page_title: 1969
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: 1969 / Events / August
caption_attribution_description: English: The crowd at Woodstock fills a natural amphitheatre with the stage at the bottom. Deutsch: Das Publikum des Woodstock Festivals füllte ein natürliches Amphitheater, an dessen tiefstem Punkt sich die Bühne befand.
context_page_description: 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1960s decade.
  The year is associated with the first manned landing on the Moon, the creation of the internet, and the commencement of the LGBT Rights Movement.
context_section_description: 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 (3,524 kilometers).
  August 8
  The Beatles at 11:30 have photographer Iain Macmillan take their photo on a zebra crossing on Abbey Road.
  A fire breaks out in Bannerman's Castle in the Hudson River; most of the roof collapses and crashes down to the lower levels.
  August 9
  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.
  The Haunted Mansion attraction opens at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Later versions open in Florida, Tokyo and Paris.
  August 10 – The Manson Family kills Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, wealthy Los Angeles businessman and his wife.
  August 12 – The Troubles: Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside, and violence elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
  August 13 – Serious border clashes occur between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.
  August 14 – 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.
  August 15 – Captain D's is founded as "Mr. D's Seafood and Hamburgers" by Ray Danner with its first location opening in Donelson, Tennessee.
  August 15–18 – The Woodstock Festival is held near White Lake, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.
  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 (1969 dollars).
  August 18 – Long John Silver's restaurant chain opens its first store in Lexington, Kentucky.
  August 19 – Embraer, an commercial aircraft brand, founded in State of São Paulo, Brazil.
  August 20 – Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, Colorado, U.S.
  August 21
  Donald and Doris Fisher open the first Gap store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco.
  Australian Denis Michael Rohan sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire.
  Strong violence on demonstration in Prague and Brno, Czechoslovakia. Military force contra citizens. Prague spring finally beaten.
  August 24 – V. V. Giri elected President of India
  August 29 – A Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Tel Aviv is hijacked and diverted to Syria.
caption: August 15–18: Woodstock
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