes the city's harbor.
• February 7 – The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse is removed from service.
• February 8 – The last issue of The Saturday Evening Post hits magazine stands.
• February 9 – The Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight.
• February 13 – FLQ terrorists bomb the Stock Exchange in Montreal, Quebec.
• February 14 – Pope Paul VI issues a motu proprio deleting many names from the Roman calendar of saints (including Valentine, who was celebrated on that day).
• February 17 – Aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair the SEALAB III habitat off San Clemente Island, California.
• February 24
  • The Mariner 6 Mars probe is launched.
  • Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment applies to public schools.

March

• March 2
  • In Toulouse, France the first Concorde test flight is conducted.
  • Soviet and Chinese forces clash at a border outpost on the Ussuri River.
• March 3
  • In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
  • Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 (James McDivitt, David Scott, Rusty Schweickart) to test the lunar module.
• March 10
  • In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. (he later retracts his guilty plea).
  • The novel The Godfather (novel) by Mario Puzo is published.
• March 13 – Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
• March 17
  • The Longhope, Orkney lifeboat in Scotland is lost; the entire crew of 8 die.
  • Golda Meir becomes the first female prime minister of Israel.
• March 18 – Operation Breakfast, the secret bombing of Cambodia, begins.
• March 19
  • British paratroopers and Marines land on the island of Anguilla.
  • A 385 metres (1,263 ft) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, UK, collapses due to ice build-up.
• March 22 – The landmark art exhibition When Attitudes become Form, curated by Harald Szeemann opens at the Kunsthalle Bern in Bern, Switzerland.
• March 28 – Former United States General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower dies after a long illness in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C..
• March 29 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 is held in Madrid, and results in four co-winners, with 18 votes each, from Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France.

April

• April 1 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the Royal Air Force.
• April 4 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
• April 9
  • The Harvard University Administration Building is seized by close to 300 students, mostly members of the Students for a Democratic Society. Before the takeover ends, 45 will be injured and 184 arrested.
  • Fermín Monasterio Pérez is killed by the ETA in Biscay, Spain, being the 4th victim in the name of Basque nationalism.
• April 13 – Queensland: The Brisbane Tramways end service after 84 years of operation.
• April 15 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down the aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
• April 20
  • British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
  • A grassroots movement of Berkeley community members seizes an empty lot owned by the University of California to begin the formation of "People's Park".
• April 22 – Robin Knox-Johnston becomes the first person to sail around the world solo without stopping.
• April 24 – Recently formed British Leyland launches their first new model, the Austin Maxi in Portugal .
• April 28 – Charles de Gaulle steps down as president of France after suffering defeat in a referendum the day before.

May

• May 10
  • Zip to Zap, a harbinger of the Woodstock Concert, ends with the dispersal and eviction of youth and young adults at Zap, North Dakota by the National Guard.
  • The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as Hamburger Hill, begins during the Vietnam War.
• May 13 – May 13 Incident: Race riots occur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• May 14 – Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi visits Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
• May 15 – An American teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the first confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.
• May 16 – Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
• May 17 – Venera program: Soviet probe Venera 6 begins to descend into Venus' atmosphere, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
• May 18 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 (Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan, John Young) is launched, on the full dress-rehearsal for the Moon landing.
• May 20 – United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California.
• May 21 – Rosariazo: Civil unrest breaks out in Rosario, Argentina, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
• May 22 – Apollo program: Apollo 10's lunar module flies to within 15,400 m of the Moon's surface.
• May 25 – Midnight Cowboy, an X-rated, oscar winning John Schlesinger film, debuts.
• May 26
  • Andean Pact (Andean Group) established.
  • Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned Moon landing.
• May 26–June 2 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct their Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec.
• May 29
  • Cordobazo: A general strike and civil unrest break out in Córdoba, Argentina.
  • Guided tours begin at the Kremlin and other government sites in Moscow.
• May 30 – Riots in Curaçao mark the start of an Afro-Caribbean civil rights movement on the island.

June

• June 3 – While operating at sea on SEATO maneuvers, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne accidentally rammed and sliced in two the American destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea, killing 74 American seamen.
• June 5 – An international communist conference begins in Moscow.
• June 7 – The rock supergroup Blind Faith play its debut gig in front of 100,000 people in London's Hyde Park.
• June 8 – U.S. President Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu meet at Midway Island. Nixon announces that 25,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn by September.
• June 18–June 22 – The National Convention of the Students for a Democratic Society, held in Chicago, collapses, and the Weatherman faction seizes control of the SDS National Office. Thereafter, any activity run from the National Office or bearing the name of SDS is Weatherman-controlled.
• June 20 – Georges Pompidou is elected President of France.
• June 22
  • The Cuyahoga River fire helps spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency
  • Judy Garland dies of drug overdose in her London home
• June 23 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.
• June 24 – The United Kingdom and Rhodesia sever diplomatic ties.
• June 28 – The Stonewall riots in New York City mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S.

July

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon during Apollo 11

• July 1 – Charles, Prince of Wales, is invested with his title at Caernarfon.
• July 4 – Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin are shot at Blue Rock Springs in California. They are the second (known) victims of the Zodiac Killer. Mageau survives the attack while Ferrin was pronounced dead-on-arrival at Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Richmond.
• July 5 – Tom Mboya, Kenyan Minister of Development, is assassinated.
• July 7 – French is made equal to English throughout the Canadian national government.
• July 8 – Vietnam War: The very first U.S. troop withdrawals are made.
• July 10 – Donald Crowhurst's trimaran Teignmouth Electron is found drifting and unoccupied. It is assumed that Crowhurst might have committed suicide.
• July 14
  • Football War: After Honduras loses a soccer game against El Salvador, rioting breaks out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant workers. Of the 300,000 Salvadoran workers in Honduras, tens of thousands are expelled, prompting a brief Salvadoran invasion of Honduras. The OAS works out a cease-fire on July 18, which takes effect on July 20.
  • Act of Free Choice commenced in Merauke, West Irian.
• July 16 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins) lifts off toward the first landing on the Moon.
• July 17 – The New York Times publicly takes back the ridicule of the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard published in 13 Jan 1920 that spaceflight is impossible.
• July 18 – Chappaquiddick incident – Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to his brother, dies in the early morning hours of July 19 in the submerged car.
• July 19
  • Gloria Diaz wins the Miss Universe Pageant, with the Philippines receiving its first title.
  • John Fairfax lands in Hollywood Beach, Florida near Miami and becomes the first person to row across an ocean solo, after 180 days spent at sea on board 25' ocean rowboat 'Britannia' (left Gran Canaria on January 20, 1969).
• July 20 – Apollo program: The lunar module Eagle lands on the lunar surface. An estimated 500 million people worldwide watch in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his historic first steps on the Moon at 02:56 UTC, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time.
• July 24
  • The Apollo 11 astronauts return from the first successful Moon landing, and are placed in biological isolation for several days, on the chance they may have brought back lunar germs. The airless lunar environment is later determined to preclude microscopic life.
  • The Soviet Union returns Gerald Brooke to the United Kingdom in exchange for spies Peter and Helen Kroger (Morris and Lona Cohen).
• July 25 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This starts the "Vietnamization" of the war.
• July 26 – The New York Chapter of the Young Lords was founded
• July 30 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam, meeting with President Nguyen Van Thieu and U.S. military commanders.
• July 31 – The halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in the UK.

August

• August 4 – Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, U.S. representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. They eventually fail since both sides cannot agree to any terms.
• August 5 – Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
• August 8
  • The Beatles at 11:30 have photographer Iain Macmillan take their photo on a zebra crossing on Abbey Road.
  • A fire breaks out in the Bannerman's Castle in the Hudson River; most of the roof collapses and crashes down to the lower levels.
• August 9
  • The Haunted Mansion attraction opens at Disneyland California. Later versions opened in Florida, Tokyo and Paris.
  • Followers of Charles Manson murder Sharon Tate, (who was eight months pregnant), and her friends: Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring at the home of Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski, in Los Angeles, California. Also killed was Steven Parent, leaving from a visit to the Polanskis' caretaker. More than 100 stab wounds are found on the victims, except for Parent, who had been shot almost as soon as the Manson Family entered the property.
• August 10 – The Manson Family kills Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, wealthy Los Angeles businesspeople.
• August 12 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
• August 13 – Serious border clashes occur between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.
• August 14 – British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland following the 3-day Battle of the Bogside.
• August 15–August 18 – The Woodstock Festival is held in upstate New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.
• August 17 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
• August 20 – Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, CO, USA
• August 21 – Australian Denis Michael Rohan sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire.

September

• September 1 – A coup in Libya ousts King Idris, and brings Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi to power.
• September 2
  • The first automatic teller machine in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York.
  • Ho Chi Minh, former president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam dies.
• September 5 – My Lai Massacre: Lieutenant William Calley is charged with 6 counts of premeditated murder, for the deaths of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
• September 6 – TV series H.R. Pufnstuf debuts on NBC
• September 9 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 DC-9 collides in flight with a Piper PA-28, and crashes near Fairland, Indiana killing all 83 persons in both aircraft.
• September 13 – The first-ever episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is broadcast on CBS: "What a Night for a Knight".
• September 20 – The very last Warner Bros. cartoon of the original theatrical Looney Tunes series is released: Injun Trouble.
• September 22–September 25 – An Islamic conference in Rabat, Morocco, following the al-Aqsa Mosque fire (August 21), condemns the Israeli claim of ownership of Jerusalem.
• September 23 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford opens to limited release in the U.S.
• September 24 – The Chicago Eight trial begins in Chicago, Illinois.
• September 25 – Organisation of the Islamic Conference founded.
• September 26
  • The Beatles release their Abbey Road album, receiving critical praise and enormous commercial success.
  • The Brady Bunch premieres on ABC.
• September 28 – The Social Democrats and the Free Democrats receive a majority of votes in the German parliamentary elections, and decide to form a common government.

October

• October 1
  • In Sweden, Olof Palme is elected Labour Party leader, replacing Tage Erlander as prime minister on October 14.
  • The Beijing Subway begins operation.
• October 2 – A 1.2 megaton thermonuclear device is tested at Amchitka Island, Alaska. This test is code-named Project Milrow, the 11th test of the Operation Mandrel 1969–1970 underground nuclear test series. This test is known as a "calibration shot" to test if the island is fit for larger underground nuclear detonations.
• October 5 – Monty Python's Flying Circus first airs on BBC One.
• October 9–October 12 – Days of Rage: In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in to control demonstrations involving the radical Weathermen, in connection with the "Chicago Eight" Trial.
• October 15 – Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstrations across the United States.
• October 16 – The "miracle" New York Mets win the World Series, beating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.
• October 17
  • Willard S. Boyle and George Smith invent the CCD at Bell Laboratories (30 years later, this technology is widely used in digital cameras).
  • Fourteen black athletes are kicked off the University of Wyoming football team for wearing black armbands into their coach's office.
• October 21
  • Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor of West Germany.
  • General Siad Barre comes to power in Somalia in a coup, 6 days after the assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke.
• October 29 – The first message is sent over ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet.
• October 31 – Wal-Mart incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

November

• November 3
  • Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity with the Vietnam War effort, and to support his policies. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew denounces the President's critics as 'an effete corps of impudent snobs' and 'nattering nabobs of negativism'.
  • Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (31st government)
• November 9 – A group of Amerindians, led by Richard Oakes, seizes Alcatraz Island for 19 months, inspiring a wave of renewed Indian pride and government reform.
• November 10 – Sesame Street premieres on the National Educational Television (NET) network.
• November 12 – Vietnam War – My Lai Massacre: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
• November 14 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, Alan Bean), the second manned mission to the Moon.
• November 15
  • Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
  • Vietnam War: In Washington, DC, 250,000–500,000 protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".
  • Regular colour television broadcasts begin on BBC1 and ITV in UK.
  • Dave Thomas opens his first restaurant in a former steakhouse on a cold, snowy Saturday in downtown Columbus, Ohio. He names the chain Wendy's after his 8-year-old daughter Melinda Lou (nicknamed Wendy by her siblings).
• November 17 – Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, to begin the SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
• November 19
  • Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"), becoming the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
  • Soccer great Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.
• November 20
  • Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
  • Richard Oakes returns with 90 followers and offers to buy Alcatraz for $24 (he leaves the island January 1970).
• November 21
  • U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Sato agree in Washington, D.C. to the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. retains rights to military bases on the island, but they must be nuclear-free.
  • The first ARPANET link is established (the progenitor of the global Internet).
  • The United States Senate votes down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement Haynsworth, the first such rejection since 1930.
• November 24 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.
• November 25 – John Lennon returns his MBE medal to protest the British government's support of the U.S. war in Vietnam.

December

• December 1 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II (on January 4, 1970, the New York Times will run a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random").
• December 2 – The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut. It carries 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle, Washington, to New York City.
• December 4 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot dead in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
• December 6 – The Altamont Free Concert is held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. Hosted by the Rolling Stones, it is an attempt at a "Woodstock West" and is best known for the uproar of violence that occurred. It is viewed by many as the "end of the sixties."
• December 12 – The Piazza Fontana bombing in Italy (Strage di Piazza Fontana) takes place. A U.S. Navy officer and C.I.A. agent called David Carrett is later investigated for possible involvement.
• December 28 – The Young Lords took over the First Spanish Methodist Church in East Harlem.
• December 30 – The Linwood bank robbery leaves two police officers dead.
• December 31 – The date you are commonly given when a computer's time is set to 0 in seconds. Start of the Unix Epoch.

Date unknown

• Common African, Malagasy and Mauritian Organization (OCAMM) (Organisation Commune Africaine Malgache et Mauricienne).
• The first Gap store opens, in San Francisco.
• Reported as being the year the first strain of the AIDS virus (HIV) migrates to the United States via Haiti.
• Summer sees the invention of Unix under the potential name "Unics" (after Multics).
• Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull publish their book The Peter Principle: why things always go wrong in New York.
• Women are allowed membership into the Future Farmers of America (now the National FFA Organization).
• Long John Silver's restaurant chain opens first store in Lexington, Kentucky.

Births

January–February

• January 1
  • Regina Kent, Hong Kong actress (d.1999)
  • Sophie Okonedo, Academy Award nominated British actress
• January 2
  • Dean Francis Alfar, Filipino author
  • Christy Turlington, American fashion model
  • Tommy Morrison, American boxer
• January 3
  • Michael Schumacher, German race car driver
• January 5 – Marilyn Manson, American rock musician
• January 8 – Jeff Abercrombie, American rock musician (Fuel)
• January 13 – Stephen Hendry, British snooker player
• January 14
  • Jason Bateman, American actor
  • David Grohl, American rock drummer and composer (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)
• January 15 – Meret Becker, German actress and musician
• January 16
  • Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
  • Per "Dead" Yngve Ohlin, Norwegian vocalist (d. 1991)
• January 17
  • Lukas Moodysson, Swedish film director
  • DJ Tiesto, Dutch trance DJ
• January 18 – David "Batista" Bautista, American professional wrestler
• January 20 – Patrick K. Kroupa, American writer, hacker
• January 22 – John Linton Roberson, American cartoonist and writer
• January 27 – Cornelius, Japanese rock musician, singer and producer (Flipper's Guitar)
• January 28 – Kathryn Morris, American actress
• January 29 – hyde, Japanese rock musician, singer and guitarist
• February 1 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer
• February 3 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
• February 5 – Bobby Brown, American singer
• February 9 – Ian Eagle, American sports announcer
• February 11 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress
• February 12
  • Hong Myung-Bo, South Korean footballer
  • Brad Werenka, Canadian ice-hockey player
• February 13 – Ahlam, Arabic singer
• February 15 – Fulvio Valbusa, Italian cross-country skier
• February 19 – Burton C. Bell, American rock vocalist/lyricist
• February 20
  • Keiji Takayama, Japanese professional wrestler
• February 21 – Petra Kronberger, Austrian alpine skier
• February 23
  • Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer
  • Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist
• February 24 – Christine Ng, Hong Kong actress
• February 28 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor

March–April

• March 1
  • Javier Bardem, Spanish actor
  • Litefoot, Native American actor
  • Dafydd Ieuan, Welsh rock drummer (Super Furry Animals)
• March 4
  • Chaz Bono, American actor and advocate of gay rights
  • Jason Townsend, American artist and record producer
  • Patrick Roach, Canadian actor
  • Annie Shizuka Inoh, Taiwanese actress
• March 7 – Todd Williams, American long-distance runner
• March 10 – Paget Brewster, American actress
• March 11
  • Soraya, Colombian singer and multi-instrumentalist (d. 2006)
  • Terrence Howard, American actor
• March 15
  • Timo Kotipelto, Finnish musician
  • Yutaka Take, Japanese jockey
• March 17 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (d. 2010)
• March 18 – Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess grandmaster
• March 19
  • Patrick Tam, Hong Kong actor
  • Connor Trinneer, American actor
• March 20 – Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, American comedian (d. 2008)
• March 21
  • Ali Daei, Iranian football player
  • Jaya, Filipino pop singer
• March 24 – Stephan Eberharter, Austrian alpine skier
• March 27 – Pauley Perrette, American actress
• March 28 – Rodney Atkins, America country music singer-songwriter
• March 31 – Samantha Brown, American television host
• April 1 – Fadl Shaker, Lebanese singer
• April 3 – Lance Storm, Canadian professional wrestler
• April 6
  • Bret Boone, American baseball player
  • Paul Rudd, American actor
• April 9 – Debbie Schlussel, Political commentator & film critic
• April 10 – Billy Jayne, American actor
• April 11
  • Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer
  • Chisato Moritaka, Japanese singer
• April 17 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian actor
• April 19
  • Shannon Lee, Chinese-American actress
  • Susan Polgar, Hungarian chess player
• April 22 – Dion Dublin, English footballer
• April 25
  • Joe Buck, American baseball and football broadcaster
  • Vanessa Beecroft, Italian artist
  • Renée Zellweger, American actress

May–June

• May 2 – Brian Lara, West Indian cricketer
• May 3 – Daryl F. Mallett, American author and actor
• May 4
  • Micah Aivazoff, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Christina Billotte, American Musician
• May 6 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
• May 7 – Eagle Eye Cherry, Swedish-born musician
• May 9 – Amber, Dutch musician
• May 10 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch soccer player
• May 11 – Sheila Davalloo, Iranian-American criminal
• May 12 – Kevin Nalty, American YouTube comedian
• May 13
  • Nikos Aliagas, French-born television host
  • Brian Carroll (a.k.a. Buckethead), American guitarist
• May 14 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
• May 15
  • Hideki Irabu, Japanese baseball player (d. 2011)
  • Emmitt Smith, American football player
  • Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer
• May 16
  • David Boreanaz, American actor
  • Tracey Gold, American actress
  • Steve Lewis, American athlete
• May 18 – Martika, American singer
• May 21 – Georgiy R. Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (d. 2000)
• May 25
  • Stacy London, American fashion consultant and media personality
  • Anne Heche, American actress
• May 26 – Musetta Vander, South African actress
• June 4
  • Rob Huebel, American comedian
  • Eugene Chung, Korean-American Football Player
  • Takako Minekawa, Japanese musician, composer and writer
• June 7 – Kim Rhodes, American actress
• June 8 – J.P. Manoux, American actor
• June 11 – Steven Drozd, American rock drummer (The Flaming Lips)
• June 12 – Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (d. 2007)
• June 14
  • Steffi Graf, German tennis player
  • MC Ren, American rapper (N.W.A)
• June 15
  • Oliver Kahn, German football goalkeeper
  • Ice Cube, American rapper and actor
  • Maurice Odumbe, Kenyan cricketer
• June 17 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan athlete
• June 18 – Pål Pot Pamparius, Norwegian rock guitarist and keyboardist (Turbonegro)
• June 20 – Paulo Bento, Portuguese football player and coach
• June 23 – Fernanda Ribeiro, Portuguese long-distance runner
• June 24 – Sissel Kyrkjebø, Norwegian singer
• June 25
  • Matt Gallant, American television host
  • Storm Large, American singer and actor
  • Zim Zum, American guitarist
• June 29
  • Ilan Mitchell-Smith, American actor
  • Toru Hashimoto, Japanese local governor
• June 30 – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricketer

July–August

• July 4 – Jordan Sonnenblick, American teacher and novelist
• July 5 – John LeClair, American hockey player
• July 7
  • Sylke Otto, German luger
  • Joe Sakic, Canadian hockey player
• July 8 – Sugizo, Japanese guitarist and singer
• July 10 – Gale Harold, American actor
• July 11 – David Tao, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
• July 18 – Masanori Murakawa, Japanese professional wrestler
• July 20 – Josh Holloway, American actor
• July 21 – Godfrey, American comedian and actor
• July 22 – Despina Vandi, Greek singer
• July 24 – Jennifer Lopez, American actress and singer
• July 26 – Tanni Grey-Thompson, British Paralympian
• July 27 – Triple H (aka Paul Levesque), American professional wrestler
• July 30 – Mandakini (aka Yasmeen Joseph), Indian Bollywood actress
• August 2
  • Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
  • Jan Axel Blomberg, Norwegian drummer
• August 4 – Max Cavalera, Brazilian musician and singer (Soulfly)
• August 5 – Graham Elwood, American comedian and game show host
• August 6 – Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
• August 8
  • Faye Wong, Hong Kong singer and actress
  • Dick Togo, Japanese professional wrestler
• August 9 – Troy Percival, American baseball player
• August 10 – Brian Drummond, Canadian voice actor
• August 11
  • Vanderlei de Lima, Brazilian long-distance runner
  • Ashley Jensen, British actress
• August 13 – Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
• August 15
  • Kevin Cheng, Hong Kong television actor and singer
  • Justin Broadrick, British musician
• August 18
  • Edward Norton, American actor
  • Christian Slater, American actor
• August 19
  • Matthew Perry, Canadian actor
  • Nate Dogg, American rapper (d. 2011)
  • Clay Walker, American singer
• August 25 – Cameron Mathison, Canadian-born actor
• August 28 – Jack Black, American actor and musician
• August 29
  • Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
  • Lucero, Mexican singer and actress

September–October

• September 2
  • Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, American singer
  • Dave Naz, American photographer
• September 3 – Robert Karlsson, Swedish golfer
• September 5 – Dweezil Zappa, American actor and musician
• September 7 – Diane Farr, American actress
• September 9
  • Rachel Hunter, New Zealand model and actress
  • Constance Marie, American actress
• September 10 – Ai Jing, Chinese singer
• September 12
  • Ángel Cabrera, Argentine golfer
  • Shigeki Maruyama, Japanese golfer
• September 13 – Shane Warne, Australian cricketer
• September 14 – Bong Joon-ho, South Korean screenwriter and film director
• September 17 – Ken Doherty, Irish snooker player
• September 19 – Michael Symon, American chef and television personality
• September 23
  • Mahir Çağrı, Turkish Internet celebrity
  • Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
• September 24
  • DeVante Swing, American music producer
  • Shawn "Clown" Crahan, American rock percussionist (Slipknot, Dirty Little Rabbits)
• September 25
  • Yves Amyot, Québécois actor
  • Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer (d. 2002)
  • Hal Sparks, American actor and comedian
  • Heather Stewart-Whyte, British model
  • Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
• September 26
  • Victor N'Gembo-Mouanda, Congolese author
  • Paul Warhurst, English football player
• September 29 – Erika Eleniak, American model and actress
• October 1 – Igor Ulanov, Russian hockey player
• October 2
  • Mitch English, American actor and television host
  • Jun Akiyama, Japanese professional wrestler
• October 3 – Gwen Stefani, American rock singer (No Doubt)
• October 5 – Elizabeth Azcona Bocock, Honduran politician
• October 6
  • Adrienne Armstrong, American wife of Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day
  • Ogün Temizkanoğlu, Turkish football player
• October 7
  • Benny Chan Muk-Sing, Hong Kong film director
  • Benny Chan Ho Man, Hong Kong actor
• October 8 – Julia Ann, American porn actress
• October 9 – Polly Jean Harvey, British singer-songwriter
• October 10 – Brett Favre, American football player
• October 13
  • Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater
  • Rhett Akins, American country singer
• October 14 – David Strickland, American actor (d. 1999)
• October 17
  • Ernie Els, South African golfer
  • Jesus Angel Garcia, Spanish race walker
  • Nancy Sullivan, American actress
• October 19 – Trey Parker, American television producer
• October 20
  • Juan González, American baseball player
  • Laurie Daley, Australian rugby league player
• October 21
  • Michael Hancock, Australian rugby league footballer
  • Angela Vincent, Australian actress
• October 24
  • Peter Dolving, Swedish musician
  • Adela Noriega, Mexican actress
• October 25
  • Josef Beranek, Czech ice hockey player
  • Alex Webster, American bassist
  • Oleg Salenko, Russian football player
• October 29 – Ha Hee-ra, Korean actress
• October 30 – Clay Enos, American photographer

November–December

• November 2 – Reginald Arvizu (aka Fieldy Snuts), American bassist
• November 4
  • Sean "Diddy" Combs, American rapper
  • Matthew McConaughey, American actor
• November 7
  • Michelle Clunie, American actress
  • Hélène Grimaud, French pianist
  • Bryant H. McGill, American poet
• November 8 – Roxana Zal, American actress
• November 9 – Allison Wolfe, American musician
• November 10
  • Jens Lehmann, German football player
  • Ellen Pompeo, American actress
  • Faustino Asprilla, Colombian football player
• November 11 – Carson Kressley, American fashion expert
• November 12
  • Heinz-Christian Strache, Austrian politician
  • Johnny Gosch, American child kidnap victim
• November 13 – Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
• November 17
  • Jean-Michel Saive, Belgian table tennis player
  • Ryotaro Okiayu, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
• November 18
  • Sam Cassell, American basketball player
  • Kathleen Van Brempt, Belgian politician
  • Ahmed Helmy, Egyptian actor
• November 19 – Ertuğrul Sağlam, Turkish football coach and former player
• November 20 – AQi Fzono, Japanese composer
• November 21 – Ken Griffey, Jr., American baseball player
• November 23 – Robin Padilla, Filipino actor
• November 24 – David Adeang, Nauruan politician
• November 28 – Lexington Steele, American actor and film director
• November 29
  • Chris Baker, American race car driver
  • Pierre van Hooijdonk, Dutch footballer
  • Mariano Rivera, Panamanian Major League Baseball player
  • Kasey Keller, American Major League Soccer player
• December 4 – Jay-Z, American rapper
• December 7 – Suhail A. Khan, American activist
• December 8 – Kerry Earnhardt, American race car driver
• December 11
  • Sean Grande, American basketball announcer
  • Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess Grandmaster
• December 14 – Archie Kao, Chinese-American film and television actor
• December 15 – Rick Law, American illustrator and producer
• December 16 – Michelle Smith, Irish swimmer
• December 17 – Chuck Liddell, American mixed martial arts fighter
• December 18
  • Irvin Duguid, Scottish rock keyboard player (Stiltskin)
  • Joe Randa, American Major League Baseball player and radio talk-show host
  • Mille Petrozza, German-Italian rock vocalist and guitarist (Kreator)
• December 19
  • Kristy Swanson, American actress
  • Richard Hammond, British TV presenter
  • Lauren Sánchez, American news anchor
  • Villano IV, Mexican wrestler
• December 21
  • Julie Delpy, French actress
  • Magnus Samuelsson, Swedish bodybuilder and former World's Strongest Man
• December 23
  • Martha Byrne, American actress and singer
  • Rob Pelinka, American sports agent
• December 28 – Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer programmer
• December 29 – George Fisher, (aka "CorpseGrinder"), American musician
• December 30 – Jason Kay, English singer (Jamiroquai)
• December 31
  • Dominik Diamond, Scottish presenter and newspaper columnist
  • Lance Reddick, American actor

Deaths

January–March

• January 1 – Barton MacLane, American actor (b. 1902)
• January 2 – Gilbert Miller(aka Gilbert Heron) American theatrical producer (b. 1884)
• January 3 – Howard McNear, American actor (b. 1905)
• January 4 – Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (b. 1908)
• January 8 – Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
• January 16 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American songwriter (b. 1903)
• January 19 – Jan Palach, Czech student protester (suicide) (b. 1948)
• January 25 – Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1893)
• January 27 – Charles Winninger, American actor (b. 1884)
• January 29 – Allen Dulles, American director of the Central Intelligence Agency (b. 1893)
• January 30 – Georges Pire, Belgian monk, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1910)
• January 31 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
• February 2 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
• February 3 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambican FRELIMO leader (assassinated) (b. 1920)
• February 4 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1905)
• February 5 – Conrad Hilton, Jr., American heir and socialite (b. 1926)
• February 9 – Gabby Hayes, American actor (b. 1885)
• February 12 – Paltiel Daykan, Russian-born Israeli jurist (b. 1885)
• February 13 – Florence Mary Taylor, Australia's first female architect (b. 1879)
• February 15 – Pee Wee Russell, American jazz musician (b. 1906)
• February 20 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
• February 23 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
• February 26
  • Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
  • Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist and philosopher (b. 1883)
• February 27 – John Boles, American actor (b. 1895)
• March 4 – Nicholas Schenck, Russian-born film empresario (b. 1881)
• March 9 – Charles Brackett, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1892)
• March 11 – John Wyndham, British author (b. 1903)
• March 14 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-born American artist (b. 1898)
• March 18 – Barbara Bates, American actress (b. 1925)
• March 20 – Henri Longchambon, French politician (b. 1896)
• March 21 – Pinky Higgins, American baseball player and manager (b. 1909)
• March 25
  • Billy Cotton, British entertainer & bandleader (b. 1899)
  • Max Eastman, American writer (b. 1883)
  • Alan Mowbray, English actor (b. 1896)
• March 26
  • John Kennedy Toole, American author (b. 1937)
  • B. Traven, German writer
• March 28 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890)

April–June

• April 5 – Shelby Storck, American television producer (b. 1917)
• April 6 – Gabriel Chevallier, French writer (b. 1895)
• April 7 – Rómulo Gallegos, Venezuelan president and writer (b. 1884)
• April 15 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (b. 1903)
• April 26 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist and founder of aikido (b. 1883)
• May 1 – Ella Logan, American actress (b. 1913)
• May 2 – Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
• May 3 – Karl Freund, German cinematographer (b. 1890)
• May 4 – Osbert Sitwell, English writer (b. 1892)
• May 14
  • Enid Bennett, American actress (b. 1893)
  • Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888)
• May 15 – Robert R., American HIV/AIDS victim (b. 1953)
• May 19 – Coleman Hawkins, American musician (b. 1904)
• May 23 – Jimmy McHugh, American composer (b. 1894)
• May 24 – Mitzi Green, American actress (b. 1920)
• May 27 – Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (b. 1926)
• May 28 – Rhys Williams, Welsh actor (b. 1897)
• June 1 – Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian Olympic speed skater (b. 1904)
• June 2 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917)
• June 4 – Rafael Osuna, Mexican tennis champion (b. 1938)
• June 8 – Robert Taylor, American actor (b. 1911)
• June 13 – Martita Hunt, British actress (b. 1900)
• June 16 – Harold Alexander, British WWII Field Marshal (b. 1891)
• June 19 – Natalie Talmadge, American actress (b. 1898)
• June 21 – Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (b. 1934)
• June 22 – Judy Garland, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
• June 24 – Willy Ley, German science writer and space advocate (b. 1906)
• June 29 – Moise Tshombe, Congolese politician (b. 1919)

July–September

• July 3 – Brian Jones, British rock musician (The Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)
• July 5
  • Ben Alexander, American actor (b. 1911)
  • Walter Gropius, German architect (b. 1883)
  • Lambert Hillyer, American film director (b. 1889)
  • Leo McCarey, American film director (b. 1898)
• July 7 – Gladys Swarthout, American opera singer (b. 1900)
• July 15 – Peter van Eyck, German-American actor (b. 1911)
• July 18
  • Mary Jo Kopechne, American campaign aide to U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (b. 1940)
  • Barbara Pepper, American actress (b. 1915)
• July 20 – Cathy Wayne, pop entertainer, first Australian woman killed in Vietnam War (b. 1949)
• July 24 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (b. 1904)
• July 25 – Otto Dix, German painter (b. 1891)
• July 26
  • Frank Loesser, American songwriter (b. 1910)
  • Raymond Walburn, American actor (b. 1887)
• July 28 – Ramón Grau, Cuban president (b. 1882)
• August 6 – Theodor W. Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1903)
• August 9
  • Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
  • Jay Sebring, American celebrity hair stylist (murdered) (b. 1933)
  • Sharon Tate, American actress (murdered) (b. 1943)
  • Abigail Folger, American socialite, Folgers Coffee heiress, and social worker (murdered) (b. 1943)
• August 14 – Leonard Woolf, English writer (b. 1880)
• August 17
  • Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
  • Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect (b. 1886)
• August 18 – Mildred Davis, American actress (b. 1901)
• August 20 – Dudley D. Watkins, Scottish illustrator for D.C. Thomson & Co. Best known for Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Dandy, The Beano, and The Topper. (b. 1907)
• August 25 – Harry Hammond Hess, American geologist and United States Navy officer in World War II (b. 1906)
• August 27
  • Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (b. 1884)
  • Erika Mann, German writer (b. 1905)
• August 31 – Rocky Marciano, American boxer (b. 1923)
• September 2 – Ho Chi Minh, President of Vietnam (b. 1890)
• September 3 – John Lester, American cricketer (b. 1871)
• September 6 – Arthur Friedenreich, Brazilian footballer (b. 1892)
• September 7 – Gavin Maxwell, Scottish naturalist and author (b. 1914)
• September 8 – Bud Collyer, American radio and television personality (b. 1908)
• September 19 – Rex Ingram, American actor (b. 1895)

October–December

• October 4 – Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b. 1912)
• October 6 – Walter Hagen, American golf champion (b. 1892)
• October 7 – Ture Nerman, Swedish politician (b. 1886)
• October 8 – Eduardo Ciannelli, Italian actor and singer (b. 1889)
• October 12 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (b. 1912)
• October 14 – August Sang, Estonian poet and literary translator (b. 1914)
• October 15
  • Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, President of Somalia, assassinated (b. 1919)
  • Rod La Rocque, American actor (b. 1896)
• October 21
  • Jack Kerouac, American author (b. 1922)
  • Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (b. 1882)
• October 30 – Pops Foster, American musician (b. 1892)
• November 5 – Lloyd Corrigan, American actor (b. 1900)
• November 12 – William F. Friedman, American cryptanalyst (b. 1891)
• November 15
  • Roy D'Arcy, American actor (b. 1894)
  • Iskander Mirza, first President of Pakistan (b. 1899)
• November 18 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (b. 1888)
• November 28 – Roy Barcroft, American actor (b. 1902)
• December 2 – José María Arguedas, Peruvian novelist, poet, and anthropologist (b. 1911).
• December 3 – Ruth White, American actress (b. 1914)
• December 4
  • Fred Hampton, American Black Panther (shot by police) (b. 1948)
  • Mark Clark, American Black Panther (shot by police) (b. 1947)
  • Hugh Oswald Short, aviation pioneer & Short Brothers CEO (b. 1883)
• December 5 – Princess Alice of Battenberg (b. 1885)
• December 6 – Meredith Hunter, Altamont Free Concert attendee, stabbed and kicked to death (b. 1951)
• December 7 – Eric Portman, English actor (b. 1901)
• December 12 – Magic Sam, American musician (b. 1937)
• December 13
  • Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and ambassador (b. 1886)
  • Spencer Williams, American actor (b. 1893)
• December 22 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian film director (b. 1894)
• December 31 – Joseph Yablonski, murdered American labor leader (b. 1910)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Murray Gell-Mann
• Chemistry – Derek Harold Richard Barton, Odd Hassel
• Medicine – Max Delbrück, Alfred Hershey, Salvador Luria
• Literature – Samuel Beckett
• Peace – International Labour Organization
• Economics – Ragnar Frisch, Jan Tinbergen

References

• 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick. Skyhorse Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-1-60239-366-0.
• 1969 – Headlines A report from Rich Lamb of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio.
• 1969 – The Year in Sound An Audiofile produced by Lou Zambrana of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio.
• 1969: The Year Everything Changed – YouTube video