1970
1970 was a common year starting on Thursday.
Events
January-February
March-April
May-June
July-August
September
- September 1 - Assassination attempt against king Hussein of Jordan
- September 3 - Salvador Allende wins the presidential election in Chile.
- September 3-6 - Israeli forces fight Palestinian guerillas in southern Lebanon.
- September 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins - The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (operation ends in October 1971).
- September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
- September 7 - Fighting between Arabic guerillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan
- September 8-10 - Jordanian government and Palestinian guerillas make truces that keep breaking.
- September 9 – Guinea recognizes East Germany.
- September 10 – Cambodian government forces break the blockage around Kompong Tho after a 3-month siege.
- September 11 - The Ford Pinto is introduced.
- September 13 - First running of the New York City Marathon.
- September 15 - King Hussein of Jordan forms a military government with Muhammad Daoud as the prime minister.
- September 20 - End of term for Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III as the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 20 - Syrian armored forces cross Jordanian border.
- September 20-21 - Luna 16 lands on the Moon and lifts off the day later with samples. Lands on Earth September 24.
- September 21 - Palestinian armored forces reinforce Palestinian guerillas in Irbidi , Jordan.
- September 21 - Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Sultan of Kedah becomes the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 26 - Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
- September 27 - Richard Nixon begins a tour in Europe and visits Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, United Kingdom and Ireland.
- September 28 - Gamal Abdal Nasser dies - vice president Anwar Sadat is named temporary president of Egypt.
- September 29 - US Congress gives president Richard Nixon authority to sell arms to Israel.
- September 29 - In Berlin, Baader-Meinhof Gang members rob three banks, loot totaling over DM200.000.
October
- October 2 - Wichita State University loses most of it's football team in a plane crash.
- October 3 - In Lebanon, government of the prime minister Rashid Karami resigns.
- October 4 - In Bolivia, army commander general Rogelio Miranda and group of officers rebel and demand resignation of the president Alfredo Ovando Candía – president fires him.
- October 5 - Nixon's European tour ends.
- October 5 - The Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnap James Cross in Montreal and demands release of all its imprisoned members. The next day the Canadian government announces it won't accept the demand - first stirrings of Quebec's October Crisis.
- October 6 - Bolivian president Alfredo Ovando Candía resigns – general Rogelio Miranda takes over but resigns soon after.
- October 6 - French president Georges Pompidou visits Soviet Union.
- October 7 - General Juan José Torres becomes the new president of Bolivia.
- October 7 - Anwar Sadat accepted as Egyptian president.
- October 8 - US foreign office announces that it renews its arms sales to Pakistan.
- October 8 - Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn is awarded Nobel Prize for Literature.
- October 8 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
- October 9 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
- October 9 - Divorce law in Italy.
- October 10 - Fiji becomes independent.
- October 10 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
- October 11 - 11 French soldiers are killed in a shootout with rebels in Chad.
- October 12 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
- October 13 - Canada and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations.
- October 13 - China and Canada renew diplomatic relations.
- October 13 - Saeb Salam's government forms in Lebanon.
- October 14 - Chinese nuclear test in Lop Nor.
- October 15 - In Egypt, referendum supports Anwar Sadat 90.04%.
- October 15 - 35 construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses into the river below.
- October 16 - Canadian government declares state of emergency and outlaws Quebec Liberation Front .
- October 17 - Pierre Laporte is found killed in south of Montreal.
- October 17 - Cholera epidemic in Istanbul.
- October 17 - Anwar Sadat becomes officially president of Egypt.
- October 20 - Soviet Union launches Zond 8 lunar probe .
- October 20 - Algerian ex-minister Krim Belkacem is found strangled in his hotel room in Frankfurt.
- October 20 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat names Mahmoud Fawzi as his prime minister.
- October 21 - US Air Force plane makes an emergency landing near Leninakan , Soviet Union. Soviets release the American officers, including two generals, November 10.
- October 22 - Chilean army commander Rene Schneider is shot in Santiago – government declares state of emergency. Schneider dies October 25.
- October 26 - US and Soviet space researchers meet in Moscow.
- October 28 - In Jordan, government of Ahmed Toukan resigns – next prime minister is Wasfi Al-Tal.
- October 28 - Cholera outbreak in eastern Slovakia – Hungary closes its border with Czechoslovakia.
- October 30 - In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November
- November 1 - Fire destroys Le Cinq Sept dance hall in St. Laurent Du Pont , France – 144 dead.
- November 4 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States turns control of the air base in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam. Genie "the Wild Child" discovered in her house at the age of 13 after being in complete isolation for 10 years with no language skills.
- November 5 - Vietnam War: United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers died that week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50; 431 were reported wounded that week, however).
- November 8 - Egypt, Sudan and Libya announce their intentions to form a federation.
- November 9 - Charles de Gaulle dies – he is buried November 13.
- November 9 - Soviet Union launches Luna 17.
- November 9 - Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 to not hear a case by the state of Massachusetts asking to allow the state the ability to enforce its law granting Massachusetts residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
- November 10 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - For the first time in five years, an entire week ended with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
- November 12 - Soviet author Andrei Amalrik sentenced for three years for anti-Soviet writings.
- November 12 - The Oregon Highway Division (now known as the Oregon Department of Transportation) is given the task of removing a rotting beached Grey whale, leading to the now infamous exploding whale incident.
- November 13 - Military coup in Syria – Hafez al-Assad takes the power.
- November 13 - 1970 Bhola cyclone: A 120-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people (this is regarded as the 20th century's worst cyclone disaster).
- November 14 - fatal airplane accident in Wayne County, West Virginia, claims the lives of the entire Marshall University football team.
- November 17 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
- November 17 - Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and was released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
- November 18 - US President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).
- November 18 - United Nations Security Council demands that no government should recognize Rhodesia.
- November 19 - EEC prime minister meeting in Munich.
- November 21 - Syrian Prime Minister Hafez al-Assad forms a new government but retains the post of defense minister.
- November 21 - in Ethiopia, Eritrea Liberation Front kills an Ethiopian general.
- November 21 - Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast - A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).
- November 22 - Guinean president Sekou Toure accuses Portugal of an attack when hundreds of mercenaries land near capital Conakry. Guinean army repels the landing attempts in November 23-24. November 25-29 UN delegation arrives to investigate the situation. In December 4 UN announces that Portuguese navy and army units are responsible.
- November 25 - In Japan, world-famous author and Tatenokai militia leader Yukio Mishima and his followers take over Inchigaya HQ of the Japanese Self-Defense Force and take general Kanetoshi Mashita hostage. When Mishima's speech fails to sway public opinion towards his right-wing political beliefs, he commits seppuku.
- November 26 - East Pakistan leader sheik Mujibur Rahman accuses central government of negligence in catastrophe relief.
- November 26 - Pope Paul VI begins an Asian tour.
- November 27 - Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tries to assassinate Paul VI during pope's visit in Manila.
December
- December 1 - Italian House of Representatives accepts the divorce law.
- December 1 - Ethiopia recognizes People's Republic of China.
- December 1 - Basque ETA kidnaps West German Eugen Beihl in San Sebastian.
- December 1 - Luis Echeverría Álvarez becomes president of Mexico.
- December 2 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
- December 3 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
- December 3 - Burgos Trial - In Burgos, Spain, begins a trial against 16 Basques accused of terrorism.
- December 4 - Spanish government declares a three-month martial law in Basque county of Guipuzco due to strikes and demonstrations.
- December 5 - Asian and Australian tour of Paul VI ends.
- December 7 - Giovanni Enrico Bucher , Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro; kidnappers demand release of 70 political prisoners.
- December 7 - UN general assembly supports the isolation of South Africa due to its apartheid policies.
- December 7 - During his visit to the Polish capital, German chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees in front of a monument for the victims in the ghetto of Warsaw.
- December 12 - Landslide in western Colombia – over 200 dead.
- December 13 - Government of Poland announces increases in the prize of food. Riots and looting erupt until a bloody confrontation between the rioters against army and the police in December 15. Martial law December 17-22. December 23 the government will freeze the food prizes for two years.
- December 15 - Venus 7 lands on Venus.
- December 16 - Ethiopian government declares state of emergency in the county of Eritrea due to activities of Eritrea Liberation Front .
- December 20 - General secretary of the communist part of Poland, Wladyslaw Gomulka, resigns – Edward Gierek takes his place.
- December 20 - Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid .
- December 22 - Libyan revolutionary council declares that it will nationalize all foreign banks in the country.
- December 22 - Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka is sentenced to life imprisonment.
- December 23 - Bolivian government releases Regis Debray.
- December 25 - ETA releases Eugen Beihl .
- December 27 - Indian president declares new elections.
- December 28 - Burgos Trial – three Basques are sentenced to death (three twice), others sentenced for 12-62 years and one released. December 30 Franco commutes the death sentences to 30 years in prison.
- December 28 - Suspects of killing Pierre Laporte, Jacques & Paul Rose and Francis Sunard, are arrested near Montreal.
- December 30 - In Viscaya Basque county 15.000 goes to strike to protest Burgos trial death sentences.
Unknown date
Year in topic
Births
January-March
- January 9 - Andrew Leipus, physiotherapist
- January 13 - Keith Coogan, actor
- January 17 - Jeremy Roenick, American NHL star
- January 29 - Heather Graham, actress
- January 29 - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, shooter
- January 31 - Minnie Driver, actress
- February 24 - Jeff Garcia, American football quarterback
- March 8 - Jason Elam, American football player
- March 18 - Queen Latifah, rapper, record producer, actress
- March 24 - Lara Flynn Boyle, actress (The Practice)
- March 24 - Sharon Corr, musician ("The Corrs")
- March 27 - Mariah Carey, singer
- March 28 - Vince Vaughn, actor, writer, producer
- March 30 - Secretariat, 1973 Triple Crown winner, two-time Horse of the Year (d. 1989)
April-May
- April 4 - Barry Pepper, actor
- April 13 - Rick Schroeder, actor
- April 21 - Nicole Sullivan, actress, comedienne and writer
- April 25 - Renée Zellweger, actress
- April 25 - Jason Lee, professional skateboarder, actor
- April 27 - Kylie Travis, actress and model
- April 29 - Andre Agassi, professional tennis star
- April 29 - Uma Thurman, actress
- May 4 - Karla Homolka, killer, kidnapper, and rapist
- May 12 - Mike Weir, Canadian professional golfer
- May 15 - Rod Smith, American football player
- May 16 - Gabriela Sabatini, tennis player
- May 18 - Tina Fey, writer, comedienne, actress
- May 22 - Naomi Campbell, model, actress
- May 24 - Jeff Zgonina, football player
- May 24 - Tommy Page , singer
- May 26 - Nobuhiro Watsuki, manga-ka
- May 27 - Joseph Fiennes, actor
June-July
- June 8 - Kelli Williams, actress (The Practice)
- June 13 - Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d. 2004)
- June 16 - Phil Mickelson, golfer
- June 19 - Quincy Watts, American athlete
- June 20 - Prince Moulay Rachid, Prince of Morocco
- June 25 - Lucy Benjamin, British actress
- June 26 - Chris O'Donnell, actor
- June 26 - Patrick Norton, technology writer and former host of The Screen Savers on TechTV/G4techTV.
- June 27 - Jim Edmonds, baseball player
- June 27 - Vitamin C, pop singer
- July 3 - Teemu Selanne, NHL hockey player
- July 8 - Beck, alternative rock and roll singer
- July 23 - Thea Dorn, German writer
- July 24 - Jennifer Lopez, actress, singer
August-September
- August 2 - Tony Amonte, NHL star
- August 6 - M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor
- August 13 - Alan Shearer, England and Newcastle football player
- August 17 - Jim Courier, former tennis champion
- August 18 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, actor
- August 23 - Jay Mohr, actor, comedian
- August 25 - Claudia Schiffer, model
- August 27 - Jim Thome, baseball player
- August 31 - Debbie Gibson, singer
- September 4 - Daisy Dee, singer, actress
- September 8 - Latrell Sprewell, NBA basketball player
- September 9 - Macy Gray, singer
- September 10 - Phaswane Mpe, writer, (d. 2004)a
- September 22 - Mike Matheny, baseball player
- September 23 - Ani DiFranco, musician
- September 28 - Isabelle Brasseur , figure skating champion
October-December
- October 1 - Michael Staples , father, television host
- October 8 - Matt Damon, actor
- October 9 - Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
- October 15 - Eric Benét, singer
- October 17 - Anil Kumble, Indian cricketer
- November 5 - Jen Besemer , surrealist poet and painter
- November 9 - Susan Tedeschi, musician, blues singer
- November 12 - Tonya Harding, figure skater
- December 20 - Nicole DeBoer, actress
- December 29 - Kevin Weisman, actor
Deaths
January-March
- January 4 - Jean Etienne Valluy, French General (b. 1899)
- January 5 - Max Born, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1954 (b. 1882)
- January 5 - Jock Yablonski , President of the United Mine Workers
- January 10 - Pavel Belyayev, cosmonaut (b. 1925)
- January 18 - David O. McKay, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
- January 25 - Jane Bathori, opera singer (b. 1877)
- January 29 - Thelma Morgan, socialite, Viscountess Furness (b. 1904)
- January 31 - Slim Harpo, blues singer (b. 1924)
- February 2 - Bertrand Russell, logician and philosopher (b. 1872)
- February 5 - Rudy York, Major League Baseball All-Star (b. 1913)
- February 11 - Emil Abranyi , composer
- February 14 - Herbert Strudwick, champion Surrey and England wicket-keeper (b. 1880).
- February 17 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (b. 1888)
- February 25 - Mark Rothko, painter (b. 1903)
- March 1 - Lucille Hegamin, U.S. singer and entertainer (b. 1894)
- March 11 - Erle Stanley Gardner, author (b. 1889)
- March 16 - Tammi Terrell, singer (b. 1945)
- March 23 - Del Lord, pioneer Hollywood director (b. 1894)
- March 30 - Heinrich Brüning, German Reichskanzler 1930-1932 (b. 1885)
April-June
- April 5 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant geneticist (born 1891)
- April 26 - Gypsy Rose Lee, actress
- April 26 - John Knittel , dramatist
- April 30 - Inger Stevens, actress
- May 1 - Ralph Hartley, electronics researcher and inventor
- May 6 - George Rivas, ringleader of the Texas 7
- May 9 - Walter Reuther, labor union leader
- May 14 - Billie Burke, actress, The Wizard of Oz
- May 12 - Nelly Sachs, writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1966
- May 21 - E. L. Grant Watson
- May 31 - Terry Sawchuk, Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender
- June 8 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist
- June 16 - Brian Piccolo, American football star
- June 21 - Sukarno, Indonesian President
- June 27 - Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler
July-September
- July 4 - Somaly Hav , painter
- July 19 - Egon Eiermann, architect
- July 21 - Bob Kalsu, American football player (b. 1945)
- July 22 - Fritz Kortner, director
- July 22 - Grete Wiesenthal , dancer and choreographer
- July 27 - Walt Rohr , Portuguese dictator
- July 29 - John Barbirolli, English conductor
- July 29 - George Szell, Hungarian conductor (b. 1897)
- August 1 - Frances Farmer, actress
- August 19 - Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian (born 1909)
- September 1 - Francois Mauriac, author
- September 3 - Vince Lombardi, American football coach
- September 5 - Jochen Rindt, Austrian racing driver
- September 11 - Ernst May , architect
- September 18 - Jimi Hendrix, rock musician
- September 25 - Erich Maria Remarque, author
- September 28 - Gamal Abdal Nasser, first president of Egypt
- September 28 - John Dos Passos, novelist
- September 29 - Edward Everett Horton, actor
October-December
- October 4 - Janis Joplin, blues and rock and roll singer
- October 10 - Kevin Herrell , actress
- October 17 - Pierre Laporte, statesman, murdered by FLQ terrorists
- October 24 - Richard Hofstadter, historian
- November 9 - Charles de Gaulle, French general, statesman
- November 13 - Dr. Sherif Elfayoumy , Professor
- December 7 - Debra Trotter , cartoonist
- December 12 - Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)
Unknown date
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