1976 - Wikiwand

1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1976th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 976th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1970s decade.

Quick Facts

1976 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1976 MCMLXXVI
Ab urbe condita	2729
Armenian calendar	1425 ԹՎ ՌՆԻԵ
Assyrian calendar	6726
Baháʼí calendar	132–133
Balinese saka calendar	1897–1898
Bengali calendar	1382–1383
Berber calendar	2926
British Regnal year	24 Eliz. 2 – 25 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2520
Burmese calendar	1338
Byzantine calendar	7484–7485
Chinese calendar	乙卯年 (Wood Rabbit) 4673 or 4466 — to — 丙辰年 (Fire Dragon) 4674 or 4467
Coptic calendar	1692–1693
Discordian calendar	3142
Ethiopian calendar	1968–1969
Hebrew calendar	5736–5737
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2032–2033
- Shaka Samvat	1897–1898
- Kali Yuga	5076–5077
Holocene calendar	11976
Igbo calendar	976–977
Iranian calendar	1354–1355
Islamic calendar	1395–1397
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 51 (昭和５１年)
Javanese calendar	1907–1908
Juche calendar	65
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4309
Minguo calendar	ROC 65 民國65年
Nanakshahi calendar	508
Thai solar calendar	2519
Tibetan calendar	阴木兔年 (female Wood-Rabbit) 2102 or 1721 or 949 — to — 阳火龙年 (male Fire-Dragon) 2103 or 1722 or 950
Unix time	189302400 – 220924799

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Events

January

January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.^[1]
January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.^[2]
January 18 – Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War.^[3]
January 27
- The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.^[4]
- The First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara.^[5]

February

February 4
- The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria.
- The 7.5 M_w Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured.
February 9 – The Australian Defence Force is formed by unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.
February 13 – General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup.
February 24 – Cuba's constitution of 1976 is enacted.
February 26 – The Spanish Armed Forces withdraw from Western Sahara.
February 27 – The Polisario Front, Western Sahara's national liberation movement, declares independence of the territory under the name "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic".

March

March – The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research, with the first purchaser being the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in Los Alamos, New Mexico.^[6]
March 1
- U.K. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terroristcrimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.
- Bradford Bishop allegedly murders five of his family members in Bethesda, Maryland. The crime goes undiscovered for 10 days and the suspect is never caught. From 2014 to 2018 he is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
March 4
- The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in Direct rule over Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom in London.
- The Maguire Seven are found guilty in London of possessing explosives for use by the Provisional Irish Republican Army and subsequently jailed for 14 years; their convictions were overturned in 1991.
March 9 – A cable car disaster occurs when a supporting cable breaks in Cavalese, Italy, resulting in 43 deaths.^[7]
March 9–11 – Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, in Letcher County, Kentucky.
March 16 – Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
March 20 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974.
March 24
- Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Perón.
- A general strike takes place in the People's Republic of the Congo.
March 26
- The Body Shop, the retail chain for skin care products and cosmetics founded by Anita Roddick, opens its first branch in Brighton, England.^[8]
March 27
- The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.
- The first 7.4 kilometres (4.6 mi) 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 patient in a persistent vegetative state in the Karen Ann Quinlan case can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.

April

April 1
- Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California.
- Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that have 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.
- The Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by British astronomer Patrick Moore.
April 2 – Norodom Sihanouk is forced to resign as Head of State of Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot and is placed under house arrest.
April 3 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me.
April 5
- James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 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.
- Segovia prison break: in Spain's largest prison break since the Spanish Civil War, 29 political prisoners escape from Segovia prison.
April 13
- The Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion in Lapua, Finland kills 40.
- The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
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 19 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured.^[9]^[10]
April 21 – The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne, Australia: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
April 25 – Portugal's new constitution is enacted.
April 29 – Sino-Soviet split: A concealed bomb explodes at the gates of the Soviet embassy in China, killing four Chinese.^[11] The targets were embassy employees, returning from lunch, but on this day they had returned to the embassy earlier.^[11]

May

May 1 – Neville Wran becomes Premier of New South Wales.
May 4
- The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
- A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.
May 6 – An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.
May 9 – Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction is found hanged in an apparent suicide in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.
May 11
- U.S. President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act.
- An accident involving a tanker truck carrying anhydrous ammonia takes place in Houston, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 7 people.^[12]^[13]
May 13 – The Atari video arcade game Breakout is released.
May 16 – The Montreal Canadiens sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey. Flyers forward Reggie Leach became the only non-goaltender from a finals losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs after scoring a record 19 goals in 16 playoff games.
May 21 – The Yuba City bus disaster, the second-worst bus crash in U.S. history, leaves 28 students and one teacher killed.
May 24
- Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
- The Judgment of Paris pits French vs. California wines in a blind taste-test in Paris, France. California wines win the contest, surprising the wine world and opening the wine industry to newcomers in several countries.
May 25 – U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in 3 Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon.
May 30 – Indianapolis 500 automobile race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 408 kilometres (254 mi).
May 31 – Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which it has previously supported.

June

June 1 – The United Kingdom and Iceland end the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters to 200 nautical miles in exchange for defined fishing rights.
June 2
- A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.
- The Philippine government opens relations with the Soviet Union.
June 4 – The Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 128–126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association Finals at the Boston Garden. In 1997, the game is selected by a panel of experts as the greatest of the NBA's first 50 years.
June 5 – The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the US, killing 11 people.
June 6 – The Double Six Crash, a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, kills everyone on board, including Sabahan Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens.
June 12 – Alberto Demicheli, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay after Juan María Bordaberry is deposed by the military.
June 13 – Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa, spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan.
June 16 – The Soweto uprising in South Africa begins.
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.
- General elections are held in Italy, resulting in the best result for the Communist Party (PCI) in a general election.
- Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win Euro 76 when the game ends 2–2 after extra time.
June 25 – Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; they end on June 30.
June 26 – The CN Tower is opened in Toronto, the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.
June 27
- G-6 is renamed "Group of 7" (G-7) with the inclusion of Canada.
- Palestinian militants hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
June 29
- Seychelles gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.

July

July 2 – North Vietnam dissolves the Provisional Government of South Vietnam and unites the two countries to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
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 overturning the Furman v. Georgia case of 1972.
- The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
July 4
- The U.S. celebrates its bicentennial, in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the 1776 adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom.
- Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; Yonatan Netanyahu 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, Maryland.
July 7
- German left-wing women terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin.
- David Steel becomes leader of the UK's Liberal Party in the aftermath of the scandal which forced out Jeremy Thorpe.
July 10
- Four mercenaries, three British and one American, are shot by firing squad in Angola, following the Luanda Trial.
- Seveso disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy, causes extensive pollution to a large area in the neighborhood of Milan, with many evacuations and a large number of people affected by the toxic cloud.
July 12 – In the United States:
- California State University, Fullerton massacre: seven people are shot and killed, and two others are wounded in a mass shooting on campus at California State University, Fullerton.
- Price Club, as predecessor of Costco, a worldwide membership-registration-only retailer, is founded in California.^[14]
July 15
- Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. president at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
- Twenty-six Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver are abducted and buried in a box truck within a quarry in Livermore, California. The captives dig themselves free after 16 hours. The quarry-owner's son and two accomplices are arrested for the crime.
July 16–20 – Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Société Generale Bank in Nice, France.
July 17
- The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
July 18 – 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci 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.
- American criminal Gary Gilmore is arrested for murdering two men in Utah.
July 21 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, new British ambassador to the Irish Republic, and Judith Cooke, a Northern Ireland Office private secretary, in Dublin; two others are seriously wounded but survive.
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 its former colony Uganda in response to the hijacking of Air France Flight 139.
- Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, US, begin falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this will eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and will end in the deaths of 29 attendees.
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 one and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
July 30
- Bruce Jenner wins the gold medal in the men's decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.^[15]
- In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions in Association football.
July 31
- NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
- The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses and killing 143 people.

August

August 1
- The 1976 Summer Olympics ends in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Elizabeth II as its head of state with President Ellis Clarke.
- Defending F1 World Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix after a huge accident that nearly cost him his life.
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 5 – The clock of "Big Ben" at the Palace of Westminster in London suffers internal damage and requires frequent repairs. The clock is stopped at times on 26 of the next 275 days.
August 6 – Former United Kingdom 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 8 – As part of the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger, a dispersal draft is conducted to assign teams for the players on the two ABA franchises which have folded.
August 11 – A sniper rampage in Wichita, Kansas on a Holiday Inn results in 3 deaths while 7 others are wounded.^[16]
August 14
- Around 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
- The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized, becoming the third legal party in the country.
August 17 – The 8.0 M_w  Moro Gulf earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.^[17]
August 18 – At Panmunjom, North Korea, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which has 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. Gelman is later killed and his wife disappears.
August 25
- Jacques Chirac resigns as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre.
- Landslide disaster in Sau Mau Ping, Hong Kong.
August 26
- The first known outbreak of Ebola virus occurs in Yambuku, Zaire.
- 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.
August 30 – James Alexander George Smith McCartney is sworn in as the first chief minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

September

September 1
- Cigarette and tobacco advertising is banned on Australian television and radio.
- Aparicio Méndez, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay in the framework of a dictatorship.
- The state of emergency in the Republic of Ireland legally still in force since 1939 is lifted.^[18]
September 3
- Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photographs of the planet's surface.
- A Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the Venezuelan Air Force crashed near Lajes Field, Azores Islands, Portugal, killing all 68 occupants on board.^[19]
September 6
- Cold War: Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum in the United States.
- Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years.
September 9 - Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong dies in Beijing after a series of heart attacks.
September 10 – Zagreb mid-air collision: A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (modern-day Zagreb, Croatia), killing all 176 aboard.
September 15 – Darryl Sittler scores the winning goal in the 1976 Canada Cup for Canada to win over Czechoslovakia in overtime, to win the first Canada Cup in ice hockey.
September 16
- Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir.
- Beginning with the Night of the Pencils, a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances followed by torture, rape, and murder of students under the Argentine dictatorship takes place.
September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a hangar in Palmdale, California, United States.
September 21
- The Seychelles join the United Nations.
- Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
September 24 – Patty Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in the armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974 (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months).

October

October 4 – The InterCity 125 high-speed train is introduced in the United Kingdom.
October 6
- Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Fidel Castro terrorists, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados; all 73 people on board are killed.^[20]
- Students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand are massacred, while protesting the return of ex-dictator Thanom Kittikachorn by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
- In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford incorrectly declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there is at the time).
- The Cultural Revolution in China concludes upon the capture of the Gang of Four.
October 8 – Thorbjörn Fälldin replaces Olof Palme as Prime Minister of Sweden.
October 10 – Taiwan Governor Hsieh Tung-min is injured by a letter bomb from a pro-independence activist.
October 12 – The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party following the latter's death on September 9 from a heart attack.
October 13 – The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States have a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory).
October 19
- The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon.
- The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 19 years in the United States.
- The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.
October 20 – The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana to Luling, Louisiana, killing 78 passengers and crew.
October 22 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the 5th President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defense.
October 26 – Transkei gains "independence" from South Africa.

November

November 2 – 1976 United States presidential election: Jimmy Carter narrowly defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
November 12 – Disappearance of Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew from Inverness in Scotland; this becomes Britain's longest-running missing persons case.^[21]
November 15 – The first megamouth shark is discovered off Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi.
November 19 – Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.
November 24 – 1976 Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake: Between 4,000 and 5,000 are killed in a 7.3 M_s earthquake at Van and Muradiye in eastern Turkey.
November 26
- Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
- The Warsaw Treaty Organization joint secretariat is established.

December

December 1
- Angola joins the United Nations.
- José López Portillo takes office as President of Mexico.
- Sir Douglas Nicholls is appointed the 28th Governor of South Australia, the first Australian Aboriginal appointed to vice-regal office.
December 3 – Patrick Hillery is sworn in after being elected unopposed as the 6th President of Ireland.
December 5 – The Japanese general election takes place, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party loses its majority in the 511-member House of Representatives, but remains the largest party with 249 seats.
December 6 – The Viet Cong is disbanded, and its former members become a part of the Vietnam People's Army.
December 8 – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the five Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of the Bronx, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Río.
December 10 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.
December 15
- Samoa joins the United Nations.
- Denis Healey announces to the British Parliament that he has successfully negotiated a £2.3bn loan from the International Monetary Fund.
December 23 – A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.

Date unknown

Random breath testing is introduced in Victoria (Australia).
The first laser printer is introduced by IBM (the IBM 3800).
The New Jersey Legislature passes legislation legalizing casinos in the shore town of Atlantic City commencing in 1978. After signing the bill into law, Governor Brendan Byrne declares "The mob is not welcome in New Jersey!" referring to the Mafia's influence at casinos in Nevada.