Top News Stories from 1975
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: Andrei D. Sakharov (USSR)
More World Statistics... - Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia (April).
- The city of Saigon is surrendered and remaining Americans are evacuated, ending the Vietnam War (April 30).
- American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued in operation by US Navy and Marines, 38 of whom are killed (May 15).
- Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for US-Soviet link-up in space (July 15).
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: Gerald R. Ford
Vice President: Nelson A. Rockefeller
Population: 215,973,199
Life expectancy: 72.6 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 53.0
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 48.1
More U.S. Statistics... - John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman found guilty of Watergate cover-up (Jan. 1); sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail (Feb. 21).
- President Ford escapes assassination attempt in Sacramento, Calif. (Sept. 5).
- President Ford escapes second assassination attempt in 17 days (Sept. 22).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $1,630.60 billion
Federal spending: $332.33 billion
Federal debt $541.9 billion
Consumer Price Index: $53.8
Unemployment: 8.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.10 ($0.13 as of 12/31/75)
Sports
Super Bowl
Pittsburgh d. MinnesotaWorld Series
Cincinnati d. Boston Red Sox (4-3)NBA Championship
Golden St. Warriors d. Washington BulletsStanley Cup
Philadelphia d. BuffaloWimbledon
Women: Billie Jean King d. E. Cawley (6-0 6-1)Men: Arthur Ashe d. J. Connors (6-1 6-1 5-7 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Foolish PleasureNCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. KentuckyNCAA Football Champions
Oklahoma (11-1-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara
Music: From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, Dominick Argento
Drama: Seascape, Edward Albee
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Godfather Part II, Francis Ford Coppola, producer; Gray Frederickson and Fred Roos, co-producers (Paramount)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Eugenio Montale (Italy)
Record of the Year: "I Honestly Love You," Olivia Newton-John
Album of the Year: Fulfillingness' First Finale, Stevie Wonder (Tamla/Motown)
Song of the Year: "The Way We Were," Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch, songwriters
Miss America: Shirley Cothran (TX)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- ABC, CBS and NBC agree to create a "family hour," an early evening time slot that is free of violence and sex.
- Saturday Night Live premieres on NBC. George Carlin hosts the first show.
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest sweeps the top Oscars, winning Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress.
Movies
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Barry Lyndon
Books
- Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift
- E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime
- Galway Kinnell, The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World
- William Safire, Before the Fall
- Anne Sexton, The Awful Rowing Toward God
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: John W. Cornforth (Australia) and Vladimir Prelog (Switzerland), for research on structure of biological molecules such as antibiotics and cholesterol
Physics: James Rainwater (US), Ben Mottelson, and Aage N. Bohr (both Denmark), for showing that the atomic nucleus is asymmetrical
Physiology or Medicine: David Baltimore, Howard M. Temin, and Renato Dulbecco (all US), for work in interaction between tumor viruses and genetic material of the cell
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - Home videotape systems (VCRs) are developed in Japan by Sony (Betamax) and Matsushita (VHS).
- The Altair home computer kit allows consumers to build and program their own personal computers. Background: Computers and Internet
