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Inflation reaches 6.1 percent, the highest rate since the Korean War (1950–53).
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The first major postal workers' strike in American history ends after seven days.
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The federal government mandates the use of unleaded gasoline in federal vehicles.
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The federal government announces that unemployment has risen to 5.8 percent. In response, officials reduce interest rates.
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The U.S. Supreme Court prohibits employers from using job tests that discriminate against African Americans.
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President Richard M. Nixon ends a twenty-year trade embargo against Communist China.
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President Richard M. Nixon signs a $25-billion tax cut.
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A U.S. federal court lifts an April 1970 injunction banning the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
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The Dow-Jones average hits 1,000 for the first time in history.
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PepsiCo announces a deal to sell its products in the Soviet Union.
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The Nixon administration ends mandatory wage and price controls, except in the food, construction, and health-care industries.
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A court order directs Delta Air Lines to open more positions to women and African Americans.
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Following the beginning of the war between Israel and several Arab states, some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) begin an embargo of oil exports to the United States and other Western nations.
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To conserve gasoline and improve driving safety, the U.S. Congress orders states to reduce interstate highway speed limits to fifty-five miles per hour.
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Members of OPEC, except Libya and Syria, end their oil embargo of the West.
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President Richard M. Nixon's authority to impose wage and price controls on the American economy ends with the expiration of the 1970 Economic Wage Stabilization Act.
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President Gerald Ford announces his program to control inflation, called Whip Inflation Now (WIN). Despite a denial by President Ford, Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns states that a recession has begun.
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The federal government reports January unemployment at 8.2 percent, the highest level since 1941.
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The U.S. Supreme Court rules unconstitutional a Utah law denying unemployment benefits to women in the third trimester of pregnancy.
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The federal government accuses the Encyclopaedia Britannica company of deceptive selling and other practices.
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American Bank and Trust Company fails, the fourth largest banking default in history.
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More than 175 U.S. companies admit to offering over $300 million in bribes since 1970.
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Freddie Laker begins his no-frills New York-to-London Sky-train airline service.
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Three hundred American Airlines female flight attendants, fired for becoming pregnant between 1965 and 1970, receive a $2.7-million civil rights settlement.
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A 110-day coal miners' strike, the longest in U.S. history, ends with the signing of a new three-year contract.
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California begins gas rationing due to continued scarce supply.
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The Chrysler Corporation, the third largest automaker in the United States, requests a $1-billion federal loan to prevent bankruptcy. On November 1, the federal government guarantees a $1.5-billion loan to Chrysler.