November 20, 1969

1969Jimmy Blandon, Ecuadorian footballer^[†]

Jimmy Roberto Blandón Quiñónez is a former Ecuadorian football midfielder. He played in 30 matches for Ecuador between 1997 and 2000. He was a strong defensive midfielder with great mobility and tireless physical condition.

1969Kristian Ghedina, Italian alpine ski racer^[†]

Kristian Ghedina is an Italian alpine skiing coach and former competitive racer. His 13 victories are the second most by an Italian downhill specialist in World Cup history: the first is Dominik Paris with 21 victories. He is currently an auto racer.

1969Chris Harris, New Zealand cricketer^[†]

Chris Zinzan Harris is a former New Zealand cricketer who became, over the course of the 1990s, a folk-hero in New Zealand cricket. Harris was a member of the New Zealand team that won the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy.

1969Wolfgang Stark, German football referee^[†]

Wolfgang Stark is a German former football referee who is based in Ergolding. He refereed for DJK Altdorf of the Bavarian Football Association.

1969Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.^[†]

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian Civil Wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

1969Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.^[†]

The Occupation of Alcatraz was a 19-month long occupation of Alcatraz Island and its prison complex, then classified as abandoned surplus federal land, by 89 American Indians and their supporters. The occupation was led by Richard Oakes, LaNada Means, and others, while John Trudell served as spokesman. The group lived on the island together until the occupation was forcibly ended by the U.S. government.