1975 Live
@50YearsAgoLive
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Live-posting as a reporter embedded in history. Curated by @MannyMarotta. Companion to @100YearsAgoLive, @25YearsAgoLive, and @250YearsAgoLive. DM for contact.
Joined November 2019
Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter celebrates his 50th birthday.
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Schoolchildren meet a polar bear as part of an educational program in Norilsk, USSR:
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President Nixon’s morning begins with his last meal in the White House, consisting of his favorite foods: pineapple with cottage cheese on top, and a glass of warm milk.
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Pro-Nixon protestors carry signs and effigies in Tokyo, Japan.
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Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda, demands his agents in London to find and recruit “two six-foot-four Scottish bagpipers” to serve as his bodyguards.
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The new World Trade Center complex in New York City opens to the public.
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On Armed Forces radio in Saigon, an announcer says calmly: “the temperature in Saigon is 105 degrees and rising,” and then puts on a record of “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” . This is the signal for American defense personnel outside the Embassy to get there immediately for
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Jamaica and the Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations.
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BREAKING: In a television address to the American public, Richard Nixon announces that he will resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow. The years-long Watergate Scandal has come to a close.
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Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated in Madrid by Basque terrorist group ETA. They planted a bomb in his car that, in front of photographers’ cameras, went flying.
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Nixon slept two hours. He spent most of the night pacing barefoot in blue pajamas. At 4 AM, his wristwatch battery went dead. He considers it a prophetic omen.
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Joe Namath calls plays on the sideline of a muddy football game in New York.
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Chiang Kai-Shek, head of the Kuomintang who has been President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 1950, dies of kidney failure in Taipei. He was 87. His last words were “counterattack the mainland…rescue our countrymen…save China.” . The government of Taiwan announces a
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Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter announces that he will run for President in 1976. His name recognition nationwide is 2%, and he is thought to have almost no chance at victory.
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Finnish President Urho Kekkonen visits Pyongyang, North Korea, where he is honored by Kim Il-Sung.
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In Chicago, the annual Polish Constitution Day Parade is held. Civic leader John Wayne Gacy directs and choreographs the procession.
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It’s noon on 30 April in Saigon. The North Vietnamese Army has almost completely taken the city. A lone PAVN tank crashes through the gates of the Presidential Palace and its crew raises the flag of the Viet Cong over the building. The Vietnam War is over.
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Governor of California Ronald Regan calls on President Nixon to resign.
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George Lucas submits a six-page film treatment entitled “The Adventures of Luke Starkiller - The Star Wars” to Fox, hoping to secure a film deal for his space opera project.
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Helicopters are now landing at the Embassy every ten minutes. The Americans announce they can only conduct 19 more airlifts, on direct orders from President Ford - but by the time the order comes through, 21 more airlifts have been accomplished. When the order comes, Marine
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A drunkard sleeping in front of a sign that says “Helsinki of the Future” in Finland.
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Zimbabwean pilot Joyce Mujuru shoots down a Rhodesian helicopter, achieving the first recorded female air-to-air kill in Africa. She takes the nom-du-guerre Teurai Ropa (“Blood Spiller.”)
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Cardinal Jean Daniélou, French Roman Catholic Cardinal, dies while visiting a brothel in Paris. He was 69. A prostitute at the brothel says he was simply visiting to declare his chastity to her, but police doubt the story.
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Folk singer John Denver, who is an avid pilot, buys a Learjet so he can fly himself to concerts.
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President Nixon has signed a letter of resignation. Henry Kissinger post-dates the letter with the time of Nixon’s upcoming departure in blue crayon.
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Oskar Schindler, Sudeten German businessman and savior of more than 1,000 Jews during WWII, dies, entirely broke, in Hildesheim, West Germany. He was 66.
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President Ford leaves for work as his wife, Betty, wishes him goodbye. Ford became President nine days ago, but he has not yet moved into the White House, so he still has to commute like everyone else.
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The National Socialist League, a neo-Nazi organization exclusively for gay men, is founded by Jim Cherry and Russell Veh in Los Angeles. There are at least 400 members.
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Ned Maddrell, the last surviving speaker of the Manx language, dies on the Isle of Man. He was 97. The language is now considered extinct.
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The Cleveland Indians host a “ten cent beer night” to promote a baseball game against the visiting Texas Rangers. The 25,000 fans are permitted to buy unlimited quantities of 10-cent, 12-ounce beers, and they indulge heavily.
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[Fourth-Wall Break]. Introducing next year’s 1975 Live profile picture:
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Designer Syd Mead’s concept art for the American home of 2021.
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The new flag of Toronto, Ontario, designed by 21-year-old Italian-born graphic arts student Renato “Ren” DeSantis, is unveiled.
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President Ford hugs his 19-year-old son, Steve, goodbye as he sets off on a cross-country motorcycle trip to find himself.
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Japanese graphic designer Yuko Shimizu releases a vinyl coinpurse featuring a bizarre mouthless white cat whom she calls “Hello Kitty.”. Whatever it is, it sells out right away, and stores demand that Shimizu create more Hello Kitty merchandise.
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Color television is introduced in Malta, Norway, and Oman on the same day. Seen here is Norway’s dramatic switch:
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Famed Japanese kabuki theater actor Bandō Mitsugorō VIII eats four servings of toxic fugu fish liver, brags that he can survive any quantity of poison, then dies of said poison. He was 69.
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Contraception becomes free for all women in the United States, by federal law.
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Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke announces that he has changed his political party affiliation from American Nazi to Democrat, so that he can run for a seat in the Louisiana State Senate.
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The Miller Brewing Company releases a new line of Miller beer called “Miller Light.” It’s an instant hit.
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President Ford imposes a permanent national speed limit of 55mph (88kph) on the Interstate Highway System.
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A mass food poisoning incident occurs aboard a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 flying from Anchorage to Copenhagen after the airline serves omelettes contaminated with Staphylococci to the 364 passengers. One hour after breakfast service, 196 passengers fall ill with nausea,
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Musicians Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham join the group Fleetwood Mac.
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President Ford fondles his golden retriever, Liberty, in the Oval Office.
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Gerald Ford has taken the oath of office to become President of the United States. “My fellow Americans,” he says in his inaugural address, “our long national nightmare is over.”
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In reaction to the announcement of Nixon’s resignation, spontaneous parties have broken out on the streets of Washington, DC. Thousands of young people pour out to celebrate.
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Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik files a patent for his new “Magic Rubik’s Cube.”
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Pol Pot, the new dictator of Cambodia, celebrates his 50th birthday with his newfound power.
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Former South Vietnamese President Nguyen Vǎn Thiêu flees the country, departing for Taiwan aboard a C-118 transport plane containing 16 tons of gold.
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The city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, adopts a flag for the first time:
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Moe Howard, the leader and last survivor of the Three Stooges comedy troupe, dies of lung cancer in Los Angeles. He was 77.
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Adrian Street, Welsh professional wrestler, pictured with his father, a coal miner, in his hometown.
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Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warns Israel not to use nuclear weapons in the ongoing Yom Kippur War, or else the United States will cease financial aid to Israel. In this warning, Kissinger unintentionally signals that Israel may have nuclear weapons.
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Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava is sworn in as President of Madagascar, succeeding Gabriel Ramanantsoa.
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President Ford contemplatively smoking a pipe in the Oval Office:
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The Presidency of Richard Nixon officially ends as he and his family leave the White House for San Clemente, California. Before boarding helicopter Marine One, Nixon throws up his trademark “double victory” sign. Then, the whole White House waves him goodbye.
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Maureen Colquhoun of the Labour Party comes out as the first lesbian Member of Parliament in the UK. The Labour Party disavows her.
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Embassy staff in Saigon are now completing their final destruction of sensitive documents. Marines destroy the satellite terminal, cutting off communication between the Embassy and the outside world, and thermite grenades are used to destroy helicopters for which there is no
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An overhead view of downtown Houston, Texas, which mainly consists of automobile parking:
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Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot arrives in Phnom Penh and installs himself as leader of Cambodia. He says that his top priorities will be increasing agricultural production and rapid industrialization.
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Two teenage girls smoking marijuana at Cedar Woods in Leakey, Texas.
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Residents of Sitka, Alaska awake in a panic, thinking that the nearby Mount Edgecumbe volcano is erupting and that it will kill them all. But this turns out to be a juvenile April Fools’ prank: some teenagers dragged 100 tires 3,200ft (960m) up the slope and lit them on fire.
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Famous pole-sitter Richard “Dixie” Blandy, who has been sitting on a pole for 125 days, dies when the 50-foot (15m) pole on which he’s sitting collapses beneath him. He was 72.
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In an emotional speech, President Nixon gives a final farewell to White House Staff. After the speech, Henry Kissinger says to Nixon: “history is going to record that you were a great President.” . “Henry, that depends on who writes the history,” Nixon replies.
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Senator Ted Kennedy announces that for personal reasons, he will not run for President in 1976.
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19-year-old computer prodigies Bill Gates and Paul Allen found a new company, “Micro-Soft,” which is short for “micro-computer software.”
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The National News tabloid newspaper reports that John F. Kennedy is cryogenically frozen and that Jackie Kennedy Onassis will bring him back to life now that Aristotle is dead. The claim is dubious.
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Premier of Libya Muammar Gaddafi announces that all homosexuals in his country will be flogged.
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The Derg military junta that has recently taken over Ethiopia announces that it will abolish the 3,000-year-old Ethiopian Empire.
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Japanese WWII holdout Hiroo Onoda returns to Japan after over 30 years away from home.
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In an interview with Film Quarterly magazine, filmmaker George Lucas says he’s working on a new project - “The Star Wars.”
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This is now the most-viewed post in the history of this account wtf.
Joe Namath calls plays on the sideline of a muddy football game in New York.
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After decades of heavy smoking, author Ayn Rand undergoes lung surgery.
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The Vietnam War is over, but chaos reigns at sea, as American aircraft carriers receive dozens of helicopters returning from South Vietnam full of refugees. There are so many that the ships must push existing aircraft on the flight deck into the sea.
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President Ford creates a new program called “Whip Inflation Now” (WIN) to address ongoing 10% inflation.
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82-year-old Spanish dictator Francisco Franco falls too ill to govern and temporarily cedes power to Prince Juan Carlos.
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President Ford signs an act allowing girls to participate in Little League baseball nationwide.
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A group of anti-Union Playboy Bunnies demonstrate outside the Playboy Club in London, whose workers are voting to unionize.
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Conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie completes a series of paintings for the upcoming George Lucas space opera project, The Star Wars.
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Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia declares himself President for Life.
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In an interview with CBS News, U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater says “the Vietnam War would have been over in a month if I had been elected President in 1964.”
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James P. Cannon, American Trotskyist and leader of the Socialist Workers Party from 1938 to 1953, dies in Los Angeles. He was 84.
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President Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for all crimes that he has committed, or “may have committed” while he was President. This is an unpopular move; a Gallup poll today finds that only 38% of Americans think Nixon should have been pardoned.
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The evacuation of U.S. personnel from Saigon is complete. The last ten Marine guards are flown out and onto the USS Okinawa. Lady Ace 09, the helicopter in command, radioes “Tiger is out,” and with that, for the first time since 1955, there are no more U.S. troops in Vietnam.
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In today’s midterm elections, former astronaut John Glenn is elected to the US Senate from Ohio.
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Steve Hamas, American athlete who played football, boxing, lacrosse, basketball, and track and field at Penn State between 1926 and 1930, then went on to be a professional boxer and an Air Force major, dies in New York. He was 67.
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Frank Sinatra signs a new contract with music producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
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The Concord Monitor newspaper predicts that 50 years from now, in 2024, 5,000 miles of highway will be torn up to make way for train tracks. This will be a result of increasing traffic jams, with the worst one being in 2012.
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Senator Joseph R. Biden, (D-DE), is seen here at Union Station, Washington DC where most days, after the Senate adjourns, he catches the Metroliner to Wilmington for home. He makes the four-hour commute almost daily to be with his motherless sons Beau, 4, and Hunter, 3.
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Walter Washington takes office as the first Mayor of Washington, DC. Washington is also the first black mayor of any major city in the U.S. Michael Dukakis takes office as 65th Governor of Massachusetts.
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President Nixon travels to Palm Beach, Florida, to inspect the Mar-a-Lago estate.
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A medical board declares that 81-year-old Spanish Generalissimo Francisco Franco is healthy enough to return to work after a three-month hospitalization.
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Amtrak releases a modern new computerized ticket system. It is now easier than ever to book train travel in the US.
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The AK-74, an improved variant of the AK-47 designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, enters service with the Red Army.
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