World Events
Population: 3.706 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: Norman E. Borlaug (US)
Biafra surrenders after 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria (Jan. 12).
Rhodesia severs last tie with British Crown and declares itself a racially segregated republic (March 1).
US troops invade Cambodia (May 1). Background: Vietnam War.
A Palestinian revolt erupts in Jordan. Forces loyal to King Hussein suppress the revolt and expel the PLO from the country.
Earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Peru (May 31).
Egyptian President Nasser dies and is replaced by Anwar el-Sadat.
Tonga (June 4) and Fiji (Oct. 10) gain independence from Britain.
U.S. Events
President: Richard M. Nixon
Vice President: Spiro T. Agnew
Population: 205,052,174
Life expectancy: 70.8 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 39.8
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 36.2
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 8.3
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $1,035.60 billion
Federal spending: $195.65 billion
Federal debt: $380.9 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $8,734
Consumer Price Index: 38.8
Unemployment: 3.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.06
Four students at Kent State University in Ohio slain by National Guardsmen at demonstration protesting incursion into Cambodia (May 4).
Senate repeals Gulf of Tonkin resolution (June 24)
Sports
Super Bowl
Kansas City d. Minnesota (23-7)
World Series
Baltimore d. Cincinnati (4-1)
NBA Championship
New York d. LA Lakers (4-3)
Stanley Cup
Boston d. St. Louis (4-0)
Wimbledon
Women: Margaret Court d. B.J. King (14-12 11-9)
Men: John Newcombe d. K. Rosewall (5-7 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-1)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Dust Commander
NCAA Basketball Championship
UCLA d. Jacksonville (80-69)
NCAA Football Champions
Nebraska (AP, FW) (11-0-1); Texas (UPI, NFF-tie), (10-1-0) & Ohio St. (NFF-tie), (9-1-0)
World Cup
Brazil d. Italy (4-1)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Collected Stories, Jean Stafford
Music: Time's Encomium, Charles Wuorinen
Drama: No Place to Be Somebody, Charles Gordone
Oscars awarded in 1970
Academy Award, Best Picture: Midnight Cowboy, Jerome Hellman, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (USSR)
Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In - 5th Dimension
Album of the Year: Blood, Sweat and Tears - Blood, Sweat and Tears (Columbia)
Song of the Year: Games People Play - Joe South
Miss America: Pamela Anne Eldred (MI)
The Beatles break up. By the end of the year, each member had released a solo album.
George C. Scott gives one of film's most memorable performances in Patton. He won the Best Actor Oscar for his turn as the title character, but refused the gold statuette.
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin both die drug-related deaths at age 27.
FCC regulations require separate ownership of television networks and studios.
Monday Night Football debuts on ABC, with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith giving play-by-play.
Midnight Cowboy wins the Best Picture Oscar, the first and only time an X-rated movie received the honor.
Movies
M*A*S*H, Patton, Love Story, Airport
Books
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
John Berryman, Love and Fame
Nikki Giovanni, Black Talk/Black Judgement
Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gail Godwin, The Perfectionist
John Updike, Bech: A Book
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Luis F. Leloir (Argentina), for discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in biosynthesis of carbohydrates.
Physics: Hannes Alfvén (Sweden), for theories in plasma physics; and Louis Néel (France), for discoveries in antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism.
Physiology or Medicine: Julius Axelrod (US), Ulf S. von Euler (Sweden), and Sir Bernard Katz (UK), for studies of how nerve impulses are transmitted within the body.
Biochemist Hamilton O. Smith (US) discovers a restriction enzyme that will allow biologist Daniel Nathans (US) to map a complete viral genome. Background: genetic engineering.
IBM introduces the floppy disk. Background: Computers and Internet.
Bar codes (computer-scanned binary signal code) are introduced for retail and industrial use in England.
The LCD (liquid crystal display) is invented by Hoffmann-La Roche (Switzerland).
The Food and Drug Administration warns that birth control pills may cause blood clots. Background: Birth & Contraception.
Lithium is approved by the FDA for the treatment of manic-depression.
Deaths
Jimi Hendrix
Janis Joplin
Sonny Liston