Also Within This Year in History:
1974
1974 was a year of firsts. Richard Nixon, enmeshed in the Watergate scandal, became the first American president to resign from office. Hank Aaron became the first baseball player to top Babe Ruth’s career home run record. Scientists in Ethiopia found the first skeleton of a 3-million-year-old human ancestor that walked upright, while archaeologists in China unearthed an army of more than 8,000 lifesize terracotta warriors. In America, disco fever raged, and Archie Bunker broke TV sitcom ground with his blunt and bigoted take on hot-button social issues.
On January 2, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signs the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, setting a new national maximum speed limit. Prior to 1974, individual states set speed limits…
On February 1, 1974, University of Washington student Lynda Ann Healy disappears from her apartment and is killed by Ted Bundy. The murder marked Bundy’s entry into the ranks of…
On February 2, 1974, a sweet, soft ballad by a 31‑year‑old Barbra Streisand knocks Beatle Ringo Starr down a notch on the Billboard Hot 100. Streisand’s “The Way We Were”…
On February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, the 19‑year‑old granddaughter of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California, by three armed strangers. Her fiancee, Steven…
In one of Hollywood’s zaniest movie premiere stunts, Mel Brooks’ 1974 western spoof Blazing Saddles screens at the Pickwick Drive‑In Theater in Burbank, California. Guests attend not in cars—but on…
Reg Murphy, an editor of The Atlanta Constitution, is kidnapped after being lured from his home near the city. William A.H. Williams told the newspaperman that he had 300,000 gallons…
On February 26, 1974, Nike receives a U.S. patent for its waffle trainer running shoes. Nike co‑founder Bill Bowerman invented the now‑iconic soles in a waffle iron over breakfast. Before…
A DC‑10 jet crashes into a forest outside of Paris, France, killing all 346 people on board, on March 3, 1974. The poor design of the plane, as well as…
On March 4, 1974, actress Mia Farrow from The Great Gatsby graces the cover of the inaugural issue of People, a weekly celebrity and human interest magazine spotlighting the personal…
Journalist Helen Thomas is named United Press International’s White House Bureau Chief on March 6, 1974. At a press conference that day, President Nixon personally congratulates her on becoming the…
On March 29, 1974, prominent Soviet author, historian and political dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is reunited with his family after being exiled from his home country. Publication of The Gulag Archipelago, his…
The unmanned U.S. space probe Mariner 10, launched by NASA in November 1973, becomes the first spacecraft to visit the planet Mercury, sending back close‑up images of a celestial body…
On March 30, 1974, the Ramones play their first New York City gig, launching a punk‑rock revolution. Five months later, on August 16, the four young men from Forest Hills,…
John Denver scores his first #1 song, “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” on March 30, 1974. He would go on to become one of the most popular singer‑songwriters of the 1970s.…
On April 4, Opening Day of the 1974 Major League Baseball season, 39‑year‑old Hank Aaron sends the very first pitch he sees over the wall, tying the all‑time home run…
On April 5, 1974, Stephen King, a Maine high school teacher who had been writing on evenings and weekends, sees his first full‑length novel, Carrie, published. The release by Doubleday…
Hank Aaron make homerun history when he broke Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homeruns on April 8th in Atlanta. This historical event along with others is recapped by Russell Mitchell…
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the…
On April 25, 1974, the NFL adopts a new overtime rule for regular‑season games to prevent tie games. The rule change comes as part of sweeping effort to improve the action…
On April 29, 1974, President Richard Nixon announces to the public that he will release transcripts of 46 taped White House conversations in response to a Watergate trial subpoena issued…
