1975 in the United States

Federal Government

President: Gerald Ford (R-Michigan)

Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller (R-New York)

Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Minnesota)

Speaker of the House of Representatives: Carl Albert (D-Oklahoma)

Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana)

Congress: 93rd (until January 3), 94th (starting January 3)

January

January – 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.

January 2 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.

January 6

AM America makes its television debut on ABC.

Wheel of Fortune premieres on NBC.

January 8

Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman 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 12 – Super Bowl IX: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Minnesota Vikings 16–6 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana.

January 15 - The Carousel of Progress moves to Walt Disney World from Disneyland.

January 29 – The Weather Underground bombs the U.S. State Department main office in Washington, D.C..

February

February 13 – Fire breaks out in the World Trade Center.

February 21 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell, and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, are sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years in prison.

February 23 – In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly 2 months early in the United States.

March

March 9 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

March 10 – The Rocky Horror Show opens on Broadway in New York City with 4 performances.

March 30 – James Ruppert murders 11 family members inside his home on Easter Sunday.

April

April 3 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.

April 4

Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff, killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.

Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

April 30 – Vietnam War: The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon, resulting in mass evacuations of Americans and South Vietnamese. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.

May

May – The unemployment rate peaks at 9.0% ending the Post-War Boom.

May 5 – The Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, originally known as Busch Gardens: The Old Country, opens in Williamsburg, Virginia.

May 12 – Mayaguez incident: Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia seize the United States merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.

May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines; 38 Americans are killed.

May 25 – Indianapolis 500: Bobby Unser wins for a second time in a rain-shorted 174 lap, 435 mile (696 km) race.

June

June 10 – In Washington, DC, the Rockefeller Commission issues its report on CIA abuses, recommending a joint congressional oversight committee on intelligence.

June 26 – Two FBI agents and 1 AIM member die in a shootout, at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

July

July 17 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations. It is also the last Apollo mission and the last manned U.S. space mission until STS-1 (the first Space Shuttle orbital flight).

July 22 – Stanley Forman takes the photo Fire Escape Collapse.

July 31 – In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August

August 5 – U.S. President Ford posthumously pardons Robert E. Lee, restoring full rights of citizenship.

August 8 – Samuel Bronfman, son of the president of Seagram's, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York.

August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

September

September 5 – In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme, a follower of jailed cult leader Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.

September 14 – Elizabeth Seton is canonized, becoming the first American Roman Catholic saint.

September 18 – Fugitive Patricia Hearst is captured in San Francisco.

September 22 – U.S. President Gerald Ford survives a second assassination attempt, this time by Sara Jane Moore in San Francisco.

October

October 1 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.

October 11 – NBC airs the first episode of Saturday Night Live (George Carlin is the first host; Billy Preston and Janis Ian the first musical guests).

October 21–22 – 1975 World Series: The Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds in Game Six off Carlton Fisk's twelfth-inning home run; the Reds would go on to win in Game Seven.

November

November 3 – An independent audit of Mattel, one of the United States' largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."

November 5 – Travis Walton, a 22-year-old logger, was working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest with six co-workers near Snowflake, Arizona, when he suddenly disappeared. Walton was found five days later and said that he had been abducted by extraterrestrial aliens. His book, The Walton Experience (1978), would become the basis for a film, Fire in the Sky (1993).

November 10 – The bulk carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sinks 15 miles off of Whitefish Point with all hands.

November 20 – Former California Governor Ronald Reagan enters the race for the Republican presidential nomination, challenging incumbent President Gerald Ford.

November 29 – The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time (Microsoft becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).

November 29 – While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.

December

December 8 – New York City is approved for bailout of $2.3 billion each year through to 1978 – $6.9 billion total.

December 23 – United States Congress passes the Metric Conversion Act which encourages, but does not mandate, metrication in the United States and establishes the Metric Board.

December 29 – A bomb explosion at LaGuardia Airport kills 11.

Ongoing

Cold War (1945–1991)

Space Race (1957–1975)

Détente (c. 1969–1979)

Capital punishment suspended by Furman v. Georgia (1972–1976)

1970s energy crisis (1973–1980)

DOCUMERICA photography project (1972-1977)

Births

January 2 – Dax Shepard, actor

January 20 – David Eckstein, American baseball player

January 23

Phil Dawson, American football player

Tito Ortiz, mixed martial artist, referee, and actor

March 16 – Tara Buck, actress

May 9 - Lane Kiffin, American football player and coach

May 12 - Lawrence Phillips, American-Canadian football player

May 26 - Lauryn Hill, actress, singer–songwriter, rapper and producer

June 4 – Angelina Jolie, actress and director

June 19 – Geoff Ramsey, voice actor and producer, co-founded Rooster Teeth

June 27 – Tobey Maguire, actor and producer

August 16 – Magic, American rapper (504 Boyz and Body Head Bangerz) (d. 2013)

September 21 – Lil Rob

November 14 – Stephen Guarino, actor

December 30 - Tiger Woods, golfer

Deaths

March 30 – Pancho Barnes, pioneer aviator (b. 1901)

April 20 - John Vachon, American photographer (b. 1914)

June 6 - Larry Blyden, actor and game show host (b. 1925)

June 15 - William Austin, English-born actor (b. 1884)

September 6 – Shelton Brooks, Canadian-born African American song composer (b. 1886)

December 24 – Bernard Herrmann, composer and husband of Lucille Fletcher (b. 1911)