Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing in Detroit, Michigan. He was last seen alive in a parking lot outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant the previous afternoon. To this day, Hoffa’s fate remains a mystery, although many believe that he was murdered by organized crime figures. By the […]
Continue ReadingYearly Archives: 1975
Jimmy Hoffa Disappears
On July 31, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa, one of the most influential American labor leaders of the 20th century, disappears in Detroit, Michigan, never to be heard from again. Though he is popularly believed to have been the victim of a Mafia hit, conclusive evidence was never found, and Hoffa’s […]
Continue ReadingSummit Meeting In Helsinki Begins
Thirty-five nations, called together by the United States and the Soviet Union, begin a summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to discuss some pressing international issues. The meeting temporarily revived the spirit of detente between the United States and Russia. By 1975, the policy of detente–the lessening of tensions between the […]
Continue ReadingVan McCoy’s “The Hustle” Is The #1 Song In America
For as popular as it was during much of the first half of the 20th century, couples dancing seemed poised to go by the wayside of American popular culture by the early 1970s. That is, until the arrival of a dance called the Hustle along with a #1 song by […]
Continue ReadingSuperpowers Meet In Space
As part of a mission aimed at developing space rescue capability, the U.S. spacecraft Apollo 18 and the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 19 rendezvous and dock in space. As the hatch was opened between the two vessels, commanders Thomas P. Safford and Aleksei Leonov shook hands and exchanged gifts in celebration […]
Continue ReadingAshe Becomes First Black Man To Win Wimbledon
On this day in 1975, Arthur Ashe defeats the heavily favored Jimmy Connors to become the first black man ever to win Wimbledon, the most coveted championship in tennis. Arthur Ashe began playing tennis as a boy in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. After winning a tennis scholarship to UCLA, […]
Continue ReadingCher Marries Greg Allman
On June 30, 1975, less than one week after her divorce from Sonny Bono became final, Cher—America’s most famous newly single woman—tied the knot with rock star Gregg Allman, only to file for divorce from him just nine days later. Those who found Cher’s rather speedy return to the altar […]
Continue ReadingA Teenage Girl’s Boyfriend Murders Her Parents
Police are called to the home of Jim and Naomi Olive in Terra Linda, California, after Jim Olive’s business partner reports that the couple has not been seen in a week. The house in disarray, officers found no sign of either the Olives or their adopted teenage daughter Marlene. However, […]
Continue ReadingSonny And Cher’s Divorce Becomes Final
With a string of pop hits in the mid-1960s that began with the career-defining “I Got You Babe” (1965), Sonny and Cher Bono established themselves as the most prominent and appealing married couple in the world of popular music. Hipper than Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, and far more fun […]
Continue ReadingEastern Flight 66 Crashes At J.F.K.
An Eastern Airlines jet crashes near John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing 115 people on this day in 1975. The Boeing 727 was brought down by wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed or direction. On the afternoon of June 24, the New York area […]
Continue ReadingJaws Released
The ominous tones of the now-famous “shark theme” (composed by John Williams and performed by tuba player Tommy Johnson) mark the arrival of Hollywood’s first major summer blockbuster on this day in 1975, when the director Steven Spielberg’s thriller Jaws debuts in U.S. theaters. Based on the best-selling book by […]
Continue ReadingJaws Released
On this day in 1975, Jaws, a film directed by Steven Spielberg that made countless viewers afraid to go into the water, opens in theaters. The story of a great white shark that terrorizes a New England resort town became an instant blockbuster and the highest-grossing film in movie history […]
Continue ReadingLinda Ronstadt Has Her First #1 Hit On The Country-Music Charts
By the end of the 1970s, the decade of her greatest commercial success, Linda Ronstadt was being hailed with honors like “the First Lady of Rock” and “Top Female Pop Singer of the Decade.” But neither of those titles captured the true breadth of her musical pursuits or of her […]
Continue ReadingIndira Gandhi Convicted Of Election Fraud
Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, is found guilty of electoral corruption in her successful 1971 campaign. Despite calls for her resignation, Gandhi refused to give up India’s top office and later declared martial law in the country when public demonstrations threatened to topple her administration. Gandhi was the […]
Continue ReadingAngelina Jolie Born
On this day in 1975, the Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie (Voight) is born in Los Angeles, California. Jolie’s father, the actor Jon Voight, had been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Midnight Cowboy (1969); he won the award for Coming Home (1978). Her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, was also […]
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