May 1972
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The following events occurred in May 1972.
January 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in January 1972.-January 1, 1972 :...
– February
February 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in February 1972.-February 1, 1972 :...
– March
March 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November-DecemberThe following events occurred in March, 1972.-March 1, 1972 :...
. – April
April 1972
January – February – March. – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November –DecemberThe following events occurred in April 1972.-April 1, 1972 :...
– May – June
June 1972
January – February – March. – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in June 1972.-June 1, 1972 :...
– July
July 1972
January – February – March. – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in July 1972.-July 1, 1972 :...
– August
August 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in August 1972.-August 1, 1972 :...
– September
September 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in September 1972:-September 1, 1972 :...
– October
October 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November–DecemberThe following events occurred in October 1972:-October 1, 1972 :...
– November
November 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in November 1972.-November 1, 1972 :...
–December
December 1972
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – DecemberThe following events occurred in December 1972.-December 1, 1972 :...
The following events occurred in May 1972.
May 1, 1972 (Monday)
- The North Vietnamese Army captured the South Vietnamese province and city of Quang TriQuang TriQuảng Trị is a town district of Quang Tri province in the North Central Coastal region of Vietnam. Significantly, it was the only South Vietnamese provincial capital to be captured by the North Vietnamese forces for a limited period in the 1972 offensive....
. - HutuHutuThe Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...
rebels in BurundiBurundiBurundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
set up their own short-lived, "People's Republic of MartyazoMartyazoThe Republic of Martyazo was a secessionist state proclaimed by Hutu rebels in Burundi on 1 May 1972. The state was located inside the mountainous Vuzigo commune, between the Makamba and Lake Nyanza...
", at the Bururi ProvinceBururi ProvinceBururi is one of the seventeen provinces of Burundi. It is also the largest. It includes the city of Bururi, the provincial capital, and the city of Rumonge which sits on the shores of Lake Tanganyika...
. The TutsiTutsiThe Tutsi , or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group in Central Africa. Historically they were often referred to as the Watussi or Watusi. They are the second largest caste in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa ....
-dominated Burundian Army ended the secession movement within two weeks, before beginning the slaughter of thousands of Hutus. - Born: Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, 9/11 conspirator, in Yemen
May 2, 1972 (Tuesday)
- A fire broke out at 11:40 a.m. at the Sunshine Silver Mine near Kellogg, IdahoKellogg, IdahoKellogg is a city in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, in the Idaho Panhandle region. The city lies near the Coeur d'Alene National Forest and about east-southeast of Coeur d'Alene along Interstate 90...
3,700 feet underground. Carbon monoxide was spread by the mine's fans killed 91 miners. Another 82 were able to escape. - J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, Director of the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
since 1924, was found dead in his home by his maid, Annie Fields, deceased from natural causes. - U.S. Patent 3,659,915 was issued to Corning Glass, the first ever for fiber optic cable.
- Born: Dwayne Johnson, "The Rock" American pro wrestler and actor, in Hayward, CaliforniaHayward, CaliforniaHayward is a city located in the East Bay in Alameda County, California. With a population of 144,186, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in...
- Died: J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, 77, FBI Director 1935–1972
May 3, 1972 (Wednesday)
- Seven people were scalded to death in their offices on the 36th Floor of the General Public Utilities Corporation in New York, after a steam pipe exploded at
- Died: Leslie HarveyLeslie HarveyLeslie Cameron "Les" Harvey was a guitarist in several Scottish bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Stone the Crows....
, 27, guitarist of Stone the CrowsStone the CrowsStone the Crows were a blues band formed in Glasgow in late 1969.-History:The band were formed after Maggie Bell was introduced to Les Harvey by his elder brother, Alex Harvey...
, fatally electrocuted while performing at Swansea's Top Rank Suite.
May 4, 1972 (Thursday)
- The Paris Peace Talks were suspended indefinitely after the United States and South Vietnam pulled out because of "a lack of progress". When North Vietnam's negotiator Le Duc ThoLe Duc ThoLê Đức Thọ , born Phan Đình Khải in Ha Nam province, was a Vietnamese revolutionary, general, diplomat, and politician, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1973, although he declined it....
refused to budge on negotiations, even after Henry KissingerHenry KissingerHeinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
had suggested that the American President was a "madman", President Nixon told Kissinger, "The bastards have never been bombed like they're going to be bombed this time." With talks over, the Operation LinebackerOperation LinebackerOperation Linebacker was the title of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War....
bombing and mining campaign against North Vietnam began. - Died: Edward Calvin KendallEdward Calvin KendallEdward Calvin Kendall was an American chemist. In 1950, Kendall was awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine along with Swiss chemist Tadeus Reichstein and Mayo Clinic physician Philip S. Hench, for their work with the hormones of the adrenal gland...
, 86, American chemist, 1950 Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in Physiology or Medicine
May 5, 1972 (Friday)
- Alitalia Flight 112Alitalia Flight 112Alitalia Flight 112 was a scheduled flight from Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, Italy, to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy, with 115 on board. On 5 May 1972, it crashed into Mount Longa, about 5 km south-west of Palermo while on approach...
from Rome crashed into a mountain as it made its approach to Palermo, killing all 115 persons on board. The debris fell near the town of CariniCariniCarini is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, 13 miles by rail WNW of Palermo. It has a population of 25,752....
. - Eastern Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked by Richard Hahneman shortly after takeoff from Allentown, PennsylvaniaAllentown, PennsylvaniaAllentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
. On the same day, Western AirlinesWestern AirlinesWestern Airlines was a large airline based in California, with operations throughout the Western United States, and hubs at Los Angeles International Airport, Salt Lake City International Airport, and the former Stapleton International Airport in Denver...
Flight 407, with 81 on board, was hijacked by Michael Lynn Hansen after takeoff from Salt Lake City. Hahneman released the 48 Eastern passengers and one stewardess in Washington, D.C. after collecting $303,000 ransom money and six parachutes, flew to New Orleans and back after being unhappy with the small denominations of the bills, then had the plane fly over Honduras, where he parachuted safely. Hansen forced the Western plane to fly to Cuba. Hahneman was captured days later by soldiers, while Hansen was extradited back to the United States in 1975. - Born: James CracknellJames CracknellJames Cracknell, OBE is a British rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist and adventurer. Cracknell is married to TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner; they have three children. In the New Year Honours List, 2004, he was appointed OBE for services to sport...
, British rower, Olympic gold medal, 2000, 2004
May 6, 1972 (Saturday)
- Ahmadou AhidjoAhmadou AhidjoAhmadou Babatoura Ahidjo was the first President of Cameroon from 1960 until 1982.-Early life:Ahidjo was born in Garoua, a major river port along the Benue River in northern Cameroun, which was at the time a French mandate territory...
, President of the Federal Republic of Cameroon, placed troops on alert, announced that the 11-year old federation of former French and British African colonies was going to be replaced by a "united republic" dominated by the French section. In a fraudulent election held on May 20, voters in the British area were said to have approved the anschluss end of self-government by a margin of 716,774 in favor and only 89 against. - Five American soldiers were rescued 13 days after their helicopter had crashed in VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The five had been presumed dead until two of them had reached a radio to signal a distress call. - Born: Naoko TakahashiNaoko Takahashiis a Japanese long-distance runner competing mainly in the marathon. She is widely known for her victory in the women's marathon at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, a performance that stands as the current Olympic record. At the 2001 Berlin Marathon, Takahashi became the first woman to break the 2...
, Japanese women's marathon winner, 2000 Olympics, in GifuGifu, Gifuis a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku period, various warlords, including Oda Nobunaga, used... - Died: Deniz GezmişDeniz GezmisDeniz Gezmiş was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and political activist in the Turkey in the late 1960s...
, 25, Turkish radical and co-founder of THKO (hanged)
May 7, 1972 (Sunday)
- Edmund KemperEdmund KemperEdmund Emil "Big Ed" Kemper III , also known as "The Co-ed Killer", is an American serial killer who was active in California in the early 1970s. He started his criminal life by shooting both his grandparents when he was 15 years old. Kemper later killed and dismembered six female hitchhikers in...
, 23, picked up two hitchhiking Fresno State University students, roommates Mary Anne Pesce and Anita Luchessa, drove them to a remote location, murdered them, and then dismembered their bodies. It was the start of a nearly year long crime spree as a serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. Prior to murdering his six randomly picked victims, Kemper had killed his grandparents when he was 15 and spent several years in juvenile detention before being released from a psychiatric hospital. Kemper's last two victims were his mother and her friend, after which he called the Santa Cruz police. - The Los Angeles LakersLos Angeles LakersThe Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
won their first NBA title since moving to L.A. from Minneapolis, beating the New York KnicksNew York KnicksThe New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
114–106 in Game 5.
May 8, 1972 (Monday)
- In a nationally televised address, President Nixon announced that the United States would lay mines in North VietnamNorth VietnamThe Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
's harbors in order to stop further supply of weapons and material. The mines would be timed to become active after 72 hours. Nixon added, "To other nations, especially those which are allied with North Vietnam, the actions I have announced tonight are not directed against you. Their sole purpose is to protect the lives of 60,000 Americans, who would be gravely endangered in the event that the Communist offensive continues to roll forward, and to prevent the imposition of a Communist government by brutal aggression upon people." Mines were dropped at HaiphongHaiphong, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
harbor by nine American attack aircraft flying from the carrier , and at six other ports, which were blocked for 300 days until the mines were removed by the U.S. in 1973. - Voting in Italy's parliamentary elections was completed after two days. The coalition headed by the Christian Democrats and their allies (Socialists, Social Democrats and Republicans) retained power, with 371 seats in the 630 member Chamber of Deputies and a lead in the Senate.
- Born: Darren HayesDarren HayesDarren Stanley Hayes is a UK-based Australian singer-songwriter. Hayes was the front man and singer of the pop duo Savage Garden, whose 1997 album Savage Garden peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in United Kingdom and No. 3 in United States...
, Australian singer (Savage GardenSavage GardenSavage Garden were an Australian pop rock performance and songwriting duo. Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones formed the group in Brisbane, Queensland in 1994...
, in BrisbaneBrisbaneBrisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
May 9, 1972 (Tuesday)
- IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i special forces stormed a hijacked Belgian jet and freed all 97 hostages on board, killing two of the three hijackers. Sabena Flight 572 had been sitting at the Lod Airport in Tel AvivTel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
after being captured the day before by three men, who threatened to blow the jet up unless Israel released imprisoned Arab guerrillas.
May 10, 1972 (Wednesday)
- As the next phase of Operation LinebackerOperation LinebackerOperation Linebacker was the title of a U.S. Seventh Air Force and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 aerial interdiction campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 9 May to 23 October 1972, during the Vietnam War....
began, American warplanes downed seven North Vietnamese MiG fighters, as air strikes within North Vietnam continued. Three MiG-17s were shot down that day by future Congressman Duke CunninghamDuke CunninghamRandall Harold Cunningham , usually known as Randy or Duke, is United States Navy veteran, convicted felon, and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California's 50th Congressional District from 1991 to 2005.Cunningham resigned from the House on November 28,...
, and four MiG-21s by other pilots. An American 4F-4D was shot down by a North Vietnamese Shenyang J-6Shenyang J-6The Shenyang J-6 was the Chinese-built version of the Soviet MiG-19 'Farmer' fighter aircraft.-Design and development:...
, and pilot Maj. Robert Lodge refused to eject. His weapons officerWeapon systems officerA Weapon Systems Officer is an air Flight Officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of the fighter in the United States Navy. A Weapon Systems Officer ("WSO", pronounced "wizzo") is an air Flight Officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of the...
Roger LocherRoger LocherRoger Clinton Locher is a former F-4D Phantom weapons officer and pilot who during the Vietnam War and Operation Linebacker was shot down only from Hanoi, North Vietnam. The 23 days Locher spent behind enemy lines evading capture was a record for downed airmen during the war. USAF General Vogt...
was able to eject and landed, unseen by either friendly or enemy forces, only 64 kilometres (39.8 mi) from Hanoi, North Vietnam. - In a referendumThird Amendment of the Constitution of IrelandThe Third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland permitted the state to join the European Communities and provided that European law would take precedence over the constitution...
, voters in Ireland overwhelmingly approved the Accession Treaty for Ireland to join the European Community. Five out of six (1,041,880 to 211,888) voted yes on a constitutional amendment. - Born: Radosław Majdan, Poland footballer, in SzczecinSzczecinSzczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
; Katja SeizingerKatja SeizingerKatja Seizinger , a former alpine ski racer, is the most successful alpine skier from Germany. She won three Olympic gold and two bronze medals, and won the World Cup championship three times...
, German alpine skier, gold medals 1994 and 1998, in DattelnDattelnDatteln is a town in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on a crossroads of four canals , which makes it the biggest canal junction in Europe, approx...
May 11, 1972 (Thursday)
- All 74 persons on board the British merchant ship Royston GrangeSTV Royston GrangeThe STV Royston Grange was a British cargo liner which was destroyed by fire after a collision in the Rio de la Plata on 11 May 1972. She had been built in 1959 and was owned by the Houlder Line.-Disaster:...
were burned to death after it collided with the oil tanker Tien Chee in a fog off of the coast of UruguayUruguayUruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. Flaming oil from the tanker (which lost 9 people) created a ring of fire around the freighter. - The Boston BruinsBoston BruinsThe Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
won the Stanley CupStanley CupThe Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
after beating the New York RangersNew York RangersThe New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
3–0 in Game 6 of the National Hockey LeagueNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
finals. Wayne CashmanWayne CashmanWayne Cashman is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and a former NHL head coach.-Playing career:Cashman played his junior hockey as a teammate of Bobby Orr's on the Oshawa Generals of the OHA...
had two goals, Bobby OrrBobby OrrRobert Gordon "Bobby" Orr, OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Orr played in the National Hockey League for his entire career, the first ten seasons with the Boston Bruins, joining the Chicago Black Hawks for two more. Orr is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest...
the other one, and goalkeeper Gerry CheeversGerry CheeversGerald Michael "Cheesey" Cheevers is a former goaltender in the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association between 1961 and 1980, most famous for his two stints with the Boston Bruins, where he backstopped the team to Stanley Cup wins in 1970 and 1972...
made 33 saves for Boston. - Rogers C. B. Morton, the United States Secretary of the InteriorUnited States Secretary of the InteriorThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
, announced that construction would begin of the controversial trans-Alaska oil pipeline. - The body of Dr. George DuncanMurder of George DuncanGeorge Duncan was a law lecturer at the University of Adelaide who drowned on 10 May 1972 after being thrown into the River Torrens by a group of men believed to be police officers...
was dragged out of River TorrensRiver TorrensThe River Torrens is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains and was one of the reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Adelaide Hills near Mount Pleasant, across the Adelaide Plains, past the city centre and empties...
in AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, where he had been thrown the day before. The law school lecturer and gay activist became a martyr to the gay and lesbian movement across Australia, and his murder led to the decriminalization of homosexuality, starting in South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
.
May 12, 1972 (Friday)
- A flash flood killed eight people in the town of New Braunfels, TexasNew Braunfels, TexasNew Braunfels is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas that is a principal city of the metropolitan area. Braunfels means "brown rock" in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city's population was 57,740 as of the 2010 census, up 58% from the 2000...
.
May 13, 1972 (Saturday)
- The first successful use of the laser-guided bombLaser-guided bombA laser-guided bomb is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser homing to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. LGBs are one of the most common and widespread guided bombs, used by a large number of the world's air forces.- Overview :Laser-guided munitions use a...
was accomplished when the Thanh Hoa BridgeThanh Hoa BridgeThe Thanh Hoa Bridge, spanning the Song Ma river, is situated northeast of Thanh Hóa , the capital of Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam. The Vietnamese gave it the nickname Ham Rong . In 1965 during the Vietnam war, it was the objective of many attacks by US Air Force and US Navy aircraft which would...
was destroyed in North VietnamNorth VietnamThe Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
, "accomplishing in a single mission what seven years of nonprecision bombing had failed to do". The United States had first bombed the 540 feet (164.6 m) concrete and steel structure in 1965. Twelve F-4 fighters made runs with fifteen Mark 84 and nine Mark 118 bombs to render the structure useless. - A fire on the third floor of the Sennichi Department Store building, in OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan, killed 117 people partying at the Play Town Cabaret, a nightclub on the building's seventh floor. Although 60 persons were able to escape, and the flames never reached the club, ninety-seven died from smoke inhalation, and another twenty were killed when they fell from the roof. - A supernovaSupernovaA supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
was observed in the galaxy NGC 5253NGC 5253NGC 5253 is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Centaurus. It was discovered by John Frederick William Herschel on 15 March 1787.-Galaxy group information:...
, eleven million years after it had happened. Another supernova from NGC 5253 had been observed in 1895. - Weeks after the Apollo 16Apollo 16Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:...
mission had departed, an meteorite crashed on the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
and left a crater "as large as a football field". - Died: Dan BlockerDan BlockerDan Blocker was an American actor best remembered for his role as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright in the NBC western television series Bonanza.-Early life:...
, 43, actor ("Hoss" in Bonanza)
May 14, 1972 (Sunday)
- In KaunasKaunasKaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
, at that time located in the Soviet Union's Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 19 year old Romas KalantaRomas KalantaRomas Kalanta was a Lithuanian high school student known for his public self-immolation protesting Soviet regime in Lithuania. Kalanta's death provoked the largest post-war riots in Lithuania and inspired similar self-immolations...
set himself on fire to become a martyr for LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
's independence. When police prohibited a public funeral, thousands of students and workers took to the streets on May 18 to take up Kalanta's cause. The nationalist uprising was suppressed by May, with the arrest of over 500 people, only eight of whom were ever tried. The Republic of Lithuania, which had been annexed to the U.S.S.R. in 1940, would attain independence again in 1990.
May 15, 1972 (Monday)
- After 26 years of rule by the United States, the island of Okinawa and the other islands of the Ryuku Islands were returned to the jurisdiction of Japan. Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew appeared on behalf of the U.S. in ceremonies marking the transfer. A colony of Japan, Okinawa had been captured by the United States in the last major battle of World War II at the cost of thousands of lives on both sides, and the Okinawans, considered their own ethnic group in Japan, numbered nearly one million residents. The Okinawa Reversion Treaty had been approved by the U.S. Senate, 84–6, the preceding year. U.S. bases remained, but as Okinawa became a prefecture of Japan for the first time, yen replaced dollars as currency, and in 1977, traffic laws changed to conform to driving on the left side of the road rather than the right.
- AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
Governor George C. Wallace was shot five times while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for President. The would-be assassin, Arthur BremerArthur BremerArthur Herman Bremer is an American convicted for an assassination attempt on U.S. Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on May 15, 1972 in Laurel, Maryland, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life...
, wounded three others in addition to Wallace at a rally in at the Laurel Shopping CenterLaurel Shopping CenterLaurel Shopping Center is an open air shopping complex located in Laurel, Maryland, on U.S. Route 1 just south of Maryland Route 198, and is positioned next to Laurel Mall.-History:...
in Laurel, MarylandLaurel, MarylandLaurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...
. Wallace survived, but was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. At the time of the shooting, Wallace had won more votes (3,354,360) in the primaries than either George McGovern (2,202,840) or Hubert Humphrey (2,647,676), but was second to McGovern in delegates won (323 vs. McGovern's 409)
May 16, 1972 (Tuesday)
- The first financial derivatives exchange, the International Monetary MarketInternational Monetary MarketThe International Monetary Market , a spin-off from the old Chicago Mercantile Exchange and largely the creation of Leo Melamed, is today one of three divisions of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange , the largest futures exchange in the United States and the second largest in the world after Eurex,...
(IMM), opened on the Chicago Mercantile ExchangeChicago Mercantile ExchangeThe Chicago Mercantile Exchange is an American financial and commodity derivative exchange based in Chicago. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. Originally, the exchange was a non-profit organization...
. With greater fluctuation of currency exchange rates, the IMM opened a new era in trading by allowing purchase of futures on three currencies. The first trades were for the British pound, the Deutschmark, and the Japanese yen. - The National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act was signed into law by President Nixon.
- Born: Derek MearsDerek MearsDerek Mears is an American actor and stuntman, best known for his role as Jason Voorhees in the reboot of Friday the 13th.-Early life:...
, American actor/stuntman, in Bakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
May 17, 1972 (Wednesday)
- The Ohio College Library Center OCLCOCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
amended its articles to allow its five year old computer network to link with libraries outside the state, linking over 500 sites by 1975 and over 2,000 by the end of 1979. OCLC now stands for Online Computer Library Center and connects 60,000 libraries. - Three men, convicted of participating in the 1967 gang rape of Philippine film actress Maggie dela RivaMaggie dela RivaMagdalena T. dela Riva in the Philippines, is a Filipino movie actress, who has appeared in about 80 films.She is most widely known outside the Philippines for an incident in her early career , when she was abducted and raped. She gave evidence against her abductors, which resulted in the...
, were put to death in the electric chair. By order of President Marcos, the executions were nationally televised.
May 18, 1972 (Thursday)
- The Sea-Bed Treaty (officially, the "Treaty on the prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof"), signed on February 11, 1971, took effect
- Following a march four days earlier by more than 100,000 protesters, Philibert TsirananaPhilibert TsirananaPhilibert Tsiranana was a Malagasy politician and leader, who served as the first President of Madagascar from 1959 to 1972....
, the first President of Madagascar, agreed to step down, and handed over all power to General Gabriel RamanantsoaGabriel RamanantsoaGabriel Ramanantsoa was the President and Prime Minister of Madagascar from 1972 to 1975.Ramanantsoa was a member of the Merina ethnic group, and came from a wealthy family. He was a career officer in the French army. After Madagascar became independent, he joined the Madagascar military, rising...
. - An Antonov An-10Antonov An-10The Antonov An-10 was a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.-Design and development:...
turboprop airplane with 108 persons aboard crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Kharkov. An one paragraph announcement of the accident was printed in the Soviet newspaper Pravda two days later, noting that "The passengers and crew were killed. A government commission has been appointed for inquiry into the causes of the disaster."
May 19, 1972 (Friday)
- A bomb exploded at the Pentagon, destroying an unoccupied women's restroom where it had been placed. Though nobody was injured, a computer tape archive with highly classified information was severely damaged.
- The National Eagle Scout AssociationNational Eagle Scout AssociationThe National Eagle Scout Association is an organization of men who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America...
was created by Boy Scouts of America. - Northeast AirlinesNortheast AirlinesNortheast Airlines was an American airline based in Boston, Massachusetts. They began as Boston-Maine Airways, which was founded as a Pan Am contract carrier on July 20, 1931, by the Boston and Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad offering service from Boston to Bangor via Portland...
was acquired by Delta Air LinesDelta Air LinesDelta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
, along with its direct flights from New York and Boston to Florida destinations. - TunisiaTunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, along with UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, began an international campaign to preserve the ruins of ancient CarthageCarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
.
May 20, 1972 (Saturday)
- The Indiana PacersIndiana PacersThe Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
beat the New York Nets, 108–105, to win the ABA championship in Game 6 of the series. The Pacers and Nets would be among four teams to join the NBA in 1976. - Born: Busta RhymesBusta RhymesTrevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., better known by his stage name Busta Rhymes ,Smith is an American rapper, producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the alias Busta Rhymes after NFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes...
, American rapper and actor (as Trevor Smith, Jr.), in BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
May 21, 1972 (Sunday)
- MichelangeloMichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
's 475 year old masterpiece, the sculpture PietàPietà (Michelangelo)The Pietà is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. It is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist. The statue was commissioned for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres, who was a representative in...
, was heavily damaged by Laszlo Toth, a man with a hammer. - The Communist Party of the Soviet UnionCommunist Party of the Soviet UnionThe Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
announced the removal from power of Petro ShelestPetro ShelestPetro Yukhymovych Shelest was the First Secretary of the Communist party in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Petro Yukhymovych Shelest (February 14, 1908 - January 22, 1996) was the First Secretary of the Communist party in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Petro Yukhymovych Shelest...
, who had led the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic since 1963 as First Secretary of its Communist Party. Shelest was accused of mestnichestvo (localism) and placing the Ukraine's interests ahead of those of the Union, was transferred to a job as a Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, and after his removal, many of his associates were purged from office. - Born: The Notorious B.I.G.The Notorious B.I.G.Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...
, American rapper (as Christopher Wallace), in New York City (d. 1997) - Died: Jamtsarangiin Sambuu, 76, President of Mongolian People's Republic since 1954
May 22, 1972 (Monday)
- Richard M. Nixon became the first United States President to visit Moscow (and only the second President, after Franklin D. Roosevelt, to visit the Soviet Union), as he and Henry KissingerHenry KissingerHeinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
arrived to begin a summit meeting with Soviet First Secretary Brezhnev. - The Republic of Sri Lanka was formally created, adopting a new name, a new constitution, and a new form of government. Formerly the Dominion of CeylonDominion of CeylonThe Dominion of Ceylon, known today as Sri Lanka, was a dominion, in the British Empire between 1948 and 1972. In 1948, British Ceylon was granted independence as the Dominion of Ceylon. In 1972, the Dominion of Ceylon became a republic within the Commonwealth, and its name was changed to Sri Lanka...
, it had been nominally ruled by the Queen of England since gaining independence in 1948. William GopallawaWilliam GopallawaWilliam Gopallawa , MBE was the last Governor General of Ceylon from 1962 to 1972 and became the first President of Sri Lanka when Ceylon declared itself a republic in 1972 and changed its name to Sri Lanka...
, who had been Governor-General of CeylonGovernor-General of CeylonThe Governor-General of Ceylon was the representative of the Ceylonese monarch, and head of state, who held the title of Queen of Ceylon from 1948 when the country became independent as a Dominion until the country became the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972.-Role:The monarch, on the advice of the...
since 1962, became the first President of Sri LankaPresident of Sri LankaThe President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the head of government. The President is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1978 but has grown so powerful there have been calls to restrict or even eliminate its power...
, while Sirimavo BandaranaikeSirimavo BandaranaikeSirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
continued as Prime Minister - Died: Cecil Day-LewisCecil Day-LewisCecil Day-Lewis CBE was an Irish poet and the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake...
, 68, Poet Laureate of Britain since 1968; Margaret RutherfordMargaret RutherfordDame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
, 80, English actress
May 23, 1972 (Tuesday)
- In Moscow, Presidents Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Nikolai PodgornyNikolai PodgornyNikolai Viktorovich Podgorny was a Soviet Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, or leader of the Ukrainian SSR, from 1957 to 1963 and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1965 to 1977...
signed, on behalf of the United States ad the Soviet Union respectively, the "Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection". - Born: Rubens BarrichelloRubens BarrichelloRubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
, Brazilian race car driver, in São PauloSão PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
May 24, 1972 (Wednesday)
- West GermanyWest GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
formally relinquished all claims to eastern territories lost by Germany to the USSR and to Poland following World War II, as the West German President Gustav HeinemannGustav HeinemannGustav Walter Heinemann, GCB was a German politician. He was Mayor of the city of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969 and President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974.-Early years and professional...
signed the Moscow Treaty and Warsaw Treaty. The treaties had been approved the week before by the BundestagBundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
and the BundesratBundesratBundesrat means federal council and may refer to:* Bundesrat of Germany* Federal Council of Austria* Swiss Federal Council...
. Included were the formerly German city of KönigsbergKönigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
, which became Russian KaliningradKaliningradKaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
, and the former Breslau, which became Wrocław in Poland. - The Apollo-Soyuz Test ProjectApollo-Soyuz Test Project-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
was created by an agreement signed by President Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
for the United States and Premier Alexei Kosygin for the Soviet Union. - RangersRangers F.C.Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
of Glasgow won the Cup Winners Cup, with a 3–2 win over Dynamo Moscow in the final at BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Rangers' fans repeatedly came from the stands and onto the fieldPitch invasionA pitch invasion or field invasion, known as rushing the field in the United States, occurs when a crowd of people who are watching a sports game run onto the field, to celebrate or protest about an incident...
, with more than a minute left to play and Dynamo down by only one goal. For the behavior of its fans, the team was barred from European competition for the following season, including from the 1973 Cup. - Died: Asta NielsenAsta NielsenAsta Nielsen , was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta...
, 90, Danish silent film actress; Ismail YasinIsmail YasinIsmail Yasin was an Egyptian comedian/actor. He is famous for a series of films with his name in the title. Ismail Yassin had a difficult childhood in Suez where he was born. His mother died at an early age and his father was jailed thus forcing him to leave school before completing his primary...
, 56, Egyptian film actor
May 25, 1972 (Thursday)
- The first computerized fly-by-wireFly-by-wireFly-by-wire is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires , and flight control computers determine how to move the actuators at each control...
airplane flight was made by test pilot Gary Krier, in an F-8 CrusaderF-8 CrusaderThe Vought F-8 Crusader was a single-engine, supersonic, carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft built by Vought for the United States Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, replacing the Vought F7U Cutlass...
that had been equipped with the digital computer that had been used on Apollo space missions. - Born: Jules JordanJules JordanJules Jordan is an American pornographic movie director, actor, and producer. Originally his movies were distributed under John Stagliano's adult video company, Evil Angel. In early 2006 his company Jules Jordan Video began handling its own distribution...
, American porn movie director, in Hershey, PennsylvaniaHershey, PennsylvaniaHershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality... - Born: Karan JoharKaran JoharKaran Johar is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and Television host. He is the son of Hiroo Johar and Yash Johar. He is one of the most successful filmmakers in Bollywood. He is most known for directing and producing some of Bollywood's highest grossing films in India and the...
, Bollywood director, in Mumbai, India - Ciao! ManhattanCiao! ManhattanCiao! Manhattan is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars. Although not a documentary, the film centers around a character very closely based on Sedgwick, and deals with the pain of addiction and the lure of fame.-Film overview:Written and directed...
, New York underground film starring Edie SedgwickEdie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
, completed after five years of stop and start production.
May 26, 1972 (Friday)
- Two historic nuclear arms control agreements were signed at Moscow, between the United States (by its President, Richard M. Nixon) and the Soviet Union (by Communist Party First Secretary Leonid BrezhnevLeonid BrezhnevLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
. The SALT I treaty, product of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, prohibited both sides from building additional offensive nuclear missiles, while the ABM Treaty restricted both sides to only two sites for Anti-Ballistic Missiles, with 100 missiles each. - Later known as the "Watergate burglars", a team associated with the Committee to Re-Elect the PresidentCommittee to Re-elect the PresidentThe Committee for the Re-Election of the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's administration...
, failed in its first attemptWatergate first break-inThe Watergate burglaries, which took place on May 28 and June 17, 1972, were the focus of the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon...
at wiretapping the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complexWatergate complexThe Watergate complex is a group of five buildings next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. The site contains an office building, three apartment buildings, and a hotel-office building...
. - In TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Chiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuo , Kuomintang politician and leader, was the son of President Chiang Kai-shek and held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China...
was made the Prime Minister of Nationalist China by the Legislative Yuan, by a vote of 381–13. Chiang's father was Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
, President of Nationalist China. - Willandra National ParkWillandra National ParkWillandra is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 582 km west of Sydney.-Location and regional context:Willandra National Park was established in 1972. It is relatively remote, being located about 150 km northeast of Griffith, and 64 km by road from Hillston...
was established in Australia.
May 27, 1972 (Saturday)
- The Opryland USAOpryland USAOpryland USA was an amusement park located in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 until 1997...
theme park was opened in Nashville, TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. The park, which attracted more than two million visitors annually at its peak, operated for 25 years before closing at the end of 1997. - The Occupational Safety and Health AdministrationOccupational Safety and Health AdministrationThe United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
(OSHA), announced its plans as an American government agency to form advisory commissions for the purpose of regulating 13 different occupational hazards, including toxic chemicals, excessive noise, and radiation.
May 28, 1972 (Sunday)
- The Watergate burglars succeeded in their second attempt to break into the Democratic National CommitteeDemocratic National CommitteeThe Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
offices at the Watergate ComplexWatergate complexThe Watergate complex is a group of five buildings next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. The site contains an office building, three apartment buildings, and a hotel-office building...
in Washington, D.C., placing wiretaps on two telephones, and escaping undetected. When it became clear that the "bug" on DNC Chairman Lawrence F. O'Brien was not working, the men broke in again three weeks later and were caught. The botched June 17, 1972, burglary was the beginning of the Watergate scandalWatergate scandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
that eventually led to Nixon's resignation as President of the United StatesPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. - The first major accident, resulting from the design of the Ford PintoFord PintoThe Ford Pinto is a subcompact car produced by the Ford Motor Company for the model years 1971–1980. The car's name derives from the Pinto horse. Initially offered as a two-door sedan, Ford offered "Runabout" hatchback and wagon models the following year, competing in the U.S. market with the AMC...
automobile, happened near Barstow, CaliforniaBarstow, CaliforniaBarstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 22,639 at the 2010 census, up from 21,119 at the 2000 census. Barstow is located north of San Bernardino....
. Mrs. Lilly Gray and her teenage son, Richard Grimshaw, were severely burned after the gas tank in their 1972 Pinto exploded after the car stalled and was rear-ended on Interstate Highway 15. Mrs. Gray died of her injuries, and her son was scarred for life. A jury awarded in punitive damages, against Ford Motor, to the family, which was reduced to , and more than in compensatory damages. The verdict was upheld on appeal in 1981 in the landmark case of Gray v. Ford Motor Company, 119 Cal. App.3d 757. - Born: Michael BoogerdMichael BoogerdMichael Boogerd is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker, even inspiring Dutch authors to write a book called "Michael & Erik" about this generation, and the...
, Dutch cyclist, in The HagueThe HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam... - Died: More than thirty-five years after he gave up his throne in order to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, died at his home in France. He left no children.; Kent Evans, 17, was killed while climbing Mount Shuskan as part of a University of Washington class. Evans was one of four high school students at Lakewood School who was working on computer projects. The other three, his best friend of Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
, and Paul AllenPaul AllenPaul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
and Ric WeilandRic WeilandRichard W. 'Ric' Weiland was a computer software pioneer and philanthropist. He was one of the first five employees of Microsoft Corp.- Early life :...
, would go on to become billionaires as co-founders of MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
.
May 29, 1972 (Monday)
- President Nixon and Soviet leader Brezhnev concluded their summit conference, with the signing of a joint declaration of long-range plans to avoid a military confrontation and to eventually disarm.
May 30, 1972 (Tuesday)
- The Lod Airport massacreLod Airport massacreThe Lod Airport massacre was a terrorist attack that occurred on May 30, 1972, in which three members of the Japanese Red Army, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , killed 26 people and injured 80 others at Tel Aviv's Lod airport...
took place in Tel AvivTel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
after passengers from Air FranceAir FranceAir France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
Flight 132 went to claim their baggage on arrival from Rome. Three of the passengers were members of the Japanese Red ArmyJapanese Red ArmyThe was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...
terrorist group; without warning, they brought out submachine guns and hand grenades from their luggage and fired into the crowd, killing 26 people and injuring another 78. One terrorist was shot by another, while a second was killed by his own grenade. The third, Kozo OkamotoKozo Okamotowas a 24-year-old botany student from a respectable middle-class family when he was recruited to the Japanese Red Army . He was later detained in Lebanon. During his stay in Lebanon, Okamoto converted to Islam in what was seen as an attempt to avoid being returned to Japan...
was jailed, but eventually released in a prisoner exchange in 1985. - Born: Manny RamírezManny RamírezManuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
, Dominican baseball player, in Santo DomingoSanto DomingoSanto Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
May 31, 1972 (Wednesday)
- The 145th and final mission of the CORONACorona (satellite)The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...
spy satellite program came to an end when its exposed film was recovered. Since 1959, the Corona satellites were launched with Kodak film, then returned to Earth after taking photos over the Soviet Union and its neighbors. Transmission of images from spy satellites made the Corona program obsolete. - Born: Frode EstilFrode EstilFrode Estil is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. He currently lives in Meråker with his wife Grete whom he married in the summer of 2001. They have two sons, Bernhard, born in August 2002, and Konrad. Estil was classical specialist and also a specialist at succeeding in World Championships...
, Norwegian cross-country skier, gold medalist in 2001–03, 2005, in LierneLierneLierne is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region, and it is the largest municipality in Trøndelag. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sandvika. Other villages include Inderdal, Sørli, and Tunnsjø senter... - Died: Dr. Walter Freeman, 76, American neurosurgeon who popularized the lobotomyLobotomyLobotomy "; τομή – tomē: "cut/slice") is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy . It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain...