November 1974

Month of 1974

The following events occurred in November 1974:

At least 80 people died in a collision between two passenger trains 43 mile (69 km) west of Cotonou, Dahomey. The Soviet Union's lunar probe Luna 23 landed on the Moon in the Mare Crisium for the purpose of gathering and returning lunar soil to the Earth. The probe's drill was damaged when Luna 23 tipped over after landing on "unfavorable" terrain. Argentina's President Isabel Perón unexpectedly issued an emergency decree of a "state of siege" in the South American nation in an effort to deal with political violence that had claimed 136 lives during her first 129 days in office. The decree banned all public meetings and allowed any suspected terrorists to be arrested without a court order and held indefinitely without being brought to trial. Thirty three inmates at the Long Kesh Prison (later called the "Maze Prison") in Northern Ireland, most of them convicted terrorists of the IRA, attempted to escape through an underground tunnel which they had dug. IRA member Hugh Coney was shot and killed by a guard after emerging outside the walls, and 29 others were captured only a few yards past the prison. The other three were captured within 24 hours. U. S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon conceded in a press conference that the United States economy was in a recession as stock prices continued to fall. The Parliament of Singapore unanimously re elected Benjamin Sheares to a second term as president, a largely ceremonial job, with 59 of the 65 members present and all 59 voting in his favor.