Timeline
1970 The Beatles break up, and 448 U.S. colleges and universities are closed or go on strike and killing of students by the National Guard at Kent State and Jackson State universities. First Earth Day celebrated, reinvigorating the environmental movement worldwide. Soviet dissident and author Alexander Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize for literature. U.S. forces in Vietnam reduced to below 400,000 troops. The Apollo 13 space mission was launched from Cape Kennedy and the Russian unmanned spacecrafts Luna 16 and Luna 17 land on the Moon. Salvatore Allende, the first elected Marxist leader in the Americas, is voted in President of Chile.
1971 U.S. planes bomb Vietcong Supply routes in Cambodia, spreading the war beyond Vietnam. Dictator Idi Amin takes power in Uganda. Cigarette advertisements are banned from U.S. television. Rolls Royce Company declares bankrupcy. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opens in Washington, D.C. Lt. William Calley found guilty of premeditated murder in the Mylai Massacre and the first installment of the Pentagon Papers published by the New York Times. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution, allowing 18-year olds to vote, is ratified. British filmmaker Stanley Kubrick releases A Clockwork Orange. Bill Graham closes Fillmore East and Fillmore West. Charles Manson found guilty of ordering Sharon Tate's murder. Ten guards and 32 prisoners killed in Attica New York State Prison following uprising.
1972 President Nixon visits China and re-elected in near-landslide, but Democrats win majority in both houses of Congress. U.S. Supreme Court effectively bans capital punishment as cruel and unusual. British anthropologist Richard Leakey discovers 2.5 million year-old human skull in Kenya. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover dies after serving for 48 years. Terrorists kill two Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Bobby Fischer wins world chess title from Boris Spassky.
1973 Watergate scandal breaks with arrest of five defendants at Democrat Party headquarters in Washington White House releases transcripts of tape-recordings Vice-president Agnew resigns after income-tax scandal. Cease-fire declared in Vietnam but fighting continues. J.R.R. Tolkien dies at age 81. Worldwide Energy crisis precipitated by rise in oil prices and hoarding by oil companies.
1974 India explodes a nuclear device, the sixth country to do so. Patricia Hearst joins Symbionese Liberation Army. Hank Aaron hits 715th home run, beating Babe Ruth's record. President Nixon resigns as Articles of Impeachment filed and is granted a pardon by President Gerald Ford. John Le Carre publishes Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Woodward and Bernstein All the President's Men. After oil crisis, profits of the top 30 oil companies in the world increased by an average of 93%.
1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes head of Conservative Party in Great Britain. Rod Serling dies at age 67 from lung cancer. U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecrafts link up in first international manned space flight. Charlie Chaplin knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Many Nixon appointees indicted for Watergate-related crimes. Communist forces overrun South Vietnam. Fighting breaks out between Christians and Moslems in Beirut, Lebanon. Unemployment rate in U.S. reaches 9.2%, highest in 34 years. Fascist rule ends in Spain with death of Francisco Franco; democracy restored. South Vietnam falls to communism.
1976 America celebrates its 200th birthday. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest wins top five Academy Awards - first time for a single movie since 1934. First report that spray cans damage the earth's ozone layer released by National Academy of Science. Billionaires Howard Hughes and J. Paul Getty die. Jimmy Carter elected 39th President. The Orient Express makes its last Istanbul to Paris run. 200th Birthday of The United States of America.
1977 President Carter pardons most Vietnam draft evaders. Roots appears on American television and becomes the most watched show in history. Elvis Presley dies from complications due to drug abuse. The U.S. space shuttle 'Enterprise' makes first manned flight. Amnesty International wins Nobel Peace Prize. Groucho Marx dies at age 87. New York City blackout leaves 9 million in the dark. Brazilian soccer star Pele plays his last match.
1978 U.S. and communist China establish diplomatic relations. Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make first successful ascent of Mt. Everest without using oxygen. First test-tube baby born in England. David Berkowitz, the 'Son of Sam', receives life in prison for six murders. Camp David peace talks bring an agreement between Israel and Egypt. Norman Rockwell dies at age 84.
1979 Shah of Iran forced into exile as fundamentalists take control and hold U.S. embassy staff hostage. Vietnam invades Cambodia. Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister of Great Britain. Marxist Sandinista government takes power in Nicaragua. Earl Mountbatten murdered by IRA. Mother Teresa wins Nobel Peace Prize. Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols dies at age 22. Karen Silkwood posthumously awarded over 10 million dollars for negligent exposure to atomic radiation. Sir Anthony Blunt, art historian to Buckingham Palace, exposed as fourth man in Britain's worst spy scandal and stripped of his knighthood. Iran hostage crisis, where they seize the U.s Embassy and hold 50 Americans hostages for 444 days.
1971 U.S. planes bomb Vietcong Supply routes in Cambodia, spreading the war beyond Vietnam. Dictator Idi Amin takes power in Uganda. Cigarette advertisements are banned from U.S. television. Rolls Royce Company declares bankrupcy. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opens in Washington, D.C. Lt. William Calley found guilty of premeditated murder in the Mylai Massacre and the first installment of the Pentagon Papers published by the New York Times. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution, allowing 18-year olds to vote, is ratified. British filmmaker Stanley Kubrick releases A Clockwork Orange. Bill Graham closes Fillmore East and Fillmore West. Charles Manson found guilty of ordering Sharon Tate's murder. Ten guards and 32 prisoners killed in Attica New York State Prison following uprising.
1972 President Nixon visits China and re-elected in near-landslide, but Democrats win majority in both houses of Congress. U.S. Supreme Court effectively bans capital punishment as cruel and unusual. British anthropologist Richard Leakey discovers 2.5 million year-old human skull in Kenya. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover dies after serving for 48 years. Terrorists kill two Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Bobby Fischer wins world chess title from Boris Spassky.
1973 Watergate scandal breaks with arrest of five defendants at Democrat Party headquarters in Washington White House releases transcripts of tape-recordings Vice-president Agnew resigns after income-tax scandal. Cease-fire declared in Vietnam but fighting continues. J.R.R. Tolkien dies at age 81. Worldwide Energy crisis precipitated by rise in oil prices and hoarding by oil companies.
1974 India explodes a nuclear device, the sixth country to do so. Patricia Hearst joins Symbionese Liberation Army. Hank Aaron hits 715th home run, beating Babe Ruth's record. President Nixon resigns as Articles of Impeachment filed and is granted a pardon by President Gerald Ford. John Le Carre publishes Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Woodward and Bernstein All the President's Men. After oil crisis, profits of the top 30 oil companies in the world increased by an average of 93%.
1975 Margaret Thatcher becomes head of Conservative Party in Great Britain. Rod Serling dies at age 67 from lung cancer. U.S. Apollo and Soviet Soyuz 19 spacecrafts link up in first international manned space flight. Charlie Chaplin knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Many Nixon appointees indicted for Watergate-related crimes. Communist forces overrun South Vietnam. Fighting breaks out between Christians and Moslems in Beirut, Lebanon. Unemployment rate in U.S. reaches 9.2%, highest in 34 years. Fascist rule ends in Spain with death of Francisco Franco; democracy restored. South Vietnam falls to communism.
1976 America celebrates its 200th birthday. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest wins top five Academy Awards - first time for a single movie since 1934. First report that spray cans damage the earth's ozone layer released by National Academy of Science. Billionaires Howard Hughes and J. Paul Getty die. Jimmy Carter elected 39th President. The Orient Express makes its last Istanbul to Paris run. 200th Birthday of The United States of America.
1977 President Carter pardons most Vietnam draft evaders. Roots appears on American television and becomes the most watched show in history. Elvis Presley dies from complications due to drug abuse. The U.S. space shuttle 'Enterprise' makes first manned flight. Amnesty International wins Nobel Peace Prize. Groucho Marx dies at age 87. New York City blackout leaves 9 million in the dark. Brazilian soccer star Pele plays his last match.
1978 U.S. and communist China establish diplomatic relations. Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make first successful ascent of Mt. Everest without using oxygen. First test-tube baby born in England. David Berkowitz, the 'Son of Sam', receives life in prison for six murders. Camp David peace talks bring an agreement between Israel and Egypt. Norman Rockwell dies at age 84.
1979 Shah of Iran forced into exile as fundamentalists take control and hold U.S. embassy staff hostage. Vietnam invades Cambodia. Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister of Great Britain. Marxist Sandinista government takes power in Nicaragua. Earl Mountbatten murdered by IRA. Mother Teresa wins Nobel Peace Prize. Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols dies at age 22. Karen Silkwood posthumously awarded over 10 million dollars for negligent exposure to atomic radiation. Sir Anthony Blunt, art historian to Buckingham Palace, exposed as fourth man in Britain's worst spy scandal and stripped of his knighthood. Iran hostage crisis, where they seize the U.s Embassy and hold 50 Americans hostages for 444 days.
