See:
Wikipedia.
Events:
January 1 - Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65,
miles north of Phoenix, Arizona.
January 1 - Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC.
January 12 - Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war.
January 15 - After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafran forces under
General Effiong formally surrender to General Yakabu Gowon.
January 15 - Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
January 16 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute
of Architects.
March 1 - Rhodesia severs its last tie with the British crown and declares itself a racially
segregated republic.
March 5 - A nuclear non-proliferation treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
March 16 - The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Osaka, Japan.
March 16 - Publication of complete New English Bible.
March 17 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing
information related to the incident.
March 18 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
March 18 - Post Office strike in USA - 210.000 out of 750.000 US postal employees walk
out. President Nixon assigns military units to New York City post offices. Strike lasts
two weeks.
March 31 - Explorer I re-entry (after 12 years in orbit).
April 1 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law
banning cigarette television advertisements in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
April 1 - American Motors introduces the Gremlin.
April 10 - Paul McCartney announces that the Beatles have disbanded.
April 11 - Apollo 13 ill-fated space mission launched.
April 17 - Apollo 13 returns safely to earth.
April 22 - First Earth Day celebrated.
April 29 - U.S. invades Cambodia to hunt out Viet Cong. Massive protests against the
war continue in the U.S.
May 4 - Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed by National Guardsmen at a
demonstration protesting against the incursion into Cambodia.
May 6 - Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney are dismissed as members of the Irish Government
due to accusations of their involvement in a plot to import arms for use in Northern Ireland.
May 9 - 100,000 people demonstrate in Washington DC against the Vietnam War.
May 14 - Ulrike Meinhof helps Andreas Baader escape.
May 17 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the
Atlantic Ocean.
May 26 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
May 27 - British expedition climbs south face of Annapurna I.
May 31 - Avalanche on Huascarán destroys the town of Yungay, Peru.
June 2 - Norway announces that it has rich oil deposits off its North Sea coast.
June 4 - Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
June 18 - Edward Heath is elected Prime Minister of United Kingdom.
June 24 - The United States Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
June 28 - US ground troops withdraw from Cambodia.
July 4 - Chartered Dan-Air Comet crashes into mountains north of Barcelona - at least 112 dead.
July 11 - The first tunnel under the Pyrenees links the French and Spanish towns of
Aranoutes and Biesma.
July 21 - Aswan High Dam in Egypt completed.
July 30 - Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims.
August 17-18 - US sinks 418 containers of nerve gas into the Gulf Stream near the Bahamas.
August 17 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first
spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another planet.
September 1 - Assassination attempt against king Hussein of Jordan.
September 3 - Salvador Allende wins the presidential election in Chile.
September 3-6 - Israeli forces fight Palestinian guerillas in southern Lebanon.
September 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins - The United States 101st
Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new
operation in Thua Thien Province (operation ends in October 1971).
September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John
Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
September 7 - Fighting between Arabic guerillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan.
September 8-10 - Jordanian government and Palestinian guerillas make truces that keep breaking.
September 9 - Guinea recognizes East Germany.
September 10 - Cambodian government forces break the blockage around Kompong
Tho after a 3-month siege.
September 11 - The Ford Pinto is introduced.
September 13 - First running of the New York City Marathon.
September 15 - King Hussein of Jordan forms a military government with Mohamed
Daoud as the prime minister.
September 20 - End of term for Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal
Abidin III as the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
September 20 - Syrian armored forces cross Jordanian border.
September 20-21 - Luna 16 lands on the Moon and lifts off the day later with samples.
Lands on Earth September 24.
September 21 - Palestinian armored forces reinforce Palestinian guerillas in Irbidi, Jordan.
September 21 - Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam
Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Sultan of Kedah becomes the 5th Yang di-Pertuan
Agong of Malaysia.
September 26 - Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
September 27 - Richard Nixon begins a tour in Europe and visits Italy, Yugoslavia,
Spain, United Kingdom and Ireland.
September 28 - Gamal Abdal Nasser dies - vice president Anwar Sadat is named
temporary president of Egypt.
September 29 - US Congress gives president Richard Nixon authority to sell arms to Israel.
September 29 - In Berlin, Baader-Meinhof Gang members rob three banks, loot totaling
over DM200.000.
October 3 - In Lebanon, government of the prime minister Rashid Karam resigns.
October 4 - In Bolivia, army commander general Rogelio Miranda and group of officers rebel
and demand resignation of the president Alfredo Ovando Candia - president fires him.
October 5 - Nixon's European tour ends.
October 5 - The Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnap James Cross in Montreal
and demands release of all its imprisoned members. The next day the Canadian government
announces it won't accept the demand - first stirrings of Quebec's October Crisis.
October 6 - Bolivian president Alredo Ovando Candia resigns - general Rogelio
Miranda takes over but resigns soon after.
October 6 - French president Georges Pompidou visits Soviet Union.
October 7 - General Juan Jose Torres becomes the new president of Bolivia.
October 7 - Anwar Sadat accepted as Egyptian president.
October 8 - US foreign office announces that it renews its arms sales to Pakistan.
October 8 - Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn is awarded Nobel Prize for Literature.
October 8 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard
Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
October 9 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
October 9 - Divorce law in Italy.
October 10 - Fiji becomes independent.
October 10 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when
Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second
statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
October 11 - 11 French soldiers are killed in a shootout with rebels in Chad.
October 12 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United
States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
October 13 - Canada and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations.
October 13 - China and Canada renew diplomatic relations.
October 13 - Saeb Salam's government forms in Lebanon.
October 14 - Chinese nuclear test in Lop Nor.
October 15 - In Egypt, referendum supports Anwar Sadat 90.04%.
October 15 - 35 construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate
Bridge in Melbourne collapses into the river below.
October 16 - Canadian government declares state of emergency and outlaws Quebec
Liberation Front.
October 17 - Pierre Laporte is found killed in south of Montreal.
October 17 - Cholera epidemic in Istanbul.
October 17 - Anwar Sadat becomes officially president of Egypt.
October 20 - Soviet Union launches Zond 8 lunar brobe.
October 20 - Algerian ex-minister Krim Belkacem is found strangled in his hotel room in Frankfurt.
October 20 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat names Mahmoud Fawzi as his prime minister.
October 21 - US Air Force plane makes an emergency landing near Leninakan, Soviet Union.
Soviets release the American officers, including two generals, November 10.
October 22 - Chilean army commander Rene Schneider is shot in Santiago - government
declares state of emergency. Schneider dies October 25.
October 26 - US and Soviet space researchers meet in Moscow.
October 28 - In Jordan, government of Ahmed Toukan resigns - next prime minister is Wasfi Tell.
October 28 - Cholera outbreak in eastern Slovakia - Hungary closes its border with Czechoslovakia.
October 30 - In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large
floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November 1 - Fire destroys Le Cinq Sept dance hall in St. Laurent Du Pont, France - 144 dead.
November 4 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States turns control of the air
base in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam.
November 5 - Vietnam War: United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam
reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers died that
week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50; 431 were
reported wounded that week, however).
November 8 - Egypt, Sudan and Libya announce their intentions to form a federation.
November 9 - Charles de Gaulle dies - he is buried November 13.
November 9 - Soviet Union launches Luna 17.
November 9 - Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 to
not hear a case by the state of Massachusetts asking to allow the state the ability to
enforce its law granting Massachusetts residents the right to refuse military service in
an undeclared war.
November 10 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - For the first time in five years, an entire
week ended with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
November 12 - Soviet author Andrei Amalrik sentenced for three years for anti-Soviet writings.
November 12 - Tornado in East Pakistan - 250.000 dead.
November 12 - The Oregon Highway Division (now known as the Oregon Department of
Transportation) is given the task of removing a rotting beached Grey whale, leading to
the now infamous exploding whale incident.
November 13 - Military coup in Syria - Hafez al-Assad takes the power.
November 13 - A 100-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta
region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)s, killing an estimated 500,000 people (this is
regarded as the 20th century's worst cyclone disaster).
November 14 - fatal airplane accident in Wayne County, West Virginia, claims the
lives of the entire Marshall University football team.
November 17 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
November 17 - Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea
of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another
world and was released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
November 18 - US President Richard Nixon asks the United States Congress for US$155
million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for
military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier
Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).
November 18 - United Nations Security Council demands that no government should recognize Rhodesia.
November 19 - EEC prime minister meeting in Munich.
November 21 - Syrian Prime Minister Hafez al-Assad forms a new government but
retains the post of defense minister.
November 21 - in Ethiopia, Eritrea Liberation Front kills an Ethiopian general.
November 21 - Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast - A joint Air Force and Army team
raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be
held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to
another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes
as a result of this raid).
November 22 - Guinean president Sekou Toure accuses Portugal of an attack when hundreds
of mercenaries land near capital Conakry. Guinean army repels the landing attempts in
November 23-24. November 25-29 UN delegation arrives to investigate the situation.
In December 4 UN announces that Portuguese navy and army units are responsible.
November 25 - In Japan, world-famous author and Tatenokai militia leader Yukio Mishima
and his followers take over Inchigaya HQ of the Japanese Self-Defense Force and take
general Kanetoshi Mashita hostage. When Mishima's speech fails to sway public opinion
towards his right-wing political beliefs, he commits seppuku.
November 26 - East Pakistan leader sheik Mujibur Rahman accuses central government of
negligence in catastrophe relief.
November 26 - Pope Paul VI begins an Asian tour.
November 27 - Philipino artist Benjamin Mendoza tries to assassinate Paul VI
during pope's visit in Manila.
December 1 - Italian House of Representatives accepts the divorce law.
December 1 - Ethiopia recognizes People's Republic of China.
December 1 - Basque ETA kidnaps West German Eugen Beihl in San Sebastian.
December 1 - Luis Echeverria Alvarez becomes president of Mexico.
December 2 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
December 3 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner
James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being
held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of
Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
December 3 - Burgos Trial - In Burgos, Spain, begins a trial against 16 Basques accused of terrorism.
December 4 - Spanish government declares a three-month martial law in Basque county
of Guipuzco due to strikes and demonstrations.
December 5 - Asian and Australian tour of Paul VI ends.
December 7 - Giovanni Enrico Bucher, Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped in Rio
de Janeiro; kidnappers demand release of 70 political prisoners.
December 7 - UN general assembly supports the isolation of South Africa due to its apartheid policies.
December 12 - Landslide in western Colombia - over 200 dead.
December 13 - Government of Poland announces increases in the prize of food. Riots
and looting erupt until a bloody confrontation between the rioters against army and
the police in December 15. Martial law December 17-22. December 23 the government
will freeze the food prizes for two years.
December 15 - Venus 7 lands on Venus.
December 16 - Ethiopian government declares state of emergency in the county of
Eritrea due to activities of Eritrea Liberation Front.
December 20 - General secretary of the communist part of Poland, Wladyslaw Gomulka,
resigns - Edward Gierek takes his place.
December 20 - Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid.
December 22 - Libyan revolutionary council declares that it will nationalize all foreign
banks in the country.
December 22 - Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka is sentenced to life imprisonment.
December 23 - Bolivian government releases Regis Debray.
December 25 - ETA releases Eugen Beihl.
December 27 - Indian president declares new elections.
December 28 - Burgos Trial - three Basques are sentenced to death (three twice), others
sentenced for 12-62 years and one released. December 30 Franco commutes the death
sentences to 30 years in prison.
December 28 - Suspects of killing Pierre Laporte, Jacques & Paul Rose and Francis
Sunard, are arrested near Montreal.
December 30 - In Viscaya Basque county 15.000 goes to strike to protest Burgos trial
death sentences.
Unknown date:
The first Regional Technical Colleges open in Ireland.
Disappearance of Sada Abe, Japanese former prostitute and later actress.
Discovery in England of the Sweet Track, the World's oldest engineered roadway.
Year in topic:
1970 in
film:
Patton.
Love Story.
M*A*S*H.
1970 in
literature:
Deliverance by James Dickey (in 2001, named as one of the 100 best English-language
novels of the 20th century, as chosen by the editorial board of the Modern Library.)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
1970 in
television:
January 5 - Soap opera: All My Children premieres.
Births:
January 9 -
Andrew Leipus, physiotherapist.
January 13 -
Keith Coogan, actor.
January 17 -
Jeremy Roenick, American NHL star.
January 24 -
Johannes Albertus Antonius (Jan) Zwijnenberg.
January 29 -
Heather Graham, actress.
January 29 -
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, shooter.
January 31 -
Minnie Driver, actress.
March 18 -
Queen Latifah, rapper, record producer, actress.
March 24 -
Lara Flynn Boyle, actress (The Practice).
March 24 -
Sharon Corr, musician ("The Corrs").
March 27 -
Mariah Carey, singer.
March 28 -
Vince Vaughn, actor, writer, producer.
March 30 -
Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown winner, two-time Horse of the Year (d. 1989).
April 4 -
Barry Pepper, actor.
April 13 -
Rick Schroeder, actor.
April 21 -
Nicole Sullivan, actress, comedienne and writer.
April 25 -
Renee Zellweger, actress.
April 25 -
Jason Lee, professional skateboarder, actor.
April 26 -
Danielle Schaap.
April 27 -
Kylie Travis, actress and model.
April 29 -
Andre Agassi, professional tennis star.
April 29 -
Uma Thurman, actress.
May 4 -
Karla Homolka, killer, kidnapper, and rapist.
May 12 -
Mike Weir, Canadian professional golfer.
May 15 -
T.R. Næss, Norwegian baker son.
May 16 -
Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player.
May 18 -
Tina Fey, writer, comedienne, actress.
May 22 -
Naomi Campbell, model, actress.
May 24 -
Jeff Zgonina, football player.
May 24 -
Tommy Page, singer.
May 25 -
Tania Carola van den Houten.
May 27 -
Joseph Fiennes, actor.
June 8 -
Kelli Williams, actress (The Practice).
June 13 -
Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d. 2004).
June 16 -
Phil Mickelson, golfer.
June 19 -
Quincy Watts, American athlete.
June 20 -
Prince Moulay Rachid, Prince of Morocco.
June 25 -
Lucy Benjamin, British actress.
June 26 -
Chris O'Donnell, actor.
June 27 -
Johannes Benjamin Meijer.
June 27 -
Jim Edmonds, baseball player.
June 27 -
Vitamin C, pop singer.
July 3 -
Teemu Selanne, NHL hockey player.
July 8 -
Beck, alternative rock and roll singer.
July 24 -
Jennifer Lopez, actress, singer.
July 27 -
Gavin Morris, English Photographer, Project Manager.
August 2 -
Tony Amonte, NHL star.
August 6 -
M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor.
August 13 -
Alan Shearer, England and Newcastle soccer player.
August 18 -
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor.
August 22 -
Robbert Cheret.
August 23 -
Jay Mohr, actor, comedian.
August 25 -
Claudia Schiffer, model.
August 27 -
Jim Thome, baseball player.
August 31 -
Debbie Gibson, singer.
September 4 -
Daisy Dee, singer, actress.
September 8 -
Latrell Sprewell, NBA basketball player.
September 9 -
Macy Gray, singer.
September 22 -
Mike Matheny, baseball player.
September 23 -
Ani DiFranco, musician.
September 28 -
Isabelle Brasseur, figure skating champion.
October 2 -
Kelly Ripa, actress, television host.
October 5 -
Marinus Jan (Mark) van den Houten.
October 8 -
Matt Damon, actor.
October 9 -
Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer.
October 15 -
Eric Benét, singer.
October 17 -
Anil Kumble, Indian cricketer.
November 5 -
Jen Besemer, surrealist poet and painter.
November 12 -
Tonya Harding, figure skater.
December 3 -
Mark Minnaard.
December 20 -
Peter Willem van den Houten.
December 20 -
Nicole DeBoer, actress.
December 29 -
Kevin Weisman, actor.
December 30 -
Gerben Maassen van den Brink, Programmer, climber, sociologist, philosopher.
Lianne van den Houten.
Deaths:
January 5 -
Max Born, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1954.
January 5 -
Jock Yablonski, President of the United Mine Workers.
January 10 -
Pavel Belyayev, cosmonaut.
January 18 -
David O. McKay, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873).
January 25 -
Jane Bathori, opera singer.
January 28 -
Pieter Ribbens.
January 29 -
Thelma Morgan, socialite, Viscountess Furness.
January 31 -
Slim Harpo, blues singer.
February 2 -
Bertrand Russell, logician and philosopher.
February 5 -
Rudy York, Major League Baseball All-Star (b. 1913).
February 11 -
Lodewijk Gerhardus van Kamp.
February 11 -
Emil Abranyi, composer.
February 17 -
Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (b. 1888).
February 25 -
Mark Rothko, painter.
March 1 -
Lucille Hegamin, U.S. singer and entertainer (b. 1894).
March 11 -
Erle Stanley Gardner, author.
March -
Catrines Hubertines (Tines) van den Houten.
March 16 -
Tammi Terrell, singer.
March 23 -
Del Lord, pioneer Hollywood director.
March 30 -
Heinrich Brüning, German Reichskanzler 1930-1932.
April 5 -
Alfred Henry Sturtevant, geneticist (born 1891).
April 26 -
Gypsy Rose Lee, actress.
April 26 -
John Knittel, dramatist.
April 30 -
Inger Stevens, actress.
May 1 -
Ralph Hartley, electronics researcher and inventor.
May 6 -
George Rivas, ringleader of the Texas 7.
May 9 -
Walter Reuther, labor union leader.
May 12 -
Nelly Sachs, writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1966.
May 14 - Billie Burke, actress, The Wizard of Oz.
May 21 -
E. L. Grant Watson.
May 25 -
Clarence van Houten.
May 31 -
Terry Sawchuk, Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender.
June 4 -
Maria van den Houten.
June 8 -
Abraham Maslow, psychologist.
June 16 -
Brian Piccolo, American football star.
June 21 -
Sukarno, Indonesian President.
June 27 -
Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler.
July 4 -
Somaly Hav, painter.
July 19 -
Egon Eiermann, architect.
July 22 -
Fritz Kortner, director.
July 22 -
Grete Wiesenthal, dancer and choreographer.
July 27 -
Walt Rohr, Portuguese dictator.
July 29 -
John Barbirolli, English conductor.
July 29 -
George Szell, Hungarian conductor (b. 1897).
August 1 -
Frances Farmer, actress.
August 19 -
Pawel Jasienica, Polish historian (born 1909).
August -
Rene Tuinder.
September 1 -
Francois Mauriac, author.
September 3 -
Vince Lombardi, American football coach.
September 5 -
Jochen Rindt, Austrian racing driver.
September 11 -
Ernst May, architect.
September 18 -
Jimi Hendrix, rock musician.
September 25 -
Erich Maria Remarque, author.
September 28 -
Gamal Abdal Nasser, first president of Egypt.
September 28 -
John Dos Passos, novelist.
September 29 -
Edward Everett Horton, actor.
October 4 -
Janis Joplin, blues and rock and roll singer.
October 10 -
Kevin Herrell, actress.
October 17 -
Pierre Laporte, statesman, murdered by FLQ terrorists.
October 24 -
Richard Hofstadter, historian.
November 9 -
Charles de Gaulle, French general, statesman.
December 7 -
Debra Trotter, cartoonist.
December 12 -
Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889).
Unknown date:
Paul Celan, Romanian born German language poet (body found on May 1).
Sada Abe, Japanese former prostitute and later actress (unconfirmed).
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