y to the House Judiciary Committee.
7/1/1975, North Vietnamese forces captured the southern province of Phuoc Long (see 29/3/1973). There was no reaction from the US. On 10/3/1975 North Vietnam captured the strategic town of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands. Within four days South Vietnam decided to abandon the entire Central Highlands to concentrate on the defence of Saigon. This strategic withdrawal became a rout, woith hundreds of thousands of cicilians, and fleeing soldiers, clogging the roads as the Communists advanced. By 1/4/1975 half of South Vietnam was occupied by the North and the South Vietnamese army was disintegrating. US Congress had no intention of further aid to the South; they did not even intend to organise an evacuation of US citizens and pro-US Vietnamese, instead hoping to persuade the North to stop short of total conquest and accept a coalition government in Saigon. President Thieu of South Vietnam resigned on 28/4/1975 and was replaced by the neutralist General Duong Van Minh. By then North Vietnamese forces were in the suburbs of Saigon. A few fortunate personnel were evacuated from the roof of the US Embassy by helicopter (see 29/4/1975). However in the last-minute chaos nobody thought to destroy the records of South Vietnamese who had supported the US. On 30/4/1975 a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon and a soldier raised the North Vietnamese flag. Then the event was repeated for the benefit of TV cameras who had missed the original. Meanwhile in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge had entered Phnom Penh and begub deporting hundreds of thousands of its population to the killing fields. The defeat of the US was total and complete.
6/1/1975, Burton K. Wheeler, 92, U.S. Senator, died.
5/1/1975, The Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, came under siege by Khmer Rouge forces (led by Pol Pot), despite heavy US military aid to the Cambodian leader, Lon Nol.
1/1/1975, In the USA, aides of President Nixon, H R Haldeman, John D Erlichman and John H Mitchell were found guilty of Watergate offences. On 21/2/1975 they were sentenced to between 2 ½ and 8 years in prison.
8/9/1974, President Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, issued Nixon an unconditional pardon for any crimes committed whilst in office.
9/8/1974. Gerald Ford sworn in as the 38th President of the USA. He succeeded Richard Nixon, who had resigned over Watergate, hence Ford became the first President not chosen by the US people in an election.
8/8/1974. Richard Nixon announced his resignation as US President after his implication in the Watergate scandal. President Ford granted a pardon to Nixon for any offences he might have committed in the Watergate affair. Nixon was the first American President to resign. See 9/5/1974. President Gerald Ford takes office as the 38th president. He was the first person not to have been elected by ballot to the Presidency or Vice Presidency.
5/8/1974. President Nixon admitted his complicity in the Watergate affair. See 27/7/1974 and 8/8/1974.
27/7/1974. A Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon for obstructing justice in the Watergate affair.
12/7/1974, the US John Erlichman, former Director of Domestic Affairs at the White House, was found guilty of lying over the Watergate tapes.
9/5/1974. Impeachment proceedings were opened against President Nixon – see 2/3/1974 and 8/8/1974.
3/4/1974, President Nixon agreed to pay US$ 432,787 outstanding income tax.
17/3/1974, The Arab oil embargo, imposed om the US in 1973 in retaliation for US support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, was lifted.
2/3/1974. A USA Grand Jury decided Richard Nixon was involved in the Watergate cover up see 9/5/1974.
1/3/1974. 7 of President Nixon’s advisors were arrested over charges to obstruct justice in the Watergate investigation.
4/2/1974, Heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped.
14/12/1973. John Paul Getty II was freed by kidnappers after his grandfather paid a US$ 750,000 ransom.
10/10/1973, US Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges.
15/7/1973. Paul Getty 