The Nation 1975

On April 30 the Vietnam War ends with the fall of Saigon as South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally to the Communist North. BBC on Vietnam War Ends.

Watergate scandal closes with the Big Three going to jail. Attorney General John N. Mitchell, and White house advisors H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman found guilty of the Watergate cover-up and received jail sentences from 3 to 8 years. Judge John Sirica later reduced their sentences to about one year each. Time Magazine on Watergate Sentences

Another confrontation at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Two FBI agents killled, two AIM Indian members - Robert Robideau and Dino Butler - acquitted and Leonard Peltier convicted and still in prison. Free Leonard Peltier

In a span of 17 days in Northern California, President Gerald Ford suffered two assasination attempts. The first in Sacramento by Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme who pulled a pistol which she never fired. Then political radical Sara Jane Moore took a schot and missed the President in San Francisco. Moore was released in 2007 and Fromme in 2009. More on Squeaky Fromme

More on Sara Moore

Fugitive kidnap victim turned bank rober Patricia Hearst was captured in San Francisco. She was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prision, commuted President Jimmy Carter she was released in 1979 and later received a pardon from President Bill Clinton. Patty Hearst Trial

Jehovah's Witnesses who believe that the world would end in 1975 sell their houses and businesses preparing for Jesus setting up God's Kingdom on Earth. From this Watchtower graphic we can see the joy they felt in having the world in the background destroyed. As you may have guessed, the world did not end as expected. JW end of time

"1975 was not so much the Year of the Woman as the Year of Women—an immense variety of women altering their lives, entering new fields, functioning with a new sense of identity, integrity and confidence. Those whom TIME has selected as Women of the Year accomplished much in their own right in 1975, and they also symbolized the new consciousness of women generally." Click here to read the cover story from 1975

The World 1975

Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting Head of State after Spain's fascist dictator of 50 years Francisco Franco passed in Madrid and Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain.

The Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot captures Phnom Penh the capitol of Cambodia, declared himself Prime Minister and renames the country the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea. Over the next 4 years he killled over 2 million Cambodians for political reasons. Pol Pot holocaust

Australia abolishes capital punishment and decriminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults.

Nobel prizes 1975

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

The Class of 1975