1970

Years: 1967 1968 1969 - 1970 - 1971 1972 1973
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1970 in aviation 1970 in film 1970 in literature 1970 in music 1970 in sports 1970 in television

Table of contents

1 Events

1.1 January-February
1.2 March-April
1.3 May-August
1.4 September
1.5 October
1.6 November
1.7 December
1.8 Uncertain Date

2 Year in topic
3 Births

3.9 January-May
3.10 June-October
3.11 November-December

4 Deaths

4.12 January-March
4.13 April-June
4.14 July-September
4.15 October-December
4.16 Uncertain Date

5 Nobel Prizes
6 Heads of state in 1970

Events

January-February

January 1 - Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona.
January 1 - Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC.
January 12 - Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war.
January 15 - After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
January 15 - Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya
January 16 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
February 11 - John Lennon pays £1,344 in fines for 96 people who had protested against the South African rugby team playing in Scotland.
February 11 - Japan becomes the fourth country to launch a satellite into orbit.
February 18 - The Chicago Eight are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
February 26 - National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation

March-April

March 1 - Rhodesia severs its last tie with the British crown and declares itself a racially segregated republic.
March 5 - A nuclear non-proliferation treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
March 17 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
March 18 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia
March 23 - Del Lord, pioneer Hollywood director
March 31 - Explorer I reentry (after 12 years in orbit)
April 1 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law banning cigarette television advertisements in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
April 11 - Apollo 13 ill-fated space mission launched
April 17 - Apollo 13 returns safely to earth
April 22 - First Earth Day celebrated
April 29 - U.S. invades Cambodia to hunt out Viet Cong

May-August

May 4 Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed by National Guardsmensmen at a demonstration protesting against the incursion into Cambodia.
May 6 - Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney are dismissed as members of the Irish Government due to accusations of their involvement in a plot to import arms for use in Northern Ireland.
May 17 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
May 26 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
May 31 - Avalanche on Nevado Huascarán in destroys the town of Yungay, Peru
June 4 - Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
June 24 - The United States Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
July 21 - - Aswan High Dam in Egypt completed.
August 17 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another planet.

September

September 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins - The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (operation ends in October 1971).
September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
September 11 - The Ford Pinto is introduced
September 13 - First running of the New York City Marathon
September 20 - End of term for Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III as the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
September 21 - Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Sultan of Kedah becomes the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

October

October - the Front de Libération du Québec; (FLQ) kidnap James Cross and murder Pierre Laporte, provoking Quebec's October Crisis
October 8 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
October 9 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
October 10 - Fiji becomes independent.
October 10 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
October 12 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
October 13 - Canada and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations.
October 15 - 35 construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses into the river below.
October 17 - Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt
October 30 - In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.

November

November 4 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States turns control of the air base in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam.
November 5 - Vietnam War: United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers died that week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50 ; 431 were reported wounded that week, however).
November 9 - Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 to not hear a case by the state of Massachusetts asking to allow the state the ability to enforce its law granting Massachusetts residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
November 10 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - For the first time in five years, an entire week ended with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
November 12 - The Oregon Highway Division (now known as the Oregon Department of Transportation) is given the task of removing a rotting beached Grey whale, leading to the now infamous exploding whale incident
November 13 - A 100-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)s, killing an estimated 500,000 people (this is regarded as the 20th century's worst cyclone disaster).
November 17 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
November 17 - Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and was released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
November 18 - US President Richard Nixon asks the United States Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).
November 21 - Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast - A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWss thought to be held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).
November 25 - In Japan, world-famous author and Tatenokai militia leader Yukio Mishima commits ritual suicide after failing to sway public opinion toward his right-wing political beliefs.

December

December 2 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
December 3 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.

Uncertain Date

The first Regional Technical Colleges open in Ireland.
Disappearance of Sada Abe, Japanese former prostitute and later actress.

Year in topic

1970 in film
- Patton
- Love Story
- M*A*S*H
1970 in literature
- Deliverance by James Dickey (in 2001, named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century, as chosen by the editorial board of the Modern Library.)
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
1970 in music
1970 in sports
1970 in television
- January 5 - Soap opera: All My Children premieres.

Births

January-May

January 13 - Keith Coogan, actor
January 17 - Jeremy Roenick, American NHL star
January 31 - Minnie Driver, actress
March 18 - Queen Latifah, rapper, record producer, actress
March 24 - Lara Flynn Boyle, actress (The Practice)
March 24 - Sharon Corr, musician ("The Corrs")
March 27 - Mariah Carey, singer
March 28 - Vince Vaughn, actor, writer, producer
March 30 - Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown winner, two-time Horse of the Year (d. 1989)
April 4 - Barry Pepper, actor
April 13 - Rick Schroeder, actor
April 21 - Nicole Sullivan, actress, comedienne and writer
April 27 - Kylie Travis, actress and model
April 29 - Andre Agassi, professional tennis star
April 29 - Uma Thurman, actress
May 4 - Karla Homolka, killer, kidnapper, and rapist
May 12 - Mike Weir, Canadian professional golfer
May 16 - Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player
May 18 - Tina Fey, writer, comedienne, actress
May 22 - Naomi Campbell, model, actress
May 24 - Jeff Zgonina, football player
May 24 - Tommy Page, singer
May 27 - Joseph Fiennes, actor

June-October

June 8 - Kelli Williams, actress (The Practice)
June 16 - Phil Mickelson, golfer
June 19 - Quincy Watts, American athlete
June 26 - Chris O'Donnell, actor
June 27 - Vitamin C, pop singer
July 3 - Teemu Selanne, NHL hockey player
July 8 - Beck, alternative rock and roll singer
July 24 - Jennifer Lopez, actress, singer
July 27 - Gavin Morris, English Photographer, Project Manager
August 2 - Tony Amonte, NHL star
August 6 - M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor
August 13 - Alan Shearer, England and Newcastle soccer player
August 18 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
August 23 - Jay Mohr, actor, comedian
August 25 - Claudia Schiffer, model
August 27 - Jim Thome, baseball player
August 31 - Debbie Gibson, singer
September 4 - Daisy Dee, singer, actress
September 9 - Macy Gray, singer
September 23 - Ani DiFranco, musician
September 28 - Isabelle Brasseur, figure skating champion
October 2 - Kelly Ripa, actress, television host
October 8 - Matt Damon, actor
October 9 - Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
October 15 - Eric Benet, singer

November-December

November 5 - Jen Besemer, surrealist poet and painter
November 12 - Tonya Harding, figure skater
December 20 - Nicole DeBoer, actress (, The Dead Zone)
December 29 - Kevin Weisman, actor

Deaths

Uncertain Date

Sada Abe, Japanese former prostitute and later actress (unconfirmed).

Nobel Prizes

Physics - Hannes Olof Gösta Alfvén, Louis Eugène Félix Néel
Chemistry - Luis F Leloir
Medicine - Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler, Julius Axelrod
Literature - Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
Peace - Norman E. Borlaug
Economics - Paul Samuelson