Events from the year 1974 in the United States.
Incumbents Federal government President: Richard Nixon (R-California) (until August 9) Gerald Ford (R-Michigan) (starting August 9) Vice President: Gerald Ford (R-Michigan) (until August 9) vacant (August 9 – December 19) Nelson Rockefeller (R-New York) (starting December 19) Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Carl Albert (D-Oklahoma) Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) Congress: 93rd
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events January January 4 Citing executive privilege, President Richard Nixon refuses to surrender 500 tapes and documents which have been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. Joni Lenz is attacked in her bedroom by serial killer Ted Bundy in Washington; she survives. January 6 – In response to the energy crisis, Daylight Saving Time commences nearly four months early in the United States. January 13 – The Miami Dolphins repeat as National Football League champions, routing the Minnesota Vikings 24–7 in Super Bowl VIII. January 15 – Happy Days, a sitcom about life in the 1950s, debuts on ABC. January 19 – In college (men's) basketball, Notre Dame defeats UCLA 71–70, ending the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak. January 30 – In his State of the Union Address, President Nixon declares, "One year of Watergate is enough."
February February 4 – Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped from her Berkeley, California apartment by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. February 8 – After a record 84 days in orbit, the crew of Skylab 4 returns to Earth. February 12 – U.S. District Court Judge Geoerge Boldt rules that Native American tribes in Washington state are entitled to half of the legal salmon and steelhead catches, based on treaties signed by the tribes and the U.S. government. February 22 – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an airplane with the intent to crash it into the White House and assassinate President Nixon. He commits suicide when police storm the plane. February 28 – Egypt and the United States re-establish normal diplomatic relations.
March March 1 – Watergate scandal: Seven former White House officials are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. March 4 – People magazine's first issue is published in the U.S., with Mia Farrow on the cover. March 18 Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a 5-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan. After 23 consecutive years on television, Lucille Ball appears in the finale of Here's Lucy. March 19 – First recorded crime, a ransacking in Visalia, California, definitely attributable to Joseph James DeAngelo, at this time a police officer, who will commit at least 13 murders, 51 rapes and 120 burglaries up to 1986; he will not be arrested until 2018. March 29 – Mariner 10 approaches Mercury. March 30 – North Carolina State defeats UCLA in the semifinals of the 1974 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, ending the Bruins' record run of seven consecutive national championships.
April April 2 – The 46th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross, John Huston and David Niven, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. George Roy Hill's The Sting wins seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Hill. The film is tied with William Friedkin's The Exorcist in receiving ten nominations. April 3 – The 1974 Super Outbreak, at the time the largest series of tornadoes in history, occurs in 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province, leaving over 300 people dead, over 5,000 people injured, and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. April 4 – Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth for the all-time home run record with his 714th at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. April 6 – California Jam is held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, attracting 250,000 fans. April 8 – Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks Babe Ruth's home run record, by hitting his 715th career home run off of a pitch by Los Angeles Dodgers' Al Downing at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. April 15 – In San Francisco, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army rob a branch of the Hibernia Bank, joined by Patricia Hearst. April 20 – Voters in Louisiana approve a new state constitution, replacing a 225,000-word document which had first been adopted in 1921. April 22 – Hi-Fi Murders: Five people are brutally tortured by a group of men during a robbery at a home audio store in Ogden, Utah, resulting in three deaths.
May May 4 – The Expo '74 World's Fair opens in Spokane, Washington. May 9 – The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal hearings in the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. May 12 – The Boston Celtics win their 12th National Basketball Association championship, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks 102–87 in the decisive game of the World Championship Series. May 17 – Los Angeles police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall and SLA leader Donald DeFreeze. May 18 – Heaven's Gate, an American millenarian New Age religious group, is founded by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. May 19 – The Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Boston Bruins, thereby becoming the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. May 30 Johnny Rutherford wins the first of three Indianapolis 500 automobile races. NASA's ATS-6 satellite is launched. May – Bavarian Autosport is founded in Stratham, New Hampshire.
June June 4 – The Cleveland Indians stage an ill-advised Ten Cent Beer Night for a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Cleveland forfeits after alcohol-fueled mayhem and violence spreads from the stands onto the field. June 26 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time, to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. June 29 – America Sings attraction opens to the public for the first time at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. June 30 – Alberta Williams King, mother of the late Martin Luther King Jr., is killed during a church service in Atlanta, Georgia.
July July 1 – Six Flags Great Adventure opens for the first time. July 8 – Two weeks after the attraction's opening, an 18-year-old employee is crushed to her death while working on America Sings at Disneyland. This is the first employee fatality at a Disney Park. July 11–17 – Baltimore police strike. July 14 – In Issaquah, Washington, serial killer Ted Bundy abducts Janice Ott and Denise Naslund in broad daylight at Lake Sammamish State Park. July 15 – Christine Chubbuck, television presenter for WXLT-TV Sarasota, Florida, draws a revolver and shoots herself in the head during a live broadcast. She dies in a hospital 14 hours later, the first person to commit suicide on live television. July 16 – Elmer Wayne Henley is sentenced to life imprisonment for assisting Dean Corll in murdering 28 Texas boys from 1970 to 1973. July 24 – Watergate scandal – United States v. Nixon: The Supreme Court rules 8–0 with one abstention that President Richard Nixon cannot withhold subpoenaed White House tapes, and orders him to surrender them to the Watergate special prosecutor. July 27–30 – Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment, charging President Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee.
August
August 5 – Watergate scandal: The "smoking gun" tape of June 23, 1972, is revealed, in which President Richard Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman discuss using the Central Intelligence Agency to block a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into Watergate. Nixon's support in Congress collapses. August 7 Three Republican congressional leaders (Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott and John Rhodes) visit President Nixon in the White House. They inform him that he lacks the votes to escape impeachment in the House of Representatives and conviction in the Senate. Goldwater urges Nixon to resign. French acrobat Philippe Petit walks across a high wire slung between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. August 8 – Watergate scandal: President Nixon announces his resignation (effective August 9). August 9 – Richard Nixon becomes the first president of the United States to resign from office, an action taken to avoid being removed by impeachment and conviction in response to his role in the Watergate scandal. Vice President Gerald R. Ford becomes the 38th president upon Nixon's resignation, taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House. August 30 – Public Law 93-400 is enacted, establishing the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (see Federal Acquisition Regulation).
September September 1 – Daredevil Bob Gill fails a world-record attempt to jump Appalachia Lake in West Virginia. September 8 Watergate scandal: President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office. Stuntman Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to rocket across the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. September 16 – In Newport, Rhode Island, America's Cup defender "Courageous", skippered by Ted Hood, wins over Australian challenger "Southern Cross".
October
October 2 – U.S. release of film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Jerry Stiller. October 8 – Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement (the largest bank failure at that time in the history of the United States). October 15 – President Gerald Ford signs a federal campaign reform bill, which sets new regulations in the wake of the Watergate scandal. October 17 President Gerald Ford voluntarily appears before Congress to give sworn testimony—the only time a sitting president has done so—about the pardon of Richard Nixon. The Oakland Athletics win their third consecutive Major League Baseball championship, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in the World Series. October 30 – "The Rumble in the Jungle" takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire, where Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in 8 rounds to regain the Heavyweight title, which had been stripped from him 7 years earlier.
November November 5 – Democrats make significant gains in the U.S. Congressional midterm elections, as the Republican Party suffers losses over the Watergate scandal. November 8 – In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy. She goes on to testify against him at his trial. November 13 – Ronald DeFeo Jr. murders his family in Amityville, New York. November 20 – The United States Department of Justice files its final antitrust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and the Bell System.
December December 4 – The Pioneer 11 probe passes Jupiter and captures famous images of the Great Red Spot.
December 10 – United States Senate confirms Nelson Rockefeller as vice president. December 19 – United States House of Representatives confirms Rockefeller as Vice President of the United States. He is sworn that evening. December 21 – The New York Times reveals illegal domestic spying by the CIA. December 23 – Former British government minister John Stonehouse, who faked his drowning in Florida, is arrested in Melbourne, Australia. December 31 – Restrictions on holding private gold within the United States, implemented by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, are removed.
Undated Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game, designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, is first released, in the United States.