March 1972

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March 2, 1972: Pioneer 10 launched with a message from Earth
March 3, 1972: Stone Mountain bas relief finished after 48 years

The following events occurred in March 1972:

March 1, 1972 (Wednesday)

March 2, 1972 (Thursday)

  • January 22, 2003.[4]
  • Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced in the House of Commons that the Government of the UK would no longer use the "five techniques" of torture in the interrogation of prisoners. Heath's decision came on the same day as the publication of the "Parker Report" from a committee of inquiry chaired by Hubert Parker, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, finding the techniques to be illegal and immoral. The five techniques were wall-standing (prolonged standing in a stress position, hooding to prevent sight, loud noise, sleep deprivation and deprivation of food and drink, and had been used in Northern Ireland starting on August 9, 1971 in Operation Demetrius, the mass arrest of 342 suspected Irish Republican Army members and sympathizers.[5]
  • The student senate at Stanford University voted, 18–4, to accept the recommendation that the school's athletic teams drop the nickname "Stanford Indians".[6] Other college and high school teams would follow, retiring names such as Indians, Redskins, Braves, and other Native American referencing mascots.
  • Born: Phil Watkins From Pontypool, South Wales UK, born on this day.

March 3, 1972 (Friday)

March 4, 1972 (Saturday)

  • "About 1.1 million young people reached adulthood at midnight", as the New York Times described it, when a law took effect in California to lower the age of majority from 21 to 18.[9]
  • The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as sung by Roberta Flack, entered the Billboard Magazine charts at No. 77. Within six weeks, it hit No. 1 and remained for six more weeks, becoming the best selling single of 1972.[10]
  • Stoke City beat Chelsea 2–1 to win the
    1972 Football League Cup Final
    , before a crowd of 100,000 at Wembley Stadium.
  • Born:
    Pae Gil-Su
    , North Korean gymnast

March 5, 1972 (Sunday)

  • Prime Minister Edward Heath informed the House of Commons that the United Kingdom had renounced the use of the five techniques for deep interrogation (hooding, wall-standing, subjection to noise, "relative" deprivation of food and drink, and sleep deprivation).[11]

March 6, 1972 (Monday)

March 7, 1972 (Tuesday)

  • TWA Flight 7 was half an hour into its flight from New York to Los Angeles when the airline's officials were notified that it had a time bomb on board. The plane landed back at JFK at 12:10 pm. A trained German shepherd named "Brandy" sniffed out the explosive, found in an attache case in the cockpit. With five pounds of C4, the device would have destroyed the Boeing 707, with 52 on board, in midflight at 1:00 pm. Police defused the explosive with 12 minutes to spare.[14]
  • Federal Express was granted an FAA Operating Certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration, permitting it to operate jet service to deliver packages.[15]

March 8, 1972 (Wednesday)

March 9, 1972 (Thursday)

  • The Volkskammer voted to legalize abortion in East Germany, although 14 legislators voted against the bill and another 8 abstained, a rarity in a Communist state.[19] The new law gave a woman, rather than a government board, the right to terminate her pregnancy within the first 12 weeks after conception, effective immediately. The number of legal abortions went from 18,700 in 1971 to 115,600 in 1972.[20]
  • Died: Basil O'Connor, 80, co-founder of the March of Dimes

March 10, 1972 (Friday)

  • Broadcaster Larry King was cleared of charges of grand larceny that had been brought by a former business partner. His arrest in December 1971 nearly ruined his career, and King would work at various radio jobs before getting a nationally syndicated talk show in 1978. In 1985, he would launch Larry King Live on CNN.[21]
  • Born:

March 11, 1972 (Saturday)

  • Carnival Cruise Lines made its very first voyage, as the Mardi Gras departed Miami for an 8-day cruise ... and ran aground on a sandbar. The 530 passengers, most of whom were travel agents and their families, continued to enjoy themselves until tugboats dislodged the ship the next day, and the new company received national publicity from the incident.[22]
  • Died:
    • Fredric Brown, 65, science fiction and mystery author
    • Zack Wheat, 83, Baseball Hall of Famer and Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder

March 12, 1972 (Sunday)

March 13, 1972 (Monday)

  • The Australian soap opera
    Network Ten, after an ad campaign with the slogan "Tonight at 8:30, Television loses its virginity!". During its five-year run, the show would break taboos against showing nudity and sexual intercourse.[26]
  • On United States television, The Merv Griffin Show returned as a syndicated program after two years at the CBS Network's 11:30 time slot and began a successful and award-winning run that ended in 1986.[27]
  • Clifford Irving and his wife Edith pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to charges of conspiracy to defraud and grand larceny. Irving admitted that he had made up the autobiography of Howard Hughes, for which he had received an advance from McGraw-Hill.[28]
  • Born: Common (rapper) (born Lonnie Rashid Lynn), American rapper and actor; in Chicago, Illinois[29]

March 14, 1972 (Tuesday)

  • Sterling Airways Flight 267, which was bringing Danish vacationers home from a holiday in Sri Lanka, crashed on its approach to the Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates. All 112 people on board were killed.[30]

March 15, 1972 (Wednesday)

  • The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, debuted in five cinemas in New York City, and would set a record (which stood until 1975) for the highest-grossing film in history, taking in $87,500,000 in its first release.[31]
  • Italian multimillionaire and radical Giangiacomo Feltrinelli was found dead in the Milan suburb of Segrate, apparently the victim of his own bomb. Feltrinelli had apparently planned to destroy the pylon of a high-voltage power line in order to plunge the area into darkness, when the explosive went off prematurely. He bled to death from his injuries.[32]
  • King
    PLO and other Arab nations opposed the plan.[33]
  • Born:
    Pop Punk band blink-182, in Ridgecrest, California
  • Died: Linda Jones, 27, African-American pop singer, of diabetes

March 16, 1972 (Thursday)

  • Demolition of the Pruitt–Igoe public housing project in St. Louis began with the implosion of the first of 33 identical eleven-storey buildings, less than 20 years after the complex had been opened. Crime-ridden and marked by low quality materials, the project's occupancy began declining three years after its 1954 dedication. By 1976, the last of the Pruitt–Igoe apartments had been torn down.[34]
  • President Nixon addressed the nation at 10:00 pm EST to propose a moratorium on
    forced busing to achieve desegregation in American schools, making the issue part of his re-election campaign.[35]
  • A 160 vehicle pileup on the M1 motorway at Luton, England, killed nine people and injured 51 others. The accident came only four months after the deaths of nine people on the same stretch of highway. In both cases, fog and industrial pollution precipitated the chain reaction.[36]
  • Died: Pie Traynor, 73, Baseball Hall of Famer and Pirates third baseman

March 17, 1972 (Friday)

  • Lon Nol proclaimed himself to be the first President of the Khmer Republic, an office that had been vacant for the first two years of the republic's existence. The monarchy, abolished in 1970, was restored in 1993.[37]
  • Born: Mia Hamm, American soccer player, in Selma, Alabama

March 18, 1972 (Saturday)

  • Memphis Pros, breaking Zelmo Beaty's record of 63 that had been set three weeks earlier.[38] It was also a record for highest number of points by a guard in any league. With 25 field goals and 17 free throws, none of Miller's shots was an ABA 3-pointer.[39]
  • Born: Dane Cook, American comedian, in Boston

March 19, 1972 (Sunday)

March 20, 1972 (Monday)

March 21, 1972 (Tuesday)

  • The
    United States Supreme Court struck down, as unconstitutional, a Tennessee law requiring one year's residency in the state before a person could register to vote. For the 6–1 majority ruling, Thurgood Marshall wrote "30 days appears to be an ample period of time for the State to complete whatever administrative tasks are necessary to prevent fraud – and a year, or three months, too much". At the time, all but a few states required at least six months' residency. The ruling, made in Dunn v. Blumstein (405 U.S. 330) effectively opened the way for as many as 5.5 million people to become eligible to register.[46]
  • King Constantine II went into exile in 1967, was fired by the Cabinet at the request of Papadopoulos, who then took over the job himself.[47]
  • Born:

March 22, 1972 (Wednesday)

  • The proposed Equal Rights Amendment was approved by the United States Senate, 84–8, after passing the House on October 12, 354–23, and sent to the states to consider ratification.[48] Although 35 states ratified the amendment by the original 1979 deadline (later extended to 1982), the ERA fell short of the necessary approval by at least 38 states.[49]
  • The
    National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse), a 13-member panel created by Congress, unanimously recommended the removal of federal and state restrictions against the personal possession and private use of marijuana.[50] The Commission's surprising conclusions were not accepted by President Nixon or by Congress.[51]
  • The United States Supreme Court ruled, in Eisenstadt v. Baird (405 U.S. 438), that unmarried people had the same rights to contraceptive products as married people did, striking down a Massachusetts law, and extending the protection of the 1965 ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut.[52]
  • Born:
  • Died: Jeremiah Milbank, 85, American philanthropist and co-founder of the March of Dimes

March 23, 1972 (Thursday)

March 24, 1972 (Friday)

March 25, 1972 (Saturday)

  • The 254th and last original episode of the TV series Bewitched was broadcast, ending a run that had started on September 17, 1964.[55]
  • The UCLA Bruins beat Florida State 81–76 to win their sixth consecutive NCAA basketball championship, their eighth overall, and their 45th consecutive victory.[56]
  • Following fraudulent elections in El Salvador, Colonel Benjamin Mejia led an attempted coup in order to prevent the winner, Arturo Armando Molina, from taking office as President. Despite the rebels' temporary capture of President Fidel Sánchez Hernández, the rebellion failed to attract support from other military units, and was put down the next day, after more than 100 people had been killed and over 200 wounded.[57]
  • The 17th Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK. It was won by Luxembourg's Vicky Leandros, with "Après Toi".

March 26, 1972 (Sunday)

  • Lord Carrington, Britain's Secretary of State for Defence, reached an agreement with Malta's Prime Minister, Dom Mintoff, renewing the United Kingdom's lease of military bases on the Mediterranean island for another seven years, and at triple the previous rent. After the British lease had expired in September, Mintoff had threatened to sign an agreement with the Soviet Union or with Libya. The new payment was $37,000,000 per annum. British forces would leave Malta permanently on March 31, 1979.[58]
  • Died: Oskar Rescher, 88, German scholar (b. 1883)

March 27, 1972 (Monday)

  • Venera 8 was launched from the Soviet Union to explore the planet Venus, where it would land on July 22.[59]
  • President Idi Amin ordered all Israelis to leave Uganda. For the past ten years, Israel had trained Ugandan paratroopers, but Amin broke relations after forming an alliance with Libya.[60]
  • The comic strip Funky Winkerbean made its debut, introduced by King Features Syndicate. The author was Tom Batiuk, a 24-year-old art teacher at Eastern Heights Junior High School in Elyria, Ohio .[61] Funky ("just and average kid trying to figure out a confusing world ... not to mention plane geometry") introduced himself and his friends, Roland, Les and Lavinia in the first day's strip.[62]
  • Born: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Dutch footballer, in Paramaribo, Suriname
  • Died:
    • impossible objects" (e.g., "Relativity"
      )
    • Lorenzo Wright, 45, African-American athlete, 1948 Olympic gold medalist and Detroit schools official, was stabbed to death by his wife during an argument at their home [63][64]

March 28, 1972 (Tuesday)

  • The first elections, since 1963, in the Palestinian cities of the West Bank were carried out under Israel's supervision.[65] Voters in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Jericho (Ariha) went to the polls to vote for local representatives, nearly five years after previous scheduled voting had been canceled. In 1967, after the West Bank had been captured from Jordan in the Six-Day War, Israeli authorities extended the terms of the Palestinian council members indefinitely. On May 2, voting would be held for councils in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron.
  • A subspecies of
    Endangered Species List.[66]
  • Texas State Senate, making her the first black woman to preside over a legislative body. As third in line for succession, she served as acting governor on June 10, 1972, when the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were out of the state.[67]
  • Northern Ireland's Parliament, the Stormont, met for the very last time. The assembly was dissolved when Britain introduced direct rule.
  • Chong Hong Jin, South Korea's deputy director of intelligence, secretly traveled to North Korea to arrange for closer ties between the two enemy nations.[68]

March 29, 1972 (Wednesday)

March 30, 1972 (Thursday)

  • Quang Tri province. With American air support, the South Vietnamese army drove out the invaders. By the time the offensive ended in October, more than 40,000 soldiers from the North, and 10,000 from the South, had been killed.[74]
  • Born:
    Karel Poborsky, Czech Republic footballer, in Třeboň, Czechoslovakia
  • Died: Gabriel Heatter, 81, American newscaster

March 31, 1972 (Friday)

  • A team of investigators from the Flamingo Park Zoo in Scarborough found a mysterious carcass floating in Scotland's Loch Ness, while searching for proof of the existence of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, and loaded it into their truck. They were stopped by Fife police under a 1933 law prohibiting the removal of "unidentified creatures" from the Loch, and the incident made headlines worldwide.[75] An examination determined that the body was that of an elephant seal, which had died the week before at Flamingo Park. John Shields, a Zoo employee, had intended only to play a joke on his colleagues, and hadn't counted on police or press attention.[76]
  • The
    Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, was dedicated in Rabwah, Pakistan.[77]
  • A
    McCoy AFB, destroying or damaging eight homes. The flight crew of 7 airmen and 1 civilian on the ground were killed.[78]
  • Died:
    Bollywood
    legend

References

  1. ^ Diana Steward, A Rough Sort of Beauty: Reflections on the Natural Heritage of Arkansas (University of Arkansas Press, 2002), p89
  2. ^ Mark Gibney, Judicial Protection of Human Rights: Myths of Reality? (Praeger 1999), p94
  3. ^ "Pioneer Blasts for Jupiter", Star-News (Pasadena, CA), March 3, 1972, p1
  4. ^ Michel Van Pelt, Space Invaders: How Robotic Spacecraft Explore the Solar System (Springer, 2006), pp69–70
  5. ^ "Judgement: Case of Ireland v. the United Kingdom". European Court of Human Rights. January 18, 1978.
  6. ^ "Students Vote to Drop Stanford Indian Symbol", Oakland Tribune, March 3, 1972, p1
  7. ^ "Stone Mountain Park website".
  8. ^ "Plane hits residence, killing 17", Syracuse Herald-Journal, March 4, 1972, p1
  9. ^ Karen M. Staller, Runaways: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped Today's Practices and Policies (Columbia University Press, 2006), p20
  10. ^ Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (5th ed., Billboard Books, 2003), p310
  11. ^ Donald W. Jackson, The United Kingdom Confronts the European Convention on Human Rights (University Press of Florida, 1997), pp38, 58
  12. ^ Ronald Grigor Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation (Indiana University Press, 1994), pp305–306
  13. ^ Don and Jeff Breithaupt, Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early Seventies (St. Martin's Griffin, 1996), p73
  14. ^ "$2Million Ransom Note Sparks Plane Search, Dogs Find Bomb", Salt Lake Tribune, March 8, 1972, p1
  15. ^ Roger Frock, Changing How the World Does Business: FedEx's Incredible Journey to Success (Publishers Group West, 2006), pp33–34
  16. ^ "Bomb tears hole in jet at airport in Las Vegas", Reno Evening Gazette, March 8, 1972, p1
  17. ^ Christopher C. Burt, Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book (W.W. Norton, 2007), p247
  18. ^ Herbert N Foerstel, Free Expression and Censorship in America: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Press, 1997), pp 160–61
  19. ^ Peter W. Sperlich, Oppression and Scarcity: The History and Institutional Structure of the Marxist-Leninist Government of East Germany and Some Perspectives on Life in a Socialist System (Praeger 2006), p53
  20. ^ Henry P. David, ed., From Abortion to Contraception: A Resource to Public Policies and Reproductive Behavior in Central and Eastern Europe from 1917 to the Present (Greenwood Press, 1999), p136
  21. ^ Horace Newcomb, Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television, Vol. 1 (CRC Press, 2004), pp1264–1265
  22. ^ Brian J. Cudahy, The Cruise Ship Phenomenon in North America (Cornell Maritime Press, 2001), pp45–46
  23. ^ Joel Steinberg, The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law, Vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 1988)
  24. ^ The Century of Space Science, Vol. I (Kluwer, 2002), p919
  25. ^ Brian Crozier, Political Victory: The Elusive Prize of Military Wars (Transaction Publishers, 2005), pp79–80
  26. ^ Mercado, Andrew (2004). Super Aussie Soaps: Behind the Scenes of Australia's Best Loved TV Shows. Pluto Press. p. 44.
  27. Simon and Schuster
    . p. 89.
  28. ^ "Irvings Guilty Of Conspiracy". Oakland Tribune. March 13, 1972. p. 1.
  29. ^ Sweet Home Cook County (PDF). Cook County Clerk. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  30. ^ Air Disaster Database[usurped]; "112 Die as Danish Jetliner Crashes on Arab Island", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 17, 1972, p1
  31. ^ Jenny M. Jones, The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay (Black Dog & Leventhal, ©2007), p246
  32. ^ Paul Hofmann, That Fine Italian Hand (H. Holt, 1990), p185
  33. ^ Kamal Salibi, The Modern History of Jordan (I. B. Tauris, 2006), pp251–252
  34. ^ Katharine G. Bristol, "The Pruitt–Igoe Myth", in Eggener, American Architectural History: A Contemporary Reader (Routledge, 2004), p356
  35. ^ "NIXON: HALT ALL NEW BUSING", Des Moines Register, March 17, 1972, p1
  36. ^ "160 Autos Pile Up in Fog; 9 Die", Stars and Stripes (Pacific Ed.), March 18, 1972, p1
  37. ^ Marie Alexandrine Martin, Cambodia, A Shattered Society (University of California Press, 1994), p132
  38. ^ "Single-Game Scoring Record Holders for U.S. Professional Basketball Franchises", Paul S. Luchter
  39. ^ "Cougars' Miller Tosses In 67 Points", Burlington (NC) Times-News, March 20, 1972, p37
  40. ^ N. Jayapalan, India and Her Neighbours (Atlantic Publishers, ©2000), p124
  41. ^ "Immaculata Wins National Cage Title", Philadelphia Daily News, March 20, 1972, p. 59
  42. ^ "Unheralded Immaculata women's national winner", The Pantagraph (Bloomington-Normal, IL), March 20, 1972, p. B-2
  43. ^ "Fuji Toll Up to 24, 6 Still Lost", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 24, 1972, p6
  44. ^ "Worst Defeat in Loop History-- Los Angeles Lakers Humble Warriors, 162 To 99", Lubbock (TX) Avalanche-Journal, March 21, 1972, pC-3
  45. ISBN 9780857125958
    .
  46. ^ "Residency Law Voided", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 23, 1972, p2; text of opinion
  47. ^ "Greek Strongman Takes Regent's Job", The Stars and Stripes, March 22, 1972, p2
  48. ^ "Senate Okays Women's Equal Rights Amendment by 84–8 Vote", Salt Lake Tribune, March 23, 1972, p1
  49. ^ Mary Frances Berry, Why ERA Failed: Politics, Women's Rights, and the Amending Process of the Constitution (Indiana University Press, 1986)
  50. ^ "EASE POT LAWS, U.S. PANEL ASKS", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 24, 1972, p1
  51. ^ norml.org, March 21, 2002
  52. ^ "Eisenstadt v. Baird", in Encyclopedia of Birth Control (Oryx Press, 2000), pp72–73
  53. ^ Robin Hemley, Invented Eden: The Elusive, Disputed History of the Tasaday (University of Nebraska Press, 2006), p48
  54. ^ "Britain Takes Over in Ulster; Protestants Voice Dismay", Salt Lake Tribune, March 25, 1972, p1; Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd, The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Power, Conflict, and Emancipation (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p131
  55. ^ Walter Metz, Bewitched (Wayne State University Press, 2007), p14
  56. ^ "Ho hum, just another title for UCLA", Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA), March 26, 1972, pS-1
  57. ^ Philip J. Williams and Knut Walter, Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador's Transition to Democracy (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997), pp85–86
  58. ^ Alain Rouvez, Disconsolate Empires: French, British, and Belgian Military Involvement in Post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa (University Press of America, 1994), pp. 247–248.
  59. ^ Josepha Sherman, Deep Space Observation Satellites (Rosen Publishing, 2003), pp26–27; "Soviets Launch Unmanned Venus 8 Spacecraft, Landing on Hot, Dense Planet Expected in July", Salt Lake Tribune, March 28, 1972, p1
  60. ^ Thomas P. Ofcansky, Uganda: Tarnished Pearl of Africa (Westview Press, 1996), pp45–46
  61. ^ "Teen page cartoonist's comic strip syndicated", Elyria (O.) Chronicle-Telegram, March 21, 1972, p12
  62. ^ "Comics", Syracuse Post-Standard, March 27, 1972, p22
  63. ^ "Olympic Runner Stabbed to Death", Daily News (New York), March 28, 1973, p. 3
  64. ^ "Lorenzo Wright Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". April 18, 2020. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
  65. ^ Moshe Shemesh, The Palestinian Entity, 1959–1974: Arab Politics and the PLO (Frank Cass, 1988) p. 250
  66. ^ Environmental News Service, September 23, 2005
  67. ^ ""Black Americans in Congress"". Archived from the original on 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  68. ^ Don Oberdorfer, The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Basic Books, 2001), p. 15
  69. ^ "Berlin Wall Parts For Easter Visits", Salt Lake Tribune, March 31, 1972, p1
  70. ^ Anna Nevenic, Out of the Shadows: American Women Who Changed the World (Rave Publishing, 2004), pp143–144
  71. ^ Michel Andrieu, Space 2030: Tackling Society's Challenges (OECD, 2005), p171
  72. ^ "BME label insulting, says ex-minister Priti Patel", BBC News, March 9, 2018
  73. ^ "Rui Costa", in Greatest Ever Footballers, ed. by Paul Nicholson (Headline Publishing Group, 2007) pp. 180-181
  74. ^ Ken Canboy and Ken Bowra, The NVA and Viet Cong (Osprey, 1992), pp13–17
  75. ^ "Huge, Scaly Monster Found in Loch Ness", Oakland Tribune, April 1, 1972, p1
  76. ^ "The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time", museumofhoaxes.com
  77. ^ "Nusrat Jehan Project | Islam Ahmadiyya".
  78. ^ Chancellor, John. "Orlando Plane Crash NBC News broadcast." Archived 2011-12-02 at the Wayback Machine Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Retrieved: 3 November 2009.
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