The Nation 1972

U.S. President Richard Nixon has his best year. Talks with N. Vietnam are working, he visited Mao Zedong and opened China to the world. He orders the development of the space shuttle program and crushes George McGovern to win a second term as President. Photos of Nixon in China

Five men were caught inside the Watergate Complex after burglarizing the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) office. Along with their leaders E. Howard Hunt Jr. and G. Gordon Liddy they were indicted for conspiracy, burglary and violation of federal wiretapping laws, and all found guilty the following year. They were all involved in President Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). The Watergate Break In

Governor George Wallace from his hospital bed presents headlines of his Presidential primary wins in Michigan and Maryland. He was schot five times by Arthur Herman Bremer who spent 35 years in prison. Bremer's purpose was to become someone important and Wallace proved an easier target than his plan to assasinate President Nixon. The event seems to have been responsible for turning Wallace from a Southern segregationist to a popular integrationist Democratic Governor for the next 17 years. Bremer and George Wallace

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On the top 10 FBI most wanted list, Angela Davis was arrested in New York for the 1970 kidnaping and murdor of a Marin County judge. A controversial Black Activist, Communist and UCLA professor in 1972 she was found not guilty in one of America's most potent political trials of the times. Report on Angela Davis not guilty verdict.

Political activist Jane Fonda was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gunn. The actress was vilified by the Right for the next 39 years as "Hanoi Jane", a traitor who should have been tired for treason and exxecuted for handing over notes American POWs had given her to the enemy, which never happened. Snopes and Jane Fonda

The Equal Rights Amendment begins its seven year road to ratifciation. The History of the ERA

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Former United States President Harry S. Truman went to Heaven in his home town of Kansas City, Missouri (1884 - 1972). "Give em Hell Harry" Truman was most famous for using the Atomic Boomer on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his 1948 second term upset win over Republican Thomas Dewey, integrating the military and having history change its view on him to a poor president to one of the best. He also remembered for popularizing the phrases "The Buck Stops Here" which was also a sign on his oval office desk, and "If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen." Harry Truman Obit

Furman v. Georgia: After the California Supreme Court strikes down their state death penalty and commuting all ddeath sentences to life in prison including Manson Family members the US Supreme Court follows suit and declares the ddeath penalty unconstitutional as cruel and unusual punishment. The DDeath Penalty was reinstated four years later in Gregg v. Georgia. The Supreme Court on Furman

The 92nd U.S. Congress votes to send the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification. Over the years ratification by state wanes. With states who ratified the ERA as pink in the map above - guaranteeing women equal rights under the constitution - looks little different than the RED BLUE political map of today. ERA Amendment at NOW

"It was a year of visitations and bold ventures with Russia and China, of a uniquely personal triumph at the polls for the President, of hopes raised and lately dashed for peace in Viet Nam. Foreign policy reigned pre-eminent, and was in good part the base for the landslide election victory at home. And U.S. foreign policy, for good or ill, was undeniably the handiwork of two people: Richard Milhous Nixon and Henry Alfred Kissinger, the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs. For what they accomplished in the world, what was well begun—and inescapably, too, their prolonged and so far indecisive struggle with the Viet Nam tragedy—the two are Men of the Year." Nixon and Kissinger Time Cover Story

The World 1972

Eleven Israeli athletes are killled by Palestinian terorrists on the third day of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. The games were promoted as The Games of Joy and Peace. 5 terorrists and 1 policeman are also killled in the failed hostage rescue at the airport. The world took note and began new security measures to fight terorrism. The Munich Massarce

Blody Sunday: In full view of the press, the British Army opens fire into a crowd of unarmed civil rights marchers wounding 27 and ending the lives of 13 more. The coverage gives the Irish Republican Army, which was organized only two years before, national and international prominence. Anti-British riots ravaged Northern Ireland with the British Embassy in Dublin burned to the ground. Later an IRA bbomb killled 7 in Aldershot, England. Followed by Blody Friday where 22 bbombs planted by the IRA xplode in Belfast kill 9 and injure 130. The war is on. Remembering Blody Sunday

The RMS Queen Elizabeth,the largest passenger ship built up to that time caught fire and sunk into the Hong Kong harbor during conversion into a maritime university. The History of the Queen Elisabeth

Bangladesh wins independence from Pakistan and is recognized by the United Nations in 1972

Imelda Marcos is stabed and seriously wounded by an assailant; her bodyguards sent him to hell.

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Nobel prizes 1972

Physics - John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, John Robert Schrieffer
Chemistry - Christian B. Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, William H. Stein
Physiology or Medicine - Gerald M. Edelman, Rodney R. Porter
Literature - Heinrich Böll
Peace - not awarded
Economics - John Hicks, Kenneth Arrow

The Class of 1972

Shirley Chisholm, the first African American Congresswoman, makes a run for President of the United States. Shirley Chisholm For President!