Four students from Kent State University in Ohio were killed and nine wounded by National Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam War spread into Cambodia.
A ban on television advertisement cigarettes goes into affect in the united states
The Watergate crisis begins
The United States Supreme Court rules in Roe vs. Wade that a woman can not be prevented by a state in having an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy.
Legislation is signed by President Nixon creating the Big South Fork National River
Recreation Area along the Cumberland River in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The television show Wheel of Fortune premiers.
The Watergate cover up trials of Mitchell, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman are completed; all are found guilty of the charges.
The Bicentennial of the United States is celebrated throughout the nation.
VHS comes to America
Pope John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla of Poland, is elected Pope at Vatican City.
The American Pioneer Eleven passes the planet Saturn
becoming the first spacecraft to visit the ringed planet, albeit at a distance of 21,000 kilometers.