1972 CE

The Watergate scandal begins with the DNC break-in, triggering a major U.S. political crisis; President Richard Nixon makes a historic visit to China; the 1972 Summer Olympics are marred by the Munich massacre; Apollo 17 becomes the final Apollo Moon landing; Bloody Sunday intensifies the Troubles in Northern Ireland; the 1972 Iran blizzard kills thousands; the 1972 Black Hills flood kills 238 in Rapid City, South Dakota; Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes, leading to a dramatic survival ordeal; and the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake devastates Managua.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 10 – Independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to Bangladesh after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.source
January 18 – Members of the Mukti Bahini lay down their arms to the government of the newly independent Bangladesh, 33 days after winning the war against the occupying Pakistan Army.source
January 19 – The Libertarian enclave Minerva on a platform in the South Pacific, sponsored by the Phoenix Foundation, declares independence. Soon neighboring Tonga annexes the area and dismantles the platform.source
January 20 – President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announces that Pakistan will immediately begin a nuclear weapons program.source
January 21 – Tripura, part of the former independent Twipra Kingdom, becomes a full state of India.source
January 26 – The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is set up on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra.source
February 15 – President of Ecuador José María Velasco Ibarra is deposed for the fourth time.source
February 21–28 – U.S. President Richard Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.source
March 4 – Libya and the Soviet Union sign a cooperation treaty.source
March 19 – India and Bangladesh sign the Indo-Bangladeshi Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace.source
March 22 – The 92nd U.S. Congress votes to send the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.source
April 10 – The U.S. and the Soviet Union join some 70 nations in signing the Biological Weapons Convention, an agreement to ban biological warfare.source
April 13 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.source
April 27 – A no-confidence vote against German Chancellor Willy Brandt fails under obscure circumstances; years later it turned out that at least one opposition MP was paid by the East German Stasi for not supporting the vote.source
May 22 – Ferit Melen forms the new (interim) government of Turkey (35th government)source
May 22 – The Dominion of Ceylon becomes the republic of Sri Lanka under prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, when its new constitution is ratified.source
May 26 – Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT I treaty in Moscow, as well as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and other agreements.source
June 17 – Chilean president Salvador Allende forms a new government.source
June 18 – West Germany beats the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final to win Euro '72.source
September 28 – The Canada men's national ice hockey team defeats the Soviet national ice hockey team in the eighth and final game of the 1972 Summit Series 6–5 to win the series 4–3–1.source
September 29 – China–Japan relations: The Joint Communiqué of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China is signed in Beijing, which normalizes Japanese diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan).source
October 8 – A major breakthrough occurs in the Paris peace talks between Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ.source
October – In Somalia, the government of President Siad Barre formally introduces the Somali alphabet as the country's official writing script.source
December 16 – The Constitution of Bangladesh comes into effect.source

Conflict & Security

January 21 – A New Delhi bootlegger sells wood alcohol to a wedding party; 100 people die.source
January 30 – Bloody Sunday: The British Army kills 14 unarmed nationalist civil rights marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland.source
February 22 – The Troubles: 1972 Aldershot bombing – A car bomb planted by the Official Irish Republican Army kills seven people outside a British military base in Aldershot, England.source
March 30 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnamsource
May 10 – Operation Linebacker and Operation Custom Tailor begin with large-scale bombing operations against North Vietnam by tactical fighter aircraft.source
May 30 – The Troubles: The Official Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.source
May 30 – Lod Airport massacre: Three Japanese Red Army members operating on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations kill 26 and injure 80 people at Lod Airport, Israel.source
June 8 – Vietnam War: Associated Press photographer Nick Ut takes his Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a naked nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down a road after being burned by napalm.source
June 23 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the C.I.A. to obstruct the investigation by the F.B.I. into the Watergate break-ins.source
July 2 – Following Pakistan's surrender to India in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, both nations sign the historic Simla Agreement, agreeing to settle their disputes bilaterally.source
July 10–14 – The Democratic National Convention meets in Miami Beach. Senator George McGovern, who backs the immediate and complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Vietnam, is nominated for president. He names fellow Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate.source
July 21 – The Troubles: Bloody Friday – 22 bombs planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army explode in Belfast, Northern Ireland; nine people are killed and 130 seriously injured.source
Operation Motorman 4:00 AM : The British Army begins to regain control of the "no-go areas" established by Irish republican paramilitaries in Belfast, Derry ("Free Derry") and Newry.source
August 4 – Expulsion of Asians from Uganda: Dictator Idi Amin declares that Uganda will expel 50,000 Asians with British passports to Britain within 3 months. Most of their property is confiscated.source
August 16 – As part of a coup attempt, members of the Royal Moroccan Air Force fire upon, but fail to bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.source
August 21 – The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, renominates U.S. President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew for a second term.source
September 1 – The Second Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.source
October 26 – A coup in the Republic of Dahomey (later Benin) led by Mathieu Kérékou removes a civilian government (which has been headed by a triumvirate consisting of Ahomadégbé, Apithy and Maga).source
November 11 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.source
December 8 – International Human Rights Day is proclaimed by the United Nations.source
December 16 – Mozambican War of independence: The Portuguese army kills 400 Africans in Tete, Mozambique.source
December 21 – Rhodesian Bush War: ZANLA troopers attack Altera Farm in north-east Rhodesia.source
December 22 – A peace delegation that includes singer-activist Joan Baez and human rights attorney Telford Taylor visit Hanoi to deliver Christmas mail to American prisoners of war (they will be caught in the Christmas bombing of North Vietnam).source
December 23 – Swedish Prime minister Olof Palme compares the American bombings of North Vietnam to Nazi massacres. The U.S. breaks diplomatic contact with Sweden.source

Exploration & Expansion

Colombian looters find the lost 1st millennium city of Ciudad Perdida; it is not reached by official archaeologists until 1976.source

Religion & Belief

January 31 – King Birendra succeeds his father as King of Nepal.source
March 2 – The Club of Rome presents the research results leading to its report The Limits to Growth, published later in the month.source
March 4 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference Charter is signed (effective February 28, 1973).source
June 3 – Sally Priesand becomes the first American woman (and the second known woman anywhere) to be ordained as a rabbi within Judaism.source
June 12 – Popeyes was formed in Arabi, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana, in St. Bernard Parish.source
October 5 – The United Reformed Church in England is founded out of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches.source

Economy & Finance

June 23 – The United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer, Anthony Barber, announces a decision for the pound sterling to move to a floating exchange rate. Although intended to be temporary, this remains permanent. Foreign exchange controls are applied to most members of the sterling area.source
June – Iraq nationalizes the Iraq Petroleum Company.source
September 25 – 1972 Norwegian EC referendum: Norway rejects membership of the European Economic Community.source
November 14 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16) for the first time.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 – Kurt Waldheim becomes Secretary-General of the United Nations.source
February 17 – Volkswagen Beetle sales exceed those of the Ford Model T when the 15,007,034th Beetle is produced.source
April 26 – The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar enters service with Eastern Airlines.source
May 27 – Mark Donohue wins the Indianapolis 500 in a Penske Racing McLaren–Offenhauser.source
June 11 – Henri Pescarolo (France) and co-driver former World Drivers' Champion Graham Hill (Britain) win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Equipe Matra MS670.source
June 16 – 108 die as two passenger trains hit the debris of a collapsed railway tunnel near Soissons, France.source
June 30 – The International Time Bureau adds the first leap second (23:59:60) of this year to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).source
July 27 – The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft makes its first flight in the United States.source
August 4 – August 1972 solar storms: A huge solar flare (one of the largest ever recorded) knocks out cable lines in the U.S. It begins with the appearance of sunspots on August 2; an August 4 flare kicks off high levels of activity until August 10.source
August 19 – The first daytime episode of the second incarnation of the American game show The Price Is Right is taped at CBS Television City, to be aired on September 4.source
September 10 – Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi wins the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and becomes the youngest Formula One World Champion at the age of 25.source
October 28 – The Airbus A300 flies for the first time.source
November 29 – The "tea house" Mellow Yellow opens on the river Amstel in Amsterdam, pioneering the legal sale of cannabis in the Netherlands.source
November 29 – Atari in the United States release the production version of Pong, one of the first video games to achieve widespread popularity in both the arcade and home console markets, devised by Nolan Bushnell and Allan Alcorn.source
November – The Nishitetsu Lions baseball club, part of the NPB's Pacific League, is sold to the Fukuoka Baseball Corporation, a subsidiary of Nishi-Nippon Railroad. The team is renamed the Taiheiyo Club Lions.source

Science & Discovery

January 4 – The first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) is introduced (price $395).source
February 4 – Mariner 9 sends pictures as it orbits Mars.source
February 21 – The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.source
March 2 – The Pioneer 10 spacecraft is launched from Cape Kennedy, to be the first man-made spacecraft to leave the Solar System.source
March 27 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 8, which will make the first soft landing on Venus.source
April 16 – Apollo 16 (John Young, Ken Mattingly, Charlie Duke) is launched. During the mission, the astronauts, driving the Lunar Roving Vehicle, achieve a lunar rover speed record of 17 km/h.source
June 8 – Seven men and three women hijack a plane from Czechoslovakia to West Germany.source
July 11 – Curtis Mayfield releases the soundtrack to the 1972 film, Super Fly.source
July 22 - The Soviet probe Venera 8 lands on the surface of Venus and transmits data for 50 minutes about the planet's surface temperature and atmospheric pressure.source
July 23 – The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.source
August 10 – 1972 Great Daylight Fireball: A brilliant meteor is seen in the western U.S. and Canada as an Apollo asteroid skips off the Earth's atmosphere.source
October 1 – The first publication reporting the production of a recombinant DNA molecule, by Paul Berg and colleagues, marks the birth of modern molecular biology methodology.source
October 25 – Belgian Eddy Merckx sets a new world hour record in cycling in Mexico City.source
December 7 – Apollo 17 (Gene Cernan, Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmitt), the last crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit until the Artemis II lunar flyby in 2026, is launched to the Moon and The Blue Marble photograph of the Earth is taken. The mission also includes five mice.source
December 11 – Apollo 17 lands on the Moon.source
December 14 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan becomes the last person to walk on the Moon until 2028 at the earliest, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 17.source
December 15 – The United Nations Environment Programme is established as a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
December 19 – Apollo program: Apollo 17 returns to Earth, concluding the program of lunar exploration.source

Health & Medicine

April 27 – Ikiza: Burundi government forces begin a 4-month genocide against the Hutu people, killing 100,000–300,000.source
July 25 – U.S. health officials admit that African-American men were used as guinea pigs in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study without their informed consent.source
September 23 – Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos announces on national television the issuance of Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.source

Crime & Justice

February 23 – US activist Angela Davis is released from jail. Rodger McAfee, a farmer from Caruthers, California, helps her make bail.source
April 10 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.source
April 29 – The fourth anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair is celebrated with a free concert at a Central Park bandshell, followed by dinner at the Four Seasons. There, 13 Black Panther protesters and the show's co-author, Jim Rado, are arrested for disturbing the peace and for using marijuana.source
June 17 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee.source
August 22 – Rhodesia is expelled by the International Olympic Committee for its racist policies.source
September 5–6 – Munich massacre: Eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich are murdered after eight members of the Arab terrorist group Black September invade the Olympic Village; five guerillas and one policeman are also killed in a failed hostage rescue.source
November 19 – Seán Mac Stíofáin, a leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, is arrested in Dublin after giving a radio interview to RTÉ and charged with being a member of the IRA.source
December 7 – Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines, is stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant; her bodyguards shoot the assailant.source
December 28 – The bones of Nazi Party official Martin Bormann are discovered in Berlin during construction work.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 7 – Iberia Airlines Flight 602 crashes into a 462-meter peak on the island of Ibiza; 104 are killed.source
January 9 – The RMS Queen Elizabeth catches fire and sinks in Hong Kong's Victoria harbor while undergoing conversion to a floating university.source
January 26 – Yugoslavian air stewardess Vesna Vulović is the only survivor when her plane crashes in Czechoslovakia. She survives after falling 10160 m ft in the tail section of the aircraft.source
February 22 – Lufthansa Flight 649 is hijacked and taken to Aden. Passengers are released the following day after a ransom of 5 million US dollars is agreed.source
May 2 – Fire at the Sunshine Mine, a silver mine in Idaho, kills 91.source
May 5 – An Alitalia DC-8 crashes west of Palermo, Sicily; 115 die.source
May 13 – A fire in a nightclub atop the Sennichi department store in Osaka, Japan, kills 115.source
May 21 – In St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican City), Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's Pietà statue with a geologist's hammer, shouting that he is Jesus Christ.source
June 14 – Japan Airlines Flight 471 crashes outside New Delhi airport, killing 82 of 87 occupants.source
June 18 – Staines air disaster: 118 die when a British European Airways Trident 1 jet airliner crashes two minutes after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport.source
July 1 – The Canadian ketch Vega, flying the Greenpeace III banner, collides with the French naval minesweeper La Paimpolaise while in international waters to protest French nuclear weapon tests in the South Pacific.source
July 21 – A collision between two trains near Seville, Spain, kills 76 people.source
Claudy bombing ("Bloody Monday"), 10:00 AM : Three car bombs in Claudy, County Londonderry, kill nine. It becomes public knowledge only in 2010 that a local Catholic priest was an IRA officer believed to be involved in the bombings but his role was covered up by the authorities.source
August 12 – Oil tankers Oswego-Guardian and Texanita collide near Stilbaai, South Africa.source
August 14 – An East German Ilyushin airliner crashes near East Berlin; all 156 on board perish.source
September 24 – An F-86 fighter aircraft leaving an air show at Sacramento Executive Airport fails to become airborne and crashes into a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, killing 12 children and 11 adults.source
October 6 – A train crash in Saltillo, Mexico, kills 208 people.source
October 13 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571: A Fairchild FH-227D passenger aircraft transporting a rugby union team crashes at about 14000 ft m in the Andes mountain range, near the Argentina/Chile border. Sixteen of the survivors are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive.source
December 8 – United Airlines Flight 553 crashes short of a runway in Chicago, killing 43 of 61 passengers and two people on the ground. A day later, over $10,000 cash is found in the purse of Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt's wife, who was on board.source
December 23 – Asker accident: Braathens SAFE Flight 239 crashes during approach to Oslo Airport, Fornebu, Norway; forty people on board are killed.source
December 29 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashes into the Everglades in Florida, killing 101 of 176 on board. It is the first hull loss of a wide-body aircraft.source

Climate & Environment

February 26 – Luna 20 comes back to Earth with 55 g oz of lunar soil.source
March 26 – An avalanche on Mount Fuji in Japan kills 19 climbers.source
April 10 – The 6.7 Qir earthquake shakes southern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 5,374 people in the province of Fars.source
June 9 – The Black Hills flood kills 238 in South Dakota.source
June 14–23 – Hurricane Agnes kills 117 on the U.S. East Coast.source
June 18 – Hong Kong's worst flooding and landslides in recorded history with 653.2 mm of rainfall in the previous three days. 67 people die due to building collapses in Mid-levels districts landslide and building collapses, with a further 83 due to flooding-related fatalities. It is the second worst fatality due to building collapses, and the worst flooding in Hong Kong's recorded history.source
July 10 – At least 24 people have been killed by elephants crazed by heat and drought in separate incidents in the Chandka Forest of India, according to news agency reports.source
November 7 – 1972 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern in a landslide. The election has the lowest voter turnout since 1948, with only 55 percent of the electorate voting.source
December 23 – The 6.2 Nicaragua earthquake kills 5,000–11,000 people in the capital Managua. President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is later accused of not distributing millions of dollars worth of foreign aid.source
December 31 – For the first and last time, a 2nd leap second is added (23:59:60) to a year, making 1972 366 days and two seconds long, the longest year ever within the context of UTC.source

Culture & Society

January 14 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark succeeds her father, King Frederik IX, on the throne of Denmark, the first queen regnant of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.source
February 3–13 – The 1972 Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Japan.source
March 22 – Eisenstadt v. Baird: The Supreme Court of the U.S. rules that unmarried people have the right to access contraception on the same basis as married couplessource
March 25 – "Après toi" sung by Vicky Leandros (music by Klaus Munro & Mario Panas, lyric by Klaus Munro & Yves Dessca) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 (staged in Edinburgh) for Luxembourg.source
April 10 – The 44th Annual Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.source
May 23 – The Tamil United Front (later known as Tamil United Liberation Front), a pro-Tamil organization, is founded in Sri Lanka.source
June 5–16 – The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment is held in Stockholm, Swedensource
July 4 – The first Rainbow Gathering is held in Colorado.source
July 11 – The long anticipated chess match between world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, and United States champion Bobby Fischer, begins in Iceland at Reykjavík.source
July 24 – Jigme Singye Wangchuck succeeds his father Jigme Dorji Wangchuck as King of Bhutan.source
August 26–September 10 – The 1972 Summer Olympics are held in Munich, West Germany.source
September 1 – Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chess match in Reykjavík, Iceland, becoming the first American world chess champion.source
October 1 – Alex Comfort's bestselling manual The Joy of Sex is published.source
October 22 – The Oakland Athletics defeat the Cincinnati Reds four games to three to capture Major League Baseball's World Series. It is the Athletics' first championship since 1930, when the franchise was in Philadelphia.source
November 16 – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopts the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.source

Births

January 5 – Sakis Rouvas, Greek recording, film and television artist, athlete and businessmansource
January 20 – Nikki Haley, Indian-American politician, Governor of South Carolina (2010–2017) and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2017–2018)source
January 28 – Amy Coney Barrett, American attorney, jurist and associate justice, U.S. Supreme Courtsource
January 30 – Mike Johnson, 56th Speaker of the US House of Representativessource
February 1 – Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureatesource
February 17 – Billie Joe Armstrong, American rock musician and lead singer/guitarist (Green Day)source
March 29 – Priti Patel, British Indian politician, Secretary of State for the Home Departmentsource
April 21 – Narges Mohammadi, Iranian human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureatesource
May 4 – Mike Dirnt, American rock musician and bassist (Green Day)source
August 14 – Yoo Jae-suk, South Korean comedian and television comedy show hostsource
September 26 – Beto O'Rourke, American politician, representative of Texas 16th congressional districtsource
October 25 – Esther Duflo, French American economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciencessource
December 9 – Tré Cool, American rock musician and drummer (Green Day)source
December 18 – Lawrence Wong, Singapore economist and fourth Prime Minister of Singaporesource

Deaths

January 31 – King Mahendra of Nepal (b. 1920)source
February 20 – Maria Goeppert Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)source
March 31 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress, singer and poet (b. 1933; cirrhosis of the liver)source
April 6 – Heinrich Lübke, 2nd President of the Federal Republic of Germany (b. 1894)source
April 9 – James F. Byrnes, United States Secretary of State and Justice of the Supreme Court (b. 1882)source
May 2 – J. Edgar Hoover, American civil servant, 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (b. 1895)source
May 5 – Reverend Gary Davis, American blues and gospel singer (b. 1896)source
June 13 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)source
July 31 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician and statesman, 31st Prime Minister of Belgium and 2nd Secretary General of NATO (b. 1899)source
November 1 – Ezra Pound, American poet (b. 1885)source
December 1 – Antonio Segni, 34th Prime Minister of Italy and 4th President of the Italian Republic (b. 1891)source
December 11 – Numa Turcatti, Uruguayan law student, victim of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crash (b. 1947)source
December 25 – C. Rajagopalachari, Indian politician and freedom-fighter. Last Governor-General of India (1948–50) (b. 1878)source
December 31 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican baseball player (b. 1934)source