|
Events
- January 1 - Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell,
H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate
cover-up and are sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail on February
21
- January 5 - The Tasman
Bridge in Tasmania, Australia,
is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
- January 7 - OPEC agrees to raise
crude oil prices by 10%.
- January 8 - Ella Grasso
becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first
woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her
husband
- January 20 - Michael
Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency
- January - Altair 8800 is
released, sparking the era of the microcomputer
- February 9 - The Soyuz 17
Soviet spacecraft returns
to Earth.
- February 11 - Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the
leadership of the UK Conservative Party in the
United Kingdom.
- February 21 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John
Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
- February 28 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London killed
43 people.
- March 4 - Charlie
Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United
Kingdom.
- March 6 - Algiers Accord - Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
- March 9 - Construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline
begins.
- March 10 - Vietnam War:
North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
- March 15 - In Brazil, the Estado da Guanabara (State
of Guanabara) merges with the state of Rio de Janeiro, under the name
state name of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city
of Niteroi to the city of Rio
de Janeiro.
- March 25 - Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a nephew with a history of mental illness.
- April 3 - Bobby Fischer
refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
- April 17 - Pol Pot proclaims the
"Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" in Cambodia and becomes its Prime Minister
(1975-1979).
- April 25 - Vietnam War: As
North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the
Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the
first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
- April 30 - Vietnam War: The
Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.
- May 12 - Mayaguez
incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- May 15 - The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is
rescued in operation by U.S. Navy and Marines. 38 are killed.
- May 16 - India annexes Sikkim.
- May 16 - Junko Tabei becomes
the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- May 28 - 15 West African
countries sign the Treaty of
Lagos thus creating the Economic Community of West African States.
- May 30 - 1972 Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine dies in a car accident.
- June 5 - The Suez Canal opens for
the first time since the Six-Day War.
- July 6 - The Comoros declare their
independence from France.
- July 12 - São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence
- July 15 - Apollo Soyuz Test Project: Apollo and
Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space.
- July 17 - Apollo-Soyuz Test
Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
- July 31 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president
Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
- August 11 - Mário Lemos Pires, Governor of Portuguese Timor, abandons the capital Dili following UDT coup and outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
- August 20 - Viking
program: NASA launches the Viking 1
planetary probe toward Mars.
- August 29 - In Ireland the death occurs of Eamon de Valera, aged 92. He was a leader of the 1916 Rising, Taoiseach for 21 years and President of Ireland for 14 years. He was one of the most
influential Irish politicians of the 20th Century.
- September 5 - In Sacramento, California, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson named Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme
attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service
agent.
- September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Al-Mutassimu
Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 21 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 22 - President Ford survives a second assassination attempt,
again by a female.
- October 16 - Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces during an incursion
into Portuguese Timor
- October 30 - Prince Juan Carlos becomes King of Spain after dictator
Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.
- November 3 - An independent audit of Mattel, of the United States largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."
- November 6 - Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans
converge on the southern city of Tarfaya
and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to
cross into Western Sahara.
- November 10 - United Nations
Resolution 3379: With a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the resolution was repealed in December 1991).
- November 10 - The 729-foot-long freighter (then, the largest ship on the Great Lakes) SS Edmund
Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew
on board.
- November 11 - Angola becomes
independent from Portugal (a deadly civil war soon erupts).
- November 11 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam is sacked by the Australian Governor General, Sir John Kerr.
- November 14 - Spain abandons
Western Sahara.
- November 22 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
- November 25 - Suriname
independent from the Kingdom of the
Netherlands
- November 28 - Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as
East Timor.
- November 29 - The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen
for the first time (Microsoft became a registered trademark on November 26,
1976).
- December 7 - East Timor
invaded by Indonesia
- Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara. Saharaui Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.
- December 29 - A bomb explodes at New York City's LaGuardia Airport killing
11.
Year in topic
Births
- January 3 - Danica
McKellar, actress
- January 5 - Bradley
Cooper, actor
- January 22 - Balthazar Getty, actor
- January 25 - Tim
Montgomery, American athlete
- January 27 - Bill Walsh,
movie producer and writer
- January 29 - Sara
Gilbert, actress
- February 4 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician
- February 11 - Chuck Watanabe, kayaker
- February 17 - Vaclav Prospal, NHL hockey player
- February 20 - Brian Littrell, musician ("NSYNC")
- February 21 - Affirmed,
race horse (d. 2001)
- February 22 - Drew
Barrymore, actress
- March 5 - Jolene
Blalock, US actress (Star Trek:
Enterprise)
- March 5 - Niki Taylor, fashion
model
- May 1 - Marc-Vivien
Foé, Cameroonian footballer (died 2003)
- May 2 - David Beckham,
English footballer
- May 8 - Enrique
Iglesias, singer
- May 10 - Hélio
Castroneves, Brazilian Indy Car driver, two-time Indianapolis 500
winner
- May 12 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
- May 23 - Jewel,
singer
- May 25 - Lauryn Hill, hip-hop
singer
- May 27 - Jamie Oliver,
British celebrity
chef and TV personality (The Naked Chef)
- June 4 - Angelina Jolie,
US actress
- June 18 - Martin St.
Louis, NHL star
- June 23 - Eric
Bruno Borgman, actor and filmmaker
- June 25 - Vladimir
Kramnik, Russian chess player
- July 22 - Markus Metzenthin, economist
- July 27 - Alex
Rodriguez, baseball star
- August 7 - Charlize
Theron, South African actress (The Cider House
Rules, Monster)
- October 7 - Erik Perkins, Raconteur
- December 17 - Milla
Jovovich, actress, model
- December 30 - Tiger
Woods, golf superstar
Deaths
- January 19 - Thomas Hart Benton, U.S. muralist
- January 24 - Larry Fine,
actor (The Three Stooges)
- February 4 - Louis
Jordan, musician
- February 14 - Julian
Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
- February 14 - P.
G. Wodehouse, writer
- February 16 - Morgan
Taylor, American athlete
- February 24 - Nikolai Bulganin, Premier
of the Soviet Union
- February 25 - Elijah Muhammad, Black Muslim leader
- March 8 - George
Stevens, director, producer, cinematographer
- March 14 - Susan
Hayward, actress
- March 15 - Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate
- March 16 - T-Bone
Walker, musician
- March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
- April 5 - Chiang
Kai-shek, President of the
Republic of China
- April 13 - N'Garta Tombalbaye, President of Chad
- April 17 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and
president
- April 30 - Gen Paul, French
artist
- May 5 - Moe Howard, actor (The Three Stooges)
- May 8 - Avery Brundage,
President of the International Olympic
Committee
- May 13 - Bob Wills, country musician
- May 18 - Leroy Anderson,
composer
- May 23 - Moms Mabley, comedienne
- May 30 - Steve
Prefontaine, distance
runner
- June 26 - Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish Priest and founder of Opus
Dei.
- July 4 - Georgette
Heyer, author
- July 17 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor
- July 29 - James Blish, U.S.
science fiction author
- August 8 - Julian Cannonball Adderley - saxophonist
- August 9 - Dmitri Shostakovich, aged 68, Russian composer
- August 16 - Vladimir
Kuts, Soviet long-distance runner
- August 29 - Eamon de
Valera, Taoiseach & third President of Ireland
- September 27 - Jack Lang, Australian politician
- October 21 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete
- November 2 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, film director
- November 20 - Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain
- December 1 - Anna E. Roosevelt, radio personality
- December 24 - Bernard Herrmann, composer
|
|
|
|
Popular Topics
|