January 1969

[January 1], 1969 (Wednesday)

• North Vietnam released three American prisoners of war to a five-member U.S. Army team at a rice paddyfield near South Vietnam's border with Cambodia. A fourth had escaped captivity from the Viet Cong the day before. One of the POWs, Specialist 4 James Brigham of Ocala, Florida, died less than three weeks later at a Washington hospital after surgery for a brain abscess.
• The #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the #2 ranked USC Trojans, 27 to 16, before a crowd of 102,063 fans to win college football's Rose Bowl and the recognition by the NCAA as college football's national champion.
• Born:
• *Verne Troyer, diminutive American film actor known for portraying Mini-Me in the Austin Powers film series; in Sturgis, Michigan
• *Mr. Lawrence, American writer and voice actor known for voicing Plankton on SpongeBob SquarePants; in East Brunswick, New Jersey
• Died: Barton MacLane, 66, American film and television actor

  [January 2], [1969] (Thursday)

• Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchased the largest-selling British Sunday newspaper, The News of the World as shareholders of the News voted to accept his bid over that of British book publisher Robert Maxwell. Murdoch would purchase newspapers in the U.S. in the 1970s, notably the New York Post, and enter television in the 1980s with the founding of the Fox Network.
• The first radio reading service for the blind, The Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network, went on the air as a service of KSJR, the radio station at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, which began broadcasting a program called "Radio Talking Book".
• The government of France announced that its office of government property would start a campaign for the sale of individual lots on the Maginot Line that had been built during the 1930s in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent a German invasion.
• China Airlines Flight 227 crashed into a mountain peak on the island of Taiwan while en route from Hualin to Kaohsiung, killing all 24 people on board.
• Born:
• *Tommy Morrison, American heavyweight boxer who held the World Boxing Organization title for four months in 1993; in Gravette, Arkansas
• *Christy Turlington, American supermodel and advocate for maternal health; in Walnut Creek, California
• *Robby Gordon, American race car driver; in Los Angeles

  [January 3], 1969 (Friday)

• The 91st United States Congress had its opening day as the U.S. Senate swore in 15 new members and 20 re-elected ones, and selected Senator Richard B. Russell of Georgia as the new president pro-tempore. Democratic Senators voted 31–26 to choose Teddy Kennedy of Massachusetts rather than incumbent Russell B. Long of Louisiana as the majority whip, while Republicans approved Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, 23–20, over Roman L. Hruska of Nebraska. The U.S. House of Representatives re-elected John W. McCormack of Massachusetts as Speaker of the House, and voted 251 to 160 to allow controversial Congressman Adam Clayton Powell to take his seat.
• Born: Michael Schumacher, German Formula One racecar driver and winner of seven of the 11 World Championships between 1994 and 2004; in Hürth, West Germany
• Died:
• *Commodore Cochran, 66, American swimmer and track athlete, 1922 and 1923 NCAA track champion in the 440-yard dash, and 1924 Olympic gold medalist in the 4 x 400 swim relay.
• *Howard McNear, 63, American radio and television actor, known for being "Floyd the Barber" on TV's The Andy Griffith Show and as "Doc Adams" in the radio version of Gunsmoke.
• *Gilbert Miller, 84, American theatrical producer and two time Tony Award winner known for The Cocktail Party.

  [January 4], 1969 (Saturday)

• Two days after beginning a civil rights march from Queen's University in Belfast to the city of Derry in Northern Ireland, People's Democracy began to promote the rights of the Roman Catholic minority in the United Kingdom entity; the marchers were ambushed at the Burntollet Bridge less than six miles from their destination. As officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary stood by without intervening, a crowd of Protestant loyalists attacked the marchers with clubs and rocks, ending the unofficial truce between the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and the RUC.
• The tiny North African enclave of Ifni was ceded by Spain to Morocco in a treaty signed at the Moroccan capital of Rabat, subject to the expected approval by the Spanish parliament, the Cortes. On June 30, the last Spanish Governor-General, Jose Miguel Vega, would haul down the Spanish flag and the cession would be complete.
• The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature at the United Nations General Assembly on December 21, 1965, went into effect after being ratified by at least 27 nations.

  [January 5], 1969 (Sunday)

• The Soviet Union launched Venera 5 toward Venus. A course correction maneuver would be initiated on March 14 and on May 16, 1969, the Venera 5 transmitter would be landed on the surface of Venus, sending back data until the atmospheric pressure and intense heat caused its failure above the surface.
• Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashed into a house on its approach to London's Gatwick Airport, killing 50 of the 62 people on board and two of the home's occupants.
• Born:
• *Marilyn Manson, American lead singer of the band that shares his name; in Canton, Ohio
• *Shea Whigham, American film and cable TV actor known for Boardwalk Empire; in Tallahassee, Florida

  [January 6], 1969 (Monday)

• Richard Nixon was officially elected President of the United States as Congress certified the results of the votes cast on December 16 of the electoral college members who had been elected by American voters on November 5. The final result was certified after both houses of Congress debated removing one of the electoral votes was 301 votes for Nixon, 191 for Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey, and 46 for Wallace.
• Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashed on its approach to Bradford, Pennsylvania, killing 11 people on board during a multistop flight from Washington, D.C. to Detroit. The accident came less than two weeks after the fatal crash on Christmas Eve of Allegheny Airlines Flight 736, on its way to Bradford as part of the same route, killing 20 people.
• The final passenger train traversed the Waverley Line, which subsequently closed to passengers.
• Born: Norman Reedus, American cable TV actor known for The Walking Dead; in Hollywood, Florida

  [January 7], 1969 (Tuesday)

• Trial began in the case of Sirhan Sirhan for the June 5, 1968 murder of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. It would last for 15 weeks, as the jury heard testimony from 89 witnesses. After three days of deliberation, the jury found Sirhan guilty of first-degree murder and of five counts of assault with a deadly weapon. Sirhan would be sentenced to death on May 21, but all death penalty sentences in the United States would be set aside in 1972, and Sirhan is spending the rest of his life at Corcoran State Prison.

  [January 8], 1969 (Wednesday)

• Two FBI agents, Anthony Palmisano and Edwin R. Woodriffe, were shot and killed in an apartment building in southeast Washington, D.C., while trying to apprehend Billie Austin Bryant, who had robbed the Citizens Bank in nearby Oxon Hill, Maryland. Bryant was apprehended the same day, only two hours after he was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, the shortest amount of time between placement on the list and capture. Woodriffe was the first African-American FBI agent to die in the line of duty. The killing of him and Palmisano marked only the second time that two FBI men were killed together; the first time had been on November 27, 1934, when Herman Hollis and Samuel P. Cowley were killed by gangster Baby Face Nelson.
• Twenty-three people were burned to death in a fast-moving grass fire in Australia's Victoria state. All but six of them were motorists who were near the Geelong suburb of Lara and who had been traveling on the National Route 1, the highway that links Geelong to Melbourne.
• Died: Albert Hill, 79, British track and field athlete, 1920 Olympic gold medalist in the 800m and 1,500m races

  [January 9], 1969 (Thursday)

• The Condon Committee, chaired by University of Colorado physicist Edward Condon, released its report Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects and concluded that "nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge. Careful consideration of the record as it is available to us leads us to conclude that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby." The Condon Report, commissioned by the United States Air Force at the cost of $520,000, recommended that the Air Force close its Project Blue Book investigation of UFO reports, and the USAF would do so at the end of the year.
• New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath accepted an award from the Miami Touchdown Club, three days before Super Bowl III and said in his after-dinner remarks to the crowd, "The Jets will win Sunday; I guarantee it." At the time of Namath's boast, the nine-year old American Football League had not come close to winning either of the first two Super Bowls against the 49-year-old NFL, losing by scores of 35–10 and 33–14.

  [January 10], 1969 (Friday)

• The publishers of The Saturday Evening Post announced that the weekly magazine would cease publication after almost 148 years, discontinuing after its February 8 issue. Publisher Martin S. Ackerman said at a news conference that the Post had lost more than five million dollars in 1968 and commented that "We just could not sell enough advertising and cut expenses fast enough. Apparently, there is just not the need for our product in today's scheme of living." The Post had started publication in 1821 in Philadelphia, using the same printing shop used by the Pennsylvania Gazette, which had been founded by Benjamin Franklin. Until 1942, the magazine's masthead had carried the false claim that it was "founded in 1728 by Benjamin Franklin".
• The Soviet Union launched their second exploration vehicle toward Venus in five days, Venera 6, after the Sunday launch of Venera 5. The second probe would arrive on May 17, a day after the first one's arrival, and, like the first, would cease functioning above the surface because of the Venusian temperature and atmospheric pressure.