Top News Stories from 1972

World Events

• President Nixon makes unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China and meets with Mao Zedong (Feb. 17).
• Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace (March 24).
• Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group invades Olympic Village; five guerrillas and one policeman are also killed (Sept. 5).
• Nixon orders "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam (Dec.). Background: Vietnam War

U.S. Events

• Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur H. Bremer at Laurel, Md., political rally (May 15).
• US Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional (June 29).
• Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex—start of the Watergate scandal (June 17).

Economics

Sports

Super Bowl

World Series

NBA Championship

Stanley Cup

Wimbledon

Kentucky Derby Champion

NCAA Basketball Championship

NCAA Football Champions

Entertainment

Events

• Time Inc. transmits HBO, the first pay cable network.
• Women dominate the 1971 Grammy Awards, taking all four top categories. Carole King won Record, Album and Song of the Year, while Carly Simon takes the Best New Artist award.
• The National Institute of Mental Health and the surgeon general issue a report that claims exposure to violence on television fosters aggression in children.
• Gloria Steinem's Ms magazine debuts.
• M*A*S*H premieres on CBS.
• Atari introduces the arcade version of Pong, the first video game. The home version comes out in 1974.

Movies

• The Godfather, Deliverance, Cabaret, Sleuth, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Books

• Maxine Kumin, Up Country
• John Gardner, The Sunlight Dialogues
• John Ashberry, Three Poems
• James Merrill, Braving the Elements
• Eudora Welty, The Optimist's Daughter

Science

• CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanning is developed in England.
• The compact disk is developed by RCA (US).
• The antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) is developed by Bryan B. Malloy (Scotland) and Klaus K. Schmiegel (US). Background: Health & Nutrition
• The video disk is introduced by Philips Company (Netherlands).
• Electronic mail is introduced. Queen Elizabeth will send her first email in 1976. Background: Computers and Internet
• Apollo XVII, the last manned moon landing to date, returns to Earth with 250 pounds of lunar samples. Background: US Staffed Space Flights

Death

• Gil Hodges
• J. Edgar Hoover
• Harry S. Truman

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