World Events
Population: 3.860 billion
President Nixon makes unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China and meets with Mao Zedong (Feb. 17).
Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace (March 24).
Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group invades Olympic Village; five guerrillas and one policeman are also killed (Sept. 5).
Nixon orders "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam (Dec.). Background: Vietnam War
U.S. Events
President: Richard M. Nixon
Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew
Population: 209,896,021
Life expectancy: 71.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 39.6
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 35.6
US GDP (1998 dollars): $1,237.30 billion
Federal spending: $230.68 billion
Federal debt: $435.9 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $9,697
Consumer Price Index: 41.8
Unemployment: 5.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.08
Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur H. Bremer at Laurel, Md., political rally (May 15).
Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex—start of the Watergate scandal (June 17).
US Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional (June 29).
Sports
Super Bowl
Dallas d. Miami (24-3)
World Series
Oakland A's d. Cincinnati (4-3)
NBA Championship
LA Lakers d. New York (4-1)
Stanley Cup
Boston d. NY Rangers (4-2)
Wimbledon
Women: Billie Jean King d. E. Goolagong (6-3 6-3)
Men: Stan Smith d. I. Nastase (4-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 7-5)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Riva Ridge
NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. Florida St. (81-76)
NCAA Football Champions
USC (12-0-0)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
Music: Windows, Jacob Druckman
Oscars awarded in 1972
Academy Award, Best Picture: The French Connection, Philip D'Antoni, producer (Twentieth Century-Fox)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Heinrich Böll (Germany)
Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: It's Too Late - Carole King
Album of the Year: Tapestry - Carole King (Ode)
Song of the Year: You've Got a Friend - Carole King, songwriter
Miss America: Laurie Lea Schaefer (OH)
Time Inc. transmits HBO, the first pay cable network.
Women dominate the 1971 Grammy Awards, taking all four top categories. Carole King won Record, Album and Song of the Year, while Carly Simon takes the Best New Artist award.
The National Institute of Mental Health and the surgeon general issue a report that claims exposure to violence on television fosters aggression in children.
Gloria Steinem's Ms magazine debuts.
M*A*S*H premieres on CBS.
Atari introduces the arcade version of Pong, the first video game. The home version comes out in 1974.
Movies
The Godfather, Deliverance, Cabaret, Sleuth, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Books
John Ashberry, Three Poems
John Gardner, The Sunlight Dialogues
Maxine Kumin, Up Country
James Merrill, Braving the Elements
Eudora Welty, The Optimist's Daughter
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, and William Howard Stein (all US), for pioneering studies in enzymes.
Physics: John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer (all US), for theory of superconductivity, where electrical resistance in certain metals vanishes above absolute zero temperature.
Physiology or Medicine: Gerald M. Edelman (US), and Rodney R. Porter (UK), for research on the chemical structure and nature of antibodies.
CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanning is developed in England.
The compact disk is developed by RCA (US).
The antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) is developed by Bryan B. Malloy (Scotland) and Klaus K. Schmiegel (US). Background: Health & Nutrition.
The video disk is introduced by Philips Company (Netherlands).
Electronic mail is introduced. Queen Elizabeth will send her first email in 1976. Background: Computers and Internet.
Apollo XVII, the last manned moon landing to date, returns to Earth with 250 pounds of lunar samples. Background: US Staffed Space Flights.
Deaths
Gil Hodges
J. Edgar Hoover
Harry S. Truman