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Members of the Ohio National Guard fired 67 roundsin 13 seconds into a group of unarmed protesting college student killing four students and severly injuring nine others who suffered from permenent paralysis.
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Students were protesting against the vietnam war. shortly after midnight police opened fire into a crowd killing 2 students and injuring 12.
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A forty-four day raid into Laos by South Vietnamese soldiers is begun with the aid of United States air and artillery.
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The largest attacks by North Vietnam troops across the demilitarized zone in four years prompts bombing raids to begin again by United States forces against Hanoi and Haiphong on April 15, ending a four year cessation of those raids.
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Nixon opened the communist nation to American trade and reopened diplomatic relations. This isolated the Soviet Union. As a result, the Soviets began to bargain with the United States. Both sides entered into a new era of agreement and peaceful coexistence known as Détente.
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Arab terrorists with ties to Yasser Arafat murdered the 1972 Israeli Olympic team. Although terrorists had struck before, they had never committed mass murder. This signaled the birth of the scourge of terrorism.
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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.
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The first cell phone was invented by Martin Cooper
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President Richard M. Nixon resigns the office of the presidency, avoiding the impeachment process and admitting his role in the Watergate affair. He was replaced by Vice President Gerald R. Ford, who, on September 8, 1974, pardoned Nixon for his role. Nixon was the first president to ever resign from office.
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Several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee. The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, articles of impeachment. The Watergate cover up trials of Mitchell, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman are completed; all are found guilty of the charges.
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Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore goes before a firing squad at his own request January 17 in Utah after a 10-year moratorium on capital punishment in America.
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A Chicago rush-hour elevated train, struck from behind February 4, plunges into a busy Loop intersection, killing 11 passengers and pedestrians, injuring 189.
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On May 29, The U.S. race-car driver A. J. Foyt becomes the first person to win the Indianapolis 500 for four times.
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The New York City blackout results in massive looting and disorderly conduct during its twenty-five hour duration.
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On November 18, 1978, in what became known as the “Jonestown Massacre,” more than 900 members of an American cult called the Peoples Temple died in a mass suicide-murder under the direction of their leader Jim Jones (1931-78).
