The fighting continues in South Vietnam despite the cease-fire that was initiated on January 28, 1973, under the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords. This latest fighting was part of the ongoing battles that followed the brief lull of the cease-fire. The Peace Accords had left an estimated 145,000 North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam […]
Cyclone Wanda Causes Flooding In Australia
On this day in 1974, the last remnants of Cyclone Wanda cause severe flooding in Queensland, Australia, that results in the deaths of 16 people and leaves thousands homeless. The year 1973 had been an exceptionally wet one in Australia, and the beginning of the new year brought much of the same. Heavy rains in […]
Football Player-Turned-Murderer Born
Rae Carruth, the pro football player convicted of hiring someone to kill his pregnant girlfriend, was born on this day in Sacramento, California. On the night of November 15, 1999, Carruth, a receiver for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, and his girlfriend, Cherica Adams, 24, went to see a movie in Charlotte, North Carolina. Later that […]
Notre Dame Beats UCLA To End 88-Game Winning Streak
On January 19, 1974, the University of Notre Dame men’s basketball team defeats the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) 71-70, in South Bend, Indiana, snapping UCLA’s record-setting 88-game winning streak. The Irish entered the game undefeated for the season and ranked No. 2 in the country. UCLA, coached by John Wooden and led […]
Thieu Announces War Has Resumed
South Vietnamese troops report that 55 soldiers have been killed in two clashes with communist forces. Claiming that the war had “restarted,” South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu asserted, “We cannot allow the communists a situation in which…they can launch harassing attacks against us,” and ordered his forces to launch a counter-offensive to retake lost […]
President Nixon Refuses To Hand Over Tapes
President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. Marking the beginning of the end of his Presidency, Nixon would resign from office in disgrace eight months later.
Nixon Signs National Speed Limit Into Law
On this day in 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 within their boundaries and highway speed limits across the country ranged from 40 mph to 80 mph. The U.S. and other industrialized nations enjoyed […]
“Soul Makossa” Is The First Disco Record To Make The Top 40
During the pre-dawn hours of nearly any given night in the early 1970s, a group of young men who would change the face of the music industry could be found eating omelets and talking about records at a Manhattan restaurant called David’s Pot Belly. The names in this rotating group of friends are unfamiliar to […]