President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. Marking the beginning of the end of his Presidency, Nixon would resign from office in disgrace eight months later.
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Nixon Signs National Speed Limit Into Law
On this day in 1974, President Richard M. Nixon signs the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, setting a new national maximum speed limit. Prior to 1974, individual states set speed limits within their boundaries and highway speed limits across the country ranged from 40 mph to 80 mph. The U.S. and other industrialized nations enjoyed […]
Continue reading“Soul Makossa” Is The First Disco Record To Make The Top 40
During the pre-dawn hours of nearly any given night in the early 1970s, a group of young men who would change the face of the music industry could be found eating omelets and talking about records at a Manhattan restaurant called David’s Pot Belly. The names in this rotating group of friends are unfamiliar to […]
Continue readingBruce Lee Dies At Age 32
On this day in 1973, the actor and martial-arts expert Bruce Lee dies in Los Angeles at age 32 from a brain edema possibly caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller. During Lee’s all-too-brief career, he became a movie star in Asia and, posthumously, in America. Jun Fan (Bruce) Lee was born on November […]
Continue readingSenate Begins Investigations Into Secret Bombing Of Cambodia
The Senate Armed Services Committee begins a probe into allegations that the U.S. Air Force made thousands of secret B-52 raids into Cambodia in 1969 and 1970 at a time when the United States recognized the neutrality of the Prince Norodom Sihanouk regime in Cambodia. The Pentagon acknowledged that President Richard Nixon and Secretary of […]
Continue readingMartin Becomes The U.S. Ambassador In Saigon
Graham Martin is sworn in as Ambassador to South Vietnam, replacing Ellsworth Bunker, who had served in that position since April 1967. Martin’s instructions were to demonstrate unswerving U.S. support for South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu and thereby restore Thieu’s faith in the United States as an ally. Thieu was worried that the United […]
Continue readingEamon De Valera Resigns
Eamon de Valera, the world’s oldest statesman, resigns as president of Ireland at the age of 90. The most dominant Irish political figure of the 20th century, Eamon de Valera was born in New York City in 1882, the son of a Spanish father and Irish mother. When his father died two years later, he […]
Continue readingHaldeman Encourages Nixon To Ward Off FBI
On this day in 1973, President Richard Nixon’s advisor, H.R. Haldeman, tells the president to put pressure on the head of the FBI to “stay the hell out of this [Watergate burglary investigation] business.” In essence, Haldeman was telling Nixon to obstruct justice, which is one of the articles Congress threatened to impeach Nixon for […]
Continue readingKissinger And Le Duc Tho Sign New Peace Agreement
Representatives of the original signers of the January 27 cease-fire sign a new 14-point agreement calling for an end to all cease-fire violations in South Vietnam. Coming at the end of month-long negotiations between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the settlement included an end to all military activities at noon on June 15; an […]
Continue readingSecretariat Wins Triple Crown
On this day in 1973, Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes to become the first Triple Crown winner since Citation in 1948. Secretariat ran the mile-and-a-half race in 2:24, a world record that many believe will never be broken. Secretariat, the son of Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal, was raised in Doswell, Virginia, at Meadow Stable by […]
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