March 1975

Month of 1975

The following events occurred in March 1975:

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran declared the kingdom to be a one party state, with the new "Rastakhiz (Resurgence) Party" to be led by Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda. Central African Republic President Jean Bédel Bokassa, in power since 1965, declared himself President for life. A year later, he would declare himself to be an Emperor. A bomb planted at a bus terminal in Nairobi, Kenya, killed 27 people and injured almost 100. Died: J. M. Kariuki, Kenyan politician, was kidnapped from the Nairobi Hilton Hotel by bodyguards of Kariuki's political opponent, Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta and murdered. His body was found three days later in a valley of the Ngong Hills.

The first 30 women "Mounties", officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the all female RCMP Troop 17, graduated from RCMP Academy, Depot Division, after 32 had entered the academy on September 16, 1974 for regular training. In its decision in Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, the United States Supreme Court declared unconstitutional, by an 8 1 vote, a Georgia law prohibiting the press from revealing the names of rape victims. Died: General Oscar Bonilla Bradanovic, 56, Chilean Minister of National Defense, in a helicopter crash, while returning from vacation at Curicó. Two French technicians of the Aérospatiale helicopter company were killed on March 22, in another helicopter accident, after investigating the crash.

Iran and Iraq announced a settlement in their border dispute at a meeting of the OPEC nations in Algiers. The Shah of Iran signed on behalf of his nation, while Iraq was represented by Saddam Hussein, an aide to President Ahmed Hassan al Bakr and future President of Iraq. The meeting was overseen by Algerian President Houari Boumediene. Iraq agreed to drop claims to half of the Shatt al Arab, while Iran agreed not to supply weapons to Kurdish spearatists in northern Iraq. In 1980, Iraq would break the agreement and invade Iran, starting the eight year Iran–Iraq War. The key 26.6 second section of the "Zapruder film", the home movie which had inadvertently filmed the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was shown for the first time on television, broadcast by ABC News. Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich of the United States Air Force presented letter to his commander at Langley Air Force Base, Captain Dennis Collins, announcing, "After some years of uncertainty, I have arrived at the conclusion that my sexual preferences are homosexual as opposed to heterosexual." In doing so, Matlovich became the first U. S. military serviceman to challenge a ban against service by gay men and lesbians.

The first "United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace" was proclaimed on International Women's Day during the International Women's Year. The "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN) program, that had been launched on October 8, 1974, by the Citizens Action Committee to Fight Inflation", was brought to an end by the same Committee. The Cuban Family Code, which decreed equality between husbands and wives, went into effect. Died: George Stevens, 70, American film director, and winner of two Academy Awards for A Place in the Sun and Giant.

Troops of the Army of North Vietnam began an early morning attack on the city of Ban Me Thuot in South Vietnam with the 316th, 10th and 320th Divisions, easily overrunning a South Vietnam Army regiment of defenders who were outnumbered by 5 1/2 to 1. By 10:30 the next morning, "Campaign 275" was over and had effectively placed half of South Vietnam behind enemy lines. Because of Ban Me Thuot's strategic location at the intersection of South Vietnam's two main highways, the defeat created a "domino effect" that would lead to the disintegration and conquest of South Vietnam, as ARVN troops abandoned the Highlands and fled south.

The seventh and last "draft lottery", for conscription of 18 year old American men into military service. Men born on December 8, 1956, would have been drafted first, in the event of a national emergency, followed by those born June 19 and March 22, while a February 12 birthday was drawn 366th and last. By 1975, the U. S. armed services were recruiting volunteers only. The draft registration requirement was suspended 20 days later, on April 1, and processing of all registrations would end on January 27, 1976. (See also for February 9, 1972, Cairo meeting to fashion the Islamic banking system)

The first Chili's restaurant was opened. The chain now has 1,400 locations. U. S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey agreed to pay back taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service, after his claim of a deduction of $199,153 for the donation of records from service as Vice President of the United States, was disallowed. Nearly a year earlier, then President Richard M. Nixon had been disallowed a more than $450,000 deduction for his vice presidential papers. Nixon and Humphrey had run against each other in the 1968 U. S. Presidential election. Humphrey later paid $240,000 in taxes, penalties and interest. Khmer Rouge guerillas, fighting to take over Cambodia, destroyed a 20 ton ammunition dump at the Phnom Penh. Nobody was hurt, but the shrapnel rendered two commercial aircraft inoperable. Same Time, Next Year, a romantic comedy written by Bernard Slade, premiered on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and would run for 1,453 performances.

Kukrit Pramoj formed a new coalition government in Thailand, becoming Prime Minister, although his Social Action Party had only 18 seats in Parliament. Television Electronic Disc (TeD), a form of videorecording, was introduced by West German electronic manufacturers Telefunken and Teldec.

Victoria Fyodorova, a Soviet actress who had been born from the affair of U. S. Navy Admiral Jackson Tate and Soviet film actress Zoya Fyodorova, was finally granted an exit visa by the Soviet Union.

The Dergue, the Ethiopian military junta that had overthrown the Emperor Haile Selassie I six months earlier, announced that it was abolishing the centuries old Ethiopian Empire. According to Ethiopian tradition, the monarchy was almost 3,000 years old, dating back to 950 B. C.
The Inkatha Freedom Party was founded in South Africa to fight against white minority rule of the black majority population. All 16 passengers and crew aboard a U. S. Air Force C 141A Starlifter were killed in the U. S. state of Washington when an air traffic controller at McChord Field gave the crew a descent command intended for another aircraft. The C 141A descended to an altitude of less than 7756 feet (2364 m) as it approached the Cascade Mountains and crashed into the side of Mount Constance.

A worker, testing for leaks, accidentally caused a fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama, at the time the largest nuclear power plant in the world. After detecting a persistent leak in a concrete wall and attempting to plug it with polyurethane sheets the worker tested it for signs of airflow with the instrument available to him—a candle. The highly flammable polyurethane was ignited, the fire spread into the other side of the wall where it could not be reached, and after seven hours, caused ten million dollars worth of damage. The Indiana University Hoosiers, unbeaten (31 0) and the #1 ranked men's college basketball team, was upset, 92 90, by the #5 ranked University of Kentucky Wildcats, in the Mideast Regional Final of the NCAA basketball tournament at Dayton, Ohio. At the time, the NCAA held tournaments only for the men's teams and the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was the athletic organization for women's college sports. The Delta State University Lady Statesmen of Cleveland, Mississippi, denied a fourth consecutive U. S. women's college basketball championship to the Immaculata University Mighty Macs of West Chester, Pennsylvania, winning the AIAW women's basketball tournament by a score of 90 to 81 at the competition, hosted by Madison College in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Indian state of Nagaland was placed under President's rule for two years, with the national government assuming control of state affairs. Presidential rulership would also be imposed in 1988, 1992 and 2008. Norwegian commercial diver A. L. Alvestad died of hypothermia and hypoxia due to overwork while conducting a bell dive from the drillship Borgny' Dolphin'' in the North Sea. Died:''' Cass Daley, 59, American comedian and film actress, after falling on a glass table at her home

After CBS became the first American TV network to openly practice checkbook journalism, former White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman appeared in the first of two interviews by Mike Wallace on the CBS news program 60 Minutes. The appearance, and Haldeman's answers to questions about ex President Richard M. Nixon and the Watergate scandal, came in return for a payment of at least $25,000 by CBS News. Haldeman admitted in the first interview that he had talked President Nixon out of destroying tape recordings of conversations in Nixon's office, saying that he "stupidly — didn't really think the thing through". Haldeman was serving a federal prison sentence at the time of the interview. Jean Gueury, France's ambassador to Somalia, was kidnapped as he left worship services at a cathedral in Mogadishu. Somali police quickly located the house where Gueury was held hostage, and the French embassy negotiated with the kidnappers, agreeing to their demands only minutes before the threatened execution of Gueury. France released two Somali terrorists from prison, provided the kidnappers $100,000 in gold, and allowed them to fly to Yemen, where Gueury was freed unharmed.

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot and killed by his nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid, during a meeting with a visiting delegation from Kuwait. Prince Faisal knew one of the members of the Kuwaiti delegation, and followed the group in to meet the King. When the King recognized the Prince, he approached his nephew to be greeted. Prince Faisal then drew a .38 caliber revolver from his robes and fired three shots at close range, killing one of the most powerful men in the world almost instantly.

The first license ever issued in the United States for a same sex marriage was issued by Clela Rorex, the County Clerk for Boulder County, Colorado. Dave McCord and Dave Zamora had consulted with the county's District Attorney, who decided that there was nothing in Colorado law that prohibited same sex marriage, and Rorex gave approval for the two men to marry. On April 24, State Attorney General Joyce Murdoch would invalidate the license, as well as five others issued by Rorex. Khalid ibn Abd al Aziz al Saud, the Crown Prince and the younger half brother of King Faisal, was crowned as the new King of Saudi Arabia. Faisal was buried, pursuant to Islamic custom, at sundown the day after his death, without a coffin and in an unmarked grave. King Khalid named his half brother Fahd as the new Crown Prince. The film Jaws was given its first preview showing before an audience, in advance of its June 20 nationwide release, at the Medallion Theater in Dallas, Texas. Western Europe's first Communist dominated cabinet was installed by Portugal's Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves. The Biological Weapons Convention, the first multinational treaty banning the production or use of a specific category of weapons, entered into force by its own terms.

A fire in the maternity ward at Kucic Hospital in Rijeka, former Yugoslavia, killed 25 people.

On Easter Sunday, James Ruppert murdered his mother, his brother and sister in law, and the couple's eight children, ranging in age from 4 to 17 years old. Ruppert surrendered to police, and was later sentenced to two life terms in prison.

In his final game on the sideline, John Wooden coached UCLA to its 10th national championship in 12 seasons when the Bruins defeated Kentucky 92 85 in the title game at San Diego, California. The 635th and final original episode of the long running TV series Gunsmoke, titled The Sharecroppers, was telecast. After originally being a radio series, the show had started on television on September 10, 1955 and ran for 20 seasons. Lon Nol, the President of the Khmer Republic (formerly Cambodia) since 1970, bid farewell to his constituents and fled the country. The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation made its last broadcasts under that name. The channel frequencies in Dunedin and Wellington become TV1 (now TVNZ 1) the next morning, while those in Auckland and Christchurch were not used until the launch of TV2 (now TVNZ 2) on June 30 later that year.