1975

history

1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

The year 1975 was declared International Women's Year by the United Nations.

Events of 1975

January

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  • January – Altair 8800 is released, sparking the era of the microcomputer.
  • January – Volkswagen introduces the Golf, its new front-wheel-drive economy car, in the United States and Canada as the Volkswagen Rabbit.
  • January 1 – Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up.
  • January 1 – Work is abandoned on the British end of the Channel Tunnel.

February

March

April

  • April 3 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
  • April 4 – Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff, killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.
  • April 4 – Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  • April 9 – Asia's first professional basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Association, plays its first game at the Araneta Coliseum.
  • April 13 – Bus massacre: The Kataeb militia kills 27 Palestinians during an attack on their bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon, triggering the Lebanese civil war.
  • April 13 – A coup d'état in Chad led by the military overthrows and kills President François Tombalbaye.
  • April 17 – Following several weeks successful fighting, the Communist Khmer Rouge guerilla forces capture Phnom Penh, prompting a forcible mass evacuation of the city.
  • April 24 – Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over the West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members; shortly after, they are captured by Swedish police. (See West German embassy siege)
  • April 25 – Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese Army forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost 10 years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
  • April 30 – Vietnam War: The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon, resulting in mass evacuations of Americans and South Vietnamese. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.

May

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June

  • June 5 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
  • June 5 – The United Kingdom votes yes in a referendum to stay in the European Community.
  • June 6Georgetown Agreement formally creating the ACP Group signed.
  • June 9 – The Order of Australia is awarded for the first time.
  • June 10 – In Washington, DC, the Rockefeller Commission issues its report on CIA abuses, recommending a joint congressional oversight committee on intelligence.
  • June 19 – Richard Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan is found guilty in absentia of the murder of nanny Sandra Rivett.
  • June 25 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency in India, suspending civil liberties and elections.
  • June 25 – Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.
  • June 26 – Two FBI agents and 1 AIM member die in a shootout, at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

July

  • July 1 – The Postmaster-General's Department is disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post).
  • July 4 – Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears, and is presumed to have been murdered.
  • July 5 – Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule.
  • July 6 – The Comoros declare their independence from France.
  • July 9 – The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a multi-party system (albeit highly restricted).
  • July 12São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
  • July 17 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the 2 nations.
  • July 31 – In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August

  • August 1 – The Helsinki Accords, which officially recognize Europe's national borders and respect for human rights, are signed in Finland.
  • August 5 – U.S. President Ford posthumously pardons Robert E. Lee, restoring full rights of citizenship.
  • August 8 – The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after a freak typhoon; over 200,000 people perish.
  • August 8 – Samuel Bronfman, son of the president of Seagram's, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York.
  • August 11British Leyland Motor Corporation comes under British government control.
  • August 11 – Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese East Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a UDT coup and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
  • August 15 – The Birmingham Six are wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment in Great Britain.
  • August 15 – President Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh is killed during a coup.
  • August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
  • August 24 – Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment.

September

October

  • October 1 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
  • October 2 – A blast at an explosives factory kills 6 in Beloeil, Quebec.
  • October 9 – A bomb explosion outside the Green Park tube station near Piccadilly in London kills 1 and injures 20.
  • October 11 – NBC airs the first episode of Saturday Night Live (George Carlin is the first host; Billy Preston and Janis Ian the first musical guests).
  • October 16 – Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces, during their incursion into Portuguese Timor.
  • October 211975 World Series: The Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds in Game Six off Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning home run to cap off what many consider to be the best World Series game ever played.
  • October 22 The Reds defeat the Red Sox four games to three in a broadcast that breaks records for a televised sporting event.
  • October 27Robert Poulin kills 1 and wounds 5 at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada before shooting himself.
  • October 29 – Peter Sutcliffe (the "Yorkshire Ripper") commits his first murder, Wilma McCann.
  • October 30 – Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting Head of State after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

November

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  • November 3 – An independent audit of Mattel, one 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 3 – The first petroleum pipeline opens from Cruden Bay to Grangemouth, Scotland.
  • November 3 – The long running The Price is Right goes from being 30 minutes long to its current hour long format.
  • November 6 – The 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 10United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379: By a vote of 72–35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world.
  • November 10 – The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board (an event immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot).
  • November 10 – Lev Leshchenko revives Den Pobedy, one of the most popular World War II songs in the USSR.
  • November 11 – Angola becomes independent from Portugal; civil war soon erupts.
  • November 11 – Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister.
  • November 11 – The first annual Vogalonga rowing "race" is held in Venice, Italy.
  • November 14 – Spain abandons Western Sahara.
  • November 15 – “Group of 6†(G-6) industrailized nations formed.
  • November 20 – Former California Governor Ronald Reagan enters the race for the Republican presidential nomination, challenging incumbent President Gerald Ford.
  • November 20 – Spanish dictator Francisco Franco dies in Madrid, effectively marking the end of the dictatorship established following the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of Spain's transition to democracy.
  • November 22 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
  • November 25Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
  • November 25 – The Irish Republican Army is outlawed in the United Kingdom.
  • November 26 – The 1975 cult classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show came out in America.
  • November 27 – Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army for offering reward money to informers.
  • 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 becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).
  • November 29 – While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at 2 of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.

December

Undated

  • In New Zealand, MÄori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5,000 people in support of Maori claims to their land.
  • The Third Cod War between UK and Iceland lasts from November 1975-June 1976.
  • The government of Colombia announces the finding of Ciudad Perdida.
  • The Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara, the last remnant of Spain's Empire. The Sahrawi Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.
  • The term fractal is first used.
  • Victoria (Australia) abolishes capital punishment.
  • South Australia becomes the first Australian state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults.
  • Some members of Jehovah's Witnesses, based on the group's chronology,The Watchtower, 15 August 1968, p.494–501; Awake!, 22 May 1969, p.15; The Watchtower, 15 March 1980, p.17, para.5–6 believe that Armageddon will happen in 1975 and a few of them sell their houses and businesses to prepare for the new world paradise which they believe will exist when Jesus sets up God's Kingdom on earth.

Ongoing

Fictional

  • March 12 – Wrongly convicted murderer Andrew Dufresne escapes from Shawshank State Prison.
  • In the film The Omega Man a war involving biological weapons between China and the Soviet Union took place in 1975.
  • September – A catastrophic earthquake – 9.9 on the Richter scale – strikes Los Angeles, California in the film Earthquake.

World population

{|class="wikitable" !colspan="7"|World population |- ! !1975 !colspan="2"|1970 !colspan="2"|1980 |- !World |align="right"|4,068,109,000 |align="right"|3,692,492,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|4,434,682,000 |align="right"| |- !Africa |align="right"|408,160,000 |align="right"|357,283,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|469,618,001 |align="right"| |- !Asia |align="right"|2,397,512,000 |align="right"|2,143,118,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|2,632,335,000 |align="right"| |- !Europe |align="right"|675,542,000 |align="right"|655,855,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|692,431,000 |align="right"| |- !Latin-America |align="right"|321,906,000 |align="right"|284,856,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|361,401,000 |align="right"| |- !Northern America |align="right"|243,425,000 |align="right"|231,937,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|256,068,000 |align="right"| |- !Oceania |align="right"|21,564,000 |align="right"|19,443,000 |align="right"| |align="right"|22,828,000 |align="right"| |}

Births

January

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February

March

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April

May

  • May 1 – Danielle Bisutti, American Actress
  • May 1 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)
  • May 2 – David Beckham, English footballer
  • May 2 – Ahmed Hassan, Egyptian footballer
  • May 3 – Kimora Lee Simmons, American fashion designer
  • May 4 – Laci Peterson, American murder victim (d. 2002)
  • May 7 – Jason Tunks, Canadian Olympic discus thrower
  • May 8 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish hockey player
  • May 8Enrique Iglesias, American singer
  • May 10 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
  • May 11 – Coby Bell, American actor
  • May 12 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
  • May 13 – Itatí Cantoral, Mexican actress
  • May 15 – Peter Iwers, Swedish rock bassist (In Flames)
  • May 15 – Ray Lewis, American football player
  • May 16Tonéx, American singer
  • May 16 – Tony Kakko, Finnish singer
  • May 17 – Sasha Alexander, American actress
  • May 18 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
  • May 18 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter
  • May 19 – London Fletcher, American football player
  • May 19 – Zhang Ning, Chinese badminton player
  • May 20 – Andrew Sega, American musician
  • May 20 – Tahmoh Penikett, Canadian actor
  • May 22 – Janne Niinimaa, Finnish hockey player
  • May 25 – Lauryn Hill, American musician
  • May 26 – Nicki Aycox, American actress
  • May 27Jamie Oliver, British chef and television personality
  • May 28 – Charmaine Sheh, Hong Kong actress
  • May 31 – Toni Nieminen, Finnish ski jumper

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Deaths

January–February

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  • January 4 – Carlo Levi, Italian writer (b. 1902)
  • January 8 – David Marshall "Carbine" Williams, American inventor (b. 1900)
  • January 8 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
  • January 18 – Chester Kallman, American poet (b. 1921)
  • January 19 – Thomas Hart Benton, American artist (b. 1889)
  • January 24 – Larry Fine, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1902)
  • January 24 – Erich Kempka, German chauffeur of Adolf Hitler (b. 1910)
  • January 27 – Bill Walsh, American film producer and writer (b. 1913)
  • January 28 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (b. 1887)
  • February 3 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian actress and singer (b. 1904)
  • February 4 – Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
  • February 8 – Robert Robinson, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
  • February 10 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (stroke) (b. 1910)
  • February 11 – Richard Ratsimandrava, Madagascar President (assassinated) (b. 1931)
  • February 13 – André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
  • February 14 – Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
  • February 14 – P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
  • February 16 – Morgan Taylor, American athlete (b. 1903)
  • February 17 – George Marshall, American film director (b. 1891)
  • February 19 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (b. 1904)
  • February 20 – Robert Strauss, American actor (b. 1913)
  • February 24 – Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
  • February 25 – Elijah Muhammad, African-American Nation of Islam leader (b. 1897)
  • February 26 – Stephen Tibble, London police officer (shot) (b. 1953)

March–April

May–June

July–August

September–October

November–December

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Unknown dates

  • Will Mastin, American vaudevillian

Nobel Prizes

Templeton Prize

  • Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

See also

Notes

External links


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