1970 in the United States

Decades:	1950s ; 1960s ; 1970s ; 1980s ; 1990s ;
See also:	History of the United States (1964–1980) ; Timeline of United States history (1970–1989) ; List of years in the United States ;

Last updated February 17, 2025

Incumbents

Federal government

Governors and lieutenant governors
Governors Governor of Alabama: Albert Brewer (Democratic) Governor of Alaska: Keith Harvey Miller (Republican) (until December 7), William A. Egan (Democratic) (starting December 7) Governor of Arizona: Jack Richard Williams (Republican) Governor of Arkansas: Winthrop Rockefeller (Republican) Governor of California: Ronald Reagan (Republican) Governor of Colorado: John Arthur Love (Republican) Governor of Connecticut: John N. Dempsey (Democratic) Governor of Delaware: Russell W. Peterson (Republican) Governor of Florida: Claude R. Kirk Jr. (Republican) Governor of Georgia: Lester Maddox (Democratic) Governor of Hawaii: John A. Burns (Democratic) Governor of Idaho: Don Samuelson (Republican) Governor of Illinois: Richard B. Ogilvie (Republican) Governor of Indiana: Edgar Whitcomb (Republican) Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Ray (Republican) Governor of Kansas: Robert Docking (Democratic) Governor of Kentucky: Louie B. Nunn (Republican) Governor of Louisiana: John J. McKeithen (Democratic) Governor of Maine: Kenneth M. Curtis (Democratic) Governor of Maryland: Marvin Mandel (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: Francis W. Sargent (Republican) Governor of Michigan: William Milliken (Republican) Governor of Minnesota: Harold LeVander (Republican) Governor of Mississippi: John Bell Williams (Democratic) Governor of Missouri: Warren E. Hearnes (Democratic) Governor of Montana: Forrest H. Anderson (Democratic) Governor of Nebraska: Norbert T. Tiemann (Republican) Governor of Nevada: Paul Laxalt (Republican) Governor of New Hampshire: Walter R. Peterson Jr. (Republican) Governor of New Jersey: Richard J. Hughes (Democratic) (until January 20), William T. Cahill (Republican) (starting January 20) Governor of New Mexico: David F. Cargo (Republican) Governor of New York: Nelson Rockefeller (Republican) Governor of North Carolina: Robert W. Scott (Democratic) Governor of North Dakota: William L. Guy (Democratic) Governor of Ohio: Jim Rhodes (Republican) Governor of Oklahoma: Dewey F. Bartlett (Republican) Governor of Oregon: Tom McCall (Republican) Governor of Pennsylvania: Raymond P. Shafer (Republican) Governor of Rhode Island: Frank Licht (Democratic) Governor of South Carolina: Robert Evander McNair (Democratic) Governor of South Dakota: Frank Farrar (Republican) Governor of Tennessee: Buford Ellington (Democratic) Governor of Texas: Preston Smith (Democratic) Governor of Utah: Cal Rampton (Democratic) Governor of Vermont: Deane C. Davis (Republican) Governor of Virginia: Mills Godwin (Democratic) (until January 17), Linwood Holton (Republican) (starting January 17) Governor of Washington: Daniel J. Evans (Republican) Governor of West Virginia: Arch A. Moore Jr. (Republican) Governor of Wisconsin: Warren P. Knowles (Republican) Governor of Wyoming: Stanley K. Hathaway (Republican) Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: vacant Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Robert W. Ward (Republican) (until December 7), H. A. Boucher (Democratic) (starting December 7) Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Maurice Britt (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of California: Edwin Reinecke (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Mark Anthony Hogan (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Attilio R. Frassinelli (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Eugene Bookhammer (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Ray C. Osborne (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: George T. Smith (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: Thomas Gill (Democratic) (until December 2), George Ariyoshi (Democratic) (starting December 2) Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Jack M. Murphy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Paul Simon (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Richard E. Folz (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Roger Jepsen (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: James H. DeCoursey Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Wendell H. Ford (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: C. C. Aycock (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Francis W. Sargent (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: until month and day unknown: vacant month and day unknown: Thomas F. Schweigert (Republican) starting month and day unknown: vacant Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: James B. Goetz (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Charles L. Sullivan (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William S. Morris (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Thomas Lee Judge (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: John E. Everroad (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Edward Fike (political party unknown) Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Elias Lee Francis II (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Malcolm Wilson (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Hoyt Patrick Taylor Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Richard F. Larsen (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John William Brown (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: George Nigh (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Raymond J. Broderick (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: J. Joseph Garrahy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: John C. West (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: James Abdnor (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Frank Gorrell (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Ben Barnes (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Thomas L. Hayes (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Fred G. Pollard (Democratic) (until January 17), J. Sargeant Reynolds (Democratic) (starting January 17) Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Jack B. Olson (Republican)

Demographics

Events

January

January 5 – The first episode of All My Children is broadcast on the ABC television network.
January 11 – Super Bowl IV: The Kansas City Chiefs beat the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings 23–7.
January 14 – Diana Ross & The Supremes perform their farewell live concert together at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, and Ross' replacement, Jean Terrell, is introduced onstage at the end of the last show.

February

February 17 – MacDonald family massacre: Jeffrey R. MacDonald kills his wife and children at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, claiming that drugged-out "hippies" did it.
February 18 – A jury finds the Chicago Seven defendants not guilty of conspiring to incite a riot, in charges stemming from the violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Five of the defendants are found guilty on the lesser charge of crossing state lines to incite a riot.^[1]

March

March 6 – A bomb constructed by members of the Weathermen and meant to be planted at a military dance in New Jersey explodes, killing three members of the organization.
March 17
- My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
- The critically wounded pilot of Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 saves the 68 passengers and five crew of the DC-9 jet, landing safely in Boston despite being shot by a hijacker who killed the co-pilot.
March 18 – United States Postal Service workers in New York City go on strike; the strike spreads to the state of California and the cities of Akron, Ohio, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, and Denver; 210,000 out of 750,000 U.S. postal employees walk out. President Nixon assigns military units to New York City post offices. The strike lasts two weeks.
March 21 – The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
March 31 – NASA's Explorer 1 , the first American satellite and Explorer program spacecraft, reenters Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

April

April 1
- The 1970 United States Census begins. There are 203,392,031 United States residents on this day.
- President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, banning cigarette television advertisements in the United States, starting on January 1, 1971.
- American Motors Corporation introduces the Gremlin.
April 6 – In the worst day of California law enforcement, 4 California Highway Patrolmen are killed in what is known as the "Newhall Incident". This led to new procedures & training for law enforcement, nationwide.
April 7 – The 42nd Academy Awards ceremony is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the second in a row with no official host. John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy wins both Best Picture and Best Director, while George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wins four awards and Charles Jarrott's Anne of the Thousand Days is nominated for ten. It is, to date, the highest-rated televised ceremony, according to Nielsen ratings.
April 11 – Apollo program: Apollo 13 (Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert) is launched toward the Moon.
April 13 – An oxygen tank in the Apollo 13 spacecraft explodes, forcing the crew to abort the mission and return in 4 days.
April 17 – Apollo program: Apollo 13 splashes down safely in the Pacific.
April 22 – The first Earth Day is celebrated in the U.S.^[2]
April 29 – The U.S. invades Cambodia to hunt out the Viet Cong; widespread, large anti-war protests occur in the United States.

May

May 1
- Demonstrations against the trial of the New Haven Nine, Bobby Seale, and Ericka Huggins draw 12,000 people.
- President Richard Nixon orders U.S. forces to cross into neutral Cambodia, threatening to widen the Vietnam War, sparking nationwide riots and leading to the Kent State Shootings.
- Colorado State College changes its name to the University of Northern Colorado.^[3]
May 4 – Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and nine wounded by Ohio State National Guardsmen, at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia.
May 6 – Robert Rex Vice self-immolates in protest of the Vietnam War and the Kent state killings.
May 8
- Hard Hat Riot: Unionized construction workers attack about 1,000 students and others protesting the Kent State shootings near the intersection of Wall Street and Broad Street and at New York City Hall.
- The New York Knicks win their first NBA championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 113–99 in Game 7 of the world championship series at Madison Square Garden.
May 9 – In Washington, D.C., 100,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon makes an impromptu visit to the Lincoln Memorial to meet with protestors.
May 10 – The Boston Bruins win their first Stanley Cup since 1941 when Bobby Orr scores a goal 40 seconds into overtime for a 4–3 victory which completes a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues.
- Self-immolation of George Winne Jr. in San Diego in protest of the Vietnam War
May 11
- Henry Marrow is killed in an alleged hate crime in Oxford, North Carolina.
- Lubbock Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Lubbock, Texas, the first to hit a downtown district of a major city since Topeka, Kansas, in 1966; 28 are killed.
- Race riots erupt in Augusta, Georgia, after the suspicious death of a teenage inmate in the county jail. The disorder, the largest of its kind in the South, results in six fatalities.
May 12 – The 1976 Winter Olympics are awarded to Denver, Colorado, but it is later rejected.
May 14 – In the second day of violent demonstrations at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, state law enforcement officers fire into the demonstrators, killing two and injuring twelve.
May 26 – Pufnstuf , the film adaptation of the TV series H.R. Pufnstuf , is released.

June

June 6 – A D-Day celebration is held in Washington, D.C., on the 26th anniversary of the event.
June 11 – The United States gets its first female generals: Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington.
June 21 – Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy, the largest ever US corporate bankruptcy up to this date.
June 22 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970, a measure lowering the voting age to 18.
June 23 – Kelly's Heroes is released in the US.
June 24 – The United States Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
June 28
- U.S. ground troops withdraw from Cambodia.
- First pride parade in history, Stonewall riot.
June 30 – Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati opens.

July

July 1
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is subordinated to the Public Health Service.
July 4
- Bob Hope and other entertainers gather in Washington, D.C., for Honor America Day , a nonpartisan holiday event.
- American Top 40 , a nationally syndicated radio program featuring a countdown of the Top 40 hits of the past week according to the Billboard Hot 100, premieres. Hosted by Casey Kasem, the show is a major success.
- Riots break out in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
July 16 – Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh opens.
July 31 – NBC anchor Chet Huntley retires from full-time broadcasting.

August

August 3 – NBC Nightly News premieres on NBC.
August 7 – Harold Haley, Marin County Superior Court Judge, is taken hostage and murdered, in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
August 13–15 – Special Olympics World Summer Games are held in Chicago.^[4]
August 17–18 – The U.S. sinks 418 containers of nerve gas into the Gulf Stream near the Bahamas.
August 24 – Vietnam War protesters bomb Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, leading to an international manhunt for the perpetrators.
August 26 – The Women's Strike For Equality takes place down Fifth Avenue in New York City.
August 29 – The Chicano Moratorium, against the Vietnam War, begins in East Los Angeles, California, and leads to a riot that kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.

September

September 5 – Vietnam War – Operation Jefferson Glenn: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (the operation ends in October 1971).
September 6 – Terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijack four passenger aircraft from Pan Am, TWA and Swissair on flights to New York from Brussels, Frankfurt and Zürich.
September 7 – An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and future Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.
September 9 – Elvis Presley begins his first concert tour since 1958, in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
September 10 – The Chevrolet Vega is introduced.
September 11 – The Ford Pinto is introduced.
September 13
- The first New York City Marathon begins.
- The covert incursion of Operation Tailwind is instigated by the American forces in southeast Laos.
September 18 – Jimi Hendrix dies at age 27 in London, due to alcohol-related complications.
September 21 – Monday Night Football debuts on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network. The Cleveland Browns defeated the New York Jets by a score of 31–21.
September 23 – The first women's only tennis tournament begins in Houston, known as the Houston Women's Invitation.
September 24 – American television series The Odd Couple premieres on ABC.
September 26 – The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
September 27 – Richard Nixon begins a tour of Europe, visiting Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
September 29 – The U.S. Congress gives President Richard Nixon authority to sell arms to Israel.

October

October 2
- The Wichita State University football team's "Gold" plane crashes in Colorado, killing most of the players. They were on their way (along with administrators and fans) to a game with Utah State University.
- Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) Corps, one of seven federal uniformed services of the United States, is renamed to NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps under the soon to be formed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
October 4
- National Educational Television ends operations, being succeeded by PBS.
- In Los Angeles, rock musician Janis Joplin dies in her hotel room at age 27 from a heroin overdose. Joplin died exactly 16 days after Jimi Hendrix, both at 27 years of age.
October 5
- The Public Broadcasting Service begins broadcasting.
- U.S. President Richard Nixon's European tour ends.
October 8
- The U.S. Foreign Office announces the renewal of arms sales to Pakistan.
- Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects U.S. President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
October 12 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
October 15 – The Baltimore Orioles defeat the Cincinnati Reds in Game 5 of the World Series, 9–3, to win the series 4 games to 1 for their 2nd World Championship.
October 21 – A U.S. Air Force plane makes an emergency landing near Leninakan, Soviet Union. The Soviets release the American officers, including 2 generals, November 10.
October 25 – The wreck of the Confederate submarine Hunley is found off Charleston, South Carolina, by pioneer underwater archaeologist, Dr. E. Lee Spence,^[5] then just 22 years old. Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink a ship in warfare.
October 26
- Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury debuts in approximately two dozen newspapers in the United States.
- Gary Gabelich drives the rocket-powered Blue Flame to an official land speed record at 622.407 mph (1,001.667 km/h)^[6] on the dry lake bed of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The record, the first above 1,000 km/h, stands for nearly thirteen years.

November

November – The 1969–1970 recession ends.
November 3 – Democrats sweep the U.S. Congressional mid-term elections; Ronald Reagan is re-elected as Governor of California; Jimmy Carter is elected as Governor of Georgia.
November 4
- Vietnam War – Vietnamization: The United States turns control of the air base in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam.
- Social workers in Los Angeles, California take custody of Genie, a girl who had been kept in solitary confinement since her birth.
November 5 – Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers die that week, which is the fifth consecutive week the death toll is below 50; 431 are reported wounded that week, however).
November 8 – Tom Dempsey, who was born with a deformed right foot, sets a National Football League record by kicking a 63-yard field goal to lift the New Orleans Saints to a 19–17 victory over the Detroit Lions at Tulane Stadium.
November 9 – Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6–3 not to hear a case by the state of Massachusetts, about the constitutionality of a state 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 ends with no reports of United States combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
November 14 – Southern Airlines Flight 932 crashes in Wayne County, West Virginia; all 75 on board, including 37 players and 5 coaches from the Marshall University football team, are killed.
November 17 – Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
November 18 – U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for US$155,000,000 in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85,000,000 is for military assistance to prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).
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 (no Americans are killed, but the prisoners have already moved to another camp; all U.S. POWs are moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).
November 23
- The American Indian Movement seizes a replica of the Mayflower in Boston.
- Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! makes its network TV debut, when CBS telecasts the 1955 film version as a three-hour Thanksgiving special.

December

December 2 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
December 19 – The final episode of H.R. Pufnstuf , "An Old Fashioned Christmas," airs on NBC.
December 23 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.
December 24 – Walt Disney Productions' 20th feature film, The Aristocats , is released. It is the studio's final film that Disney personally approved before his death. Though reception is middling compared to past efforts, the film is a box office success.
December 29 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) into law.

Ongoing

Cold War (1947–1991)
Space Race (1957–1975)
Vietnam War, U.S. involvement (1964–1973)
Détente (c. 1969–1979)

Sport

May 10 – Boston Bruins win their fourth (and first since 1941) Stanley Cup by defeating the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 0. The deciding Game 4 is played at the Boston Garden.