Seems to be a lot of 50th Year Anniversary celebrations this year.

What happened 50 years ago?

So where were you?

·      Persons who were born during the years from 1944 to 1951, and who celebrate their birthdays on this day, mark the occasion without being aware that September 14 will be the first date selected in the new U.S. ‘draft lottery’ on December 1.

I was in my sophomore year in college.

·      China carries out an underground nuclear bomb test.

Actuality the ‘Institution’ was succumbing to a ‘University’.

·      The ‘Chicago Eight’ trial begins in Chicago, Illinois. The Illinois National Guard is called in to control demonstrations involving the radical Weathermen, in connection with the ‘Chicago Eight’ Trial.

The buildings didn’t change but the name did.

·      Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six counts of premeditated murder for the 1968 ‘My Lai Massacre’ deaths of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai, Vietnam.

Later the buildings did too.

·      Led Zeppelin, the first ‘Led Zeppelin’ album, is released in the United States.

Having survived the first year and being advised not to come back, the parents found a place to shelter a friend and me away from home.

·      The Soviet Union launches ‘Soyuz 5’, which docks with Soyuz 4 for a transfer of crew.

The first apartment, a block away from school, was established in 1969.

·      Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th President of the United States.

A couple of bed, desk and a forlorn sofa dragged out of a dump and hauled up three flights became our home.

·      The ‘Brady Bunch’ is broadcast for the first time on ABC.

There were nurses across the street and flat tin roof in the back.

·      Student Jan Palach sets himself on fire in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; 3 days later he dies.

Along with the change in major and the constant threat of being drafted, life was just fine.

·      Hundreds of thousands of people take part in ‘Moratorium to End the War’ in Vietnam demonstrations across the United States.

Would go to breakfast on Grace Street but it wasn’t my scene.

·      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.

I was managing a coffee house for my Baptist church on weekends to keep me out of mischief.

·      ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ first airs on BBC One.

The Carriage House supplied tea, coffee, chips and quiet conversation with relaxing music under candlelight.

·      Willard S. Boyle and George Smith invent the CCD at Bell Laboratories (30 years later, this technology is widely used in digital cameras).

That changed in 1969 and the topics got more varied and the opinions more heated.

·       The first message is sent over ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet.

It was the perfect responsibility without pay.

·      A blowout on Union Oil’s Platform A 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.

I’d learned that college was not high school pt II.

·      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.

I started to look at my class choices and figured out what I could possibly pass and what I should avoid.

·      A group of American Indians, led by Richard Oakes, seizes Alcatraz Island as a symbolic gesture, offering to buy the property for $24 from the U.S. government. A longer occupation begins 11 days later. The act inspires a wave of renewed Indian pride and government reform.

Swimming seemed to fill in for Phys. Ed.

·      ‘Sesame Street’ airs its first episode on the NET network.

Guitar sounded pretty easy.

·      In Washington, D.C., 250,000–500,000 protesters stage a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic “March Against Death”.

Psychology replaced statistics and changed my life.

·       Pink Floyd releases their ‘Ummagumma’ album.

Marketing was easy because all I had to do was make whatever those future sales and accountants came up, with look good.

·      Judy Garland dies of a drug overdose in her London home.

The school was in such chaos that they accepted my variations on the established curriculum.

·      ‘The Beatles’ give their last public performance, of several tracks on the roof of Apple Records, London.

Also during this period I learned to speed-read.

·      In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is elected Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.

Never being an avid reader, the stack of books that were required purchased for assigned classes (what a scam) would take hours away from fun time.

·      The first strain of the AIDS virus (HIV) migrates to the United States via Haiti.

At the same time, the local bookshop started carrying ‘underground comics’ from California.

·      Invention of Unix under the potential name ‘Unics’ (after Multics).

My doodles became structured panels with messages and meanings.

·       ‘Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway’ soon known as ‘Richmond Internation Raceway’ starts racing.

So did my songwriting.

·      The Cuyahoga River fire helps spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Even with new fangled highlighters, it was such a waste of time to read all this nonsense.

·      Nixon announces that 25,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn by September.

Much of textbooks are the author’s opinions and reference to other’s text.

·      In a Los Angeles court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.

Working at the train station for a few hours a day cleaning vending machines for busy travelers was not a career choice, but it did provide a few shekels.

·      Brian Jones, musician and founder of ‘The Rolling Stones’, drowns in his swimming pool at his home in Sussex, England.

It also provided food substance when the parent’s store ran out.

·      The first automatic ‘teller machine’ in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York.

It also provided me with enough coin to purchase a $300 guitar.

·      A Florida court issues arrest warrants for Jim Morrison on charges of indecent exposure during a ‘Doors’ concert three days earlier.

About this time I followed another from the train station to the public library.

·      Libyan coup d’état: A bloodless coup in Libya ousts King Idris and brings Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power.

Don’t remember any difference in the pay (I’d have to check my first bank account book) but the accommodations were better and my new boss knew my family.

·      The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland to restore order following three days of political and sectarian violence, marking the beginning of the 37-year ‘Operation Banner’.

Not a bad gig, even though I was in the basement.

·      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.

My assignment was to set up type and print signs instructing patrons where to find the latest periodical or where the restrooms where.

·      The first draft lottery in the United States since World War II is held. ‘September 14’ is the first of the 366 days of the year selected, meaning that those persons who were born on September 14 in the years from 1944 to 1951 would be the first to be summoned. On January 4, 1970, The New York Times will run a long article, “Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random”.

I’d add graphic touches with markers.

·      The first ARPANET link is established (the progenitor of the global Internet).

Also had plenty of time to read (study) and get paid.

·      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 as the “end of the sixties”.

I also stood in as a ‘junior’ page, which meant I could work in the ‘Art & Music’ section when the other pages were on vacation or out sick.   

·      In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr.

This was the year that I could stay up late or drinks 3.2 beer or skip class. It was about finding freedom.

·      Woodstock

Being responsible to pay the rent but knowing just down the street was another bank account called “family” I could borrow from.

·      Members of the ‘Manson Family’ invade the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband Roman Polanski in Los Angeles. The followers killed Tate (who was 8.5 months pregnant), and her friends: Folgers coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring. Also killed is Steven Parent, leaving from a visit to the Polanskis’ 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.

Then I got a credit card.

·      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 will be injured and 184 arrested.

Life was good.

·      ‘Operation Breakfast’, the covert bombing of Cambodia by U.S. planes, begins.

Until a young lady told me she had missed her period.

·      John Lennon and Yoko Ono are married at Gibraltar, and proceed to their honeymoon ‘Bed-In’ for peace in Amsterdam.

The choice between the army vs marriage made times ‘heavy’.

·      The rock group ‘Blind Faith’ plays its first gig in front of 100,000 people in London’s Hyde Park.

School was a nice trip of an hour or two sitting in a class and then the day was your own.

·      US Senator Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge into a tidal pond after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy does not report the accident for nine or ten hours.

This was even more enjoyable than being a kid, until…

·      The Stonewall Inn, an LGBT nightclub, was the place where the Stonewall riots occurred, a situation in where members of the LGBTQ community rioted against police who had raided the nightclub. The riots are commonly stated as the main event that would start the LGBT rights movement

The same time chemical and herbal substance were common with every gathering.

·      Vietnam War: The very first U.S. troop withdrawals are made.

The music got louder and the party got hazy.

·      The United States' $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation.

The hair got longer.

·      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”.

Did we not care or did we just avoid reality?

·      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.

I met my first wife.

·      Golda Meir becomes the first female prime minister of Israel.

I went to a nuclear power plant.

·      Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary ‘artificial heart’.

I played music in coffee houses and the occasional club.

·      United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California.

I saw an eclipse.

·      The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as ‘Hamburger Hill’, begins during the Vietnam War.

I posted Playboy centerfolds on the wall to keep the apartment manager out.

·      An American teenager known as ‘Robert R.’ dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.

I had to deal with my roommate’s Siamese cat that was in heat.

·      British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

When the eviction notice came, we moved down the block for the summer but that didn’t last.

·       Category 5 ‘Hurricane Camille’, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, arrived in Virginia on the night of August 19, 1969, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).

My roommate dropped out of school and moved away.

·      Apollo program: ‘Apollo 11’ (Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins) lifts off from Cape Kennedy in Florida towards the first manned landing on the Moon.

Looked for another place with another friend but time ran out so I moved back home. It does pay to live in town with your folks when you go to school.

·      July 20 – Apollo program Moon landing: At 10:56 pm ET (02:56 UTC July 21) Apollo 11’s lunar module Eagle lands on the Moon’s surface. An estimated 500 million people worldwide, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at this time, watch in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his first historic steps on the surface.

Maybe my dad disagreed but there I was for another couple of years, having had the freedom of an apartment but back home in the comfort of laundry and food and running water.

·      The Apollo 11 returns from the first successful Moon landing and the astronauts are placed in biological isolation for several days in case they may have brought back lunar germs. The airless lunar environment is later determined to rule out microscopic life.

So whatever you did in 1969 (if you were even born then like Jennifer Aniston) this was a tumultuous year.

·      ‘The Beatles’ at 11:30 have photographer Iain Macmillan take their photo on a zebra crossing on Abbey Road.

Following the 1968 transition, when you have just turned 20, life between childhood and adulthood is the rabbit hole to follow.

·      John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct their second ‘Bed-In’. The follow-up to the Amsterdam event is held at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Lennon composes and records the song ‘Give Peace a Chance’ during the event.

There are many more daily events that are recorded, but not remembered.