1974

Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1974

January

• January 4 - Citing executive privilege, U.S. President Richard Nixon refuses to surrender 500 tapes and documents which have been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
• January 4 - Joni Lenz is attacked in her bedroom by serial killer Ted Bundy in Washington.
• January 6 - In response to the energy crisis, Daylight Saving Time commences nearly 4 months early in the United States.
• January 19 - In college (men's) basketball, Notre Dame defeats UCLA 71-70, ending the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak.
• January 27 - Brisbane Qld Australia is flooded.
• January 30 - G. Gordon Liddy is found guilty of Watergate charges.
• January 30 - In his State of the Union Address, U.S. President Richard Nixon declares, "One year of Watergate is enough."

February

• February 1 - Fire breaks out in the Joelman Bank Building in São Paulo, Brazil; 177 dead, 293 injured, 11 die later of their injuries.
• February 3 - In the second Bathurst Gaol riot, prisoners destroy much of the facility with petrol bombs.
• February 4 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst.
• February 8 - After 94 days in outer space, the crew of Skylab 4 returns to Earth.
• February 12 - U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt rules that Native American tribes in Washington State are entitled to half of the legal salmon and steelhead catches, based on treaties signed by the tribes and the U.S. government.
• February 13 - Nobel Prize winning writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is expelled from the Soviet Union (he returns May 27, 1994).
• February 17 - A soccer stampede occurs in Cairo, killing 49.
• February 21 - The long-running comic strip "Sazae-san" is published in the Asahi Shimbun for the final time, after 28 years of daily installments.
• February 22 - The Second Islamic Summit Conference by Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) was held in Lahore, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, from 29 Moharram to 1st Safar, 1394 H, (22-24 February, 1974).
• February 23 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• February 28 - The United Kingdom general election results in an almost dead-heat. Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister again, despite his Labour Party having received fewer votes than the Conservative Party.
• February 28 - Ethiopian prime minister Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold, who had held the position since 1961, is dismissed by Emperor Haile Selassie and replaced with Endelkachew Makonnen.

March

• March 1 - Watergate scandal: Seven former White House officials are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
• March 1 - Pierre Messmer finishes his first term as Prime Minister of France.
• March 3 - A Turkish Airlines DC-10 travelling from Paris to London crashes in a wood near Paris, killing all 346 aboard.
• March 8 - Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.
• March 10 - Japanese World War II soldier, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, surrenders in the Philippines.
• March 18 - Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Lancashire.
• March 18 - Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a 5-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
• March 20 - Ian Ball fails in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace.
• March 29 - Mariner 10 approaches Mercury.

April

• April 1 - The Local Government Act 1972 comes into effect in England and Wales, creating six new metropolitan counties and comprehensively redrawing the administrative map.
• April 2 - French President Georges Pompidou dies; Senate President Alain Poher becomes Acting President for the second time.
• April 3 - The Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes in history, hits 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province. By the time the last of 149 tornadoes hit early the following morning, 315 die and over 5,000 are injured.
• April 6 - ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England.
• April 8 - Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting his 715th career home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
• April 10 - In Israel, Golda Meir resigns as Prime Minister.
• April 15 - In San Francisco, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army rob a branch of the Hibernia National Bank, joined by Patricia Hearst, their erstwhile captive.
• April 24 - Stephen King publishes his first novel, Carrie, under his own name.
• April 25 - Carnation Revolution: A coup in Portugal restores democracy.
• April 27 - The Lewis' store in Manchester piccadilly gardens was evacuated after a bomb threat was made. Nobody was hurt.

May

• May 4 - An all female Japanese team summits Manaslu in Nepal, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000 metre peak.
• May 4 - The Expo '74 World's Fair opens in Spokane, Washington.
• May 4 - The FA Cup Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 to win the FA Cup final at Wembley.
• May 7 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns.
• May 9 - The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon.
• May 12 - Fire damages the carousel in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada, injuring 20 animals.
• May 15 - West German Foreign Minister Walter Scheel is elected President of Germany for a term beginning July 1.
• May 16 - Helmut Schmidt is elected West German Chancellor.
• May 17 - Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing 6 members, including Camilla Hall.
• May 17 - Thirty-three people die and over 300 are wounded in the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings in the Republic of Ireland. Members of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force are behind the blast, allegedly in collusion with members of the British intelligence service.
• May 18 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the sixth nation to do so.
• May 18 - The Warsaw radio mast is completed, the tallest structure ever built (it collapses on August 8, 1991).
• May 19 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing wins over François Mitterrand, but by a close margin.
• May 19 - The Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Boston Bruins, thereby becoming the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup.
• May 28 - The Italian fascist organization Ordine Nuovo bombs demonstrators in Brescia, killing 6 people.
• May 30 - NASA's ATS-6 satellite is launched.

June

• June 1 - Flixborough disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, UK, kills 28 people.
• June 4 - The Cleveland Indians stage an ill-advised Ten Cent Beer Night for a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Cleveland forfeits after alcohol-fueled mayhem and violence spreads from the stands onto the field.
• June 6 - A new Instrument of Government is promulgated, making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy.
• June 13 - The 1974 FIFA World Cup begins in West Germany.
• June 15 - Red Lion Square disorders: Members of the fascist National Front clash with leftist counter-protesters in London's West End; one student is killed.
• June 17 - A bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament in London, damaging Westminster Hall. The Provisional Irish Republican Army claims responsibility for planting the bomb.
• June 26 - The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time, to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
• June 29 - Isabel Peron becomes interim president of Argentina, when Juan Peron falls seriously ill.
• June 30 - Alberta Williams King, mother of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., is killed during a church service in Atlanta, Georgia.

July

• July 1 - Juan Peron, President of Argentina dies. He's succeeded by his wife, Vice President Isabel Peron. She becomes the first female Head of State in South America.
• July 7 - West Germany beats the Netherlands 2-1 to win the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
• July 14 - In Issaquah, Washington, serial killer Ted Bundy abducts Janice Ott and Denise Naslund in broad daylight at Lake Sammamish State Park.
• July 15 - Christine Chubbuck, U.S. television presenter for WXLT-TV, draws a revolver and shoots herself in the head during a live broadcast. She dies in a hospital 14 hours later.
• July 15 - A military coup overthrows President Makarios in Cyprus.
• July 17 - An Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the White Tower at the Tower of London, killing 1 person and injuring 41. Another bomb explodes outside a government building in South London.
• July 20 - Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after the coup d'etat by EOKA B.
• July 22 - Ethiopian Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen is replaced with Mikael Imru.
• July 23 - The Greek military junta government collapses.
• July 24 - Constantine Karamanlis is sworn in as interim Prime Minister of Greece.
• July 24 - Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules (United States v. Nixon) that President Richard Nixon can not withhold subpoenaed White House tapes, and orders him to surrender them to the Watergate special prosecutor.
• July 27–30 - Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee adopts 3 articles of impeachment charging President Richard M. Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee.

August

Nixon Resigns

• August 4 - A bomb explodes in an Italicus Expressen train between Italy and West Germany. Italian neo-fascist terrorists take responsibility.
• August 5 - Watergate scandal: The "smoking gun" tape of June 23, 1972, is revealed, in which U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman discuss using the Central Intelligence Agency to block a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into Watergate. Nixon's support in Congress collapses.
• August 7 - Three Republican congressional leaders (Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott and John Rhodes) visit President Richard Nixon in the White House. They inform him that he lacks the votes to escape impeachment in the United States House of Representatives and conviction in the Senate.
• August 7 - French acrobat Philippe Petit walks across a high wire slung between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
• August 8 - Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his resignation (effective August 9).
• August 9 - Richard M. Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, an action taken to avoid being removed by impeachment in response to his role in the Watergate scandal. Vice President Gerald R. Ford becomes the 38th President, taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House.
• August 14 - Turkey invades for the second time in Cyprus, occupying 37% of the island's territory.
• August 15 - Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1 is opened.
• August 28 - Geir Hallgrímsson becomes Prime Minister of Iceland.
• August 30 - An express train bound for Germany from Belgrade derails in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing more than 150 passengers.
• August 30 - Powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. 8 killed, 378 injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested May 19, 1975 by Japanese authorities.

September

• September 1 - Daredevil Bob Gill fails a world-record attempt to jump Appalachia Lake in West Virginia.
• September 8 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
• September 8 - TWA Flight 841 crashes into the Ionian Sea 18 minutes after take off from Athens, after a bomb explodes in the cargo hold, and kills 88 people.
• 12 September - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed by the Derg. The imperial throne is offered to his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen on the condition that the Crown Prince returns to Ethiopia.
• September 13 - Japanese Red Army members seize the French Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. They secure the release of member Yatuka Fumiya, $300,000 and a flight to Aden.
• September 16 - Courageous Newport, Rhode Island, America's Cup defender "Courageous", skippered by Ted Hood, wins over Australian challenger "Southern Cross" .
• September 23 - Ceefax is started by the BBC - one of the first public service information systems.

October

• October 5 - The Guildford pub bombings at The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars kill 5 people, and lead to the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of the Guildford Four the next year.
• October 8 - Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it was the largest bank failure in the history of the United States.
• October 10 - The second United Kingdom general election of the year results in a narrow victory for Labour, still led by Harold Wilson.
• October 15 - U.S. President Gerald Ford signs a federal campaign reform bill, which sets new regulations in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

• October 30 - The Rumble in the Jungle takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire where Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in eight rounds to regain the Heavyweight title, which had been stripped from him seven years earlier.

November

• November 5 - Democrats make significant gains in the U.S. Congressional midterm elections, as voters punish the Republican Party over the Watergate scandal.
• November 7 - A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes at the Kings Arms, Woolwich.
• November 8 - Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan disappears in England.
• November 8 - In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy.
• November 10 - Movement 2 June members try to kidnap Günter von Drenkmann, the president of West Germany's Superior Court of Justice, at his home, but he is fatally shot during the attempt.
• November 13 - Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murders his parents and his four siblings in what would later become known as "The Amityville Horror House".
• November 16 - The Arecibo radio telescope sends an interstellar radio message towards the M13 Great Globular Cluster. The message will reach its destination around the year 27000.
• November 17 - In Dublin, Ireland, President Erskine H. Childers dies suddenly of a heart attack in the middle of a public speech.
• November 19 - 140 killed, Makahali River bridge collapsed, Baitadi, Makahali, Nepal.
• November 20 - The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the break up of AT&T and the Bell System.
• November 21 - In Birmingham, England, 2 pubs are bombed, killing 21 people (the Birmingham Six are later sentenced to life in prison for this).
• November 22 - The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
• November 24 - A skeleton from the hominid species Australopithecus afarensis is discovered and named Lucy.
• November 27 - The Prevention of Terrorism Act is passed in the United Kingdom.

December

• December 1 - A Boeing 727 carrying TWA Flight 514 crashes 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Dulles International Airport during bad weather, killing all 92 people on board.
• December 8 - Greek voters reject a proposal to restore the Greek monarchy.
• December 9 - The Paris summit, reuniting the European communities' heads of state and government, commences.
• December 19 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh becomes the fifth President of Ireland, in a state inauguration in Dublin Castle.
• December 19 - Former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States.
• December 23 - Former British minister John Stonehouse, who faked his drowning in Florida, is arrested in Melbourne, Australia.
• December 24–25 - Darwin, Australia is almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy.
• December 31 - Restrictions on holding private gold within the United States, implemented by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, are removed.

Undated

• The Milgram experiment first described by Harvard University psychologist Stanley Milgram in his 1974 book Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View.
• Baltimore police strike.
• Volkswagen's Golf automobile (known in the USA as the Rabbit) first enters production, as the replacement for well-loved but antiquated Beetle. VW will go on to sell more than 22 million Golfs, and the model, now in its fifth generation, is still in full scale production as of 2008.
• The Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra is founded by Toronto Symphony Orchestra conductor Victor Feldbrill
• World population reaches 4 billion people.
• Urdu typewriter keyboard layout modified using frequency tables and bifurcation (balancing load on typist's fingers) techniques, in Pakistan.

Ongoing

• Cold War
• The Troubles

Births

January–February

• January 3 - Alessandro Petacchi, Italian professional road cyclist
• January 7 - John Rich, American guitarist and bassist (Big & Rich)
• January 10 - Hrithik Roshan, Bollywood actor
• January 10 - Jemaine Clement, New Zealand Singer/Comedian/Actor
• January 11 - The Rosenkowitz sextuplets (Cape Town, South Africa), the first sextuplets known to survive their infancy.
• January 11 - Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player
• January 11 - Rahsaan Patterson, American singer
• January 12 - Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian cross-country skiier
• January 12 - Melanie Chisholm, English singer-songwriter
• January 16 - Kate Moss, English model
• January 17 - Ladan and Laleh Bijani, Iranian conjoined twins (d. 2003)
• January 18 - Michael Tunn, Australian Radio and TV Presenter
• January 21 - Rove McManus Australian talk show host
• January 24 - Tim Biakabutuka, former National Football League player
• January 23 - Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
• January 24 - Melissa Tkautz, Australian singer and actress
• January 27 - Ole Einar Bjorndalen, Norweigian biathlete
• January 2