Important Historical Events of the year 1974, Year 1974 in History

List of 1974 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1974

What happened in the year 1974?

Date Event
January 2, 1974 United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
January 6, 1974 In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
January 18, 1974 A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
January 20, 1974 China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.
January 26, 1974 Turkish Airlines Flight 301 crashes during takeoff from Izmir Cumaovası Airport (now İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport), killing 66 of the 73 people on board the Fokker F28 Fellowship.
January 30, 1974 Pan Am Flight 806 crashes near Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa, killing 97.
February 1, 1974 A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
February 4, 1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
February 4, 1974 M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
February 7, 1974 Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
February 8, 1974 After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
February 12, 1974 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
February 17, 1974 Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
February 21, 1974 The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt.
February 22, 1974 The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
February 22, 1974 Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but is killed by police.
February 23, 1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
March 1, 1974 Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
March 3, 1974 Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard.
March 5, 1974 Yom Kippur War: Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.
March 9, 1974 The Mars 7 Flyby bus releases the descent module too early, missing Mars.
March 15, 1974 Fifteen people are killed when Sterling Airways Flight 901, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, catches fire following a landing gear collapse at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran.
March 29, 1974 NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first space probe to fly by Mercury.
March 29, 1974 Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi province, China.
April 1, 1974 The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.
April 3, 1974 The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second largest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
April 22, 1974 Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board.
April 25, 1974 Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
April 29, 1974 Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
May 9, 1974 Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.
May 15, 1974 Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
May 16, 1974 Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.
May 17, 1974 The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland.
May 17, 1974 Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall.
May 18, 1974 Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
May 28, 1974 Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
May 30, 1974 The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.
June 1, 1974 The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine.
June 26, 1974 The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
June 27, 1974 U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union.
June 29, 1974 Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill.
June 29, 1974 Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.
June 30, 1974 The Baltimore municipal strike of 1974 begins.
July 15, 1974 In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
July 20, 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
July 23, 1974 The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era.
July 24, 1974 Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled 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 26, 1974 Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule.
July 27, 1974 Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
July 28, 1974 Spetsgruppa A, Russia's elite special force, was formed.
July 30, 1974 Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States.
August 1, 1974 Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the "Green Line", dividing Cyprus into two zones.
August 4, 1974 A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people and wounding 22.
August 5, 1974 Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
August 5, 1974 Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the "Smoking Gun" tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely.
August 7, 1974 Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 feet (417 m) in the air.
August 8, 1974 President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.
August 9, 1974 As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president.
August 15, 1974 Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President Park Chung-hee.
August 30, 1974 A Belgrade–Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers.
August 30, 1974 A powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo. Eight are killed, 378 are injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975, by Japanese authorities.
August 30, 1974 The Third World Population Conference ends in Bucharest, Romania. At the end of the ceremony, the UN-Romanian Demographic Centre is inaugurated.
September 1, 1974 The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of one hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).
September 8, 1974 Watergate scandal: US President Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
September 10, 1974 Guinea-Bissau gains independence from Portugal.
September 11, 1974 Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 69 passengers and two crew.
September 12, 1974 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, 'Messiah' of the Rastafari movement, is deposed following a military coup by the Derg, ending a reign of 58 years.
September 15, 1974 Air Vietnam Flight 706 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.
September 17, 1974 Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the United Nations.
September 18, 1974 Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people.
September 25, 1974 Dr. Frank Jobe performs first ulnar collateral ligament replacement surgery (better known as Tommy John surgery) on baseball player Tommy John.
October 5, 1974 Bombs planted by the PIRA in pubs in Guildford kill four British soldiers and one civilian.
October 8, 1974 Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it is the largest bank failure in the history of the United States.
October 19, 1974 Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.
November 16, 1974 The Arecibo message is broadcast from Puerto Rico.
November 20, 1974 The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
November 20, 1974 The first fatal crash of a Boeing 747 occurs when Lufthansa Flight 540 crashes while attempting to takeoff from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 59 out of the 157 people on board.
November 21, 1974 The Birmingham pub bombings kill 21 people. The Birmingham Six are sentenced to life in prison for the crime but subsequently acquitted.
November 22, 1974 The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
November 23, 1974 Sixty Ethiopian politicians, aristocrats, military officers, and other persons are executed by the provisional military government.
November 24, 1974 Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" (after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.
December 1, 1974 TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.
December 1, 1974 Northwest Airlines Flight 6231, another Boeing 727, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
December 4, 1974 Martinair Flight 138 crashes into the Saptha Kanya mountain range in Maskeliya, Sri Lanka, killing 191.
December 8, 1974 A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.
December 13, 1974 Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
December 13, 1974 In the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese forces launch their 1975 Spring Offensive (to 30 April 1975), which results in the final capitulation of South Vietnam.
December 19, 1974 Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
December 22, 1974 Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
December 22, 1974 The house of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.
December 24, 1974 Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.