April 26, 1972: Lockheed L-1011 introducedApril 25, 1972: Polaroid introduces pictures that develop as you watchApril 21, 1972: Apollo 16 makes the penultimate manned flight to the MoonApril 3, 1972: Charlie Chaplin (right) returns to the U.S. after 20 years
For the first time in history, all scheduledNational League andAmerican League games were called off by a strike. TheMLBPA's representatives voted 47–0 to call a walkout in a dispute over player pensions. The remaining four days of exhibitions were cancelled, and the April 5 season openers were postponed. The strike was resolved by April 15.[1]
New Zealand law created theAccident Compensation Corporation, which eliminated personal injury lawsuits in favor of an insurance system that compensates injured persons regardless of fault.[2]
Lt. Col.Iceal Hambleton, a USAF navigator with a background in ballistic missile technology and missile countermeasures, was the sole survivor of anEB-66 shot down behind enemy lines during theEaster Offensive of theVietnam War. If he was captured, he would be a propaganda and intelligence bonanza for the North Vietnamese and the Soviet Union.
Silent film legendCharlie Chaplin returned to the United States after more than 20 years of self-imposed exile. "The Little Tramp" had been invited back for the Academy Awards.[3]
The museum exhibit "Arabia Felix Archaeology" opened at the Smithsonian Institution'sNational Museum of Natural History, curated by Gus Van Beek, Curator of Old World Anthropology.[4]
Atornado killed six people inVancouver, Washington, an area generally immune from twisters. Striking at12:51 p.m., the storm injured 70 children at Vancouver's Ogden Elementary School, but none of them fatally.[8]
In response to theinvasion ofSouth Vietnam by troops from the north, more than 400 American airplanes bombedNorth Vietnam in the heaviest attacks there since 1968.[9]
United Airlines Flight 855 was hijacked en route from Newark to Los Angeles, and diverted to San Francisco, where the 85 passengers were released in exchange for $500,000 ransom and parachutes. After the 727 returned to the air, the skyjacker,Richard McCoy Jr. then bailed out a few miles south of Provo, Utah, from 16,000 feet (4,900 m).[10] McCoy landed safely and hitchhiked home, and was not caught until two days later.[11]
The Iraqi-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation was signed inBaghdad, for a term of 15 years, after which the USSR supplied increased military aid toIraq, as part of an agreement "to develop their cooperation in the matter of strengthening their defence capacity".[16]
United States PresidentRichard Nixon and Soviet head of stateNikolai Podgorny signed theBiological Weapons Convention, in their respective capitals of Washington and Moscow. Representatives from 74 other nations signed the treaty at the Washington ceremony.[17]
At 5:36 in the morning local time (0206 UTC), the 6.7MwQir earthquake shook southern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing thousands of people in the province ofFars.[18] The final death toll was listed as 5,374. The majority of the deaths were in the town ofQir, where two thirds of its residents (3,399 of 5,068) were killed.[19]
The body ofOberdan Sallustro, the general manager of FIAT operations inArgentina, was found nearBuenos Aires, 20 days after he had been kidnapped by the People's Revolutionary Army. On the same day, the terrorist organization assassinated General Juan Carlos Sanchez as he was being driven to his office inRosario.[20]
Fifteen mountain climbers were killed by an avalanche while attempting to climbManaslu, the world's eighth tallest mountain (26,752 feet). The South Korean financed expedition consisted of four Koreans, a Japanese cameraman, and their ten Nepalese Sherpa guides.[21]
For the first time, the deliberations of the United States bishops of the Roman Catholic Church were opened to the press. Seventy-five reporters were invited to the meeting, held inAtlanta. CardinalJohn Krol then delivered his speech inLatin. Cardinal Krol told reporters, "We told you we'd let you in. We didn't tell you what language we'd talk."[23]
Thetable tennis team from the People's Republic of China arrived inDetroit to begin their tour of the United States.[24] An American team had been welcomed to China one year earlier, on April 10, 1971.
TheUnited States Senate voted 68–16 to approve theWar Powers Act, which would limit the power of the President to commit American forces to hostilities without Congressional approval. The legislation then moved on to the House.[26]
Lt. Col.Iceal Hambleton, a USAFEB-66 navigator who had been shot down on April 2, was rescued. He had spent 11½ days behind enemy lines. During therescue operation, five aircraft were shot down, eleven U.S. servicemen were killed, and two men were captured. The rescue operation was the "largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue" operation during the entireVietnam War.[28]
The television showMy Three Sons broadcast its 380th, and final, original episode. The last prime-time rerun was on August 24, 1972.[29]
On what would become known as"Bloody Friday", theIRA set off a wave of bombs inBelfast, starting with 14 explosions in commemoration of the 14 dead during the "Bloody Sunday Massacre".[31] At least twenty bombs exploded in the space of eighty minutes, most within a half hour period. Nine people were killed.
The Grateful Dead played their first paying concert, in front of a foreign language crowd, in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Tivolis Koncertsa.[32]
After a ten-day strike postponement, the1972 Major League Baseball season opened, including theDetroit Tigers' 3–2 win over theBoston Red Sox.[34] Cancellations were not rescheduled, and teams played an uneven number (154, 155 or 156) games, an imbalance that allowed Detroit Tigers (86–70) to clinch the AL East pennant a game ahead of Boston (85–70).
A "state of internal war" was declared inUruguay by vote of theGeneral Assembly, the day after theTupamaros renewed their attacks on government officials. The legislature voted to givePresident Bordaberry emergency powers, and the Uruguayan military began its rule of the South American nation.[35]
Born:Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer, IBF lightweight boxer 1995-1998, and WBC super lightweight champion 2004-2005; inMontreal[36] (died by suicide or murder, 2009)[37]
Died:Joe McCann, 24, Irish Republican Army paramilitary officer, suspected in the attempted assassination of the Northern Ireland Minister for Home Affairs, John Taylor, was shot to death by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary who were later charged with, but acquitted of murder.[38][39]
North America on April 16, 1972, taken during Apollo 16.
Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, the firstgiant pandas in the United States, arrived at theNational Zoo in Washington, D.C., as a gift from the People's Republic of China. The two pandas attracted millions of visitors during their lifetimes. Ling-Ling lived until 1992 and her mate survived until 1999.[40]
For the first time since theVietnam War had started,Haiphong, the largest port inNorth Vietnam, was bombed by American forces. The wave of B-52 runs began at dawn in retaliation for the North's invasion ofSouth Vietnam.[41]
TheFord Motor Company announced the recall of all of its 1972 model yearFord Torino andMercury Montego automobiles—436,000 cars in all—to correct a defect in the rear axles. The following week, the company ordered a second recall of the vehicles for further repairs.[44]
East African Airways Flight 720 crashed and burned after an aborted takeoff inAddis Ababa, killing 43 of the 107 people on board. TheVC-10 was bound forRome, and many of its passengers were students returning to boarding schools after a holiday.[47]
Four American warships were attacked by threeMiG-17 jets from North Vietnam. The destroyers USSHigbee andLloyd Thomas, the guided missile frigate USSSterett, and the light cruiser USSOklahoma City were attacked, with theHigbee having a gun mount destroyed by a 250 kg bomb, and four sailors wounded.[48]
American presidential adviserHenry Kissinger arrived inMoscow on a secret mission to meet with Soviet leaderLeonid Brezhnev and Foreign MinisterAndrei Gromyko. Kissinger's remained until Monday, and his visit was not announced until the day after his return.[50]
Sweden passed the world's first law officially recognizingchange of gender, with the amendment, effective July 1, of civil registration rules to accommodate change of birth registrations for individuals who had undergone, or applied to have, sex change surgery.[54]
The second set of buildings in thePruitt–Igoe complex in St. Louis were demolished, and the process was filmed. Film clips of the demolition have been shown ever since, most notably as part of the filmKoyaanisqatsi.[57]
AtBasel, the six member states of theEuropean Economic Community agreed to create a currency exchange rate system nicknamed thesnake in the tunnel. Fluctuation of intra-EEC rates would not vary by more than ±1.25%, in order to maintain a consistent rate of exchange against the American dollar.[59]
Ralph Baer was issued U.S. Patent No. 3,659,285 for "A Television Gaming Apparatus and Method", which he had perfected on May 7, 1967, making possible the home videogame industry.[63]
Richard Nixon andHenry Kissinger secretly discussed strategy in attackingNorth Vietnam. After Kissinger estimated that taking out dikes would "drown about 200,000 people", Nixon responded, "I'd rather use a nuclear bomb. Have you got that?" When Kissinger responded "That, I think, would just be too much..", Nixon said, "I just want you to think big, Henry, for Chrissake." The tape of the conversation was released years later.[64]
West Germany's ChancellorWilly Brandt faced a vote on the rarely usedkonstruktives misstrauensvoltum (constructive vote of no confidence) that permits theBundestag to remove the Chancellor. The vote was called by opposition leaderRainer Barzel, and required 249 of 498 in favor of removal. The resolution received only 247 yes votes, falling two short.[69]
Edmund S. Muskie, the early favorite for the 1972 Democratic Party nomination for president, announced that he was dropping out of the race.[70]
An astronomer with theLawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced the possible discovery of atenth planet. Joseph L. Brady, relying on computer calculations of gravitational data, said that the planet would be larger than Saturn and more than five billion miles from the Sun.[73] The possibility was ruled out after further study.
An uprising inBurundi by theHutu people against theTutsi dominated government, began with machete attacks that killed more than 3,000 Tutsi civilians and soldiers.[74] In the words of one observer, "the ferocity of the ensuing repression by the army was beyond imagination", with more than 100,000 Hutus being massacred over the next five months.[75] In thegenocide that followed, educated Hutu people—schoolchildren, college students, civil servants—were murdered, "especially anyone wearing glasses".[76]
Arthur Godfrey ended his broadcasting career with the final show of his CBS Radio Network program,Arthur Godfrey Time, which had run since 1945.[77]
Died:Ntare V, former King of Burundi, was executed after being persuaded to return to the African nation. Ntare had lived in exile in West Germany until coming back in March "under the impression he had received an amnesty" from the government of Michael Micombero, but was arrested as soon as he arrived and kept under house arrest inGitenga. After a coup d'etat by monarchists, Ntare was put to death.[78]
^"Major League Strike Cancels Openers",Oakland Tribune, April 1, 1972, p1
^"Accident Compensation in New Zealand", by Michael Whincup, inProduct Liability, Insurance, and the Pharmaceutical Industry: An Anglo-American Comparison (Manchester University Press, 1990), p205
^"After 20 Years, Chaplin Comes Back to America",Oakland Tribune, April 4, 1972, p1
^The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement: An Evolving Instrument for Ecosystem Management (National Academy Press, 1985), p22
^"Opening Day About Same As Always",Oakland Tribune, April 16, 1972, p56
^Michael Freeman,Freedom or Security: The Consequences for Democracies Using Emergency Powers to Fight Terror (Praeger, 2003), p93
^Pothier, Jacques (Feb 2011). Éditions La Presse (ed.).Arturo Gatti : Le dernier round (in French). Montreal.ISBN978-2-923681-52-8.OCLC701590105.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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