1969 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Lyndon B. Johnson , Richard Nixon
• Vice President: Hubert Humphrey , Spiro Agnew
• Chief Justice: Earl Warren , Warren E. Burger
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: John William McCormack
• Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield
• Congress: 90th, 91st

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January

• January 1 - In college football, Ohio State defeats USC in the Rose Bowl Game to win the national title for the 1968 season.
• January 9 - In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian Institution displays the art of Winslow Homer for 6 weeks.
• January 12 - Super Bowl III: The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts of the National Football League 16–7.
• January 13 - Elvis Presley steps into American Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, recording "Long Black Limousine" thus beginning the recording of what becomes his landmark comeback sessions for the albums "From Elvis In Memphis" and "Back in Memphis." The sessions yield the popular and critically acclaimed singles "Suspicious Minds", "In the Ghetto" and "Kentucky Rain."
• January 14
• * USS Enterprise fire: An explosion aboard aircraft carrier near Hawaii kills 27 and injures 314.
• * CBS greenlights Peanuts as a primetime television series. It runs for one season commencing April 10.
• January 16 - Ten paintings are defaced in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• January 20 - Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th President of the United States.
• January 27 - The modern-day powerhouse of the Hetch Hetchy Project at Moccasin, California, rated at 100,000 kVA, is completed and placed in operation. On February 7, the original is removed from service.
• January 28 - 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill: A blowout on Union Oil's Platform A in the Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field spills 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil into a channel and onto the beaches of Santa Barbara County in Southern California; on February 5 the oil spill closes Santa Barbara's harbor. The incident inspires Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson to organize the first Earth Day in 1970.

  February

• February 8 - The last issue of The Saturday Evening Post in its original form hits magazine stands after 147 years.
• February 9 - The Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight, from Paine Field at Everett, Washington.
• February 5 1969 US population reaches 200 million
• *Aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair the SEALAB III habitat off San Clemente Island, California.
• *Four hundred Major League Baseball players boycott spring training over owners' refusal to increase their pension-fund contributions along with television broadcast revenues.
• February 24
• *The Mariner 6 Mars probe is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
• *Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment applies to public schools.
• February 26 - The baseball players' boycott of spring training is settled, largely on their terms.

  March

• March 3
• *In a Los Angeles court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
• *Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the Apollo Lunar Module.
• March 10 - In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr..
• March 13 - Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
• March 28 - Former United States General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower dies after a long illness in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C..

  April

• April - A grassroots movement of Berkeley community members seizes an empty lot owned by the University of California to begin the formation of "People's Park."
• April 9 - The Harvard University Administration Building is seized by close to 300 students, mostly members of the Students for a Democratic Society. Before the takeover ends, 45 are injured and 184 arrested.

  May

• May 10 - Zip to Zap, a harbinger of the Woodstock Concert, ends with the dispersal and eviction of youth and young adults at Zap, North Dakota by the National Guard.
• May 15 - A teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the first confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.
• May 18 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched, on the full dress-rehearsal for the Moon landing.
• May 20 - United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on protesters in Berkeley, California in the aftermath of the People's Park unrest.
• May 21 - Shirley Chisholm went before Congress and spoke about equal rights for women as in job opportunities an prejudice comparing it to discrimination against African-American people that was dying at the time with equal rights laws being developed specifically for the minority.
• May 22 - Apollo program: Apollo 10's lunar module flies to within 15,400 m of the Moon's surface.
• May 26 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned Moon landing.

  June

• June 3 - Melbourne-Evans collision: The Australian aircraft carrier collides with the U.S. destroyer Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea; 74 U.S. sailors are killed.
• June 8 - U.S. President Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu meet at Midway Island. Nixon announces that 25,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn by September.
• June 18–22 - The National Convention of the Students for a Democratic Society, held in Chicago, collapses, and the Weatherman faction seizes control of the SDS National Office. Thereafter, any activity run from the National Office or bearing the name of SDS is Weatherman-controlled.
• June 23 - Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.
• June 28 - The Stonewall riots in New York City mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S.

  July

• July 4 - The Zodiac Killer attacks 19 year old Michael Mageau and kills 22 year old Darlene Ferrin in Vallejo, California.
• July 8 - Vietnam War: The first U.S. troop withdrawals are made.
• July 14 - The $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills are officially removed from circulation.
• July 16 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 lifts off from Cape Kennedy toward the first human landing on the Moon.
• July 17 - The New York Times publicly takes back the ridicule of the rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard published on 13 January 1920, that stated that spaceflight is impossible.
• July 18 - Chappaquiddick incident – Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign aide to his brother, Robert, dies in the early morning hours of July 19 in the submerged car.
• July 20–21 - Apollo program Moon landing: The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle lands on the Moon's surface. Much of the world watches in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his historic first steps on the surface.
• July 24 - Apollo program: Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins return safely to Earth after the first landing on the Moon.
• July 25 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This starts the "Vietnamization" of the war.
• July 26 - The New York Chapter of the Young Lords is founded to fight for empowerment of Puerto Ricans.
• July 30 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam, meeting with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.

  August

• August 4 - Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, U.S. representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. They eventually fail since both sides cannot agree to any terms.
• August 5 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars.
• August 9 - Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder Sharon Tate,, and her friends: Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring at Roman Polanski's home in Los Angeles. Also killed was Steven Parent, leaving from a visit to the home's caretaker. More than 100 stab wounds are found on the victims, except for Parent, who had been shot almost as soon as the Manson Family entered the property.
• August 10 - The Manson Family kills Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, wealthy Los Angeles business people.
• August 15–18 - The Woodstock Festival is held in upstate New York, featuring some of the era's top rock musicians.
• August 17 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage.
• August 20 - Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, Colorado.

  September

• September 2 - The first automatic teller machine in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York.
• September 5 - My Lai Massacre: Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six counts of premeditated murder, for the deaths of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
• September 6 - Children's TV series H.R. Pufnstuf begins its run on NBC. It was also a segment in The Banana Splits Adventure Hour season 2.
• September 9 - Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 DC-9 collides in flight with a Piper PA-28, and crashes near Fairland, Indiana.
• September 20 - The last Warner Bros. cartoon of the original theatrical Looney Tunes series is released: Injun Trouble.
• September 23 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, opens to limited release in the U.S.
• September 24 - The Chicago Eight trial begins in Chicago, Illinois.
• September 26 - The Brady Bunch premieres on ABC.

  October

• October 1 - The 5.6 Santa Rosa earthquake shook the North Bay area of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII. This first event in a doublet earthquake was followed two hours later by a 5.7 shock. Total financial losses from the events was $8.35 million.
• October 2 - A 1.2 megaton thermonuclear device is tested at Amchitka Island, Alaska. This test is code-named Project Milrow, the 11th test of the Operation Mandrel 1969–1970 underground nuclear test series. This test is known as a "calibration shot" to test if the island is fit for larger underground nuclear detonations.
• October 9–12 - Days of Rage: In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in to control demonstrations involving the radical Weathermen, in connection with the "Chicago Eight" Trial.
• October 11 - The Zodiac Killer murders Taxi cab driver Paul Stine in San Francisco, California.
• October 15 - Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in antiwar demonstrations across the United States called by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.
• October 16 - The "miracle" New York Mets win the World Series, beating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1.
• October 17- Fourteen black athletes are kicked off the University of Wyoming football team for wearing black armbands into their coach's office.
• October 31 - Wal-Mart incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

  November

• November 3 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity with the Vietnam War effort, and to support his policies. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew denounces the President's critics as "an effete corps of impudent snobs" and "nattering nabobs of negativism".
• November 10 - The children's television show Sesame Street premiers on NET.
• November 12 - Vietnam War - My Lai Massacre: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
• November 14 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the Moon.
• November 15
• *Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine in the Barents Sea.
• *Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000–500,000 protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".
• *Dave Thomas opens his first restaurant in a former steakhouse in downtown Columbus, Ohio. He names the chain Wendy's after his 8-year-old daughter Melinda Lou.
• November 17 - Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, to begin the SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
• November 19 - Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum, becoming the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
• November 20
• *Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
• *Occupation of Alcatraz: A group of Native American activists calling themselves "Indians of All Tribes" begin an 18-month occupation of Alcatraz Island as surplus federal land, to call attention to U.S. policies and treaty obligations to Native Americans and their tribal communities.
• November 21
• *U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Satō agree in Washington, D.C. to the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. retains rights to military bases on the island, but they must be nuclear-free.
• *The United States Senate votes down the Supreme Court nomination of Clement Haynsworth, the first such rejection since 1930.
• November 24 - Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.
• November 25 - John Lennon returns his MBE medal to protest the British government's support of the U.S. war in Vietnam.

  December

• December 1 - Chicago: Blues musician Magic Sam dies at the age of 32 of a heart attack.
• December 1 - Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
• December 2 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut. It carries 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle to New York City.
• December 4 - Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot dead in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
• December 6 - The Altamont Free Concert is held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. Hosted by the Rolling Stones, it is an attempt at a "Woodstock West" and is best known for the uproar of violence that occurred. It is viewed by many as the "end of the sixties."
• December 12 - The Piazza Fontana bombing in Italy takes place. A U.S. Navy officer and C.I.A. agent, David Carrett, is later investigated for possible involvement.

  Undated

• The first Gap store opens in San Francisco.
• Reported as being the year the first strain of the AIDS virus migrated to the United States via Haiti.
• The weather station of Mount Washington, New Hampshire records the heaviest calendar year precipitation in the US east of the Cascades with, beating the previous record of Rosman, North Carolina by.

  Ongoing

• Cold War
• Space Race
• Vietnam War, U.S. involvement
• Détente

  Births">:Category:1969 births">Births

• January 1
• * Morris Chestnut, African American actor and producer
• * Verne Troyer, film actor
• January 2
• * Robby Gordon, race car driver
• * Tommy Morrison, boxer and actor
• January 4
• * Corie Blount, basketball player and coach
• * Marla Runyan, runner and long jumper
• January 5 - Marilyn Manson, born Brian Warner, rock musician and painter
• January 6
• * Aron Eisenberg, screen actor and filmmaker
• * Norman Reedus, screen actor and model
• January 7 - Rex Lee, actor
• January 8 - J. Hunter Johnson, game designer, author, and translator
• January 14
• * Jason Bateman, actor, director and producer
• * Dave Grohl, rock singer-/songwriter
• January 17 - Michael Moynihan, journalist and publisher
• January 18 - Dave Bautista, actor, martial artist and wrestler
• January 19
• * Junior Seau, American football player
• * Casey Sherman, journalist and author
• January 27 - Patton Oswalt, stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice artist
• January 21 - M. K. Hobson, speculative fiction author
• February 3 - Beau Biden, attorney and politician, son of Vice-president Joe Biden
• February 9
• * Ian Eagle, sports announcer
• * Tom Scharpling, comedian, television writer and producer
• February 11
• * Jennifer Aniston, actress, film director and producer
• * Bill Warner, motorcycle racer and world motorcycle land speed record holder
• February 15 - Birdman, born Bryan Brooks, African American rapper, entertainer and record producer
• February 22
• * Thomas Jane, screen actor and comic books producer
• * Clinton Kelly, fashion consultant and television host
• March 1 - Litefoot, Native American actor
• March 4
• * Chaz Bono, child actor and LGBT rights activist
• * Adrian Wojnarowski, sports columnist and reporter
• March 7 - Todd Williams, long-distance runner
• March 10 - Paget Brewster, screen actress and voice artist
• March 11 - Terrence Howard, actor and singer
• March 12 - Jake Tapper, journalist
• March 19 - Connor Trinneer, actor
• March 27
• * Mariah Carey, African American pop singer
• * Kevin Corrigan, screen actor
• * Pauley Perrette, screen actress
• March 28 - Rodney Atkins, country singer-songwriter
• March 29
• * Jeff Blackshear, American football player
• * Ted Lieu, politician, U.S. Representative
• April 4 - Mo Cowan, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts in 2013
• April 6 - Paul Rudd, actor, comedian, writer and producer
• April 18 - C. Dale Young, poet
• May 12
• *Kim Fields, actress
• *Kevin Nalty, comedian and blogger
• May 21 - George LeMieux, U.S. Senator from Florida from 2009 to 2011
• May 26 - Siri Lindley, triathlete
• June 2 - Kurt Abbott, baseball player
• June 11
• *Steven Drozd, singer-songwriter
• *Kip Miller, ice hockey player
• June 19
• *Thomas Breitling, journalist and businessman
• *Lara Spencer, journalist
• June 27 - Heather Bresch, business executive, CEO of Mylan
• June 28 - Garth Snow, ice hockey player and manager
• July 2
• * Matthew Cox, criminal
• * Tony Touch, hip hop break dancer, singer-songwriter, producer and DJ
• July 3 - Shawnee Smith, screen actress and rock singer
• July 4
• *Al Golden, American football player and coach
• *Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach
• *Jordan Sonnenblick, teacher and novelist
• July 5 - John LeClair, hockey player
• July 6
• * Beverly McClellan, singer and reality talent show finalist
• * Christopher Scarver, serial killer
• * Brian Van Holt, screen actor
• July 7 - Keith Baker, game designer and fantasy novelist
• July 8 - George Fisher, vocalist
• July 10 - Gale Harold, screen actor
• July 13 - Ken Jeong, actor, comedian and physician
• July 14 - Billy Herrington, gay pornographic actor
• July 15 - Chris Wyse, bassist of Owl and The Cult
• July 18 - Elizabeth Gilbert, author
• July 19
• * Chris Kratt, educational nature show host
• * Courtenay Taylor, voice artist
• July 20 - Josh Holloway, screen actor and model
• July 21 - Godfrey, comedian and actor
• July 22
• * Jason Becker, heavy metal guitarist
• * James Arnold Taylor, voice artist
• July 23 - John Cariani, actor and playwright
• July 24 - Jennifer Lopez, actress and singer
• July 25 - Jason Harris Katz, voice artist and television host
• July 27 - Triple H, wrestler
• July 28
• * Alexis Arquette, born Robert Arquette, screen actress
• * Dana White, businessman and president of Ultimate Fighting Championship
• July 29 - Timothy Omundson, screen actor
• August 1 - David Wain, comedian, writer, actor and director
• August 4 - Michael DeLuise, screen actor and director
• August 5 - Kenny Irwin Jr., NASCAR driver
• August 6
• * Jonathan Aibel, scriptwriter
• * Elliott Smith, singer-songwriter
• August 9 - Troy Percival, baseball player
• August 16 - Kate Higgins, voice artist
• August 17
• * Christian Laettner, basketball player
• * Donnie Wahlberg, singer and actor
• August 18
• * Everlast, singer, rapper and songwriter
• * Edward Norton, actor, film director, screenwriter and social activist
• * Christian Slater, actor, voice artist and producer
• * Timothy Snyder, historian
• August 19
• * Nate Dogg, African American rapper
• * Doug Langdale, screenwriter, producer and actor
• * Paula Jai Parker, actress and comedian
• * Matthew Perry, screen actor
• * Clay Walker, country singer
• August 26 - Glenn Berger, scriptwriter
• August 28 - Jack Black, actor and musician
• August 30 - Kent Osborne, actor and producer
• August 31 - Andrew Cunanan, serial killer
• September 2
• * Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, R&B singer
• * Dave Naz, photographer
• September 4 - Kristen Wilson, screen actress
• September 5 - Dweezil Zappa, actor and musician
• September 6 - CeCe Peniston, singer
• September 7
• * Angie Everhart, actress and model
• * Diane Farr, screen actress
• * Jimmy Urine,, electropunk singer
• September 11 - Crystal Lewis, Christian musician
• September 13
• * Dominic Fumusa, actor
• * Tyler Perry, actor, film director and screenwriter
• September 17 - Matthew Settle, screen actor
• September 19 - Michael Symon, chef and television personality
• September 24
• * Shawn "Clown" Crahan, rock percussionist
• * DeVante Swing, music producer
• September 25
• * Bill Simmons, sports columnist
• * Hal Sparks, actor, writer, comedian and political commentator
• September 29 - Erika Eleniak, model and actress
• September 30 - Chris Von Erich, professional wrestler
• October 1 - Zach Galifianakis, actor and stand-up comedian
• October 2 - Mitch English, actor and television host
• October 3 - Gwen Stefani, singer, actress and television host
• October 7
• * Karen L. Nyberg, space engineer and astronaut
• * DJ Qbert, turntablist
• October 8 - Julia Ann, pornographic actress
• October 10
• * Loren Bouchard, voice artist, animator and producer
• * Brett Favre, American football player
• * Molly Kiely, cartoonist
• * Wendi McLendon-Covey, comic screen actress
• October 13
• * Rhett Akins, country singer
• * Nancy Kerrigan, figure skater
• * Cady McClain, actress and director
• October 14 - David Strickland, screen actor
• October 15 - Kim Raver, screen actress
• October 16
• * Roy Hargrove, jazz trumpeter
• * Wendy Wilson, singer and television personality
• October 17
• * Wood Harris, screen actor
• * Nancy Sullivan, screen actress
• October 19
• * Vanessa Marshall, actress and voice artist
• * Trey Parker, voice artist, comedian, screenwriter, composer, director and producer
• October 20 - Juan González, baseball player
• October 22 - Spike Jonze, film director
• October 25
• * Nika Futterman, actress and voice artist
• * Alex Webster, death metal bassist
• November 2 - Reginald Arvizu, nu metal bassist
• November 4
• * Sean Combs, African American rapper and entrepreneur
• * Matthew McConaughey, film actor
• November 7 - Michelle Clunie, screen actress
• November 8 - Jonathan Slavin, actor and activist
• November 9
• * Sandra Denton, African American rapper
• * Allison Wolfe, punk rock singer-songwriter
• November 10 - Ellen Pompeo, screen actress
• November 12
• * Ian Bremmer, political scientist
• * Rob Schrab, actor and comic book creator
• November 13
• * John Belluso, dramatist
• * Stephen Full, actor and comedian
• * Josh Mancell, composer and instrumentalist
• November 18
• * Sam Cassell, basketball player
• * Rocket Ismail, American football player
• November 19 - Erika Alexander, African American actress
• November 20
• * Dabo Swinney, college football coach
• * Meredith Whitney, business executive
• November 21 - Ken Griffey Jr., baseball player
• November 26 - Kara Walker, African American artist
• November 28
• * Colman Domingo, African American actor and dramatist
• * Lexington Steele, African American pornographic actor and director
• November 29
• * Chris Baker, race car driver
• * Kasey Keller, soccer player
• November 30 - David Auburn, dramatist
• December 1 - Richard Carrier, historian
• December 4 - Jay-Z, African American rapper
• December 5 - Alex Kapp Horner, television actress
• December 7 - Patrice O'Neal, African American comedian and radio personality
• December 8 - Kerry Earnhardt, race car driver
• December 9
• * Jakob Dylan, rock singer-songwriter
• * Lori Greiner, investor, entrepreneur and television personality
• December 11 - Sean Grande, basketball announcer
• December 14 - Archie Kao, screen actor
• December 15 - Rick Law, illustrator and producer
• December 16 - Adam Riess, astrophysicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011
• December 17
• * Laurie Holden, actress, producer, model and human rights activist
• * Chuck Liddell, mixed martial arts fighter
• December 18 - Joe Randa, baseball player and radio talk-show host
• December 19
• * Lauren Sánchez, news anchor
• * Kristy Swanson, screen actress
• December 23
• * Greg Biffle, race car driver
• * Martha Byrne, actress and singer
• * Rob Pelinka, sports agent
• December 24
• * Brad Anderson, wrestler
• * Leavander Johnson, lightweight boxer
• * Clinton McKinnon, rock saxophonist
• * Chen Yueling, race walker
• * Jonathan Zittrain, academic internet lawyer
• * Michael Zucchet, economist and politician, Mayor of San Diego
• December 27
• * Chyna, professional wrestler
• * Sarah Vowell, historian, author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress
• December 30 - Matt Goldman, record producer

  Deaths

• January 1 - Barton MacLane, screen actor
• January 2 - Gilbert Miller, theatrical producer
• January 3
• * Commodore Cochran, Olympic sprinter
• * Howard McNear, screen character actor
• January 17
• * Bunchy Carter, political activist
• * John Huggins, political activist
• January 27 - Charles Winninger, actor
• January 29 - Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• February 3 - Al Taliaferro, Disney comics artist
• February 5
• * Conrad Hilton Jr., socialite and hotel business heir
• * Thelma Ritter, comedy actress
• February 9 - Gabby Hayes, Western film actor
• February 14 - Vito Genovese, mobster
• February 15 - Pee Wee Russell, jazz clarinetist
• February 17 - Paul Barbarin, jazz drummer
• February 27 - John Boles, film actor
• March 3 - Fred Alexander, tennis player
• March 4 - Nicholas Schenck, film impresario
• March 9
• * Charles Brackett, novelist and screenwriter
• * Richard Crane, screen character actor
• March 11 - Daniel E. Barbey, admiral
• March 18 - Barbara Bates, film actress, suicide
• March 21 - Pinky Higgins, baseball player and manager
• March 25 - Max Eastman, writer
• March 26 - John Kennedy Toole, novelist, suicide
• March 28 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961
• April 4 - Félix Conde Falcón, army soldier, recipient of the Medal of Honor
• April 5 - Shelby Storck, television producer
• April 10 - Harley Earl, automotive designer and business executive
• April 20 - Benny Benjamin, urban and jazz drummer
• May 1 - Ella Logan, actress and singer
• May 14
• * Enid Bennett, silent film actress
• * Walter Pitts, logician and cognitive psychologist
• May 15
• * William Gould, action film actor
• * Robert Rayford, HIV/AIDS victim
• May 18 - Walter Gropius, Modernist architect
• May 20
• * Alex Rackley, political activist
• * Fred Sherman, film actor
• May 21 - William Lincoln Bakewell, explorer
• May 23 - Jimmy McHugh, song composer
• May 24
• * Paul Birch, actor
• * Mitzi Green, child actress
• May 26 - Henry Rago, poet and editor
• May 27 - Jeffrey Hunter, screen actor
• June 8 - Robert Taylor, American actor
• June 11 - John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960
• June 18 - Edgar Anderson, botanist
• June 19 - Natalie Talmadge, silent film actress
• June 22 - Judy Garland, film actress and singer
• June 24 - Willy Ley, scientific popularizer
• June 28
• * Charles Carpenter, Episcopal bishop
• * Gerald Fitzgerald, Roman Catholic priest
• June 30
• * Roman Richard Atkielski, Roman Catholic bishop
• * Max Fabian, cinematographer
• July 2 - Michael DiBiase, wrestler
• July 5
• * Ben Alexander, film actor
• * Walter Gropius, architect
• * Lambert Hillyer, film director
• * Leo McCarey, film director
• July 7
• * Charlotte Armstrong, fiction writer
• * Gladys Swarthout, operatic mezzo-soprano, died in Italy
• July 17 - Harry Benham, silent film actor
• July 18
• * Mary Jo Kopechne, teacher, secretary and political campaign specialist, drowned in automobile accident
• * Barbara Pepper, actress
• July 21 - A. D. King, African American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, accidental drowning
• July 26 - Raymond Walburn, character actor
• July 28 - Frank Loesser, songwriter
• August 1 - Donald Keith, silent film actor
• August 9 - Tate–LaBianca murders
• * Jay Sebring, celebrity hair stylist
• * Sharon Tate, screen actress and model
• August 17
• * Otto Stern, physicist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1943
• * Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect
• August 18 - Mildred Davis, silent film actress
• August 31 - Rocky Marciano, heavyweight boxer
• September 3 - John Lester, cricketer
• September 8 - Percy Spencer, inventor of the microwave oven
• September 16 - Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr., conservationist
• September 17 - Greye La Spina, dramatist and short story writer
• September 22 - Rachel Davis Harris, African American librarian
• September 24 - Warren Sturgis McCulloch, neurophysiologist and cybernetician
• October 3 - Skip James, blues singer
• October 6 - Walter Hagen, golfer
• October 7 - Johnnie Morris, vaudeville and film actor and comedian
• October 14 - Arnie Herber, American football player
• October 15 - Rod La Rocque, film actor
• October 21 - Jack Kerouac, novelist and poet
• October 29 - Pops Foster, African American jazz string bass player
• November 1 - Pauline Bush, silent film actress
• November 5 - Lloyd Corrigan, screen actor and director
• November 8
• * Dave O'Brien, film actor
• * Vesto Slipher, astronomer
• November 11 - Frank Mills, politician in Ohio legislature
• November 12 - William F. Friedman, cryptanalyst
• November 15 - Roy D'Arcy, silent and sound film actor
• November 18 - Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., political patriarch and businessman
• November 28 - Roy Barcroft, Western film actor
• December 1 - Magic Sam, Chicago blues guitarist and songwriter
• December 3 - Ruth White, actress
• December 4 - Black Panther Party activists, killed in police raid
• * Mark Clark
• * Fred Hampton
• December 7 - Lefty O'Doul, baseball player
• December 13 - Spencer Williams, African American screen actor and filmmaker
• December 23 - Donald Foster, television actor
• December 24
• * Cortelia Clark, African American blues singer and guitarist
• * Seabury Quinn, government lawyer, journalist and pulp magazine author
• December 31 - Joseph Yablonski, labor leader, murdered