1972 - What happened in 1972 ?

January 1972

Tuesday 04:

Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.

Tuesday 11:

East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh.

Thursday 13:

Prime Minister Kofi Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana were ousted in a bloodless military coup by Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.

Friday 14:

Sanford & Son premieres on NBC.

Monday 24:

Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier, is discovered on Guam.

February 1972

Thursday 03:

The first Winter Olympics to be held in Asia open in Sapporo, Japan.

Saturday 05:

Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Thursday 17:

Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T.

Friday 25:

Terrorism: Germany gives $5 million to an Arab terrorist as ransom for the passengers and crew of a hijacked jumbo jet.

Saturday 26:

Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.

March 1972

Thursday 02:

The Pioneer 10 spaceprobe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.

Friday 03:

The space probe Pioneer X is launched by NASA.

Wednesday 08:

The Goodyear blimp flies for the first time.

Saturday 25:

In Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, Vicky Leandros wins the seventeenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Après toi" (After you).

Thursday 30:

Vietnam War: The Eastertide Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.

April 1972

Monday 03:

The first ever Mobile phone call is placed by Martin Cooper, in New York City

Wednesday 05:

Vietnam War: North Vietnamese forces invade Binh Long Province, launching a second front of the Nguyen Hue Offensive.

Thursday 13:

The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.

Sunday 16:

Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – Prompted by the North Vietnamese offensive, the United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong.

Thursday 20:

Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.

May 1972

Monday 01:

Vietnam War: Easter Offensive – North Vietnamese troops capture Quang Tri City, effectively giving them control Quang Tri Province.

Tuesday 02:

Buddy Baker became the first stock car driver to finish a 500-mile race in less than three hours en route to winning the Winston Select 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama.

Thursday 04:

The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changed its name to "Greenpeace Foundation".

Friday 26:

The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Tuesday 30:

In Tel Aviv, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

June 1972

Tuesday 06:

David Bowie releases the classic album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Friday 16:

Largest single-site hydro-electric power project starts at Churchill Falls Newfoundland

Saturday 17:

Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

Friday 23:

Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

Tuesday 27:

ATARI is established by Nolan Bushnell.

July 1972

Saturday 01:

Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Holger Meins of the Red Army Faction are captured in Frankfurt after a shootout with the police.

Thursday 13:

The United States Democratic Party nominates George McGovern for president at its convention in Miami Beach, Florida but, because of an impassioned platform dispute, McGovern does not give his acceptance speech until the early morning hours of the 14th.

Thursday 20:

The cabinet of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Barend Biesheuvel resign in a dispute over the budget.

Sunday 23:

The United States launches Landsat 1, first Earth-resources satellite.

August 1972

Thursday 03:

U.S. Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Monday 14:

An East German Ilyushin Il-62 crashes during takeoff from East Berlin, killing 156

Tuesday 22:

Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies

Saturday 26:

Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, Germany.

Monday 28:

During the Olympic Games in Munich, Mark Spitz gets his first of seven gold medals in swimming events.

September 1972

Friday 01:

In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion.

Tuesday 05:

Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attack Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.

Tuesday 19:

A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.

Thursday 21:

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos issues Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.

Thursday 28:

Paul Henderson scores The Goal to win the Canada/USSR (ice hockey) "Summit Series".

October 1972

Thursday 12:

En route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk

Friday 13:

Andes flight disaster: Fairchild passenger plane transporting a rugby team crashes in Andes. They are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive, as chronicled in the 1993 film '.

Monday 16:

Rainbow, a British television programme for children, debuts.

Sunday 22:

Vietnam War: In Saigon, Henry Kissinger and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu meet to discuss a proposed cease-fire that had been worked out between Americans and North Vietnamese in Paris. Thieu rejects the proposal and accused the United States of conspiring to undermine his regime

Monday 30:

US President Richard Nixon approves legislation to increase Social Security spending by US$5.3 billion.

November 1972

Tuesday 07:

U.S. presidential election, 1972: Republican Party (United States) incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern.

Friday 10:

Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.

Saturday 11:

The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.

Tuesday 14:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16) for the first time.

Wednesday 22:

Vietnam War: The United States loses its first B-52 Stratofortress of the war.

December 1972

Thursday 07:

Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew take The Blue Marble image as they leave the Earth.

Wednesday 13:

A chartered Spanish airliner crashes on takeoff from the Canary Islands, killing 155

Saturday 23:

The survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days.

Friday 29:

An Eastern Airlines Lockheed Tristar crashed on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101

Saturday 30:

Vietnam War: The US halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam.