1974

1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar).

Years: 1971 1972 1973 - 1974 - 1975 1976 1977
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1974 in aviation 1974 in film 1974 in literature 1974 in music 1974 in politics 1974 in sports 1974 in television

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Events

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January-March

January - Dungeons & Dragons officially released.
February 4 - Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army
February 7 - Grenada becomes independent from the United Kingdom
February 8 - After 84 days in space, the crew of the temporary American space station Skylab return to Earth
February 12 - US 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 US government.
February 13 - Nobel Prize winner writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from the Soviet Union (he returns May 27 1994)
February 23 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demand $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
February 27 - People magazine is published for the first time
March 1 - Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
March 1 - Pierre Messmer finishes his first office as Prime Minister of France
March 3 ? A DC 10 of Turkish Airlines from Paris to London crashes in a wood near Paris. All 346 dead
March 8 - Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France
March 18 - OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
March 10 - Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan Lancs
March 20 - Ian Balls fails in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
March 29 - Mariner 10 approaches Mercury

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April-May

April 1 - the Local Government Act 1972 comes into effect in England and Wales, creating six new metropolitan counties and completely redrawing the administrative map
April 3 - The Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes in history, hits 13 states and one Canadian province. By the time the last of 148 tornadoes hit early the following morning, 315 died and over 5,000 were injured.
April 10 - In Israel, Golda Meir resigns as Prime Minister
April 25 - Coup in Portugal restores democracy (see Carnation Revolution)
April 28 - Last Americans evacuated from Saigon
May 4 - All female Japanese team summits Manaslu and become the first women to climb an 8,000 metre peak.
May 9 - The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon
May 17 - Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall
May 17 - Thirty-three people die from bombings in Dublin and County Monaghan, Ireland
May 18 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.

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June

June 1 - Flixborough disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, UK kills 28 people
June 6 - A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy
June 17 - A bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament in London damaging Westminster Hall. The bomb had been planted by the Irish Republican Army
June 24 - The UPC label is used for the first time to ring up purchases at a supermarket.
June 30 - Assassination of Alberta King, mother of the late Martin Luther King, during a church service

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July

July 14 - Chris Chubbuck, US radio presenter for Channel 40, shoots herself into head in a middle of a broadcast. She dies the next day
July 15 - Military coup overthrows President Makarios in Cyprus
July 17- A bomb planted by Irish Republican Army terrorists explodes in the White Tower at the Tower of London, killing one person and injuring 41. Another bomb explodes outside a government building in South London.
July 20 - Turkey invade Cyprus
July 23 - Greek military government collapses
July 24 - Watergate Scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rule that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor
July 27-30 - Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee adopts three 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. He announces he will resign the next day, the first president to do so.

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August-November

August 4 ? Bomb explodes in Italicus Expressen train between Italy and West Germany. Italian neo-fascist terrorists take responsibility
August 8 - Watergate scandal: US President Richard Nixon announces his resignation (effective August 9)
August 9 - Richard 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. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, takes the oath of office and becomes the 38th president
September 8 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office
September 13 - Japanese Red Army members seize the French Embassy in the Hague, Netherlands. They receive release of JRA member Yatuka Fumiya, $300.000 and flight to Aden
October 5 - The Guildford Pub Bombings - The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars - lead to the wrongful conviction of the Guildford Four
October 25 - James Graham is born
November 7 - Lord Lucan disappears
November 7 - An IRA bomb explodes at the Kings Head Woolwich
November 8 - In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy
November 10 - Members of the Movement 2 June 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 16 - Arecibo telescope sends an interstellar radio message towards M 41 cluster
November 17 - President Childers dies suddenly of a heart attack in the Republic of Ireland in a middle of a public speech
November 21 - In Birmingham, England, two pubs are bombed, killing 21 people (the Birmingham Six were later sentenced to life in prison for this)
November 21 - George W. Bush is discharged from the US Air Force Reserve
November 22 - The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
November 27 - The Prevention of Terrorism Act is passed in United Kingdom

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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 19 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh becomes the fifth President of Ireland, in a state inauguration in Dublin Castle
December 24 - Darwin, Australia almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy

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unknown date

The Milgram experiment first described by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in his 1974 book Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View.
Baltimore police strike

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