1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Despite the opening-game loss, nobody on the Mets was discouraged. Tom Seaver – the game's losing pitcher – said years later "I swear, we came into the clubhouse more confident than when we had left it. Somebody – I think it was Clendenon – yelled out, 'Dammit, we can beat these guys!' And we believed it. A team knows if they've been badly beaten or outplayed. And we felt we hadn't been. The feeling wasn't that we had lost, but Hey, we nearly won that game! We hadn't been more than a hit or two from turning it around. It hit us like a ton of bricks."


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman pitched six innings of no-hit ball, trying to match Don Larsen's World Series no-hit feat. Donn Clendenon provided him a slim lead with a home run in the fourth inning.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
However, Koosman lost the no-hitter and the lead in the seventh inning as Paul Blair singled, stole second, and scored on a single by Brooks Robinson. But that was it for the Orioles' offense. The Mets pushed across a run in the top of the ninth on back-to-back-to-back singles by Ed Charles, Jerry Grote, and Al Weis, the latter scoring Charles. This proved to be the decisive run, and Orioles starter Dave McNally took the loss.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Koosman had trouble finishing the game, as he issued two-out walks in the bottom of the ninth to Frank Robinson and Boog Powell. Ron Taylor came on to retire Brooks Robinson for the final out and earn the save.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
Agee led off the game for the Mets with a home run off Jim Palmer, then saved at least five runs with his defense. With two out in the fourth and Oriole runners on first and third, Agee raced to the 396-foot (121 m) sign in left-center and made a backhanded running catch of a drive hit by Elrod Hendricks. In the seventh, the Orioles had the bases loaded with two out, but Agee made a headfirst diving grab of a line drive hit by Paul Blair in right-center.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
Ed Kranepool added a home run and Jerry Grote an RBI double for the Mets, while Gary Gentry pitched 6+2⁄3 shutout innings and helped his own cause with a second inning two-run double. Nolan Ryan, making his only World Series appearance of his 27-year career, pitched the final 2+1⁄3 innings (benefiting from Agee's second catch) and earned a save.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
Game 4 was mired in controversy. Tom Seaver's photograph was used on some anti-war Moratorium Day literature being distributed outside Shea Stadium before the game, although the pitcher claimed that his picture was used without his knowledge or approval. A further controversy that day involved the flying of the American flag at Shea Stadium. New York City Mayor John Lindsay had ordered flags flown at half staff to observe the Moratorium Day and honor those who had died in Vietnam. Many were concerned, including 225 wounded servicemen who were attending the game, and Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announced that the American flag would be flown at full staff at Shea for Game 4.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
Tom Seaver atoned for his Game 1 ineffectiveness by shutting the Orioles out through eight innings. Once again, Donn Clendenon provided the lead with a homer in the second off Game 1 winner Mike Cuellar, who allowed just that run over seven solid innings. In the third inning, after arguing ball-strike calls too strenuously with plate umpire Shag Crawford, Earl Weaver of the Orioles became the first manager since 1935 to be ejected from a World Series game.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
In the top of the ninth, Seaver ran into trouble. Frank Robinson and Boog Powell hit back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on first and third. Brooks Robinson then hit a sinking line drive towards right that Mets right fielder Ron Swoboda dove for and caught just inches off the ground. Frank Robinson tagged and scored, but Swoboda's heroics kept the Orioles from possibly taking the lead. Elrod Hendricks then flew out to Swoboda to end the inning.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
In the bottom of the tenth, Jerry Grote led off by blooping a double to left. Al Weis was intentionally walked to set up a force play and get to the pitcher's spot in the lineup. Mets manager Gil Hodges sent J. C. Martin up to hit for Seaver. Martin laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Orioles reliever Pete Richert hit Martin in the wrist with his throw to first, and the ball went down the right field line. Rod Gaspar, running for Grote, came around to score the winning run.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
Replays showed Martin running inside the first-base line, which appeared to hinder Richert's ability to make a good throw and Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson from catching it. Subsequent controversy focused on MLB rule 6.05 (k), which says that a batter shall be out—with the ball dead and the runners returned to their original bases—if "...


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 4
In running the last half of the distance from home base to first base, while the ball is being fielded to first base, he runs outside (to the right of) the three-foot line, or inside (to the left of) the foul line, and in the umpire's judgment in so doing interferes with the fielder taking the throw at first base."


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Dave McNally shut out the Mets through five innings and helped himself with a two-run homer in the third inning. Frank Robinson homered in the inning as well, and the Orioles looked to be cruising with a 3–0 lead.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
The Mets, however, benefited from two questionable umpire's calls. In the top of the sixth inning, Mets starting pitcher Jerry Koosman appeared to have hit Frank Robinson with a pitch, but plate umpire Lou DiMuro ruled that the pitch hit his bat before hitting him and denied him first base. Replays showed, however, that Robinson was indeed hit first — the ball struck him on the hip, then bounced up and hit his bat.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
In the bottom of the sixth, McNally bounced a pitch that appeared to have hit Mets left fielder Cleon Jones on the foot, then bounced into the Mets' dugout. McNally and the Orioles claimed the ball hit the dirt and not Jones, but Mets manager Gil Hodges showed the ball to DiMuro, who found a spot of shoe polish on the ball and awarded Jones first base. McNally then gave up Series MVP Donn Clendenon's third homer of the series (a record for a five-game World Series that was tied by the Phillies' Ryan Howard in the 2008 Classic and by Boston’s Steve Pearce in the 2018 Series) to cut the lead to 3–2.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
However, the renowned "shoe polish" incident may not be such a simple, straightforward matter. On August 22, 2009, at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Mets' 1969 Championship, held at their new stadium, Citi Field, Jerry Koosman stated in several media interviews that, in actuality, Hodges had instructed him to rub the ball on his shoe, which he did, and after that Hodges showed the ball to the umpire.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Koosman's claim doesn't necessarily mean that the ball didn't strike Jones on the foot, nor does it even mean that the polish on the ball seen by the umpire was put there by Koosman — it's certainly conceivable that there was already a genuine spot of polish on the ball, which easily could have escaped Koosman's notice as he hastily created the fraudulent one. In any case, Koosman's allegation at the very least adds an intriguing layer of uncertainty and possible chicanery to an already legendary event.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Koosman was known for his sense of humor, and his love of practical jokes when he was an active player. Therefore, his claim of having scuffed the ball against his own shoe could be a ruse. Besides, there are other stories which have been told about that incident, by other players who were in the Mets dugout that day.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
One of those stories comes from Ron Swoboda, who said during an interview on the Mets 1986 25th Anniversary video, that when the ball came bounding into the Mets dugout, it hit an open ball bag under the bench, and several batting / infield practice balls came spilling out on the dugout floor. According to Swoboda, you couldn't distinguish the actual game ball from any of the ones that spilled out of the bag.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Hodges quickly looked down, grabbed a ball that had a black streak on it, and walked it out to the home plate umpire, who then awarded first base to Jones. In any case, this incident provided baseball with yet another entertaining legend, about which the absolute truth will probably never be known.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
The Mets then tied the score in the seventh on a home run by the unheralded and light-hitting Al Weis. Weis hit only seven home runs in his big league career; this was the only home run he hit at Shea Stadium and, in fact, was the only home run he hit playing for the home team in any major league park. Weis led all batters in the series with a .455 average.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
The winning runs scored in the eighth as Game 4 defensive hero Ron Swoboda doubled in Jones with the go-ahead run. Swoboda then scored when Jerry Grote's grounder was mishandled by first baseman Boog Powell, whose throw to first was then dropped by pitcher Eddie Watt in an unusual double error. Jerry Koosman got the win, his second of the series. With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Koosman faced Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson (who, coincidentally, later managed the Mets to their second World Series championship in 1986). After taking a pitch of two balls and one strike, Johnson hit a fly-ball out to left field which was caught by Cleon Jones. After a shaky third inning, Koosman settled down to retire 19 of the next 21 batters he faced, giving up a single and a walk.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Karl Ehrhardt, a Mets fan known as "the sign man" at Shea Stadium, held up a sign that read There Are No Words soon after the final out was made. The sign made an appearance in the Series highlight film. Immediately following the victory, thousands of fans rushed onto the field and the Mets were forced to retreat to their locker room.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Bill Gleason, a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, alleged that this feat would not repeated again until Disco Demolition Night, an event which saw many people rush onto the playing field in Comiskey Park just before the second game of a doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers was scheduled to begin on July 12, 1979.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
In all four Mets victories, their starting first baseman hit a home run: Donn Clendenon in Games 2, 4 and 5, and Ed Kranepool in Game 3. The expression, "Good pitching defeats good hitting", was never more evident than in this World Series; Baltimore collected only 23 hits for a .146 batting average, both team lows for a 5-game series. After losing Game 1 in which the Orioles had only six hits, Baltimore only managed a .134 batting average (17-for-127) over the next four games.


1969 World Series, Matchups, Game 5
Boog Powell led the Orioles with five hits and a .263 average—but all were non-scoring singles (although one advanced Frank Robinson to third base to set up Swoboda's defensive heroics). Don Buford collected two hits in four at-bats in the opening game, including a lead-off home run against Tom Seaver, but went 0-for-16 over the next four games. Paul Blair went 2-for-20, Davey Johnson 1-for-16, Frank Robinson 3-for-16, Brooks Robinson 1-for-19, and Mark Belanger 3-for-15. The Orioles offense only managed four extra-base hits off Mets pitching in the five-game series, all in the first and last games. The Mets won despite below-average performances from Jerry Grote, who went 4-for-19, Tommie Agee, who went 3-for-18, Cleon Jones, who went 3-for-19, Bud Harrelson, who went 3-for-17 and Ed Charles, who went 2-for-15.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
The 1969 series was the second major upset by a New York team over a Baltimore team in a sport's championship event in 1969. Earlier in January, the Jets, led by Joe Namath, upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl, which also aired on NBC. Both the Jets and Mets called Shea Stadium home at the time. In addition, the New York Knicks eliminated the Baltimore Bullets from the 1969 NBA Playoffs; they also defeated the Bullets in 1970 en route to their first championship. As a result, New York became the first city to hoist a World Series and NBA championship within a year's span.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
There are several direct connections between the two Mets World Championship teams of 1969 and 1986. Orioles second baseman Davey Johnson flied out to Cleon Jones for the last out of the 1969 World Series; Johnson later managed the 1986 Mets to their World Series title. The pitcher on the mound for the last out of the 1986 Series, Jesse Orosco, had been traded to the Mets for Jerry Koosman (the pitcher on the mound for the last out of the 1969 Series) after the 1978 season.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
1969 Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson earned a second World Series ring as the club's third-base coach in 1986. However, Mets pitcher Tom Seaver was on the losing end in 1986, as a member of the Boston Red Sox (he did not appear in the 1986 World Series due to a knee injury). Also in 1986, the Mets' World Series championship was in conjunction with a Super Bowl win, this time by the New York Giants, who defeated the Denver Broncos, 39–20, to win Super Bowl XXI.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
The Orioles repeated as AL East champs the next season, when they won 108 games, one fewer than the previous year. In the ALCS, they swept the Minnesota Twins for the second straight year to return to the World Series, this time, they were victorious in five games over the Cincinnati Reds.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
Four years later, the Mets returned to the World Series despite an 82–79 record, but lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
In a 1999 episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray and his brother Robert travel to the National Baseball Hall of Fame to see a ceremony honoring the 1969 Mets. The episode ends with the brothers singing "Meet the Mets."


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
This series is a major plot point in the 2000 film Frequency and is also a plot point in the 2012 movie Men in Black 3.


1969 World Series, Aftermath and legacy
In a Batman '66 story that crosses over with the Legion of Super-Heroes, Egghead goes to the future and refuses to trust the future museums because they say the Mets win the 1969 World Series.


1969 World Series, Composite box
1969 World Series (4–1): New York Mets (N.L.) over Baltimore Orioles (A.L.)


1969 World Series, Broadcast coverage
NBC televised the Series, with Curt Gowdy sharing play-by-play commentary with Orioles announcer Bill O'Donnell (for the games in Baltimore) and Mets announcer Lindsey Nelson (for the games in New York). Tony Kubek served as field reporter and in-stands interviewer. Jim Simpson hosted pre-game coverage along with Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle. NBC Radio also broadcast the games, with Simpson splitting play-by-play with Mets announcer Ralph Kiner (for the games in Baltimore) and O'Donnell (for the games in New York).


1969 World Series, Broadcast coverage
NBC's telecasts of Games 1 and 2 have since been preserved on kinescope by the CBC. Meanwhile, Games 3–5 exist in their original color videotape quality from "truck feeds", including the pre-game coverage with Simpson, Koufax and Mantle.


1969 World Series, Quotes
There's a drive into deep left-center, racing hard is Agee... WHAT A GRAB!!! Tom Agee!


1969 World Shotgun Championships
The 1969 World Shotgun Championships were separate ISSF World Shooting Championships for the trap and skeet events held in San Sebastián, Spain.


1969 World Snooker Championship
The 1969 World Snooker Championship (also known as the Player's No.6 World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a professional snooker tournament. It was the first World Snooker Championship in a knock-out format since 1957, following a series of challenge matches from 1964 to 1968. John Spencer won the title, defeating Gary Owen by achieving a winning margin at 37 frames to 24 in the final. Spencer had earlier eliminated defending champion John Pulman from the competition, in the quarter-finals.


1969 World Snooker Championship
There were eight players entered who the championship, including four competition debutants. The quarter-finals and semi-finals were staged at several venues in England from 18 November 1968 until 22 February 1969, and the final was held at the Victoria Halls in London from 17 to 22 March 1969. As champion, Spencer received £1,300 from the total prize fund of £3,500. The 1969 championship is regarded as the first of the modern snooker era.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Background
The World Snooker Championship is a professional tournament and the official world championship of the game of snooker. The sport was developed in the late 19th century by British Army soldiers stationed in India. Professional English billiards player and billiard hall manager Joe Davis noticed the increasing popularity of snooker compared to billiards in the 1920s, and with Birmingham-based billiards equipment manager Bill Camkin, persuaded the Billiards Association and Control Council (BACC) to recognise an official professional snooker championship in the 1926–27 season.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Background
In 1927, the final of the first professional snooker championship was held at Camkin's Hall; Davis won the tournament by beating Tom Dennis in the final. The annual competition was not titled the World Championship until 1935, but the 1927 tournament is now referred to as the first World Snooker Championship. Davis also won the title each year until 1940, when the contest was cancelled during World War II, and again when the championship resumed in 1946, accumulating a total of 15 titles before retiring from the event.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Background
In 1952, the, following a dispute between the Professional Billiards Players' Association (PBPA) and the BACC about the distribution of income from the world championship, the PBPA members established an alternative competition known as the World Professional Match-play Championship, the editions of which are now recognised as world championships, whilst only Horace Lindrum and Clark McConachy entered for the BACC's 1952 World Snooker Championship.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Background
The World Professional Match-play Championship continued until 1957, after which there were no world championship matches until professional Rex Williams gained agreement from the BACC that the world championship would be staged on a challenge basis, with defending champion Pulman featuring in the first match. Pulman retained the title in several challenges from 1964 to 1968. Pulman had been touring snooker clubs as promotional work for the tobacco brand John Player, and the company had sponsored his 1968 match against Eddie Charlton.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Background
The good attendances for the championship match led to John Player deciding to sponsor the 1969 World Snooker Championship as a knock-out format tournament, using their "Players No. 6" brand. The total prize fund was £3,500, equivalent to £58,030 in 2019, including £1,300 for the champion. The 1969 championship is regarded as the first of the modern snooker era.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary
The closing date for players to enter the championship was 30 June 1968. There were eight entrants: four of whom had played professionally in the 1950s and four championship debutants. The new players were John Spencer, Ray Reardon, Gary Owen, and Bernard Bennett. Defending champion Pulman was drawn to meet Spencer, who had recently defeated him 14–17 in a non-title challenge match.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
The first match, played from 18 to 22 November 1968 at the Wryton Stadium in Bolton, saw the end of Pulman's reign as champion, when he was defeated by Spencer. Spencer took a 4–0 lead, and ended the first session 4–2 ahead. Spencer compiled a 110 break in the 18th frame, on his way to establishing a 13–5 lead at the end of the second day. Spencer led 24–18 after the final afternoon session and clinched the match by winning the first frame in the evening with what was reported in The Times as a "magnificent 97 break".


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
Owen faced Jackie Rea at the Hippodrome, Stratford-upon-Avon, from 25 to 28 November 1968. The players each won three frames in the first afternoon session. Rea took the first in the evening, before Owen claimed five consecutive frames to end the first day 8–4 ahead. On the second afternoon, the players again won three frames apiece, with Owen compiling a 68 break that turned out to be the highest break of the match. Rea took the first three frames of the evening session, to move to 10–11, then Owen won two of the next three for a 13–11 overnight lead. Owen increased his lead by winning four of the six frames on the third afternoon, and maintained it by adding three of the six evening frames, leading 20–16 going into the last day.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
The match between Williams and Bennett was played from 25 to 28 November 1968 at the Marland Hall in Southampton. Williams took all six frames in the first session, and achieved a winning margin at 25–4. Williams compiled a 107 break in the third frame of the fourth session, and, after dead frames were played, finished 38–11 ahead.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
The fourth quarter-final, between Fred Davis and Reardon, was not played until January 1969 because Reardon was touring South Africa. The match was played at the Tunstall British Legion, Stoke-on-Trent, from 20 to 24 January. The match featured lengthy tactical exchanges between the players, resulting in some of the longest sessions ever to take place in world championship history to that point. No player was ahead by more than two frames until Reardon took the 27th frame to lead 15–12, after which Davis won six successive frames to leave Reardon three frames behind at 15–18.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Quarter-finals
Later, having been three frames down with six to play, Davis levelled the match at 24–24. Davis won in the deciding frame after a break of 52 and some smaller scoring visits, with Reardon conceding the frame at 64 points behind with one red ball remaining. The highest break of the match was 89, scored by Reardon.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
The two youngest players to have entered the tournament, Spencer, aged 33, and Williams, aged 35, contested the first semi-final, held at the Co-op Hall, Bolton, from 10 to 15 February. Spencer took a 9–0 lead, and was 11–1 ahead after the first day. Williams won the first two frames of the third day, and, after Spencer had taken the 15th frame, Williams added the 16th frame on a re-spotted black. The second day finished with Spencer leading 19–5, and the score was 29–7 after he won ten of the twelve frames on day three. Spencer achieved a winning margin at 37–12, and finished at 55–18 after dead frames were played.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
The second semi final, between Owen and Davis, was held at the Wilstanton Miners Club, Stoke-on-Trent, from 17 to 22 February. Owen took a four frame lead at the start of the match. Davis won the fifth and sixth frames, before Owen claimed the last three frames of the afternoon session followed by all six frames in the evening session for an 11–2 lead. After winning the third session 4–3 and the fourth session 5–2, Owen's lead at the end of the second day was 19–7. Taking ten of thirteen frames on day three, Owen extended his advantage to 29–10.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Semi-finals
The fourth day saw Davis reduce the deficit to twelve frames, at 20–32. On day five, the afternoon session ended with Owen 36–23 ahead, and, after Davis has made a break of 83 in the 60th frame, Owen achieved a winning margin at 37–24. After dead frames, Owen finished 45–28 ahead.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
The final was held from at Victoria Halls, London, from 17 to 22 March. Spencer took a 6–2 lead, before Owen levelled the match at 6–6, having made the first day's highest break of 80 in the 9th frame. The Birmingham Daily Post correspondent praised the players for bringing a "refreshing new look to the game, with bold attacking play, wonderful potting, and a sprinkling of good-sized breaks".


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
On the second day, both players missed easy pots, sharing the first two frames for 7–7 before Spencer won the next four frames to lead 11–7 by the interval, after which he added four of the subsequent six frames to increase his advantage to six frames at 15–9. The third day's play, which featured only two breaks of 50 or more, was described in the Coventry Evening Telegraph as "undistinguished", and ended with Spencer still six frames ahead, at 21–15. On day 4, Owen won four of the afternoon session's six frames to close to 19–23.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
In the evening session, Spencer claimed the first three frames, and finished the day six frames ahead again at 27–21. Owen only won three of the twelve frames on the fifth day, leaving Spencer one frame from victory at 36–24. Owen's brother Marcus Owen, a former English Amateur Championship winner, commented that "Gary's cueing is all over the place. Every time he plays a forcing shot, his whole body is moving." Spencer took the first frame on the final day to claim victory by achieving a winning margin of 37–24.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
The remaining 12 dead frames were played, with Spencer finishing 46–27 ahead. With this he became the first player to win the World Championship at his first attempt since Joe Davis at the inaugural championship in 1927. Owen compiled a 100 break, the highest of the match, in the 66th frame after the title had been decided.


1969 World Snooker Championship, Tournament summary, Final
Snooker historian Clive Everton commented that although Spencer only recorded a small number of breaks above 60, "in every other respect, the new champion's display was a revelation. His long potting, his prodigious screw shots even when cue-ball and object-ball were seven or eight feet apart, his uninhibited use of side, his bright attacking style, even the mere fact that here was a bright new face, made Spencer's win a memorable one."


1969 World Snooker Championship, Main draw
Match results are shown below. Winning players and scores are denoted in bold text.


1969 World Sportscar Championship
The 1969 World Sportscar Championship season was the 17th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1969 International Championship for Makes, which was a series for FIA Group 6 Prototype Sports Cars, Group 4 Sports Cars and Group 3 Grand Touring Cars and the 1969 International Cup for GT Cars, which was restricted to Group 3 Grand Touring Cars. The season ran from 1 February 1969 to 10 August 1969 and comprised 10 races.


1969 World Sportscar Championship
Porsche won both the International Championship for Makes and the International Cup for GT Cars.


1969 World Sportscar Championship, Schedule
† - Sportscars & Sports Prototypes only, GT category did not participate.


1969 World Sportscar Championship, Points system
Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis. Manufacturers were only given points for their highest finishing car in each race with no points awarded for positions gained by any other cars from that manufacturer.


1969 World Sportscar Championship, Points system
Sports, Sports Prototype and GT cars were eligible to score points for their manufacturer in the overall championship and the GT category also had its own separate award.


1969 World Sportscar Championship, Points system
Cars that were not included in the Sports, Sports Prototype or GT categories in a race were not eligible to score points for the overall championship.


1969 World Sportscar Championship, Points system
Only the best five points finishes counted towards a manufacturer's total, with any other points earned being discarded. Discarded points are shown within brackets in the tables below.


1969 World Sportscar Championship, The cars
The following models  contributed to the nett points totals of their respective manufacturers:


1969 World Table Tennis Championships
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Munich from April 17 to April 27, 1969. It was the 30th edition to be contested.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships
During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese sports professionals were denounced as 'Sprouts of Revisionism and were denied places at the 1967 World Table Tennis Championships and 1969 World Table Tennis Championships. Players such as Jung Kuo-tuan were persecuted and he committed suicide in 1968. Had China competed in both championships and not lost the impetus gained in the previous decade they would surely have dominated the World Championships.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Doubles
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Doubles was the 30th edition of the men's doubles championship. Hans Alsér and Kjell Johansson won the title after defeating Nobuhiko Hasegawa and Tokio Tasaka in the final by three sets to one.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Singles
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Singles was the 30th edition of the men's singles championship.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Singles
Shigeo Itoh defeated Eberhard Schöler in the final, winning three sets to two to secure the title.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Team
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Swaythling Cup (Men's Team) was the 30th edition of the men's team championship.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Men's Team
Japan won the gold medal defeating West Germany 5-3 in the final. Yugoslavia won the bronze medal after winning the third place play off. The Chinese team were again absent.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Mixed Doubles
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Mixed Doubles was the 30th edition of the mixed doubles championship.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Mixed Doubles
Nobuhiko Hasegawa and Yasuko Konno defeated Mitsuru Kono and Saeko Hirota in the final by three sets to nil.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's Doubles
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's Doubles was the 29th edition of the women's doubles championship. Svetlana Grinberg and Zoja Rudnova defeated Maria Alexandru and Eleonora Mihalca in the final by three sets to two.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's Singles
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's Singles was the 30th edition of the women's singles championship. Toshiko Kowada defeated Gabriele Geissler in the final by three sets to one, to win the title.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's Team
The 1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Corbillon Cup (Women's Team) was the 23rd edition of the women's team championship.


1969 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's Team
The Soviet Union won the gold medal, Romania won the silver medal and Japan won the bronze medal.


1969 World Weightlifting Championships
The 1969 Men's World Weightlifting Championships were held in Warsaw, Poland from September 20 to September 28, 1969. There were 166 men from 37 nations in the competition.


1969 World Weightlifting Championships, Medal table
Ranking by all medals: Big (Total result) and Small (Press, Snatch and Clean & Jerk)


1969 World Wrestling Championships
The 1969 World Wrestling Championships were held in Mar del Plata, Argentina.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team
The 1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team represented the University of Wyoming in the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. Led by eighth-year head coach Lloyd Eaton, they were members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and played their home games on campus at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team
The Cowboys were three-time defending conference champions and outscored their opponents 242 to 118. Wyoming won its first six games, but dropped the last four in a season tainted by a racial controversy.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
During the season in mid-October, head coach Eaton dismissed 14 black players from the team for asking to wear black armbands during the upcoming home game against the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars. At the previous year's win over BYU at Provo, Cougar players had subjected them to racial epithets.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
A week before the game, the team's black members were reminded of the incident and also informed about the racial policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (which owns and operates BYU, and which at that time excluded black people from the priesthood of the LDS Church) by Willie Black, leader of Wyoming's Black Student Alliance, and challenged them to do something about it.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
The day before the game, the players donned black armbands on their civilian clothes and went to Eaton's                office to discuss how they might show solidarity with the BSA protest. Upon seeing them with the armbands the coach immediately dismissed them from the team. According to Joe Williams, a team co-captain before he was suspended from the team, "We wanted to see if we could wear black armbands in the game, or black socks, or black X's on our helmets. And if he had said no we had already agreed that we would be willing to protest with nothing but our black skins."


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
Eaton took them to the bleachers in Memorial Fieldhouse, and said he listened to their suggestions for ten minutes before deciding to release them. Williams gives a very different account: "He [Eaton] came in, sneered at us and yelled that we were off the squad. He said our very presence defied him. He said he has had some good Neeegro boys. Just like that." Defensive end Tony McGee said that Eaton "said we could go to Grambling State or Morgan State... We could go back to colored relief. If anyone said anything, he told us to shut up.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
We were really protesting policies we thought were racist." John Griffin, a flanker, corroborates McGee's memory. Tony Gibson agreed with the other players that Eaton kicked them off the team before they could even present a case. At the time, Wyoming fans and much of the state backed Eaton and his "no protesting" policy, and saw the Black 14 as insubordinate and ungrateful.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
At San Jose State University, the Spartans were petitioned in a letter by a UW student group to boycott the homecoming game in Laramie; San Jose voted to play the game and wear multicolored armbands in support of the 14. Groups at other WAC schools demanded that Wyoming be dropped from their schedules. At the time of the incident in mid-October, the Cowboys were undefeated (4–0) and ranked 16th in the AP poll.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
Even though they beat BYU 40–7, and San Jose State (the next game) without the players to improve to 6–0, Wyoming lost all four road games in November and went 1–9 the next year which prompted Eaton's removal as coach, though he stayed on as assistant athletic director. The program had only one winning season in the 1970s, in 1976 under Fred Akers, who then returned to the University of Texas.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
The Black 14 included Earl Lee, John Griffin, Willie Hysaw, Don Meadows, Ivie Moore, Tony Gibson, Jerome Berry, Joe Williams, Mel Hamilton, Jim Issac, Tony McGee, Ted Williams, Lionel Grimes, and Ron Hill. Three of the underclassmen returned to play for the Cowboys in 1970: Griffin, Meadows, and Ted Williams. McGee transferred to Bishop College in Dallas, Texas, was a third round selection in the 1971 NFL Draft, and played fourteen seasons for three NFL teams.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
The Black 14 incident spurred the court case Williams v. Eaton, with the issue of free speech against the principle of separation of church and state. Litigation was lengthy for this case and ended on October 31, 1972.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, "Black 14" controversy
In 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Black 14 being dismissed, the University of Wyoming invited the surviving players back and made several amends. The eight players that returned were invited to speak to history classes and meet with student athletes; attend a special dinner with university officials and receive an official apology letter signed by President Laurie Nichols; and were given both Wyoming football jerseys and Wyoming letterman jackets.


1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team, NFL Draft
Three Cowboys were selected in the 1970 NFL Draft, which lasted seventeen rounds (442 selections).


1969 Yale Bulldogs football team
The 1969 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. The Bulldogs were led by fifth-year head coach Carmen Cozza, played their home games at the Yale Bowl and finished tied for first in the Ivy League with a 6–1 record, 7–2 overall.


1969 Yangjiang earthquake
The 1969 Yangjiang earthquake occurred on 26 July, at 6:49 am, Beijing local time (25 July 22:49 UTC). It had a magnitude of 6.4 on the Moment magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale. It struck the city of Yangjiang and caused over 10,700 houses to collapse, severely damaging a further 36,000. The earthquake also caused landslides and sandblows were observed along the coast and along some rivers in the area of Yangjiang. The earthquake was also felt in Hong Kong. There were an unconfirmed total of 3,000 deaths.


1969 Yangjiang earthquake, Tectonic setting
Guangdong Province lies in a tectonically stable part of China, which has relatively low seismicity. The area forms part of the passive margin between the continental crust of China and the oceanic crust of the northern part of the South China Sea. Within the stable South China Block, there are three zones of higher earthquake activity, one of which is the Southeast China Coast seismic zone running through Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. This zone follows the South China Maritime Fold Belt, which was formed by a subduction event during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous epochs. The area is currently in a compressive stress regime with the maximum horizontal stress orientated northwest-southeast. This results from a combination of the continuing collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates and the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate.


1969 Yangjiang earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake occurred on a steeply-dipping fault striking nearly east-west. The focal mechanism shows mainly dextral (right lateral) strike-slip faulting. The magnitude and number of the recorded foreshocks and aftershocks were unusually small, considering the size of the mainshock. This earthquake is the only damaging event in the epicentral area in historical records.


1969 Yangjiang earthquake, Damage
The epicentral area lay mostly in Yangjiang County, affecting an area measuring 19 km by 10 km, elongated west to east. In the whole county, a total of 10,762 houses were completely destroyed, a further 35,965 were severely damaged and another 90,840 suffered some damage. In Xinyi about 1,200 houses suffered some damage and several were destroyed. The earthquake was also strongly felt in Fengkai, Huaiji, Xinzhong, Deqing, Zhaoqing, Yunan, Zengcheng, Gaohe and Panyu, although there was no serious damage in these areas. Minor damage was also reported in Hong Kong. A report of 3,000 casualties caused by this earthquake is described as "unconfirmed".


1969 York race riot
The 1969 York race riot refers to a period of racial unrest in York, Pennsylvania in July 1969.


1969 York race riot, Escalating racial tension and the murder of Henry Schaad
Racial tensions began to escalate in York, Pennsylvania in 1963. Black citizens of York protested police violence and discrimination at City Hall. Their demands for a bi-racial police review board were turned down by the all-white city council. Citizens continued to protest over the next few years and complained of police brutality and the use of police dogs to curb protests. During this time, the city saw the rise of several notorious all-white gangs. By the mid-1960s, York had become deeply racially divided, and in 1968 a series of white-on-black crimes incited retaliation in the form of fire-bombings and street brawls.


1969 York race riot, Escalating racial tension and the murder of Henry Schaad
On July 17, 1969, with racial tensions at the boiling point, a black youth who burned himself playing with lighter fluid blamed a local white gang known as the Girarders. That would later be revealed as a lie, but not before the pent-up resentments of the black community turned violent. That same day, seventeen-year-old Taka Nii Sweeney was shot by an unseen gunman when York City Police Detective George Smith stopped him and his friends for violating the city's youth curfew. White and black gangs began fighting that afternoon. Eleven others were hurt when people in six blocks of the city reverted to rock-throwing, barricading and shooting from behind bushes and poles.


1969 York race riot, Escalating racial tension and the murder of Henry Schaad
Fighting lasted through the night and into the next day. Nine more people were injured, including Officer Henry C. Schaad. Schaad, a twenty-two-year-old rookie with eleven months on the force, was struck by a bullet believed to have been fired by a black rioter while riding in one of the police department's two armored trucks. White gangs around the city prepared for revenge. Schaad languished in the hospital for nearly two weeks before succumbing to his injuries.


1969 York race riot, Escalating racial tension and the murder of Henry Schaad
As Schaad lay dying, racial tension soared in the city. Fights broke out, buildings were set ablaze and police began barricading black neighborhoods. More than sixty people were injured, one hundred were arrested, and entire city blocks were burned.


1969 York race riot, The murder of Lillie Belle Allen
On July 21, Lillie Belle Allen, a black woman from Aiken, South Carolina who was visiting York with her parents, was riding in a car driven by her sister, Hattie Dickinson. Dickinson turned the car onto North Newberry Street and was looking for a grocery store when she saw a man with a gun leaning out of a second-story window. Multiple members of two all-white gangs, the Newberry Street Boys and the Girarders, were on the street that night, and many of them were armed.


1969 York race riot, The murder of Lillie Belle Allen
Dickinson began to turn around in the intersection of Newberry Street and Gay Avenue but the car stalled. As more armed white men began coming onto their porches, Dickinson panicked. Her parents, who were in the back seat, began praying. Her older sister, Lillie Belle Allen, jumped out of the car to get to the driver's seat and take the wheel. She flailed her arms screaming, "Don't shoot!" Multiple shooters opened fire from the street, rooftops and windows, fatally wounding Allen. More than one hundred rounds were fired at the car, and Allen was shot by several different types of bullets.


1969 York race riot, The murder of Lillie Belle Allen
The day after Allen's death, Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer declared a state of emergency and ordered an emergency curfew as two hundred National Guard troops arrived in York. Three days later the city settled down and the Guard left York.


1969 York race riot, The murder of Lillie Belle Allen
Four prosecutors and four detectives spent two years trying to solve the Allen and Schaad murder cases, but people who knew about the fatal shootings kept silent, either because they were afraid or they didn't want to be seen as traitors. "It was tougher than pulling teeth," said Thomas V. Chatman Jr., who was lead detective on the murder investigations for the York City police. "There were witnesses. But no one wanted to tell you anything. People took sides according to race and didn't want to cooperate." Because there was distrust among blacks, prosecutors said they first tried to solve the Allen case, hoping that witnesses would then come forward to identify Officer Schaad's killer. They were never able to acquire sufficient evidence to charge anyone, and both shootings went largely uninvestigated for the next thirty years.


1969 York race riot, Investigations reopened
Then in 1999, The York Dispatch and the York Daily Record  looking back at the riots on their thirtieth anniversary. The articles raised questions in the community and renewed interest in the murder cases. York County deputy prosecutor, Tom Kelley, had his staff begin unearthing the case files and reinterviewing witnesses, and York County District Attorney Stan Rebert launched a grand jury investigation. They began the investigation with the gang believed to have been involved in Allen's murder, the Newberry Street Boys.


1969 York race riot, Investigations reopened
Prosecutors learned that three of the gang members had committed suicide over the years, but that another, who was suffering from terminal cancer, wanted to talk. Before he died he told investigators what he knew about the night Allen was killed. More developments came the following year after detectives visited the rural home of Donald Altland, another ex-member of the gang. Altland admitted nothing to the detectives, but confessed his role in the crime to his wife later that night. The next day Altland drove his truck to the Susquehanna River and shot himself in the head. He left behind a taped confession for the prosecutors and a message scrawled on a napkin, "Forgive Me, God."


1969 York race riot, Investigations reopened
On April 27, 2001, charges were filed for the first time in Lillie Belle Allen's murder. Two brothers, Robert Messersmith and Arthur Messersmith, both members of the Newberry Street Boys, an all-white gang, were charged with criminal homicide after witnesses told a grand jury they'd heard Robert Messersmith bragging about the killing. On May 10, 2001, two more former members of a white street gang in York were accused. Rick Lynn Knouse and Gregory Harry Neff, identified as former members of the Girarders gang, were accused after witnesses testified they'd been seen firing at the car carrying Lillie Belle Allen.


1969 York race riot, Investigations reopened
Eight days later, the day after winning the Democratic primary in his bid for re-election, York City mayor Charlie Robertson was arrested and charged in Allen's murder. The affidavit filed with his arrest stated that Rick Knouse told a grand jury that the mayor, who was a York police officer at the time of the riots, had given him the rifle ammunition that Mr. Knouse used to fire at Ms. Allen and had told him to "kill as many niggers as you can."


1969 York race riot, Investigations reopened
Before a judge issued a gag order in the case, the mayor confirmed that he did shout "white power" as encouragement to an angry crowd while he was on duty during the riots, but denied supplying the ammunition. Amidst public outcry and calls for his resignation, Robertson dropped his bid for re-election one week later.


1969 York race riot, Justice thirty years later, Justice for Lillie Belle Allen
In all, ten white men were arrested in the spring of 2001 and charged with Allen's death. Seven reached plea agreements in August 2001, and pleaded guilty to lesser charges of criminal conspiracy in exchange for their testimony against the remaining defendants. Three stood trial, and on October 18, 2002, after thirteen days and more than one hundred witnesses, an all-white jury found Gregory H. Neff and Robert N. Messersmith guilty of second-degree murder, but acquitted York City mayor, and former police officer, Charles Robertson. Neff and Messersmith were sentenced to prison, with Neff receiving four and a half years to ten, and Messersmith nine to nineteen. A 10th defendant, Ezra T. Slick, pleaded no contest to attempted murder and conspiracy and was sentenced in May 2003 to two to five years in prison.


1969 York race riot, Justice thirty years later, Justice for Officer Henry Schaad
That same year, three police officers, Rodney George, John Daryman, and Keith Stone, reopened the investigation of Officer Henry C. Schaad's murder, and on October 30, 2001, Stephen Freeland and Leon Wright were charged with first- and second-degree murder. An affidavit filed at the arraignment of the two men cited numerous witnesses who said they saw Mr. Freeland firing at the police officer's car. Both were later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to prison. Freeland received 9 to 19 years, the same sentence given to Robert N. Messersmith for killing Allen. Wright received 4 1/2 to 10 years, the same sentence given to Gregory H. Neff for killing Allen.


1969 Yugoslavian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Yugoslavia in 1969. The Socio-Political Council was elected on 13 April, the three Councils of Working Communities were elected on 23 April, and the Council of Nationalities was elected on 6, 7, 8 and 9 May.


1969 Yugoslavian parliamentary election, Background
The elections were held following amendments to the 1963 constitution made in December 1968.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision
The 1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision occurred when an Ilyushin Il-14M, operating as Aeroflot Flight 831, a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow-Bykovo Airport to Simferopol Airport, Crimea collided in the air on 23 June 1969 with an Antonov An-12BP of the Soviet Air Force over the Yukhnovsky district of Kaluga Oblast, in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union. All 120 occupants of both aircraft perished in the crash.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Aircraft involved, CCCP-52018
The aircraft operating Aeroflot Flight 831 was an Ilyushin Il-14M registered CCCP-52018 to the Ukraine division of Aeroflot. At the time of the accident the aircraft had 24,653 flight hours. Five crew members and 19 passengers were aboard Flight 831. The cockpit crew included Captain Georgy Pavlenko and copilot Viktor Pavlovich Buyanov.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Aircraft involved, Soviet Air Force Antonov An-12BP
The Antonov An-12 belonging to the Soviet Air Force that was involved in the accident (callsign 08525) was part of a formation of four aircraft demonstrating tactical flight maneuvers to the Minister of Defense, Andrei Grechko. Two of the aircraft were transporting equipment; the other two, including the one involved in the crash, was carrying paratroopers of the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division. Five flight crew members and 91 paratroopers were aboard the aircraft, all of whom perished in the crash. The cockpit crew consisted of the following pilots: Major Alexei Ryabtsev, Junior lieutenant Vladimir Priplov, and Captain Nikolai Mikhailovich Maslyuk.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Crash details
At 13:25 the An-12 involved in the accident (callsign 08525) took off from Kėdainiai Air Base, and was the last one in a formation of four to take off. The four An-12s took off in 8-10 minute intervals and held altitudes between 3,000 and 3,600 m (9,800 and 11,800 ft).


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Crash details
At 14:07 the Ilyushin Il-14 took off from Bykovo Airport and climbed to the assigned altitude of 2,700 m (8,900 ft).


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Crash details
At 14:40:55 the crew of Il-14 contacted air traffic control and requested permission to climb to 3,300 m (10,800 ft) due to severe turbulence and cumulus clouds. Due to the An-12s at 3,000 m (9,800 ft), the controller instead offered to grant permission for the flight to descend to 2,700 m (8,900 ft), but the pilots of the Il-14 declined the offer because the turbulence may be worse at a lower altitude.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Crash details
At 14:50:17 the An-12 passed over Yukhnov and was switched to another controller and confirmed that they were at an altitude of 3,000 m (9,800 ft).


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Crash details
At 14:52 the two aircraft collided over Yukhnov. The An-12 was on a bearing of 106-121° with a speed of 500–529 km/h (311–329 mph; 270–286 kn); the Il-14  was on a bearing of 235-245° with a speed of 324–360 km/h (201–224 mph; 175–194 kn)h.   The aircraft first struck at the wingtips; then the An-12's nose collided with the right horizontal stabilizer of the Il-14. The An-12 lost the right wing and right wing engines from the impact, causing the aircraft to spin to the ground. The Il-14 lost part of the right wing and the upper part of the fuselage. The An-12 crashed in a field near Vypolzovo village, and the Il-14 crashed near Trinity village. The aircraft fell approximately 3,800 m (12,500 ft) apart from each other. All 120 people aboard both aircraft perished.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Causes
The investigation into the crash found that the pilots of the Ilyushin Il-14 disobeyed instructions from air traffic control and climbed to the altitude of 3,000 m (9,800 ft) to avoid the clouds and turbulence, where the formation of Antonov An-12s were flying. The collision occurred at an altitude of 2,910–2,960 m (9,550–9,710 ft), the Il-14 should have been flying at an altitude of 2,700 m (8,900 ft). The pilots of the An-12 were also found to be at fault for flying slightly lower than their assigned altitude of 3,000 m (9,800 ft).


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Memorial
Vasily Margelov, Commander of the Airborne Forces and General of the Army, decided that a memorial would be constructed in memory of the fallen soldiers. Money was raised for the construction of a monument to the dead soldiers. In total, 250 thousand rubles were collected. A year after the disaster, the memorial was constructed at the site the An-12 crashed. The monument, designed by Yevgeny Vuchetich, depicts a kneeling mother and paratrooper and contains the inscription: Eternal memory to the heroes-paratroopers and pilots. Next to the monument is a platform with 96 marble slabs, each with naming a soldier killed in the accident.


1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision, Memorial
At the site of the crashed Ilyushin Il-14 there is a monument to the pilots and passengers.


1969 Zambian constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Zambia on 17 June 1969. The referendum proposed amending the constitution to remove the requirement for future amendments of clauses protecting fundamental rights to go to a public referendum, and instead require only a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. The referendum was passed with 85% voting in favour of the change. Voter turnout was 69.5%.


1969 in Afghanistan
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Afghanistan.


1969 in Afghanistan
Domestically, the year is one of quiet administrative and economic progress. The division of powers among the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary laid down in the 1964 constitution, although virtually completed in 1968, entails much detailed work in its precise application to existing institutions. This is especially true in the judicial field, where the structure and functions of the lower courts, previously shaped largely by tradition, are found to need considerable alteration. The changes necessitated in this, as in other branches of the administration, are effected with little friction, due to the popularity of the prime minister and to the steady support which he receives from the king.


1969 in Afghanistan
In the economic field, the policy of mobilizing local resources to replace by degrees the massive foreign aid furnished by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. continues in accordance with Afghan determination to avoid undue dependence on external help. The main difficulty lies in the shortage of capital for investment in the private sector; and in spite of the inducements proffered by the government growth is slow.


1969 in Afghanistan
In foreign affairs, the traditional Afghan desire to preserve complete autonomy regardless of external aid and to maintain friendly relations with other countries remains dominant. India's desire for close relations is shown by a visit from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and by Indian aid in the restoration of the Bamiyan antiquities. Relations with Pakistan and with its new government after the fall of President Mohammad Ayub Khan are correct rather than cordial because of continued Afghan support for the promotion of Pakhtunistan.


1969 in Afghanistan
This support again becomes vocal when the Pakistan government incorporates the states of Dir, Swat, and Chitral, hitherto domestically autonomous, into the administrative structure of West Pakistan, in accordance, it is claimed, with the wishes of the states' peoples. The resulting resentment in Afghanistan does not last, and the country's policy of friendly neutrality toward both the Communist and non-Communist worlds continues smoothly.


1969 in Afghanistan, May 1969
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin arrives to attend the country's 50th independence day celebrations.


1969 in Afghanistan, Early June 1969
As Afghanistan does not escape the worldwide spread of radical ideas among the student population, the government finds it necessary to close Kabul University temporarily because of student unrest. Secondary schools in the capital are also shut, but there are no serious disturbances.


1969 in Afghanistan, 29 August - 11 September 1969
Afghanistan holds its second free parliamentary election since the introduction of the constitution in 1964, with candidates standing for the 216 seats of the House of the People and for one-third of the House of Elders. Many conservative local landowners who have shunned the first election campaign for office and win seats. Often they win at the expense of more liberal, national-minded incumbents; the new parliament, thus, is more conservative than the previous one.


1969 in Afghanistan, 29 August - 11 September 1969
Since political parties were not legalized in time for the elections, most of the candidates are men of local prominence again chosen for their personal prestige rather than their political views.


1969 in Afghanistan, 29 August - 11 September 1969
Turnout is much higher than in 1965, but still only about 50%; except in times of national crisis political life is so highly localized that interest in central institutions remains minimal, although in Kabul and its environs live broadcasts of the proceedings in Parliament, which result in the confirmation (as required by the 1964 constitution) of Prime Minister Nur Ahmad Etemadi and his new cabinet, attract large crowds of listeners.


1969 in Argentina, Deaths
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1969 in Argentina, Deaths
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1969 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Australia.


1969 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1969.


1969 in Australian literature, Births
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1969 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.


1969 in Australian literature, Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1969 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.


1969 in Australian soccer
The 1969 season was the 86th season of competitive association football in Australia.


1969 in Belgian television
This is a list of Belgian television related events from 1969.


1969 in Brazilian football
The following article presents a summary of the 1969 football (soccer) season in Brazil, which was the 68th season of competitive football in the country.


1969 in Brazilian football, Brazil national team
The following table lists all the games played by the Brazil national football team in official competitions and friendly matches during 1969.


1969 in Brazilian television
This is a list of Brazilian television related events from 1969.


1969 in British music
This is a summary of 1969 in music in the United Kingdom.


1969 in British radio
This is a list of events in British radio during 1969.


1969 in British television
This is a list of British television related events from 1969.


1969 in Canadian television
The following is a list of events affecting Canadian television in 1969. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings.


1969 in Cape Verde
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Cape Verde.


1969 in Chile
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Chile.


1969 in Croatian television
This is a list of Croatian television related events from 1969.


1969 in Danish television
This is a list of Danish television related events from 1969.


1969 in Dutch television
This is a list of Dutch television related events from 1969.


1969 in Estonia
This article lists events that occurred during 1969 in Estonia.


1969 in Estonian television
This is a list of Estonian television related events from 1969.


1969 in French television
This is a list of French television related events from 1969.


1969 in German television
This is a list of German television related events from 1969.


1969 in Iceland
The following lists events that happened in 1969 in Iceland.


1969 in India
Events in the year 1969 in the Republic of India.


1969 in Ireland, Sports
Gaelic Football Finals: Kerry 0–10 Offaly 0–7Hurling Finals: Kilkenny 2–15 Cork 2–9


1969 in Irish television
The following is a list of events relating to television in Ireland from 1969.


1969 in Israel, Events, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 1969 include:


1969 in Israel, Events, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent Palestinian terror attacks committed against Israelis during 1969 include:


1969 in Israel, Events, Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent Israeli military counter-terrorism operations (military campaigns and military operations) carried out against Palestinian militants during 1969 include:


1969 in Italian television
This is a list of Italian television related events from 1969.


1969 in Laos
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Laos.


1969 in Libya
The following lists events that happened in 1969 in Libya.


1969 in Luxembourg
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.


1969 in Malaysia
This article lists important figures and events in Malaysian public affairs during the year 1969, together with births and deaths of notable Malaysians. Race riots following the general election of 10 May led to the dissolution of parliament and an interim legislative council being put in place.


1969 in Michigan
The Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) each selected the top 10 stories in Michigan for 1969, including the following:


1969 in Michigan
The UPI also selected the state's top 10 sports stories as follows:


1969 in Michigan
In music, the year's highlights in Michigan included albums from Michigan bands Tommy James and the Shondells (featuring "Crimson and Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion"), The Stooges (featuring "I Wanna Be Your Dog"), Bob Seger (featuring "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"), the MC5 (Kick Out the Jams), Alice Cooper, and Grand Funk Railroad, and Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. continued to produce hit records by The Temptations ("I Can't Get Next to You"), Diana Ross & the Supremes ("Someday We'll Be Together"), Stevie Wonder ("My Cherie Amour"), The Jackson 5 ("I Want You Back"), and Marvin Gaye ("Too Busy Thinking About My Baby").


1969 in Michigan, Population
In the 1960 United States Census, Michigan was recorded as having a population of 7,823,194 persons, ranking as the seventh most populous state in the country. By 1970, the state's population had grown 13.4% to 8,875,083 persons.


1969 in Michigan, Population, Cities
The following is a list of cities in Michigan with a population of at least 60,000 based on 1960 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1950 and 1970 is included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases. Cities that are part of the Detroit metropolitan area are shaded in tan.


1969 in Michigan, Population, Counties
The following is a list of counties in Michigan with populations of at least 100,000 based on 1960 U.S. Census data. Historic census data from 1950 and 1970 are included to reflect trends in population increases or decreases. Counties that are part of the Detroit metropolitan area are shaded in tan.


1969 in Michigan, Music
Michigan and/or Motown acts performed 14 of the songs ranked on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1969, as follows:


1969 in Michigan, Music
Albums released by Michigan and/or Motown acts in 1969 included the following:


1969 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in New Zealand.


1969 in New Zealand, Incumbents, Government
The 35th parliament concluded and a general election was held on 26 November. It saw the Second National Government of New Zealand returned for a fourth term, with 45 of the 84 seats. The Social Credit Party lost its only seat. The overall vote was very close, with National only 1% ahead of Labour in total votes cast.


1969 in New Zealand, Arts and literature, Radio and television
See : 1969 in New Zealand television, 1969 in television, List of TVNZ television programming, Public broadcasting in New Zealand Category:Television in New Zealand, Category:New Zealand television shows.


1969 in New Zealand, Arts and literature, Film
See : Category:1969 film awards, 1969 in film, List of New Zealand feature films, Cinema of New Zealand, Category:1969 films


1969 in Norwegian football
The 1969 season was the 64th season of competitive football in Norway.


1969 in Norwegian music
The following is a list of notable events and releases of the year 1969 in Norwegian music.


1969 in Norwegian television
This is a list of Norwegian television related events from 1969.


1969 in Norwegian television, Deaths
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1969 in Pakistan, Events
1969 – General Ayub Khan resigns and General Yahya Khan takes over.


1969 in Portugal, Arts and entertainment
Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, with Simone de Oliveira and the song "Desfolhada portuguesa".


1969 in Portugal, Sport
In association football, for the first-tier league seasons, see 1968–69 Primeira Divisão and 1969–70 Primeira Divisão; for the Taça de Portugal seasons, see 1968–69 Taça de Portugal and 1969–70 Taça de Portugal.


1969 in Portuguese television
This is a list of Portuguese television related events from 1969.


1969 in Rwanda
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Rwanda.


1969 in Scottish television
This is a list of events in Scottish television from 1969.


1969 in Singapore
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Singapore.


1969 in Somalia
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in Somalia.


1969 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in South Africa.


1969 in Spanish television
This is a list of Spanish television related events from 1969.


1969 in Swedish football
The 1969 season in Swedish football, starting April 1969 and ending November 1969:


1969 in Swedish television
This is a list of Swedish television related events from 1969.


1969 in Taiwan
Events in the year 1969 in Taiwan, Republic of China. This year is numbered Minguo 58 according to the official Republic of China calendar.


1969 in Thailand
The year 1969 was the 188th year of the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Thailand. It was the 24th year in the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), and is reckoned as year 2512 in the Buddhist Era.


1969 in Thailand, Events
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1969 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1969 to Wales and its people.


1969 in architecture
The year 1969 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.


1969 in association football
The following are the football (soccer) events of the year 1969 throughout the world.


1969 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the year 1969  throughout the world.


1969 in baseball, Expansion
Four expansion teams joined Major League Baseball for this season: the San Diego Padres, the Kansas City Royals, the Seattle Pilots, and the first MLB team in Canada, the Montreal Expos. To accommodate the additional teams, the two leagues were split into two divisions of East and West. For the first time, extra post-season playoff series were added prior to the World Series, at this juncture best-of-five series between the East and West division leaders in each league.


1969 in baseball, Champions, Major League Baseball
The most notable part of the 1969 season were the Miracle Mets


1969 in baseball, MLB statistical leaders
The save is introduced as an official statistic this year. Ron Perranoski lead the majors with 31.


1969 in comics
Notable events of 1969 in comics. See also List of years in comics. This is a list of comics-related events in 1969.


1969 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1969.


1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events, with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid dominating the U.S. box office and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all time and Midnight Cowboy, a film rated X, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture.


1969 in film, Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1969 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:


1969 in fine arts of the Soviet Union
The year 1969 was marked by many events that left an imprint on the history of Soviet and Russian Fine Arts.


1969 in heavy metal music
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1969.


1969 in jazz
This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1969.


1969 in jazz, Events
The New England Conservatory becomes the first traditional music conservatory to offer a jazz studies course.


1969 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1969.


1969 in motorsport
The following is an overview of the events of 1969 in motorsport including the major racing events, motorsport venues that were opened and closed during a year, championships and non-championship events that were established and disestablished in a year, and births and deaths of racing drivers and other motorsport people.


1969 in motorsport, Annual events
The calendar includes only annual major non-championship events or annual events that had significance separate from the championship. For the dates of the championship events see related season articles.


1969 in music
List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1969.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
1969 was the last year in which the United States government gave greater financial support, through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) "Music Program" to opera than it did to other classical music, and the first year in which it gave any support at all to jazz and folk music.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event. In retrospect, some commentators have concluded that the violence signaled the end of the "hippie" movement, which espoused an ethos of free love and peace.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Even more famous than the Altamont concert was the Woodstock festival, which consisted of dozens of the most famous performers in the world at the time, playing together in an atmosphere of peace with nature and love, with many thousands of concert goers; it is still one of the largest concerts in the history of the world. One of those who performed was Ravi Shankar, his presence reflecting a growing interest in Indian and other Eastern music; Shankar later said that the 1960s "got India wrong". "Black Woodstock", the Harlem Cultural Festival, took place in New York City.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
The 1967 musical Hair generated the same-named 1968 album, whose cuts include "Aquarius" and "Let The Sunshine In", "Hair", "Good Morning Starshine", "Easy to Be Hard" (covered, chronologically and respectively, by The 5th Dimension at number 1, The Cowsills at number 2, Oliver at number 3, Three Dog Night at number 4, on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969), and others, and a London Cast album released in April 1969.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
The Isle of Wight Festival saw the return of Bob Dylan to live music after his motorbike accident in 1966.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
US and UK pop music remained popular worldwide, with few European acts making the charts outside their home countries; exceptions included Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg, Shocking Blue, Georges Moustaki and Christian Anders.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
David Bowie's "Space Oddity" became a huge hit in this year, being released at the time that American astronauts first landed on the moon. The song, the story of an astronaut named Major Tom who goes into space and is entranced by the beauty of seeing Earth from such a great distance and consequently lets himself float off into space, never again to return, was chosen by the BBC as the theme song for the television coverage of the moon landing. The remainder of the album, Man of Words/Man of Music, was too eccentric for mainstream acceptance, though it established a devoted fanbase for Bowie, who would go on to become one of the most popular musicians in the world.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King is a pioneering album in the development of progressive rock. The album drew upon influences like Procol Harum, The Moody Blues and The Nice to form a sound melding rock and roll with classical influences in long pieces of music. Similar albums by The Moody Blues, Procol Harum and The Nice, as well as Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd were also released this year, expanding the range of prog rock and developing it into a full-fledged genre.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
The Stooges' eponymous debut, The Stooges, was also released this year to little critical or popular acceptance. The album, however, went on to become one of the most important recordings in the early development of punk rock, as did Kick Out The Jams by Detroit protopunkers MC5.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Johnny Cash's At San Quentin included his only Top Ten pop hit, "A Boy Named Sue". The album was a sequel to last year's At Folsom Prison. Also in country music, Merle Haggard's Same Train, Different Time, a tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, was enormously popular and influenced the development of the Bakersfield sound into outlaw country within a few years.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Creedence Clearwater Revival cement their success from the previous year. Having had a single US number 11 hit in 1968 with "Suzie Q", they release not only their second, but also their third and fourth proper studio album in 1969, as well as drawing a total of four top 3 hits from these three albums. Starting with Bayou Country, including the US number 2 hit "Proud Mary", and continuing with Green River and finally Willy and the Poor Boys, which, during the year, transformed them from an up-and-coming underground act to bona fide rockstars. During 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival had number 2 hits in the US with "Proud Mary", "Green River" and "Bad Moon Rising", and also have a number 3 hit with "Down on the Corner"/"Fortunate Son".


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso released enormously popular albums in Brazil, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, respectively. The pair's fusion of bossa nova, samba and other native Brazilian folk influences, melded with politically and socially aware lyrics, kickstarted what came to be known as Tropicalia. Both musicians moved to London after a period of imprisonment for anti-government activities in Brazil.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Family released their second album, Family Entertainment, in their native Britain. It is their first top 10 album in the United Kingdom, hitting number six. "The Weaver's Answer", which opens the record, becomes their most popular song in their concert performances. By the end of the year, however, they lose and replace two members, and their first attempt to break through commercially in the United States backfires miserably.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Elvis Presley returned to live performances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas; breaking all attendance records in his 57-concert run. He also enjoyed great success with his songs "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds".


1969 in music, Events, Summary
The Wendy Carlos album Switched-On Bach was one of the first classical albums to sell 500,000 copies, and helped bring classical music into the popular sphere, as did Mason Williams' "Classical Gas", played on classical guitar, in addition to being accompanied by one of the first successful music videos. The composition won three Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental Composition, Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental, and Best Instrumental Arrangement.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
In the meantime, German trumpeter Manfred Schoof's free jazz album, European Echoes, a recording of his half-hour free improvisation broadcast on German radio in June 1969, featured international musicians and is regarded as a seminal album in the genre. Alexander von Schlippenbach’s The Living Music, recorded a couple of months earlier, is also now regarded as a pioneering work.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
Chutney music was also first recorded in 1969, in Trinidad and Tobago by Sundar Popo.


1969 in music, Events, Summary
New York City Ballet celebrates their 25th anniversary with performances at the David H. Koch Theater Lincoln Center.


1969 in music, Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highest in the charts of 1969.


1969 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1969.


1969 in paleontology, Paleozoology, Vertebrate paleozoology, Archosauromorphs
Preoccupied by Syntarsus Fairmaire, 1869. Renamed Megapnosaurus, now a junior synonym of Coelophysis.


1969 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1969 in poetry, Works published in English
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:


1969 in poetry, Works published in English, United Kingdom, Children of Albion poetry anthology
Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain, edited by Michael Horovitz, was the first anthology to present a wide-ranging selection of the new British Poetry Revival movement. Poems from these writers were included in it:


1969 in poetry, Works published in other languages
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:


1969 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1969 in professional wrestling
1969 in professional wrestling describes the year's events in the world of professional wrestling.


1969 in radio
Significant events in radio broadcasting in the year 1969 included the debuts of two documentaries on rock and roll.


1969 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1969.


1969 in science
The year 1969 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.


1969 in spaceflight
1969 saw humanity step onto another world for the first time. On 20th July 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Eagle, landed on the Moon's surface with two astronauts aboard. Days later the crew of three returned safely to Earth, satisfying U.S. President John F. Kennedy's 1962 challenge of 25 May 1961, that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."


1969 in spaceflight
There were four Apollo missions in total in 1969, three of which traveled to the Moon, with Apollo 12 also landing on the surface. The success of the Apollo program was a testament to the efforts of over 500,000 American engineers, scientists and technicians.


1969 in spaceflight
In 1969, the Soviet Union's space program had success with the docking of two crewed spacecraft as well as the success of their Venus and Lunar probes. The Soviets, however, suffered severe blows to their crewed Lunar aspirations when their N1 rocket failed twice during two 1969 launches.


1969 in sports
1969 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1969 in television
The year 1969 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1969.


1969 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The following lists events that happened during 1969 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


1969 in the Philippines
1969 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in 1969.


1969 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1969 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the beginnings of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
A Vietcong (VC) bomb exploded in a messhall at Củ Chi Base Camp killing 15 Americans mostly from the 554th Engineer Battalion and two Vietnamese kitchen staff.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
The South Vietnamese Minister of Education, Dr. Le Minh Tri, was killed when two VC on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade through the window of the car in which he was riding.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
In Operation Bold Mariner the 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines clear, search and depopulate the Batangan Peninsula a VC stronghold in Quảng Ngãi Province.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
During Operation Toan Thang II a convoy of the 48th Transportation Group was ambushed in Tây Ninh Province, 122 PAVN/VC were killed and three individual and one crew-served weapons were captured; U.S. losses were seven killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
The parties to the Paris Peace Talks came to an agreement on the shape of the conference tables and the placement of the representatives who were negotiating an end to the war. After being delayed for nearly six weeks over procedural disagreements raised by South Vietnamese Vice President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, the parties came to an accord that "The two sides would be 'clearly separated' by two rectangular tables with a round one in the middle" and that the tables would have "no nameplates, no flags and no written minutes of the understanding" on the setup.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
Richard Nixon is inaugurated as 37th President of the United States.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
The White House issues National Security Study Memorandum 1 to the U.S. Ambassador in Saigon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) "to develop an agreed evaluation of the situation in Vietnam as a basis for making policy decisions."


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
The U.S. 3rd Marine Division launched Operation Dewey Canyon to attack People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) base areas in the A Shau and Song Đa Krông Valleys of Quảng Trị Province. The operation results in 1,617 PAVN killed while 130 Marines were killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
An ambush patrol of Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines observed approximately 300 PAVN cross the Song Ky Lam River, 6km west of Điện Bàn. The company called in artillery fire and then engaged the unit, with Company D, 5th Marines joining the action. A search of the area at dawn found 72 PAVN dead.


1969 in the Vietnam War, January
The first M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles arrived in South Vietnam and were deployed by the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
U.S. Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces begin the multi-division Operation Toan Thang III to keep pressure on PAVN/VC forces in III Corps. The operation results in 41,803 PAVN/VC killed and 3,299 captured, U.S. losses were 1,533 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
The PAVN launches the Tet 1969 offensive against U.S. military targets near Saigon and Da Nang. The attacks were quickly beaten off. In the attack on Bien Hoa Air Base the PAVN lost 264 killed and 87 captured while ARVN losses were 10 killed and U.S. losses were one killed. Around Da Nang the PAVN/VC lost over 500 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
The PAVN attacked Tiên Phước Camp which was defended by the 5th Special Forces Detachment A-102 and Civilian Irregular Defense Group program (CIDG) forces. The base was secured the following morning for a loss of 1 U.S. and 54 CIDG killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
A PAVN rocket attack on Da Nang Air Base destroyed a 450,000 gallon fuel tank beside the base and damaged a Marine A-6 Intruder.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
PAVN sappers attacked Hill 327 and the positions of the 2nd Battalion 7th Marines northwest of the Hill, both attacks were beaten back with 18 Marines killed and 80 wounded while the PAVN lost 75 killed or captured.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
A PAVN sapper attack on Dầu Tiếng Base Camp resulted in 21 U.S. and 73 PAVN killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
The PAVN 271st and 272nd Regiments attacked Patrol Base Diamond I occupied by the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment. The attack was repulsed with artillery and gunship fire with an estimated 118 PAVN killed and two captured.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
A PAVN sapper attack on Củ Chi Base Camp destroyed nine Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters of the 242nd Assault Support Helicopter Company.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
A PAVN rocket hit LCU-1500 while it was loading at the Bridge Ramp in Da Nang killing 13 crewmen.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
In the Fourth Battle of Nakhang the PAVN 316th Division overran Royal Lao Army (RLA) forces at Lima Site 36 at Na Khang. The PAVN lost an estimated 250 killed and the RLA lost nine killed. The PAVN lost 26 killed while an entire RLA battalion was killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
The U.S. 101st Airborne Division and ARVN 1st Division launch Operation Massachusetts Striker to keep pressure on the PAVN in the southern A Shau Valley. The operation results in 223 PAVN killed and two captured while U.S. losses were 59 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, February
The 11th Light Infantry Brigade launches Operation Iron Mountain to attack PAVN/VC bases and logistics routes in southeastern Quảng Ngãi Province. The operation results in 4,589 PAVN/VC killed and 137 captured while U.S. losses are 440 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 4th Marine Regiment launches Operation Purple Martin against three PAVN regiments operating near the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The operation results in 347 PAVN killed and approximately 100 Marines killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
In the DMZ Campaign (1969-71) the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) assumed responsibility for the defense of the DMZ from the 3rd Marine Division as it withdrew from South Vietnam.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
Chinese People's Liberation Army troops attacked Soviet border guards on Zhenbao Island, marking a new low in relations between North Vietnam's principal allies.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
Village and hamlet elections were held throughout South Vietnam, largely free of PAVN/VC interference.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
Ben Het Camp was attacked by the PAVN 66th Regiment, supported by armored vehicles of the 4th Battalion, 202nd Armored Regiment. Two PT-76s and one BTR-50 were destroyed by U.S. M-48s of the 1st Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment in one of the few armored battles of the war.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
Company A, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry loses 21 killed fighting a PAVN battalion at Landing Zone Brace in the Plei Trap Valley approximately 44 km west of Kontum.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
South Vietnamese Prime Minister, Tran Van Huong, narrowly escaped assassination by a four man VC team as he was being driven to his home in Saigon. Huong's car was attacked by the VC who were wearing stolen uniforms of the Vietnamese Rangers however Saigon police and ARVN troops opened fire and gave the driver time to accelerate and escape.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 3rd Marine Division and a regiment from the ARVN 1st Division launch Operation Maine Crag in the "Vietnam Salient" of Quảng Trị Province. The operation uncovered large amounts of supplies and resulted in 207 PAVN killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment conducted Operation Atlas Wedge in the Michelin Rubber Plantation, resulting in 335 PAVN killed and 11 captured for the loss of seven U.S. killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
Operation Raindance was a USAF interdiction bombing campaign to support RLA forces fighting the PAVN/Pathet Lao on the Plain of Jars.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
Operation Menu was the codename of a covert United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia from 18 March 1969 until 26 May 1970. The supposed targets of these attacks were PAVN/VC sanctuaries and base areas used for resupply, training, and resting between campaigns across the border in the South Vietnam.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 196th Light Infantry Brigade and ARVN 5th Regiment, 2nd Division launch Operation Frederick Hill to pacify the coastal areas of Quảng Tín Province. The operation results in 7,514 PAVN/VC killed and 133 captured, U.S. losses are 572 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 198th Light Infantry Brigade and ARVN 6th Regiment, 2nd Division launch Operation Geneva Park to pacify Quảng Ngãi Province. the operation results in 2,337 PAVN killed and 67 captured, U.S. losses are 231 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines and elements of the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division launch Operation Montana Mauler against the PAVN 27th Regiment north of Firebase Fuller in Quảng Trị Province. The operation results in 271 PAVN killed, U.S. losses are 38 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The VC attacked Tam Soc Base in Sóc Trăng Province killing two U.S. advisers from MACV Advisory team 71 and capturing another two, both of whom died in captivity.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their first Bed-In for Peace at the Hilton Amsterdam.


1969 in the Vietnam War, March
The 1st Marine Division and ARVN 51st Regiment, 1st Division launch Operation Oklahoma Hills in southwest Quảng Nam Province. the operation results in 589 PAVN killed, U.S. losses are 43 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
The number of American military personnel in Vietnam peaked at 543,000. Tensions and casualties start escalating months after the Vietnam War begins both in Vietnam and back home in the United States.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
The U.S. Department of Defense announced that the death toll for American soldiers in the war had exceeded the 32,629 who had died in the Korean War, based on 312 additional deaths during the week from March 22 to March 28 to bring the toll to 33,641.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
National Security Study Memorandum 36 required an interagency plan with specific timetables for turning over the war to the South Vietnamese on the basis of four alternative timetables (18, 24, 30 and 42 months), with a starting date of 1 July 1969.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
A PAVN/VC attack on Patrol Base Diamond III was repulsed with 198 PAVN/VC killed and eight captured and 40 individual and 42 crew-served weapons captured; U.S. losses were 13 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, ARVN 2nd Division and 22nd Division and Regional Force and Popular Forces launch Operation Washington Green a security and pacification operation in Bình Định Province. The operation results in 1,957 PAVN/VC killed, U.S. losses are 227 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
President Nixon announced that he would order the withdrawal of 150,000 U.S. troops from South Vietnam over the next 12 months in a gradual policy of Vietnamization, putting more responsibility on the South Vietnamese.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
In one of the first Fragging incidents of the war, a grenade was thrown into the office of K Company, 9th Marine Regiment, at Quảng Trị Combat Base, killing First Lieutenant Robert T. Rohweller. Private Reginald F. Smith pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder and was sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment; he died in custody on 25 June 1982.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
Elements of the PAVN 271st Regiment attacked Patrol Base Frontier City southeast of Tây Ninh. The attack was countered with intensive fire from fixed wing and helicopter gunships and the PAVN lost 214 killed and six captured for no U.S. losses.


1969 in the Vietnam War, April
A grass fire spread to the Marines/Navy ammunition supply point 1 near Hill 327 causing a massive explosion and fire.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
The 3rd Marine Regiment launches Operation Virginia Ridge to engage the PAVN 27th and 36th Regiments near the central DMZ. The operation results in 560 PAVN killed and 17 captured, Marine losses were 16 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
A CH-47 carrying 83 persons crashed 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Phước Vĩnh Base Camp, killing 40 of those on board.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
The U.S. 101st Airborne Division and ARVN 1st Division launch Operation Apache Snow in the A Shau Valley. The operation results in 977 PAVN killed and five captured while U.S. losses were 113 killed and ARVN losses were 31 killed. Most of the U.S. casualties were in the Battle of Hamburger Hill from May 13-20 where U.S. forces attacked heavily fortified PAVN positions on Hill 937. 630 PAVN, 72 U.S. and 31 ARVN were killed in the fighting for Hill 937.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
An estimated 600 PAVN troops attacked Landing Zone Oasis resulting in 11 U.S. killed and three captured and over 100 PAVN killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
The PAVN V-16 Sapper Battalion attacked Landing Zone Professional occupied by elements of the 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 14th Artillery. The attack was repulsed but the PAVN continued to mortar the base and set up heavy machine guns to prevent helicopter resupply, shooting down a CH-47B on 15 May.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
The PAVN 6th Regiment and K-12 Sapper Battalion attacked the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 11th Artillery and 2nd Battalion, 319th Artillery on Firebase Airborne killing 22 U.S. for the loss of 40 PAVN killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
Units of the PAVN 7th Infantry Division attacked Firebase Gela, the assault was repulsed for the loss of three U.S. and an estimated 39 PAVN soldiers killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
The 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division launches Operation Lamar Plain in Quảng Tín Province. The operation results in 524 PAVN/VC killed and 21 captured and U.S. losses were 116 killed and one missing.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
Elements of the VC 5th Division attacked Xuân Lộc Base Camp which was defended by the 7th Battalion, 9th Artillery Regiment and the 2nd Battalion, 35th Artillery Regiment, 54th Artillery Group. The VC penetrated the perimeter but were eventually driven out airstrikes and a unit of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. The attack resulted in 24 VC and 14 U.S. killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, May
The 1st Marine Division, ARVN 51st Regiment and Republic of Korea Marine Corps 2nd Marine Brigade launch Operation Pipestone Canyon to pacify and clear Go Noi Island, Quảng Nam Province. The operation results in 852 PAVN/VC killed and 58 captured, U.S. Marine losses were 71 killed.


1969 in the Vietnam War, June
During their second Bed-in for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and friends record Give Peace a Chance which is released as a single in July 1969.