[NEWS EVENTS OF 1969]

[Music] 1969, a year of new leaders in the United States, France, Germany, and North Vietnam. A year when man achieved his long dreamed of trip to the moon. But a year when man proved he still carries with him the burdens of violence, hatred, and starvation. 1969 opened with the inauguration of Richard M. Nixon as the 37th president of the United States. With a small margin of victory, he faced great challenges. A war in Vietnam, racial division, youthful unrest, and a changing moral climate at home. Abroad, much of the world was uncertain about the new president's intentions. and will to the best of your ability. and and will to the best of my ability. preserve, protect, and defend. Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. the Constitution of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. The president's official family reflected his response to these challenges. They were mostly Republican, moderate to conservative. From this group, Conservative Attorney General John Mitchell emerged as the president's closest political adviser. In February, the new president flew to Europe. He met with General De Gaul in Paris. Then went on to Berlin, Brussels, Rome, and London. There he visited Buckingham Palace where he met Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. He then went to 10 Downing Street to confer with Prime Minister Harold Wil. The warm welcome he received at all stops made the trip a major success for the new president. But unrest at home continued. Vietnam was the chief issue. The student demonstrations were the same as last year except now the signs read Nixon instead of Johnson. In June, the president tried to meet the issue when he ordered a partial troop [Music] withdrawal. After careful consideration with my senior civilian and military adviserss and in full consultation with the government of Vietnam, I have decided to reduce the authorized troop ceiling in Vietnam to 484,000 by December 15th. The first troops to be returned from Vietnam are greeted by family and friends as they arrive in Seattle, Washington. In mid December, President Nixon said that 50,000 more troops would be withdrawn by April 15th of next year. This brought the total announced troop withdrawal to 115,000 [Music] men. But there were still 450,000 troops in Vietnam continuing the day-to-day job of fighting the war. Generally, the pace of combat slowed. President Nixon ordered the end of search and destroy missions, and US troops responded only when attacked. The North Vietnamese slowed down their infiltration and launched no new offensives. Though casualties were far lower than last year, death was still very real where it [Music] happened. President Nixon's plan for withdrawal of troops depended heavily upon what he called the Vietnamization of the war. South Vietnamese troops began to take over a larger share of the ground fighting and to fly support missions that up to that time had been flown by US pilots. In December, President Nixon said he was cautiously optimistic about the progress of [Music] Vietnamization. In August, the president took another trip, this time to Asia to reassure leaders there that despite a troop withdrawals, the US still is and will remain a Pacific power. He told President Marcos of the Philippines and other Asian allies that the US will keep its treaty commitments, but will avoid sending ground forces to fight Asian battles. While in Vietnam, the president visited troops of the first infantry division. He also met with South Vietnam President Naen Vanu to discuss the Paris negotiations with North Vietnam. Continuing around the world, President Nixon went to Romania. The first visit of a president to a communist country since FDR went to Yalta. His reception in the most independent of the Soviet block states was overwhelming. A great success behind the Iron Curtain. [Music] In the United States, anti-war protesters organized a national moratorum to demonstrate opposition to the war. President Nixon said he would not be influenced by their actions. There has been and continues to be opposition to the war in Vietnam on the campuses and also in the nation. As far as uh this kind of activity is concerned, uh we expect it. However, under no circumstances will I be affected whatever by it. On October 15, the first moratorium against the war turned out huge crowds in cities all across the nation. Thousands gathered in Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, New Haven, and many other cities. The protest took many forms, including speeches, reading names of war dead, petition signing, and door-to-door canvasing. In addition to youthful protesters, the crowds included professors, clerics, and members of the middle class. In Washington, Mrs. Martin Luther King led 45,000 candlelight marchers from the Washington Monument to the White House. In New York, protesters marched from a meeting in Bryant Park where they were addressed by Mayor John Lindseay to gather at St. Patrick's Cathedral for an ecumenical service. And President Nixon then replied to protesters demands for an immediate end to the war. unfortunate that our allies would lose confidence in America. Far more dangerous, we would lose confidence in ourselves. Oh, the immediate reaction would be a sense of relief that our men were coming home. But as we saw the consequences of what we had done, inevitable remorse and divisive recrimination would scar our spirit as a people. In an appeal to what he called the silent majority, President Nixon solicited a response from persons who supported him and proudly displayed 52,000 telegrams. A second moratorum concentrated on Washington. 250,000 peaceful and orderly protesters were given visible support by notable political figures including Senators George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy who replied to President Nixon. But I think we're better with this than 52,000 kg. [Applause] A small group of yippies seeking a confrontation marched at night on the South Vietnamese embassy. Washington police used tear gas to drive them away and arrests were made. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Attorney General John Mitchell characterized this incident as evidence of the violent nature of the moratorium protest. In November, Americans were shocked by a report of a massacre of South Vietnamese civilians in the village of Mi by American troops. Captain Ernest L. Medina, commander of Company C, said he had not ordered a massacre or seen one. Lieutenant William A. Calli of Company C was charged with a murder of 110 persons. President Nixon said that it appeared that a massacre had taken place, but that it was an isolated incident. He said the guilty would be punished. Students protest US policies in Vietnam and in Cuba. But this year, the demonstrations were comparatively [Music] mild. In Italy, demonstrations threatened to topple the government. Students in labor take to the streets and general strikes, crippling Italy's economy. Terrorist bombs kill 14 in a Milan bank. A minority government clings to power and rumors of a right-wing coupulate in Rome. In Tokyo, more students protest Premier Sat's trip to the US. They threatened to topple his government. Despite student violence, Sato goes to Washington and is successful in achieving US agreement to return Okinawa to Japan. In the US, demonstrators took to the streets for a host of causes. At Fort Dicks, supporters of anti-war GIS protest their treatment by the military. They were turned back by tear gas. At MIT, students attacked the university's involvement in defense programs. In Chicago, Pickicket protested the trial of eight activists accused of conspiracy in the disorders that shook the 1968 Democratic [Music] Convention. In Berkeley, California, a coalition of the alienated seized a vacant lot and declared it a people's park. At Cornell, black students armed with rifles occupied a campus building for 36 hours. A peaceful settlement was reached, but Cornell's president resigned. [Applause] In December, police raided Black Panther headquarters in Chicago and Los Angeles. The officers had search warrants and raided just before dawn. [Applause] [Music] Two black Panthers were killed in Chicago. Police said the Panthers had opened fire when the police entered, but the Panthers denied him. They said the police had broken in and killed one man at close range as he slept. No one was killed in Los Angeles, but the Panthers said that the police had started the shooting. Black communities in both cities tended to support the panther. In Northern Ireland, more violence. Roman Catholics protest their treatment by the Protestant majority. Barricades were set up in Belfast and Londereerry and eight were killed in savage street fighting. 4,200 British troops finally restored order. They disarmed the Protestant police auxiliary and convinced Catholics to take down their barricade. At year's end, an uneasy truce prevailed. Children continued to die in secessionist Bafra at the rate of 1,000 a day as the country remains shut off from food supplies. African leaders in the Vatican have unsuccessfully tried to bring peace between Nigeria and the breakaway region. The military stalemate continues and the children die. In the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict persists. Air and artillery clashes along the Suez Canal were frequent, each side announcing widely divergent claims of extensive damage. Here, an Israeli attack sets fire to Egyptian oil tanks, and Israelis show a downed Egyptian Meg. Israel seem to have the advantage in this type of fighting. But the Arab nations shifted tactics and began a campaign of concentrated guerrilla warfare. The Palestinian guerrillas became the heroes of the Arab world. Most of the Arab regimes contributed funds and training camps were set up for the volunteers who flocked to the cause. For a time, Lebanon refused to allow the Palestinians freedom to launch their attacks from Lebanese territory. But the guerillas seized parts of Lebanese cities, including Tripoli. And Lebanon finally exceeded to most of the guerilla demands. The guerillas made occasional commando raids into Israeli territory, but were more often involved in bombings and rocketings of Israeli facilities like this market. Egypt's Gaml Abdul Nasser reinforced the guerilla actions when he said the only solution to the Mi's troubles was more blood. Nevertheless, first the big four and then the US and Russia searched for a negotiated settlement. At year's end, the US moved closer to Russian peace proposals, but both Israelis and Arabs remained intransigent. In Paris, the peace talks did not go far beyond the celebrated agreement on the shape of the table. Each side charged the other with offering little to negotiate, and later in the year, Henry Kat Lodge, whom Nixon appointed to head the talks, resigned as chief negotiator. Long-awaited disarmament talks between the United States and the Soviet Union, finally got underway in Helsinki. Nixon's choice for chief negotiator, Gerard C. Smith wasted no time in demonstrating good intentions and was met with spirited response. Charles de Gaul, a near legend in his time, came to vote in his beloved village. But for the man who once said, "Greatness only comes to those who dream of her." The dream was ending. The aging general resigned the French presidency after staking his continuence in office on proposals for reform which were rejected by the French [Music] people. As the nation went once again to the polls, this time to elect his successor. De Gaul had yet another disappointment to face. as the man whom he had ousted as premere Gor Pompedu was named to lead the new government. West Germany too had a change of leaders. Billy Bront brought the Social Democrats to power, replacing Chancellor Kurt George Kisinger and his Christian Democrats who had ruled the nation since the end of World War II. Bront wasted no time in easing relations with the Soviet [Applause] block. Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, general of the army, and supreme allied commander in Europe in World War II, died on March 28. He is remembered as one of the most beloved of American public figures. Hi Min, president of North Vietnam, died in Hanoi. He had led his country to freedom from France. Speculation that his death would alter the course of peace negotiations proved false. The death of Mary Joe Capeknik, a Kennedy aid who died in Senator Ted Kennedy's car, may have a decided effect on his political future. He admitted leaving the scene of the accident and appealed to his constituency for understanding. In 1969, big city politics took on national significance. In Los Angeles, conservative mayor Sam Yorty was returned to office, defeating a moderate black opponent. In New York, liberal mayor John Lindseay won over two conservative candidates. In Cleveland, black mayor Carl Stokes's return to office in a close election. He beat a moderate white [Applause] candidate. Vice President Spiro Agnu became a household word in 1969. He lambasted opponents of the Nixon administration, especially those in television and the press. All grinding out the same editorial line. And this is not a subject that you've seen debated on the editorial pages of the Washington Post or the New York Times. President Nixon put all the pressure of his administration behind the nomination of Clement Haynesworth to the Supreme Court. The conservative southern judge became the center of a storm of controversy when Senate liberals alleged that some of his judicial decisions involved possible conflicts of interest. Despite administration pressure, the Senate refused to confirm. In October, the Supreme Court ordered immediate integration of certain school districts in Mississippi. The decision was later broadened to include school districts in three other southern states. This year, these children are scheduled to attend an integrated school. Part of the Pacific Ocean was not white with foam. It was gray with oil. Leakage from an offshore oil well in the Santa Barbara, California Channel damaged marine life along 30 m of coastline. A disaster of another kind, Hurricane Camille, struck the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, leaving 149 [Music] dead. In an historic voyage, the oil tanker SS Manhattan broke through the ice choked Northwest Passage to reach newly discovered Alaskan oil fields. A new era in air travel was begun by the introduction of the Boeing 747, a giant jet that will carry 490 passengers. Nudity in movies and on stage becomes an ever more common feature of the new culture. It all started with a youthoriented hippie style musical called Hair and went off Broadway in Geese and finally in O Kolkata, an explicit catalog of [Music] eroticism. Drugs, especially marijuana, became a major problem in 1969. Operation Intercept stopped the drugs from crossing the Mexican border. Great quantities were seized and destroyed, but Mexico claimed that the operation was ruining tourism. After the Mexican government agreed to crack down on suppliers, Operation Intercept was [Music] cancelled. The shortage of marijuana was not apparent at the Woodstock, New York Summer Music Festival. Almost half a million young people gathered for a generally peaceful but monumentally disorganized weekend. Despite rain and lack of facilities, it genuinely reached young people and set a style soon copied by other festival promoters the world over. [Music] [Music] [Music] I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. The Kennedy prophecy became reality in less than a decade when three American astronauts blasted off from a space station bearing his name to begin a 240,000mi trek to the moon. The Voyagers watched Earth from afar as millions of Earthlings were given a guided tour of the universe by a business as usual crew. The world was witnessed too at that historic moment when the crews commander Neil Armstrong descended to the surface of another world and took one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. One giant leap for mankind. [Music] Apollo 11's astronauts whizzed back through space loaded with moon rock samples to a successful splashdown in the Pacific. And three young Americans became celebrities and heroes in as long as it takes to get to the moon and back. Edwin Aldren, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins were all smiles. But it wasn't long before Charles Conrad Jr., Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon Jr. did it all over again, heading moonwards in Apollo 12 to land once more on the lunar surface. This time within yards of their projected landing site. The crewmen gave space scientists extra consideration with a host of experiments and a locker full of lunar samples. The astronauts also picked up parts of an earlier US unmanned spacecraft, Surveyor 3, as they prepared to return to [Music] Earth. The moon left behind, man descended from infinite space to embrace again Earth's problems and promise. [Applause] [Music]