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The following events occurred in January 1972:


January 1, 1972 (Saturday)

*
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for t ...
of
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
became the fourth
Secretary General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...
, succeeding
U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...
. Waldheim served two five-year terms. It would only be after he became President of Austria in 1986 that the world would learn that Waldheim had been a Nazi officer being investigated by the UN War Crimes Commission. *In a match between the two highest ranked college football teams in the United States, the Number 1
Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...
beat the Number 2
Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...
in the
Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...
, 38–6, to clinch the mythical national college football championship determined by polls taken by the Associated Press and by United Press International. *Born: **
Barron Miles Barron Miles (born January 1, 1972) is a former professional Canadian football player who played for 12 years in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is the defensive coordinator for the Ottawa Redblacks of the CFL. Miles finished his career tie ...
,
CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
star, in Roselle, New Jersey ** Lilian Thuram, French soccer football star, in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe *Died: Maurice Chevalier, 83, French actor and singer


January 2, 1972 (Sunday)

* Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of
Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
, announced his new campaign, "Authenticité", to remove all traces of the former
Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...
's colonial past in favor of "Africanized" names, customs and dress. Having changed his own name from Joseph-Desire Mobutu, the President required citizens with European-sounding names to change them to something more authentic. *U.S. First Lady
Pat Nixon Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (''née'' Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as Second Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 wh ...
arrived in Liberia for the beginning of an 8-day tour of Africa, which also included
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and Côte d'Ivoire. *A group of six men stole $4,000,000 worth of jewelry in the
Pierre Hotel Robbery The Pierre hotel robbery was a January 2, 1972 robbery at The Pierre in New York City. The robbery netted $3 million (worth $27 million today), and was organized by Samuel Nalo; Robert "Bobby" Comfort, an associate of the Rochester Crime Family; a ...
, from safe deposit boxes at the New York luxury hotel. After being tipped off by an informant, the FBI captured the robbers, but recovered only one million of the loot. *
Juliane Koepcke Juliane Koepcke (born 10 October 1954), also known by her married name Juliane Diller, is a German-Peruvian mammalogist and biologist. In 1971, when she was 17 years old, Koepcke survived the LANSA Flight 508 plane crash. After falling while ...
, the sole survivor of the Christmas Eve crash of
LANSA Flight 508 LANSA Flight 508 was a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop, registered OB-R-941, operated as a scheduled domestic passenger flight by Lineas Aéreas Nacionales Sociedad Anonima (LANSA), which crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima to Pucall ...
, was found alive by three hunters deep inside the Amazon jungle in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
. The only survivor of 93 people on the plane, she had followed a stream for nine days until finding help. *Serial killer
John Wayne Gacy John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured, and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as " ...
committed the first of at least 33 murders, stabbing 16-year old Timothy McCoy to death. *Born:
Álvaro Díaz González Álvaro Díaz González (born 1972) is a Chilean journalist, producer and director. Díaz is the co-creator of the TV series 31 Minutos (2003–2005). He also worked on TV series such as the 31 Minutos spin-off ''Las vacaciones de Tulio, Patan ...
, Chilean journalist and director, in
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
. *Died: Lillian Gilbreth, 93, efficiency expert and heroine of ''Cheaper by the Dozen''


January 3, 1972 (Monday)

* Mariner 9 began the first mapping of the planet
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
, after dust storms on the red planet had ceased.


January 4, 1972 (Tuesday)

*The first ''scientific'' electronic pocket calculator, the
HP-35 The HP-35 was Hewlett-Packard's first pocket calculator and the world's first ''scientific'' pocket calculator: a calculator with trigonometric and exponential functions. It was introduced in 1972. History In about 1970 HP co-founder Bill Hewl ...
was introduced by Hewlett-Packard and priced at $395 (equivalent to more than $2,400 in 2019). Although hand-held electronic machines, that could multiply and divide (such as the Canon Pocketronic) had been made since 1971, the HP-35 could handle higher functions including logarithms and trigonometry.


January 5, 1972 (Wednesday)

*From his "Western White House" residence in San Clemente, California, President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
announced that the United States would develop the
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
as the next phase of the American space program, with dollars allocated to the first reusable spacecraft. "It would transform the space frontier of the 1970s into familiar territory," said Nixon, "easily accessible for human endeavor of the 1980s and 1990s." *Soviet dissident
Vladimir Bukovsky Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Константи́нович Буко́вский; 30 December 1942 – 27 October 2019) was a Russian-born British human rights activist and writer. From the late 195 ...
was convicted of Anti-Soviet agitation and sentenced to two years in prison, five in a labour camp, and five more in internal exile.


January 6, 1972 (Thursday)

*The
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), or ''Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum'', is a process developed by the Catholic Church for its catechumenate for prospective converts to the Catholic faith above the age of infant baptis ...
(RCIA) was formally created by order of Pope Paul VI. *The
Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...
granted the United States the use of a naval base in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
, over the objections of
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. *Television journalist Geraldo Rivera first attained national fame with his exposé of neglect and abuse of mentally ill patients at the
Willowbrook State School Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities located in the Willowbrook neighborhood on Staten Island in New York City from 1947 until 1987. The school was designed for 4,000, but by 1965 ...
on New York's Staten Island. *Died:
Chen Yi Chen Yi may refer to: * Xuanzang (602–664), born as Chen Yi, Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty * Chen Yi (Kuomintang) Chen Yi (; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June ...
, 70, Chinese Foreign Minister


January 7, 1972 (Friday)

*U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced that he would run for re-election in 1972. *
Iberia Airlines Iberia (), legally incorporated as ''Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal'', is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Founded in 1927 and based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from i ...
Flight 602 crashed into a mountain peak while attempting to land at the Spanish island of Ibiza, killing all 104 people on board. *At a press conference given by telephone to seven journalists assembled in
Universal City, California Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Approximately 415 acres (1.7 km) within and around the surrounding area is the property of Universal Pictur ...
, billionaire
Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
discredited the "autobiography" that
Clifford Irving Clifford Michael Irving (November 5, 1930 – December 19, 2017) was an American novelist and investigative reporter. Although he published 20 novels, he is best known for an "autobiography" allegedly written as told to Irving by billionaire ...
had claimed to help him write. *
Lewis F. Powell Jr. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987. Born in Suffolk, Virginia, he graduat ...
and
William H. Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from 1 ...
were sworn in as the 103rd and 104th justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. *The Los Angeles Lakers won their 33rd consecutive game with a 44-point victory (134–90) over the
Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...
, and extended their record to 39–3. *Police located and defused
time bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are ...
s that had been placed in safe deposit boxes in eight banks in New York, Chicago and San Francisco in July 1971. The bombs, described in an anonymous letter, sent the day before, each had a "seven-month fuse" and would have exploded in February. A ninth bomb had gone off prematurely in September. *Died:
John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...
, 57, American poet and scholar; Berryman killed himself by leaping from the
Washington Avenue Bridge (Minneapolis) The Washington Avenue Bridge carries County Road 122 and the METRO Green Line light rail across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and connects the East Bank and West Bank portions of the University of Minnesota campus. The bridge has two ...
to the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
, 70 feet below.


January 8, 1972 (Saturday)

*The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who popularized
transcendental meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes ...
, announced his "World Plan", with the goal of establishing 3,600 centers, each with 1,000 teachers apiece. By 1976, however, interest in "TM" began to decline and the plan was never realized. *Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 in A Major was performed for the first time, at the
Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...
. *
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...
was released from the
Mianwali Mianwali (Punjabi/ ur, ) is the capital city of Mianwali District in Punjab, Pakistan. The 81st largest city of Pakistan, it is known for its diverse population of, Punjabi and Pashtun ethnicities. History Mianwali District was an agricult ...
jail and allowed to leave
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
after more than nine months' imprisonment. Two days later, after flying to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
, he returned to
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
to become the first President of
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.''Encyclopaedia Of Bangladesh'' (Anmol Publications, 2003), p110 *Died:
Kenneth Patchen Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of Will ...
, 60, American poet


January 9, 1972 (Sunday)

*Shortly after midnight, Britain's 280,000 coal miners walked off of the job in the first nationwide miners' strike since 1926. As the strike dragged on, Britain was forced to go to the
Three-Day Week The Three-Day Week was one of several measures introduced in the United Kingdom in 1973–1974 by Edward Heath's Conservative government to conserve electricity, the generation of which was severely restricted owing to industrial action by coal m ...
. *The ''
RMS Queen Elizabeth RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' was an ocean liner operated by Cunard Line. With ' she provided weekly luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France. While being constr ...
'' (QE2), largest ocean liner ever built, was destroyed by a fire as it sat in
Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in ...
in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
. The ship was being renovated to become "Seawise University". *The Los Angeles Lakers finally lost after 33 consecutive wins, falling to the
Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...
, 120–104. *Died:
Liang Sicheng Liang Sicheng (; 20 April 1901 – 9 January 1972) was a Chinese architect and architectural historian, known as the father of modern Chinese architecture. His father, Liang Qichao, was one of the most prominent Chinese scholars of the early ...
, 70, "Father of Modern Chinese Architecture"


January 10, 1972 (Monday)

*
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...
, the "Bangabandhu" and "Father of Bangladesh", returned to
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
at to a hero's welcome. *In Baton Rouge,
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, a confrontation between members of the
Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was a far-left, black nationalist, underground Black Power revolutionary paramilitary organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic ...
left two sheriff's deputies dead and 14 other policemen injured. Two BLA members were killed and 17 civilians were hurt. Thirteen police officers were killed by the BLA between 1970 and 1976. *In Britain,
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
's '' Sunday Mercury'' broke the story of toxic waste dumping in the Midlands, and the government's indifference to complaints. The public outcry that followed would lead to the passage of environmental legislation on March 30. *Born:
Thomas Alsgaard Thomas Alsgaard (born 10 January 1972) is a Norwegian former professional cross-country skier. Alsgaard is regarded by many as the best performer of the freestyle technique (skating) in cross-country skiing and many of today's best skiers have st ...
, Norwegian Olympic cross-country gold medalist, in
Enebakk Enebakk is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkebygda. The parish of ''Enebak'' was established as a municipality ...
*Died:
Aksel Larsen Aksel Larsen (5 August 1897 – 10 January 1972) was a Danish politician who was chairman of the Communist Party of Denmark (DKP) and chairman and founder of the Socialist People's Party. He is remembered today for his long service in the C ...
, 74, Danish politician


January 11, 1972 (Tuesday)

* Bill France Jr. succeeded his father as President of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
. Over the next 28 years, France oversaw the growth of stock car racing to a multibillion-dollar industry and one of the most popular sports in the United States. * ''The Night Stalker'', starring Darren McGavin, was broadcast as the ''ABC Movie of the Week''. Watched by viewers, it was the highest rated
made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
movie to that date, and would lead to a weekly television series for McGavin.


January 12, 1972 (Wednesday)

*The first regulations limiting exposure to asbestos were announced by the
United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploy ...
. Widely used in construction because of its fireproof nature, asbestos had been proven to be carcinogenic in the long term. *The Detroit Tigers signed a 40-year lease for a dollar domed stadium, to be built downtown. Detroit voters, however, would refuse to approve funding a bond issue to pay for the dome, and it would never be built. The team would continue to play at Tiger Stadium until moving to the outdoor
Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the c ...
in 1998. *Born:
Espen Knutsen Espen Knutsen (born January 12, 1972) is a Norwegian former professional ice hockey player and currently the general manager of Vålerenga in the Norwegian GET-ligaen. He played five seasons in the North American-based National Hockey League (NHL), ...
, Norwegian hockey star, in
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...


January 13, 1972 (Thursday)

*U.S. President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
announced that 70,000 American troops would be pulled out of
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
by May 1, cutting the existing force of 139,000 by half. *
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
Governor
George C. Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination. The day before, the Internal Revenue Service had dropped its investigation of Wallace's brother Gerald. Historian Stephen E. Ambrose suggested in his 1989 book ''Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician, 1962–1972'', that President Nixon had brokered a deal in order to ensure his re-election in 1972. With Nixon and
Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
having announced their candidacies earlier in the week, all three major contenders in the 1968 election were in the 1972 race. *While he was out of the country for treatment of an eye ailment,
Kofi Abrefa Busia Kofi Abrefa Busia (born 11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978) was a Ghanaian political leader and academic who was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a nationalist leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to th ...
, the
Prime Minister of Ghana The prime minister of Ghana was the head of government of Ghana from 1957 to 1960 and again from 1969 to 1972. History of the office The country's first leader and prime minister was Kwame Nkrumah of the Convention People's Party (CPP). He h ...
, lost his job when the government was overthrown in a bloodless coup, led by Lt. Col.
Ignatius Kutu Acheampong Ignatius Kutu Acheampong ( ; (23 September 1931 – 16 June 1979) was the military head of state of Ghana from 13 January 1972 to 5 July 1978, when he was deposed in a palace coup. He was executed by firing squad on 16 June 1979. Early life and ...
, leader of the "National Redemption Council". Dr. Busia lived the rest of his life in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Acheampong was overthrown in 1978, and was executed the following year. *A plane, taking West Germany's Chancellor Willy Brandt home after his visit to the United States, came within 500 feet of colliding with Eastern Airlines Flight 870, as both planes were flying at 33,000 feet 85 miles northeast of Jacksonville, Florida. A spokesman for the Professional Air Traffic Controllers' Association said on January 15 that the incident had been reported to him by controllers at the Jacksonville airport. *Born: **Vitaly Scherbo, Belarusian gymnast, winner of six gold medals in 1992, in Minsk **Nicole Eggert, American actress (''Charles in Charge'', ''Baywatch''), in Glendale, California


January 14, 1972 (Friday)

*At 8:00 pm Eastern time, ''Sanford and Son'' premiered on NBC. Starring Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, the show ran until 1977. Based on the BBC comedy Steptoe and Son, the show replaced The D.A. (1971 TV series), ''The D.A.'', a legal drama. *Jesse Jackson and other leaders founded the organization Rainbow/PUSH, PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). *Died: King Frederik IX of Denmark died at the age of 71, at the Copenhagen Municipal Hospital, at His daughter Margrethe II of Denmark, Margrethe was crowned Queen the following day.


January 15, 1972 (Saturday)

*At 3:00 pm, at the balcony of the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag proclaimed three times, "King Frederik IX is dead! Long live Her Majesty Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II!" With that, Margrethe became the second queen of Denmark, with the same name as her Margrethe I, ancestor, who had reigned from 1353 to 1412. There is no provision for a coronation, or even a crown, for the monarchs of Denmark. *Emilio Colombo resigned as Prime Minister of Italy. *American boxer Joe Frazier retained his List of heavyweight boxing champions, World heavyweight championship by knocking out Terry Daniels in the fourth round at the Rivergate Convention Center in New Orleans.


January 16, 1972 (Sunday)

*The Dallas Cowboys won their first NFL championship, defeating the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI at New Orleans. After taking a 10–0 lead, the Cowboys went on to win 24–3. *Born: **Salah Hissou, Moroccan long-distance runner who held the world record from 1996 to 1997 for fastest 10,000 meter run; in Ait Taghia, Kasba Tadla **Joe Horn, NFL receiver, in Tupelo, Mississippi **Greg Page (musician), Greg Page, Australian musician, actor, and activist, co-founder of The Wiggles, in Sydney *Died: Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., 52, aka David Seville of ''Alvin and the Chipmunks''


January 17, 1972 (Monday)

*Police in Chicago arrested two college students, Allan C. Schwandner and Stephen Pera, who had planned to poison the city's water supply with typhoid and other bacteria. Schwandner had founded a terrorist group, "R.I.S.E.", while Pera collected and grew cultures from the hospital where he worked. The two men fled to Cuba after being released on bail. Schwandner was fatally beaten by a Cuban prison director in 1974. Pera returned to the U.S. in 1975 and was put on probation. *"Huge Monday" took place on the North Shore of Oahu; 20 foot waves made it "the greatest single day in surfing history" *Born: **Ken Hirai, Japanese pop singer, in Higashiōsaka, Osaka **Mike Lieberthal, MLB catcher, in Glendale, California *Died: **Betty Smith, 75, author of ''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (novel), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' **Orville Nix, 61, Dallas air conditioning engineer who filmed JFK assassination


January 18, 1972 (Tuesday)

*Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg was awarded U.S. Patent No. 3,636,191 for a vaccine against hepatitis B. Dr. Blumberg won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1976. *The United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC Storis (WMEC-38), ''Storis'' seized two Soviet fishing vessels, the flagship ''Lamut'' and the sterntrawler ''Kolyvan'', after they had penetrated American territorial waters less than 12 miles off the Alaskan coast. The ships were detained at the Adak Naval Air Station until February 17, then released after the Soviets paid a $250,000 fine. *Mao Zedong secretly designated Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to succeed him as leader of the People's Republic of China. Zhou would die on January 8, 1976, eight months before Mao. *Died: Clarence Earl Gideon, 61, subject of landmark Supreme Court decision in (''Gideon v. Wainwright'')


January 19, 1972 (Wednesday)

*The Anthem of Europe, based on the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ("Ode to Joy"), was adopted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and became the anthem for the European Union created in 1993. *The "Republic of Minerva" was proclaimed by Michael Oliver of the Phoenix Foundation and a group of entrepreneurs who had built an island by towing sand onto the underwater Minerva Reefs, located in the South Pacific Ocean, 260 miles west of Tonga. The micronation, which printed its own currency and coinage, would come to an end when Tonga annexed the reefs on June 21. *Mexican-American professional golfer Lee Trevino was selected as the male professional athlete of 1971 by the Associated Press, after having won the U.S. Open, the British Open and the Canadian Open tournaments in a four-week period, and being voted PGA Player of the Year. *Born: **Drea de Matteo, American actress (''The Sopranos''), in Queens, New York **Angham, Egyptian pop star and actress, as Angham Mohamed Ali Suleiman, in Alexandria


January 20, 1972 (Thursday)

*In Geneva, the member nations of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to raise their price for crude oil by 8.49 percent, to $2.49 per barrel, the first of many sharp increases that would follow. *The scheduled release of ''The Autobiography of Howard Hughes'', written by
Clifford Irving Clifford Michael Irving (November 5, 1930 – December 19, 2017) was an American novelist and investigative reporter. Although he published 20 novels, he is best known for an "autobiography" allegedly written as told to Irving by billionaire ...
, was postponed by Life (magazine), ''LIFE'' Magazine (which had planned to serialize it beginning with its February 11 issue) and McGraw-Hill, which had a March 10 release date. Proven later as a hoax, the would-be bestseller was never sold. *Hughes Airwest Flight 8800 was hijacked as it taxied for a takeoff from McCarran International Airport. Imitating D. B. Cooper, passenger "D. Shane" demanded $50,000 in cash and two parachutes after threatening to explode a bomb, and after releasing the passengers and stewardesses, ordered the DC-9 to fly eastward. Shane—later identified as Richard Charles LaPoint—bailed out over the Rockies and landed 21 miles northwest of Akron, Colorado, where he was captured by state police, along with the ransom. LaPoint, 23, received a 40-year federal prison sentence. *Karen Wise became the first woman to play NCAA college basketball (limited at that time to men), when she took the court for Windham College against Castleton State College. Playing for two minutes, she gathered one rebound but did not score in her team's 84–38 loss.


January 21, 1972 (Friday)

*India added three new States and territories of India, States, bringing the total to 20, with statehood granted to Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya. On the same day, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh were granted union territory status (both granted statehood in 1987). As of 2009, there are 28 states and seven territories in India. *Hundreds of guests at a wedding in New Delhi drank bootleg liquor and were poisoned by what turned out to be a mixture of rubbing alcohol and paint varnish, By Sunday, more than 100 had died.


January 22, 1972 (Saturday)

*In the first Enlargement of the European Union#First enlargement, expansion of the European Economic Community since its founding by six members in 1952, a Acts of Accession, Treaty of Accession was signed at Brussels, by the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway. Norwegian voters did not approve the treaty, but the other three nations joined the "Common Market" on January 1, 1973. *Born: Romi Park, Japanese voice actress, in Tokyo


January 23, 1972 (Sunday)

*U.S. Air Force bombing of Viet Cong guerrilla strongholds in South Vietnam halted after more than nine years. A historian would later note that "some 4 million tons of bombs fell" on South Vietnam "making it the most-bombed country in the history of aerial warfare." *Formula One champion Jackie Stewart began the defense of his title by winning the 1972 Argentine Grand Prix in Buenos Aires. On completion of the race, he learned that his father, Robert Paul Stewart, had died earlier in the day.


January 24, 1972 (Monday)

*After hiding for more than 27 years, Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi was discovered on Guam by two hunters, Manuel de Garcia and Jesus Duenas. One of 19,000 Japanese soldiers occupying the island during World War II, Sgt. Yokoi had disappeared into the jungle near the Talofofo River after American forces recaptured Guam in 1944. *Meeting with scientists at Multan, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto secretly launched
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
's program to build a nuclear weapon. *The Iowa Caucus, which would later mark the opening of delegate selection in U.S. presidential election campaigns, was conducted for the first time. The initial event, marked by gatherings in 2,600 at homes and meeting rooms in election precincts statewide, was limited to registered Democrats, and would displace the New Hampshire primary as the first test for political party nominees. When the results were finally tabulated the next day, U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine won 18 of Iowa's 46 Democratic delegates, while U.S. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota won 10, while the remaining 18 were uncommitted. *A month after bringing the Emirate of Sharjah into the United Arab Emirates, the emir, Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi was assassinated in a coup attempt by the previous ruler, Saqr bin Sultan al-Qasimi, whom Khalid had overthrown in 1965. Saqr failed to regain the throne, and Sharjah has been ruled since then by Khalid's brother, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi. *Born: Daniel Kawczynski, Polish-British politician, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham (UK Parliament constituency), Shrewsbury and Atcham, in Warsaw, Poland *Died: **Gene Austin, 71, singer **Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, 50, Sharjah monarch


January 25, 1972 (Tuesday)

*In a nationally televised address, President Nixon revealed that Henry Kissinger had been secretly negotiating with North Vietnamese leaders, and announced "a plan for peace that can end the war in Vietnam". North Vietnam rejected the proposal the next day. *Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to Congress (representing New York's 12th Congressional District) announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for president. *Two Ohio State players—Luke Witte and Mark Wagar—were sent to the hospital when a fight broke out in their college basketball game at Minnesota. With 0:36 left, and Ohio State leading 50–44, Corky Taylor and Ron Behagen of Minnesota attacked Witte. A brawl between both teams lasted for more than a minute before the game was called. Taylor and Behagen were suspended for the rest of the season. Witte declined to file charges. *Died: **Carl Hayden, 94; American legislator and former President Pro Tempore of the Senate (1957–1969), who had represented Arizona in Congress for 57 years. Hayden had been the first at-large U.S. Representative when Arizona was admitted to the union in 1912, then continued as a U.S. Senator starting in 1927 until finishing his seventh term in 1969. **Erhard Milch, 79, developer of Germany's Luftwaffe


January 26, 1972 (Wednesday)

*A Croatian terrorist organization planted a bomb in JAT Yugoslav Flight 364, which exploded over Czechoslovakia, at an altitude of 33,000 feet, killing 27 of the 28 people on board. Remarkably, a stewardess Vesna Vulović, who had been in the tail section of the DC-9, survived despite falling more than six miles, landing near Srbská Kamenice. She was released after a hospitalation of 16 months. *On the lawn in front of the Australian Parliament in Canberra, four young Indigenous Australians, Aborigine men (Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Gary Williams and Tony Coorey) erected a tent that they called the Aboriginal embassy, Aboriginal Embassy, a symbol of the feeling that the indigenous Australians were treated as foreigners in their own homeland. Soon, the four were joined by others, until nearly 2,000 supporters encamped in front of the Parliament. The "embassy" was torn down six months later. *The first Eclipse Awards, recognizing horse racing achievements, were made, in a ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. *Born: **Christopher Boykin, "Big Black" on MTV show ''Rob & Big'', in Wiggins, Mississippi (d. 2017) **Peter Peschel, German footballer, in Prudnik, Poland


January 27, 1972 (Thursday)

*The first home video game system, Magnavox Odyssey, Odyssey, was introduced by Magnavox. Designed by Ralph Baer, the console could be hooked up to a television set for two players to play a tennis-like game, similar to Nolan Bushnell's game ''Pong''. *In a meeting at the office of U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell, G. Gordon Liddy presented the "Gemstone Plan" to Mitchell, John Dean, and Jeb Magruder. Mitchell was also the Director of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CRP), and Liddy was CRP's chief lawyer. Liddy suggested budgeting $1,000,000 for mugging and even kidnapping "leaders of anti-Nixon demonstrations"; hiring prostitutes to solicit during the 1972 Democratic National Convention; and break-ins and installation of electronic surveillance as necessary. Mitchell rejected the plan, but retained Liddy to suggest new ideas. *After hijacking Mohawk Airlines Flight 452 and landing in Poughkeepsie, New York, Heinrick Von George, a debt-ridden father of seven, was given, as demanded, a duffel bag with $200,000 in cash and a getaway car. As he prepared to drive away with his money and his hostage, Von George was killed by a shotgun blast fired by an FBI agent. *Police Officers Gregory Philip Foster and Rocco W. Laurie of the New York City Police Department were fatally shot in the back by members of the
Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was a far-left, black nationalist, underground Black Power revolutionary paramilitary organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic ...
while walking their patrol beat. Foster and Laurie had served together as United States Marines in the Vietnam War and had requested assignment to the same NYPD precinct. A television film, ''Foster and Laurie'', about the two slain officers would be broadcast in 1975. *Born: **Mark Owen, English singer (Take That), in Oldham **Keith Wood, Irish rugby star, in Killaloe, County Clare *Died: **Richard Courant, 84, German-born American mathematician **Mahalia Jackson, 60, African-American gospel singer


January 28, 1972 (Friday)

*More than 60 years after it had been written, Scott Joplin's opera ''Treemonisha'' was performed for the first time. The score had been rediscovered in 1970, and was brought to life at the Atlanta Memorial Arts Center. Joplin, an African-American composer who had died in 1917, would be awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1976, and honored with a U.S. postage stamp in 1983. Joplin's ragtime composition The Entertainer (rag), "The Entertainer", featured in the film ''The Sting'', would become a bestseller in 1974. *Born: Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 2020; in New Orleans, Louisiana


January 29, 1972 (Saturday)

*In Bonn, West Germany's Chancellor Willy Brandt, and the leaders of the ten States of Germany, Bundesländer (states) agreed upon the Berufsverbot#The 1972 Anti-Radical Decree, "Radikalenerlass", a decree to bar any known radical from government employment.


January 30, 1972 (Sunday)

*Troops from the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, fired into a crowd of unarmed Catholic protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland. Thirteen people were killed (a fourteenth victim would die months later), and another 14 wounded. Outrage over what became known as Bloody Sunday (1972), "Bloody Sunday", followed by the Widgery Tribunal, subsequent exoneration of the paratroopers, fueled the growth of the Irish Republican Army.


January 31, 1972 (Monday)

* The Federal Aviation Administration issued new regulations, requiring all United States airlines to screen passengers (and their carry on baggage) for weapons before boarding, with a deadline of May 8, 1972, for compliance. There were no hijackings in the United States in 1973. * Karl Schranz of
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, the 1970 alpine skiing champion in the giant slalom, was barred three days before the 1972 Winter Olympics were to begin, by a 28–14 vote by the International Olympic Committee. Schranz was among 40 skiers accused of violating amateur rules by accepting endorsement money from ski equipment companies, and the only skier to be banned. *Died: King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal, who had worked to end the isolation of his Himalayan kingdom, died in Kathmandu at 51. He was succeeded by his son, Birendra."Nepal's king dies", ''Syracuse Herald Journal'', January 31, 1972, p1


References

{{Events by month links January, 1972 1972, *1972-01 Months in the 1970s, *1972-01