What happened in 1970
123 entries recorded for 1970, listed by date. That was 56 years ago.
1970 at a glance
- Years ago
- 56 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1970s
- Generation born
- Generation X
- Entries here
- 123
- Breakdown
- 118 historical events · 3 births · 2 deaths
January
- January 4
1970 Tonghai earthquake
A magnitude-7.1 earthquake occurred in Tonghai County, China, killing at least 15,000 people.
- January 5
1970 Tonghai earthquake
A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Tonghai County in southern China, killing at least 10,000 people and eventually spurring the creation of the nation's largest earthquake monitoring system.
- January 5
Spantax
A Spantax Convair CV-990 Coronado crashes during takeoff from Stockholm Arlanda Airport, killing five people.
- January 9
Presidential Council for Minority Rights
The Presidential Council for Minority Rights, an appointed body to review legislation and prevent discrimination against minorities, was created in Singapore.
- January 12
Biafra
Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
- January 14
Biafra
The self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria surrendered to the federal government less than three years after declaring independence, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
- January 15
Biafra
The Republic of Biafra surrendered following a failed attempt at secession from Nigeria, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
- January 22
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747, the world's first wide-body commercial airliner, entered service for Pan Am on the New York–London route.
February
- February 15
Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603
Dominicana de Aviación Flight 603 crashes into the Caribbean Sea after takeoff from Las Américas International Airport, killing 102, including members of the Puerto Rico women's national volleyball team and lightweight boxer Carlos Cruz.
- February 17
Jeffrey R. MacDonald
The family of Jeffrey R. MacDonald, United States Army captain, is found murdered in their home in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, US. Eventually, MacDonald was charged with and convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters.
- February 18
Chicago Seven
The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
- February 20
Wat Phra Dhammakaya
Wat Phra Dhammakaya, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Thailand, was founded in Pathum Thani.
March
- March 2
Queen of Rhodesia
The Rhodesian monarchy was abolished by the government of Rhodesia, which declared the internationally unrecognised country to be a republic.
- March 4
French submarine Eurydice (S644)
French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
- March 5
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
- March 10
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
- March 18
Lon Nol
Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
- March 18
1970 United States postal strike
U.S. postal workers began an eight-day strike after Congress raised their wages by only 4 percent despite increasing its own pay by 41 percent.
- March 21
Earth Day
The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.
- March 21
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop and culture festival in the world, hosts its inaugural event.
- March 26
South Vietnam
South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu implements a land reform program to solve the problem of land tenancy.
- March 28
1970 Gediz earthquake
An earthquake strikes western Turkey at about 23:05 local time, killing 1,086 and injuring at least 1,200.
- March 31
Explorer 1
Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
April
- April 1
Richard Nixon
U.S. president Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring that a prominent warning by the surgeon general be placed on cigarette packages.
- April 1
American Motors Corporation
The American Motors Corporation introduced its Gremlin, promoted as America's first subcompact car.
- April 6
California Highway Patrol
Four California Highway Patrol officers were killed in a shootout following a traffic stop in Newhall, north of Los Angeles.
- April 8
Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing
Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.
- April 10
Paul McCartney
In the midst of business disagreements with his bandmates, Paul McCartney announced his departure from the Beatles.
- April 12
Soviet submarine K-8
Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
- April 13
Oxygen
At 10:08 PM EST an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed "Odyssey") while en route to the Moon.
- April 14
Apollo 13
After an oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 (mission patch pictured) exploded, disabling the spacecraft's electrical and life-support systems, astronaut Jack Swigert reported: "Houston, we've had a problem here".
- April 15
Cambodian Civil War
During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
- April 17
Apollo program
Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
- April 20
Shemar Moore
Shemar Moore, American actor
- April 21
Western Australia
In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, Leonard Casley declared his 75 km2 (29 sq mi) farm in Western Australia to be an independent country as the Hutt River Province.
- April 22
San Diego
Chicano residents in San Diego, California occupy a site under the Coronado Bridge, leading to the creation of Chicano Park.
- April 22
Earth Day
The first Earth Day is celebrated.
- April 24
The Gambia
The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
- April 24
Dong Fang Hong 1
China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
- April 26
World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) came into being when the WIPO Convention entered into force.
- April 26
WIPO Convention
The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
- April 28
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
- April 29
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: South Vietnamese forces began the Cambodian campaign, aiming to attack North Vietnamese jungle bases.
May
- May 1
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: A student anti-war strike erupts in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.
- May 2
ALM Flight 980
ALM Flight 980 ditches in the Caribbean Sea near Saint Croix, killing 23.
- May 4
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the Unite
- May 8
Hard Hat Riot
Construction workers attacked students and others who were protesting the Vietnam War in New York City.
- May 8
The Beatles
The Beatles release their 12th and final studio album Let It Be.
- May 11
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas, was struck by a tornado that left 26 people dead.
- May 14
Red Army Faction
Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
- May 15
Jackson State killings
Police opened fire during a confrontation with a group of Jackson State College students, killing two students and injuring twelve others.
- May 15
Richard Nixon
President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as the first female United States Army generals.
- May 24
Kola Peninsula
On the Kola Peninsula in Russia, drilling began on the Kola Superdeep Borehole, which eventually reached a depth of 12,262 metres (40,230 ft), making it the deepest borehole ever drilled and the lowest artificial point on Earth.
- May 26
Tupolev Tu-144
The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
- May 31
1970 Ancash earthquake
The 7.9 Mw Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.
June
- June 4
Tonga
Tonga gains independence from the British Empire.
- June 7
E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster, English novelist, short story writer, essayist (born 1879)
- June 7
Cafu
Cafu, Brazilian footballer
- June 7
Helen Baxendale
Helen Baxendale, English actress
- June 11
May 15
After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army general officers, becoming the first women to do so.
- June 13
The Long and Winding Road
"The Long and Winding Road" became the Beatles' twentieth and final number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
- June 19
Patent Cooperation Treaty
The international Patent Cooperation Treaty was signed, providing a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states.
- June 21
Penn Central Transportation Company
Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy in what was the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcy to date.
July
- July 1
Belfast Banking Company
The Belfast Banking Company, which issued banknotes in Northern Ireland, merged with its rival Northern Bank.
- July 3
Dan-Air Flight 1903
Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashed into the slopes of the Montseny Massif in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.
- July 3
The Troubles
The Troubles: The British Army began the Falls Curfew in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.
- July 8
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
- July 14
Preston Foster
Preston Foster, American actor (born 1900)
- July 18
Antonov An-22
An Antonov An-22 of the Soviet Air Forces crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 23 aboard.
- July 21
Aswan High Dam
After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
- July 31
Rum ration
Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
August
- August 7
Harold Haley
California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
- August 7
Jonathan P. Jackson
Jonathan Jackson took hostages in a courthouse in Marin County, California, to coerce the release of the Soledad Brothers, resulting in the deaths of judge Harold Haley and three others.
- August 9
LANSA Flight 502
LANSA Flight 502 crashes after takeoff from Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport in Cusco, Peru, killing 99 of the 100 people on board, as well as two people on the ground.
- August 17
Venera program
Soviet Union Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
- August 26
Women's Strike for Equality
The fiftieth anniversary of American women being able to vote is marked by a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality.
- August 26
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women organized the Women's Strike for Equality in New York City, in which 50,000 women protested the continuing lack of gender equality.
- August 29
Chicano Moratorium
Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.
September
- September 2
NASA
NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
- September 4
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
- September 5
1970 Italian Grand Prix
During the practice session of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza Circuit, Jochen Rindt was killed and subsequently became motor racing's only posthumous world champion.
- September 5
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.
- September 6
Black September
Black September: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked four airliners, landing two at Dawson's Field in Jordan and one in Cairo, while the last hijacking attempt was foiled near London.
- September 7
Black September
Fighting begins between Arab guerrillas and government forces in Jordan.
- September 8
Trans International Airlines Flight 863
Trans International Airlines Flight 863 crashes during takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing all 11 aboard.
- September 9
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
- September 17
Amman
The Jordanian army entered Amman as part of operations to oust Palestinian fedayeen from the country in events later known as Black September (smoke over city pictured).
- September 19
Glastonbury Festival
The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, England.
- September 19
Kostas Georgakis
Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself on fire in Genoa, Italy, as a protest against the military junta of Georgios Papadopoulos.
- September 28
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.
- September 30
Dawson's Field hijackings
Jordan makes a deal with the PFLP for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings.
October
- October 2
Wichita State University football team plane crash
An aircraft carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado, killing 31 people.
- October 5
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is founded in the United States.[citation needed]
- October 5
James Cross
The British Trade Commissioner, James Cross, is kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec, triggering the October Crisis in Canada.
- October 8
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature.
- October 9
Khmer Republic
The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
- October 10
Fiji
Fiji becomes independent.
- October 10
October Crisis
Canada's October Crisis escalates when Quebec Vice Premier Pierre Laporte is kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec.
- October 15
West Gate Bridge
During the construction of Australia's West Gate Bridge, a span of the bridge falls and kills 35 workers. The incident is the country's worst industrial accident to this day.
- October 16
War Measures Act
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
November
- November 1
Club Cinq-Sept fire
Club Cinq-Sept fire in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 146 young people.
- November 4
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende takes office as President of Chile, the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections.
- November 4
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The United States turns over control of the air base at Bình Thủy in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam.
- November 4
Feral child
Authorities in California discovered a 13-year-old feral child, pseudonymously known as Genie, who had spent nearly her entire life in social isolation.
- November 5
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
- November 9
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6–3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
- November 12
1970 Bhola cyclone
The deadliest tropical cyclone in history made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), killing at least 250,000 people.
- November 12
Oregon Department of Transportation
The Oregon Highway Division unsuccessfully attempted to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale near Florence, Oregon, with dynamite.
- November 13
1970 Bhola cyclone
Bhola cyclone: A 240 km/h (150 mph) tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night.
- November 14
Southern Airways Flight 932
Southern Airways Flight 932, chartered by the Marshall University football team, crashed into a hill near Ceredo, West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board.
- November 17
Luna programme
Luna programme: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
- November 17
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai Massacre.
- November 18
Richard Nixon
U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.
- November 21
Vietnam War
Vietnam War: American forces raided the North Vietnamese Sơn Tây prison camp in an attempt to rescue 61 American POWs who were thought to be held there.
- November 25
Yukio Mishima
In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and one compatriot commit ritualistic seppuku after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
- November 25
Mishima incident
After failing to instigate a military coup to restore the powers of the Emperor of Japan, author Yukio Mishima and a member of his militia committed ritual suicide.
December
- December 10
Mae Salong
Around the northern Thai village of Mae Salong, remnants of Chinese anti-communist forces now fighting on behalf of the Thai government launched a five-year campaign against local communist insurgents.
- December 15
Venera 7
The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 touched down on the surface of Venus, making the first successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet.
- December 17
December 1970 protests in Poland
Polish soldiers fired at workers (memorial pictured) emerging from trains in Gdynia, beginning the government's crackdown on mass anti-communist protests across the country.
- December 20
Koza riot
Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.
- December 23
1 World Trade Center (1970–2001)
The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 417 metres (1,368 ft), making it the tallest building in the world.
- December 23
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a one-party state.
- December 30
Hurricane Creek mine disaster
Hurricane Creek mine disaster, near Hyden, Kentucky
Questions about 1970
What happened in 1970?
This site records 123 entries for 1970, including 1970 Tonghai earthquake on January 4. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1970?
56 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1970 turns 56 this year.
Which century is 1970 in?
1970 falls in the 20th century, in the 1970s.
Which generation was born in 1970?
Generation X (1965–1980). The latch-key generation; first to grow up with personal computers.
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