There was a Scottish National Party leadership election in 1969. The election saw the incumbent Arthur Donaldson defeated by William Wolfe. By 1969 Arthur Donaldson had been party leader for 9 years, and was in his late 60s. Despite his success in growing the party, Donaldson was not without his critics, and at the 1967 SNP Annual Conference he had faced a leadership challenge from Douglas Drysdale, which he comfortably defeated.