Events from the year 1975 in the United States.
Incumbents Federal government President: Gerald Ford (R-Michigan) Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller (R-New York) 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 (until January 3), 94th (starting January 3)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January January – Volkswagen introduces the Golf, its new front-wheel-drive economy car, in the United States and Canada as the Volkswagen Rabbit. January 1 – Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up. January 2 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress. January 6 AM America makes its television debut on ABC. Wheel of Fortune premieres on NBC. The Indiana Law Enforcement Academy begins operations. January 8 Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman U.S. governor who did not succeed her husband. President Gerald Ford appoints Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to head a special commission looking into alleged domestic abuses by the CIA. January 12 – Super Bowl IX: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Minnesota Vikings 16–6 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. January 15 The Carousel of Progress moves to Walt Disney World from Disneyland. Steel roller coaster Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom) opens at Walt Disney World in Florida, becoming one of the park's most popular attractions into the 21st century. January 18 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is divided between the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, partly in response to the 1973 oil crisis. January 20 – Talent agent Michael Ovitz founds the Creative Artists Agency. January 26 – Immaculata University defeats the University of Maryland 80–48 in the first nationally televised women's basketball game in the United States. January 28 – Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown premieres on CBS, but did not win the Nielsen Ratings (Rival NBC won that day at the 8PM Hour). January 29 – The Weather Underground bombs the U.S. State Department main office in Washington, D.C.
February February 2 – The 7.6 Near Islands earthquake hits the Aleutian Islands in Alaska with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), injuring 15. February 3 – The New World Liberation Front, a left-wing terrorist group, attacks the Pillar Point Air Force Station, but their pipe bombs fail to ignite their targets, leading to a diesel fuel spill.Smookler, Michael (2005). San Mateo County Coast. Arcadia. p. 125. . . February 13 – Fire breaks out in the World Trade Center. 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.
March March 6 – The Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience for the first time by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory. March 9 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins. March 10 – The Rocky Horror Show opens on Broadway in New York City with 4 performances. March 19 – The release of Tommy, a musical/drama produced by Ken Russel and Robert Stigwood. March 29 – Blow by Blow by Jeff Beck is released. It would become his most successful album in the United States, reaching the top five and selling over one million copies. March 30 – James Ruppert murders 11 family members inside his home on Easter Sunday. March 31 – In his final game on the sideline, John Wooden coaches UCLA to its 10th national championship in 12 seasons when the Bruins defeat Kentucky 92–85 in the title game at San Diego.
April 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, killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash. Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. April 8 – The 47th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II wins six awards (twice as many as its predecessor), including Best Picture and Best Director for Coppola. The sequel is tied with Roman Polanski's Chinatown in receiving 11 nominations. It is the final ceremony aired by NBC. April 15 – Karen Ann Quinlan, 21, faints after consuming Quaaludes at a party. She becomes a controversial subject in the right to die movement after her parents sue to have her comatose body removed from life-support. She lives off a feeding tube until 1985. April 29 – Operation Frequent Wind – Americans and their allies are evacuated from South Vietnam by helicopter. April 30 – Vietnam War: The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon, resulting in mass evacuations of Americans and South Vietnamese. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.
May
May – The unemployment rate peaks at 9.0% ending the Post-War Boom. May 5 – The Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, originally known as Busch Gardens: The Old Country, opens in Williamsburg, Virginia. May 6 – A violent F4 tornado hits the Omaha metropolitan area, killing three and injuring more than 137. May 12 – Mayaguez incident: Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia seize the United States merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters. May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines; 38 Americans are killed. May 17 – Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy becomes the first album to enter the US Billboard 200 album chart at Number One. May 25 The Golden State Warriors win the 1975 NBA basketball championship, defeating the Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep. Indianapolis 500: Bobby Unser wins for a second time in a rain-shorted 174 lap, 435 mile (696 km) race. May 27 – In the National Hockey League, The Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Buffalo Sabres 2–0 in game six of the finals to claim their second straight Stanley Cup. May 30 – American distance runner Steve Prefontaine dies in a car accident in Eugene, Oregon.
June
June 1 – President Ford meets with President Sadat of Egypt for peace talks in the Middle East in Salzburg, Austria, where he famously tumbles on the last steps out of Air Force One. June 10 – In Washington, DC, the Rockefeller Commission issues its report on CIA abuses, recommending a joint congressional oversight committee on intelligence. June 20 – Universal Pictures releases Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestseller Jaws in 409 cinemas across the United States. The coupling of this broad distribution pattern with the movie's then even rarer national television marketing campaign has yielded a release method virtually unheard-of. Regardless, the film ultimately brings in $123.1 million by the end of its initial run, and is considered to be the first modern blockbuster as a result. June 24 – Eastern Airlines Flight 66 crashes in New York City while attempting to land at JFK International Airport from New Orleans due to a microburst, killing 113 of the 124 on board. June 26 – Two FBI agents and one AIM member die in a shootout at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
July
July 6 – Ruffian, an American champion thoroughbred racehorse breaks down in a match race against Kentucky Derby winner, Foolish Pleasure; she has to be euthanized the following day. July 17 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations. It is also the last Apollo mission and the last crewed U.S. space mission until STS-1 (the first Space Shuttle orbital flight). July 22 – Stanley Forman takes the photo Fire Escape Collapse. July 25 – A Chorus Line debuts on Broadway July 30 – In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing. He is never found and is declared dead in absentia in 1982.
August
August 1 – The 5.7 Oroville earthquake affects Butte County, California, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), injuring 10 and causing $3 million in damage. August 3 – The Louisiana Superdome opens in New Orleans. August 5 – President Ford posthumously pardons Robert E. Lee, restoring full rights of citizenship. August 7–11 – The Special Olympics World Games take place in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. August 8 – Samuel Bronfman II, son of Seagram president Edgar Bronfman, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York. He is rescued after a ransom is paid. August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars. August 25 – Bruce Springsteen's album Born to Run is released.
September September 5 – In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme, a follower of jailed cult leader Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent. September 9 – Riverfront Coliseum opens in Cincinnati. September 14 – Elizabeth Seton is canonized, becoming the first American Roman Catholic saint. September 18 – Fugitive Patricia Hearst is captured in San Francisco. September 22 – President Gerald Ford survives a second assassination attempt, this time by Sara Jane Moore in San Francisco.
October October 1 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines. October 11 – NBC airs the first episode of Saturday Night Live (George Carlin is the first host; Billy Preston and Janis Ian the first musical guests). October 21 – 1975 World Series: US baseball team the Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds in Game 6 off Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning home run in one of the most famous World Series games ever played. The following day, the series ends with Game 7 victory by the Reds, in a broadcast that breaks records for a televised sporting event.
November November 3 An independent audit of Mattel, one 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". The long-running television game show The Price Is Right expands from 30 minutes to its current hour-long format on CBS. November 5 – Travis Walton, a 22-year-old logger, is working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest with six co-workers near Snowflake, Arizona, when he suddenly disappears. Walton is found five days later and says that he has been abducted by extraterrestrial aliens. His book, The Walton Experience (1978), will become the basis for a film, Fire in the Sky (1993). November 10 – The bulk carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sinks 15 miles off of Whitefish Point, Michigan, losing all 29 crew on board. November 20 – Former California Governor Ronald Reagan enters the race for the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, challenging incumbent President Gerald Ford. 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 becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976). While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.