Timeline 1976
Return to home
1976 Jan 1,
NBC replaced the peacock logo.
(www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/nbcLivingColor.html)
1976 Jan 1, In California the
Moscone Act, which relaxed marijuana laws, went into effect.
(www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/moscone/summary.htm)
1976 Jan 3, Pres. Gerald Ford
signed the American Folklife Preservation Act. San Francisco
Folklorist Aaron Green (1917-2009) had lobbied Congress for the
passage of the bill.
(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6021)
1976 Jan 4, "Candide" closed at
Broadway Theater in NYC after 740 performances.
(www.sondheim.org/php/news.php?id=1675)
1976 Jan 6, Ted Turner
purchased the Atlanta Braves for reported $12 million.
(www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/S-Z/Turner-Ted-1938.html)
1976 Jan 7, Eleanor Helin of
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. discovered the first near Earth asteroid
which she named Aten. The orbits of these asteroids lie mostly
inside that of the Earth and could at some date collide with the
Earth.
(SFC, 2/1/97,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_F._Helin)
1976 Jan 8, Chou En-lai (78),
Chinese premier (1949-1976), died in Beijing.
(AP, 1/8/98)
1976 Jan 10, Howlin’ Wolf,
blues singer born as Chester Arthur Burnett (b.1910), died. In 2004
James Segrest and Mark Hoffman authored “Moanin’ at Midnight: The
Life and Times of Howlin’ Wolf.”
(SSFC, 7/4/04, p.M6)(www.britannica.com)
1976 Jan 12, Dame Agatha
Christie (b.1890) (Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan),
English mystery writer, died in Wallingford, England. She also wrote
romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is remembered for her
66 mystery novels. Her work with mystery novels, particularly
featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, have given her
the title the “Queen of Crime” and made her one of the most
important and innovative writers in the development of the mystery
novel. Two of her most famous novels might be Murder on the Orient
Express (1934) and Death on the Nile (1937).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie)(SFC,12/26/97,
p.C22)(AP, 1/12/98)
1976 Jan 13, Argentina ousted a
British envoy in dispute over Falkland Islands War.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1976 Jan 14, "Bionic Woman,"
with Lindsay Wagner, debuted on ABC (later NBC).
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0073965/)
1976 Jan 15, Sara Jane Moore
was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of
President Ford in San Francisco.
(AP, 1/15/98)
1976 Jan 17, "I Write the
Songs" by Barry Manilow (b.1944) hit #1.
(http://tinyurl.com/36ufh8)
1976 Jan 21, Leonid Brezhnev
and Henry Kissinger met to discuss Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
(SALT).
(HN, 1/21/99)
1976 Jan 21, The supersonic
Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.
(AP, 1/21/98)
1976 Jan 22, A PLO bank robbery
in Beirut netted a world record $20-50 million.
(www.lebaneseforces.com/blastfromthepast001.asp)
1976 Jan 23, Paul Robeson
(b.1898), black athlete, lawyer, singer, died in Philadelphia. Lloyd
L. Brown later wrote the biography "The Young Paul Robeson: On My
Journey Now." His granddaughter Susan Robeson in 1981 wrote "The
Whole World in His Hands: A Pictorial Biography of Paul Robeson."
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.A26)(WSJ, 4/9/98,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson)
1976 Jan 26, The SF Chronicle
reported that Mother Jones magazine would debut in Feb. 4 of its 6
editors were from Ramparts magazine. The 25th anniversary issue of
Mother Jones was stocked with 124 pages of ads.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)(SFC, 4/19/01, p.B2)
1976 Jan 27, "Laverne &
Shirley," a spin-off from "Happy Days," premiered on ABC TV. It
starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as
Shirley Feeney. The show ran to 1983.
(SFC, 7/21/99,
p.C3)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0074016/)
1976 Jan 30, The play
"Streamers” by David Rabe (b.1940) premiered at the Long Wharf
Theater in New Haven, Connecticut.
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB
p.37)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamers)
1976 Jan 30, George Bush became
the 11th director of the CIA replacing William E. Colby. Bush
revived the reputation of the organization and left it Jan 20, 1977.
(SFEC, 1/16/00, Par
p.2)(http://tinyurl.com/2mm8r9)
1976 Jan 30, The U.S. Supreme
Court banned spending limits in campaigns, equating funds with
freedom of speech.
(HN, 1/30/99)
1976 Jan 31, Ernesto Miranda,
famous from the Supreme Court ruling on "Miranda Rights," was
stabbed to death in Arizona.
(HN, 1/31/99)
1976 Jan, The Federal Hourly
Minimum Wage was set at $2.30 an hour.
(http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blminwage.htm)
1976 Jan, In SF Robert Swanson
(1947-1999), a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, first met with
Herb Boyer, a molecular biologist and co-discoverer of recombinant
DNA. The 10 minute appointment extended to a few hours and the 2 men
proceeded to found Genentech. Genentech was founded with $10,000 per
month funding for R&D with Kleiner Perkins as the largest
investor.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.B1)(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(SFC,
12/7/99, p.D4)(WSJ, 12/14/99, p.A22)
1976 Jan, The entire
Picasso exhibit in the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, France, was
stolen. This event led the International Foundation for Art Research
to form the Art Loss Register. Picasso is the artist listed with the
most stolen works.
(WSJ, 12/30/94, A-6)
1976 Feb 1, "Rich Man, Poor
Man" mini-series premiered on ABC TV.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074048/)
1976 Feb 1, In San Francisco
over 1,000 people took part in the Continental Walk for Peace and
Social Justice led by comedian Dick Gregory and Rev. Ralph D.
Abernathy.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)
1976 Feb 1, Werner C.
Heisenberg (b.1901), physicist and Nobel Prize winner (1932), died
in Germany. In 1993 Thomas Powers authored "Heisenberg’s War," in
which he argued that Heisenberg destroyed the German atomic project
from within. Niels Bohr later countered the argument with personal
documentation.
(SFC, 2/7/02,
p.A2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg)
1976 Feb 2, Susan LeFevre (21)
escaped from a Michigan prison, where she was serving a 10-year
sentence for a heroin conviction. In 2008 she was arrested in San
Diego, where she lived as a suburban mother under the name Marie
Walsh. In 2009 LeFevre (54) was released from prison in Michigan.
(http://quintessentialprocrastinator.blogspot.com/2008/08/susan-lefevre.html)(SFC,
5/19/09, p.A5)
1976 Feb 3, In Nigeria Gen.
Murtala Ramat Muhammed (1938-1976) proclaimed Abuja as the new
federal capital. It was founded to replace Lagos and became the
official capital in 1991.
(SFC, 11/23/06,
p.A28)(www.datelineafrica.org/stories/200802130370.html)
1976 Feb 4, The Winter Olympics
opened in Innsbruck, Austria. Ice dancing joined the program for the
1st time.
(StuAus, April '95, p.95)(SSFC, 2/17/02, p.A19)
1976 Feb 4, A 7.9 earthquake
hit Guatemala and Honduras. Some 23,000 Guatemalans, mostly Mayan
Indians, were killed. It destroyed 58,000 houses in the capital and
300 villages.
(NG, 6/1988, p.785,797)(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.8)(AP,
2/4/01)
1976 Feb 6, Vince Guaraldi
(b.1928), jazz pianist, died in Menlo Park, Ca. He wrote "Cast Your
Fate to the Wind" and composed for the Charley Schulz "Peanuts"
cartoon specials.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, DB
p.44)(www.imdb.com/name/nm0345279/)
1976 Feb 11, Lee J. Cobb
(b.1911), actor (12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront), died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0002011/)
1976 Feb 12, Sal Mineo
(b.1939), American film and theater actor, was stabbed to death in
Los Angeles while coming home from a play rehearsal.
(SFEC, 3/16/97, Z1
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal_Mineo)
1976 Feb 13, Lily Pons
(b.1898), French, US soprano, opera diva (Met Opera), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_Pons)
1976 Feb 13, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Muhammad in the ruling junta was killed in a coup attempt and his
deputy, Gen'l. Olusegun Obasanjo, was named president.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A10)(SFC, 3/2/99,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olusegun_Obasanjo)
1976 Feb 15, In Los Angeles
Elizabeth McKeown (67) was beaten, raped and strangled. A young
homicide detective found her body 3 days later in a car trunk. In
2009 John Floyd Thomas Jr. (72), an insurance claims adjuster, was
arrested based on DNA evidence. A series of attacks stopped in 1978,
the year Thomas went to prison for the rape of a Pasadena woman.
(AP, 5/1/09)(SFC, 9/24/09, p.D3)
1976 Feb 18, Pres. Gerald Ford
signed an executive order prohibiting US officials from plotting or
engaging in political assassination. The order was later broadened
by Presidents Carter and Reagan. Ford issued Executive Order
11905 to clarify U.S. foreign-intelligence activities. In a section
of the order labeled "Restrictions on Intelligence Activities," Ford
concisely but explicitly outlawed political assassination. It became
effective on March 1.
(www.ford.utexas.edu/LIBRARY/speeches/760110e.htm#assassination)
1976 Feb 18, The Tigray
People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) issued a manifesto to secede from
Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/24/99,
p.A14)(www.abugidainfo.com/?p=3393)(http://tinyurl.com/2j2pxf)
1976 Feb 19, Britain slashed
welfare spending.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1976 Feb 20, Kathryn Kuhlman
(b.1907), American religious leader and faith healer, died in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Kuhlman)
1976 Feb 22, Sandra Camille
found her husband, David Stegall, a Dallas dentist, dead with
slashed wrists and a bullet in the left temple. Sandra collected
insurance and re-married 2 years later to Bobby Bridewell, who died
of cancer 2 years later. After 2 more years Sandra married Alan
Rehrig (29). He was found shot dead in 1985, and Sandra again
collected insurance. Sandra embarked on a series of frauds and in
2007 at age 62 was held in North Carolina pending investigations
into her past.
(SFC, 7/6/07, p.B9)
1976 Feb 24, Republican Gerald
Ford won the New Hampshire primary over Ronald Reagan 50.1 to 48.6%.
Democrat Jimmie Carter won over Mo Udall and Birch Bayh 28.7 to 23
to 15.3%.
(SSFC, 1/25/04,
p.A19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_primary)
1976 Feb 24, H. Allen Smith
(b.1907), author, TV host (Armchair Detective), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Allen_Smith)
1976 Feb 24, Cuba's revised
socialist constitution went into effect. Article 88 of this year’s
Cuban Constitution said any citizen who collects the signatures of
at least 10,000 registered voters can petition the National Assembly
for a referendum on any subject.
(http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/news/aa041300a.htm)(WSJ,
5/13/02, p.A1)
1976 Feb 25, The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that states may ban the hiring of illegal aliens.
(HN, 2/25/98)
1976 Feb 26, US performed a
nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
(www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/tests/USA-ntests3.html)
1976 Feb 27, The final meeting
between Mao tse Tung and Richard Nixon took place.
(www.nybooks.com/articles/2173)
1976 Feb, Swine flu broke out
at a US Army base in New Jersey. Pres. Ford announced a National
Swine Flu Immunization Program a month after the virus was
identified. In 1982 Richard E. Neustadt and Harvey V. Fineberg
authored “The Epidemic That Never Was.”
(WSJ, 11/28/05, p.B1)
1976 Mar 1, The US Intelligence
Oversight Board was created as part of Pres. Ford’s Feb 18 Executive
Order 11905. It was made up of private citizens and designed to
ferret out illegal spying activities. In 2008 Pres George W. Bush
issued an executive order that stripped the board of much of its
authority.
(SSFC, 3/16/08, p.A4)
1976 Mar 1, The Maze Prison
opened in Northern Ireland. Its 8 H-shaped blocks were designed to
hold 800 prisoners. It closed in 2000.
(SFEC, 10/1/00,
p.D14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_(HM_Prison))
1976 Mar 2, The musical revue
Bubbling Brown Sugar" opened at ANTA Theater in NYC for 766
performances.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbling_Brown_Sugar)
1976 Mar 2, Bob Lurie (b.1929),
real estate magnate, led a group to acquire ownership of the San
Francisco Giants baseball club. Lurie closed the $8-million
transaction with Arizona cattleman Arthur "Bud" Herseth as his 50-50
partner.
(www.stadiumforrent.com/sfr/sfr-ch23a.html)
1976 Mar 3, Pierre Moliniere
(b.1900), French artist and photographer, shot himself to death
rather than face prostate surgery and a reduced sex life.
(WSJ, 11/22/96,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Molinier)
1976 Mar 3, Mozambique closed
its border with Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
(http://tinyurl.com/3c8j7u)
1976 Mar 4, Pan Am was the
first airline charged with criminal negligence in a crash.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1976 Mar 5, The British pound
fell below the equivalent of $2 for the first time.
(AP, 3/5/98)
1976 Mar 5, Britain gave up on
the Ulster talks and decided to retain rule in Northern Ireland
indefinitely.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1976 Mar 9, A ski cable car,
running from Cavalese to the Alpe Cermis in the Italian Alps,
crashed to the ground due to a mechanical failure and killed 42
skiers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable-car_disaster_%281976%29)
1976 Mar 13, In California a
jury convicted 4 Black Muslims for 3 murders and 4 assaults out of a
total of 23 Bay Area crimes that included 14 murders. Jessie Lee
Cooks, Larry Craig Green, Manuel Moore and J.C.X. Simon were given
life sentences.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1976 Mar 14, Busby Berkeley
(b.1895), US film director and choreographer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley)
1976 Mar 16, British PM Harold
Wilson announced his resignation in London. He was succeeded in
April by home secretary James Callaghan (1912-2005).
(HN, 3/16/98)(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A21)(Econ, 3/18/06,
p.11)
1976 Mar 19, Buckingham Palace
announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the
Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.
(AP, 3/19/97)
1976 Mar 20, Newspaper heiress
Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for use of a firearm
in the San Francisco Hibernia Bank holdup. In Sept she was sentenced
to 7 years in prison.
(AP, 3/20/97)(HN, 3/20/98)(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A8)
1976 Mar 23, The
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in
1948, went into effect three months after the 35th nation
ratified it.
(www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs2.htm)
1976 Mar 24, In Argentina the
military overthrew the government of Isabel Peron. Gen. Jorge Rafael
Videla led the military coup. Jose Siderman, a Jewish businessman,
was forced with death threats to leave the country. He filed suit in
the US in 1982 in the first trial of a foreign government for
human-rights abuses and won a default settlement. Argentina won a
reversal in an appeals court but in 1996 Argentina dropped
opposition to the suit.
(SFC, 9/14/96, p.A9)(AP, 3/23/97)(SFC,
6/10/98, p.A10)
1976 Mar 24, Emilio Eduardo
Massera (1925-2010), Argentine military officer, was a leading
participant in the argentine coup d'état. After the end of
the dictatorship in 1983, he was tried for human rights violations
and sentenced to life imprisonment and the loss of his military
grade. On December 29, 1990, he was pardoned by then-President
Carlos Menem. In 1998 Massera was arrested for his role in stealing
babies from killed leftists during the “dirty war” (1976-1983) In
1999 former Pres. And Gen'l. Reynaldo Bignone was also arrested for
his role in the baby thefts. In 2000 retired Gen. Juan Sasiain was
arrested for his role.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Eduardo_Massera)(WSJ, 11/25/98,
p.A1)(SFC, 1/21/99, p.A14)(SFC, 3/17/00, p.D2)
1976 Mar 24, Argentine Sen.
Guillermo Vargas Aignasse disappeared on the day of a military coup.
In 2008 an Argentine court convicted retired Gens. Antonio Bussi and
Luciano Menendez for the murder of the senator and sentenced them to
life in prison. They were found guilty of kidnapping, torturing and
murdering.
(AP, 8/29/08)
1976 Mar 24, Bernard Law
Montgomery (b.1887), British general, defeated Rommel, died.
(HC,
10/10/98)(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/montgomery_bernard.shtml)
1976 Mar 26, Paul McCartney and
Wings released "Wings at the Speed of Sound" album.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_at_the_Speed_of_Sound)
1976 Mar 26, In 2006 an NSA
transcript from this day indicated that US Sec. of State Henry
Kissinger was informed in the meeting by then-Assistant Secretary
for Latin America William D. Rogers, that if the Argentine military
regime succeeded (March 24 coup), it would make a "considerable
effort to involve the United States — particularly in the financial
field." Kissinger, the NSA's transcript further stated, responded,
"Yes, but that is in our interest."
(AP, 3/24/06)
1976 Mar 27, In Washington DC
the first 4.6 miles of track for the Washington Metro was completed.
The Gallery Place metro station opened. Harry Weese (d.1998)
Associates of Chicago did the design work. By 2012 Metrorail had
106.3 miles of track.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.C7)(WSJ, 12/16/98,
p.B12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metro)
1976 Mar 30, Israel killed 6
Palestinians protesting land confiscation.
(www.balad.org/index.php?id=138)
1976 Mar 31, The New Jersey
Supreme Court allowed the removal of the respirator that assisted
Karen Ann Quinlan, who had been comatose since Apr 15, 1975.
Quinlan, who remained comatose, died Jul 11, 1985.
(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C8)(AP, 3/30/97)
1976 Apr 1, Stephen Wozniak and
Steven Jobs founded Apple Computer. They incorporated Jan 3, 1977.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer)
1976 Apr 1, Max Ernst (b.1891),
German-French surrealist painter, sculptor, died in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ernst)
1976 Apr 1, Pakistan’s PM
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto appointed Zia-ul-Haq as Chief of Army Staff,
ahead of a number of more senior officers.
(www.elections.com.pk/candidatedetails.php?id=6887)
1976 Apr 5, Tom Stoppard's
"Dirty Linen," premiered in London.
(www.donshewey.com/theater_reviews/dirty_linen.html)
1976 Apr 5, Reclusive
billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 72. In 1993 Charles
Higham authored “Howard Hughes: The Secret Life.” In 1996 Peter
Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske authored "Howard Hughes: The Untold
Story." Hughes had hired a coterie of Mormons to take care of his
confidential business. These included Frank William Gay (1920-2007),
who led Hughes’ Summa Corp. from 1970-1978.
(AP, 4/5/97)(SFC, 10/21/00, p.A24)(WSJ, 5/26/07,
p.A6)
1976 Apr 5, James Callaghan
became PM of England. He served until May 4, 1979.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Callaghan)
1976 Apr 7, Robert A. Swanson
(d.1999 at 52), a venture capitalist, and Herb Boyer, a UCSF
molecular biologist and co-discoverer of gene-splicing in 1973,
incorporated Genentech Inc. They planned to use gene splicing to
create a genre of medicines.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.B1)(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(SSFC,
4/1/01, p.B1)
1976 Apr 7, China's leadership
deposed Deputy Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping and appointed Hua
Kuo-feng (Guofeng) prime minister and first deputy chairman of the
Communist Party.
(AP, 4/7/97)
1976 Apr 9, Phil Ochs (b.1940),
American protest singer and musician, committed suicide.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs)
1976 Apr 11, In Cambodia Khmer
Rouge leader Khieu Samphan (b.1931) succeeded Prince Sihanouk as
premier. In 1979 he was succeeded by Heng Samrin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khieu_Samphan)(Econ, 1/12/08, p.52)
1976 Apr 13, The US Federal
Reserve began issuing $2 bicentennial notes. The last $2 series was
discontinued in 1966 after low production and the concomitant
unpopularity of the bill resulted in insufficient use.
(http://wcdc42.com/2dollar/economic_reviews.html)(HN, 4/13/98)
1976 Apr 13, In Morocco
Abdennaceur Bnouhachem's work as a left-wing student activist came
to an abrupt end when plain clothed security officers cornered him
in the street and bundled him into an unmarked van. He was tortured
and spent 9 years in prison. Years later he was awarded 1 million
dirhams ($114,500) for his ordeal, but said the money will not erase
his memories.
(Reuters, 7/13/06)
1976 Apr 14, In San Francisco a
bomb exploded at 1 California St. on the 17th floor of the Mutual
Benefit Life Building. The Red Guerrilla Family was suspected.
(SFC, 4/13/01, WBb p.3)
1976 Apr 15, Gerald L.K. Smith
(b.1898), a leader of the “Share Our Wealth” movement and founder of
the America First Party (1943), died in Arkansas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith)
1976 Apr 15 In Argentina
Floreal Avellaneda (14), the son of a Communist trade union leader
of Greater Buenos Aires, was kidnapped from his house with his
mother, by an Army contingent looking for his father. On May 14,
1976, Floreal’s corpse was found on the coast of Montevideo,
Uruguay, hands and feet bound and with signs of torture. Iris
Pereyra, the boy’s mother, was released after three years. In 2009
former general Santiago Omar Riveros (86) and 4 others were found
guilty of involvement in the boy’s murder.
(www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/87.88eng/chap5.htm)(AP, 8/12/09)
1976 Apr 21, Full-scale testing
of the swine flu vaccine began in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 4/21/06)
1976 Apr 22, Director Ingmar
Bergman (1918-2007) actress Bibi Anderson announced they were
leaving Sweden because of harassment by Swedish tax officials.
(www.coolquiz.com/trivia/history/index.asp?hdate=04.22)
1976 Apr 26, Pan Am began
non-stop flights between NYC and Tokyo.
(www.wingnet.org/rtw/rtw006hh.htm)
1976 Apr 27, Jimmy Carter
clinched the Democratic presidential nomination by beating Henry
“Scoop” Jackson and Morris Udall in the Pennsylvania primary.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/timeline/index.html)(Econ, 4/12/08,
p.31)
1976 May 1, Kawika Kapahulehua
(d.2007 at 76), leading a 15-man crew on a double-hulled canoe with
sails, departed Hawaii to Tahiti. Organizer and anthropologist Ben
Finney wanted to prove the trip was possible. They reached Tahiti
after 34 days despite issues of ethnicity raised by part of the
crew. Mau Piailug (1932-2010), Micronesian master navigator, steered
the Hokule’a (Star of Gladness) by the stars, the feel of the wind
and the look of the sea.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D3)(Econ, 7/24/10, p.84)
1976 May 1, Alexandros
Panagoulis (b.1939), Greek politician and poet, died in a car crash
possibly rigged by his enemies. He became famous for his attempt to
assassinate dictator George Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, and also
for the torture that he was subjected to during his detention.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandros_Panagoulis)
1976 May 4, Australian PM
Malcolm Fraser announced that "Waltzing Matilda" would serve as his
country's national anthem at the upcoming Olympic Games.
(AP, 5/4/06)
1976 May 5, In Sri Lanka the
TNT was renamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
commonly known as Tigers.
(www.dailynews.lk/2009/05/19/fea02.asp)
1976 May 6, An earthquake
struck Italy’s northern region at Friuli-Venezia Giulia, affecting
11 villages near the Austrian and Yugoslav borders. The earthquake
killed more than 1,000 people in a 3,300-square-mile area and left
80,000 homeless.
(http://tinyurl.com/dvzp6)(SFC, 12/17/05, p.F1)
1976 May 8, San Francisco city
craft workers agreed to end their 38-day strike. City supervisors
agreed to take Propositions E and K off the June ballot.
(SFC, 5/4/01, WBb p.3)
1976 May 8, San Francisco
Supervisor Richard Hongisto was slapped with a DUI by a Marin County
judge. His sentence included a $784 fine and a 90-day driving
restriction. A breath test measured his blood-alcohol level at .11,
just abort the .10 limit.
(SSFC, 5/8/11, DB p.46)
1976 May 8, McKendree Robbins
Long (b.1888), Southern gothic painter and evangelical preacher,
died in North Carolina. His work included: "Apocalyptic Scene With
Philosophers and Historical Figures," and "The Fifth Angel Opens the
Bottomless Pit."
(SFC, 7/6/02,
p.D6)(www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa457.htm)
1976 May 9, Harvey Fite,
professor of art at Bard College, died in Saugerties, NY, while
working on his multi-acre Opus 40 landscape sculpture. In 2010 the
37-year project was listed for sale for $3.5 million.
(SFC, 3/22/10, p.A4)
1976 May 9, Ulrike Meinhof
(b.1934), co-leader of the Baader-Meinhof gang, committed suicide in
German prison.
(SFC, 1/10/01, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/3/09,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrike_Meinhof)
1976 May 11, Alvar Aalto
(b.1898), Finnish architect, died. A show in 1998 featured his work
and an accompanying book was published that covered his Nordic
classicism of the 1920s to the completion of his Finlandia Hall in
Helsinki in 1971.
(WSJ, 7/28/00,
p.W11C)(www.imdb.com/name/nm2043227/bio)
1976 May 13, In game 6 the NY
Nets beat the Denver Nuggets in 9th & final American Basketball
Association (ABA) championship, 4 games to 2.
(www.remembertheaba.com/New-York-Nets.html)
1976 May 14, In Sri Lanka the
Tamil United Liberation Front adopted the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution
declaring the Tamils’ right to statehood.
(Econ, 1/23/10,
p.41)(www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=74&artid=8861)
1976 May 15, Samuel Eliot
Morison (b.1887), US historian (Admiral of Ocean Sea), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Eliot_Morison)
1976 May 18, Zelmar Michelini
and Hector Gutierrez, prominent Uruguayan lawmakers, were seized
from their homes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their bullet-riddled
bodies were found days later along with those of suspected rebels
suspected guerrillas William Whitelaw and Rosario Barredo.
(AP, 11/17/06)
1976 May 19, The US Senate
established congressional oversight over the CIA with the permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).
(SFC, 9/17/97, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/3cc2yh)
1976 May 19, In San Francisco
Jenny Read (b.1945), an Episcopal sculptor, was raped and murdered
while working on a sculpture of St. John of the Cross in Potrero
Hill. In 2009 police using DNA evidence arrested and charged James
Lee Mayfield (63), a registered sex offender with her murder.
(SFC, 6/18/04, p.F4)(SFC, 8/11/09, p.C1)
1976 May 21, A bus on I-680 in
California crashed after crossing the Benicia-Martinez Bridge,
plunged 21 feet, and rolled upside down. 28 Yuba City High School
students and one adult were killed. There were 22 survivors.
(SFC, 5/20/96, p.A-20)
1976 May 24, The SF Chronicle
published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead
Maupin (b.1944). The series continued in the Chronicle until 1983
and was serialized in the Examiner in 1986.
(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 5/8/11, p.A13)
1976 May 24, Britain and France
opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington. This was the
1st commercial supersonic transport (SST).
(AP, 5/24/97)
1976 May 24, In France 2
California wines won a tasting event over several French classics
for the 1st time. Stephen Spurrier, English owner of a wine shop and
wine school in Paris, held a competition tasting of French and
American wines. The best white wine was a 1973 Napa Valley
Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena. The best red wine was a 1973
Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Winemaker Miljenko
Grgich created the Napa Chardonnay that beat French wines in the
legendary Paris Tasting. In 2005 George M. Taber authored “Judgement
of Paris,” an account of the 1976 tasting.
(SFC, 5/29/96, ZZ1 p.4)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.T8)(WSJ,
5/24/01, p.A20)(SFC, 6/16/05, p.F4)
1976 May 25, US Representative
Wayne L. Hays (Democrat, Ohio) admitted to a "personal relationship"
with Elizabeth Ray, a committee staff member who claimed she’d
received her job in order to be Hays’ mistress.
(AP, 5/25/00)
1976 May 26, Martin Heidegger
(b.1889), German philosopher (Holzweg), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger)
1976 May 28, Pres. Ford signed
the Medical Device Amendments which established a product approval
process overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the
authority to regulate medical devices. Sales of silicone breast
implants, already on the market, were allowed to continue without
proof of safety.
(WSJ, 4/9/96, p.B-1)(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A8)(WSJ,
4/13/05, p.A3)
1976 May 31, Martha Mitchell,
the estranged wife of former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, died
in New York.
(AP, 5/31/97)
1976 May, In Argentina Monica
Mignone (24) was arrested at her family home and never seen again.
Her father Emilio Mignone (d.1998), founding rector of a university
in Lujon, became a leader of the Permanent Assembly for Human
Rights. He also founded the Center for Legal and Social Studies. He
wrote "Dictatorship and the Church," in which he criticized the
inaction of the church during the "dirty war."
(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A23)
1976 Jun 2, Gen’l. Juan Jose
Torres (b.1920), ousted as president of Bolivia in 1971, was
kidnapped by a death squad in Argentina and killed. He was a victim
of the Condor Plan, a South American military pact between
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay to exchange
intelligence information and help each other hunt down suspected
leftists.
(SFC, 11/23/99,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Torres)
1976 Jun 2, Great-Britain
& Iceland terminated their codfish war. It was agreed that only
24 British vessels would be allowed in the 200 mile zone and four
conservation areas would be completely closed to the British.
(www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/article/Iceland/Cod-War-in-Iceland/527)
1976 Jun 2, Alan Dewitt
(b.1921), film and TV actor, died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0223195/)
1976 Jun 3, Britain presented
to the US the oldest known copy of the Magna Carta.
(www.magnacharta.org/enews82000.htm)
1976 Jun 5, The Teton Dam in
Idaho burst catastrophically and water blasted through a narrow
canyon and onto Sugar City. It released nearly 300,000 acre feet of
water, then flooded farmland and towns downstream with the eventual
loss of 14 lives, directly or indirectly, and with a cost estimated
to be nearly $1 billion.
(AP,
6/5/00)(www.geol.ucsb.edu/faculty/sylvester/Teton%20Dam/welcome_dam.html)
1976 Jun 6, Jean Paul Getty
(b.1892), US oil magnate, billionaire, died. He left $1.2 billion as
an endowment for a museum and art activities around the world.
(SFC, 7/15/96,
p.D2)(http://wapedia.mobi/en/J._Paul_Getty)
1976 Jun 9, James A. Farley
(b.1888), US Postmaster General (1932-1940), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Farley)
1976 Jun 12, In Uruguay the
military ousted Pres. Juan Maria Bordaberry (b.1928). Uruguay
remained under the control of a right-wing dictatorship until 1985.
In 2006 Bordaberry was arrested for the murder of opposition leaders
in 1976.
(AP, 11/16/06)(http://tinyurl.com/yczxw5)(Econ,
12/16/06, p.38)
1976 Jun 13, Don Bolles,
Arizona Republic investigative reporter, died as a result of
injuries suffered when a bomb blew up his car 11 days earlier. He
had been working on an alleged Mafia story at the time of his death.
(AP, 6/13/04)
1976 Jun 16, U.S. Ambassador
Francis E. Meloy, Jr. (b.1917) was murdered along with his associate
Robert Waring, an American economic advisor. The two had been en
route to a meeting with Lebanese president-elect Elias Sarkis when
they were abducted by Muslim guerillas in Beirut.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_E._Meloy,_Jr.)
1976 Jun 16, In South Africa
white police gunned down teenagers Hector Pieterson and Hastings
Ndhlovu and caused a nationwide riot that left 700 people dead.
Students at Morris Isacson High School in Soweto had marched to
protest a new rule that called for Afrikaans as the medium of
instruction.
(SFC, 6/15/96, p.C12)(USAT, 7/9/04, p.10D)
1976 Jun 18, Scientist
confirmed Einstein’s equivalence principle in the experiment called
Gravity Probe A. They confirmed that clocks in gravitational fields
of differing strengths do not keep the same time.
(NH, 3/05, p.55)
1976 Jun 19, Bette Midler's
concert at the Cleveland Music Hall became HBO's premiere "Standing
Room Only" presentation.
(www.allbusiness.com/services/motion-pictures/4921414-1.html)
1976 Jun 19, The US Viking 1
went into Martian orbit after a 10-month flight from earth.
(www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Mars/exploration.html)
1976 Jun 25, Imogen Cunningham,
photographer, died at age 93.
(SFC, 6/22/01, WBb p.8)
1976 Jun 25, John Herndon
Mercer [Johnny Mercer] (b.1909), songwriter, died. He was buried in
Boneventure Cemetery in Savannah, Ga. In 2004 Gene Lees authored the
biography “Portrait of Johnny.”
(SFEC,11/30/97, p.T5)(HN, 11/18/00)(WSJ,
11/26/04, p.W4)
1976 Jun 26, The CN Tower in
Toronto, at this time the world’s tallest free-standing structure
(553 meters), opened to the public.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower)
1976 Jun 27, An Air France
Airbus flight AF139, from Tel Aviv to Paris, was hijacked shortly
after departing Athens and taken to Uganda.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France)
1976 Jun 28, The first women
entered the U.S. Air Force Academy.
(HN, 6/28/98)
1976 Jun, US ambassador Robert
C. Hill cautioned Argentina’s new government over wholesale
violations of human rights. Sec. of State Henry Kissinger responded:
“In what way is it compatible with my policy?”
(SFC, 10/1/04,
p.A18)(www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/politics/01kissinger.html)
1976 Jul 2, The US Supreme
Court ruled to allow states to resume capital punishment. The
Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or
unusual.
(SFC, 1/9/97, p.A4)(AP, 7/2/97)
1976 Jul 2, North and South
Vietnam were officially reunified.
(HN,
7/2/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War)
1976 Jul 3, Shane Lynch, Irish
singer (Boyzone), was born in Dublin, Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Lynch)
1976 Jul 3, Israel launched its
daring mission to rescue 103 passengers and Air France crew members
being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by pro-Palestinian
hijackers.
(AP, 7/3/97)
1976 Jul 4, The nation held a
200th anniversary party across the land in celebration of America's
200 years of independence. President Ford made stops in Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and New
York, where more than 200 ships paraded up the Hudson River in
Operation Sail.
(TMC, 1994, p.1976)(IB, 12/7/98)(AP, 7/4/01)
1976 Jul 4, The National Museum
of American Jewish History opened in Philadelphia. It was
established to tell the story of the American Jewish experience.
(SFC, 7/3/08,
p.E15)(www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_jewish.htm)
1976 Jul 4, The Ramones, a US
punk rock group managed by Danny Fields and Linda Stein (1945-2007),
held a concert in England that sparked the young British punk scene.
(SFC, 11/2/07, p.E2)
1976 Jul 4, Jonathan Netanyahu,
brother of Benjamin, led and was killed in an Israeli raid called
Operation Thunderball that rescued the [105] hostages held at
Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The raid was by Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s
elite counter-terrorist unit led by Muki Betser, and it freed all
but 3 of the 104 Israeli and Jewish hostages and crew of an Air
France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers. A total of 45
Ugandan soldiers were killed during the raid. The events are
described by Muki Betser and Robert Rosenberg in "Secret Soldier,
The True Life of Israel’s Greatest Commando." The hijacking was
linked to Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe)(AP,
7/4/97)(SFC,12/11/97, p.C2)
1976 Jul 5, In SF the body of
Wanda Baun (19), a prostitute, was found dead. She had been stabbed
over 50 times. In 2007 Darrell Sweigart was convicted of 2nd degree
murder after DNA evidence linked to the murder. He was already
serving a 25 year to life sentence for rape and robbery.
(SFC, 7/4/07, p.B3)
1976 Jul 6, US Naval Academy
admitted women for the first time in its history with the induction
of 81 female midshipmen.
(www.usna.edu/VirtualTour/150years/1970.htm)
1976 Jul 7, The US 94th
Congress amended the Flag Code.
(SFC, 6/14/11,
p.E6)(http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/04C1.txt)
1976 Jul 7, The 1st female
cadets enrolled at the West Point Military Academy in NY. West Point
Military Academy admitted 119 women out of a class of 1367. Four
years later 62 women graduated.
(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=5159)(SFEC,
2/16/97, p.A12)
1976 Jul 8, A volcano erupted
on Guadeloupe and frightened the capital, Basse-Terre. A phreatic
eruption of the Soufriere volcano cracked open the summit dome
(www.ipgp.jussieu.fr/~beaudu/soufriere/smithsonian76.html#sean_0109)
1976 Jul 9, Uganda asked UN to
condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1976-7/1976-07-09-NBC-18.html)
1976 Jul 10, There was an
explosion at a factory in Seveso, Lombardy, Italy, owned by ICMESA
with a Swiss parent company. It produced a cloud of Dioxin which
settled over several adjacent communities. The people exposed
became nauseated, experienced eye and throat irritations, developed
burn-like sores on exposed skin, headaches, dizziness and diarrhea
-- the same symptoms recorded by exposed Vietnamese and Cambodian
populations. In the next two days, small animals in the area
began to die. The contamination led to a high incidence of birth
defects.
(www.theveteranscoalition.org/educational_material/agent_orange.htm)(WSJ,2/12/97,
p.A8)
1976 Jul 12, Edward Charles
Allaway, a campus janitor, killed 7 people in a library at
California State Univ. at Fullerton. He was found not guilty by
reason of insanity and was confined at a state mental hospital.
(SFC, 12/22/01,
p.A5)(www.spock.com/Edward-Charles-Allaway)
1976 Jul 13, The Green Peace
500-ton James Bay, a converted Canadian minesweeper, set out from
the SF Bay to thwart Japanese and Russian whale hunters in Hawaiian
water.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1976 Jul 14, Jimmy Carter won
the Democratic presidential nomination by an overwhelming margin at
the party's convention in New York City.
(AP, 7/14/97)
1976 Jul 14, Canada abolished
the death penalty.
(SFC,10/18/97,
p.A13)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Canada)
1976 Jul 15, 4:15 p.m. School
Children in Chowchilla, CA. were kidnapped by 3 young men, Richard
(22) and James Schoenfeld (24) and Newhall Woods (24). The 26
children were herded into a moving van that was buried in a quarry
near Livermore, Ca. and held for $5 million ransom. The children
escaped after 16 hours and their captors were captured within 2
weeks. The men were sentenced to life in prison. Richard Schoenfeld
turned himself in after 6 days. James was captured in Menlo Park and
Woods was captured in Vancouver.
(SFC, 7/14/96, zone 1 p.1)(AP, 7/15/97)(SFC,
12/3/98, p.A30)
1976 Jul 15, Indonesia passed a
law providing for annexation of East Timor, which the President of
Indonesia signed on 17 July. East Timor became the 27th province of
the Republic of Indonesia. The act was not recognized by the UN.
(G&M, 1/31/96,
p.A-9)(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/timor-bkg.htm)
1976 Jul 16, In the "Spaggiari
Affair," a heist masterminded by Albert Spaggiari (1932-1989), a
gang tunneled into the vault of a branch of Societe Generale in Nice
during a public holiday, spent two days and two nights there and
made off with about 24 million euros (21 million pounds) worth of
cash and valuables. The heist spawned several books and movies.
(AP,
4/4/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Spaggiari)
1976 Jul 17, The Summer
Olympics opened in Montreal. In 1998 it was revealed that 143
members of the East German team had taken performance-enhancing
drugs.
(WSJ, 7/15/96, p.B1)(WSJ, 10/21/98, p.A1)
1976 Jul 20, Hank Aaron hit his
755th and final home run off the California Angels' Dick Drago at
Milwaukee County Stadium.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)
1976 Jul 20, US Air Force
Brigadier General Harry Aderholt lowered the American flag for the
last time at Military Assistance Command Thailand headquarters on
Bangkok’s Sathorn Road.
(www.nationmultimedia.com/sunday/20060709/)
1976 Jul 20, The Viking I robot
spacecraft made a successful, first-ever landing on Mars and began
taking soil samples.
(AP, 7/20/97)(HN, 7/20/98)
1976 Jul 21, "Legionnaire's
Disease" struck in Philadelphia, Pa. 29 people died from the
disease. The disease was first identified after an outbreak at the
Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. It was identified as
Legionella pneumophila and found to infest water systems in general
and the hotel ventilation system in this case.
(OGA, 11/24/98)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-17)
1976 Jul 23, Mario Soares
(b.1924) became Prime Minister of Portugal.
(SFC, 4/19/00,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1rio_Soares)
1976 Jul 25, Edwin Moses
(b.1955), American track star, won an Olympic Gold Medal In Montreal
in the 400-meter hurdles.
(http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016369.html)
1976 Jul 27, John Lennon was
granted a green card for permanent residence in US.
(http://beatlesnumber9.com/usvjohnlennon.html)
1976 Jul 27, Air Force veteran
Ray Brennan became the first person to die of so-called
"Legionnaire’s Disease" following an American Legion convention in
Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/27/00)
1976 Jul 27, Kakuei Tanaka,
former PM (1972-1974) of Japan, was arrested for accepting a bribe
from the US Lockheed Corp. Tanaka was convicted in 1983 but
continued to fight the charges. A. Carl Kotchian (d.2008 at 94), a
Lockheed salesman, had testified that Lockheed had paid $12.6
million in bribes to Japanese businessmen and government officials.
(www.international.ucla.edu/eas/restricted/lockheed.htm)(Jap. Enc.,
BLDM, p. 216)(SFC, 12/24/08, p.B7)
1976 Jul 28, Eldon Joersz set a
world air speed record of 3,530 kph near Beale AFB in California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_airspeed_record)
1976 Jul 28, In China a 7.8-8.2
earthquake in the northern city of Tangshan killed at least 242,000
people, according to an official estimate.
(AP, 7/28/97)(SFC, 1/8/00,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangshan_earthquake)
1976 Jul 31, "Sugar" Ray
Charles Leonard (b.1956), American boxer, won an Olympic gold medal
in Montreal.
(http://dcboxing.blogspot.com/2008/03/1976-olympic-final-sugar-ray-leonard-vs.html)
1976 Jul, China completed the
construction of a railway between Tanzania and Zambia.
(Econ, 2/7/04,
p.45)(www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ziliao/3602/3604/t18009.htm)
1976 Aug 1, Liz Taylor had her
6th divorce when she re-divorced Richard Burton.
(www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=21815)
1976 Aug 1, Trinidad &
Tobago became a republic.
(http://library2.nalis.gov.tt/Default.aspx?PageContentMode=1&tabid=79)
1976 Aug 2, Fritz Lang
(b.1890), Austrian-born, German and American film director, died in
Beverly Hills. His work included "Metropolis," "M," and "The Big
Heat."
(WSJ, 4/3/00,
p.A46)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang)
1976 Aug 3, Valeri Sablin,
Soviet Navy officer, was executed for mutiny. He was a
character in the 1990 Hollywood film “Hunt for Red October.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Sablin)
1976 Aug 6, Thailand and
Vietnam established diplomatic relations.
(WSJ, 3/5/97,
p.A16)(www.vietnamembassy.or.th/relations.html)
1976 Aug 6, Gregor Piatigorsky
(b.1903), Russian cellist, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Piatigorsky)
1976 Aug 7, Scientists in
Pasadena, Calif., announced that the Viking 1 spacecraft had found
the strongest indications to date of possible life on Mars.
(AP, 8/7/97)
1976 Aug 9, John Roselli
(b.1905), Chicago mobster hired by the CIA to kill Castro, was found
murdered. His decomposing body was found in a 55-gallon steel fuel
drum floating in Dumfounding Bay near Miami, Florida. Roselli had
been strangled and stabbed and his legs were sawed off.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Roselli)
1976 Aug 10, In South Africa
Jimmy Kruger, minister of justice and police, recommended killing
anti-apartheid demonstrators at a cabinet meeting.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A12)(http://tinyurl.com/2678bd)
1976 Aug 12, Syrian backed
Christian militias completed their siege of the Tell al-Za'tar
Palestinian camp in Lebanon leaving some 2000 people killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_al-Zaatar_massacre)
1976 Aug 14, Some 10,000
Northern Ireland women demonstrated for peace in Belfast.
(http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm)
1976 Aug 14, In Northern
Ireland Majella O'Hare (12) was shot in the back, as she walked with
other schoolgirls to a Catholic Church to give their confessions in
the village of Whitecross in South Armagh, a borderland powerbase
for the IRA. Her father, who died in 1992, witnessed the shooting
and watched her die in an army helicopter as she was being evacuated
to hospital. The family received a 1,500-pound ($2,400) payment from
the British government in 1976 as compensation for the killing. In
2011 the family received a face-to-face apology from Britain's
senior government official in Northern Ireland.
(AP, 3/29/11)
1976 Aug 15, Former SS Colonel
Herbert Kappler dramatically escaped from prison hospital in Rome
with the aid of his wife and taken to Germany.
(http://tinyurl.com/yvulbh)
1976 Aug 17, William Redfield
(b.1927), film and TV actor, died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0714835/)
1976 Aug 18, Two U.S. Army
officers were killed in Korea's demilitarized zone as a group of
North Korean soldiers wielding axes and metal pikes attacked U.S.
and South Korean soldiers. Major Arthur G. Bonifas was attacked and
beaten to death by North Korean soldiers as he attempted to cut down
a poplar tree in the DMZ.
(SFEC, 6/25/00, p.T8)(AP, 8/18/02)
1976 Aug 19, President Ford
narrowly won the Republican presidential nomination over Ronald
Reagan at the party's convention in Kansas City. The convention was
called to order by Mary Louis Smith, chair of the Republican
National Committee and the first woman to organize and call to order
the convention of a major US political party. In 2005 Craig Shirley
authored “Reagan’s Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That
Started It all.”
(AP, 8/19/97)(SFEC, 8/24/97, p.D8)(WSJ, 2/2/05,
p.D10)
1976 Aug 22, EPA scientists
reported that they had discovered plutonium in the ocean sediment
off the SF coast and radioactive cesium leaking from containers 120
miles east of Ocean City, Md. Some 62,000 steel drums of nuclear
waste were dumped into the oceans from 1946-1970.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.WB6)
1976 Aug 22, Oskar Brusewitz
(b.1929), East German Lutheran vicar, died after having set himself
on fire on August 18 to protest the repression of religion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Br%C3%BCsewitz)
1976 Aug 24, In Buenos Aires a
government task force kidnapped Marcelo Gelman (20) and his pregnant
wife Maria Claudia Garcia Irureta (19). Marcelo was shot and killed
2 months later and packed in cement in an oil drum. His wife
disappeared after giving birth in a military hospital in Uruguay.
Juan Gelman, the poet father of Marcelo, later campaigned in search
of his grandchild and authored the book "Not Even God's Feeble
Pardon." In 2008 the granddaughter of Argentine poet Juan Gelman
urged Uruguayan courts to reopen a probe into the 1976 disappearance
of her dissident mother, weeks before her grandfather was scheduled
to receive the Spanish-speaking world's most prestigious literary
prize.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.A16)(AP, 2/27/08)
1976 Aug 26, In France Raymond
Barre (1924-2007) began serving as prime minister and continued to
1981.
(Econ, 11/20/10,
p.58)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Barre)
1976 Aug 26, Prince Bernhard,
husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, agreed to resign his
positions with the Dutch armed forces and industry following severe
criticism of his behavior by a commission of enquiry into a Lockheed
bribery scandal. Bernhard had allegedly received $1.1 million as a
gift from Lockheed.
(RTH, 8/26/99)(SFC, 12/24/08, p.B7)
1976 Aug 27, Transsexual Renee
Richards was barred from competing in US Tennis Open in Forest
Hills, NY.
(www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/08.27.html)
1976 Aug 31, George Harrison
(1943-2001) was found guilty of plagiarizing "My Sweet Lord."
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0365600/bio)(http://nfo.net/calendar/aug31.htm)
1976 Sep 1, U.S. Rep. Wayne L.
Hays, D-Ohio, resigned in the wake of a scandal in which he admitted
having an affair with secretary Elizabeth Ray.
(AP, 9/1/97)
1976 Sep 1, The New Jersey
Meadowlands racetrack opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadowlands_Sports_Complex)
1976 Sep 3, The unmanned U.S.
spacecraft Viking 2 landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color
photographs of the planet's surface.
(AP, 9/3/97)
1976 Sep 4, George W. Bush
(30), candidate for US president in 2000, was arrested and pleaded
guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in Kennebunkport,
Maine.
(SFC, 11/3/00, p.A1)
1976 Sep 6, A Soviet pilot
landed his MIG-25 in Tokyo and asked for political asylum in the
United States.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1976 Sep 8, Joaquin Zamacois
Soler (b,1894), Spanish composer, died.
(http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaquim_Zamacois_i_Soler)
1976 Sep 9, Mao Tse-tung (82),
Chinese Communist party chairman (1949-76) died in Beijing. "Who
controls a man’s ideas controls the man." In 1965 he launched the
controversial Cultural Revolution, an often-brutal campaign to
reform Chinese society. He was later held responsible for over 70
million deaths. Mao Zedong’s death triggered a 2-year power
struggle. The Cultural Revolution's chief architects, Mao’s widow
(Jiang Qing) and 3 others, the so-called Gang of Four, were jailed.
Deng Xiaoping returned from disgrace and eventually seized power. In
2005 Jung Chang and Jon Halliday authored “Mao: The Unknown Story.”
(SFEC, 10/7/96, A9)(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A22)(SSFC,
10/23/05, p.M1)(AP, 9/9/07)
1976 Sep 10, 5 Croatian
terrorists captured a TWA-plane at La Guardia Airport, NY.
(http://nycslav.blogspot.com/2005/11/croatian-terroristsin-new-york.html)
1976 Sep 10, Dalton Trumbo
(b.1905), US novelist and screenwriter, died at age 70. His books
included “Johnny Got His Gun” (1939). He used pseudonyms for a
number of Hollywood screenplays after he was blacklisted as one of
the “Hollywood Ten” by the House Un-American Activities Committee in
1947.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtrumbo.htm)
1976 Sep 13, The United States
announced it would veto Vietnam's UN bid.
(AP, 9/13/98)
1976 Sep 16, Secretary of state
Henry Kissinger sent a cable canceling a US warning against carrying
out international political assassinations that was to have gone to
Chile, Argentina and Uruguay just days before a former ambassador
was killed by Chilean agents on Washington's Embassy Row. The
document was not made public until 2010.
(AP, 4/10/10)
1976 Sep 16, The Episcopal
Church, at its General Convention in Minneapolis, formally approved
the ordination of women as priests and bishops.
(AP, 9/16/01)
1976 Sep 17, The California
Supreme Court ruled that the Univ. of California’s special
admissions policy giving preference to minority applicants is
unconstitutional. Allan Bakke had claimed he was the victim of
reverse discrimination when he was denied admission to the UC Davis
Medical School.
(SFC, 9/14/01, WB p.6)
1976 Sep 17, NASA publicly
unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise at ceremonies in Palmdale,
Calif.
(AP, 9/17/97)(HN, 9/17/98)
1976 Sep 18, Rev. Sun Myung
Moon (b.1920) held a "God Bless America" convention.
(www.reverendsunmyungmoon.org/life_biography.html)
1976 Sep 20, Playboy magazine
released an interview in which Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy
Carter admitted he'd "looked on a lot of women with lust." Carter
was interviewed for the November issue of Playboy and he admitted
that he had committed "lust in my heart."
(AP, 9/20/01)(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A11)
1976 Sep 21, Benjamin Graham
(b.1894), London-born economist and professional investor, died. He
is known as the father of value investing and founder of modern
security analysis. His books included “Security Analysis” written
with David Dodd (1934), and “The Intelligent Investor” (1949).
Warren Buffett studied under him at Columbia Univ.
(WSJ, 10/5/06,
p.D5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Graham)(Econ, 10/22/11,
p.90)
1976 Sep 21, Chilean exile
Orlando Letelier, one time foreign minister to Chilean President
Salvador Allende, was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in
Washington D.C. He was assassinated by order from Chile by Gen’l.
Manuel Contreras, head of the secret police known as DINA. Ronni
Moffitt (25), an American colleague of Letelier, was also killed.
Contreras was convicted of the order in 1993 and sentenced to a
7-year prison term. In 2000 Gen. Pinochet was linked to the killing.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C3)(SFEC,
5/28/00, p.A7)(AP, 9/21/01)
1976 Sep 22, Pres. Ferdinand
Marcos of the Philippines signed Presidential Order 1017 "protecting
the Tasaday and other unexplored cultural communities from
unauthorized entry." In 1971 Manuel Elizalde had described the
Tasaday on Mindanao as a lost Stone Age tribe. In 1986 it was
reported that the Tasaday story was a hoax. In 2003 Robin Hemley
authored "Invented Eden: The Elusive, Disputed History of the
Tasaday," in which he confirmed the Tasaday as a Stone Age tribe.
(SSFC, 6/22/03,
p.M1)(www.lawphil.net/statutes/presdecs/pd1976/pd_1017_1976.html)
1976 Sep 24, US District Judge
William Orrick sentenced newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst to seven
years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery. She was
released after 22 months after receiving clemency from President
Carter.
(SFC, 9/21/01, WB p.5)(AP, 9/24/07)
1976 Sep 24, In California
Frances Mays was kidnapped at knifepoint by Richard Allen Davis at
the South Hayward Bart station. She was able to break free and
flagged down a passing patrol car. Harris was caught and served five
years. He later kidnapped Polly Klaas on 10/1/93.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-15)
1976 Sep 28, Muhammad Ali kept
his world heavyweight boxing championship with a close 15-round
decision over Ken Norton at New York's Yankee Stadium.
(AP, 9/28/01)
1976 Sep 29, Britain under PM
Callaghan applied to the IMF for a loan of $3.9 billion.
(http://tinyurl.com/tfu9t)
1976 Sep 30, The US House of
Representatives passed the Hyde Amendment 207-167, with no
exceptions for health or life endangerment, even though a similar
but weaker measure had been voted down two years earlier. Henry Hyde
(1924-2007), freshman Congressman from Illinois, had sponsored the
amendment to cut federal funding for abortions by women on Medicaid.
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.32)(SFC, 11/30/07,
p.A6)(www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue42/Fried42.htm)
1976 Sep, The US stock market
began a 42 month decline of 27%.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.B2)
1976 Oct 4, Barbara Walters
made her debut as the first female nightly network news anchor. She
was hired by ABC-TV, and offered a then-unheard of million dollar a
year salary to co-anchor with veteran Harry Reasoner. But
Reasoner was not pleased with having her there. In addition to their
lack of chemistry, the network's ratings did not improve, and she
was replaced in mid-1978. She joined another ABC show, 20/20, where
she had much greater success.
(http://tinyurl.com/yj2yufw)(www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=99440)
1976 Oct 4, Agriculture
secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a
joke he'd made about blacks.
(AP, 10/4/97)
1976 Oct 4, In Gregg v.
Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban on the death sentence
in murder cases. This restored the legality of capital punishment,
which had not been practiced since 1967. The first execution
following this ruling was Gary Gilmore in 1977.
(HN, 10/4/98)
1976 Oct 5, Researcher Alan
Dickinson warned the British Medical Research council that their
human growth hormone program was susceptible to contamination from
infected pituitary glands.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, p.A14)
1976 Oct 6, In his second
debate with Jimmy Carter, President Ford asserted in SF that there
was "no Soviet domination of eastern Europe." Ford later conceded
he'd misspoken. Carter charged the Ford administration with
excessive secrecy, immorality and weakness in dealing with the
Soviet Union and Arab nations. Some 3,000 people protested outside
the Palace of Fine Arts.
(AP, 10/6/97)(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1976 Oct 6, The so-called "Gang
of Four," Chairman Mao Tse-tung's widow, Jiang Qing, and 3
associates (Zhang Chunqiao (d.2005), Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen)
were arrested in Peking, setting in motion an extended period of
turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party.
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.B4)(Econ, 5/21/05, p.90)
1976 Oct 6, A Cuban aircraft
from Venezuela with 73 people onboard was blown up on a flight over
the Caribbean. Castro blamed the explosion on the US. Luis Posada
Carriles, a veteran of the Cuban exile’s war against Castro, was
charged and twice acquitted in the bombing. Venezuelan authorities
kept him in jail for 9 years until his escape in 1985 when he
settled in El Salvador. In April, 2005, Posada sought asylum in the
US. In May, 2005, declassified documents were made public that
linked Posada to the bombing and indicated he was on the CIA's
payroll for years.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.A8)(SFC,11/17/97, p.A14)(AP,
4/15/05)(AP, 5/11/05)
1976 Oct 6, In Thailand
right-wing political power-brokers, including Kriangsak Chomanan and
Samak Sundaravej, provoked mobs to lynch left-wing pro-democracy
student protesters at Bangkok's Thammasat University. At least 46
protesters were killed and hundreds wounded by the police and army.
A coup installed a new military-guided, right-wing government.
(AP, 12/23/03)(WSJ, 9/20/06, p.A12)(Econ, 9/6/08,
p.14)
1976 Oct 10, In New Jersey the
Meadowlands' Giant's Stadium opened with an NFL game between the
Giants and Dallas Cowboys.
(www.meadowlands.com/giantsStadiumFAQ.asp)
1976 Oct 11, The US Toxic
Substances Control Act became law with an effective date of January
1, 1977.
(www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/tsca/tscaenfstatreq.html)
1976 Oct 12, It was announced
in China that Hua Guo-feng (1921-2008) had been named to succeed the
late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of the Communist Party. He was
effectively stripped of his powers in 1978 and formally lost the
chairmanship in 1981.
(AP,
10/12/01)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7572298.stm)
1976 Oct 14, Deborah Gardner
(23) was stabbed (22 times) to death in Tonga by Dennis Priven (24),
a fellow Peace Corps volunteer. In 2004 Philip Weiss authored
“American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps.”
(http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2024230.html)
1976 Oct 15, In the first
debate of its kind between vice-presidential nominees, Democrat
Walter F. Mondale and Republican Bob Dole faced off in Houston.
(AP, 10/15/97)
1976 Oct 15, Carlo Gambino
(b.1902), US gangster, died at his summer home in Long Island.
(www.gambino.com/bio/carlogambino.htm)
1976 Oct 15, French-Argentine
citizen Marianne Erize (22) was kidnapped and disappeared. In 2008
retired army major Jorge Antonio Olivera was arrested for the
"forced disappearance, kidnapping and torture" of Erize when Olivera
was a lieutenant in the 22nd Mountain Infantry Regiment. In August
2000, Olivera was detained in Italy at the request of French
authorities, but was freed after presenting what was later found to
be a falsified death certificate saying Erize had died on Nov. 11,
1976 — 26 days after being illegally detained.
(AP, 11/4/08)
1976 Oct 16, In Alabama Sheryl
Lynn Payton (24) was abducted, raped and murdered. In 1977 Thomas
Whisenhant (29) was convicted after he confessed to her murder and
that of 2 other convenience store clerks. Whisenhant's original
conviction was overturned by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
He was convicted again at a retrial in 1981. On May 27, 2010,
Whisenhant was executed by lethal injection.
(http://tinyurl.com/39dbsea)(SFC, 5/28/10, p.A8)
1976 Oct 19, Pres. Ford signed
the US Copyright Act of 1976, effective as of January 1, 1978. It
declared unpublished materials to be in the public domain when the
records are 100 years old or when the creator of the records has
been dead for fifty years, whichever date comes first. The act also
declared that records created before January 1, 1978 enter the
public domain in 2002, provided that they are over 100 years old or
the creator of the records has been dead 50 years.
(SAA,
4/19/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976)
1976 Oct 20, 76 people died
when the Norwegian tanker Frosta collided with the ferryboat George
Prince on the Mississippi River north of New Orleans.
(AP, 10/20/06)
1976 Oct 21, Saul Bellow won
the Nobel Prize for literature, the first American honored since
John Steinbeck in 1962.
(AP, 10/21/01)
1976 Oct 22, Pres. Ford signed
S. 3091, the National Forest Management Act of 1976.
(WSJ, 2/25/97,
p.A22)(www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6516)
1976 Oct 25, Gov. Wallace of
Alabama granted full pardon to Clarence Norris, the last known
survivor of 9 Scottsboro Boys who were convicted in a 1931 rape.
(http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/Collab/CivRts/ScottsBoys.htm)
1976 Oct 25, Raymond Queneau
(b.1903), Parisian surrealist, died. His work included the prewar
novel "Les Enfants du Limon." In 1998 it was translated to English
as "Children of Clay."
(SFEC, 8/2/98, BR
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Queneau)
1976 Oct 28, Former Nixon aide
John D. Ehrlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, Ariz.,
to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions.
(AP, 10/28/97)
1976 Oct, Mairead Corrigan
Maguire was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace for her efforts
to stop bloodshed in Northern Ireland.
(SFC, 10/8/99, p.A12)
1976 Oct, Dr. Carleton Gajdusek
shared the Nobel Prize in medicine for proving the existence of a
certain kind of virus. In 1996 he was arrested for on charges of
molesting a teenage boy whom he brought from Micronesia to live with
him in Maryland.
(SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-3)
1976 Oct, Burton Richter of
Stanford and Samuel Ting of MIT won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Their work with the SPEAR machine revealed the Psi-particle, a
subatomic object that lasts for a tiny fraction of a second. It
confirmed that protons and neutrons were composed of smaller quarks.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.A1)(SFC, 5/1/97, p.A7)(SFC,
11/24/98, p.A20)
1976 Oct, William George Bundy
(b.1957), construction worker, disappeared in Cook County, Ill.
Bones of 33 men and boys were found in late 1978 under the home of
John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994). In 2011 authorities identified Bundy’s
bones among those found under Gacy’s Chicago house.
(SFC, 11/30/11,
p.A12)(http://tinyurl.com/7s5utyc)
1976 Nov 2, Former Georgia Gov.
(James Earl) Jimmy Carter defeated Republican incumbent Gerald R.
Ford, becoming the 39th president and the first from the Deep South
since the Civil War.
(AP, 11/2/97)(HN, 11/2/98)
1976 Nov 2, Voters in
California rejected Prop. 14, an initiative that proposed to add to
the state constitution the funding provisions and rights of
organizers (UFW) to enter farm fields to talk to workers. Opposition
to the initiative was run by the Dolphin Group, an influential
lobbying firm.
(SFEM, 4/13/97, p.28)
1976 Nov 2, Tom Tancredo was
elected to Colorado’s state house as a member of a group called “The
Crazies” due to their fervent opposition to taxes.
(www.tancredo.org/info/tom_tancredo_bio.html)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.36)
1976 Nov 2, New Jersey voters
approved gambling for Atlantic City.
(NG, 8/04, p.96)
1976 Nov 2, In Utah Orrin Hatch
defeated 18-year incumbent Senator Frank Moss.
(SFC, 2/3/03, p.B4)
1976 Nov 2, In West Virginia’s
race for governor Democrat Jay Rockefeller (b.1937) defeated former
Gov. Cecil Underwood (1956-1960). Rockefeller was re-elected in
1980.
(SFC, 11/25/08,
p.B4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Rockefeller)
1976 Nov 6, Benjamin L. Hooks
was chosen executive director of the NAACP, the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, succeeding Roy Wilkins.
(AP, 11/6/97)
1976 Nov 7, NBC began airing
the movie “Gone with the Wind” on TV. It showed over two nights due
to its length. The event was the highest-rated television event of
the season.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_in_American_television)
1976 Nov 9, Smokey the Bear
(26) died at the Washington DC National Zoo.
(www.capitanlibrary.org/research/smokey-bear.htm)
1976 Nov 9, The UN General
Assembly approved ten resolutions condemning apartheid in South
Africa, including one characterizing the white-ruled government as
"illegitimate."
(AP, 11/9/00)
1976 Nov 10, The Utah Supreme
Court gave the go-ahead for convicted murderer Gary Gilmore to be
executed, according to his wishes. The sentence was carried out the
following January.
(AP, 11/10/97)
1976 Nov 11, Alexander Calder
(78), US sculptor, died. He invented the mobile as a new format for
sculpture. He also designed toys , jewelry, some wallpaper and
decorated DC-8s for Braniff Airlines. David Bourdon (d.1998 at 63)
wrote a study of Calder in 1980.
(SFC,11/15/97, p.C1,6)(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A24)(MC,
11/11/01)
1976 Nov 11, In Argentina
journalist Claudio Adur (26) disappeared. This marked the beginning
of a large number of journalists who disappearing following the
March military coup.
(www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16842)
1976 Nov 15, Rene Levesque's
"Parti Quebecois" won elections in Quebec. The pro-independence
Parti Quebecois first came to power.
(SFC, 10/3/98,
p.A21)(www.cbc.ca/news/background/parti_quebecois/)
1976 Nov 15, A Syrian peace
force took control of Beirut, Lebanon. The Arab League gave Syria a
peacekeeping mandate.
(HN, 11/15/98)(SFC, 4/27/05, p.A8)
1976 Nov 18, Man Ray (b.1890),
American Dada artist, died. He was born as Emmanuel Radnitsky in
Philadelphia and spent much of his time in France.
(WSJ, 12/2/96,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray)
1976 Nov 18, Spain's parliament
approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of
dictatorship.
(AP, 11/18/97)
1976 Nov 19, Patty Hearst was
freed on $1.5 million bail. She returned to her family’s home at
1001 California St.
(HN, 11/19/98)(SFC, 11/16/01, WB p.G4)
1976 Nov 19, George Harrison
(1943-2001) released his album "Thirty Three & 1/3."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Three_%26_1/3)
1976 Nov 22, Comic strip
"Cathy," by Cathy Guisewhite, made its debut.
(www.suite101.com/article.cfm/cartoonists/66531)
1976 Nov 22, Phillip Garrido
kidnapped Katie Hall in South Lake Tahoe and drove her to Reno,
where he raped her at a storage unit. Garrido was convicted in 1977
and sentenced to 50 years in prison. He was paroled in 1988. In 1991
He kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard (11) in South Lake Tahoe and kept her
in Antioch, Ca., until his arrest in 2009.
(SFC, 9/2/09, p.A15)(SFC, 9/23/11, p.C3)
1976 Nov 22, Britain adopted
the Race Relations Act with sweeping anti-racial laws, but the laws
did not extend to Northern Ireland. The Commission for Racial
Equality (CRE) was formed to enforce the new laws banning racial
discrimination.
(SFC, 6/30/96, A11)(Econ, 5/15/04, p.57)(Econ,
12/2/06, p.59)
1976 Nov 23, Andre Malraux
(b.1901), author (Conquerors) and French Minister of Culture
(1958-1969), died.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/malraux.htm)
1976 Nov 23, The Thai
government returned 26 refugees to Cambodia saying that they are a
threat to the national security. The government said some 70,000
refugees in Thailand who escaped Communist rule in other Indochina
states, including 10,000 Cambodians, would also not be permitted to
stay.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1976 Nov 28, In San Francisco
Bill Graham presented the Band and guests in "The Last Waltz" at
Winterland plus a turkey dinner for the capacity crowd. The last
concert of The Band took place at Winterland and was made into a
film by Martin Scorsese that included Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and
Muddy Waters.
(SFC,12/13/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 6/28/98, DB p.52)
1976 Nov 28, Elvis Presley
preformed a concert at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Ca.
(www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1976_nov_28.html)
1976 Nov 28, Rosalind Russell
(b.1907), film and stage actress, died in Beverly Hills, Ca.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Russell)
1976 Dec 1, Sex Pistols used
profanity on TV, and got branded as "rotten punks."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Pistols)
1976 Dec 3, Fidel Castro was
elected president of Cuba.
(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.A9)
1976 Dec 4, Benjamin Britten
(b.1913), English composer, died.
(WSJ, 7/26/99, p.A21)
1976 Dec 6, Democrat Tip
O’Neill was elected speaker of the House of Representatives. He went
on to serve the longest consecutive term as speaker.
(HN, 12/6/00)
1976 Dec 6, War criminal Pieter
Menten was arrested in Zurich.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1976 Dec 7, The UN Security
Council endorsed Kurt Waldheim (1918-2007) of Austria for a 2nd
5-year term as UN Secretary-General.
(www.worldofquotes.com/history/12_7/6/index.html)
1976 Dec 11, Hungarian art
forger Elmyr de Hory (b.1906) died of a lethal overdose of
barbiturates in Ibiza, Spain. The 1969 book "Fake" by Clifford
Irving was about De Hory and both Irving and de Hory were featured
in the 1975 Orson Welles film "F" for Fake.
(SFC, 7/29/99,
p.E6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyr_de_Hory)
1976 Dec 12, QB Joe Namath
played his last game as a NY Jet. In 2004 Mark Kriegel authored
“Namath: A Biography.”
(www.newyorkjets.com/history)(SSFC, 9/26/04,
p.M3)
1976 Dec 16, President Jimmy
Carter appointed Andrew Young as Ambassador to the United Nations.
(HN, 12/16/98)
1976 Dec 16, The US government
halted its swine flu vaccination program following reports of
paralysis apparently linked to the vaccine.
(AP, 12/16/01)
1976 Dec 16, Marjorie Mitchell,
a nurse at Napa State Hospital testified that a man, later
identified as Richard Allen Davis, awakened her in the early hours
and clubbed her with a fire poker.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-21)
1976 Dec 18, "A Star is Born,"
with Barbra Streisand, premiered.
(www.superseventies.com/1977_3singles.html)
1976 Dec 20, Hazel Frost
testified that she left a Napa restaurant and bar and that Richard
Allen Davis jumped into her car and held a shotgun to her neck. She
managed to roll out of the car a grabbed a gun loaded with birdshot
from under her seat and fired in the direction that she thought
Davis was running. Davis had escaped from Napa State Hospital after
he faked a suicide attempt in the Alameda County Jail.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-21)
1976 Dec 20, Chicago Mayor
Richard J. Daley died at age 74. In 2000 Adam Cohen and Elizabeth
Taylor authored the biography: "American Pharaoh."
(AP, 12/20/97)(WSJ, 5/24/00, p.A24)
1976 Dec 20, Israel's PM
Yitzhak Rabin resigned.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1976-12/1976-12-20-ABC-10.html)
1976 Dec 21, Russel Wright
(b.1904), American designer, died. His American Modern dinnerware
was manufactured by Steubenville Pottery from 1939 to about 1959.
(SFC, 8/10/05,
p.G4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russel_Wright)
1976 Dec 21, The
Liberian-registered tanker Argo Merchant ran aground near Nantucket
Island, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the North Atlantic.
(AP, 12/21/97)
1976 Dec 23, In Japan Takeo
Fukuda was chosen as the 8th LDP President and formed his cabinet in
the midst of high public expectations for the Party's revitalization
and the country's economic recovery.
(www.jimin.jp/jimin/english/history/chap8.html)
1976 Dec 25, Some 100 Moslems,
returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, died when their boat, the
Egyptian SS Patria, sank in the Red Sea.
(HN,
12/25/98)(www.emergency-management.net/ship_acc.htm)
1976 Dec 27, The Oakland
Raiders defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-7 and won a trip to the
Super Bowl for the 1st time since 1967.
(SFC, 12/21/01, WB p.G16)
1976 Dec 28, In Albania the
People’s Assembly approved a new constitution and the country became
a "people's socialist republic."
(http://bjoerna.dk/dokumentation/Albanian-Constitution-1976.htm)
1976 Dec 30, Governor Carey of
New York pardoned seven inmates to close the book on the Attica
uprising.
(HN, 12/30/98)
1976 Romare Bearden created the
monotype "Vampin (Piney Brown Blues)," with watercolor additions. A
monotype refers to a painting made on a nonabsorbent surface that is
transferred by a press onto a one time print.
(SFEC, 6/15/97, BR p.7)
1976 In California Bulgarian
artist Christo Javacheff created his artwork "Running Fence," a
24.5-mile-long white nylon fence/curtain draped across Marin and
Sonoma counties. The fence cost $3 million and lasted for 2 weeks.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.A16)(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A24)
1976 Claes Oldenburg (b.1929),
Swedish-born American artist, constructed a 41-foot "Trowel I"
for the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands by. He also made
"Typewriter Eraser."
(Smith., Aug. 1995, p.82)(SFC, 10/26/96, p.B1)
1976 A 45-foot-tall, giant
steel "Clothespin" was constructed at the Plaza of the City Hall of
Philadelphia by Claes Oldenburg. He made his graphic "Soft Screw in
Waterfall."
(Smith., Aug. 1995, p.83)(SFC, 9/1/97,
p.E4)(SFEC, 10/5/97, BR p.4)
1976 Georgia O’Keefe published
her autobiography in Painting with the help of Juan Hamilton. She
was legally blind by this time.
(WSJ, 7/31/97, p.A16)
1976 Robert Ardrey wrote "The
Hunting Hypothesis."
(NH, 11/96, p.12)
1976 Paul Bowles (1910-1999),
American-born composer and writer who lived in Tangier, Morocco,
wrote his short story Allal. In 1996 three of Bowles’ stories were
made into a film titled "Halfmoon" by Frieder Schlaich and Irene von
Alberti. Bertolucci had earlier transferred his novel "The
Sheltering Sky" into film. A biography of Bowles by Millicint
Dillon, "You Are Not I: A Portrait of Paul Bowles" was published in
1998.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. C3)(SFEC, 4/5/98, BR
p.3)(www.paulbowles.org/bowlesbiography.html)
1976 Dr. Robert Butler (d.2010
at 83) authored “Why Survive: Being Old in America.”
(SFC, 7/7/10, p.C4)
1976 A.I. Dagg and J.B.
Foster published "The Giraffe: Its Biology, Behavior and
Ecology."
(NH, 5/96, p.56)
1976 "The Selfish Gene" by
Richard Dawkins was published. Here he launched the archetypal
"meme," defined as a unit of cultural transmission. It described how
ideas mimic the behavior of genes and propagate by leaping from
brain to brain. In 2009 Fern Elsdon-Baker authored “The Selfish
Genius: How Richard Dawkins Rewrote Darwin’s Legacy.”
(NH, 5/96, p.13)(Wired, 2/98, p.118)(Econ,
7/25/09, p.81)
1976 John Dean, council to
Richard Nixon and songbird during the congressional investigation,
wrote about Watergate in his book "Blind Ambition."
(SFC, 9/17/96, p.B8)
1976 Joan Erikson,
psychologist, wrote "Activity, Recovery and Growth." She underscored
the benefits of occupational therapy.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A19)
1976 Jean Gimpel authored "The
Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages."
(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)
1976 Alex Haley published
"Roots," based on his search of his African ancestry. It won a
Pulitzer Prize and was made into a TV mini-series.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A3)
1976 Malachi Martin (d.1999 at
78), an Irish-born former Jesuit, published "Hostage to the Devil,"
an account of the possession and exorcism of 5 Americans.
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D8)
1976 William H. McNeill
authored “Plagues and Peoples,” a history of human society with
microscopic agents of disease as the main protagonists.
(WSJ, 9/9/06, p.P8)
1976 Ernst Kitzinger
(1912-2003), a foremost historian of Byzantine, early Christian and
early medieval art, authored "Byzantine Art in the Making."
(SFC, 2/10/03, p.B4)
1976 Loretta Lynn, country
singer, authored "Coal Miner’s Daughter."
(SFEC, 7/30/00, Par p.14)
1976 Norman Maclean (1902-1990)
published "A River Runs Through It and Other Stories." It was a
story about fly fishing in Montana. Recorded books put out a
cassette version in 1993 with other stories that included "Logging
and Pimping and ‘Your Pal, Jim’," and "USFS 1919: The Ranger, the
Cook, and a Hole in the Sky."
(RB,
1993)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Maclean)
1976 James Michener published
"Sports in America."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A12)
1976 A German edition of the
diaries of Austrian writer Robert Musil (1880-1942) was published.
In 1999 Philip Payne published an abridged version "Diaries
1899-1942."
(SFEC, 1/31/99, BR p.9)
1976 The Nomadic Sisters
published "Loving Women," a sex manual by, for and about women with
explicit drawings.
(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A3)
1976 Harold Parrot, a Brooklyn
Dodgers road secretary, published "The Lords of Baseball."
(SFC, 8/24/98, p.A3)
1976 Janice Perlman, American
sociologist, authored “The Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and
Politics in Rio De Janeiro,” a look at the favelas (slums) of Rio.
An update followed in 2010.
(Econ, 7/24/10, p.81)
1976 Alain Peyrefitte
(1925-1999), French scholar, authored “Le Mal Francaise,” which
addresses the question of whether there is something unique to the
French character or gene pool that has caused some of the country's
peculiar recurring problems.
(Econ, 4/23/11,
p.29)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Peyrefitte)
1976 Tibor Scitovsky
(1910-2002), American economist, authored "The Joyless Economy," an
indictment of bourgeois society.
(SFC, 6/8/02,
p.A25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibor_Scitovsky)
1976 The book "Splendid
Survivors: San Francisco's Downtown Architectural Heritage" was
published.
(SFC, 7/4/03, p.E7)
1976 The children’s fiction
"Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred Taylor (b.1943) was
published.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR
p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Taylor)
1976 William W. Warner
(1920-2008) authored “Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the
Chesapeake Bay.” It became a national bestseller and won the 1977
Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.
(SFC, 4/30/08,
p.B9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Warner)
1976 Joseph Weizenbaum wrote
"Computer Power and Human Reason." He described here his program
called ELIZA that demonstrated a conversation between a patient and
a computer posing as a psychiatrist.
(I&I, Penzias, p.144)
1976 Elizabeth Williams (d.1997
at 65) wrote "Notes of a Feminist Therapist."
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A14)
1976 Raymond Williams authored
“Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society.”
(WSJ, 4/26/08, p.W9)
1976 Hatten Yoder (1921-2003),
geology expert, authored "Generation of Basaltic Magma."
(SFC, 8/16/03,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatten_Yoder)
1976 "The Linguistic Atlas of
England" was published.
(NH, 6/96, p.10)
1976 Sam Shepard wrote his play
"The Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the Eve of Killing His Wife." He
also wrote "Curse of the Starving Class."
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 4/30/97, p.A12)
1976 The film “The Message” by
Syrian-American producer Moustapha Akkad (d.2005) told the story the
Prophet Mohammad and the emergence of Islam.
(SFC, 11/24/05, p.E2)
1976 "Charlie’s Angels" with
Cheryl Ladd, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and David Doyle (1930-1997)
began on TV and ran until 1981. Aaron Spelling (d.2006) produced the
show.
(SFC, 3/1/97, p.C3) (SFC, 6/24/06, p.A2)
1976 The TV show "What's
Happening!!" began and ran to 1979. It was a comedy about 3 high
school students who hung out together.
(SFC, 12/13/99, p.A26)
1976 French composer Pierre
Boulez (b.1925) wrote "Messagesquisse." Boulez had studied under
Messiaen.
(SFC, 1/31/03,
p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Boulez)
1976 John Corigliano (b.1938),
American composer, composed his "Etude Fantasy."
(WSJ, 7/2/98,
p.A20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Corigliano)
1976 Composer Philip Glass and
director/designer Robert Wilson collaborated on their production of
"Einstein on the Beach" at the NY Met.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.E1)(Econ, 7/22/06, p.82)
1976 Henryk Gorecki (b.1933),
Polish composer, wrote his "Third Symphony."
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.E1)
1976 French composers Gerard
Grisey (d.1998 at 52), Michael Levinas and Tristan Murail formed the
group L’Iteneraire and pioneered what they called "spectral music."
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.D10)
1976 Steve Reich (b.1936),
American composer, created a near-symphonic masterpiece with his
"Music for 18 Musicians."
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.E1)
1976 The B-52 band formed in
Athens, Georgia. Cindy Wilson, Keith Strickland, Fred Schneider,
Kate Pierson and Ricky Wilson formed the band following a rum-buzzed
jam session.
(SSFC, 8/10/03, p.C10)
1976 Benjamin Orr (d.2000 at
53) and Ric Ocasek, natives of Ohio, formed their band "The Cars" in
Boston.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.D5)
1976 The Eagles recorded their
hit song "Hotel California."
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.D3)
1976 Gordon Lightfoot’s song
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” went to #2 on the pop charts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald)
1976 Fleetwood Mac released its
"Rumours" album which achieved multiplatinum status.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.D3)
1976 Katy Moffatt,
singer-composer, went on the road as the opening act for bluesman
Muddy Waters.
(WSJ, 10/8/96, p.A20)
1976 The Ramones punk rock
group released their 1st album "Ramones." Joey Ramone (Jeffrey
Hyman) died in 2001 at age 49.
(SFC, 4/17/01, p.C2)
1976 Vicki Sue Robinson (d.2000
at 46), pop-gospel singer, had a hit with "Turn the Beat Around." It
became a signature anthem of the disco era.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A24)
1976 Johnnie Taylor (d.2000 at
62) had a hit with his song "Disco Lady."
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.D5)
1976 The rock band U2 initially
formed in Dublin when Larry Mullen Jr. posted a message on a high
school bulletin board asking for fellow musicians to form a band.
Paul Hewson, David Evans, Adam Clayton and Dick Evans responded to
the ad and it was at this stage along with Larry Mullen Jr. that the
band 'Feedback' was formed.
(WSJ, 12/28/04,
p.D8)(http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~omzig/u2_the_band.htm)
1976 Claude Vivier, a
French-Canadian composer, composed "Siddartha," a 30 minute
orchestral piece written on commission from the CBC.
(SFEC, 1/4/98, DB. p.31)(SFC, 1/9/98, p.D7)
1976 The Detroit Renaissance
Center designed by John Portman was opened. It cost $357 million.
(WSJ, 10/11/96, p.B1)
1976 The Episcopal Church
opened its priesthood to women.
(SFC, 3/30/97, Z1. p.7)
1976 The Michael Ochs Archive,
a collection of popular music artists, went commercial.
(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A20)
1976 The Cult Awareness Network
(CAN) was founded for parents whose children had joined
unconventional religious groups. It later lost a suit brought
against it by the Church of Scientology and was forced into
bankruptcy. The Church of Scientology in 1996 proceeded to buy up
its records in public auction.
(SFEC, 12/1/96, p.C15)
1976 The Smithsonian National
Air and Space Museum opened in Washington, DC.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.A5)
1976 The Int’l. Society for
Humor Studies was founded.
(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A18)
1976 The Great American
Smokeout, organized by the American Cancer Society, was first held
in California.
(SFEM, 7/14/96, p.32)
1976 Navaho weavers wove the
largest Navaho rug in the world. The 800-pound rug measured 38x26
feet and used 25 different Navaho styles.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.A7)
1976 Charlie Rose, a US
democrat from North Carolina, founded the Congressional
Clearinghouse on the Future. It was to be an in-house think tank
intended as an antidote to the institutional short-termism of
Congress.
(Wired, Dec. '95, p.154)
1976 Bennigan’s, an
Irish-themed restaurant was founded in Atlanta. During the 1990s it
expanded across the country and became part of the Metromedia
Restaurant Group. In 2008 Metromedia filed for bankruptcy.
(WSJ, 7/30/08, p.B1)
1976 Clint Murchison Jr., owner
of the Dallas Cowboys, visited Miami for the Super Bowl and stopped
for ribs at a restaurant owned by Tony Roma (d.2003). He enjoyed the
foods so much that he purchased the majority of US franchise rights.
In 2003 the chain had grown to over 250.
(SFC, 6/14/03, p.A21)
1976 The American Basketball
Association disbanded. Four of the teams, Indiana, San Antonio,
Denver and New Jersey joined the NBA. The owners of the Spirits of
St. Louis negotiated a deal to collect one-seventh of their NBA TV
money in perpetuity. Terry Pluto later authored "Loose Balls,"
a definitive book on the ABA.
(WSJ, 2/22/99, p.B1)
1976 The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
football expansion team began playing and lost their first 26 games.
(WSJ, 1/10/97, p.A1)
1976 The first official
synchronized skating competition was held in Ann Arbor, Mich.
(SFC, 2/23/09, p.E7)
1976 Baruch S. Blumberg
(1925-2011) of NASA Ames Astrobiology Inst. won the Nobel Prize in
medicine or physiology. He had discovered a virus that caused
hepatitis and a vaccine to prevent it.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.A17)(Econ, 4/30/11, p.92)
1976 Pres. Ford suspended
nuclear reprocessing under the fear that terrorist groups might
steal plutonium from American plants to manufacture bombs. Pres.
Carter made the decision permanent in 2007.
(WSJ, 3/13/09, p.A9)
1976 A US congressional
commission found that Pres. Nixon had authorized $10 million for a
covert CIA mission to get rid of Allende in Chile. Papers to this
effect were declassified in 1998.
(SFC, 10/22/98, p.A12)
1976 The US Congress asked the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to find land that might qualify for
wilderness protection. It found 3.2 million eligible acres in Utah.
(Econ, 8/23/03, p.26)
1976 J. Howard Marshall II
(d.1995), Texas oil tycoon and alumnus of Haverford College, Pa.,
pledged $4 million to Haverford. In 1994 Marshall married Playboy
Playmate Anna Nicole Smith (26) and by his death had donated less
than $2 million to the college.
(WSJ, 7/24/03, p.A1)
1976 US Congress passed the
Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. It extended US
territorial waters to 200 miles offshore.
(GQ, Summer ‘96, p.22)(WSJ, 11/25/97, p.A1)
1976 A typical American CEO
earned 36 times as much as the average worker. By 2008 average CEO
pay increased to 369 times that of the average worker.
(SFC, 4/29/08, p.E2)
1976 The obsession with
shareholder value began this year when economists Michael Jensen and
William Meckling published their article “Theory of the Firm:
Managerial Behavior, Agency costs and Ownerships Structure.”
(Econ, 4/24/10, p.65)
1976 Robert Lucas, economist at
the Univ. of Chicago, explained how unanticipated inflation eroded
the real value of wages. In 1995 Lucas won the Nobel Prize in
Economic Science.
(Econ, 7/15/06, p.68)
1976 The Alaska Permanent Fund
was created after oil was discovered on the North Slope. Residents
of over a year received an annual dividend from the fund.
(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A7)
1976 In California Jim Kepner
(d.1997 at 74), historian and gay-rights pioneer, co-founded the One
Institute, an educational outfit. He wrote for One magazine, the
nation’s first openly "homophile" publication. He created the Int’l.
Gay and Lesbian Archives and his early writings: "Rough News, Daring
Views" were to be published shortly after his death.
(SFEC,11/30/97, p.C10)
1976 In California the
Mendocino Land Trust was founded to save property from development.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.B1)
1976 California’s Gov. Brown
appointed Yoritada "Yori" Wada (d.1997 at 80), director of the SF
Buchanan YMCA, to the UC Board of Regents. Mr. Wada was the first
Asian American regent in the history of UC.
(SFC, 12/4/97, p.C8)
1976 California’s Supreme Court
legalized palimony in a 43-page decision won by Michelle Triola
Marvin against actor Lee Marvin.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.D9)
1976 S.I. Hayakawa, former
president of SF State College, was elected to the US Senate.
(SFC, 2/2/98, p.A20)
1976 Rose Ann Vuich (d.2001 at
74) of Dinuba, Ca., began serving as the state’s 1st female senator.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A15)
1976 Hamilton Air Force Base in
Novato, Ca., was decommissioned. The area was later approved for
development as a planned community, Hamilton Landing, with 950 homes
in 6 neighborhoods set for completion in 2000.
(SFC, 11/4/98, Z1 p.4)(SFEC, 3/14/99, p.C4)
1976 California filed its first
enforcement action against Stauffer Chemicals, owners of the Iron
Mountain mine near Redding.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1976 Stauffer Chemical Co. sold
the Iron Mountain mine to Ted Armand, a Sacramento businessman, who
planned to use the tailings for fertilizers. Armand claimed that he
was not informed of any environmental issues.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A13)
1976 California appropriated
$250,000 to preserve the old Chinese detention center on Angel
Island.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.7)
1976 Geologist Tom Jordon
completed his castle-style Jordan Estate winery in Healdsburg, Ca.
It was styled after the 18th century French Chateau Margaux.
(SSFC, 11/22/09, p.N6)
1976 Ravenswood Winery was
founded in Sonoma, Ca., and went public in 1999. In 2001 it was sold
to New York’s Constellation Brands for $148 million.
(SFC, 4/12/01, p.B6)
1976 The Tao House in Danville,
former residence of playwright Eugene O'Neill, was declared a
national historic site.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, Z1p.1)
1976 The Humboldt nuclear power
plant was shut down after an earthquake fault was discovered running
beneath it. In 1999 the California PUC was expected to approve the
decommissioning of the plant for 2002.
(SFC, 10/28/99, p.C4)
1976 The trial for the 14 Zebra
murders (1973-1974) occurred in SF. Four men received life in prison
under Superior Court Judge Karesh.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.E2)
1976 In San Francisco US
District Judge Sam Conti sentenced Nicholas Sand to 15 years in
federal prison for distributing LSD through the Brotherhood of
Eternal Love. He was an associate of Timothy Leary and LSD guru
Stanley Owsley. Sand went underground after being released on bail
and was picked up in 1996 in Vancouver, BC, under the name David Roy
Shepard. He was sentenced to an additional 5 years in 1999 for
fleeing the country.
(SFC, 1/23/99,
p.A17)(www.serendipity.li/dmt/nsand/sfchron.htm)
1976 San Mateo County, Ca.,
rebuilt the military housing by the PG&E plant east of Cow
Palace in Daly City with a housing complex of 150 units called
Midway Village. The units stood over toxic soil from PG&E that
was used by the military during WW II as land fill. Dirt and
groundwater in the area contained polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
(PNAs), a known carcinogen. No soil tests were conducted.
(SFC, 3/10/98, p.A14)(SFC, 1/5/00, p.A12)(SFC,
1/19/00, p.A4)
1976 An area of 420,000 acres
in California’s Joshua Tree National Monument was designated a
national wilderness area.
(Sp., 5/96, p.64)
1976 Scientists in southern
California scientists unearthed what were among the oldest skeletal
remains ever found in the Western Hemisphere. They dated back nearly
10,000 years. A local tribal group called the Kumeyaay Nation later
claimed that the bones, representing at least two people, were their
ancestors and demanded them back. In December, 2011, the Univ. of
San Diego said it would turn the remains over to the Kumeyaay,
although it gave other tribal groups until Jan. 4 to come forward
and dispute the claim.
(AP, 1/15/12)
1976 Massachusetts moved its
primary from late April to early March. New Hampshire reacted by
moving the due date to February and then to late January.
(SSFC, 1/25/04, p.D6)
1976 Section 936 provided US
firms operating in Puerto Rico with tax-free income. It helped to
stimulate industrialization and infrastructure development on the
island. However it skewed investment towards technologies that were
too advanced for Puerto Rico’s stage of development. On August 20,
1996 the U.S. Congress repealed Section 936 of the US Internal
Revenue Code, with a clause that retains its benefit for ten years
of existing corporations. Section 30A was created to substitute
Section 936.
(http://welcome.topuertorico.org/glossary/index.shtml#936)(Econ,
5/27/06, p.26)
1976 Celestine Tate Harrington
(d.1998 at 42), a NYC deformed entertainer, won the right to raise
her own daughter when she demonstrated her ability to change a
diaper using her mouth. She was born stunted due to a botched
abortion attempt by her teenage mother.
(SFC, 2/28/98, p.A19)
1976 Vermont Gov. Tom Salmon
granted the Abenaki Indians recognition. The following year a new
governor rescinded recognition.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.J7)
1976 William M. Batten became
chairman of the NYSE. He ran the exchange to 1984.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A6)
1976 The 1st CRAY-1
supercomputer was installed at Los Alamos Laboratories in New Mexico
for a 6-month trial.
(www.cisl.ucar.edu/computers/gallery/cray/cray1.jsp)(WSJ, 3/2/00,
p.B8)
1976 Jim Goodnight co-founded
software-maker SAS on the campus of the Univ. of North Carolina. By
2007 the company was a leader in business intelligence software and
the world’s largest privately owned software maker.
(Econ, 12/1/07, p.84)
1976 Entenmann’s based in New
York, the nation’s largest baked goods company, went public. In 1978
it was sold to Warner-Lambert for $243 million.
(www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/26/Warner-Lambert-Co.html)(SFEC,
9/30/96, p.A23)
1976 Charles Gibson (d.2006),
an ordained minister, founded the Gibson Glass Co. in Milton, W. Va.
The company was in business for one year when Gibson returned to the
pulpit. He re-opened the business in 1983 and it became best known
for cruets.
(SFC, 12/12/07, p.G5)
1976 Mobil Corp. bought Marcor
and its Montgomery Ward unit.
(WSJ, 12/29/00, p.A3)
1976 W. Richard Goodwin
(1924-1996), CEO of Johns Manville Corp., resigned. The company
manufactured asbestos fibers.
(SFC, 11/11/96, p.A13)
1976 Dorothy Schiff (1903-1989)
sold the New York Post, founded in 1801, to Rupert Murdoch,
Australian media tycoon, for $30 million.
(WSJ, 4/7/07, p.P10)(www.ketupa.net/murdoch2.htm)
1976 Cadillac rolled out the El
Dorado, the biggest 4-wheel drive car in the world.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1976 Industry experts in 1996
picked the 1976 Chevrolet Vega as the number 4 worst American-made
car and the 1976 AMC Pacer as the number 10 worst American-made car.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1976 Utah Int’l. Inc., under
Edmund Littlefield, merged with General Electric in a $2.2 billion
deal, the largest to date. The Utah company had built the Hoover
Dam.
(SFC, 11/2/01, p.D6)(SFC, 10/4/06, p.A15)
1976 Whooping cough, caused by
Bordatella pertussis, reached an all-time low of 1,010 in the US
following universal childhood vaccination programs.
(SFC, 12/15/05, p.B5)
1976 US scientists at the NIH
isolated a poison from the skin of the Ecuadorian frog called
Epibpedobates tricolor and found that an extract from it could block
pain 200 times more effectively than morphine.
(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A6)
1976 J. Michael Bishop and
Harold E. Varmus discovered a family of genes, oncogenes, in
chickens, that helped scientists understand how cancer develops.
They won the 1989 Nobel Prize in medicine for their work. In 1998
Robert A. Weinberg published "One Renegade Cell," a primer on the
discovery of oncogenes.
(SFEC, 10/8/96, A9)(SFC, 2/6/98, p.A1)(WSJ,
11/25/98, p.A16)
1976 Positron Emission
Tomography (PET), a body scanning technology, first came on the
market. Dr. Michel Ter-Pogossian of St. Louis led a group that built
the first successful prototypes between 1972-1974. In 1998 PET
technology was combined with computed tomography (CT scans). PET/CT
scanners hit the market in 2001.
(Econ, 6/10/06, Survey p.23)
1976 The Electronic Information
Exchange System (EIES), an electronic conferencing system, was built
at the New Jersey Inst. of Technology.
(Wired, 5/97, p.101)
1976 Gary Kildall separated out
the parts of CP/M version 1 that addressed the specific format of
the diskettes, and placed them in a separate module he called the
BIOS, for Basic Input/Output System. That way, the system could
easily be adapted to new hardware without having to rewrite or even
revise the complex heart of the software.
(http://museum.sysun.com/museum/cpmhist.html)
1976 The 6502 microprocessor by
MOS Technologies was introduced and later used in the Apple II
personal computer.
(TAR, 1996, p.22)
1976 Whitfield Diffie and
Martin Hellman introduced public key cryptography in a
groundbreaking paper.
(Wired, 9/96, p.216)
1976 H. Taylor Howard (d.2002
at 70) built a homemade satellite dish to capture TV signals. HBO
refused to accept payment for his interceptions. He went on to found
Chaparral Communications Inc. in San Jose.
(SFC, 11/19/02, p.A23)
1976 The first compact
fluorescent lamps (CFLs) hit the market.
(SSFC, 7/25/10, p.L5)
1976 Scientists drilling off
the coast of Guatemala brought up cores with nodes that sputtered
and hissed and left just a puddle. They were hydrates, a combination
of water and methane.
(NH, 5/97, p.26)
1976 A crystal of beryl, 59
feet long and almost 12 feet across, was found in Madagascar. It
weighed 187 tons.
(SFEC, 9/15/96, Z1 p.5)
1976 San Jose State Prof. John
Sperling launched the for-profit Univ. of Phoenix with $26k in
personal savings. It was founded to cater to the need of working
adults. By 2010 it was the 2nd largest university system in America
with over 200 campuses across the country.
(https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/)(SFC, 2/16/02,
p.A15)(Econ, 9/10/05, Survey p.19)(Econ, 9/11/10, p.73)
1976 Americans legally bet some
$17.3 billion.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.A20)
1976 The UN Convention on
Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) imposed a ban on the
trade of rhino horn. By the mid-1990s 90% of the world’s rhinos had
disappeared.
(Econ, 11/20/10, p.55)
1976 A movement against climate
modification culminated in an international convention that
foreswore hostile use of "environmental modification techniques. The
int’l. community banned the use of environmental modification
techniques such as cloud seeding and Agent Orange.
(SFC, 8/11/00,
p.A15)(www.aip.org/history/climate/RainMake.htm)
1976 Sheik Zayed of Abu Dhabi
set up the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), which invested
heavily in real estate abroad. At the same time the government
tightened control of property at home. By 2006 the fund had accrued
an estimated $200-500 billion.
(WSJ, 10/21/05, p.A10)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.45)
1976 Four members of a Spanish
family were killed in Rosario, Argentina. Pres. Gen’l. Leopoldo
Galtieri was later accused of being responsible by a Spanish court.
In 1999 Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon named former Argentine Pres.
Leopoldo Galtieri in an indictment along with 95 other military
officers, who presided over the "Dirty War" (1976-1983).
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A14)(SFC, 11/3/99, p.C3)
1976 In Armenia the Metzamor
nuclear power plant opened. It featured two VVER nuclear reactors, a
design that continues to be used throughout the former Soviet Union
and eastern Europe. The plant was shut down in 1988 following the
Spitak earthquake, which killed 25,000 people and caused widespread
devastation. But Armenian authorities restarted one reactor unit at
the plant in 1993 following energy shortages that were causing heavy
deforestation.
(AP, 10/4/10)
1976 Malcolm Douglas
(1941-2010), Australia's original TV crocodile hunter, shot to fame
with the production of his first documentary, "Across The Top." He
had trekked across Australia's harsh hinterland filming his
encounters with poisonous snakes and ferocious reptiles.
(AFP, 9/23/10)
1976 Australia’s federal
government passed legislation granting Aboriginal ownership to large
parts of the Northern Territory, kicking off a new movement to
reclaim traditional lands.
(AP, 1/30/08)
1976 Australian athletes won 5
medals, none of them gold, in the Montreal Olympics.
(WSJ, 9/21/00, p.A8)
1976 In Bangladesh Muhammad
Yunus began his micro-loan program and founded the Grameen Bank.
Small loans were initially made to groups of five women who
supported one another.
(Wired, 2/98, p.67)
1976 Carla Rutila was abducted
as a baby in Bolivia, where her parents were fighting as leftist
guerrillas with the National Liberation Army, or ELN. Her father,
Uruguayan Enrique Luca Lopez, was killed, and her mother, Argentine
Graciela Rutila Artes, disappeared after being taken to a secret
torture center in Buenos Aires, the Automotores Orletti garage. At
age 10 she discovered her true identity through DNA tests advocated
by the human-rights group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. In 2010
Rutila (35) testified against Eduardo Ruffo, the agent who adopted
her, and said that from the age of 3 until she was rescued at 10,
Ruffo physically and sexually abused her. Ruffo was not arrested
until 2006, when a judge found sufficient evidence to charge him
with human-rights violations.
(AP, 8/19/10)
1976 In Britain the Society of
West End Theater Awards were founded. They were renamed to the
Lawrence Olivier Awards in 1984.
(SFC,2/17/97, p.D6)
1976 Britain began offering tax
breaks to owners of important works of art. Inheritance taxes were
spared in exchange for periodic viewing.
(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A28)
1976 In Cambodia Nhem Ein,
photographer, was assigned by the Khmer Rouge to the Tuol Sleng
interrogation center called S-21. He proceeded to methodically
photograph all the prisoners who arrived before they were tortured
and executed.
(WSJ, 9/16/97, p.A20)
1976 Lotfi Mansouri was
appointed the general director of the Canadian Opera Company in
Toronto.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A11)
1976 The Development Bank
of Central African States (BDEAC) was established and included six
members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa:
Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial
Guinea and Gabon.
(AP, 9/23/09)
1976 Gen. Augusto Pinochet
commenced that Carretera Austral project, an effort to connect the
northern Chile to southern Aisen province.
(SFCM, 10/3/04, p.30)
1976 Chile departed the Andean
Community trade block. In 2006 it planned to rejoin.
(Econ, 8/26/06, p.30)
1976 Victor Diaz Lopez, former
leader of Chile’s Communist Party, was picked up the DINA, the
secret police of dictator Augusto Pinochet. In 2007 the former
leader of the DINA’s Lautaro Brigade confessed to murdering Victor
Diaz in 1977.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.39)
1976 In China Huang Hua
(1913-2010), a former translator for Mao Zedong, began serving as
foreign minister and continued to 1982. Huang oversaw the formation
of diplomatic ties with Washington in 1979 and accompanied paramount
leader Deng Xiaoping on his tour of the United States that year.
(AP,
11/24/10)(www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ziliao/wjrw/3606/t44159.htm)
1976 In China the Triangle
Group, a tire maker, was founded by the local Weihai government. In
2008 it was scheduled to become a publicly owned company.
(Econ, 6/28/08, p.72)
1976 Spyros Kyprianou became
president of the Cyprus House of Representatives.
(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)
1976 In Czechoslovakia the
Plastic People of the Universe band was arrested by the Communist
government. At a public trial 2 band members were sentenced and
imprisoned for 1 1/2 years.
(WSJ, 7/22/98, p.A12)(SFEC, 3/7/99, DB p.35)
1976 Georg Frey (b.1902),
Bavarian clothing manufacturer, died. He assembled a collection of
90,000 beetles from around the globe before his death in this year.
As a wealthy businessman, Frey was able to create (in 1950) his own
Coleoptera museum, the Museum G. Frey, which has long been
recognized as the world's largest and most extensive private
collection of beetles.
(WSJ, 8/17/95,
p.B-1)(http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/workers/GFrey.htm)
1976 Rabbits were imported to
Iceland from Spain about this time. Some were later released into
the wild and began to compete with the native puffin birds, which
breed in burrows.
(WSJ, 8/4/06, p.A1)
1976 India and China
re-established diplomatic ties. PM Indira Gandhi chose K. R.
Narayannan to serve as ambassador to Beijing.
(AP, 7/25/98)(SFC, 11/10/05, p.B8)(Econ, 8/21/10,
p.17)
1976 Govindappa Venkataswamy
(1918-2006), Indian eye surgeon, opened the Aravind Eye Hospital in
Madurai, Tamil Nadu state. His low cost eye-care system catered to
the poor and grew to become one of the largest eye-care systems in
the world.
(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.A6)
1976 Armed uprisings began in
Indonesia’s Aceh province. Hasan di Tiro launched the Free Aceh
Independence Movement (GAM).
(SFEC, 11/7/99, p.A30)(SFEC, 12/5/99, p.A26)(SFC,
4/20/02, p.A8)
1976 IRA soldier Pat McGeown
(1956-1996) was arrested for the bombing of Belfast’s Europa Hotel
in 1975.
(SFC, 10/5/96,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McGeown)
1976 Jimmy Smythe was accused
of the attempted murder of an off-duty prison guard in Belfast. He
was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(SFC, 7/4/96, p.A20)
1976 Italian carmaker Fiat
began manufacturing cars in Brazil.
(Econ, 11/15/08, SR p.6)
1976 The wolves of Italy
received official protection.
(NH, 12/96, p.52)
1976 In Jamaica John Issa,
businessman, founded the SuperClubs Int’l. Ltd.
(WSJ, 7/25/97, p.B1)
1976 Japan completed a nuclear
power plant in Fukui prefecture.
(Econ, 8/14/04, p.54)
1976 Amnesty International
received Netherlands’ Erasmus-prize.
(www.nndb.com/honors/622/000165127/)
1976 In Nigeria, Africa, a
fungus afflicting corn plants (the downy mildew of maize) began
spreading. By 1993 seven states in Nigeria were affected.
(WSJ 6/21/95, p.A-22)
1976 In the Philippines a World
Bank Conference was held and thousands of squatters around Manila
were forcibly moved out of sight.
(SFC, 11/18/96, p.A12)(http://tinyurl.com/yv4tka)
1976 In the Philippines the
last execution until 1999 was made.
(SFC, 2/6/99, p.A12)
1976 Philippine student Yobie
Benjamin was arrested and jailed for helping lead protests at the
Univ. of the Philippines against the dictatorship of Pres. Ferdinand
Marco. Benjamin spent 9 months in jail. He later established himself
as an entrepreneur and created GoodStorm, an e-commerce company,
that was sold to Zazzle.com in 2008. GoodStorm sold products on
behalf of nonprofit organizations.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A14)
1976 The Summit of leading
industrial nations was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The addition
of Canada let it be called the Group of Seven or G-7.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A16)
1976 Nadia Comaneci of Romania
scored 7 perfect 10s in gymnastics at the summer Olympics in
Montreal.
(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
1976 The Isle of Eigg,
Scotland, was sold to Keith Schellenberg, an industrial heir, for
$375,000. He sold it in 1995 for $2.3 million to the German artist
Marlin Eckhardt. Eckhardt put the isle up for sale in 1996 as
he was in debt and unable to sell his "pictures from the world
beyond matter," produced by igniting paint on a fireproof canvas.
(SFC, 8/29/96, p.A14)
1976 South Africa's Surgeon
General, Major N.J. Nieuwoudt, hired Dr. Wouter Basson to work for
the SADF's medical military unit known as the 7th SAMS Battalion.
Under Dr. Basson, head of the chemical and biological and weapons
program, black prisoners were killed by injections. In 2000 Johan
Theron, a former special forces officer, testified how he flung the
victim’s corpses from an airplane into the Atlantic between 1979 and
1987. Theron and Gen. Fritz Loots had decided that there were too
many guerrillas of the South West African People’s Organization in
the prison camps.
(SFC, 5/5/00,
p.A18)(www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/south_africa/2.html)
1976 Human type footprints were
found at Laetoli, Tanzania. In 1978-79 Mary Leakey’s team excavated
the 75-foot long trail of 47 footprints most likely made by
Australopithecus afarensis.
(www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A944336)(PacDisc, Spring
‘96, p.2)
1976 Thailand’s King Bhumibol
Adulyadej showed sympathy to the forces of the establishment who
believed that students and other liberal forces were leading the
country into chaos. In response the military again took the reins of
power.
(AP, 12/19/05)
1976 In the Ukraine an 86-pound
topaz crystal was found in the central Zhytomyr region. In 1997 it
was stolen from a Kiev museum.
(SFC, 2/1/97, p.A15)
1976 In Venezuela Carlos Lanz
and 5 others kidnapped an American executive and held him captive
for the next 3½ years. Lanz later served time for military
rebellion. In 2004 Pres. Chavez appointed Lanz to devise a plan for
economic self-sufficiency for workers in cooperatives.
(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.A1)
1976 Sahrawis of Western Sahara
proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
(Econ, 8/28/04, p.76)
1976 In Zaire (later Congo) the
Ebola virus was discovered and named after a river there. The Ebola
virus was 1st identified in western Sudan and the nearby region of
Congo. The virus can stop blood from clotting causing patients to
bleed. An outbreak of the Ebola virus killed 280 people, most of
whom were infected by reused syringes and needles.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.A5)(SFC, 1/8/02, p.A6)
1976 Rhodesian (Zimbabwe)
guerilla leaders Joshua Nkomo, exiled in Zambia, and Roger Mugabe,
in Mozambique, merged their guerrilla armies in a pact that held
until 1979.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.D6)
1976-1979 David H. Barnett, former CIA agent,
pleaded guilty in 1980 to spying for the Soviet Union over this time
while based in Indonesia. He admitted to exposing the identities of
30 US agents.
(SFC, 11/19/96, p.A17)
1976-1979 In Britain James Callahan served as
Prime Minister.
(SFC, 12/7/96, p.A8)
1976-1979 In Nigeria Gen’l. Olusegun Obasanjo
ruled as head of state. He relinquished the presidency after an
election and was jailed by Abacha in 1995 for treason.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1976-1981 Joe Pistone, FBI agent, infiltrated the
Bonanno family. His testimony later helped jail more than 120
mobsters.
(SFC, 5/10/04, p.A4)
1976-1982 In Mexico Jose Lopez Portillo served as
president. It was an era marked by anti-guerrilla campaigns,
ultra-nationalist foreign policies, and state-dominated
protectionist economics.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.C2)
1976-1982 A center-right government led Sweden.
(Econ, 9/15/07, p.66)
1976-1983 In Argentina in 1998 prosecutors
identified 4 ex-military men as holders of Swiss bank accounts
pillaged from political prisoners of this era. Former Gen’l. Antonio
Bussi, former Sergeant Carlos Vega, former Lt. Alfredo Astiz, and
Col. Roberto Roualdes (d.1995), were cited.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A11)
1976-1983 Mass killings marked these years known
as Argentina’s “Dirty War” period. At least 9,000 people, suspected
by the government of being leftist dissidents, were arrested,
tortured and never seen again. In 1997 Adolfo Scilingo, a former
naval officer, testified in Spain that as many as 1,500 Argentine
navy officials participated in death flights, where people were
hurled into the ocean. In 1998 Marguerite Feitlowitz published “A
Lexicon of Terror,” covering the “Dirty War.” In 2000 an Italian
court convicted 7 Argentine officers in absentia for kidnapping and
killing Italian citizens in the “dirty war.” The military and police
operated about 10 detention centers during the dictatorship in La
Plata, a city of universities south of Buenos Aires where the
crackdown's toll on college students was particularly severe.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.D2)(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A8)(WSJ,
12/7/00, p.A1)(AP, 12/9/08)
1976-1987 Pham Van Dong headed the reunified
Vietnam.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A24)
1976-1991 In Lebanon there was a 15 year civil war
with no government and no army to control lawless groups.
(SFC, 2/19/96, p.A8)
1976-1996 Venezuela’s political establishment
accumulated a growing control over the country’s assets.
(WSJ, 6/7/96, p.A15)
1976-1998 Chicago’s Gautreaux Assisted Housing
Program helped more than 25,000 voluntary participants move to more
than 100 communities throughout the metropolitan area, roughly half
to integrated suburbs and half to integrated neighborhoods in the
city.
(www.bpichicago.org/pht/gautreaux.html)
1976-2005 Household saving in Japan began to fall
from a peak this year of 23% of disposable income to around 6% in
2005.
(Econ, 9/24/05, Sur. p.12)
Go to 1977
Go to
http://www.timelinesdb.com
End of file