1976
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Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Contents:
Events of 1976
- Jan. .Feb. .March .April - May .June .July . Aug. - Sept. .Oct. .Nov. . Dec. - Undated .Ongoing .Fictional
Births Deaths - Ship events Nobel prizes - Templeton Prize See also - Notes - External links[edit] January
January - The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research. January 15 - Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison. January 16 - The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany. January 18 - The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in Super Bowl X played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. January 18 - The Scottish Labour Party is formed. January 19 - Jimmy Carter wins the Iowa Democratic Caucus. January 21 - The first commercial Concorde flight takes off. January 27 - The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state. January 29 - Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in London's West End. January 30 - Live from Lincoln Center debuts on PBS.
[edit] February
February 4 - The 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria. February 4 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000. February 5 - Nearly 2,000 students become involved in a racially charged riot at Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida. 30 students are injured in the four-hour fray. February 11 - Clifford Alexander Jr. is confirmed as the first African-American Secretary of the U.S. Army. February 13 - General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria was assassinated in a military coup. February 15 - The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by national referendum. February 24 - Cuba's current constitution is enacted. February 26 - Witdrawal of the Spanish Armed Forces in Western Sahara. February 27 - Western Sahara declares independence. February 28 - Spain gives up territories in Sahara but retains its enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta.
[edit] March
March 1 - U.K. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland. March 4 - The Maguire Seven are found guilty of possessing explosives and subsequently jailed for 14 years. March 4 - The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British parliament. March 9 - A cable-car disaster in Cavalese, Italy leaves 42 dead. March 9-March 11 - Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, Letcher County, KY. March 16 - Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. March 17 - Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is retried in New Jersey. March 20 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank. March 24 - Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Peron. March 26 - The Toronto Blue Jays are created. March 26 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom sends the first royal e-mail. March 27 - The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens. March 29 - The military dictatorship of General Jorge Videla comes to power in Argentina March 31 - The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.
[edit] April
April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. April 1 - Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public. April 1 - Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect first reported by the astronomer Patrick Moore April 2 - Norodom Sihanouk forced to resign as Head of State of Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot. Under their control the country becomes known as Cambodia. April 3 - The 21st Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me. April 4 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest. April 5 - James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. April 5- Tiananmen Incident: Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed, provoking a police crackdown. April 13 - An explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland kills 40. April 16 - As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women. April 21 - The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne. April 23 - The Punk rock group The Ramones release their first self-titled album. April 25 - Portugal's new constitution is enacted.
[edit] May
May 1 - Neville Wran becomes Premier of New South Wales. May 4 - The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched. May 4 - A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people. May 6 - An earthquake hits Friuli area in Italy killing more than 900 people with another 100,000 homeless. May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof of Red Army Faction is found hanging in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stannheim prison cell. May 11 - U.S. President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act. May 24 - Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins. May 25 - U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in three Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon. May 30 - Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 255 miles (408 km). May 31 - Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization whom it had previously supported.
[edit] June
June 1 - The UK and Iceland end the Cod War. June 2 - A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles. June 5 - The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people. June 13 - Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroyed the town of Jordan, Iowa. June 14 - The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther. June 16 - The Soweto riots in South Africa begin. June 20 - Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. ambassador. June 20 - General elections are held in Italy. June 20 - Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5-3 on penalties to win Euro 76, when the game had ended 2-2 after extra time. June 25 - Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, PÅ‚ock) after communists raise food prices; strikes end on June 30. June 26 - The CN Tower is built in Toronto; the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public. June 27 - Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
[edit] July
July 2 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam unite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country. July 3 - Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment. July 3 - The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak. July 4 - United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. July 4 - The Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP) leads 50,000 marchers in Philadelphia to demand a "Bicentennial Without Colonies" and independence for Puerto Rico. July 4 - Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; 1 Israeli soldier and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid. July 6 - The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. July 7 - German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin. July 10 - Three British and 1 American mercenaries are shot by firing squad in Angola. July 10 - An explosion in Seveso, Italy, kills a large number of people. July 12 - Barbara Jordan is the first black person to keynote a political convention. July 15 - Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. President at the Democratic National Convention in New York City. July 16-July 20 - Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France. July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. July 17 - East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia. July 18 -Nadia Comaneci earns the first of seven perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics. July 19 - Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created. July 20 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. July 21 - A bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British ambassador to the Irish Republic. July 26 - In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford. July 27 - The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda. July 28 - The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan,China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851. July 29 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing 1 and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year. July 30 - In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions. July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1. July 31 - The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses.
[edit] August
August 1 - The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II with a President as its head of state. August 1 - The Seattle Seahawks first football game. August 1 - Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix. August 2 - A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel in an incident at Priscilla's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder, involvement in a plot to kill several people (including Priscilla and a judge), and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen goes broke afterwards. August 4 - The first recognized outbreak of Legionnaires' disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia. August 5 - The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over 9 months. August 6 - Former UK Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud, theft and forgery. August 7 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars. August 14 - Ten thousand Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland. August 14 - The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized. PAI-Rénovation thus becomes the third legal party in the country. August 18 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view. August 19 - U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City. August 24 - In Uruguay, the army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Marcelo is later killed and his wife (and unborn child) disappear. August 25 - Resignation of Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre. August 26 - First known outbreak of Ebola virus in Yambuku, Zaire. August 26 - Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, resigns from various posts over a scandal involving alleged corruption in connection with business dealings with the Lockheed corporation.