Information on how to download a PDF of the 1969 Convention Reports are at the end of this post. Background on the 1969 Convention Reports: There were 3 brochures released in 1969 relating to the International Assemblies held that year. One was released as a pre-publicity brochure and was used in the rooming work. (Many JWs would stay in private homes instead of a motel during the Assembly, so JWs would go door to door looking for people willing to rent a spare room to them.) The second brochure was released during the first few days of the Assembly and the third brochure was released following the public talk on Sunday: "The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years." There were fewer assemblies held this year. For example, on the West Coast of the US only one assembly was held--at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (A Spanish assembly was held in Pomona, California.) Many Witnesses in the Northwest US went to the assembly held in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. On the East Coast, assemblies were held in New York City, Buffalo and Atlanta, Georgia. These larger assemblies generated significant news coverage. For example, the July 18, 1969 issue of Time magazine had a large write-up, which can be seen at the Time website at: Page 1: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901074,00.html Page 2 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901074-2,00.html A scan of the original Time article can be seen here: http://pages.globetrotter.net/mleblank/media/time1975.jpg
The Time article makes specific reference to the 1975 prediction. This was based on the idea that the ending of 6,000 years of human history would end in that year:
The Witnesses have what they believe is Scriptural proof that the end is coming. For one thing, their interpretation of Biblical chronology reveals that Adam and Eve were created in the autumn of 4026 B.C., or 5,994 years ago. Linking 6,000 years to the six days of God's creation, they believe it fitting that there be a sabbath-like rest thereafter, beginning in 1975—though Witnesses cautiously avoid a flat prediction linked to that year. What is more, Christ's promise that "this generation will not pass away till all these things take place" means that the generation alive in 1914, when the last days began, will see Armageddon. As they eye the thinning ranks of that generation, Jehovah's Witnesses are well aware the time limit is running out.
Lest one think that Time was being somehow unfair in mentioning this, one only has to look at the manuscript for the public talk which is included in the third brochure. The whole concept of 6,000 years of man's existence ending in the "mid-seventies" and being followed by a 1,000 year sabbath (millennium) forms a major part of the lecture. On pages 11-13 of that brochure (pages 75-77 of the PDF):
In certain editions of the Holy Bible, Catholic and Protestant, there have appeared dates according to the chronology of the noted Irish Anglican prelate, Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656 C.E.). Ussher’s date for man’s creation is 4004 B.C.E. By this reckoning six thousand years or six millenniums of man’s existence would end in the autumn of the coming year of 1996 C.E. after which the seventh millennium of man’s existence would start.
More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums of mankind’s life on earth would end in the mid-seventies. Thus the seventh millennium from man’s creation by Jehovah God would begin within less than ten years.Apart from the global change that present-day world conditions indicate is fast getting near, the arrival of the seventh millennium of man’s existence on earth suggests a gladsome change for war-stricken humankind. According to the first two chapters of the Holy Bible man and woman were created toward the close of the sixth creative day. We are now living in the seventh creative day, and on this seventh day Jehovah God has been resting from earthly creation. To run parallel with this resting of God on his seventh creative day, he gave the Ten Commandments to his prophet Moses, in the fourth one of which God commanded that his chosen people should rest on the seventh day of the week. (Ex. 20:8-11) That day was therefore the weekly sabbath day, the day of desistance from human toil.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the prospective Prince of Peace, pointed forward to a greater Sabbath Day. Pointing forward to this, he said on a certain weekly sabbath day when he came under criticism: "Lord of the sabbath is what the Son of man is." (Matt. 12:1-8) He was referring to his peaceful reign of a thousand years. Jehovah God measures human affairs according to a thousand-year-length rule. He inspired the prophet Moses to write, in Psalm 90:4: "A thousand years are in your eyes but as yesterday when it is past." He also inspired the Christian apostle Peter to write: "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Pet. 3:8, AV) In prophetic vision the apostle John saw Satan the Devil and his demons bound and abyssed for a thousand years, during which thousand years Jesus Christ reigned with his victorious disciples over all mankind. (Rev. 5:9, 10; 20:1-7) So, according to God’s viewpoint of time, that thousand years of his Son Jesus Christ would correspond with merely "one day." In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be "Lord even of the sabbath day," his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums. (Matt. 12:8, AV) Thus it would be a sabbatic reign. Since early in the existence of mankind Satan the Devil has been on the loose, making the human family to toil in hard bondage, causing the earth to be filled with violence before the global flood of Noah’s day and inducing the same old earth to be filled with even greater violence today. Soon now six millenniums of his wicked exploiting of mankind as his slaves will end, within the lifetime of the generation that has witnessed world events since the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 till now, according to the prophetic words of Jesus in Matthew 24:34. Would not, then, the end of six millenniums of mankind’s laborious enslavement under Satan the Devil be the fitting time for Jehovah God to usher in a Sabbath millennium for all his human creatures? Yes, indeed! And his King Jesus Christ will be Lord of that Sabbath.
The 1975 prediction was not something the JWs were soft-pedaling at this time. It formed the basis of the public talk at the International Assembly!
At this point, there was no hesitancy about their hopes for 1975 and Witnesses were not quiet about it. For example, page 18 of the first convention brochure refers to the extra work the Bethel family put into printing extra issues of the October 8, 1968 Awake! magazine. This was a special issue of Awake! titled: "Is It Later Than You Think?" which also refers to the 1975 prediction on pages 13-16 in the article "What Will the 1970s Bring?" The convention brochure brags that that the special run of that Awake! issue along its companion Watchtower issue would stack up a pile "55,000 feet high or over 10 miles!" For those interested, a copy of that widely distributed Awake! special issue mentioning the 1975 prediction can be viewed online at:
http://tjliberte.free.fr/Library/Watchtower_Publications/Other_books/1968_Awake_October_8.pdf
Instructions on downloading the 1969 Convention Reports. All 3 brochures are together in one file and it is about 11.5 MB. The file can be downloaded from this filesharing site:
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=78a3b599ccfd08e159ed243d0bba32e8
Once there go to the bottom of the page and you'll see a golden download button (after a short countdown). Click on the download button and the download will begin