1975 - Events

Events

• January
  • Altair 8800 is released, sparking the microcomputer revolution.
  • Volkswagen introduces the Golf, its new front-wheel-drive economy car, in the United States and Canada as the Volkswagen Rabbit.
• January 1
  • Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up.
  • Malawi changes its capital city from Zomba to Lilongwe.
• January 2
  • The United States Patent and Trademark Office is renamed U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  • The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
  • Bangladesh freedom fighter Shiraj Shikder was killed by country's president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
• January 5 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
• January 6
  • Wheel of Fortune premieres on NBC.
  • AM America makes its television debut on ABC.
• January 7 – OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
• January 8
  • Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first female U.S. governor who did not succeed her husband.
  • U.S. President Gerald Ford appoints Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to head a special commission looking into alleged domestic abuses by the CIA.
• January 14 – Heiress Lesley Whittle, 17, is kidnapped from her home in Shropshire, England by Donald Neilson.
• January 15
  • International Women's Year is launched in Britain by Princess Alexandra and Barbara Castle.
  • Portugal announces that it will grant independence to Angola on November 11.
  • Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom) opens at Walt Disney World and to this day remains one of the parks most popular attractions.
• January 18 – Atomic Energy Commission divided between ERDA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• January 19
  • Earthquake strikes Himachal Pradesh, India
  • The United States Energy Research and Development Administration is founded, in response to the 1973 oil crisis.
• January 20
  • In Hanoi, North Vietnam, the Politburo approves the final military offensive against South Vietnam.
  • Michael Ovitz founds the Creative Artists Agency.
  • Work is abandoned on the British end of the Channel Tunnel.
• January 24 – Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett plays the solo improvisation 'The Köln Concert' at the Cologne Opera, which, recorded live, becomes the best-selling piano recording in history.
• January 26 – Immaculata University defeats the University of Maryland 80-48 in the first nationally televised women's basketball game in the United States.
• January 29 – The Weather Underground bombs the U.S. State Department main office in Washington, D.C..