ons, US sociologist, died aged 76.
26/1/1979, Nelson Rockerfeller, Republican politician and vice President to Gerald Ford, died.
3/1/1979, Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel Group and once married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, died.
1/1/1979. Diplomatic relations were established between China and the USA.
15/12/1978, Cleveland, Ohio, became the first major US city to go into default since the great Depression, under mayor Dennis Kucinich.
3/11/1978. Vietnam and the USA signed a 25-year treaty of friendship and co-operation in economic, scientific and technical endeavours.
7/8/1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal.
7/4/1978. US President Carter pulled back from building a neutron bomb.
14/1/1978, Kurt Godel, Austrian-American logician, died aged 71.
13/1/1978, Hubert Humphrey, Vice President to Lyndon Johnson, died.
10/1977, The US Department of Energy was created.
7/9/1977, A treaty between the USA and Panama was signed; the US agreed to give Panama control of the Canal by 2000.
16/8/1977. The rock and roll star Elvis Presley died in Memphis, Tennessee, aged 42. He died in the bathroom of his home although he was actually pronounced dead at 3.30 pm in the emergency room of the Baptist Hospital, Memphis. Overweight, he died of heart failure. He was buried in Memphis on 18/8/1977. He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the survivor of twin boys, on 8/1/1935.
26/6/1977. Elvis Presley made his last ever live stage appearance at the Market Square Arena in Indianopolis.
4/6/1977, Two people died during violence on Puerto Rican Day in Chicago.
10/5/1977, American film star Joan Crawford died.
21/1/1977, Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for those who evaded the draft for the Vietnam War.
17/1/1977. The US restored the death penalty, after a ten year suspension, and Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah.
18/8/1976, In North Korea, at Panmunjom, two US soldiers were killed whilst trying to chop down a tree in the demilitarised zone; the tree had obscured their view.
3/7/1976. The Supreme Court of the USA, in the case of Gregg vs. Georgia, ruled that the death penalty was not cruel or unusual punishment and was constitutionally acceptable.
6/6/1976, Paul Getty, American oil tycoon, reputed to be the richest man on earth, died aged 83, at his home, Sutton Place, outside London. He was worth around US$ 4 billion.
5/4/1976. The multi-millionaire Howard Hughes died on his private jet going to a hospital at Houston, Texas leaving a fortune of US$ 2,000 million. He was aged 71.
25/5/1978, The Unabomber set off his first bomb, in the security section of Northwestern University, USA.
For more events of Vietnam War see South East Asia
30/4/1975. Saigon surrendered to the North Vietnamese, so ending the 15-year Vietnam War. This had been the longest conflict of the 20th century.
29/4/1975. A US helicopter evacuated Americans and a few lucky Vietnamese from the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon to a nearby US warship a day before Saigon fell to the Vietcong. The picture of the helicopter evacuation became an iconic symbol of US humiliation in Vietnam.
23/2/1975, In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time began two months early in the USA.
25/4/1975, The Australian Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, shut as North Vietnamese forces closed in.
23/4/1975, US President Ford announced that US involvement in Vietnam was to end. US forces began the final evacuation of personnel from Saigon by aeroplane, see 28 and 29/4/1973.
14/3/1975, Presidential aide Fred de la Rue was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for his part on the Watergate cover up.
28/2/1975. The Watergate scandal continued as 3 Nixon aides were sentenced for their role.
21/2/1975. Those convicted of offences in the Watergate affair received sentences of between 30 months and 8 years.
14/1/1975, The House Committee on Internal Security (formerly HUAC, House Committee on Un-American Activities) was formally terminated on January 14, 1975, the day of the opening of the 94th Congress. The Committee's files and staff were transferred on that da