What happened in 1975?

Answer 1

The main event in 1975 were the convictions and sentencing of those involved in the 1973 Watergate Scandal Cover-up took place.

The information below is detailed where I deem it necessary.

January 1, 1975

1. Four of the Watergate 7 were convicted of covering up the Watergate break-in in 1972. These four were on the Committee to Reelect President Richard Nixon. Former Attorney General John Mitchell (1913-1988) was sentenced to 2 to 8 years in prison for his role. Her served only 19 months. Former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman was originally sentenced sentenced 2 to 8 years in prison had his sentence reduced on appeal to 1 to 4 years. He served 18 months. The Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman was also sentenced 2 to 8 years but also served 18 months. The Assistant Attorney General to John Mitchell, Robert Maridian, was sentenced 4 to 8 years which would later be overturn due to a technicality.

2. International Women's Year begins

January 4 - President Gerald Ford signs executive order #11828 to set up a Committee on CIA activities within the United States for any illegal or improper activities. Congress sets up two committees later on to do the same.

January 5 - The Soviet Union's Salyut 4 (space station) with crew of 2 is launched for 30 days.

January 8 - Judge Sirica orders release of Watergate's John W Dean III, Herbert W. Kalmbach & Jeb Stuart Magruder from prison. John Dean (1938- ), who was the chief witness to the Watergate break-in was originally President Richard Nixon's White House Counsel. He was sentenced 1 to 4 years prior to his release. Herbert W. Kalmbach (1921 - ) was involved in the Watergate cover up but it was his raising 3.9 million dollars for a secret Republican Congressional campaign and promising an Ambassador to a better post for $100,000 which landed him in jail for 191 days plus he had to pay a $100,000 fine. He also lost his license to practice law but regained it in 1977. Jeb Stuart Magruder

(1934- ) was the Special Assistant to the President. He resigned in order to join the "Committee to reelect the President (Nixon)." He was Deputy Assistant to Attorney John Mitchell on that committee. He was sentenced for his part of the Watergate coverup on May 21, 1974 originally sentenced 10 months to 4 years.

January 11 - Soviet Union's Soyuz 17 carries 2 cosmonauts to space station Salyut 4

January 14 - United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) breaks trade agreement with US. The Soviet Union informs the US that because of the Jackson-Vanik amendment it will not ratify the trade agreement signed in 1972, which would have unconditionally abolished discriminative trade restrictions. The USSR resents the Jackson-Vanik amendment and the restriction of Export-Import Bank loans, which it deems contrary to the 1972 trade agreement and the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs. The Jackson-Vanik amendment that is named after Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson (1912-1983) of Washington state and Representative Charles Varnik (1913-2007) denies most favorable nation status to certain nations with non-market economies that restrict emigration, which is considered a human right. The USSR claimed interference in their own domestic policy and did not ratify the treaty. The act, which still exists, was aimed to free Soviet Jewry.

January 24 -

1)FALN bomb the Fraunces Tavern, killing four and injuring more than 50. The FALN stands for Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional. They are terrorists fighting for Puerto Rican Independence from the United States.

2)An object in a vacuum centrifuge becomes the fastest Earth bound object with a speed of 7200 kph in England.

February 1 - Otis Francis Tabler is 1st open homosexual to get security clearance to work for the Defense Department.

February 4 - Haicheng earthquake, that hit 7.3 on the Richter scale, occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China. Haicheng has a popluation of 1,000,000 were warned about the earthquake by Seismologists leading to the only predicted earthquake in history.

February 11 - In England Margaret Thatcher (1925 - ) defeats Edward Heath ( 1916-2005) for Conservative leadership. She would eventually be elected and reelected as Prime Minister as her reign last from 1979-1990.

February 21 - Three of the four Watergate coverup conspirators convicted on January 1 are sentenced to prison. They are John Mitchell, HR Haldeman & John D Ehrlichman as they are sentenced to 2½-8 yrs.

February 21 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.

March 7 - The United States Senate revises filibuster rule, allows 60 senators to limit debate. Prior to 1919, a Senator could filibuster for an eternity. The rule changed that year to 2/3 of the Senate could vote for cloture of the filibuster. Then in 1957, the Senate changed the rule again to 2/3 present could end the filibuster when Senator Strom Thurman from South Carolina set a record filibustering for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act.

March 9 - Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins to bring oil from Alaska to the continental 48 states.

March 16 - US satellite Mariner 10 makes 3rd & final fly-by of planet Mercury.

March 21 - Ethiopia ends monarchy after 3000 years.

March 25 - Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz, King of Saudi-Arab (1906-75), is shot and killed by his nephew. He ruled from 1964-1975.

April 2 - As the Vietnam War comes to an end, thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.

April 4 - Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

April 8 - Frank Robinson debuts as 1st African-American baseball manager for the American League Cleveland Indians as they defeat the New York Yankees 5-3.

April 16 - Cambodian Red Khmer Rouge (Communists) occupy Phnom Penh.

April 17 -

1) Khmer Rouge captures Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Kampuchea Natl Day).

2) Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's 5-year war.

April 19 - With the help of USSR, India launches it's first satellite.

April 21 - Last South Vietnam president Nguyen Van Thieu resigns after 10 years.

April 25 - West German embassy blown-up in Stockholm Sweden. Terrorists known as the Baader-Meinholt gang, a faction of the Red Army Faction (RAF), took over the West German Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden demanding release of fellow RAF members jailed in West German prisons. The six members took 13 attaches as hostages. The group of six referred to themselves as Kommando Holger Meins after Holger Meins who died on November 11, 1974 as a result of a hunger strike. They warned Swedish police to back off. When the police did not, they took one attache and shot and killed him outside the embassy. They wanted to speak to the Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt. Once he refused to speak to the group, another hostage was shot 3 times in front of a window. The insurgents stated that they will kill a hostage an hour if their demands were not met. The Swedish police was ready to storm the embassy when an explosion went off. That explosion was the TNT the group had that went off accidentally. Another insurgent detonated a grenade killing himself. The surviving hostages and the insurgents suffered severe burns. One of the insurgents would later die of the wounds. The leaders of the group, Andrea Baader and Ulrike Meinhof would be arrested.

April 28 - South-Vietnam Gen Duong Van Minh sworn in as president until April 30th.

April 29 - Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate US citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. They would leave thousands of South Vietnamese citizens stranded.

April 30 - Last US helicopter leaves US embassy grounds, Saigon surrenders

May 7 - US Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 53 launched to study X-rays in space.

May 12 - US merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces using gunboats. The Khmer Rouge government imprisoned all 40 men on that ship.

May 14 - The US sent Marines via helicopters to assault the island of Koh Tang Island to free the hostages. What they found was an empty ship for prior to the operation, the men were sent free and were not on the island. The Marines on the island encountered strong resistance on the island and could not be extracted until the 15th. U.S. casualties were fifteen killed in action, three missing, fifty wounded, and twenty‐three killed in a helicopter crash.

May 19 - Japanese Junko Tabei (1939 - ) is the 1st woman to climb to the top of Mount Everest.

May 21 - In West Germany, the trial against Baader-Meinhof group begins in Stuttgart.

May 30 - The European Space Agency (ESA) forms.

June 2 -

1) James A Healy, 1st black Roman Catholic bishop, consecrated (Maine).

2)Vice President Nelson Rockefeller finds no pattern of wrong doing by the CIA.

June 5 - Egyptain President Anwar Sadat re-opens the Suez Canal that has been closed since the war with Israel in 1967.

June 6 - Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam established.

June 8 - USSR launches Venera 9 for Venus landing.

June 10 - Vice President Nelson Rockefeller panel reports on 300,000 illegal CIA files on Americans.

June 16 - The US Supreme Court rules uniform minimum legal fees are unconstitutional.

June 17 - Voters in Northern Mariana Is approve commonwealth status with US.

June 26 -

1) Indian PM Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency.

2)Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.

July 15 - USSR's Soyuz 19 & US Apollo 18 launched. They will rendezvous 2 days later.

July 17 - Apollo 18 & Soyuz 19 make 1st US/USSR linkup in space.

July 19 - Apollo & Soyuz linked in orbit for 2 days, separate.

July 20 - India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship.

July 22 - US House of Representatives votes to restore citizenship to Gen Robert E Lee.

August 1 - 38 government leaders signs Helsinki accord. Nations of Europe, the except for Albani and Anddora, plus the United States and Canada signed the accord in Helsinki, Finland in order to better relationship with the Communist bloc (countries controlled by the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union itself).

August 21 - US lightens trade embargo against Cuba that was in place since 1962.

August 23 - Communists take over Laos as The Pathet Lao, renamed the Lao People's Front, seizes power. King Savang Vatthana abdicates and he is later arrested and dies in captivity. The Lao People's Democratic Republic is proclaimed, with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) the only legal political party. Kaysone Phomvihane becomes prime minister. "Socialist transformation" of the economy is launched.

September 5 - There was an assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford by a Charles Manson follower Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme.

September 6 - Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova asks for US political asylum in New York City during the US Open.

September 8 -

1)Boston begins court ordered (US Supreme Court) busing of public schools to integrate their schools.

2)Guinee-Bissau declares independence from Portugal.

September 16 - Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia (National Day).

September 28 - A bill passes authorizing the admission of women to military academies.

October 1 - Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands, take name "Tuvalu."

October 9 - Soviet dissident author Andrei Sakharov wins Nobel Peace Prize. He is under house arrest.

October 10 -Israel formally signs Sinai peace accord with Egypt. The agreement would be supercede by the 1979 peace accord where both countries would end total hostilities between each other that has occurred since the founding of Israel in 1947.

October 20 - The US Supreme Court rules teachers could spank their pupils after warning.

October 21 - The US Coast Guard Academy 1st allows women to enroll.

October 26 - Anwar Sadat became 1st Egyptian President to officially visit US.

November 10 - Outlawed PLO leader Yasser Arafat addresses UN in NYC.

November 25 - Netherlands grants Suriname independence (Natl Day).

November 27 - The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England. Ross McWhirter and his twin brother Norris founded the "Guiness Book of Records."

November 28 - Democratic Republic East-Timor proclaimed.

November 29 -

1) Kilauea Volcano erupts in Hawaii

2) President Ford requires states to provide free education for handicapped.

December 2 - Laos King Sisavang Vatthana resigns, republic forms as Lao People's Democratic Republic founded (National Day).

December 3 - Laos falls to communist forces. Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed.

December 6 - Balcombe Street Siege: An IRA Active Service Unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street, London.

December 7 - Indonesian army occupies East Timor.

December 9 - US President Gerald Ford signs $2.3 B loan-authorization for NYC to avoid NYC declaring bankruptcy.

December 10 - Andrei Sakharov's wife Yelena Bonner, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize.

December 17 - Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life.

December 23 -US Congress passes Metric Conversion Act.

December 29 - 11 killed, 75 hurt by terrorist bomb at LaGuardia Airport in NYC. This took place at the TWA shuttle service between NYC-Washington D.C. and NYC-Boston. The case remains to this day unresolved.

December 30 - Constitution of Democratic Republic of Madagascar comes into force.