1974 News and Interesting History Tidbits


Philippe Petit Tightrope Walk
French stunt man Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the nearly completed New York's World Trade Center. The stunt was illegal and when he went to court because of the news coverage and public appreciation he was ordered "to perform a show for the children of New York City" and later was also presented with a lifetime pass to the Twin Towers' Observation Deck by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.






Watergate
Richard Nixon receives subpoena requiring him to hand over tapes which may provide evidence regarding the 1972 burglary of the Democratic National Headquarters located in the Watergate complex. As a result, Sam J. Irving, Jr. D.N.C. planned to take Richard Nixon to court. Over 500 tapes as well as several hundred written documents were sought .

Following the tapes and documents handed over to the Senate Watergate Committee, House Judiciary Committee and with the certainty of an impeachment in the House of Representatives and of a conviction in the Senate, Nixon resigned , becoming the only U.S. President to have resigned from office

President Nixon was also facing serious questions about his taxes and agreed to pay $432,787.13 plus interest in back taxes for the years 1969 through 1972

The attempted cover-up of the break-in ultimately led to Nixon's dramatic resignation on August 9, 1974.






Alaska Oil Pipeline Started
Work on the 800 mile long Alaska Oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to the sea port at Valdez.

It is completed in just over two years in 1977 and transports up to 2 million barrels of oil per day.







Patti Hearst Kidnap
Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped in Berkeley, California by the Symbionese Liberation Army, later she supported them and was even involved in bank robberies with her abductors

The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $70 of food be given to every needy Californian which could cost as much as $400 million in exchange for the release of 19-year-old Patricia Hearst.

The ransom demanded by the kidnappers ( Symbionese Liberation Army ). of newspaper heiress, Patty Hearst of $2 million food handout to the hungry in slum areas throughout Los Angeles and San Francisco begins with many of the homeless refusing the handouts .







Lucy Found in Ethiopia
An international team of scientists working in northeastern Ethiopia has found the partial skeleton of a three-million-year-old hominid that it claims is the most complete early man discovery ever made in Africa, the skeleton is better known and referred to as Lucy.







Isabela Peron often called affectionately ( Evita )
President Isabela Peron often called affectionately ( Evita ), Juan Peron's third wife, was the Western Hemisphere's first female head of government after becoming President when her husband died. Argentina was suffering from serious economic and political strife and she was unable to form a government and the countries problems continued to worsen. After a military coup in 1976 she was imprisoned for five years on a charge of abuse of power and upon her release in 1981 settled in Madrid








Bloodless Coup Portugal
A bloodless Military coup led by General Antoniio de Spinola, in Portugal ends nearly 50 years of dictatorship. The Prime Minister, Dr Marcello Caetano has surrendered to General Antoniio de Spinola and fled to the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The new regime has promised to restore civil liberties and hold general elections to a national assembly as soon as possible, and review Portugals Foreign policy which will now include a programme of decolonisation giving independence to Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde Islands, and Angola .








Princess Anne Kidnapping Attempt
Princess Anne and husband Captain Mark Phillips escape a kidnapping attempt as they were returning to Buckingham Palace .







Hank Aaron Breaks The Babe Ruth Record
Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's legendary record of 714 homers







India Becomes 6th Country with Nuclear Bomb
India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon making India the world's sixth nuclear power joining the existing the 5 existing Nuclear Powers of United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China, and France. The Nuclear Bomb was a fission bomb similar in explosive power to the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.







Bruce Springsteen Concert Acclaim
Bruce Springsteen nicknamed "The Boss," with his E Street Band performed a concert in Cambridge, Mass., which made the well known rock critic Jon Landau write, "I saw rock and roll future and it's name is Bruce Springsteen."


Bruce Springsteen most famous albums include,

Born to Run ( 1975 )

Born in the U.S.A. ( 1984 )


He has sold over 65 million albums in the U.S






Northern Ireland 1000th Victim
The continuing violence between the two para-military organizations in Northern Ireland claims its 1,000th victim with the death earlier today of a petrol station owner James Murphy in County Fermanagh.







Golan Heights
The Golan Heights has the worst day of violence when Syria begins shelling the northern sector of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967. Also on the same day most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States allowing oil to be exported.







John Poulson Convicted
A high profile case involving British MPs, health authorities and civil servants and the architect John Poulson has ended with Poulson and the high ranking senior Scottish civil servant William George Pottinger both being jailed for five years for corruption after being found guilty of bribing public figures to win contracts.







Possible Worldwide Recession Due To Oil Price Increases
The secretary of the United Nations warns the world could be heading for a recession caused by the underlying increase of the price of oil causing trade deficits in the western world






West Germany Wins 1974 World Cup
West Germany Wins the 1974 World Cup beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final in West Germany







Cyclone Tracy Hts Darwin
Thousands are left homeless and more than 30 people are feared dead after cyclone Tracy with winds of up to 135mph hits the northern Australian city of Darwin on Christmas Day.







148 Tornadoes
148 tornadoes hit North America from Georgia to Canada within 16 hours and at times there were as many as 15 separate tornadoes on the ground at one time. The Super Outbreak affected a total of 11 US states and Ontario in Canada.








Bomb Exploded In The Tower Of London
A terrorist bomb planted in the Tower of London has left one person dead and 41 injured. ( No organisation has claimed responsibility but the IRA is suspected )









Turkey Invades Northern Cyprus
Turkish troops invade northern Cyprus following on from the breakdown of talks, Greek warships have now put to sea and Greek and Turkish warships are now exchanging fire near Paphos, a port in south-western Cyprus.
Currently ( 2008 )Cyprus is still a very divided country with a Turkish-occupied area in the north and the Republic of Cyprus in the south of the island with a UN green line separating the two.










Guildford Bombing
IRA plant two pubs in Guildford in southern England, The pubs are mostly frequented by soldiers back from duty in Northern Ireland. At least four people were killed and more than 50 injured in in the two terrorist attacks.







Reduced Speed Limit UK
The British Government has imposed new speed limits to help with the conservation of fuel due to the large price increase of crude oil ( from $3.00 a barrel to $10.00 a barrel ) during the oil embargo by the Arab oil-producing countries (OPEC)on countries supporting Israel during the Arab-Israeli war.








Oil Dispute Barents Sea
Russia and Norway were having another round of talks about the boundaries beneath the Barents Sea in the Artic. There was oil under the sea and Russia was eager to get at it, however, Norway wanted to wait and get the borders settled before allowing the Russians to bring their oil drilling equipment in.







Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Soviet authorities have formally charged Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn with treason one day after expelling him from the country and revoking his Russian citizenship.







Miners Strike And Edward Heath
Following the announcement of the miners strike The Prime Minister Edward Heath calls an early general election hoping to get the countries voters to stand behind him and provide support for his battle against the unions. ( The voters did not provide the support he badly needed to stand up against the unions and a Minority Labour Government headed by Harold Wilson Labour's won the election )







US National Health Insurance Plan
President Nixon has urged Congress to approve a comprehensive national health insurance plan







Heathrow Airport War Games
Crowds of people gathered around the Heathrow airport as “war games” took place. Famalies arrived from different locations to witness armed soldiers, tanks, and armored cars. A large number of the military stationed at this London airport were carrying rifles, and one was even carrying a machine gun.







Proposed increase use of Nuclear Energy
As oil prices continue to rise major debates are continuing Government over the increased use of Nuclear power for electricity production or increasing the number of Coal Fired plants with opponents on both sides due to safety and environmental concerns







Birmingham Pub Bombings
Two bombs explode in pubs in Birmingham, England killing 19 and injuring over 180, It is believed the IRA are responsible.







Anti Trust Suit Against At&T
The Justice Department files an anti-trust suit against the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. AT&T in an attempt to break up the corporation.







Ted Bundy
The Serial Killer Ted Bundy is defeated in an abduction attempt when Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes being abducted.


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