The following events occurred in December 1970:
December 1, 1970 (Tuesday) Italy's Chamber of Deputies voted, 319 to 286, to join the Senate of the Republic in approving a bill to legalize divorce "Italy's Parliament OKs Divorce Bill", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 1, 1970, p1 President Giovanni Leone signed the bill and the Law 1970 no. 898 went into effect on December 18."Heated Start For Italian Divorce Law", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 19, 1970, p5 Yousuf Khan Sher Bano, directed by Aziz Tabassum and produced by Nazir Hussain, was released in Pakistan, as the first Pashto-language film in the nation. Although thousands of Urdu language films had been produced since 1930, Pashto cinema (sometimes called Pollywood) had not been financed. The Basque ETA kidnapped West Germany diplomat Eugen Beihl in San Sebastián."Diplomat Is Missing", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 2, 1970, p5"Kidnaping Adds To Spain's Woes", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 3, 1970, p5 [note--the spelling was acceptable in 1970] The ETA released Beihl on Christmas Eve. Luis Echeverría was inaugurated as the 50th President of Mexico for a six-year term. He used his inaugural address to criticize "Mexican empresarios who sell thriving businesses" to foreign investors as people who "pawn the inheritance of their children", and pledged that his administration would give preference "to foreign investors who establish new industries, run by Mexicans, which contribute to the technological revolution."Echeverria Takes Office; Pledges Industrialization", El Paso (TX) Herald-Post, December 1, 1970, p1 The People's Republic of Southern Yemen was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen by the National Liberation Front, led by President Salim Rubai Ali, with a new constitution for the former Aden Protectorate."Republic Of South Yemen Given New Name Again", AP report in Lebanon (PA) Daily News, December 1, 1970, p22 Sweden repatriated two American soldiers, who had deserted the United States Army to avoid service in the Vietnam War, on a flight from Stockholm to New York."Sweden Sends Back Two GI Deserters", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 3, 1970, p1 The two men had been granted safe haven until they broke Sweden's narcotics laws, and deported after completing sentences of nine months in prison. What Color Is Your Parachute?, a bestselling self-help book by Richard Nelson Bolles intended for job-seekers, was first published by the author, who later found a publisher in 1972. In 1991, the Library of Congress would name Bolles' book as one of "25 books that have shaped readers' lives" "What Happened to Your Parachute?", by Daniel H. Pink, FastCompany.com, August 31, 1999 Born: Sarah Silverman, American comedian, screenwriter and TV actress, winner of two Emmy Awards Died: William "Rip" Robertson, 50, American CIA officer; from malaria Ruth Law Oliver, 83, early American aviator
December 2, 1970 (Wednesday)
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began operations five months after a governmental reorganization plan had been issued by U.S. President Richard M. Nixon."U.S. Environmental Agency Is Launched— To Establish Standards For Pollution War", Logan (OH) Daily News, December 2, 1970, p1 The agency's first administrator, William Ruckelshaus, was sworn into office two days later. Born: Treach (stage name for Anthony Criss), American rapper for Naughty by Nature and actor; in East Orange, New Jersey
December 3, 1970 (Thursday) In Montreal, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross was released by the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days, turning him over to a Cuban delegation at the negotiation site where the Expo '67 World's Fair had been held."Canada Terrorists 'Free' Briton— Kidnapers Allowed To Escape to Cuba", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 4, 1970, p1 Police negotiated his release and in return, the Government of Canada granted five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba, and Cross was set free after confirmation that the flight from Montreal had arrived safely in Havana. The U.S. Senate voted, 52 to 41, to end further funding of the development of an American supersonic transport (SST) plane by slashing $290,000,000 earmarked in U.S. Department of Transportation funds "Senate Rejects Further Spending On SST Plane", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 4, 1970, p1 Japan's Bureau of Statistics reported that the population of that nation had passed 100 million people for the first time, a 5.5% increase since 1965. According to the census results, Japan's population on October 1, 1970, was 102,703,552 "Japan's Population Exceeds 100 Million", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 4, 1970, p1 In Burgos, Spain, the trial of 16 Basque terrorism suspects began."Spain to Try 16 Despite Kidnap", Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1970, p5 The members of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or "Basque Homeland and Liberty") had been indicted following the 1968 murder of a superintendent of a branch of the secret police, Melitón Manzanas, in Irun on August 2, 1968. Born: Jimmy Sheirgill (stage name for Jasjit Singh Gill), Indian film actor and producer; in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, South Dakota's U.S. Representative from 2004 to 2011, and president of Augustana University; in Aberdeen, South Dakota
December 4, 1970 (Friday) The Spanish government declared a three-month period of martial law in Burgos and the surrounding province of Guipuzcoa, after 15,000 workers walked out on strike to protest the trial."Emergency Declared In Spain— 16 Basques' Trial Disrupts Province", Arizona Daily Star (Tucson AZ), December 5, 1970, p12 The United Nations announced that its investigators concluded that Portuguese Navy and Army units had been responsible for the attempted invasion of Guinea in November, despite Portugal's assertions that it had not crossed over from its colony into the west African republic."U.N. Inquiry Supports Guinea Invasion Claim", Los Angeles Times, December 5, 1970, p1 Born: Kevin Sussman, American TV actor best known as Stuart on The Big Bang Theory; in New York City Fat Pat (stage name for Patrick Hawkins), American rapper; in Houston (murdered 1998)
December 5, 1970 (Saturday) The #1 ranked University of Texas Longhorns college football team defeated their conference rival, the #4 ranked University of Arkansas Razorbacks, 42 to 7, to close the regular season unbeaten (10-0-0) and to win a share of the mythical 1970 college football championship."Forget the Vote: Texas Is No. 1-- 42-7 Over Arkansas", December 6, 1970, pD-1 At the time, the United Press International poll of college coaches made its final decision before the post-season bowl games were played, and voted Texas number one in its final poll."Texas National Grid Champ In Final UPI Coaches Poll", Columbus (IN) Republic, December 8, 1970, p10 Texas lost the Cotton Bowl on January 1, however, to the #6 ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame the Associated Press poll of sportswriters voted the Nebraska Cornhuskers as their pick for national champion. Born: Martin Selmayr, West German-born Secretary-General of the European Commission; in Bonn Tim Hetherington, English photojournalist; in Birkenhead, Cheshire (d. 2011 covering the Libyan civil war)
December 6, 1970 (Sunday) What appeared at first to be a routine freight car derailment in western New York state began at about 3:30 in the morning "Derailed Train Spills Cyanide— 25 Cars Jump Tracks at LeRoy", Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, December 7, 1970, pB-1 when 25 railroad cars came off the track near Le Roy, New York and spilled more than of the industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) that seeped into the groundwater serving the wells of the Genesee County community. By 1991, state health department officials would discover that the contamination from TCE had spread into 31 well sites in Genesee County and neighboring Monroe County and Livingston County"1970 spill still haunts 3 counties— Pollutant now taints 31 private water wells", by Emil Venere, Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, October 18, 1991, p3B and the site of the spill would be added to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's list of Superfund cleanup sites in 1999 "EPA Places Site in Genesee County on the Final Superfund National Priorities List", EPA website, January 19, 1999 Born: Ulf Ekberg, Swedish pop musician and co-founder of Ace of Base; in Gothenburg Died: U.S. Air Force General Thomas S. Power, 65, director of the U.S. Strategic Air Command during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Jean Déré, 84, French classical composer
December 7, 1970 (Monday) Voting began in the first ever nationwide election in Pakistan (which, at the time, included Bangladesh as the province of East Pakistan) for the 313-member National Assembly. The result was that the Awami League won 160 of the 162 seats that had been reserved for East Pakistan, while the Pakistan People's Party won only 81 of the 138 seats reserved for West Pakistan, the other 57 being split among various political parties. The government of Pakistan, dominated since its 1947 independence by the Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis of the side west of India, was scheduled to be controlled by the Bengalis of the side east of India, whose Awami League representatives had an absolute majority. The resistance by Pakistan's President Yahya Khan and Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to allowing the elected Assembly to form an East Pakistan controlled government would lead to a civil war and the breakup of the Islamic nation in 1971.
During his visit to the Polish capital, German Chancellor Willy Brandt went down on his knees in front of the monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto, then placed a wreath at the site. The symbolic act of German remorse for its persecution of Poland's Jews would become known as the Warschauer Kniefall ("the Warsaw Kneeling"). Brandt then signed the treaty with Poland, acknowledging West Germany's acceptance of the cession of former German territory east of the Oder river. Giovanni Enrico Bucher, Switzerland's ambassador to Brazil, was kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro; kidnappers demanded the release of 70 political prisoners. Bucher would be freed on January 16 after 40 days as a hostage, following Brazil's deportation of the 70 prisoners to Chile. On the 29th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, George Ariyoshi was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, the highest level up to that time attained in politics by a person of Japanese ancestry. Ariyoshi, who had been running mate in the reelection campaign of Governor John A. Burns, said in his inaugural address, "Governor Burns has often said that Hawaii is the impossible dream come true. And in a real sense today is an impossible dream to come true— for the son of immigrant parents born and reared in the slums of Honolulu." Ariyoshi, 15 years old at the time of the 1941 bombing, would succeed Burns as Governor of Hawaii in 1974. Born: Lado Gurgenidze, Prime Minister of Georgia from 2007 to 2008; in Tbilisi Died: Rube Goldberg, 87, popular American cartoonist. His death came less than two weeks after he appeared at a dinner at the Smithsonian Institution to celebrate the opening of an exhibition of his work, including working models of his humorous conceptions "agonizingly intricate inventions to accomplish simple tasks".
December 8, 1970 (Tuesday)