October 1975

Month of 1975 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following events occurred in October 1975:

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October 22, 1975: Soviet Venera 9 lands on Venus, takes photos (artists rendition)
October 16, 1975: American GOES satellite launched, takes first weather photos October 25
October 1, 1975: $5.7 billion Safeguard becomes operational, shutdown voted one day later

October 1, 1975 (Wednesday)

  • In the "Thrilla in Manila", Muhammad Ali retained his world heavyweight boxing championship against former champion Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, the Philippines.[1]
  • Morocco and Mauritania reached a secret agreement to invade the Western Sahara and divide the territory between them, after Spain announced that it would hold a referendum in the Saharan colony.[2]
  • The Gilbert and Ellice Islands, a British protectorate in the South Pacific Ocean, were divided in anticipation of independence. The Gilbert Islands would become the nation of Kiribati, while the Ellice Islands would become Tuvalu.[3]
  • After eight years of construction and the spending of 5.7 billion dollars, the Safeguard Program, anti-ballistic missile complex for the United States, became fully operational in Cavalier County, North Dakota with two radar complexes and 32 silos.[4] The U.S. House of Representatives voted the next day to shut down the program,[5] in large part because the radar system was a vulnerable target that would be ineffective during a nuclear war; the site was closed after four months.[6]
  • A blast at a Canadian Industries Ltd. (CIL) explosives factory killed eight employees at McMasterville, Quebec, near Montreal.[7]
Idi Amin at the UN general assembly shortly before giving his speech

October 2, 1975 (Thursday)

A '76 Chevette
  • The W. T. Grant department store chain, with over 1,000 stores in 42 U.S. states, filed a Chapter 11 action for reorganization in the largest retail store bankruptcy in American history.[10] The last 359 stores would go out of business at the end of March 1976 as a result of court-ordered liquidation.[11]
  • The first Chevrolet Chevette, a two-door hatchback called the Chevette Scooter, went on sale.[12] The first of the 1976 models had rolled off the Detroit assembly line on August 18 as "the first of hundreds of thousands of little three-door autos that are the smallest made in large volume in the United States since the Crosley."[13] and the car was unveiled on September 16, in Washington, DC.[12] The Chevette had a 1.4 liter engine and got 40 mpg on the highway, but had little room, with a reviewer noting "If the Chevette is the car of the future, luggage space will soon be a thing of the past."[14]
  • The U.S. Congress reversed its decision on an embargo against arms sales to Turkey.[1]

October 3, 1975 (Friday)

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Bangladesh and Pakistan
  • For the first time since Bangladesh had seceded from Pakistan in December 1971, the two nations established diplomatic relations.[15]
  • The Teton Dam in Idaho began to fill as the Teton River was closed off. Eight months later, on June 5, 1976, the earthen dam would break, flooding the town of Wilford and killing eleven people.[16]
  • Died: Guy Mollet, 69, former Prime Minister of France (1956–1957)

October 4, 1975 (Saturday)

  • Professional wrestler Johnny Valentine (John Wisniski), the reigning NWA champion, was paralyzed, and Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr) sustained a broken back, when the plane in which they were riding ran out of gas and crashed at Wilmington, North Carolina, killing the pilot. Despite being advised to give up the pro wrestling circuit, Flair would return to the ring after months of rehabilitation and an alteration of his style, and would go on to fame and fortune as "The Nature Boy".[17]
  • Died: May Sutton, 89, American tennis champion, Wimbledon women singles title 1905 and 1907, U.S. Open singles champion 1904

October 5, 1975 (Sunday)

Algerian nuthatch
Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky

October 6, 1975 (Monday)

October 7, 1975 (Tuesday)

  • Five days after President Ford vetoed an extension of the federal school lunch and nutrition program, both houses of Congress voted to override, 397-18 in the House and 79-13 in the Senate.[1]
  • East Germany and the Soviet Union signed a new Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, although their 1964 Friendship Treaty still had nine years to run. The 20-year treaty was to run until 1995, although East Germany would end in 1990 and the Soviet Union in 1991.[26]
  • John Lennon, formerly of The Beatles, won the right to stay in the United States after a four-year legal battle to avoid deportation, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled 2–1 to reverse an INS order of deportation.[27][28] Two days later, Lennon would celebrate his 35th birthday and the birth of his son, Sean.
  • Born:

October 8, 1975 (Wednesday)

October 9, 1975 (Thursday)

Late recognition for Sakharov
  • Soviet nuclear physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov was announced as the recipient of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, but was not allowed to travel to Oslo to accept it.[1]
  • The U.S. Senate voted 70–18 to authorize American civilians to join the United Nations forces in the Sinai peninsula, a day after the House had approved the measure 341-69.[1]
  • West Germany and Poland signed three agreements in Warsaw, with Poland agreeing to allow 125,000 former German nationals to emigrate to West Germany, in return for two billion deutschmarks worth of credit.[33] Poland received major territories from the losing Germany after WW2, from which most Germans had been expelled, with the remainder suffering discrimination.
  • The snail darter (Percina tanasi), a small fish indigenous to the Little Tennessee River, was declared an endangered species by the United States. Protection of the habitat of the snail darter would delay construction of the Tellico Dam for two years; the dam would eventually be constructed and the snail darter population would increase to the point that its status would be altered in 1984 to "threatened species".[34]
  • Born: Sean Lennon, American singer and songwriter, to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, in New York City

October 10, 1975 (Friday)

An airmail cover envelope from 1965
  • "Airmail" was ended in the U.S. as a separate form of mailing letters domestically and internationally, bringing a close to an era when delivery would be made more quickly by paying additional postage to guarantee that the mail would be carried by airplane, rather than by train or truck, to its destination. By 1975, the U.S. Postal Service was transporting all interzone mail by airplane. [35]
  • Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remarried, with a civil ceremony taking place in the African nation of Botswana. Although their first marriage lasted from 1964 to 1974, the second union would end in 1976.[36]
  • Died:

October 11, 1975 (Saturday)

October 12, 1975 (Sunday)

October 13, 1975 (Monday)

  • The Māori land march took place in New Zealand with 5,000 Māori people arriving at the Parliament Building in Wellington after having marched from Te Hāpua on the north side of the nation.[40]
  • Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau said in a nationally televised speech that he would establish mandatory wage and price controls in order to bring inflation under control, and that an Anti-Inflation Board would enforce the new rules.[41]
  • The bicentennial American dollar coin was placed into circulation by the United States Treasury. For the first time, the dollar coin had no silver content; the 1974 coins had 40 percent silver. The dollar still had the image of President Dwight D. Eisenhower on the obverse, with "1776–1976" beneath, but the reverse featured a new image, showing the Liberty Bell and the Moon.[42]
  • Died: Swede Risberg, 81, last surviving member of the eight baseball players banned for life for the Black Sox Scandal

October 14, 1975 (Tuesday)

October 15, 1975 (Wednesday)

  • Jean-Marie Seroney, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, and another MP, Martin Shikuku, were arrested at their offices in the Parliament building in Nairobi on the orders of President Jomo Kenyatta, who was displeased at their criticism of the government. Both would remain imprisoned until after Kenyatta's death in 1978.[45]
  • Born: Ginuwine (Elgin Baylor Lumpkin), American singer, in Washington, D.C.

October 16, 1975 (Thursday)

October 17, 1975 (Friday)

  • The Justices of the United States Supreme Court voted 7–1 not to assign any decisions to the ailing Justice William O. Douglas, and to postpone resolution of any cases where his vote would be important, after the ailing Douglas had been observed falling to sleep during arguments. Douglas did not participate in the vote, and Byron R. White, who wrote a protest to his brethren on the Court, was the only dissenting vote. Douglas was hospitalized again two weeks later and retired from the Court.[49]
  • The Baltimore Claws, newest team in the American Basketball Association, played their third and final exhibition game, losing to the Virginia Squires, 100-88, before a crowd of 500 people. The team folded three days later without ever playing a regular season game.

October 18, 1975 (Saturday)

October 19, 1975 (Sunday)

October 20, 1975 (Monday)

  • The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. entered into a five-year agreement for the sale of at least 6,000,000 tons of American grain to the Soviets each year.[1]
  • Forty-three people were killed and more than 60 injured in the collision of two subway trains in the Mexico City Metro system. One train was preparing to pull out of the station when it stopped because someone had pulled the emergency cord "perhaps several times". The next scheduled train slammed into the stalled cars.[51]
  • Three Cuban Navy transport ships- El Vietnam Heroico, El Coral Island and La Plata brought the first Cuban soldiers to Angola, to support the Marxist MPLA.[52]
  • The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in the case of Baker v. Owen that teachers could spank their pupils, even over objections of parents, after the giving of notice.[53][54]

October 21, 1975 (Tuesday)

October 22, 1975 (Wednesday)

  • The Soviet space probe Venera 9 landed on the planet Venus and transmitted Earth's first photographs of the surface of another planet.[59] The first ground-level photos of Venus showed that beneath the thick clouds of carbon dioxide, the planet has a rocky surface. Venera 9 transmitted for 53 minutes before its equipment gave way to temperatures of 485 °C (905 °F) and an atmospheric pressure 90 times higher than that of Earth.[60]
  • The Cincinnati Reds won the seventh and deciding game of the 1975 World Series, 4 to 3, over the Boston Red Sox. The broadcast set a new record for most-watched sporting event in American history.[1][61] The Red Sox, who were hosting the final game at Fenway Park, had not won Major League Baseball's championship since 1918 but had led, 3 to 0, after five innings before the game was tied 3 to 3 going into the 9th inning. With two outs against the Reds, Joe Morgan was at strike two when he made the hit that brought Ken Griffey in from third base for the go-ahead run. Boston's chance to tie or win the game evaporated after Will McEnaney struck out the first two batters, and Carl Yastrzemski's fly ball hit to center field was caught to give the Reds their first win since 1940.[62]
  • At a meeting in New York, the owners of the 10 remaining teams of the World Football League voted, 6 to 4, to disband the money-losing organization prior to the 12th week of its 20-game schedule.[63]
  • Born: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, American TV actor (Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family); in Missoula, Montana
  • Died:

October 23, 1975 (Thursday)

  • British cancer specialist Gordon Fairley was killed by a terrorist bomb that had been intended by the Irish Republican Army to assassinate Hugh Fraser of the British House of Commons. Fraser had been preparing to drive Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, to an errand, but a telephone call delayed him as he was preparing to leave. Dr. Fairley happened to be walking his two dogs past Fraser's Jaguar XJ6 automobile when the time bomb exploded at 8:40 am.[66]
  • In accordance with the decree of May 27 making the Quechua language one of the official languages of Peru (second to Spanish), the official Quechua alphabet (Alfabeto Basico General de Quechua) was created, with 31 letters. Although c, j, x and z are not used alone, variations such as ch, chh, ch', kh and qh are included.[67]
  • Born: Odalys Garcia, Cuban-born TV actress, in Havana

October 24, 1975 (Friday)

October 25, 1975 (Saturday)

October 26, 1975 (Sunday)

October 27, 1975 (Monday)

October 28, 1975 (Tuesday)

  • In a private meeting with U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller agreed that he would announce a decision not to be Ford's running mate in 1976. Ford had been in favor of selecting Rockefeller, but was persuaded by aides Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney that Rockefeller's presence could give Ronald Reagan an edge in getting the Republican nomination.[73]
  • Leah Leshefsky, 63, became the last of ten elderly women believed to have been raped and murdered by the "Westside Rapist", who terrorized Los Angeles for almost a year. Beginning on November 7, 1974, women ranging in age from 63 to 92 years old were killed in their homes. In 2011, DNA evidence linked the crimes to John Floyd Thomas, who confessed to the murders.[74]
  • Died: Georges Carpentier, 81, French boxer, world light heavyweight champion 1920–22

October 29, 1975 (Wednesday)

  • U.S. President Ford told the National Press Club that he would veto any legislation for a federal bailout of New York City. The next day, the New York Daily News ran the famous headline "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD".[1]

October 30, 1975 (Thursday)

  • Seventy-five of the 120 people aboard Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 450 were killed when the DC-9 jetliner crashed while attempting to land in Prague, at the end of a flight that had originated in Yugoslavia in the city of Tivat (now in Montenegro). Most of the passengers were Czechoslovak citizens returning from a vacation at the Adriatic Sea. Visibility at Prague Ruzyně Airport was less than 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) and the control tower advised the pilot of Flight 450 that the instrument landing system and precision approach radar on Runway 25 were inoperative. Given the option to attempt a landing anyway, the pilot was cleared for the approach but the crew found that the aircraft was descending into a gorge at the Vltava River near the Czech suburb of Suchdol and was unable to climb out to avoid impact.[75]
  • Peter Sutcliffe, who would become known as the "Yorkshire Ripper", committed his first murder, shattering the skull of Wilma McCann with a hammer in the English city of Leeds. He would be arrested on January 2, 1981 and would later be convicted of 13 murders.[76]
  • Martha Moxley, 15, vanished after going to a Halloween party at the home of her neighbor, 15-year-old Michael Skakel, in an affluent neighborhood in Greenwich, Connecticut.[77] Her body was found the next day bludgeoned and stabbed with a golf club. Skakel, a wealthy nephew of Ethel Kennedy, would be indicted for Moxley's murder 24 years later. Tried as an adult, Skakel would be convicted in 2002 and given a sentence of 20 years to life.[78]
  • Juan Carlos I of Spain became acting Head of State after dictator Francisco Franco conceded that he is too ill to govern.[1]
  • Died: Gustav Ludwig Hertz, 88, German physicist, 1925 Nobel Prize laureate

October 31, 1975 (Friday)

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