Entertainment: Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" Kurt Vonnegut writes Musical artists include Marvin gaye (Let's Get It On) and Pink Floyd
Politics: Kurtz and Wilson publish Humanist Manifesto II,
Religion: Pope Paul VI names 30 new cardinals
Science: Grants begin long-term study of finches on Galapagos detailing evolution
Crick and Orgel suggest somewhat jokingly that aliens may have seeded early earth with DNA
Red-Queen Hypothesis suggested by Van Valen between predator and prey
Comet Kohoutek proves disappointment as it fails to form tail
Deaths: Pablo Picasso, David Ben Gurion, Noel Coward, Lon Chaney Jr., Lindon B Johnson, Pearl Buck, Arna Bontemps (of Harlem Renaissance),
Pablo Neruda, JRR Tolkien, Chic Young ("Blondie" comics), Betty Grable, John Ford, Walter E Rollins (USA Frosty the Snowman), Gene Krupa (jazz drummer),
Beverly Hillbillies star Irene Ryan, US businesswoman Marjorie Merriweather Post, WWI flying ace Edward "Capt. Eddie" Rickenbacker
Africa
General: Drought and starvation
Americas
General: CARIFTA members form Caribbean Community via Georgetown Accord
Argentina: Former president Juan Peron and new wife Maria Estela Martinez elected president and vice president
Bahamas: Independence within British Commonwealth
Chile: Marxist president Allende ousted in US backed coup then commits suicide, and dictator Pinochet rules
China: 10th Communist Congress of China meets in Peking
India: Drought and starvation Release of 90k Pakistani prisoners
Japan: Car manufacturers take lead over US OPEC embargo begins to result in fuel problems
North Vietnam: Le Duc Tho refuses Nobel Peace Prize
South Vietnam: Most fighting in Vietnam War ends with ceasefire - US troops withdraw after peace declaration at Paris
Thailand: Anti-government demonstrations
Europe
General: Concorde company begins service Both Germanys establish diplomatic relations
Cyprus: Three Cypriot bishops attempt to unfrock Archbishop Makarios after he refuses to resign as President
Denmark: Denmark joins European Community leaving European Free Trade Association
France: President Georges Pompodou's Gaullist alliance wins reelection
Great Britain: British join European Community Violence in N Ireland as 250 die
Government orders three-day work week to conserve electricity
Mentalist Yuri Geller appears on television and many watchers and listeners of the BBC report bent or broken objects in their own homes
Anthony Hopkins stars in "The Girl from Petrovka" and meets author who had no copy of the book – his was lost two years earlier – Hopkins returns book to owner – exact copy (see 1971)
Greece: King (and Danish prince) Constantine II expelled – Premier George Papadopolous announces abolition of Greek monarchy then is ousted in bloodless coup – General Phaedon Gizikis becomes president
Iceland: Heimaey splits open and erupts
Ireland: Ireland joins EC
Netherlands: OPEC cuts oil supplies
Soviet Union: Communist Party leader Brezhnev visits US and Brezhnev and Nixon sign treaty to limit nuclear war
Government agrees to abide by terms of Universal Copyright Convention
Spain: Premier Luis Carrero Blanco assassinated
Sweden: Gustavus VI dies and crown prince Carl Gustav crowned King Carl XVI
Middle East
General: OPEC announces oil embargo resulting in oil shortages
Egypt: Sadat launches fourth war against Israel
Iran: Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi nationalizes foreign-operated oil firms
Israel: Arab states fail to conquer in Yom Kippur War
Crime: Death of American underworld figure Frank Costello
Culture: LA, Atlanta and Detroit create Martin Luther King Day
Energy: Oil shortages – gas goes from $0.38 to over $1 speed limits created nationwide (costing money in signs)
shortages and panics (including Johnny Carson's accidental toilet paper shortage) ensue
Entertainment: PBS airs reality series An American Family about a dysfunctional group The Godfather wins best picture
Liza Minnelli wins for Cabaret
Environment: Nixon signs Endangered Species Act
Finance: President Nixon ends wage-price controls except in food healthcare and building industries US devalues dollar
Law: in Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court rules that states may not prohibit abortions in first two trimesters
Medicine: IRS recognizes acupuncture as medical treatment
Military: Last US combat troops out of Vietnam
CIS has MK-ULTRA files destroyed discussing LSD experiments on CIA members
Politics: Senate begins public hearings on Watergate Vice-President Agnew resigns due to income tax evasionand Ford is appointed
Kissinger receives Nobel Peace Prize "Pentagon Papers" defendants Ellsberg and Russo freed
Science: American Skylab I-III missions completed and astronauts spend a month in space – Skylab IV sets out for record flight
US space probe Pioneer 10 transmits telebision pictures from within 81,000 miles of Jupiter First US manned object workshop
Sports: George Foreman scores a tko as he defeats Joe Frasier "Secretariat" wins Triple Crown
OJ Simpson sets rushing record
East
New York: Crirminal Court judge rules motion picture "Deep Throat" as "indisputably and irredeemably obscene" Irene revival
NY Governor Nelson A Rockefeller resigns to head Commission on Critical Choices
Midwest
General: Major flooding of Mississippi River - largest since 1927
Illinois: Sears Tower dwarfs World Trade Center as tallest tower
South Dakota: Militant American Indians occupy Wounded Knee for 70 days
South
Alabama: Advisory Panel reporting on Tuskegee study writes that "Society can no longer afford to leave the balancing of individual rights against scientific progress to the scientific community"
West and Pacific
California: End of killing streak of Ed Kemper – started killing his grandparents just to see what it was like – about 10 die