History repeats itself

I've been reading Niall Ferguson's monumental work The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West (Penguin 2006), and, in the Epilogue, came across the following passage.

On January 20, 1969, it was becoming hard for Americans to feel optimistic.... American society itself seemed to be fragmenting. There were race riots in the inner cities and demonstrations in the universities; young fought old, black fought white, redneck fought hippy, student fought cop. Race was one of the main bones of contention.

What's the significance of 20 January 1969? That was the date of Richard Nixon's inauguration.

Footnote: In the very last paragraph of The War of the World, Niall Ferguson wrote (in 2006, remember): [H.G. Wells's] The War of the Worlds remains science fiction. The War of the World is, however, historical fact. Perhaps, like Well's story, ours will be ended abruptly by the intervention of microscopic organisms like the avian influenza virus, which could yet produce a worse mutation and pandemic than that of 1918. Until that happens, however, we remain our own worst enemies.