The following events occurred in March 1972:
March 1, 1972 (Wednesday) The Buffalo River in Arkansas became the first American river to become part of the protected National Wild and Scenic Rivers program.Diana Steward, A Rough Sort of Beauty: Reflections on the Natural Heritage of Arkansas (University of Arkansas Press, 2002), p89 Juan María Bordaberry was inaugurated as the newly elected President of Uruguay, and soon assumed dictatorial power, including the operation of the nation's courts by the military under his command.Mark Gibney, Judicial Protection of Human Rights: Myths of Reality? (Praeger 1999), p94
March 2, 1972 (Thursday) Pioneer 10 was launched from the Cape Kennedy at "Pioneer Blasts for Jupiter", Star-News (Pasadena, CA), March 3, 1972, p1 Bearing a 6-by-9-inch gold anodized plaque that contained a message for alien civilizations, the American probe attained a record speed of more than 30,000 m.p.h. on its way to the planet Jupiter, which it would reach on December 3, 1973. Pioneer 10 became, on June 13, 1983, the first man-made object to depart the Solar System, moving toward the star Aldebaran. The last transmissions from Pioneer 10 were received on March 31, 1997, and the last signal was received on January 22, 2003.Michel Van Pelt, Space Invaders: How Robotic Spacecraft Explore the Solar System (Springer, 2006), pp69–70 Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced in the House of Commons that the Government of the UK would no longer use the "five techniques" of torture in the interrogation of prisoners. Heath's decision came on the same day as the publication of the "Parker Report" from a committee of inquiry chaired by Hubert Parker, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, finding the techniques to be illegal and immoral. The five techniques were wall-standing (prolonged standing in a stress position, hooding to prevent sight, loud noise, sleep deprivation and deprivation of food and drink, and had been used in Northern Ireland starting on August 9, 1971 in Operation Demetrius, the mass arrest of 342 suspected Irish Republican Army members and sympathizers. The student senate at Stanford University voted, 18–4, to accept the recommendation that the school's athletic teams drop the nickname "Stanford Indians"."Students Vote to Drop Stanford Indian Symbol", Oakland Tribune, March 3, 1972, p1 Other college and high school teams would follow, retiring names such as Indians, Redskins, Braves, and other Native American referencing mascots.
Born: Phil Watkins From Pontypool, South Wales UK, born on this day.
March 3, 1972 (Friday) After more than 48 years, the carving of the bas relief sculpture on Stone Mountain (near Atlanta) was completed under the direction of Walker Hancock. The 90 foot high representation of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson had been started on June 23, 1923, by Gutzon Borglum. Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashed into a house on Edgewood Avenue in Albany, New York, killing 16 of the 47 people on board, and one person in an upstairs apartment. The impact happened at after the commuter plane lost power during a snowstorm."Plane hits residence, killing 17", Syracuse Herald-Journal, March 4, 1972, p1 Born: Darren Anderton, English footballer, in Southampton
March 4, 1972 (Saturday) "About 1.1 million young people reached adulthood at midnight", as the New York Times described it, when a law took effect in California to lower the age of majority from 21 to 18.Karen M. Staller, Runaways: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped Today's Practices and Policies (Columbia University Press, 2006), p20 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as sung by Roberta Flack, entered the Billboard Magazine charts at No. 77. Within six weeks, it hit No. 1 and remained for six more weeks, becoming the best selling single of 1972.Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (5th ed., Billboard Books, 2003), p310 Stoke City beat Chelsea 2–1 to win the 1972 Football League Cup Final, before a crowd of 100,000 at Wembley Stadium. Born: Pae Gil-Su, North Korean gymnast
March 5, 1972 (Sunday) Prime Minister Edward Heath informed the House of Commons that the United Kingdom had renounced the use of the five techniques for deep interrogation (hooding, wall-standing, subjection to noise, "relative" deprivation of food and drink, and sleep deprivation).Donald W. Jackson, The United Kingdom Confronts the European Convention on Human Rights (University Press of Florida, 1997), pp38, 58
March 6, 1972 (Monday) The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party adopted a resolution condemning Tbilisi city authorities in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic for corruption, failure to meet economic goals, and liberalism in personnel policies. The action was the beginning of the end of the rule of Georgian First Secretary Vasil Mzhavanadze, and his replacement in that job by Eduard Shevardnadze.Ronald Grigor Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation (Indiana University Press, 1994), pp305–306 United States immigration authorities revoked the visa of John Lennon.Don and Jeff Breithaupt, Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early Seventies (St. Martin's Griffin, 1996), p73 Born: Shaquille O'Neal, American NBA star, in Newark, New Jersey
March 7, 1972 (Tuesday) TWA Flight 7 was half an hour into its flight from New York to Los Angeles when the airline's officials were notified that it had a time bomb on board. The plane landed back at JFK at . A trained German shepherd named "Brandy" sniffed out the explosive, found in an attache case in the cockpit. With five pounds of C4, the device would have destroyed the , with 52 on board, in midflight at . Police defused the explosive with 12 minutes to spare."$2Million Ransom Note Sparks Plane Search, Dogs Find Bomb", Salt Lake Tribune, March 8, 1972, p1 Federal Express was granted an FAA Operating Certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration, permitting it to operate jet service to deliver packages.Roger Frock, Changing How the World Does Business: FedEx's Incredible Journey to Success (Publishers Group West, 2006), pp33–34
March 8, 1972 (Wednesday) As the extortion plot against Trans World Airlines continued, a C4 packed time bomb was found on a second . Hidden in a bathroom, the bomb exploded at while the jet sat, unoccupied, at the airport in Las Vegas. Two searches had failed to detect the explosive. The plane had arrived seven hours earlier from New York. The plotters had warned TWA about bombs on four separate flights, and had demanded a $2,000,000 ransom."Bomb tears hole in jet at airport in Las Vegas", Reno Evening Gazette, March 8, 1972, p1 The highest recorded speed for a gust of wind was measured at 207 m.p.h. during a storm at Thule Air Base in Greenland.Christopher C. Burt, Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book (W.W. Norton, 2007), p247 President Nixon issued Executive Order 11652, setting standards for top secret, secret, and confidential classifications of government documents, as well as a schedule of declassification. EO 11652 was superseded by the orders of later American Presidents, and classified information is now governed by Executive Order 13292.Herbert N Foerstel, Free Expression and Censorship in America: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Press, 1997), pp 160–61 Born: Andrey Melnichenko, Russian billionaire, in Gomel, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union Died: Erich von dem Bach, 73, Nazi SS-Obergruppenführer who crushed the Warsaw Uprising
March 9, 1972 (Thursday) The Volkskammer voted to legalize abortion in East Germany, although 14 legislators voted against the bill and another 8 abstained, a rarity in a Communist state.Peter W. Sperlich, Oppression and Scarcity: The History and Institutional Structure of the Marxist-Leninist Government of East Germany and Some Perspectives on Life in a Socialist System (Praeger 2006), p53 The new law gave a woman, rather than a government board, the right to terminate her pregnancy within the first 12 weeks after conception, effective immediately. The number of legal abortions went from 18,700 in 1971 to 115,600 in 1972.Henry P. David, ed., From Abortion to Contraception: A Resource to Public Policies and Reproductive Behavior in Central and Eastern Europe from 1917 to the Present (Greenwood Press, 1999), p136 Died: Basil O'Connor, 80, co-founder of the March of Dimes
March 10, 1972 (Friday) Broadcaster Larry King was cleared of charges of grand larceny that had been brought by a former business partner. His arrest in December 1971 nearly ruined his career, and King would work at various radio jobs before getting a nationally syndicated talk show in 1978. In 1985, he would launch Larry King Live on CNN.Horace Newcomb, Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television, Vol. 1 (CRC Press, 2004), pp1264–1265 Born: Takashi Fujii, Japanese comedian, in Toyonaka, Osaka; Matt Kenseth, American NASCAR driver, in Cambridge, Wisconsin Michael Lucas (stage name for Andrei Lvovich Treivas), Russian-born gay pornographic actor and director, founder of Lucas Entertainment; in Moscow Timbaland (stage name for Timothy Zachery Mosley), American rapper; in Norfolk, Virginia.
March 11, 1972 (Saturday) Carnival Cruise Lines made its very first voyage, as the Mardi Gras departed Miami for an 8-day cruise ... and ran aground on a sandbar. The 530 passengers, most of whom were travel agents and their families, continued to enjoy themselves until tugboats dislodged the ship the next day, and the new company received national publicity from the incident.Brian J. Cudahy, The Cruise Ship Phenomenon in North America (Cornell Maritime Press, 2001), pp45–46 Died: Fredric Brown, 65, science fiction and mystery author Zack Wheat, 83, Baseball Hall of Famer and Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder
March 12, 1972 (Sunday) Britain's Granada Television telecast a one-hour drama by Brian Clark, called Whose Life Is It Anyway?. The videotaped story became a popular stage play in 1978 and a film in 1981.Joel Steinberg, The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law, Vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 1988) The European satellite TD-1A was launched, designed to be the first to measure the ultraviolet spectrum.The Century of Space Science, Vol. I (Kluwer, 2002), p919 The last troops from India were withdrawn from Bangladesh, whose independence they had secured from Pakistan in December.Brian Crozier, Political Victory: The Elusive Prize of Military Wars (Transaction Publishers, 2005), pp79–80 Gordie Howe's No. 9 jersey was retired by the Detroit Red Wings and Bill Russell's No. 6 was retired by the Boston Celtics.
March 13, 1972 (Monday) The Australian soap opera Number 96 made its debut on Network Ten, after an ad campaign with the slogan "Tonight at 8:30, Television loses its virginity!". During its five-year run, the show would break taboos against showing nudity and sexual intercourse. On United States television, The Merv Griffin Show returned as a syndicated program after two years at the CBS Network's 11:30 time slot and began a successful and award-winning run that ended in 1986. Clifford Irving and his wife Edith pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to charges of conspiracy to defraud and grand larceny. Irving admitted that he had made up the autobiography of Howard Hughes, for which he had received an advance from McGraw-Hill. Born: Common (rapper) (born Lonnie Rashid Lynn), American rapper and actor; in Chicago, Illinois
March 14, 1972 (Tuesday) Sterling Airways Flight 267, which was bringing Danish vacationers home from a holiday in Sri Lanka, crashed on its approach to the Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates. All 112 people on board were killed.; "112 Die as Danish Jetliner Crashes on Arab Island", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 17, 1972, p1
March 15, 1972 (Wednesday)