1969

For other uses, see 1969 (disambiguation).

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

1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. Template:C20YearTOC

Events of 1969

January 14: Explosion kills 27 on USS Enterprise

January

• January 1 – Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper, The News of the World.
• January 1 – People's Democracy begins a march from Belfast to Derry, Northern Ireland in support of civil rights.
• January 5 – 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.
• January 5 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 5 toward Venus.
• January 9 – In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian displays the art of Winslow Homer for 6 weeks.
• January 10 – After 147 years, the last issue of The Saturday Evening Post is published.
• January 10 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 6 toward Venus.
• January 11 – Ohio State defeats USC in the Rose Bowl to win the national title for the 1968 season.
• 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.
• January 12 – Led Zeppelin I, an album considered by many to be one of the first in the heavy metal genre, is released.
• January 13 – 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 14 – An explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 27 and injures 314.
• January 15 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
• January 16 – Ten paintings are defaced in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• 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 20 – Richard Milhous Nixon succeeds Lyndon Baines Johnson as the 37th President of the United States of America.

• January 24 – Martial law is declared in Madrid, the University is closed and over 300 students are arrested.
• January 27 – Fourteen men, 9 of them Jews, are executed in Baghdad for spying for Israel.
• January 27 – Reverend Ian Paisley, hardline Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for 3 months for illegal assembly.
• January 27 – The present-day Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse, rated at 100,000 KVA, is completed and placed in operation.
• 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 4 – In United States, Yasser Arafat is elected Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
• February 5 – A huge oil slick 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 24 – The Mariner 6 Mars probe is launched.
• February 24 – 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.
• March 2 – 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.
• March 3 – 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).
• 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.
• March 17 – 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.
• March 19 – A 385-metre (1,265-foot) tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, UK, collapses because of icing.
• 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..

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 4 – The Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship is founded at Winston-Salem State University.
• 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.
• April 9 – 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 14 – 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 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.
• May 10 – 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 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 19–20 – French Foreign Legion paratroopers land in Kolwezi, Zaire, to rescue Europeans in the middle of a civil war.
• 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 26 – 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 Cordoba, Argentina.
• May 29 – 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 1 – In Montreal, Canada, Give Peace a Chance is recorded during the famous bed-in for peace by John Lennon. The song, the first single recorded solo by a Beatle, and released under the name Plastic Ono Band, is still a strong anthem for peace.
• June 2 – In Ottawa, Canada, the National Arts Centre opens its doors to the public for the first time.
• June 3 – Melbourne-Evans collision: The Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne collides with the U.S. destroyer Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea; 74 U.S. sailors are killed.
• June 5 – An international communist conference begins in Moscow.
• 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 18–22 – 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 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

The Apollo Moon landings

• July 1 – Charles, Prince of Wales, is invested with his title at Caernarfon.
• 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.
• July 14 – 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 – 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 who was in the car with him, dies in the incident.
• July 19 – Gloria Diaz wins the Miss Universe Pageant, with the Philippines receiving its first title.
• July 20 – Apollo program: The lunar module Eagle lands on the lunar surface. The world watches in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his historic first steps on the Moon.
• 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.
• July 24 – 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 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 – 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 – Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder Sharon Tate, (who was 8 months pregnant), and her friends: Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring at Tate and husband Roman Polanski's home in Los Angeles, California. Steven Parent, leaving from a visit to the Polanskis' caretaker, is also killed. 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 3-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 15–18 – 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 recorded history, hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
• August 21 – Australian Michael Dennis 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.
• 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 9 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 DC-9 collides in flight with a Piper PA-28, and crashes near Fairland, Indiana USA.
• September 20 – The very last Warner Bros. cartoon of the original theatrical Looney Tunes series is released: Injun Trouble.
• September 22–25 An Islamic conference in Rabat, Morocco, following the al-Aqsa Mosque fire (August 21), condemns the Israeli ownership of Jerusalem.
• September 24 – The Chicago Eight trial begins in Chicago, Illinois.
• September 26 – The Beatles release their Abbey Road album, receiving critical praise and enormous commercial success.;"The Brady Bunch" gets a series premiere only 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.
• October 1 – 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 in the United Kingdom.
• October 9–12 – 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 National Moratorium antiwar 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).
• October 21 – Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor of West Germany.
• October 21 – 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'.
• 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.
• November 15 – Vietnam War: In Washington, DC, 250,000-500,000 protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".
• November 15 – Regular colour television broadcasts begin on BBC1 and ITV in UK.
• November 15 – 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.
• November 19 – Soccer great Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.
• November 20 – Vietnam War: The Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
• November 20 – 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.
• November 21 – The first ARPANET link is established (the progenitor of the global Internet).
• November 21 – 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 30 – The Linwood bank robbery leaves two police officers dead.

Undated

• The first Gap store opens, in San Francisco.
• Reported as being the year the first strain of the AIDS virus (HIV) migrated to the United States via Haiti.
• Summer saw the invention of Unix under the potential name "Unics" (after Multics).
• Women were allowed membership into the Future Farmers of America (now the National FFA Organization).

Ongoing

• Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970)
• Vietnam War (1964 – 1975)
• War of Attrition, between Egypt and Israel, which lasted until August 1970. This conflict was characterized by escalating artillery duels, air raids and commando missions.

Births

1969 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1969 MCMLXIX
Ab urbe condita	2722
Armenian calendar	1418 ԹՎ ՌՆԺԸ
Assyrian calendar	6719
Baháʼí calendar	125–126
Balinese saka calendar	1890–1891
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 (Earth Monkey) 4666 or 4459     — to — 己酉年 (Earth Rooster) 4667 or 4460
Coptic calendar	1685–1686
Discordian calendar	3135
Ethiopian calendar	1961–1962
Hebrew calendar	5729–5730
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2025–2026
- Shaka Samvat	1890–1891
- Kali Yuga	5069–5070
Holocene calendar	11969
Igbo calendar	969–970
Iranian calendar	1347–1348
Islamic calendar	1388–1389
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 44 (昭和４４年)
Javanese calendar	1900–1901
Juche calendar	58
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4302
Minguo calendar	ROC 58 民國58年
Nanakshahi calendar	501
Thai solar calendar	2512
Tibetan calendar	阳土猴年 (male Earth-Monkey) 2095 or 1714 or 942     — to — 阴土鸡年 (female Earth-Rooster) 2096 or 1715 or 943

January–February

• January 1 – Sophie Okonedo, Academy Award nominated British actress
• January 2 – Dean Francis Alfar, Filipino author
• January 2 – Christy Turlington, American fashion model
• January 2 – Tommy Morrison, American boxer
• January 3 – Michael Schumacher, German race car driver
• January 5 – Marilyn Manson, American singer
• January 8 – Jeff Abercrombie, American rock musician (Fuel)
• January 13 – Stephen Hendry, British snooker player
• January 14 – Jason Bateman, American actor
• January 14 – 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
• January 16 – Per "Dead" Yngve Ohlin, Scandinavian vocalist
• January 17 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish film director
• January 17 – 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)
• 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
• February 12 – Brad Werenka, Canadian ice-hockey player
• February 13 – Ahlam, Arabic singer
• February 15 – Fulvio Valbusa, Italian cross-country skier
• February 16 – Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
• 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
• February 23 – Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist
• February 28 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor

March–April

• March 1 – Javier Bardem, Spanish actor
• March 1 – Litefoot, Native American actor
• March 1 – Dafydd Ieuan, Welsh rock drummer (Super Furry Animals)
• March 4 – Chastity Bono, American actress and advocate of gay rights
• March 4 – Jason Townsend, American artist and record producer
• March 4 – Patrick Roach, Canadian actor
• March 4 – Annie Shizuka Inoh, Taiwanese actress
• March 7 – Todd Williams, American long-distance runner
• March 11 – Soraya, Colombian singer and multi-instrumentalist (d. 2006)
• March 11 – Terrence Howard, American actor
• March 15 – Timo Kotipelto, Finnish musician
• March 15 – Yutaka Take, Japanese jockey
• March 19 – Connor Trinneer, American actor
• March 20 – Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, American comedian (d. 2008)
• March 21 – Ali Daei, Iranian football player
• March 21 – Jaya, Filipino pop singer
• March 27 – Pauley Perrette, American actress
• March 28 – Rodney Atkins, America country music singer-songwriter
• April 1 – Fadl Shaker, Lebanese singer
• April 3 – Lance Storm, Canadian professional wrestler
• April 6 – Bret Boone, American baseball player
• April 6 – Paul Rudd, American actor
• April 9 – Debbie Schlussel, Political commentator & film critic
• April 10 – Billy Jayne, American actor
• April 11 – Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer
• April 11 – Chisato Moritaka, Japanese singer
• April 17 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian actor
• April 19 – Susan Polgar, Hungarian chess player
• April 22 – Dion Dublin, English footballer
• April 25 – Joe Buck, American baseball and football broadcaster
• April 25 – Vanessa Beecroft, Italian artist
• April 25 – 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
• 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
• May 14 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
• May 15 – Hideki Irabu, Japanese baseball player
• May 15 – Emmitt Smith, American football player
• May 15 – Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer
• May 16 – David Boreanaz, American actor
• May 16 – Tracey Gold, American actress
• May 16 – Steve Lewis, American athlete
• May 18 – Martika, American singer
• May 21 – Georgiy R. Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (d. 2000)
• May 26 – Musetta Vander, South African actress
• June 4 – Rob Huebel, American comedian
• June 4 – 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
• June 14 – MC Ren, American rapper (N.W.A)
• June 15 – Oliver Kahn, German football goalkeeper
• June 15 – Ice Cube, American rapper and actor
• June 17 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan athlete
• June 18 – Pål Pot Pamparius, Norwegian rock guitarist and keyboardist (Turbonegro)
• June 24 – Sissel Kyrkjebø, Norwegian singer
• June 25 – Matt Gallant, American television host
• June 25 – Zim Zum, American guitarist
• June 29 – Ilan Mitchell-Smith, American actor
• June 29 – Toru Hashimoto, Japanese local governor
• June 30 – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricketer

July–August

• July 4 – Jordan Sonnenblick, American teacher and American novelist
• July 5 – John LeClair, American hockey player
• July 7 – Sylke Otto, German luger
• July 7 – 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 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
• August 2 – Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
• August 4 – Max Cavalera, Brazilian musician and singer (Soulfly)
• August 6 – Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
• August 8 – Faye Wong, Hong Kong singer and actress
• August 8 – Dick Togo, Japanese professional wrestler
• August 9 – Troy Percival, American baseball player
• August 11 – Vanderlei de Lima, Brazilian long-distance runner
• August 13 – Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
• August 15 – Justin Broadrick, British musician
• August 18 – Edward Norton, American actor
• August 18 – Christian Slater, American actor
• August 19 – Matthew Perry, Canadian actor
• August 19 – Nate Dogg, American rapper
• August 19 – 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
• August 29 – Lucero, Mexican singer and actress

September–October

• September 2 – Chris Kuzneski, American bestselling author
• September 2 – Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, American singer
• September 2 – 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
• September 9 – Constance Marie, American actress
• September 12 – Ángel Cabrera, Argentine golfer
• September 12 – Shigeki Maruyama, Japanese golfer
• September 13 – Shane Warne, Australian cricketer
• September 17 – Ken Doherty, Irish snooker player
• September 23 – Mahir Çağrı, Turkish Internet celebrity
• September 23 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
• September 24 – DeVante Swing, American music producer
• September 24 – Shawn "Clown" Crahan, American rock percussionist (Slipknot, Dirty Little Rabbits)
• September 25 – Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer (d. 2002)
• September 25 – Hal Sparks, American actor and comedian
• September 25 – Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
• September 25 – Yves Amyot, Québécois actor
• September 26 – Victor N'Gembo-Mouanda, Congolese author
• September 26 – Paul Warhurst, English football player
• September 26 – David Ferguson, British murderer
• October 1 – Igor Ulanov, Russian hockey player
• October 2 – Mitch English, American actor and television host
• October 2 – 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
• October 6 – Ogün Temizkanoğlu, Turkish football player
• October 8 – Julia Ann, American porn actress
• October 10 – Brett Favre, American football player
• October 13 – Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater
• October 13 – Rhett Akins, American country singer
• October 14 – David Strickland, American actor (d. 1999)
• October 17 – Ernie Els, South African golfer
• October 17 – Jesus Angel Garcia, Spanish race walker
• October 19 – Trey Parker, American television producer
• October 20 – Juan González, American baseball player
• October 20 – Laurie Daley, Australian rugby league player
• October 21 – Michael Hancock, Australian rugby league footballer
• October 21 – Angela Vincent, Australian actress
• October 25 – Josef Beranek, Czech ice hockey player
• October 25 – Alex Webster, American bassist
• October 30 – Clay Enos, American photographer

November–December

• November 2 – Reginald Arvizu (aka Fieldy Snuts), American bassist
• November 4 – Sean "Diddy" Combs, American rapper
• November 4 – Matthew McConaughey, American actor
• November 7 – Michelle Clunie, American actress
• November 7 – Hélène Grimaud, French pianist
• November 7 – Bryant H. McGill, American poet
• November 9 – Allison Wolfe, American musician
• November 10 – Jens Lehmann, German football player
• November 10 – Ellen Pompeo, American actress
• November 11 – Carson Kressley, American fashion expert
• November 12 – Heinz-Christian Strache, Austrian politician
• November 12 – Johnny Gosch, American child kidnap victim
• November 13 – Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
• November 17 – Jean-Michel Saive, Belgian table tennis player
• November 17 – Ryotaro Okiayu, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
• November 18 – Sam Cassell, American basketball player
• November 18 – Kathleen Van Brempt, Belgian politician
• 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 24 – David Adeang, Nauruan politician
• November 28 – Lexington Steele, American actor and film director
• November 29 – Chris Baker, American race car driver
• November 29 – Pierre van Hooijdonk, Dutch footballer
• November 29 – Mariano Rivera, Panamanian Major League Baseball 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
• 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)
• December 18 – Joe Randa, American Major League Baseball player and radio talk-show host
• December 18 – Mille Petrozza, German-Italian rock vocalist and guitarist (Kreator)
• December 19 – Kristy Swanson, American actress
• December 19 – Richard Hammond, British TV presenter
• December 19 – Villano IV, Mexican wrestler
• December 21 – Julie Delpy, French actress
• December 21 – Magnus Samuelsson, Swedish bodybuilder and former World's Strongest Man
• December 23 – Martha Byrne, American actress and singer
• December 23 – 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

Unknown dates

• Marty Dread, American reggae artist
• Brian Carroll (a.k.a. Buckethead), American guitarist

Deaths

See also: Category:1969 deaths.

January–March

• January 4 – Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (b. 1908)
• January 8 – Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
• January 19 – Jan Palach, Czech student protester (suicide) (b. 1948)
• January 25 – Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1893)
• 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 9 – Gabby Hayes, American actor (b. 1885)
• February 13 – Florence Mary Taylor, Australia's first female architect (b. 1879)
• 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)
• March 4 – Nicholas Schenck, Russian-born film empresario (b. 1881)
• March 11 – John Wyndham, British author (b. 1903)
• March 14 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-born American artist (b. 1898)
• 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)
• March 26 – John Kennedy Toole, American author (b. 1937)
• March 26 – 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 2 – Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
• May 4 – Osbert Sitwell, English writer (b. 1892)
• May 14 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888)
• May 19 – Coleman Hawkins, American musician (b. 1904)
• May 27 – Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (b. 1926)
• June 21 – Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (b. 1934)
• June 22 – Judy Garland, American actress and singer (b. 1922)

July–September

• July 3 – Brian Jones, British rock musician (The Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)
• July 5 – Walter Gropius, German architect (b. 1883)
• July 18 – Mary Jo Kopechne, American campaign aide to U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy (b. 1940)
• 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 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)
• August 9 – Jay Sebring, American celebrity hair stylist (murdered) (b. 1933)
• August 9 – Sharon Tate, American actress (murdered) (b. 1943)
• August 9 – Abigail Folger, American socialite, Folgers Coffee heiress, and social worker (murdered) (b. 1943)
• August 17 – Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 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)
• August 27 – 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)

October–December

• October 4 – Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b. 1912)
• October 7 – Ture Nerman, Swedish politician (b. 1886)
• October 12 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (b. 1912)
• October 15 – Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, President of Somalia, assassinated (b. 1919)
• October 21 – Jack Kerouac, American author (b. 1922)
• October 21 – Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (b. 1882)
• October 30 – Pops Foster, American musician (b. 1892)
• November 12 – William F. Friedman, American cryptanalyst (b. 1891)
• November 15 – Iskander Mirza, first President of Pakistan (b. 1899)
• November 18 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (b. 1888)
• December 4 – Fred Hampton, American Black Panther (shot by police) (b. 1948)
• December 4 – Mark Clark, American Black Panther (shot by police) (b. 1947)
• December 4 – 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 12 – Magic Sam, American musician (b. 1937)
• December 13 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and ambassador (b. 1886)

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

Further reading

• 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick. Skyhorse Publishing, 2009. ISBN 9781602393660.

External links

• 1969: The Year Everything Changed – Publisher's book page
• 1969: The Year Everything Changed – YouTube video
• 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.