June 3, 1969: Destroyer USSFrank Evans sliced in two by Australian carrier, 74 seamen killedJune 20, 1969: Pompidou elected new French PresidentJune 12, 1969: Niagara Falls "turned off" for five months on American Falls sideJune 22, 1969: Judy Garland dies of drug overdose
Former Prime MinisterGeorges Pompidou and Acting President of FranceAlain Poher finished first and second in a field of seven candidates in thefirst round of the French presidential election. Pompidou received almost 45% of the ballots cast, and Poher edged Communist Party candidateJacques Duclos split another 44% of the votes, with Poher getting 23% to Duclos's 21%. Because none of the candidates received a majority of the votes, arunoff election between Pompidou and Poher was set for two weeks later.[1]
Died:
Attilio Degrassi, 81, Italian archaeologist and specialist inepigraphy, the collection and analysis of information from inscriptions on ancient works.
TheUnited States Supreme Court voted 6 to 2 in the case ofBoykin v. Alabama to set aside a death sentence meted out to an African-American who had pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of five stores inMobile, Alabama, holding that it was clear from the transcript of the case that Edward Boykin's plea had been made without any indication that he had been made aware of its consequences. Writing for the majority, JusticeWilliam O. Douglas said "A plea of guilty is more than an admission of conduct; it is a conviction... Ignorance, incomprehension, terror, inducements, subtle or blatant threats might be a perfect cover-up of unconstitutionality. What is at stake for an accused facing death or imprisonment demands utmost solicitude of which courts are capable, in canvassing the matter with the accused, to make sure he has a full understanding of what the plea connotes and of its consequence... So far as the record shows, the judge asked no questions of [Boykin] concerning his plea, and [Boykin] did not address the court. Boykin had been scheduled to go to the electric chair in June 1968 despite the fact that nobody had been killed in the robberies, and the only injury had been when a girl was struck in the leg by the ricochet of a bullet. The Court did not reach the question of whether a state could impose the death penalty for armed robbery without fatalities.[3]
Paths taken by HMASMelbourne and USSFrank E. Evans in the minutes leading up to the collision[4]
Seventy-four U.S. Navy men were killed when their destroyer, theUSSFrank E. Evans, was accidentally rammed and sliced in two by the Australian aircraft carrierHMASMelbourne.[5] TheFrank E. Evans had a crew of 273 when the collision took place during pre-dawn maneuvers at 4:12 in the morning Philippine Time (0812 Monday UTC). TheMelbourne was able to lash the stern of the American destroyer to its side to keep it upright, and the 197 people on board that section of the ship survived. All but two of the other 76 people remaining at the front of theFrank E. Evans sank with the bow in 1,400 feet (430 m) of ocean; most of them had been sleeping in their quarters beneath decks. Three of the dead were brothers, Cary Sage, Gregory Sage and Kelly Sage ofNiobrara, Nebraska.[6] The ships had been maneuvering in theSouth China Sea as part of maneuvers among the navies of theSEATO, theSoutheast Asia Treaty Organization. A subsequent investigation by a joint Australian and American board of inquiry found that on May 31, theMelbourne had come within 50 feet (15 m) of colliding with another American ship, theUSSEverett F. Larson.[7]
The 79th and last original episode ofStar Trek, "Turnabout Intruder", was telecast on NBC as the network shifted the series from its 10:00 p.m. Eastern time slot to a regular 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night location for its summer re-runs. By then, NBC had announced that it would not renew the science fiction drama for a fourth season.[8] The episode had been scheduled for March 28 but had been preempted by a news report about the life ofDwight D. Eisenhower, who had died earlier that day. With an earlier broadcast time, the reruns drew more viewers than the original shows had received, a precursor to what would happen next. Never high in the Nielsen ratings during its years on NBC, the show would attain greater popularity inbroadcast syndication, starting as early as September 15.[9]
Armando Socarras Ramirez, a 22-year old refugee fromCuba, arrived inMadrid onIberia Airlines Flight 942[10] fromHavana, after he and a companion climbed into the wheel compartments of theDouglas DC-8 as it was taxiing for takeoff.[11][12] Ground crew workers in Madrid were surprised when Socarras, nearly frozen from a seven and a half hour ride in the unpressurized wheel compartment, fell out of the right wheel well after the airliner came to a stop. Socarras had endured an air temperature as low as 40 °F (4 °C) and with little oxygen when the DC-8 was cruising at an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,800 m) over the Atlantic Ocean, and reports at the time concluded that he "is believed to be the first person in medical history, apart from heart transplant patients, who has been frozen alive and recovered."[13] Socarras told investigators that the otherstowaway, 16-year old Jorge Perez Blanco, had climbed into the left side wheel well and was believed to have fallen to his death after the airline pilot noticed that the landing gear hadn't fully retracted and had lowered it a second time. Two weeks later, however, several new arrivals from Cuba reported that Perez Blanco had apparently tumbled onto the runway while the plane was taxiing for a takeoff, and that he had been taken to jail.[14]
All 79 persons on boardMexicana Flight 704 were killed when the Boeing 727 crashed while making its approach toMonterrey on a flight fromMexico City.[15] Approaching the airport in a torrential rain and with low visibility, the Mexican airplane turned left rather than right when ordered to enter a holding pattern, and struck a vertical face of the Fraile del Cerro, a 6,000-foot (1,800 m) peak in theSierra Madre Oriental.[16]
Died:
Rafael Osuna, 30, Mexican professional tennis player and winner of the 1963 U.S. Open and three Grand Slam doubles titles, was killed in the crash of Mexicana Flight 704.
Carlos A. Madrazo, 53, Mexican politician and former Chairman of Mexico's ruling political party, thePRI was killed in the crash of Mexicana Flight 704.
In the first authenticated case of fallingspace debris causing damage on Earth, theJapanese freighter shipDai Chi Chinei was heavily damaged by wreckage from a Soviet spacecraft that had re-entered Earth's atmosphere.[17] Five of the crewmen on theDai Chi Chinei were seriously injured by a chunk of debris while the freighter was traversing theStrait of Tartary between the island ofSakhalin and mainlandSiberia, and the accident was then investigated and confirmed by the United Nations. According to the Japanese crew, two Soviet Navy ships arrived at the site shortly after the freighter had been struck.
"Rivet Amber", aU.S. Air Force RC-135E reconnaissance spy plane similar to one shot by North Korea a month earlier, disappeared along with all 19 of its crew while flying an exercise over theAleutian Islands inAlaska. Although the plane was not shot down, it sent a distress call toElmendorf Air Force Base as it traveled between the island ofShemya andEielson Air Force Base, and was believed to have been monitoring Soviet radar and radio communications from a distance.[18] No trace of the aircraft nor its crew has ever been found.[19]
Died: British Army GeneralMiles Dempsey, 72, known for commanding the British Second Army assault onGold,Juno andSword Beaches on D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy. General Dempsey's passing took place the day before the 25th anniversary of D-Day.[22]
TheUnited States Court of Appeals voided the "Hershey Directive" that had been sent to American draft boards by GeneralLewis B. Hershey, the director of the Selective Service System. In a letter sent onOctober 24, 1967, General Hershey had suggested that local draft boards reclassify the status of any anti-government protesters who had a deferment, with an upgrade to 1-A permitting immediate induction into the selective service. The court wrote that the Hershey letter was a "declaration of war against anti-war protesters" that had no basis in the law but that was made "full-grown from the head of General Hershey without benefit of reference of any provision" of the draft law.[23]
New York Jets quarterbackJoe Namath called a press conference to announce, with tears in his eyes, that he was retiring from professional football, less than six months after being the Most Valuable Player ofSuper Bowl III, in the wake of a threatened suspension by pro football commissionerPete Rozelle.[24] Namath had been ordered to sell his one-half interest in a New York restaurant,Bachelors III, because some of the restaurant's regular customers were bookies who were taking gambling bets on the restaurant premises and others were members of organized crime. Namath would reverse his position a few weeks later and report to the Jets' training camp in July.
The long-awaited debut ofEric Clapton andSteve Winwood performing together in the short-lived "supergroup"Blind Faith took place in front of 100,000 people in London'sHyde Park. Guitarist/vocalist Clapton and drummerPeter "Ginger" Baker came from the recently disbanded rock groupCream; Winwood had been playing keyboards and was lead singer forTraffic, the first supergroup. BassistRic Grech fromFamily completed the quartet. Blind Faith would releasetheir only album in August, and do concerts in Europe and the United States for eleven weeks before playing their final show inHonolulu on August 24.[25]
The AmericanEcho 2 communications satellite, the largest (135-foot (41 m)) artificial Earth satellite of all time, re-entered the atmosphere and burned up after having been visible by most of the world's residents since its launch on January 25, 1964.[26][27] Consisting of a rigid mylar and aluminum balloon,Echo 2 was last seen at 7:36 in the morning local time (1036 UTC) fromComodoro Rivadavia inArgentina and was estimated to have burned up over Great Britain by 7:00 in the afternoon local time (1900 UTC).[28]
The U.S. Department of Defense expanded itsAUTOVON (an acronym for AUTOomatic VOice Network) to its military posts worldwide, giving priority to all defense-related phone calls over civilian phone lines.[29]
Died:Dan Bullock, 15, United States Marine and the youngest American serviceman to be killed in theVietnam War. Bullock, an African-American living in Brooklyn after moving from North Carolina, had been only 14 years old when he altered his birth certificate to show that he was 18 years old. He was killed while guarding theAn Hoa Combat Base inSouth Vietnam.[30]
Twelve members of one family— two parents and 10 of their children ranging in age from six months old to 17 years old— were killed in anarson fire that destroyed their home inParkersburg, West Virginia. The only survivors were two of the other children, aged 15 and 13, and their grandfather.[31] Two days later, the surviving teenagers were arrested after police said that the 15-year-old girl had told them that they intentionally set the blaze following an argument with their parents.[32] After the teens were indicted for murder and the case scheduled for trial, theWood County, West Virginia, circuit court would rule "that an alleged confession [by the girl] and subsequent evidence turned up by the confession were obtained without her knowingly and intelligently waiving her rights" and were thus inadmissible. On April 17, 1970, the murder charges would be dismissed because the only evidence linking the teenagers to the crime was no longer available.[33]
Following a meeting atMidway Island between U.S. PresidentRichard Nixon andSouth Vietnamese PresidentNguyễn Văn Thiệu, President Nixon announced that 25,000 American troops would be withdrawn from the Vietnam War by the end of September.[34] The first group to be removed from South Vietnam would be 900 combat infantrymen from the9th Infantry Division of the United States Army, who would be "airlifted to the continental United States for inactivation", according to Secretary of DefenseMelvin Laird.[35] Withdrawal would be completed between July 8 and August 28.[36]
Died:Robert Taylor (stage name for Spangler Brugh), 57, American film and television star, died from lung cancer.
Shortly after midnight, the government ofSpainclosed its border with theBritish Overseas Territory ofGibraltar, located on the south of the Iberian peninsula.[37] While Gibraltarians had been barred from Spain since May 1968, about 4,800 Spanish citizens had been allowed to work in Gibraltar (which had a resident population of about 24,500 at the time) and would no longer be allowed to work there. On June 28, Spain halted theferry service that brought tourists to Gibraltar from itsMediterranean Sea port ofAlgeciras in theProvince of Cádiz.[38] After more than 13 years, the border closing would be partially lifted on December 15, 1982, and the "big green gate" at the Spanish town ofLa Línea de la Concepción would be opened for thousands of Spanish citizens and Gibraltarians were allowed to walk through.[39][40] The frontier gate across the road crossing would remain closed for more than 15 years until 30 seconds past midnight, local time, on February 5, 1985.[41][42]
For the first time in American history, theFederal Reserve Board of Governors approved an increase of a full percentage point in theU.S. prime rate — the minimum interest rate for an American bank to loan money.[43] Although previous increases had been for one-half or one-quarter of a point, the rate was increased from7+1⁄2% to8+1⁄2%, the highest up to that time. The rate would be lowered to 8% on March 25, 1970, and continue to drop during the Nixon administration, reaching a low of4+1⁄2 on February 16, 1972, then begin rising, reaching 12% by the time of Nixon's resignation in 1974, before dropping again during the presidency ofGerald Ford; during the administration ofJimmy Carter, the rate would rise from6+1⁄4% to a record high of21+1⁄2% on December 19, 1980.[44] The "prime rate" is that which is reserved for borrowers with the highest credit, with higher interest rates than prime permitted for borrowers considered to be at risk for default.
Further work on theManned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), the U.S. Air Force's planned militaryspace station, was halted on orders of American PresidentRichard Nixon as part of a cut of the defense budget. Ever since the first announcement in 1963 of the planned MOL (which would have featured two USAFastronauts working for 30 days at a time "to inspect and destroy, if necessary, hostile satellites"), $1.3 billion had been spent on the project and another $1.5 billion was projected to be paid over until completion in 1974, which was already2+1⁄2 years behind schedule and was 50% more expensive than originally projected.[46][47] The end of the American program, in effect, brought an end to the need of the MOL's counterpart in the Soviet Union, theAlmaz ("Diamond") space station (which would be modified for launch as the civilianSalyut 2 station). By 1969, however, the reconnaissance features of both the MOL and Almaz had been made obsolete by unmanned spy satellites.[48]
Pope Paul VI became the first Pontiff of theRoman Catholic Church to visitSwitzerland, landing inGeneva for 12 hours to visit the headquarters of theWorld Council of Churches in the traditional "intellectual center ofProtestant thought". The Pope was greeted by the ReverendEugene Carson Blake, an American Presbyterian minister and General Secretary of the World Council, where the two discussed issues relating to future Christian unity. The Council itself was composed of representatives of 234 different denominations of Protestant and Orthodox organizations, and the event marked the highest-level meeting of the leaders of Catholic and non-Catholic Christians.[49] The Pope also delivered a speech at the annual world meeting of theInternational Labour Organization, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary, and which had 1,700 delegates from 121 nations.
A column ofSoviet troops and tanks crossed the border from theKazakh SSR (now the nation ofKazakhstan) into theXinjiang autonomous region of thePeople's Republic of China, moving throughYumin County, where shots were exchanged between Chinese borders guards and the invaders. The Soviets denied invading China and accused the Chinese of provoking an attack by sending a group of soldiers roughly 400 metres (1,300 ft) into Soviet territory. Although the Soviets and Chinese had fought in March on a disputed island in the Ussuri River, the border crossings were the first penetrations over the land boundary between the two nuclear superpowers.[53]
Mankind's first trip by sled across theArctic Ocean came to a successful conclusion as a pair of helicopters picked up the four members of the British Trans-Arctic Expedition —Wally Herbert,Roy Koerner, Allan Gill, and Kenneth Hedges — from theNorwegian island ofVesle Tavleøya and transported them to theRoyal Navy patrol shipHMSEndurance; Herbert would tell reporters later that "We envisaged the grand finale with the four dog teams and sledges pulling close to the ship or, even better, the party landing on West Spitsbergen island and sledging down the fjord and over the glaciers to meet theEndurance," rather than having to end the journey with a helicopter flight.[54][55] The four had departed, along with their 34-dog team of huskies, fromPoint Barrow, Alaska, on February 21, 1968, going northward on the156th meridian west, passing theNorth Pole on April 5, 1969, and then proceeding in a straight line southward along the24th meridian east,[56] arriving at Tavleøya on May 29, 1969, and finishing a journey of 3,620 miles (5,830 km).[57]
Died:John L. Lewis, 80, American labor leader who built theUnited Mine Workers of America into one of the most powerful labor unions in America during his 40 years as UMWA President.
For the first time in history, part ofNiagara Falls was "turned off", as acofferdam was put in place behind theAmerican Falls portion of the U.S. and Canadian waterfall.[58]Horseshoe Falls and theBridal Veil Falls continued to flow without interruption, but the American Falls were allowed to run dry. For the next five months and 13 days, repairs were made to prevent erosion of the riverbed and tourists were allowed to walk across part of the area where the river had run its course. The dam would be removed on November 25 and all three portions of Niagara Falls have flowed continuously since then.[59]
NASA announced thatApollo 11 was cleared for launch on July 16 for the first manned landing on the Moon. U.S. Air Force Lieutenant GeneralSamuel C. Phillips, the director of theApollo program, gave the go-ahead after an 80-minute telephone conference between NASA officials atHouston,Cape Kennedy,Huntsville andWashington. The alternative would have been to postpone the launch until August.[60] NASA released a timetable four days later, with the original date ofNeil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon being set for Monday, July 21, at 2:22 in the morning Eastern Time (0722 UTC).[61][62] However, NASA would accede to American public demand for the event to be seen on prime time television, and allow Armstrong to descend from the craft six and a half hours after landing rather than ten hours. Mankind's first steps on the Moon would take place at 9:56 p.m. Eastern on July 20 (0256 UTC).
Canada'sCriminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69, decriminalizing abortion and homosexual relationships, was approved byvoice vote in theSenate of Canada following its third reading, after having passed Commons on May 14. The legislation (which still requiredroyal assent before taking effect) legalizedabortion inCanada on condition that a pregnancy could be terminated if a consensus of three physicians at a licensed hospital determined that the mother's health, not otherwise defined, was in danger. The bill also allowed gay relations between two consenting adults (age 21 or older) in private dwellings.[63]
The "Amen break", a 6-second drum solo that would become "the mostsampled musical track of all time",[64] was recorded for the first time. DrummerGregory C. Coleman ofThe Winstons performed the 4-bar beat 86 seconds into the song "Amen, Brother", which then became the"B-side" of the 45 rpm vinyl recording of The Winstons' hit single "Color Him Father". For 15 years, "Amen, Brother" would be forgotten until the mid-1980s, when "sampling" came into use whenDJs inhip hop music dance clubs used Coleman's six-second "snare-and-cymbal sequence" to make the transition between one song and the next. By 2015, the "Amen break" would be part of more than 1,500 songs[65] and the number would approach 3,000 within the first 50 years after it was recorded.[66]
Dr.Joseph Weber, a physicist at theUniversity of Maryland, announced the first detection and measurement proving the existence ofgravitational waves, confirming a theory that had been postulated by Dr.Albert Einstein in 1916 as part of hisgeneral theory of relativity. An astronomer at Maryland, Dr.Gart Westerhout, told a press conference "This is a discovery comparable to the discovery of radio waves."[68] Weber and Westerhout reported that the waves had been measured by detectors at both the university inCollege Park, Maryland, and at theArgonne Laboratory inChicago.[69] Weber had been attempting to find the gravitational wave since 1958, when he built a 3,000 pound aluminum cylinder as a detector for that purpose.[70] Ten years later, it would be reported that "The response from the scientific community was almost unanimous in its hostility," and as other groups failed to detect the same results after building the same detection equipment, Weber would be referred to by some physicists as "The Don Quixote of College Park".[71] Scientists would continue to search for confirmation of the gravitational wave and on September 14, 2015, almost 15 years after Weber's death on September 30, 2000, physicistRainer Weiss of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) would measure a gravitational wave for the first time using theLaser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).[72]
Dennis Martin, a six-year-old resident ofKnoxville, Tennessee in the U.S., was visiting theGreat Smoky Mountains National Park along with his father, grandfather and older brother onFather's Day weekend. Dennis apparently wanted to surprise the adults with his brother and other children from a separate family and decided to hide behind a bush, which was the last time he was seen by his father. After not seeing him for about five minutes and when all of the other children had returned to the camp site, his father became concerned and began searching for him. His father ran down the trail for nearly two miles, until he was sure he could not have gotten any farther. After several hours, they sought help from theNational Park Service rangers.[73][74] After years of searching, Dennis Martin's body was never found and it has been speculated that he had been attacked by wild animals because the forest had been known to have dangerous wildlife.[75][76]
Born:Steffi Graf, German professional tennis player, and winner of 22 championships in the four Grand Slam tournaments, including all four (Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. Open) in 1988; inMannheim,West Germany
Hee Haw, an American television show aimed at fans ofcountry music, was aired for the first time, appearing on the CBS network at 9:00 Eastern time. Popular with viewers, and hated by TV critics, the show was described by one reviewer as "ahayseed version ofLaugh-In" with "probably the worst title of any show to come along this season"[77] while another wrote "Country-Western it is. 'Laugh-In' it ain't."[78] Hosted byRoy Clark andBuck Owens, the show filled the time slot formerly held by theSmothers Brothers and would run on CBS for two years, then spend 22 years in syndication.
Former Prime MinisterGeorges Pompidou waselected as the newPresident of France, defeating Acting PresidentAlain Poher in the runoff vote by a 58% to 42% margin. Pompidou and Poher had finished first and second in the first round of voting on June 1.[79]
Born:
Jansher Khan, Pakistanisquash player who was ranked number one in the world from 1988 to 1998, winner of eight World Opens and six British Opens; inPeshawar
Ice Cube (stage name for O'Shea Jackson Sr.), American rap music star and actor, as well as co-founder of theBIG3 pro basketball league; inLos Angeles[80]
Oliver Kahn, German goalkeeper for Bayern Munich and the Germany national team; inKarlsruhe, West Germany
Maurice Odumbe, Kenyan cricketer who was banned for five years from the sport for match-fixing; inNairobi
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 7 to 1, that theU.S. House of Representatives had acted improperly in voting not to allowAdam Clayton Powell Jr. to take his seat in Congress after the 1966 elections.[81] OnMarch 1, 1967, the House had voted, 248 to 176, to bar Powell from representing New York's 18th Congressional District. After Powell had been elected again in 1968, the House had seated him but voted not restore his seniority for purposes of committee selections, treating the 24-year veteran instead as a first-time member of Congress and fining him $25,000. Writing for the majority, outgoing Chief JusticeEarl Warren said that since Powell "was duly elected by the voters... and was not ineligible to serve under any provision of the Constitution, the House was without power to exclude him from its membership." Powell's suit was remanded to District Court for consideration of his claim for $60,000 in back pay for the two years of his 1967–69 term.
Born:
MC Ren (stage name for Lorenzo Patterson), American rapper, songwriter, and record producer; inCompton, California[82]
Voters in New York City's primary elections rejected the nominations of incumbent MayorJohn V. Lindsay (who was campaigning for re-election as a Republican) and of former Mayor and Democrat candidateRobert F. Wagner Jr.[83] The two major party candidates for November instead were RepublicanJohn J. Marchi and DemocratMario Procaccino. Mayor Lindsay, however, would win re-election in November anyway after running as a third-party candidate for theLiberal Party of New York. With almost 7.9 million citizens, New York was the largest city in the United States and, at the time, second to Tokyo as the largest in the world.
Boris Spassky became the newWorld Chess Champion whenTigran Petrosian elected to accept a draw rather than to continue playing the 23rd gamein the 24-game series. The game had adjourned the night before following the 41st move. With a win counting for one point and a draw worth half a point, Spassky had a 12-point to 10-point lead over Petrosian. Under the rules ofFIDE, the World Chess Federation, the champion would retain the title even if the series ended at 12–12; the challenger needed 12½ points to win, and Petrosian's concession to have Game 23 end as a draw gave Spassky the 12½ to 11½ victory in the match.[84][85]
Born:Paul Tergat, Kenyan long distance runner, who held the world record for fastest 10,000m (26:27.85) from 1997 to 1998, and for fastest time in the marathon (2:04:55) from 2003 to 2007; inRiwo,Baringo District
Died:Brian Sullivan, 49, American opera tenor with New York's Metropolitan Opera
TheStudents for a Democratic Society (SDS) began theirnational meeting at theChicago Coliseum, and the 1,400 members ended up splitting into two factions. After reporters refused to pay a $25 fee for the right to watch the convention, or to sign an affidavit pledging not to divulge any information about the SDS or its members before any investigative body, the press was barred from the building.Bernardine Dohrn, the SDS press secretary, then issued a statement that "The capitalistic press will not be admitted to the convention under any circumstances."[86] Although theWorker Student Alliance faction had 900 delegates, Dohrn and her followers organized as the Revolutionary Youth Movement which they would later rename theWeather Underground. By the time the convention adjourned on Sunday, the "Weathermen" had taken possession of the SDS national headquarters in Chicago and its records.
Born:Haki Doku, Albanian paracyclist and holder of world records for greatest distance traveled in a manual wheelchair 121 kilometres (75 mi) in 2015 and most stairs descended in one hour (2,176); inKrujë
Died:Edgar Anderson, 71, American botanist and geneticist
Voting was held in Ireland, with 372 candidates competing for the 144 seats in the lower house of Parliament, theDáil Éireann. Despite a forecast thatPrime MinisterJack Lynch'sFianna Fáil party would lose its slim majority (75 of 144 seats) in the Dail to a coalition of the opposition parties,Fine Gael andLabour, Lynch retained office and Fianna Fail retained its 75 seats.[87]
Georges Pompidou took office as the 19thPresident of France at a ceremony inside theÉlysée Palace inParis. In accordance with French tradition, theGrand Collar of theLegion of Honor was bestowed upon Pompidou who, as President of the Republic, was also the Grand Master of the Legion. AdmiralGeorges Cabanier, the Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor, placed the symbol of the presidency upon Pompidou, after which the new President made a brief acceptance speech. As his first order of business, President Pompidou then namedJacques Chaban-Delmas as the newPrime Minister of France.[88] Inaugurated for a 7-year term of office, Pompidou would serve for less than five years before his death from cancer on April 2, 1974.
Voters from Rhodesia's mostly-white electorate overwhelmingly approved completing the southern African nation's last ties with theUnited Kingdom and making Rhodesia a republic with a President as its head of state. Out of a population of more than five million people, only 94,686 were eligible to vote and of that number; of those, only 6,634 were black Africans (0.14% of the 4,800,000), and another 2,307 were coloured Africans of mixed race or Asian descent. The other 85,745 were white, about 39% of the 228,000 white Rhodesians.[89] The official result was 61,130 for a republic and 14,327 against.
Born:Paulo Bento, Portuguese-born soccer football player for the Portugal national team, and later the manager of the South Korea national team; inLisbon
Royal Family, a candid televisiondocumentary about the home life ofQueen Elizabeth II, her husband and her four children, was broadcast for the first time and proved to be one of the most highly watched programs in the United Kingdom. The 110-minute feature, directed by Richard Cawston, brought cameras insideBuckingham Palace, aired at 8:00 in the evening onBBC-1[90] and was watched by an estimated 30,000,000 viewers.[91] It aired again at 8:25 p.m. on June 29 onITV, which had shared the expense of the production with BBC. American viewers, who had been alerted to the documentary in June,[92] would be treated to a 90-minute version (including commercials) starting at 7:30 p.m. on September 21 onCBS.[93] After 1969, the documentary was rebroadcast in 1972 and 1977 and never again, though a small clip was shown at theNational Portrait Gallery in 2011.[94]
Actress and singerJudy Garland, aged 47, was found dead of a drug overdose in her London home onCadogan Lane, three days after she had returned from a New York business trip with her fifth husband,Mickey Deans, whom she had married on March 15.[95] Garland, who had been born in 1922 inGrand Rapids, Minnesota, as Frances Ethel Gumm, had been known forThe Wizard of Oz,Meet Me in St. Louis andA Star Is Born but was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction during her adult life. The cause of death was attributed to an accidental overdose ofbarbiturates that Garland used forinsomnia.
TheCuyahoga River atCleveland,Ohio caught fire after an oil slick floating on the river ignited.[96] Factories along the Cuyahoga had regularly dumped their waste products into the waters for decades. Before it was extinguished, the floating blaze burned two wooden railroad trestles and warped the tracks, with an estimated repair cost of $50,000. Cleveland MayorCarl B. Stokes, citing that the city of Cleveland had no legal jurisdiction over the river, called upon the state of Ohio to take action against the licenses of industries that polluted the river.[97] In later statements, Stokes told a crowd that "We have the only river in the country which has been legally described as a fire hazard."[98] The incident of the burning river would help spur an unprecedented American campaign againstwater pollution, leading to passage of such legislation as theClean Water Act and theGreat Lakes Water Quality Agreement. More broadly, the accident would focus attention on the threats to pollution in the air and the ground as well and would lead to the creation of a new federal government agency, theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In the Soviet Union, 120 people were killed when a civilian airliner flew into the path of a faster movingSoviet Air Force transport and collided at an altitude of 2,935 metres (9,629 ft). The military plane, anAntonov An-12 had taken off at 1:25 in the afternoon from theKėdainiai Air Base and was carrying 91 paratroopers and a crew of five as part of a formation of four An-12s on the way to theDyagilevo air base. Almost 45 minutes later, at 2:07 p.m., anIlyushin Il-14,Aeroflot Flight 831 departed with 19 passengers and five crew fromBykovo Airport, nearMoscow, on a flight toChernihiv. At 2:41, the Aeroflot plane began climbing from 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) due to turbulence, despite the ground control directive to maintain its altitude, at 2:52, the plane struck the An-12 about 28 kilometres (17 mi) southeast ofYukhnov.[99] All people on both planes were killed, with the wreckage of the Aeroflot found near the village of Troitsa and the transport coming apart near the village of Vypolzovo.
Six bystanders on a busyMiami street were killed, and 12 others injured, whenDominicana Air Lines Flight 401, a cargo plane, crashed and burned shortly after takeoff.[100] All four of the crew died as the crippled DC-4 glided down NW 36th Street at 3:45 and impacted with a building on the corner of 34th Avenue, housing Charley's Auto Body Shop and apartments on the second floor.[101]
Fernanda Ribeiro, Portuguese long-distance runner, gold medalist in the women's 10,000m race in the 1996 Summer Olympics and in the 1995 World Championships; inPenafiel
A state of emergency was declared in theNetherlands and in three ofWest Germany's states for all communities fronting a 200 miles (320 km) stretch of the heavily pollutedRhine River. The declaration came after the discovery that millions of fish in the Rhine had been killed by an unidentified poison during the past week.[103] The emergency was lifted three days later in West Germany after water samples showed that the river's toxicity had reached acceptable levels. The German government announced that the poisoning itself had been traced to the dumping of insecticide from an industrial barge as it passed the village ofGeisenheim in the West German state ofHesse, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the town ofBingen am Rhein, where the first dead fish were discovered.[104]
Voters in Denmark overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to lower the voting age inDenmark from 21 to 18.[105] Despite predictions that the amendment would win approval at the polls, an unusual number of older voters turned out and votedNej by a margin of almost 4 to 1, with 78.6% against. Political observers speculated that the result may have been a response to rioting weeks earlier. On May 8, thousands of youths and student demonstrators inCopenhagen had clashed with riot police during a protest against a cinema showing the war movieThe Green Berets.[106]
Peru's President, GeneralJuan Velasco Alvarado, announced the largest land reform law in the nation's history, limiting the size of land that could be owned and paving the way for expropriation of foreign-owned lands. The new law also authorized agovernment bond issue to borrow $275,000,000 in U.S. dollars to compensate land owners for the properties taken over, including land, livestock and equipment.[108] Most heavily affected were the American-owned Cerro de Pasco Mining Company, the sugar plantation and pulp mills owned byW. R. Grace and Company, and theInternational Basic Economy Corporation.
A former NASA official told reporters in Houston that lunar module pilotEdwin "Buzz" Aldrin had originally been scheduled to become the first man to set foot on theMoon during the upcomingApollo 11 mission, but that mission commanderNeil Armstrong was "not unaware" of the importance of being first and that Armstrong decided to supersede Aldrin. "It shouldn't be that he pulled rank," said Paul Haney, the former public affairs officer for theManned Spacecraft Center, "but I think he was not unaware of the importance of the first man who stepped onto the moon and he looked at it very carefully and decided that perhaps it should be the commander's prerogative." Haney added that the decision for Armstrong to be first had been made in mid-April, "Precisely why the change, I don't know, but I do know that it caused quite an upset."[109][110]
Born:Mike Myers, American baseball pitcher who played for nine different teams in a 13-season career from 1995 to 2007; inArlington Heights, Illinois
In one of the most contentious qualifying matches in soccer football history,El Salvador defeatedHonduras, 3 to 2 in extra time, at a neutral site inMexico City.[111] The win advanced El Salvador to thefour team semifinal round to determine theCONCACAF representative in the1970 World Cup; Mexico, as World Cup host, had already qualified automatically qualified as the other team from CONCACAF (theConfederation ofNorth,CentralAmerican andCaribbeanAssociationFootball). Although the players of the teams shook hands after the match, violence in El Salvador and Honduras against each other's citizens had escalated after the teams had split their two games on June 8 and June 15 to force the third tiebreaker game, and by June 27, the armies of both nations had mobilized along the border that they shared in Central America. On July 14, the tensions would escalate into what would later be known as theSoccer War (or the Football War) with the Salvadoran Air Force bombing Honduran targets.
Convicted murdererWinnie Ruth Judd, known as "The Tiger Woman" for the gruesome 1931 killing of two women friends, was arrested after almost seven years as a fugitive. Judd, now 64 years old, had been working as a housekeeper under the alias "Marion Lane".[112] Originally sentenced to hanging, Judd was determined after her conviction to be insane, and was transferred to a mental institution, the Arizona State Hospital in Phoenix, before the execution could be carried. From 1939 to 1962, Judd escaped several times, the last instance being on October 8, 1962.[113] Judd would be released two years later at the age of 66, and would pass away in 1998 at the age of 93.
TheStonewall riots, a milestone in the moderngay rights movement in the United States, began inNew York City when an angry crowd of bystanders began throwing bottles, rocks and even a parking meter at NYPD patrolmen who were carrying out a routine raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay hangout at 53 Christopher Street in theGreenwich Village section ofManhattan.[115][116][117] At 1:28 in the morning,[118] seven policemen came in to the Stonewall Inn, locked the doors, arrested the employees, and began lining up the patrons to transport them to a detention center and then releasing them, the usual practice for roundups. As one author would note later, "On that night, though, the customers did not slink off into the darkness. On that night, they stayed, gathering outside the Stonewall Inn. These raids— and the horrible treatment of gay people— had to stop."[118] The trigger, on one of the hottest and most humid days of the summer, was when the police were forcing their way through the angry crowd to put one of the last customers into apolice van. Accounts differ as to whether it was a lesbian who resisted arrest[119] or a transvestite man who was violently shoved into the van.[118]
The United States launched Bonny, apig-tailed macaque monkey, into Earth orbit at 10:16 p.m. (0316 June 29 UTC) as a passenger onBiosatellite 3. The intent was to keep him in the weightlessness of outer space for 30 days, longer than any living creature up to that time. Bonny, imported fromThailand and designated by the American press as an "astromonk" (as opposed to the chimpanzees used in earlier American missions, referred to as "chimponauts"), had been trained to operate a food dispenser that rewarded him for pushing one of four symbols on a screen.[120] However, Bonny's health deteriorated over the next few days and he was returned to Earth on July 6.[121][122]
The "Mailgram" was given its first test in a joint venture ofWestern Union and theUnited States Post Office Department as an experimental service to be introduced in 1970. Combining features of the more expensivetelegram andfirst-class mail, the mailgram transmitted messages directly to the selected post offices which would then print them out and send them by a letter carrier the same day to the intended address. Western Union President Russell W. McFall, the President of Western Union, sent the first mailgram to Washington for delivery to Postmaster GeneralWinton M. Blount.[123]
Nine passengers on an overloaded oyster boat, theRed Bank, died when the craft capsized inIreland'sGalway Bay near New Quay inCounty Clare. TheRed Bank, launched earlier in the day, was giving local residents free trips around the bay when the disaster occurred.[124][125]
Nigeria blocked most humanitarian aid to the starving residents of the breakawayRepublic of Biafra by telling theInternational Committee of the Red Cross and 19 other relief agencies that they would no longer be permitted to send relief planes to the starving Biafran population.[127]
Died:Augusto Vandor, 46, Argentine labor leader and President of the Argentina's largest labor union, theUnión Obrera Metalúrgica (Metal Workers Union), was shot to death in his office. Earlier, he had come under criticism from other labor leaders within theCGT (Confederación General del Trabajo or General Labor Confederation) for refusing to have the steel workers participate in a nationwide strike.[128]
^"Echo II Ends Earth Orbit",St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 11, 1969, p1
^"Old Friend Echo Second Leaves Sky",Indianapolis Star, June 10, 1969, p11
^"Echo II Died Saturday After 5½ Years in Space", AP report inThe Post Star (Glens Falls NY), June 11, 1969, p1
^"Overseas AUTOVON Systems Testing for Acceptance and Cutover",IEEE Transactions on Communications (June 1972), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
^"Youngest Marine, 15, Dies in Vietnam",Courier-Journal (Louisville KY), June 10, 1969, p1
^"12 in Family Die as Home Burns Quickly".Chicago Tribune. June 9, 1969. p. 4.
^"Two Teenagers Held In Fire Fatal to 12".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 11, 1969. p. 1.
^"Youngsters Cleared In Fire Death of 12".Daily News. New York. April 18, 1970. p. 1C.
^"Nixon Makes His Viet Bid— Withdrawal Of 25,000 GIs Draws Mixed World Reaction".Pittsburgh Press. June 9, 1969. p. 1.
^"FIRST UNITS LEAVING VIET LISTED".Pittsburgh Press. June 13, 1969. p. 1.
^"25,000th GI To Leave Viet By Tomorrow".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 27, 1969. p. 1.
^Todd Boyd,Am I Black Enough for You?: Popular Culture from the 'Hood and Beyond (Bloomington & Indianapolis:Indiana University Press, 1997),p 75 skims Ice Cube's early successes in music, whileindexing "Ice Cube" reveals analysis of his political rap.
^"Powell Ouster Ruled Illegal",Pittsburgh Press, June 16, 1969, p1