August 15, 1969 -- Woodstock Music Festival in the town of Bethel in upstate New York takes place.

August 9, 1969 -- Sharon Tate and four other people are found dead in her Beverly Hills home.  Followers of Charles Manson are later convicted of the crime.

July 20, 1969 -- Men land on the moon.  Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon at 10:56 PM, saying, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

July 19, 1969 -- Ted Kennedy drives off Chappaquiddick bridge, killing Mary Jo Kopechne.

July 5, 1969 -- Rod Laver beats John Newcombe in the Wimbledon final, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

June 22, 1969 -- Judy Garland dies in London at the age of 47.

June 6, 1969 -- Important art exhibits of 1969: "Harlem On My Mind" at the Metropolitan, de Kooning at MOMA, Peggy Guggenheim's Picassos at the Guggenheim, Mexican art in Philadelphia, Moholy-Nagy in Chicago

June 1, 1969 -- Belgrade boycotts the International Communist Congress.

May 21, 1969 -- President Nixon nominates Warren Burger as Chief Justice to succeed Earl Warren, assuring a rightward shift of the court.

May 13, 1969 -- President Nixon calls for a draft lottery, with 19 year-olds first.

May 5, 1969 -- The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the seventh game of the NBA finals to win their 11th championship in 13 seasons.

May 4, 1969 -- The Montreal Canadiens beat the St. Louis Blues to retain the Stanley Cup.

May 3, 1969 -- Majestic Prince wins the Kentucky Derby.

April 22, 1969 -- Twenty-one year old Bernadette Devlin makes her first speech at the House of Commons.

April 17, 1969 -- Alexander Dubcek replaced by Gustav Husak as secretary of the Czech communist party

April 12, 1969 -- The Top Five Billboard Hits -- 1. Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In -- The Fifth Dimension, 2. You've Made Me So Very Happy -- Blood, Sweat, and Tears, 3. Dizzy -- Tommy Roe, 4. Galveston -- Glen Campbell, 5. Time of the Season -- The Zombies

April 8, 1969 -- Dr. Denton A. Cooley performs the first implant of an artificial heart in Houston.

April 5, 1969 -- Thousands march in NYC in protest against the war in Vietnam.

April 2, 1969 -- 21 Black Panthers are indicted in New York for plot to kill policemen.

March 28, 1969 -- Dwight Eisenhower dies at the age of 78.

March 22, 1969 -- UCLA beats Kentucky for NCAA basketball title.

March 17, 1969 -- Golda Meir is sworn in as Premier of Israel.

March 11, 1969 -- James Earl Ray pleads guilty to killing Martin Luther King and receives a 99-year jail sentence.

March 3, 1969 -- Sirhan Sirhan testifies that he killed Robert Kennedy.

March 1, 1969 -- Mickey Mantle announces his retirement from baseball.

February 19, 1969 -- Iraq executes seven as spies for Israel.

February 12, 1969 -- Israel shoots down Syrian  MIG-21.

February 10, 1969 -- 14 dead in New York City as the biggest snowstorm in seven years strikes.

February 8, 1969 -- The Boeing 747, world's largest commercial airplane, makes its first flight.

February 3, 1969 --  Oil companies agree to shut down wells as oil slick threatens Santa Barbara beaches.

Janiuary 26, 1969 -- Two days of mudslides and flooding leave 11 dead in California.

January 26, 1969 -- Police evict 1,200 students at Nairobi University.

January 19, 1969 -- Viet Cong flag placed on steeple at Notre Dame in Paris.

January 17, 1969 -- Roy Cohn, one-time aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, indicted for bribery, conspiracy, and extortion.

January 16, 1969 -- Ten paintings at the Metropolitan Museum in New York are defaced, including a Rembrandt.

January 14, 1969 -- Blast on US aircraft carrier Enterprise kills 24, injures 85.

January 8, 1969 -- Eighty-one Cubans shoot their way past guards at Guantanamo base and fly to Florida.

January 7, 1969 -- Trial begins for Sirhan Sirhan, accused of the murder of Robert Kennedy.

January 6, 1969 -- US presidential salary raised from $100,000 to $200,000.

January 5, 1969 -- Presdident-elect Nixon designates Henry Cabot Lodge to be chief US negotiator at the Paris peace accords.

January 1, 1969 -- Ohio State beats USC in the Rose Bowl, 27-16.

December 27, 1968 -- Apollo 8 astronauts return from first trip orbiting the moon.

December 26, 1968 -- US tennis team defeats Australia to regain the Davis Cup.

December 19, 1968 -- Socialist Norman Thomas, six-time candidate for president, dies at 84.

December 16, 1968 -- Spain repeals 1492 law expelling Jews.  (Better late than never.)

December 11, 1968 -- US Department of Labor reports unemployment at 3.3%, the lowest rate in fifteen years.

December 10, 1968 -- Japan's biggest heist -- the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery" -- occurs in Tokyo.

Decmber 8, 1968 -- South Vietnamese Ky arrives in Paris for peace talks.

December 6, 1968 -- French Communists issue a declaration asserting their policy independence from the Soviet Union.

November 30, 1968 -- Grammy award winners: Record of the Year -- Simon & Garfunkel for "Mrs. Robinson"; Song of the Year (songwriter) -- Bobby Russell for "Little Green Apples"; Album of the Year -- Glen Campbell for "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"; Best Vocal Performance (male)-- Jose Feliciano for "Light My Fire"; Best Vocal Performance (female) -- Dionne Warwick for "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" 

November 27, 1968 -- In California, a warrant is issued for the arrest of of Eldridge Cleaver (SOUL ON ICE) for a parole violation.

November 24, 1968 -- Co-op City, the largest cooperative housing project in the US, is dedicated in the Bronx, NY, on the site of the old Freedomland amusement park.

November 21, 1968 -- Top movie box-office newcomers of the year: Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, Katharine Houghton, Estelle Parsons, Judy Geeson, Robert Drivas, Robert Blake, Jim Brown, Gayle Hunnicut, Carol White

November 17, 1968 -- Students in Prague occupy university buildings in support of progressive reform.

November 15, 1968 -- New words and phrases for 1968: acid rock ... be-in ... dime bag ... mind-expanding ... crash pad ... minibus ... cassette

November 14, 1968 -- Yale University announces plans to admit women to its undergraduate college. Princeton and Sarah Lawrence also "go co-ed."

November 12, 1968 -- U.S. Supreme Court voids Arkansas law banning the teaching of evolutionary theory in public schools.

November 8, 1968 -- Bruce Reynolds, the last suspect in the Great Train Robbery, is arrested after a five-year search.

November 7, 1968 -- Crowds in Prague burn Soviet flags and battle police.

November 5, 1968 -- Nixon wins re-election over Hubert Humphrey; Shirley Chisholm (D-Brooklyn) becomes the first black female ever elected to the House of Representatives.

November 2, 1968 -- The New York Times fiction bestselling books are THE SALZBURG CONNECTION (MacInnes), AIRPORT (Hailey), and PRESERVE AND PROTECT (Drury).  The non-fiction bestsellers are THE MONEY GAME (Smith), MEMOIRS: SIXTY YEARS ON THE FIRING LINE (Krock), and THE RICH AND THE SUPER-RICH (Lundberg).

October 31, 1968 -- President Johnson announces a cessation to all air, naval, and military bombardment of North Vietnam.

October 27, 1968 -- "Hey Jude" is still the #1 single in the USA, in the middle of nine-week reign at the top of the charts.  It was the group's most successful single and, at seven minutes and eleven seconds, the longest #1 record of all time.

October 23, 1968 -- Students seize control of an office building on the University of California at Berkeley campus.

October 22, 1968 -- Apollo 7 splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean after a "perfect mission."

October 20, 1968 -- Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on the island of Skorpios; Dick Fosbury wins gold in the high jump with his revolutionary "Fosbury flop."

October 19, 1968 -- Bill Toomey wins gold in the decathalon. 

October 18, 1968 -- Tommie Smith and John Carlos are ousted from the Olympics for raising their fists in a black power salute during their medal ceremony.  Bob Beamon shatters the long jump record by almost two feet.

October 15, 1968 -- Al Oerter sets an Olympic record, winning his fourth consecutive gold medal in the discus throw.

October 14, 1968 -- Jim Hines (100 m) and Randy Matson (shot put) win the first Olympic gold medals for the USA.

October 13, 1968 -- British-Rhodesian peace talks in Gibraltar end in failure.

October 12, 1968 -- One hundred thousand people attend the opening of the Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

October 10, 1968 -- The Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in the final game of the World Series, 4-1

October 9, 1968 -- Collector Norton Simon pays $1.55 million for a Renoir, a record for an Impressionist painting.

October 5, 1968 -- Panel on Columbia University student Spring riots say that the police used excessive force.

October 4, 1968 -- Alexander Dubcek, the Czech leader, agrees to demands by Soviets to shelve democratic reforms and allows Soviet troops to stay inside Czech borders.

October 3, 1968 -- Troops fire on students at Mexico City university: 49 dead.

October 2, 1968 -- Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals strikes out a record 17 batters in the opening game of the World Series

October 1, 1968 -- French painter Marcel Duchamp dies at the age of 81.

September 30, 1968 -- Troops evacuate campus of National University in Mexico City.

September 29, 1968 -- Red Cross DC-4 airplane crashes, killing 55 Nigerian soldiers.  Placido Domingo makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, replacing an indisposed Franco Corelli in "Adriana Lecouvreur."

September 22, 1968 -- Hundreds of Mexican students arrested as police put down protests in Mexico City.

September 21, 1968 -- Militant students halt registration at Columbia University.

September 20, 1968 -- Illinois governor Shapiro calls out the National Guard for protection during the Democratic convention in Chicago.

September 19, 1968 -- The Mexican army seizes the National University in Mexico City to end student protests, killing eighteen.

September 17, 1968 -- The American Party nominates George Wallace for president in Texas.

September 16, 1968 -- US economic profile in 1968: GNP - +8%; Inflation - +4.2%; unemployment - 3.6%; balance of international payments - +$1.5 billion; Dow Jones average: high - 985, low - 825

September 14, 1968 -- Four hundred Viet Cong die in a 24-hour battle.  Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers wins his 30th game, first pitcher to do so since Dizzy Dean in 1934.

September 9, 1968 -- Arthur Ashe becomes the first black male to win a major tennis title -- the US Open.

September 8, 1968 -- Huey Newton, leader of the Black Panthers, is convicted of voluntary manslaughter of John Frey, an Oakland police officer, and faces two to fifteen years in prison.  Two other charges -- kidnapping and assault -- were dropped.

September 6, 1968 -- Swaziland gains its independence from Great Britain.

September 1, 1968 -- Earthquakes in northwest Iran kill more than 8,000 people.

August 30, 1968 -- Chicago police raid the headquarters of Democratic peace candidate Eugene McCarthy.

August 28, 1968 -- At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, police and protesters clash, leading to the arrest of 178.

August 27, 1968 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Merrill Lynch of insider trading. 

August 26, 1968 -- The National Student Association reports 221 major student protests in the USA since the start of the year.

August 25, 1968 -- The #1 song on the US pop charts is The Rascals' "People Got To Be Free," which will reign for five weeks.  The rest of the Top Five is "Hello, I Love You" by the Doors, "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams, "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, and "Light My Fire" by Jose Feliciano.

August 24, 1968 -- France explodes its first hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean.

August 21, 1968 -- The Soviet Union and four Warsaw Pact nations invade Czechoslovakia. 

August 20, 1968 -- Illinois Governor Shapiro calls out National Guard for protection at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

August 16, 1968 -- Dwight Eisenhower survives his seventh heart attack.

August 15, 1968 -- Nigeria turns down Red Cross plan to to airlift food to starving Biafrans.

August 13, 1968 -- Top Hollywood Box-Office Stars of the Year -- Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Dean Martin, Steve McQueen, Jack Lemmon, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Taylor

August 12, 1968 -- Led Zeppelin -- then called The New Yardbirds -- has its first rehearsal at a studio on Gerrard St. in London, playing three songs: Train Kept A-Rollin', Smokestack Lightning, and Dazed and Confused

August 11, 1968 -- Some 1968 winners: Detroit Tigers beat St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, 4-3; Joe Namath's New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, 16-7; Boston Celtics beat Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA Championship, 4-2; and the Heisman Trophy goes to O.J. Simpson of USC 

August 10, 1968 -- Race riots rage in Miami, Chicago, and Little Rock -- eight GIs killed in Vietnam in "friendly fire" strafing incident.

August 9, 1968 -- Some 1968 prices: a Chrysler -- $2,249, a Plymouth -- $2,049, a Toyota -- $1,666, a Zenith 20" color TV -- $399.95, a Sunbeam cannister vacuum -- $49.95, a Chock  Full O'Nuts chicken salad sandwich -- $0.35, a whole wheat donut -- $0.10

August 8, 1968 -- The Republican Party's national convention in Miami nominates Richard Nixon for president

August 6, 1968 -- The top-grossing films in the USA for 1968: Funny Girl, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Odd Couple, Bullitt, Romeo and Juliet

August 5, 1968 -- Ronald Reagan enters the race for the Republican nomination for president.  (He will not be nominated until the 1980 election.)

August 4, 1968 -- The Newport Pop Festival takes place in Costa Mesa, California, with an audience of more than 100,000.  Favorite acts include Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, the Chambers Brothers, Steppenwolf, and Tiny Tim.

August 2, 1968 -- Sirhan Sirhan pleads not guilty in the murder of Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles.

August 1, 1968 -- Hassanai Bolkiah is crowned as the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

July 30, 1968 -- The Beatles' Apple boutique closes in London.  Entire inventory is given away.

July 28, 1968 -- Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes orders National Guard troops into riot-torn slum areas.

July 26, 1968 -- South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years of hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government that could move forward toward ending the War.

July 25, 1968 -- Pope Paul VI issues an Encyclical Letter against artificial birth control.

July 23, 1968 -- Algerians hijack an El-Al jet and detain 21 Israelis aboard.

July 22, 1968 -- James Earl Ray pleads not guilty to the murder of Martin Luther King in Memphis.

July 20, 1968 -- U.S. President Johnson meets South Vietnamese President Thieu in Honolulu and pledges that the U.S. will pursue the Vietnamese war at its current pace.

July 17, 1968 -- National Airlines DC-8 is hijacked to Cuba with 68 people on board.

July 15, 1968 -- Commercial air travel between the USSR and USA begins.

July 13, 1968 -- Golfer Gary Player wins the British Open.

July 10, 1968 -- Dr. Benjamin Spock and others are sentenced to two years in prison for counseling draft evasion. (The verdict is appealed and later set aside.)

July 9, 1968 -- Shows currently running on Broadway -- Cabaret, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Hair, Promises, Promises, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, George M!, Plaza Suite, etc.

July 6, 1968 -- Billie Jean King wins her third straight Wimbledon women's singles title.

July 5, 1968 -- Rod Laver beats Tony Roche to win the Wimbledon men's singles title. Wilt Chamberlain is traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Los Angeles Lakers.

July 1, 1968 -- Thirty-six nations sign a nuclear non-proliferation treaty in Moscow.

June 27, 1968 -- The Number One record in the U.S. is Herb Alpert's "This Guy's In Love With You," written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.  It will stay Number One for an entire month, a soft song for a very hard time.

June 24, 1968 -- Resurrection City encampment, organized by the Poor People's Campaign, is cleared out of the Mall by the Washington DC police using tear gas.

June 23, 1968 -- Seventy-five people killed and 150 injured in stampede towards a closed exit at a Buenos Aires football stadium.

June 21, 1968 -- Floridian Hugo Vihlen completes an 84-day crossing of the Atlantic in a six-foot rowboat.

June 18, 1968 -- The US Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing.

June 16, 1968 -- The Top Ten US TV shows of 1968 -- Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Gomer Pyle USMC, Bonanza, Mayberry RFD, Family Affair, Gunsmoke, Julia, The Dean Martin Show, Here's Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies

June 13, 1968 -- The Tracy tornado, an F5 tornado, hits Tracy, Minnesota, killing nine people and injuring 150.

June 9, 1968 -- Ken Rosewall defeats Rod Laver to win the 38th French Open men's singles tennis title.

June 8, 1968 -- James Earl Ray, accused murderer of Martin Lurther King, is arrested in a London airport.

June 5, 1968 -- Robert Kennedy is shot and killed at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan after RFK's victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.

June 3, 1968 -- Artist Andy Warhol shot by actress Valeria Solanis. Warhol survives.

June 1, 1968 -- Helen Keller, symbol of human indominability, dies at the age of 87 in Westport, CT.

May 31, 1968 -- Some favorite books published in 1968 -- In the Heart of the Heart of the Country (William H. Gass), The Universal Baseball Association (Robert Coover), Armies of the Night (Norman Mailer)

May 30, 1968 -- Bobby Unser wins the first of his three Indianapolis 500 racing championships.

May 29, 1968 -- Protesters from the Poor People's Campaign storm the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.

May 28, 1968 -- "Tighten Up" by Archie Bell and the Drells is still the Number One song in the USA.

May 20, 1968 -- Soviet army troops are said to be massing on the border of Czechoslovakia, threatening the reform government of Alexander Dubcek.

May 19, 1968 -- Columbia University students are arrested after a sit-in at five buildings on the Morningside Heights campus, protesting the construction of a new gymnasium in Harlem and the university's ties to the Instutute for Defense Analysis.

May 18, 1968 -- Simon and Garfunkel continue to rule the US album charts. The soundtrack for "The Graduate" continues it nine-week reign at #1, to be supplanted by "Bookends," which goes on to top the charts for another seven weeks. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

May 17, 1968 -- American and North Vietnamese diplomats continue peace talks in Paris, aimed at ending the war in Vietnam. (The war will not end until 1975.)

May 16, 1968 -- Thousands of French students and workers protest against De Gaulle and "police repression."