1972
President Nixon spent eight days on his groundbreaking trip to the People's Republic of China and became the first sitting president to visit Moscow.
Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot and paralyzed during a presidential primary appearance in Maryland. Arthur Bremer was charged with attempted assassination.
Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern dropped Thomas Eagleton as his running mate when it was revealed Eagleton had undergone shock therapy for depression. Sargent Shriver was named the Democrats' new vice presidential candidate.
Former Beatle John Lennon, who, with his wife Yoko Ono, actively demonstrated against America's Viet Nam policy, was given a deportation order by the Immigration & Naturalization Service. The action was orchestrated by the White House. After a series of court battles and hearings, Lennon would be granted a green card five years later.
Washington police arrested five suspects who were attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate Hotel. Seven were initially indicted in the incident. The operation became connected to President Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President, which was nicknamed "CREEP" by detractors. Attorney General John Mitchell resigned as the committee's chairman.
Despite the brewing Watergate controversy, Richard Nixon was re-elected president in a landslide victory over George McGovern.
The U.S. resumed heavy bombing of North Viet Nam shortly after Nixon's re-election. By the end of the year, presidential aide and peace negotiator Henry Kissinger announced that "peace was at hand."
118 died when a dam collapsed in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia.
91 died in a silver mine fire in Kellogg, Idaho.
A clerk in Sacramento County, California created a public outrage when he rejected voter registrations that bore the title "Ms." instead of "Miss" or "Mrs."
George Bush was named chairman of the GOP.
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover died at age 77.
Grease became the top Broadway attraction.
Hit songs included Let's Stay Together by Al Green, My Ding-A-Ling by Chuck Berry, I Am Woman by Helen Reddy and American Pie by Don McLean. The Concert For Bangla Desh, featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar and Leon Russell, received the Grammy for Album Of The Year.
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1973
Former president Lyndon B. Johnson died of a heart attack.
The U.S., North Viet Nam, South Viet Nam and the Viet Cong signed a peace agreement in Paris. 142 POWs were released and sent home to the U.S. 14 days later. The last U.S. troops departed South Viet Nam March 29th.
Henry Kissinger was nominated and confirmed as Secretary of State.
The American Indian Movement — AIM — occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota for eight days. They surrendered after U.S. officials promised to investigate corruption in the Bureau Of Indian Affairs.
G. Gordon Liddy and James McCord were convicted in the Watergate break-in. Aides H.R. Haldeman, John Dean and John Erlichman were asked to resign. Attorney General Richard Kleindeinst resigned over the scandal. Aide Alexander Butterfield disclosed that there was a White House taping system. President Nixon's new Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, appointed Archibald Cox as special Watergate prosecutor. But when testimony in the Senate Watergate Hearings seemed to point the blame toward the Oval Office, President Nixon fired Cox, Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Upon appointing William Saxbe as his fourth Attorney General and Leon Jaworski as special Watergate prosecutor, Nixon declared his innocence in the scandal. Days later, the White House disclosed that 18½ minutes of a taped White House conversation between Nixon and H.R. Haldeman had been mysteriously erased.
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in disgrace, just days before pleading no contest to charges of racketeering and tax evasion while he was governor of Maryland.
Gerald Ford, the only surviving member of the Warren Commission, was sworn in as the new Vice President.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws banning abortions.
88 died when a jetliner crashed while landing at Boston's Logan Airport.
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee founder H. Rap Brown was sentenced to 5 to 15 years for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
The Exorcist was number one at the box office. Other popular films included The Sting, Serpico, The Way We Were and American Graffiti.
Hit songs included Roberta Flack's Grammy-winning Killing Me Softly, Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter Group, Give Me Love by George Harrison, Half Breed by Cher and You're So Vain by Carly Simon.
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1974
The Skylab III astronauts finished the longest manned space flight to date — 85 days. The unmanned Mariner craft took photos of the planet Mercury.
19-year-old Patty Hearst — heiress and granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst — was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. Hearst would later be seen on film helping the SLA rob a bank. 6 members of the SLA died in a shootout with Los Angeles police, but Hearst eluded authorities until September of 1975.
Journalist Karen Silkwood died in a mysterious car crash while investigating safety conditions at the Kerr McGee Nuclear Power Plant.
Chet Huntley, co-anchor of the Huntley-Brinkley Report, died of cancer at age 63.
TV journalist Edwin Newman's book, Strictly Speaking, chided Americans for allowing the electronic media to corrupt the English language with such improper usage as turned up missing and non-words like funeralize.
Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves surpassed Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
U.S. Representative Wilbur Mills of Arkansas resigned as Ways & Means chairman due to a scandal involving stripper Fannie Fox.
The House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment against President Nixon for tampering with the Watergate probe.
When White House tapes proved President Nixon had obstructed justice in the Watergate investigation, Nixon resigned.
Shortly after assuming the presidency, Gerald Ford granted Nixon a pardon for all or any crimes committed while Nixon was president.
Nelson Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president.
Congress passed the Freedom Of Information Act.
Georgia governor Jimmy Carter announced his candidacy for the 1976 presidential election.
President Ford declared an amnesty for Viet Nam deserters and draft evaders whereby they could return to the U.S. and perform two years of public service.
After a New York Times exposé, the CIA admitted to President Ford that domestic spying by the agency against war dissidents had been taking place.
President Ford named George Bush as America's first envoy to the People's Republic of China.
94 died when a Miami-to-Washington jetliner crashed in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
After a 41-year ban, Americans could resume the private possession of gold.
The low-power wireless transmitter called Mr. Microphone — which broadcast to nearby radios — was an extremely popular gadget.
Hit tunes included I Can Help by Billy Swann, The Joker by the Steve Miller Band, the anti-Nixon You Haven't Done Nothin' by Stevie Wonder with the Jackson Five, Eric Clapton's cover of Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff and Band On The Run by Paul McCartney.
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1975
The Marianas Islands became a U.S. Commonwealth.
Puerto Rican nationalists bombed a cafe in New York City, killing 4 and wounding 50.
As remaining Americans fled South Viet Nam, the government surrendered to the Communists.
Americans and Soviets symbolically united their space programs as the Apollo and Soyuz docked in space.
Former Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.
As part of the administrative shake-up known as the "Halloween Massacre", Henry Kissinger resigned as Security Council head and President Ford named George Bush as CIA director.
President Ford visited China, the Philippines and Indonesia.
The corruption investigation that had toppled Vice President Agnew resulted in indictments for Maryland governor Marvin Mandel and five staffers on racketeering charges.
A former Charles Manson follower, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento. Two weeks later, FBI informant Sara Jane Moore was arrested on charges of attempting to shoot Ford in San Francisco.
The Vatican canonized Elizabeth Seton as its first American-born Catholic saint.
113 died when lightning struck a jet approaching New York's Kennedy International Airport. The strike shut down the jet's power, causing it to spin in and crash.
11 died and 75 were injured when a bomb exploded in a passenger terminal at LaGuardia Airport.
Nabisco's Nutterbutter cookies briefly surpassed Oreos as America's favorite.
All In The Family was America's top TV show for the fifth straight year. Hollywood Squares was the leading daytime show. Saturday Night Live received an Emmy for outstanding comedy series.
Hit songs included Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by Elton John with John Lennon, Fame by David Bowie with John Lennon, Black Water by the Doobie Brothers, Jive Talkin' by the Bee Gees, Shining Star by Earth, Wind & Fire, Love Will Keep Us Together by the Captain & Tenille and the disco anthem The Hustle by Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony.
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1976
America's bicentennial year included hundreds of thousands of special events and celebrations, Bicentennial Minutes on TV and a stepped-up American History curriculum at many schools and colleges. Six million gathered in New York and another three million in Philadelphia for massive Independence Day celebrations.
The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. entered into a nuclear weapons agreement which allowed mutual inspection of test sites.
Pesticides containing mercury were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Hotel air conditioning containing a virus dubbed Legionairres' Disease killed 29 people who attended a convention in Philadelphia.
Former President Richard Nixon discussed his failed presidency with British talk show host David Frost.
The Viking I landed on Mars and began beaming back photographs.
With Nelson Rockefeller declining to run, President Ford chose Senator Bob Dole as his running mate for the presidential election. Ford & Dole were narrowly defeated by Democratic candidates Jimmy Carter & Walter Mondale.
The newly-built Teton River Dam in Idaho collapsed. Two billion dollars damage occurred and 11 died when water flooded 320 square miles.
140 died in flash floods along the Big Thompson River in Colorado.
Ohio Democrat Wayne Hays resigned from the U.S. House over an ethics investigation into his relationship with a former employee.
Broadway hits included California Suite and Godspell.
Rock, disco, pop, funk and country songs could all be found on the Top 40 charts, including Rock'n Me, Shake Your Booty, I Write The Songs, Play That Funky Music and Convoy. Stevie Wonder's brilliant Songs In The Key Of Life received Grammy awards for Best Male Vocal and Album Of The Year.
Happy Days became the number one TV show. On her first ABC-TV interview special, Barbara Walters chatted with Jimmy Carter and Barbra Streisand.
All The President's Men, based on the Woodward/Bernstein Watergate chronicles, was the year's most lucrative film. Sylvester Stallone's Rocky won the Oscar for Best Picture.
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1977
Shortly after taking office, President Carter stressed his human rights agenda by cutting off aid to Argentina, Ethiopia and Uruguay.
President Carter announced an unconditional pardon to Viet Nam War draft evaders.
42,000 pages of FBI material on the assassination of President Kennedy was made public. There were few new facts in the highly-censored materials.
Over 150 inches of snow fell in a rapid series of crippling blizzards in the northeastern U.S.
7,700,000 gallons of crude oil leaked from a grounded tanker off Nantucket, Massachusetts.
In the first presidential radio talk show, 9 million people attempted to call President Carter. Only 40 got through.
The Carter administration created the Department Of Energy and called for voluntary cutbacks on energy use.
Oldsmobile introduced America's first diesel-fueled passenger car.
Jaqueline Means became the Episcopal Church's first female priest.
The Li'l Abner comic strip came to an end after 70 years in syndication.
Two of America's most popular singers died in 1977. Col. Tom Parker confirmed that Elvis Presley died of a heart attack on August 16th. Two months later, Bing Crosby died at age 73.
Woody Allen's Annie Hall earned three Academy Awards. Saturday Night Fever was released and would go on to be one of 1978's biggest hits. Star Wars and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind were the year's biggest box office draws.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended its 7-year run.
Hit tunes included Rich Girl by Hall & Oates, Dancing Queen by Abba, Car Wash by Rose Royce, Evergreen by Barbra Streisand, Hotel California by the Eagles, You Light Up My Life by Debbie Boone and You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer. The Grammy for Album Of The Year went to Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
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1978
The Senate voted to turn the Panama Canal over to Panama on December 31st, 1999.
The average life span of an American increased to 67, despite the many deaths of young men in Viet Nam. The mandatory retirement age was raised from 65 to 70.
911 members of the People's Temple cult, under the leadership of Reverend Jim Jones, committed suicide in Guyana.
The so-called "Son Of Sam," David Berkowitz, was given six concurrent life sentences for his New York City-area murders.
Americans were urged to stop the practice of making ice cream from snow when it was determined snowflakes contained dangerous levels of lead.
The Marine Corps appointed its first female General.
President Carter declared the Love Canal development in Niagara Falls, New York a disaster area, due to toxic waste leeching through the soil and groundwater. The area had been used as a dump for highly poisonous chemical waste from 1947 to 1953.
9 Lives spokescat Morris died at age 17.
Three's Company became America's number one TV show, but Taxi got the Emmy for outstanding comedy. 11 years after it was launched, 60 Minutes began to win the weekly TV ratings race.
The New York Yankees defeated the L.A. Dodgers four games to two in the World Series.
Saturday Night Fever, National Lampoon's Animal House, The Deer Hunter, Heaven Can Wait and the movie version of Grease were the year's biggest films.
Hit songs included You're The One That I Want by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, Grease by Frankie Valli, Kiss You All Over by Exile and Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees.
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1979
As the year began, full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic Of China were enacted.
Thousands were evacuated when a cooling system failed at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The General Accounting Office admitted that thousands of U.S. troops had been sprayed with Agent Orange during the Viet Nam war. The toxic herbicide was known to cause mild to severe neurological problems.
121 people died in a blizzard that blanketed most of the midwest with snow and ice.
60 died and over 820 were injured when tornadoes ripped across the Texas-Oklahoma border.
Hurricane Frederic caused $1,500,000,000 damage along the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana and Florida. 8 people were killed.
275 persons died when a DC-10 crashed shortly after taking off from O'Hare Airport in Chicago.
The Sioux Nation was compensated for its land under terms of an 1877 treaty. Adjusted for inflation, the tribe was awarded $17,497,500.
The Skylab III broke up upon crashing to Earth. Fragments were recovered in New Zealand and Australia.
Andrew Young resigned as U.N. ambassador after admitting he had conducted unsanctioned meetings with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Puerto Rican nationalists killed two American sailors after ambushing a U.S. military bus near San Juan.
Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and took 65 Americans hostage. 15 were let go. The militants demanded that he U.S. turn over the deposed Shah of Iran, who was in the U.S. for cancer treatments.
At the urging of President Carter, Congress voted to guarantee the financially-troubled Chrysler Corporation a loan credit of $1,500,000,000.
Ronald Reagan announced he would run for president in the 1980 primaries.
John F. Kennedy, Jr. dedicated the library bearing his father's name in Boston.
Hit movies included Superman — The Movie, Kramer Vs. Kramer, The China Syndrome, Norma Rae and Being There. During the Hollywood premiere of Being There, the movie was stopped as the theater manager announced that its star, Peter Sellers, had died of a heart attack.
Disco & rock continued to duke it out on the music charts, with hits including My Sharona by the Knack, Pop Muzik by M, Do You Think I'm Sexy? by Rod Stewart, Tragedy by the Bee Gees and Ring My Bell by Anita Ward. The Grammy for Album Of The Year was awarded to Billy Joel's 52nd Street.
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