1975
1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar).
Events
January
- January 1 - Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up
- January 2 - The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by Congress
- January 5 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
- January 7 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
- January 8 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband
- January 10 - Japanese soldier Teruo Nakamura surrenders on the Indonesian Island of Morota
- January 14 - 17 year old heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped from her home in Shropshire, England by the Black Panther.
- January 20 - Michael Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency
- January - Altair 8800 is released, sparking the era of the microcomputer
February
- February 4 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visits Mexico.
- February 4 - The first successfully predicted earthquake occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
- February 9 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- February 11 - Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.
- February 21 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years in prison
- February 23 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
- February 26 - a fleeing IRA terrorist shoots dead off-duty London police officer Stephen Tibble, 22, as he gives chase
- February 27 - Movement 2 June kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met
- February 28 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
- February 28 - In Lomé, the capital of Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lomé Convention.
March
- March 1 - Color television transmissions begin in Australia
- March 4 - Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
- March 6 - Algiers Accord - Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
- March 6 - A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of the Springer Press. The "6 March Group" (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the "Baader-Meinhof Group"
- March 7 - The body of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle, kidnapped seven weeks earlier by the Black Panther is discovered in Staffordshire, England
- March 8 - United Nations begin sponsoring the International Women's Day.
- March 9 - Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins
- March 10 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
- March 15 - In Brazil, the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) merges with the state of Rio de Janeiro, under the name of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
- March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a nephew with a history of mental illness - the killer is beheaded on June 18.
April-May
- April 3 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
- April 4 - Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff. 138 die and 176 live.
- April 13 - An attack by Phalangists on a Palestinian bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon sparks over 15 years of civil war.
- April 17 - Pol Pot proclaims the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" in Cambodia and becomes its Prime Minister (1975–1979).
- April 24 - Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members. They shoot the embassy's military attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Andreas von Mirchbach, and Dr. Heinz Hillegart. Shortly before midnight some of their explosives detonate, leading to their capture by Swedish police.
- April 25 - Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
- April 30 - Vietnam War: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.
- May 12 - Mayaguez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
- May 15 - Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by U.S. Navy and Marines. 38 Americans are killed.
- May 16 - India annexes Sikkim
- May 16 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest
- May 28 - 15 West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
- May 30 - 1972 Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine dies in a car accident.
June-July
- June 5 - The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War
- June 5 - The United Kingdom votes yes in a referendum on staying in the European Community
- June 9 - Order of Australia (OA) awarded for 1st time
- June 19 - Lord Lucan found guilty in absentia of the murder of the nanny Sandra Rivett
- June 28 - Mozambique gains independence from Portugal
- July 1 - Australian Postmaster's General Department is divided into Telecom Australia and Australia Post.
- July 4 - Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears, and is presumed to have been murdered.
- July 5 - Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule
- July 6 - The Comoros declare their independence from France
- July 12 - São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal
- July 17 - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations
- July 31 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
August
- August 8 - The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after a freak typhoon. Over 200,000 people perish.
- August 8 - Samuel Bronfman, son of the president of Seagrams, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York
- August 11 - British Leyland comes under British government control
- August 11 - Mário Lemos Pires, Governor of Portuguese Timor, abandons the capital Dili following UDT coup and outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
- August 15 - Birmingham Six wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment
- August 20 - Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars
- August 24 - Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment
September
- September 5 - In Sacramento, California, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
- September 14 - Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch" is slashed a dozen times at a gallery in Amsterdam.
- September 15 - The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
- September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 21 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 22 - President Gerald Ford survives a second assassination attempt, this time by Sara Jane Moore
- September 30 - Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache made its first flight.
October
- October 9 - A bomb explosion outside Green Park tube station near Piccadilly in London kills 1 and injures 20.
- October 16 - Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces during an incursion into Portuguese Timor.
- October 27 – 18-year-old Robert Poulin begins shooting in St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada and then shoots himself, killing 1 and wounding 5.
- October 29 - Peter Sutcliffe (the "Yorkshire Ripper") commits his first murder, Wilma McCann.
- October 30 - Prince Juan Carlos becomes King of Spain after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.
November
- November 3 - An independent audit of Mattel, of the United States largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."
- November 6 - Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara
- November 10 - United Nations Resolution 3379: With a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world.
- November 10 - The 729-foot-long freighter (then, the largest ship on the Great Lakes) SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board
- November 11 - Angola becomes independent from Portugal (a deadly civil war soon erupts)
- November 11 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister
- November 14 - Spain abandons Western Sahara
- November 22 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
- November 25 - Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
- November 25 - Irish Republican Army outlawed in the United Kingdom
- November 27 - Ross McWhirter, the co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the IRA for offering reward money to informers
- November 28 - Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor
- November 29 - The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time (Microsoft became a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).
December
- December 7 - East Timor invaded by Indonesia.
- December 21 - Left-wing terrorists, including Carlos (the Jackal), kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna. They kill three hostages, extort $5 million ransom and escape into the Middle East.
- December 29 - A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport killing 11.
Unknown dates
- In New Zealand, Maori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5000 people in support of Maori claims to their land
- The Third Cod War between UK and Iceland lasted between November 1975 - June 1976
- Government of Colombia announces finding of Ciudad Perdida
- Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara. Saharaui Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.
- First use of the term fractal
- Victoria (Australia) abolishes capital punishment
- South Australia becomes first Australian state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults
- Self-proclaimed time traveller John Titor arrives to acquire an IBM 5100 for use in 2036
- MIND opens
Births
January-April
- January 2 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- January 3 - Danica McKellar, actress
- January 5 - Bradley Cooper, actor
- January 13 - Shazia Mirza, British comedienne
- January 20 - Mark Allan Robinson, British Columbian recall leader
- January 22 - Balthazar Getty, actor
- January 25 - Tim Montgomery, American athlete
- January 29 - Sara Gilbert, actress
- February 2 - Todd Bertuzzi, hockey player
- February 4 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician
- February 5 - Adam Carson, drummer (AFI)
- February 17 - Wish Bone, American rapper
- February 20 - Brian Littrell, musician (Backstreet Boys)
- February 21 - Affirmed, race horse (d. 2001)
- February 22 - Drew Barrymore, actress
- March 5 - Jolene Blalock, American actress
- March 5 - Niki Taylor, model
- March 17 - Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
- April 4 - Scott Rolen, baseball player
- April 7 - Ronde Barber, American football player
- April 7 - Tiki Barber, American football player
- April 9 - Robbie Fowler, British footballer
- April 22 - Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (d. 1999)
May-August
- May 1 - Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)
- May 2 - David Beckham, English footballer
- May 3 - Maksim Mrvica, Croatian pianist
- May 8 - Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-born singer
- May 10 - Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
- May 12 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
- May 14 - Hunter Burgan, bassist of the band AFI
- May 15 - Ray Lewis, American football player
- May 19 - London Fletcher, American football player
- May 25 - Lauryn Hill, hip-hop singer
- May 27 - Jamie Oliver, British celebrity chef and television personality
- June 4 - Angelina Jolie, American actress
- June 17 - Chloe Jones, pornographic actress
- June 9 - Andrew Symonds, Australian cricketer
- June 18 - Martin St. Louis, hockey player
- June 25 - Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
- July 6 - 50 Cent, rapper
- July 11 - Lil' Kim, rapper
- July 17 - Konnie Huq, Blue Peter presenter
- July 18 - Torii Hunter, baseball player
- July 18 - Daron Malakian, guitarist/vocalist of System of a Down
- July 27 - Shea Hillenbrand, baseball player
- July 27 - Alex Rodriguez, baseball player
- July 30 - Graham Nicholls, British artist
- August 7 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
- August 15 - Kara Wolters, American basketball player
September-December
- September 17 - Constantine Maroulis, American singer
- September 17 - Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR race car driver
- September 23 - Chris Hawkins, radio personality, presenter and DJ
- September 25 - Matt Hasselbeck, American football quarterback
- October 5 - Kate Winslet, actress
- October 23 - Odalys Garcia, Cuban-born actress
- November 10 - Markko Märtin, Estonian rally driver
- November 18 - David Ortiz, Major League Baseball All-Star
- November 19 - Sushmita Sen, Indian actress, Miss World winner
- November 20 - Dierks Bentley, country music singer, musician
- November 20 - Davey Havok, lead singer of AFI
- December 13 - Tom Delonge, Guitarist/Singer in blink-182
- December 17 - Milla Jovovich, actress, model
- December 23 - Sky Lopez, pornographic actress
- December 27 - Heather O'Rourke, child actress, star of the Poltergeist movie series (d. 1988)
- December 30 - Tiger Woods, golf superstar
Deaths
- unknown - Will Mastin, vaudevillian
January-March
- January 8 - Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
- January 19 - Thomas Hart Benton, American artist (b. 1889)
- January 24 - Larry Fine, American actor and comedian (b. 1902)
- January 27 - Bill Walsh, American film producer and writer (b. 1913)
- February 4 - Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)
- February 10 - Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (stroke) (b. 1910)
- February 13 - André Beaufre (general), French general (b. 1902)
- February 14 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
- February 14 - P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)
- February 16 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete (b. 1903)
- February 19 - Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (b. 1904)
- February 24 - Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
- February 25 - Elijah Muhammad, American Black Muslim leader (b. 1897)
- February 26 - Stephen Tibble, London police officer (shot) (b. 1953)
- March 7 - Ben Blue, Canadian actor and comedian (b. 1901)
- March 8 - George Stevens, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1904)
- March 14 - Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
- March 15 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1900)
- March 16 - T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
- March 24 - Ivo Andric, Croatian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. 1906)
April-August
- April 5 - Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China
- April 13 - N'Garta Tombalbaye, President of Chad
- April 17 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and president
- April 23 - William Hartnell, British actor (b. 1908)
- April 30 - Gen Paul, French artist
- May 5 - Moe Howard, American actor (b. 1897)
- May 8 - Avery Brundage, American President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
- May 13 - Bob Wills, American musician (b. 1905)
- May 18 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)
- May 23 - Moms Mabley, American comedienne (b. 1894)
- May 30 - Steve Prefontaine, American distance runner (b. 1951)
- June 26 - Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and founder of Opus Dei (b. 1902)
- June 28 - Rod Serling, American television screenwriter (b. 1924)
- July 17 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)
- July 29 - James Blish, American writer (b. 1921)
- August 8 - Julian Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (b. 1928)
- August 9 - Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (b. 1906)
- August 16 - Vladimir Kuts, Soviet runner (b. 1927)
- August 28 - Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor
- August 29 - Eamon de Valera, Taoiseach & third President of Ireland (b. 1882)
September-December
- September 10 - George Paget Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
- September 20 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and poet (b. 1887)
- September 24 - Earle Cabell, Texas politician (b. 1906)
- September 27 - Jack Lang, Australian politician (b. 1876)
- October 10 - Norman Levinson, American mathematician (b. 1912)
- October 21 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (b. 1889)
- October 30 - Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- November 2 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director (b. 1922)
- November 20 - Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain (b. 1892)
- November 27 - Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (b. 1925)
- November 29 - Graham Hill, English racing driver and 2-time Formula 1 champion (b. 1929)
- November 29 - Tony Brise, English racing driver (b. 1952)
- December 1 - Anna E. Roosevelt, radio personality (b. 1906)
- December 1 - Nellie Fox, baseball player (b. 1927)
- December 24 - Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (b. 1911)