- Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H," premieres.
- Jeffrey McDonald murders his entire family.
- Paul McCartney officially announces the split of The Beatles.
- The first episode of US soap opera All My Children is broadcast on the ABC television network.
- An oxygen tank in the Apollo 13 spacecraft explodes, forcing the crew to abort the mission and return in 4 days, culminating the phrase "Houston, we have a problem".
- Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and 9 wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen, at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia.
- The Who become the first act to perform rock music (their rock opera, Tommy) at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show, featuring its star as an unmarried professional woman, debuts on CBS.
- The Grumman F-14 Tomcat makes its first flight.
- The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.
- Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
- "All in the Family" premieres on CBS featuring 1st toilet flush on TV
- "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hit #1 on UK pop chart
- The Provisional Irish Republican Army throw a time bomb into Springfield Road British Army base in Belfast, killing British Army Sergeant Michael Willetts and wounding seven officers
- Ed Sullivan's final TV show on CBS
- North Vietnam demands US end aid to South Vietnam
- George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh takes place in NYC on August 1
- 11 guards & 31 prisoners die in take over at Attica State Prison
- The Volkswagen Beetle is a top seller.
- Radical activist Angela Davis is released from Jail. (The Rolling Stones wrote "Sweet Black Angel" in her honor.)
- "Bloody Sunday" the British Army kills 14 civilians in Northern Ireland.
- Average income was $11k.
- Savoy Brown releases "Hellbound Train".
- Pink Floyd comes to Portland's Memorial Coliseum. Ticket Price: $4.50.
- Gas: 55 cents a gallon, cigarettes: 35 cents a pack.
- "Deliverance" hits the theaters.
- The Watergate hearings had begun.
- Abortion was legalized.
- The Black September Terrorist Movement attacks Athens airport.
- The Watkins Glen Rock Festival (bigger than Woodstock BTW), happens.
- Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the Houston Astrodome. It was close too, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
- Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Vice President.
- The Endangered Species act is passed.
- Peter Benchley's "Jaws"is published
- Evel Knievel tries to jump the Snake River Canyon
- Girls are allowed to play in Little League Baseball
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business" becomes a top single
- Patty Hearst, daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the SLA (Simbionese Liberation Army)
- "Good Times," debuts on CBS TV
- "People" magazine begins sales
- First class postage is raised from 8 cents to 10 cents
- Ted Bundy victims Janice Ott & Denise Naslund disappear, Lake Sammamish, WA
- "The Rumble in the Jungle". Muhammed Ali defeats George Foreman for the Heavyweight Championship in Zaire, Africa
- House Judiciary approves Articles of Impeachment against President Nixon
- Richard Nixon resigns presidency, Vice President Gerald Ford becomes the 38th president
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Watergate figures John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman & John D Ehrlichman sentenced to 2 1/2-8 yrs for conspiracy and obstruction of justice
- The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force
- Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen
- 47th Academy Awards - "The Godfather Part II", Ellen Burstyn & Art Carney win
- Last US helicopter leaves US embassy grounds, Saigon surrenders
- Ron Wood replaces Mick Taylor as Rolling Stone guitarist
- Peter Gabriel quits Genesis
- Peter Frampton released platinum live album "Frampton Comes Alive"
- "The Bionic Woman" with Lindsay Wagner debuts on ABC
- Taxi Driver" directed by Martin Scorseseis released
- "Rich Man, Poor Man" mini-series premieres on ABC TV
- AFC Championship Game: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders 16-10
- Allman Brother's roadie Scooter Herring sentenced to 75 years for providing drugs for the group, based on Gregg Allman's testimony
- 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
- Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
- Hank Aaron hits 755th & last home run off Angels Dick Drago
- George Harrison appears on "Saturday Night Live"
- Comic strip "Cathy" by Cathy Guisewhite debuts
- George H W Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA
- Kiss play their first concert in Madison Square Garden (NYC)
- New Orleans' Pete Maravich sets NBA record for a guard with 68 pts
- "Eight is Enough" premieres on ABC-TV
- Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
- Alex Haley, author of "Roots", awarded Pulitzer Prize
- Patty Hearst let out of jail
- "Beatlemania" opens on Broadway
- Cheryl Ladd replaces Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels
- Ted Bundy kills Fla State U coeds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
- Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
- Harriet Tubman is 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp
- The Rutle's "All You Need is Cash" is show on NBC-TV
- Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1st appears as a comic strip
- CBS raises LP prices to $8.98
- In Jonestown Guyana 918 members of Peoples Temple are murdered/commit suicide under leadership of cult leader Jim Jones
- The Runaways' last ever concert at Daly, CA.'s Cow Palace
- Sid Vicious attempts suicide while at Riker's Detention Center in NYC
- 1 million Iranians march in Tehran in a show of support for the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, fundamentalist Muslim leader
- Patricia Hearst is released from prison for bank robbery
- Pink Floyd premiered their live version of "The Wall" in Los Angeles
- China invades Vietnam, marking the start of the Sino-Vietnamese War
- Sid Vicious' trial for murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen begins
- Formation of Guardian Angels crime fighters in New York City
- Shah of Iran & family sentenced to death in Teheran
- Sony introduces the Walkman.
