What Happened in 1975 — Events, Births & Deaths

At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.

This date overflowed the 12-bit field that had been used in TOPS-10. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed.

The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.

Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.

The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

Turkish Airlines Flight 345 crashes into the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport, killing 42.

Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

Riots break out in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.

The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.

Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.

Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.

In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.

Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.

Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.

A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama, causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.

Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by his nephew.

The Biological Weapons Convention comes into force.

Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.

Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins.

Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.

Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.

Voyageurs National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.

Beirut bus massacre: A confrontation between Phalangist paramilitaries and PLO militia marks the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.

The Cambodian Civil War ends and the Cambodian Genocide begins. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.

India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.

South Vietnamese forces withdraw from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.

Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.

General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory.

Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. This happens after the Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese Army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Trường Sa Islands.

Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.

During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian genocide.

Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.

Indochina Wars: Democratic Kampuchea naval forces capture the SS Mayaguez.

Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33, the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.

Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

At Brampton Centennial Secondary School, student Michael Slobodian kills two people and injures 13 others before committing suicide.

The European Space Agency is established.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum and others.

Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the United States giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights.

The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.

The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC).

British referendum results in continued membership of the European Economic Community, with 67% of votes in favour.

Sony launches Betamax, the first videocassette recorder format.

State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain: Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha rules against Indira Gandhi in a case on her election to the Indian Parliament, and that she should be banned from holding any public office, triggering a political crisis.

The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 encounters severe wind shear and crashes on final approach to New York's JFK Airport killing 113 of the 124 passengers on board, making it the deadliest U.S. plane crash at the time. This accident led to decades of research into downburst and microburst phenomena and their effects on aircraft.

Mozambique achieves independence from Portugal.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of internal emergency in India.

Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial.

Pope Paul VI ordains some 350 priests in St. Peter's Square in the largest ordination in history

Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title.

Cape Verde gains its independence from Portugal.

The Comoros declares independence from France.

São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.

Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was the last launch of both an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets.

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.

Mayor of Jaffna and former MP Alfred Duraiappah is shot dead.

Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.

The Troubles: Three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.

The final act of the CSCE meeting is signed in Helsinki, Finland.

A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.

The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish Chargé d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.

East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.

Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.

Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically hands over land to the Gurindji people after the eight-year Wave Hill walk-off, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 song by Paul Kelly and an annual celebration.

Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

ČSA Flight 540 crashes on approach to Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, killing 126 people.

The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration.

The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan.

The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.

El Tacnazo: Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Peruvian Prime Minister carries out a coup d'état in the city of Tacna, forcing the sitting President of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado, to resign and assuming his place as the new President.

The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict is signed.

Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "I Am A Homosexual". He is given a general discharge, later upgraded to honorable.

The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.

The French department of "Corse" (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).

Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia.

Cape Verde, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe join the United Nations.

The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.

Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is foiled by the Secret Service.

Southwest Face expedition members become the first persons to reach the summit of Mount Everest by any of its faces, instead of using a ridge route.

The last use of capital punishment in Spain sparks worldwide protests.

The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.

WGPR becomes the first black-owned-and-operated television station in the US.

Malév Flight 240 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while on approach to Beirut International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 60.

Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.

Papua New Guinea joins the United Nations.

An RAF Avro Vulcan bomber explodes and crashes over Żabbar, Malta after an aborted landing, killing five crew members and one person on the ground.

Indonesian troops kill the Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists, in Portuguese Timor.

Three-year-old Rahima Banu, from Bangladesh, is the last known case of naturally occurring smallpox.

The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.

'Salem's Lot, an American vampire novel by Stephen King, is published.

The Soviet uncrewed space mission Venera 9 lands on Venus.

In Iceland, 90% of women take part in a national strike, refusing to work in protest of gender inequality.

Prince Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.

Forty-five people are killed when Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450 crashes into Suchdol, Prague, while on approach to Prague Ruzyně Airport (now Václav Havel Airport Prague) in Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic).

Four Bangladeshi politicians are killed in the Dhaka Central Jail.

In Bangladesh, a joint force of people and soldiers takes part in an uprising led by Colonel Abu Taher that ousts and kills Brigadier Khaled Mosharraf, freeing the then house-arrested army chief and future president Major General Ziaur Rahman.

The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.

Treaty of Osimo between Yugoslavia and Italy

Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 3379, determining that Zionism is a form of racism.

Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam, appoints Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister and announces a general election to be held in early December.

Independence of Angola.

The Comoros joins the United Nations.

With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain abandons Western Sahara.

Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco two days earlier.

Coup of 25 November 1975, a failed military coup d'état by Portuguese far-left activists seeking to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy to establish a communist regime.

Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.

The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England.

Timor-Leste declares its independence from Portugal.

Laotian Civil War: The Pathet Lao seizes the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forces the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaims the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The Troubles: Fleeing from the police, a Provisional IRA unit takes a British couple hostage in their flat on Balcombe Street, London, beginning a six-day siege.

U.S. President Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis.

Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service.

A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring more than 75.

Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer and coach

Killer Mike, American rapper

Danyon Loader, New Zealand swimmer

Tamia, Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Hazem Emam, Egyptian footballer and politician

Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver

Ueli Kestenholz, Swiss snowboarder (died 2026)

Allen Iverson, American basketball player

Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportcaster

Kiur Aarma, Estonian journalist and producer

Linda Cardellini, American actress

Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player and coach

Tim Hudson, American baseball player

Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader (born 1897)

Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, Haitian anthropologist (born 1898)