1970
Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. It is the Unix epoch time and it was also the first year of the 1970s.
Events
January
February
March
April
May
- May 1 – Demonstrations against the trial of the New Haven Nine, Bobby Seale, and Ericka Huggins draw 12,000. President Richard Nixon orders U.S. forces to cross into neutral Cambodia, threatening to widen the Vietnam War, sparking nationwide riots and leading to the Kent State Shootings.
- May 4 – Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and 9 wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen, at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia.
- May 6
- May 8
- May 9 – In Washington, D.C., 100,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War.
- May 10 – The Boston Bruins win their first Stanley Cup since 1941 when Bobby Orr scores a goal 40 seconds into overtime for a 4-3 victory which completed a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues.
- May 11
- May 14
- May 17 – Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II, to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
- May 23 – A fire occurs in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait in north Wales, contributing to its partial destruction and amounting to approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
- May 24 – The scientific drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the USSR.
- May 26 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
- May 27 – A British expedition climbs the south face of Annapurna I.
- May 31
June
July
August
- August 7 – Harold Haley, Marin County Superior Court Judge, is taken hostage and murdered, in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
- August 17–August 18 – The U.S. sinks 418 containers of nerve gas into the Gulf Stream near the Bahamas.
- August 17 – Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet.
- August 26 – The Women's Strike for Equality takes place down Fifth Avenue in New York City.
- August 26–August 30 – The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 takes place on East Afton Farm off the coast of England. Some 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull.
- August 29 – Rubén Salazar is shot and killed during a rally in East Los Angeles.
September
- September 1 – An assassination attempt against King Hussein of Jordan precipitates the Black September crisis.
- September 3 – September 6 – Israeli forces fight Palestinian guerillas in southern Lebanon.
- September 5 – Vietnam War – Operation Jefferson Glenn: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (the operation ends in October 1971).
- September 6 – Dawson's Field hijackings, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacks 4 passenger aircraft from Pan Am, TWA and Swissair on flights to New York from Brussels, Frankfurt and Zürich.
- September 7
- September 8–September 10 – The Jordanian government and Palestinian guerillas make truces they keep breaking.
- September 9
- September 10
- September 11 – The Ford Pinto is introduced.
- September 13 – The first New York City Marathon begins.
- September 15 – King Hussein of Jordan forms a military government with Muhammad Daoud as the prime minister.
- September 18
- September 20
- Syrian armored forces cross the Jordanian border.
- Luna 16 lands on the Moon and lifts off the next day with samples. It lands on Earth September 24.
- September 21
- September 22
- September 23 – The first women's only tennis tournament begins in Houston, known as the Houston Women's Invitation.
- September 26 – The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, burning 175,425 acres (709.92 km2).
- September 27 – Richard Nixon begins a tour of Europe, visiting Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
- September 28 – Gamal Abdal Nasser dies; Vice President Anwar Sadat is named temporary president of Egypt.
- September 29
October
- October 2 – The Wichita State University football team's "Gold" plane crashes in Colorado, killing most of the players. They were on their way (along with administrators and fans) to a game with Utah State University.
- October 3
- October 4
- October 5
- October 6
- October 7 – General Juan José Torres becomes the new President of Bolivia.
- October 8
- October 9 – The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
- October 10
- October 11 – Eleven French soldiers are killed in a shootout with rebels in Chad.
- October 12 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
- October 13
- October 14 – A Chinese nuclear test is conducted in Lop Nor.
- October 15
- October 16 – October Crisis: The Canadian government declares a state of emergency and outlaws the Quebec Liberation Front.
- October 17
- October 20
- The Soviet Union launches the Zond 8 lunar probe.
- Egyptian president Anwar Sadat names Mahmoud Fawzi as his prime minister.
- October 21 – A U.S. Air Force plane makes an emergency landing near Leninakan, Soviet Union. The Soviets release the American officers, including 2 generals, November 10.
- October 22 – Chilean army commander René Schneider is shot in Santiago; the government declares a state of emergency. Schneider dies October 25.
- October 24 – Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
- October 25 – The wreck of the Confederate submarine Hunley is found off Charleston, South Carolina, by pioneer underwater archaeologist, Dr. E. Lee Spence,[2] then just 22 years old. Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink a ship in warfare.
- October 26 – Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury debuts in approximately two dozen newspapers in the United States.
- October 28
- In Jordan, the government of Ahmed Toukan resigns; the next prime minister is Wasfi Al-Tal.
- A cholera outbreak in eastern Slovakia causes Hungary to close its border with Czechoslovakia.
- Gary Gabelich drives the rocket-powered Blue Flame to an official world land speed record of 622.287 mph (1 001.452 863 km/h) on the dry lake bed of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The record, the first above 1 000 km/h, stands for nearly 13 years.
- October 30 – In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in 6 years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November
December
- December 1
- December 2 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
- December 3 – October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants 5 terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
- December 3 – Burgos Trial: In Burgos, Spain, the trial of 16 Basque terrorism suspects begins.
- December 4
- The Spanish government declares a 3-month martial law in the Basque county of Guipuzco, over strikes and demonstrations.
- The U.N. announces that Portuguese navy and army units were responsible for the attempted invasion of Guinea.
- December 5
- The Asian and Australian tour of Pope Paul VI ends.
- Fluminense wins the Brazil Football Championship.
- December 7
- Giovanni Enrico Bucher, the Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro; kidnappers demand the release of 70 political prisoners.
- The U.N. General Assembly supports the isolation of South Africa for its apartheid policies.
- During his visit to the Polish capital, German Chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees in front of a monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto.
- December 12 – A landslide in western Colombia leaves 200 dead.
- December 13 – The government of Poland announces food price increases. Riots and looting lead to a bloody confrontation between the rioters and the government on December 15, and martial law December 17–22.
- December 15
- The USSR's Venera 7 becomes the first spacecraft to land successfully on Venus and transmit data back to Earth.
- The South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes off Korean Strait; 308 people are killed.
- December 16 – The Ethiopian government declares a state of emergency in the county of Eritrea over the activities of the Eritrean Liberation Front.
- December 20
- December 22
- The Libyan Revolutionary Council declares that it will nationalize all foreign banks in the country.
- Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka, is sentenced to life imprisonment.
- December 23
- The Polish government freezes food prices for 2 years.
- The Bolivian government releases Régis Debray.
- The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.
- December 25 – The ETA releases Eugen Beihl.
- December 27 – India's president declares new elections.
- December 28
- Burgos Trial: Three Basques are sentenced to death (3 twice), others sentenced to 12 to 62 years, and one is released.
- The suspected killers of Pierre Laporte, Jacques and Paul Rose and Francis Sunard, are arrested near Montreal.
- December 29 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs into law the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
- December 30
- In Viscaya, Spain, Basque county, 15,000 go on strike to protest the Burgos trial death sentences.
- Francisco Franco commutes the death sentences of the Burgos Trial defendants to 30 years in prison.
- December 31 – Paul McCartney sues in Great Britain to dissolve the Beatles' legal partnership.
Date unknown
World population
World population |
|
1970 |
1965 |
1975 |
World |
3,692,492,000 |
3,334,874,000 |
357,618,000 |
4,068,109,000 |
375,617,000 |
Africa |
357,283,000 |
313,744,000 |
43,539,000 |
408,160,000 |
50,877,000 |
Asia |
2,143,118,000 |
1,899,424,000 |
243,694,000 |
2,397,512,000 |
254,394,000 |
Europe |
655,855,000 |
634,026,000 |
21,829,000 |
675,542,000 |
19,687,000 |
Latin-America |
284,856,000 |
250,452,000 |
34,404,000 |
321,906,000 |
37,050,000 |
North America |
231,937,000 |
219,570,000 |
12,367,000 |
243,425,000 |
11,488,000 |
Oceania |
19,443,000 |
17,657,000 |
1,786,000 |
21,564,000 |
2,121,000 |
Births
January–February
- January 1 – Kimberly Page, American model
- January 2
- January 3 – Christian Duguay, American comic actor
- January 4 – Chris Kanyon, American professional wrestler (d. 2010)
- January 6
- January 7
- January 9 - Lara Fabian, Canadian/Belgian singer
- January 13 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
- January 15 – Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler and wrestling executive
- January 17
- January 18 – DJ Quik, American rapper and producer
- January 19
- January 20 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
- January 22 – Alex Ross, American comic artist
- January 24 – Matthew Lillard, American actor
- January 29
- January 31 – Minnie Driver, English actress
- February 1 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player (d. 2000)
- February 3 – Keith Carney, American hockey player
- February 8
- February 9 – Glenn McGrath, Australian test cricketer
- February 14
- February 17 – Dominic Purcell, English-Australian actor
- February 18 – Raine Maida, Canadian musician and beat poet
- February 21 – Dayna Devon, American news anchor
- February 22 – Dominic Roussel, Canadian ice hockey player
- February 24 – Jeff Garcia, American football player
- February 26
- February 27 – Matthias Lechner, German art director
- February 28
March–April
- March 5 – John Frusciante, American rock musician
- March 7
- March 8 – Jason Elam, American football player
- March 9 – Martin Johnson, English rugby player
- March 10 – Antonio Edwards, American football player
- March 16 – Paul Oscar (Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson), Icelandic pop singer, songwriter and disc jockey
- March 18 – Queen Latifah, American rapper, record producer, and actress
- March 20 – Michele Jaffe, U.S.American novelist
- March 21 – Niiyama Shiho, Japanese voice actress
- March 22 – Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
- March 24
- March 27
- March 28 – Vince Vaughn, American actor, writer, and producer
- April 4
- April 5 – Miho Hatori, Japanese singer and songwriter
- April 10 – Q-Tip, American musician and actor
- April 13
- April 15 – Flex Alexander, American actor
- April 18 – Heike Friedrich, German swimmer
- April 19 – Luis Miguel, Mexican singer
- April 20 – Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer
- April 21 – Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedian, and writer
- April 22 – Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer, actress, model and record producer
- April 23
- April 25 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder and actor
- April 28 – Diego Simeone, Argentine footballer and manager
- April 29
May–June
- May 3 – Jeffrey Sebelia, American fashion designer
- May 4 – Will Arnett, Canadian actor
- May 5
- May 6
- May 8
- May 9 – Doug Christie, NBA basketball player and TV personality
- May 12
- May 15
- May 16 – Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player
- May 17 – Jordan Knight, American singer (New Kids on the Block)
- May 18 – Tina Fey, American writer, comedian, and actress
- May 19
- May 20 – Louis Theroux, British-American TV personality and author
- May 22 – Naomi Campbell, British model and actress
- May 23
- May 24 – Jeff Zgonina, American football player
- May 25
- May 26 – Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese cartoonist
- May 27 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor
- May 30 – Jeffrey Sebelia, American fashion designer
- June 3
- June 4
- June 6
- June 7 – Ronaldo da Costa, Brazilian long-distance runner
- June 8
- June 13
- June 15 – Leah Remini, American actress
- June 16
- June 17
- June 18 – Katie Derham, British newsreader
- June 19 – Quincy Watts, American athlete
- June 20
- June 21 – Pete Rock, American rapper/DJ/producer
- June 22
- June 25 – Lucy Benjamin, British actress
- June 26
- June 27
- June 28 – Steve Burton, American actor
July–August
- July 2 – Steve Morrow, Northern Irish footballer
- July 3
- July 5 – Mac Dre, American rapper (d. 2004)
- July 7 – Wayne McCullough, Northern Irish boxer
- July 8 – Beck, American singer
- July 9 – Trent Green, National Football League quarterback
- July 10
- July 11 – Saj Karim, British politician
- July 23 – Thea Dorn, German writer
- July 25 – Julien Fountain, English Cricket Coach
- July 29 – Andi Peters, British TV presenter and producer
- July 30 – Christopher Nolan, English screenwriter and director
- August 1
- August 2
- August 4 – Pete Abrams, American webcomic artist
- August 6 – M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American film director, writer, producer, and actor
- August 12 – Jim Schlossnagle, American baseball coach
- August 13
- August 14 – Leah Purcell, Australian actress
- August 16
- August 17 – Jim Courier, American tennis player
- August 18 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor
- August 20 – John D. Carmack, American computer game programmer
- August 21 – Erik Dekker, Dutch professional cyclist
- August 22 – Ricco Gross, German biathlete
- August 23
- August 25 – Claudia Schiffer, German model
- August 26 – Olimpiada Ivanova, Russian race walker
- August 27
- August 28 – Sherrié Austin, Australian actress and singer
- August 29 – Jacco Eltingh, Dutch tennis player
- August 30 – Guang Liang, Malaysian singer
- August 31 – Deborah Gibson, American singer
September–October
- September 1 – Hwang Jung-min, South Korean actor
- September 4
- September 5 – Liam Lynch, American musician, comedian, and puppetteer
- September 7 – Gao Min, Chinese diver
- September 8
- September 10
- September 11 – Taraji P. Henson, American actress
- September 15 – Jukka Jokikokko, Finnish musician and studio engineer
- September 18 – Darren Gough, English cricketer
- September 19
- September 20 – Gert Verheyen, Belgian footballer
- September 21 – Samantha Power, Irish-American academic, government official, Pulitzer prize winning writer
- September 22 – Mike Matheny, American baseball player
- September 23 – Ani DiFranco, American musician
- September 25 – Aja Kong, Japanese professional wrestler
- September 26
- September 27 – Yoshiharu Habu, Japanese professional shogi player
- September 28
- September 29
- September 30 – Mark Smith, former Gladiator
- October 1 – Moses Kiptanui, Kenyan athlete
- October 2 – Kelly Ripa, American actress and talk-show hostess
- October 4
- October 8
- October 9 – Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
- October 10
- October 11
- October 12
- October 14 – Daniela Peštová, Czech supermodel
- October 17
- October 18 – Jose Padilla, American gang member and alleged terrorist
- October 20 – Michelle Malkin, American political commentator
- October 24 – Jarkko Martikainen, Finnish rock musician
- October 25 – Adam Goldberg, American actor
- October 27
- October 28 – Alan Peter Cayetano, Filipino politician and current senator
- October 29
- October 30
- October 31 – Linn Berggren, Swedish singer (Ace of Base)
November–December
- November 2
- November 3 – Dawn Marie Psaltis, American Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and WWE performer
- November 5 – Javy López, American baseball player
- November 6 – Ethan Hawke, American actor, writer, and film director
- November 7 – Morgan Spurlock, American Film-Maker, Super-size Me
- November 9
- November 12 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater
- November 15 – Patrick Mboma, Cameroonian footballer
- November 16 – Martha Plimpton, American actress
- November 17
- November 18 – Peta Wilson, Australian actress
- November 20 – Joe Zaso, American actor and producer
- November 22 – Stel Pavlou, British novelist and screenwriter
- November 23
- November 26 – Dave Hughes, Australian comedian
- November 27
- November 30
- December 1 – Sarah Silverman, American comedian
- December 2 – Joshua Seth, American voice actor and hypnotist
- December 5
- December 6 – Ulf "Buddha" Ekberg, Swedish rock musician (Ace of Base)
- December 12
- December 15 – Michael Shanks, Canadian actor
- December 17 – Craig Doyle, Irish television presenter
- December 18
- December 20
- December 22 – Clay Dreslough, American game designer
- December 23 – Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
- December 25 – Emmanuel Amuneke, Nigerian footballer
- December 29
- December 31 – Bryon Russell, American basketball player
Deaths
January–March
- January 1 – Rose Dolly, American actress (b. 1892)
- January 4 – Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)
- January 5 – Max Born, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
- January 7 – Robert Barrat, American actor (b. 1889)
- January 10 – Pavel Belyayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1925)
- January 14 – Harry M. Woods, American songwriter (b. 1896)
- January 18 – David O. McKay, 9th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
- January 19 – Hal March, American actor (b. 1920)
- January 25
- January 27 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b. 1908)
- January 29
- January 31 – Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
- February 2
- February 5 – Rudy York, American baseball player (b. 1913)
- February 6 – Roscoe Karns, American actor (b. 1891)
- February 14
- February 15 – Hugh Dowding, British RAF Fighter Commander during the Battle of Britain (b. 1882)
- February 16 – Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1879)
- February 17
- February 19 – Jules Munshin, American actor (b. 1915)
- February 20 – Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
- February 21 – Johannes Semper, Estonian writer and translator (b. 1892)
- February 24 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)
- February 25 – Mark Rothko, Latvian-born painter (b. 1903)
- February 26 – Terence Patrick O'Sullivan, engineer (b. 1913)
- March 6 – William Hopper, American actor (b. 1915)
- March 11
- March 13 – Alec Clunes, English actor (b. 1912)
- March 16 – Tammi Terrell, African-American singer (Ain't No Mountain High Enough) (b. 1945)
- March 18 – William Beaudine, American film director (b. 1892)
- March 23 – Del Lord, Canadian film director (b. 1894)
- March 26 – Patricia Ellis, American actress (b. 1916)
- March 30 – Heinrich Brüning, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
- March 31 – Semyon Timoshenko, Russian World War II general (b. 1895)
April–June
- April 5 – Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b. 1891)
- April 6 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
- April 11
- April 23 – Herb Shriner, American humorist (b. 1918)
- April 25 – Anita Louise, American actress (b. 1915)
- April 26 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress (b. 1911)
- April 27 – Arthur Shields, Irish actor (b. 1896)
- April 28 – Ed Begley, American actor (b. 1901)
- April 30 – Inger Stevens, Swedish-born actress (b. 1934)
- May 1
- May 9
- May 10 – Mari Blanchard, American actress (b. 1927)
- May 11 – Johnny Hodges, American jazz musician (b. 1906)
- May 12 – Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
- May 13 – Sir William Dobell, Australian artist (b. 1899)
- May 14 – Billie Burke, American actress (b. 1885)
- May 21 – E. L. Grant Watson, Australian scientist and writer (b. 1885)
- May 29
- May 31 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
- June 1 – George Watkins, American baseball player (b. 1900)
- June 2
- June 3 – Hjalmar Schacht, Nazi German economic minister (b. 1877)
- June 4 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (b. 1911)
- June 7 – E. M. Forster, English writer (b. 1879)
- June 8 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (b. 1908)
- June 11
- June 14 – William H. Daniels, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
- June 16
- June 21 – Sukarno, President of Indonesia (b. 1901)
- June 26 – Leopoldo Marechal, Argentine writer (b. 1900)
- June 27 – Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler (b. 1902)
- June 30 – Arthur Leslie, British actor (b. 1901)
July–September
- July 6 – Marjorie Rambeau, American actress (b. 1889)
- July 10 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic foreign and later prime minister (b. 1908)
- July 14 – Preston Foster, American actor (b. 1900)
- July 19 – Egon Eiermann, German architect (b. 1904)
- July 21 – Bob Kalsu, American football player (b. 1945)
- July 22 – Fritz Kortner, Austrian-born director (b. 1892)
- July 24 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman (b. 1897)
- July 27 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Prime Minister of Portugal (de facto dictator) (b. 1889)
- July 29
- July 31 – Wilfrid Kent Hughes, Australian Olympian and politician (b. 1895)
- August 1
- August 18 – Soledad Miranda, Spanish actress (b. 1943)
- August 19 – Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian (b. 1909)
- August 20 – Mickey Daniels, American actor (b. 1914)
- August 30 – Del Moore, American actor (b. 1916)
- September 1 – Francois Mauriac, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
- September 2 – Marie Pierre Koenig, French general and politician (b. 1898)
- September 3 – Vince Lombardi, American football coach (b. 1913)
- September 5
- September 11
October–December
- October 4 – Janis Joplin, American rock singer (Mercedes Benz) (b. 1943)
- October 10 – Édouard Daladier, French prime minister, signed Munich Agreement (b. 1884)
- October 17 – Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (b. 1921)
- October 21
- October 24 – Richard Hofstadter, American historian (b. 1916)
- October 25 – Ülo Sooster, Estonian painter (b. 1924)
- November 2 – Fernand Gravey, French actor (b. 1904)
- November 3 – Peter II of Yugoslavia, Last King of Yugoslavia (b. 1923)
- November 7 – Eddie Peabody, American musician (b. 1902)
- November 9 – Charles de Gaulle, President of France (b. 1890)
- November 14 – Louis Rich, American entrepreneur (b. 1896)
- November 23 – Yusof bin Ishak, first President of Singapore (b. 1910)
- November 25
- November 27 – Helene Madison, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1913)
- December 7 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
- December 12 – Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)
- December 23
- December 26 – Lillian Board, British track and field athlete (b. 1948)
- December 30
- December 31 – Ray Henderson, American songwriter (b. 1896)
Nobel Prizes
References