1969
I watched with much anticipation recently as American astronauts launched from Cape Canaveral for the first time in nine years and then successfully connected with the ISP (International Space Station) a few days later. It was truly inspiring and soon afterwards, my thoughts took me all the way back to the year 1969 as I was in 1st grade and watching in awe on my parent’s black & white television as Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the Moon’s surface, the first human to ever do so.
So, what has changed since Neil Armstrong’s took humanity’s first steps on the moon 51 years ago? Most Americans probably were not even born yet or like me, they were too young to really be aware of what was happening around them. So, I jumped on the ol’ interweb, logged onto Wikipedia, typed “1969” into the search engine and here are some of the events that were highlighted:
January 12th: Led Zepplin released its first album
January 20th: Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th President
January 30th: The Beatles gave their last public performance
February 24th: The Mariner 6 Mars probe is launched
March 3rd: US Navy establishes the Navy Fighter Weapons School (also known as Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar
March 17th: Golda Meir becomes the first woman Prime Minister of Israel
April 4th: Dr. Denton Cooley performs the first artificial heart transplant
May 15th: The first death resulting from AIDS occurred
May 25th: Midnight Cowboy, an X-rated, Oscar winning movie is released
June 22nd: The Cuyahoga River in Ohio catches fire, leading to the creation of the EPA
July 8th: The first withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam takes place
July 20th: Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to step onto the surface of the Moon
August 9th: Sharon Tate is murdered by followers of Charles Manson
August 15th: Captain D’s is founded in Donelson, Tennessee
August 15th – 18th: Woodstock Music Festival takes place
August 18th: Long John Silver’s opens its first restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky
September 2nd: The first ATM is installed in Rockville Centre, New York
September 13th: Scooby Doo debuts on CBS
October 22nd: Led Zepplin releases its second album, Led Zepplin II
October 29th: The first message is sent over the ARPANET, the forerunner to the Internet
November 10th: Sesame Street airs its first episode
November 15th: Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy’s restaurant in Columbus, Ohio
December 1st: The first military draft lottery since WWII is held
December 4th: 2 members of the Black Panthers are shot dead in their sleep by 14 Chicago police officers
December 5th: The Rolling Stone release their Let It Bleed album.
#1 SONGS:
Sugar, Sugar – The Archies
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – The Fifth Dimension
Come Together/Something – The Beatles
Leaving on a Jet Plane – Peter, Paul & Mary
I Heard it Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye
Everyday People – Sly and the Family Stone
OSCAR WINNERS:
Best Picture: Oliver!
Best Actor: Cliff Robertson / Charley
Best Actress: Kathryn Hepburn / The Lion in Winter
Film Editing: Frank P. Keller / Bullitt
Special Visual Effects: Stanley Kubrick / 2001: A Space Odyssey
So, there you have it. A small sampling of events from 1969. When writing this post, the one thing that stands out to me the most is this: while we have made many incredible advances in technology, science, engineering and biology, we continue to struggle with how we treat our planet, each other and ultimately ourselves.
I truly hope that 50 years from now, someone will look up the year 2020 and be amazed at just how far we have come since then.