1975: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Events

January

• January 1 - Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up and are sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail on February 21
• January 5 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
• January 7 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
• January 8 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband
• January 14 - 17 year old heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped from her home in Shropshire, England by the Black Panther.
• January 20 - Michael Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency
• January - Altair 8800 is released, sparking the era of the microcomputer

February

• February 9 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
• February 11 - Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.
• February 21 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• February 28 - A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London killed 43 people.

March

• March 1 - Colour television transmissions begin in Australia
• March 4 - Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
• March 6 - Algiers Accord - Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.
• March 7 - the body of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle, kidnapped seven weeks earlier by the Black Panther is discovered in Staffordshire, England.
• March 9 - Construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline begins.
• March 10 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.
• March 15 - In Brazil, the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) merges with the state of Rio de Janeiro, under the name state name of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niteroi to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
• March 25 - Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a nephew with a history of mental illness.

April

• April 3 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
• April 17 - Pol Pot proclaims the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea" in Cambodia and becomes its Prime Minister (1975-1979).
• April 25 - Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
• April 30 - Vietnam War: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon and South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.

May-July

• May 12 - Mayaguez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
• May 15 - The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued in operation by U.S. Navy and Marines. 38 are killed.
• May 16 - India annexes Sikkim.
• May 16 - Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• May 28 - 15 West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos thus creating the Economic Community of West African States.
• May 30 - 1972 Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine dies in a car accident.
• June 5 - The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
• July 6 - The Comoros declare their independence from France.
• July 12 - São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence
• July 15 - Apollo Soyuz Test Project: Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space.
• July 17 - Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
• July 31 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August-October

• August 11 - Mário Lemos Pires, Governor of Portuguese Timor, abandons the capital Dili following UDT coup and outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
• August 20 - Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• August 29 - In Ireland the death occurs of Eamon de Valera, aged 92. He was a leader of the 1916 Rising, Taoiseach for 21 years and President of Ireland for 14 years. He was one of the most influential Irish politicians of the 20th Century.
• September 5 - In Sacramento, California, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson named Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
• September 20 - End of term for Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
• September 21 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
• September 22 - President Ford survives a second assassination attempt, again by a female.
• October 16 - Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces during an incursion into Portuguese Timor
• October 30 - Prince Juan Carlos becomes King of Spain after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

November

• November 3 - An independent audit of Mattel, of the United States largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."
• November 6 - Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.
• November 10 - United Nations Resolution 3379: With a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the resolution was repealed in December 1991).
• November 10 - The 729-foot-long freighter (then, the largest ship on the Great Lakes) SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.
• November 11 - Angola becomes independent from Portugal (a deadly civil war soon erupts).
• November 11 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is sacked by the Australian Governor General, Sir John Kerr.
• November 14 - Spain abandons Western Sahara.
• November 22 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.
• November 25 - Suriname independent from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
• November 27 - Ross McWhirter, the co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the IRA
• November 28 - Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor.
• November 29 - The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time (Microsoft became a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).

December

• December 7 - East Timor invaded by Indonesia
• Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara. Saharaui Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.
• December 29 - A bomb explodes at New York City's LaGuardia Airport killing 11.

• 1975 in film
  • March 1975 - Production begins on Star Wars
  • Friday, June 20, 1975 - Jaws 1
  • July 1975 - In order to create the necessary special effects for his film, Star Wars, George Lucas forms Industrial Light and Magic.
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • Rooster Cogburn starring John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn and others
• 1975 in literature
• 1975 in music
  • Paul Simon releases album Still Crazy After All These Years
  • Art Garfunkel releases album Breakaway
  • Simon and Garfunkel release single "My Little Town," the last single they have released together to date. Song hits #9 on Billboard charts and is released on both their solo albums of 1975.
• 1975 in sports
  • Saturday, July 5, 1975 - Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title.
• 1975 in television
  • Saturday, January 18, 1975 - The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.
  • Saturday, March 1, 1975 - Australian television stations officially convert from black and white to colour transmission
  • Monday, April 28, 1975 - Tom Snyder interviews John Lennon on the Tomorrow Show.
  • Saturday, October 11, 1975 - Saturday Night Live is broadcasted for the first time (George Carlin is the guest host).
  • Wheel of Fortune premieres

• January 3 - Danica McKellar, actress (The Wonder Years)
• January 5 - Bradley Cooper, actor
• January 22 - Balthazar Getty, actor
• January 25 - Tim Montgomery, American athlete
• January 27 - Bill Walsh, movie producer and writer
• January 29 - Sara Gilbert, actress
• February 4 - Natalie Imbruglia, Australian musician
• February 11 - Chuck Watanabe, kayaker
• February 17 - Vaclav Prospal, NHL hockey player
• February 20 - Brian Littrell, musician ("Backstreet Boys")
• February 21 - Affirmed, race horse (d. 2001)
• February 22 - Drew Barrymore, actress
• March 5 - Jolene Blalock, US actress
• March 5 - Niki Taylor, fashion model
• April 22 - Greg Moore, CART race car driver (d. 1999)
• May 1 - Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (died 2003)
• May 2 - David Beckham, English footballer
• May 8 - Enrique Iglesias, singer
• May 10 - Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian Indy Car driver, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner
• May 12 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player
• May 23 - Jewel, singer
• May 25 - Lauryn Hill, hip-hop singer
• May 27 - Jamie Oliver, British celebrity chef and TV personality (The Naked Chef)
• June 4 - Angelina Jolie, US actress
• June 18 - Martin St. Louis, NHL star
• June 23 - Eric Bruno Borgman, actor and filmmaker
• June 25 - Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
• July 18 - Torii Hunter, baseball player
• July 27 - Shea Hillenbrand, baseball player
• July 27 - Alex Rodriguez, baseball star
• July 30 - Graham Nicholls, British artist
• August 7 - Charlize Theron, South African actress (The Cider House Rules, Monster)
• November 18 - David Ortiz, Major League Baseball All-Star
• December 17 - Milla Jovovich, actress, model
• December 30 - Tiger Woods, golf superstar

• January 19 - Thomas Hart Benton, U.S. muralist
• January 24 - Larry Fine, actor (The Three Stooges)
• February 4 - Louis Jordan, musician
• February 14 - Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)
• February 14 - P. G. Wodehouse, writer
• February 16 - Morgan Taylor, American athlete
• February 24 - Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union
• February 25 - Elijah Muhammad, Black Muslim leader
• March 8 - George Stevens, director, producer, cinematographer
• March 14 - Susan Hayward, actress
• March 15 - Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate
• March 16 - T-Bone Walker, musician
• March 25 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
• April 5 - Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China
• April 13 - N'Garta Tombalbaye, President of Chad
• April 17 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and president
• April 30 - Gen Paul, French artist
• May 5 - Moe Howard, actor (The Three Stooges)
• May 8 - Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee
• May 13 - Bob Wills, country musician
• May 18 - Leroy Anderson, composer
• May 23 - Moms Mabley, comedienne
• May 30 - Steve Prefontaine, distance runner
• June 26 - Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish Priest and founder of Opus Dei.
• July 4 - Georgette Heyer, author
• July 17 - Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor
• July 29 - James Blish, U.S. science fiction author
• August 8 - Julian Cannonball Adderley - saxophonist
• August 9 - Dmitri Shostakovich, aged 68, Russian composer
• August 16 - Vladimir Kuts, Soviet long-distance runner
• August 29 - Eamon de Valera, Taoiseach & third President of Ireland
• September 27 - Jack Lang, Australian politician
• October 21 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete
• November 2 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, film director
• November 20 - Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain
• November 27 - Ross McWhirter, Guinness Book of Records co-founder
• December 1 - Anna E. Roosevelt, radio personality
• December 24 - Bernard Herrmann, composer

• Physics - Aage Niels Bohr, Ben Roy Mottelson, Leo James Rainwater
• Chemistry - John Warcup Cornforth, Vladimir Prelog
• Medicine - David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, Howard Martin Temin
• Literature - Eugenio Montale
• Peace - Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov
• Economics - Leonid Kantorovich, Tjalling Koopmans