January 30: The Beatles give their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. January 25: In Paris, the US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin, one of the major 1969 events of the month.

January 20: During his first inaugural address, Richard Nixon proclaims Americans “cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another…the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. January 15: Yevgeny Khrunov (d.2000 at 67) becomes the first astronaut to transfer between linked capsules as the Russian Soyuz 5 goes into orbit. January 20: Richard Milhous Nixon succeeds Lyndon Baines Johnson as the 37th President of the United States of America.

The New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts, 16-7. January 12: The Super Bowl III takes place at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Police confiscate 30,000 copies of the album. January 3: In Newark, NJ, a nude photo of John and Yoko on the cover of their album, “Two Virgins” violates pornography laws in Jersey. January 2: “Operation Barrier Reef” commences in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

January 2: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch gains full control of media outlet “News of the World.” January 2: Lorraine Hansberry’s play “To Be Young, Gifted & Black,” (1930-1965) premieres in NYC. Headlines at the time from 1969 newspapers all detailed the tumultuous year still fresh in our minds. A chain of famous events in 1969 would change the world for the good and bad, leaving its mark in history as one of the most culturally defining years to date. Some of the year’s most notorious events: The first-ever Concorde test flight is conducted in France 350,000 music fans attend Woodstock the members of Charles Manson’s cult murder five people and the first man lands on the moon… The swinging sixties quivered with change.

Summer 69 book