e 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 day 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 w