Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated in January. Earl Warren retires from the U.S. Supreme Court and is replaced by Warren Burger. The Woodstock Festival is held in August. New products include Penthouse magazine and the first automatic teller. Coffee grower Juan Valdez first appears in coffee ads.
Thunderbirds offer a primitive form of ABS brakes as an option.
Front headrests are now government mandated safety equipment on all new cars. The comedy sketch group Monty Python first appears. Deaths include Joseph P. Kennedy, Jack Keroac, boxer Rocky Marciano, Boris Karloff, skater Sonja Henie, former president Dwight Eisenhower, car stylist Harley Earl, Judy Garland and cowboy sidekick Gabby Hayes. The Chevrolet Corvair also died, a victim of Ralph Nader's book, 'Unsafe At Any Speed,' and the public's desire for musclebound ponycars instead of rear-engined sportycars. The NY Mets defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.