Chronology of Events in 1974

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JANUARY

2 U. S. President Richard Nixon signed a bill requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 miles per hour to continue receive highway funds.

4 U. S. President Richard Nixon rejected the Senate Watergate Committee's subpoena seeking tapes and documents.
4 Burma held its first election in 14 years.

7 Maynard Jackson was sworn in as the first black Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

13 The Miami Dolphins defeated the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 in the Super Bowl.

18 Representatives of Israel and Egypt signed an accord on disengaging military forces.

19 The government of Belgian Prime Minister Edmond Leburton resigned.

23 A fire in the dormitory of a Belgian Catholic school killed 23 teenage boys.

25 Bulent Ecevit became Premier of Turkey.

26 A Turkish airliner crashed and burst into flames while taking off from Izmir, Turkey, killing 63 persons.

27 The Brisbane River swept through Brisbane, Australia, innundating more than 6,700 homes and killing 14 persons.

28 Muhammad Ali defeated Joe Frazier in a unanimous 12-round decision.

31 A U. S. jetliner crashed and burned while attempting to land in bad weather at Pago Pago, American Samoa, killing 95 of the 101 persons aboard.

FEBRUARY

1 A fire burned through the upper floors of a 25-story bank building in São Paolo, Brazil, killing 189 persons.

4 A bomb explosion in a bus carrying British soldiers and their families through Yorkshire, England, killed 12 persons.
4 Patricia Hearst, daughter of publisher Randolph A. Hearst, was abducted from her apartment in Berkeley, California.

5 Mariner 10 took pictures of the clouds over Venus.

7 Grenada became an independent nation.

8 Military officers took over the government of Upper Volta in a bloodless coup.

8 The Skylab 3 mission ended.

13 Russian author Aleksandr Soltzhenitsyn was deported.

17 Richard Petty won the Daytona 500.

21 A new Yugoslav constitution was promulgated.

22 Pakistan formally recognized Bangladesh

MARCH

1 A federal grand jury indicted seven former aides to U. S. President Richard Nixon on charges related to the Watergate case.

2 U Ne Win became the first President of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma.

3 A Turkish jumbo jet crashed into a forest northeast of Paris, France, killing all 346 persons aboard.

4 Edward Heath resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
4 The first regular issue of People magazine was published.

6 British coal miners agreed to end their two-month strike.

12 Carlos Andrés Pérez was inaugurated President of Venezuela.

15 General Ernesto Geisel was inaugurated President of Brazil.

20 A young man attempted to kidnap Princess Anne of the United Kingdom.

26 Ion Gheorghe Maurer resigned as Premier of Romania.
26 George Foreman knocked out Ken Norton to retain his heavyweight boxing title.

27 North Carolina State defeated Marquette 76-64 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

29 Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to reach Mercury.

APRIL

1 A tornado destroyed the business district of Campbellsburg, Kentucky, and killed 1 person.

2 French President Georges Pompidou died.

4 A plane carrying gold miners home to Malawi crashed soon after taking off from Francistown, Botswana, killing 77 of the 83 persons aboard.

8 Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record.

10 Golda Meir resigned as Prime Minister of Israel.

11 A terrorist attack at Kiryat Shemona, Israel, killed 18 persons, including 8 children.

13 Transportation workers across Japan went on strike.

15 The army of Niger overthrew the government of President Hamani Dori.
15 Members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, including Patty Hearst, robbed a Hibernia Bank office in San Francisco, California.

19 Former Pakistani President Mohammad Ayub Khan died.

21 Alfonso López Michelsen was elected President of Colombia.

22 An American jetliner crashed in a remote, mountainous region of Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 persons aboard.

23 Austrian President Franz Jonas died.

25 A group of army officers seized control of Portugal.
25 Landslides wiped out two Andean villages in Peru, killing about 250 people and leaving another 500 missing and presumed dead.

29 Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline began.

MAY

4 EXPO '74 opened in Spokane, Washington.
4 Angel Cordera rode Cannonade to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

6 Willy Brandt resigned as Chancellor of West Germany.

7 Voters in Washington, D. C., approved a home rule charter establishing an elected mayor-council form of government.

12 Italian voters rejected a repeal of the nation's divorce law.
12 The Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks to win the NBA Championship.

15 Antonio de Spinola was inaugurated Provisional President of Portugal.
15 Three Palestinian guerrillas raided a school in Maalot, Israel, and killed 25 persons, including 21 students.

16 Helmut Schmidt was elected Chancellor of West Germany.
16 India and Bangladesh signed an agreement on economic and political cooperation.

17 In Dublin, Ireland, three car bombs exploded simultaneously during rush hour, killing 25 persons.
17 Six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army died during a shoot-out with police in Los Angeles, California.
17 The first synchronous meteorological satellite, SMS-1, was launched into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center.

18 India exploded a nuclear bomb.

19 The Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup.

26 Johnny Rutherford won the Indianapolis 500.

27 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was inaugurated President of France.

28 A bomb exploded during an anti-Fascist rally in Brescia, Italy, killing 6 persons and injuring 94 others.

29 Luna 22 was launched.

31 Representatives of Syria and Israel signed a cease-fire agreement.

JUNE

1 An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, England, killed 29 persons and injured 94 others.

3 Yitzhak Rabin was inaugurated Prime Minister of Israel.

4 Jigme Singye Wangchuk was formally crowned King of Bhutan.
4 Masked gunmen kidnapped the Earl and Countess of Donoughmore from their house near Clonmell, County Tipperary, Ireland.

6 Burmese government forces fired on demonstrators in Rangoon, killing 22 persons and wounding 60 others.

8 A tornado struck Emporia, Kansas, killing 6 persons and causing about $30 million in property damage.

10 U. S. President Richard Nixon arrived in Salzburg, Austria, his first stop on a tour of the Middle East.

16 Hale Irwin won the U. S. Open Golf Championship.

17 A fire in a downtown Lahore, Pakistan, building killed at least 40 people.

25 Construction of the Very Large Array radio telescope began in New Mexico.
25 The Soviet Union launched Salyut 3 into Earth orbit.

27 U. S. President Rixhard Nixon arrived in Moscow, Russia, for a summit conference with Soviet leaders.

28 A landslide about 95 miles east of Bogotá, Colombia, killed more than 200 people.

30 Alberta Williams King, mother of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was fatally wounded by a gunman in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
30 Smoke from a flash fire in a singles bar in Port Chester, New York, killed 24 persons.

[July-December]

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This page was last updated on November 17, 2018.