| 1972-11-28
Last executions in Paris, of the Clairvaux Mutineers, Roger Bontems and Claude Buffet, guillotined at La Sante Prison. (Bontems had been found innocent of murder by the court, but as Buffet's accomplice is condemned to death anyway.) The chief executioner is Andre Obrecht.
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| 1972-02-21
The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
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| 1972-12-11
Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.
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| 1972-02-21
President Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
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| 1972-05-22
Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
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| 1972-09-01
In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion.
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| 1972-10-30
A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois kills 45 and injures 332.
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| 1972-05-13
Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
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| 1972-05-30
The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
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| 1972-03-02
The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
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| 1972-06-18
Staines air disaster – 118 are killed when a plane crashes two minutes after take off from London Heathrow Airport.
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| 1972-12-23
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000.
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| 1972-02-01
Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
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| 1972-05-08
Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
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| 1972-06-23
Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
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| 1972-11-30
Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.
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| 1972-12-07
Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.
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| 1972-11-11
Vietnam War: Vietnamization – The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
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| 1972-09-04
Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.
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| 1972-09-18
First Ugandans expelled by Idi Amin arrive in the United Kingdom.
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| 1972-08-22
Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies.
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| 1972-12-29
An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed Tristar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
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| 1972-05-26
Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
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| 1972-10-13
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, near the border between Argentina and Chile. By December 23, 1972, only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued.
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| 1972-04-22
Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
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| 1972-12-13
Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. This is the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th century.
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| 1972-10-13
An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashed outside Moscow killing 176.
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| 1972-05-15
The island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
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| 1972-05-06
Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
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| 1972-04-06
Vietnam War: Easter Offensive – American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
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| 1972-04-02
Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins – North Vietnamese soldiers of the 304th Division take the northern half of Quang Tri Province.
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| 1972-12-02
Gough Whitlam becomes the first Labor Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years.
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| 1972-05-30
In Tel Aviv members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
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| 1972-06-16
Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
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| 1972-09-19
A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
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| 1972-10-22
Vietnam War: In Saigon, Henry Kissinger and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu meet to discuss a proposed cease-fire that had been worked out between Americans and North Vietnamese in Paris.
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| 1972-07-31
Northeast Airlines flies its last flight before being integrated into Delta Air Lines the next day.
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| 1972-02-28
Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.
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| 1972-01-07
Iberia Airlines Caravelle 6-R crashes into Mont San Jose on approach to Ibiza Airport killing all 104 on board.
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| 1972-10-12
En route to the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk
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| 1972-06-29
The U.S. Supreme Court rules the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment".
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| 1972-08-03
The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
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| 1972-03-14
Italian publisher and former partisan Giangiacomo Feltrinelli is killed by an explosion near Segrate.
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| 1972-06-23
45 countries leave the Sterling Area allowing their currencies to fluctuate independently of the British Pound.
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| 1972-03-01
The Thai province of Yasothon is created after being split off from the Ubon Ratchathani province.
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| 1972-01-30
Bloody Sunday: British Paratroopers kill fourteen unarmed civil rights/anti internment marchers in Northern Ireland.
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| 1972-07-21
Bloody Friday bombings by the Provisional IRA around Belfast, Northern Ireland – 22 bombs are detonated, killing 9 and seriously injuring 130.
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| 1972-03-30
Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
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| 1972-07-23
The United States launch Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.
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| 1972-01-13
Prime Minister Kofi Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheamphong.
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| 1972-05-02
In the early morning hours a fire broke out at the Sunshine mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, ID, killing 91 workers.
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| 1972-02-29
Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
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| 1972-12-18
Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
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| 1972-09-23
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.
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| 1972-06-30
The first leap second is added to the UTC time system.
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| 1972-08-11
Vietnam War: the last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam.
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| 1972-07-11
The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts.
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| 1972-01-10
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.
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| 1972-02-17
Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T.
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| 1972-12-08
United Airlines Flight 553 crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45.
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| 1972-02-19
The Asama-Sansō hostage standoff begins in Japan.
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| 1972-09-06
Munich Massacre: 9 Israel athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games by the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group died (as did a German policeman) at the hands of the kidnappers during a failed rescue attempt. 2 other Israeli athletes are slain in the initial attack the previous day.
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| 1972-02-05
Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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| 1972-04-25
Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
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| 1972-07-31
Three car bombs are detonated in Claudy, Northern Ireland, killing nine in what is believed to be a Provisional Irish Republican Army attack.
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| 1972-09-30
Roberto Clemente records his 3,000th and final hit and final hit of his career.
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| 1972-03-24
The United Kingdom imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.
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| 1972-01-05
U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
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| 1972-01-30
Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
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| 1972-04-16
Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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| 1972-02-18
The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
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| 1972-03-19
India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.
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| 1972-03-03
Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.
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| 1972-11-29
Nolan Bushnell (co-founder of Atari) releases Pong (the first commercially successful video game) in Andy Capp’s Tavern in Sunnyvale, California.
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| 1972-09-25
In a referendum, the people of Norway reject membership of the European Community.
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| 1972-08-14
An East German Ilyushin Il-62 crashes during takeoff from East Berlin, killing 156.
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| 1972-05-21
Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.
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| 1972-07-01
The first Gay Pride march in England takes place.
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| 1972-07-31
Operation Motorman: British troops move into the no-go areas of Belfast and Derry, Northern Ireland. End of Free Derry.
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| 1972-12-23
The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism.
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| 1972-12-19
Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ron Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
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| 1972-02-02
The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday.
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| 1972-04-13
The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
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| 1972-05-26
The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
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| 1972-01-24
Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
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| 1972-12-30
Vietnam War: The United States halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam.
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| 1972-10-11
A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
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| 1972-04-10
20 days after he is kidnapped in Buenos Aires, Oberdan Sallustro is executed by communist guerrillas.
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| 1972-06-17
Watergate scandal: five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.
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| 1972-10-25
The Washington Post reports that White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman is the fifth person to control a secret cash fund designed to finance illegal political sabotage and espionage during the 1972 presidential election campaign (see also Watergate scandal).
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| 1972-01-11
East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
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| 1972-04-20
Apollo 16 landed on the moon commanded by John Young.
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| 1972-06-11
The Eltham Well Hall rail crash, caused by an intoxicated train driver, kills six people and injures 126.
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| 1972-04-02
Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
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| 1972-05-15
In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to be become President.
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| 1972-12-16
Vietnam War: Henry Kissinger announces that North Vietnam has left private peace negotiations, in Paris.
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| 1972-08-16
The Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon, in an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
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| 1972-09-15
A Scandinavian Airlines System domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm is hijacked and flown to Malmö-Bulltofta Airport.
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| 1972-02-26
The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
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| 1972-09-21
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.
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| 1972-02-29
Vietnam War: Vietnamization – South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
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| 1972-01-04
Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.
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| 1972-12-14
Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission. This is the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th century.
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| 1972-07-24
Bugojno group is caught by Yugoslav security forces.
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| 1972-11-10
Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.
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| 1972-09-29
Sino-Japanese relations: Japan establishes diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.
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| 1972-06-16
The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada starts at Churchill Falls, Labrador.
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| 1972-02-15
Sound recordings are granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time.
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| 1972-02-22
The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
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| 1972-04-10
Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
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| 1972-09-10
The United States suffers its first loss of an international basketball game in a disputed match against the Soviet Union at Munich, Germany.
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| 1972-05-04
The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to "Greenpeace Foundation".
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| 1972-09-05
Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attack and take hostage 11 Israel athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. 2 die in the attack and 9 die the following day.
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