See:
Wikipedia.
Events:
Prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme compares the American bombings of North Vietnam
to Nazi massacres. The US breaks diplomatic contact with Sweden. The last major epidemic
of smallpox in Europe breaks out in Yugoslavia.
January 2 - Major robbery in Pierre Hotel, New York. $4 million dollars worth of valuables
stolen.
January 5 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a
space shuttle program.
January 4 - Kurt Waldheim becomes the Secretary General of the United Nations.
January 9 - RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire (Hong Kong harbor).
January 9 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge in the United Kingdom (Old
Bailey, London).
January 11 - East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh.
January 14 - King Frederick IX of Denmark dies - his daughter Queen Margaret II of
Denmark ascends to the throne at January 16.
January 16 - Pruitt-Igoe housing complex is destroyed.
January 24 - Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi discovered in Guam. He had spent 28 years
in the jungle.
January 26 - Yugoslavian air stewardress Vesna Vulovic is the only survivor when her plane
crashes in Czechoslovakia.
January 30 - Bloody Sunday - the British Army kills 13 unarmed Roman Catholic civil
rights marchers in Northern Ireland.
January 30 - Pakistan withdraws from the British Commonwealth.
January 31 King Mahendra of Nepal dies, becoming the second king to die that month, and
is succeeded by his son, Birendra.
February 1 - First scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) introduced (price $395).
February 2- Anti-British riots throughout the Republic of Ireland take place. The British
Embassy in Dublin is burned to the ground as are several British owned offices and shops.
February 3 - Sapporo Winter Olympics begin.
February 4 - Mariner 9 sends pictures from Mars.
February 5 - Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball
Hall of Fame.
February 9 - British government declares a state of emergency over a miners' strike.
February 17 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford
Model-T (15 million).
February 18 - The California Supreme Court invalidates the state's death penalty and
commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.
February 21 - February 27 - President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented eight-day
visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.
February 21 - The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
February 23 - Lufthansa plane hijacked to Aden. Passengers are released after ransom
of 16 million D-marks is agreed.
February 25 - Terrorism: Germany gives $5 million to an Arab terrorist as ransom
for the passengers and crew of a hijacked jumbo jet.
March 1 - Thai province of Yasothon created after being split off from the Ubon
Ratchathani province.
March 2 - Launch of Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
March 8 - The Goodyear blimp flies for the first time.
March 13 - The United Kingdom and People's Republic of China elevate diplomatic
exchanges to the ambassadorial level.
March 19 - India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.
March 24 - In a bid for peace, Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland.
March 30 - Vietnam War: The Eastertide Offensive begins after North Vietnamese
forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
April 16 - Apollo 16 launched.
April 18 - Roland Corporation founded in Osaka.
April 27 - Constructive Vote of No Confidence against German Chancellor Willy
Brandt fails under obscure circumstances.
April 29 - The fourth anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair is celebrated with a
free concert at a Central Park bandshell, followed by dinner at the Four Seasons.
There, thirteen Black Panther protesters and the show's co-author, Jim Rado, are
arrested for disturbing the peace and marijuana use.
May 9 - Three out of six bombs explode in Springer newspaper building in Hamburg,
West Germany. 17 dead.
May 15 - Governor George Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur H. Bremer at a
Laurel, Md., political rally.
May 17 - The closing notice is posted for the Broadway musical Hair.
May 21 - In Rome, Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's Pieta-statue with a hammer.
May 22 - Ceylon becomes republic of Sri Lanka.
May 26 - Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT I treaty in Moscow.
May 26 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
May 30 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial.
June 2 - Andreas Baader and some other members of Red Army Faction are arrested
in Frankfurt am Main after a shootout.
June 4 - Angela Davis found not guilty of murder.
June 14 - June 23 - Hurricane Agnes kills 117 in US east coast.
June 15 - Ulrike Meinhof and Gerhard Müller of Red Army Faction are arrested in a
teacher's apartment in Langenhagen, West Germany.
June 17 - Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for
burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee.
June 17 - Return of Okinawa from United States' control to Japan.
June 23 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief
of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency
to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
June 29 - Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional.
July 1 - The Broadway production of the musical Hair closes after 1,752 performances.
July 1 - Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Holger
Meins are captured after a bloody shootout with the police in Frankfurt.
July 18 - Anwar Sadat sends Soviet military advisors home.
July 23 - The United States launches Landsat 1, first Earth-resources satellite.
August 4 - Idi Amin declares that Uganda will expel 50.000 Asians with British passports
to Britain within three months.
August 16 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force mistakenly fires upon, but fails to bring
down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he was traveling back to Rabat.
September 1 - Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in Reykjavik Chess match and
becomes the first American chess champion (see Match of the Century).
September 56 - Munich Massacre: Eleven Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic
Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group Black
September invade Olympic Village; five guerillas and one policeman are
also killed in a failed hostage rescue.
September 14 - West Germany and Poland renew diplomatic relations.
September 17 - Uganda announces that there are Tanzanian troops in its territory.
September 19 Parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
September 21 - Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation
No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.
September 27 - Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government
of the People's Republic of China.
September 29 - Sino-Japanese relations: Japan normalized diplomatic relations
with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.
October 2 - Denmark joins EEC. Faroe Islands stay out.
October 5 - United Reformed Church founded out of Congregational
and Presbyterian Churches.
October 12 - En route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving
more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier
USS Kitty Hawk. Nearly 50 sailors are injured.
October 13 - Fairchild passenger plane transporting a rugby team crashes in Andes.
They are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive.
October 17 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visits Yugoslavia.
October 30 - US President Richard Nixon approves legislation to increase Social
Security spending by US$5.3 billion.
November 5 - Group of Amerindians occupies the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1972: Republican incumbent Richard
Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern (the election had the lowest
voter turnout since 1948 with only 55 percent of the electorate voting).
November 11 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over
the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
November 14 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16)
for the first time.
November 18 - Kevin Roche born in Napier New Zealand.
November 22 - Vietnam War: The United States loses its first B-52 Stratofortress of the war.
November 30 - Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press
that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop
withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.
December 2 - Gough Whitlam becomes the first Labour Party Prime Minister of
Australia for 23 years. He is famously sworn in on the election night and his first action
using executive power is to withdraw all Australian personnel from the Vietnam War.
December 22 - An earthquake destroys the capital of Nicaragua, Managua.
December 28 - The bones of Martin Bormann identified in Berlin.
December 29 - An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 crashes into the Everglades
killing 99 of 163 onboard.
Unknown dates:
The United Kingdom begin to train Special Air Service for anti-terrorist duties.
Sally Priesand becomes the first female rabbi.
Steve Jobs graduates from Homestead High School and enrolls in Reed College in
Portland, Oregon but drops out after one semester.
Kim Il Sung becomes president of North Korea.
First Cray super computers.
Japanese begin building a railway tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido.
Stephen Hawking is confined to a wheelchair.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms becomes independent from IRS.
The "tea house" Mellow Yellow opens on the Amstel River in Amsterdam, pioneering
the legal sale of marijuana in the Netherlands.
Year in topic:
1972 in
film:
The Godfather.
Cabaret.
Deliverance.
1972 in
music:
Deep Purple releases Machine Head.
1972 in
sports:
September 4 - Mark Spitz wins his seventh swimming gold medal at the 1972 Summer
Olympics in Munich, Germany, becoming the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.
1972 in
television:
January 14 - Sanford & Son premieres on NBC.
M*A*S*H premieres.
James Herriot - All Creatures Great and Small.
Births:
January 30 -
Tim Jones, Gonzo Journalist.
February 11 -
Dennis Iliohan, Dutch football player.
February 15 -
Jaromir Jagr, ice hockey star.
February 17 -
Denise Richards, actress.
February 17 -
Philippe Candeloro, figure skater.
February 17 -
Billie Joe Armstrong, musician ("Green Day").
February 29 -
Antonio Sabato Jr., actor.
March 6 -
Antonius Robertus (Robert) Temminck.
March 6 -
Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player.
March 10 -
Matt Kenseth, race car driver, 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion.
March 13 -
Johanna Esther (Esther) van den Houten.
March 13 -
Jens Jacob de Place Hansen.
March 15 -
Mark Hoppus, musician ("Blink 182").
March 17 -
Mia Hamm, soccer player.
March 22 -
Catharina Hubertina Wouters.
March 22 -
Shawn Bradley, basketball player.
March 22 -
Elvis Stojko, figure skater.
March 23 -
Judith Godrèche, actress.
April 4 -
Stefan Wolpe, composer.
April 4 -
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician.
April 8 -
Esther Braam.
April 11 -
Jason Varitek, baseball player.
April 17 -
Jennifer Garner, actress.
April 17 -
Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer.
April 22 -
Arno van den Houten.
April 24 -
Chipper Jones, baseball player.
May 2 -
The Rock, WWE professional wrestler turned actor.
May 4 -
Reneé Werner.
May 20 -
Busta Rhymes, rap music singer.
May 21 -
The Notorious B.I.G., musician (d. 1997).
May 22 -
Marco Andreas Wilhelmus Timmerman.
May 30 -
Manny Ramirez, baseball player.
June 4 -
Derian Hatcher, NHL hockey player.
June 15 -
Andy Pettitte, baseball pitcher.
June 23 -
Zinédine Zidane, French football star.
June 25 -
Carlos Delgado, baseball player.
June 29 -
Samantha Smith, U.S. activist (d. 1985).
July 2 -
Wayne Brady, actor, comedian.
July 9 -
Jennifer Keene, figure skater.
July 24 -
Lance Reventlow, playboy, entrepreneur, F1 driver.
July 28 -
Elizabeth Berkley, actress (Saved by the Bell, Showgirls).
August 6 -
Jan Pieter Kostense.
August 11 -
Jonathon Prandi, American male model and actor.
August 23 -
Dave Chappelle, actor, comedian.
August 30 -
Cameron Diaz, actress (There's Something About Mary, Any Given
Sunday, Shrek).
August 30 -
Pavel Nedved, Czech football star.
September 10 -
Ghada Shouaa, Syrian heptathlete.
September 22 -
Bob Sapp, American boxer, kickboxer.
October 5 -
Grant Hill, basketball player.
October 17 -
Eminem, rapper, actor.
October 17 -
Wyclef Jean, rapper.
November 4 -
Luis Figo, Portuguese football star.
November 10 -
Shawn Green, baseball player.
November 18 -
Gerard Alexander van den Houten.
December 10 -
Brian Molko, Placebo singer.
December 12 -
Jurrien Rene Meijer.
December 19 -
Alyssa Milano, actress.
December 19 -
Warren Sapp, football player.
Deaths:
January 1 -
Maurice Chevalier, French entertainer, surgical complications.
January 8 -
Kenneth Patchen, poet and painter.
January 14 -
King Frederick IX of Denmark.
January 25 -
Jan Klompe.
January 26 -
Mahalia Jackson, gospel music singer.
February 11 -
Jan Wils, architect.
February 20 -
Walter Winchell, journalist.
March 24 -
Cristobal Balenciaga, couturier.
March 27 -
Sharkey Bonano, jazz musician (b. 1904).
March 27 -
M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist.
March 29 -
Lord J. Arthur Rank, movie theater owner.
April 4 -
Stefan Wolpe, composer.
April 8 -
Andrea Feldman, actor.
May 2 -
J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director.
May 13 -
Dan Blocker, actor.
May 22 -
Margaret Rutherford, actress.
May 23 -
Pieter van den Houten.
May 28 -
Edward VIII, king in 1936 (b. 1894).
July 7 -
King Talal, King of Jordan.
July 12 -
Johannes Arnoldus Knaap.
July 21 -
Paul Lyman Troast.
July 21 -
Ralph Craig, American athlete.
August 14 -
Oscar Levant, pianist and actor.
August 28 - His Royal Highness
Prince William of Gloucester in an aircrash.
September 9 -
Jan van den Houten.
October 1 -
Louis Leakey, British paleontologist.
October 24 -
Jackie Robinson (Baseball Hall of Famer).
October 26 -
Igor Sikorsky, aviation engineer.
November 1 -
Ezra Pound, poet.
November 25 -
Henri Coanda, aerodynamics pioneer.
November 28 -
Jannetje van den Houten.
November 28 -
Havergal Brian, composer.
November 28 -
Sibylla, princess of Sweden.
December 3 -
Bill Johnson, jazz musician (b. 1872).
December 24 -
Gisela Richter, art historian.
December 26 -
Harry S. Truman, US president, heart failure.
December 31 -
Roberto Clemente (baseball Hall of Famer).
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