President Nixon’s morning begins with his last meal in the White House, consisting of his favorite foods: pineapple with cottage cheese on top, and a glass of warm milk.
BREAKING: In a television address to the American public, Richard Nixon announces that he will resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
The years-long Watergate Scandal has come to a close.
Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated in Madrid by Basque terrorist group ETA.
They planted a bomb in his car that, in front of photographers’ cameras, went flying.
Nixon slept two hours. He spent most of the night pacing barefoot in blue pajamas.
At 4 AM, his wristwatch battery went dead. He considers it a prophetic omen.
Zimbabwean pilot Joyce Mujuru shoots down a Rhodesian helicopter, achieving the first recorded female air-to-air kill in Africa. She takes the nom-du-guerre Teurai Ropa (“Blood Spiller.”)
Cardinal Jean Daniélou, French Roman Catholic Cardinal, dies while visiting a brothel in Paris. He was 69.
A prostitute at the brothel says he was simply visiting to declare his chastity to her, but police doubt the story.
President Ford leaves for work as his wife, Betty, wishes him goodbye.
Ford became President nine days ago, but he has not yet moved into the White House, so he still has to commute like everyone else.
The National Socialist League, a neo-Nazi organization exclusively for gay men, is founded by Jim Cherry and Russell Veh in Los Angeles. There are at least 400 members.
The Cleveland Indians host a “ten cent beer night” to promote a baseball game against the visiting Texas Rangers.
The 25,000 fans are permitted to buy unlimited quantities of 10-cent, 12-ounce beers, and they indulge heavily.
In reaction to the announcement of Nixon’s resignation, spontaneous parties have broken out on the streets of Washington, DC. Thousands of young people pour out to celebrate.
Gerald Ford has taken the oath of office to become President of the United States.
“My fellow Americans,” he says in his inaugural address, “our long national nightmare is over.”
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warns Israel not to use nuclear weapons in the ongoing Yom Kippur War, or else the United States will cease financial aid to Israel. In this warning, Kissinger unintentionally signals that Israel may have nuclear weapons.
The Presidency of Richard Nixon officially ends as he and his family leave the White House for San Clemente, California.
Before boarding helicopter Marine One, Nixon throws up his trademark “double victory” sign.
Then, the whole White House waves him goodbye.
Famous pole-sitter Richard “Dixie” Blandy, who has been sitting on a pole for 125 days, dies when the 50-foot (15m) pole on which he’s sitting collapses beneath him. He was 72.
Residents of Sitka, Alaska awake in a panic, thinking that the nearby Mount Edgecumbe volcano is erupting and that it will kill them all.
But this turns out to be a juvenile April Fools’ prank: some teenagers dragged 100 tires 3,200ft (960m) up the slope and lit them on fire.
In an emotional speech, President Nixon gives a final farewell to White House Staff.
After the speech, Henry Kissinger says to Nixon: “history is going to record that you were a great President.”
“Henry, that depends on who writes the history,” Nixon replies.
Senator Joseph R. Biden, (D-DE), is seen here at Union Station, Washington DC where most days, after the Senate adjourns, he catches the Metroliner to Wilmington for home. He makes the four-hour commute almost daily to be with his motherless sons Beau, 4, and Hunter, 3.
Breaking: White House sources say that President Nixon has met with Vice President Gerald Ford to inform him that he will resign in a speech to the American public tonight.
Reporters and the public crowd at the White House, seeking further answers.
[Fourth-Wall Break]
It has come to my attention that I have erred twice in this post. Corrections:
1. The bomb was not in the car, but in a tunnel under the street.
2. The two photos of the car in the air are not originals, but rather a reenactment from later.
The New York City District Attorney says he will drop all charges against French highwire artist Philippe Petit if he performs for free for children in Central Park.
Petit agrees.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger meets with President Nixon and tells him that he should resign.
Senator Barry Goldwater also meets with Nixon and tells him that he has “totally lost” the support of Congress and the American people.
“Stalingrad,” the ninth episode of the ITV/Thames Television documentary The World at War, premieres.
This is the only episode of the series that features no interviews, a deliberate choice given that most people present at the battle were killed or died in captivity.
American thoracic surgeon Henry Heimlich publishes an article in the Journal of Emergency Medicine noting a new maneuver he has developed to prevent choking.
At a school in Ma’alot, Israel, Palestinian terrorists take 26 children hostage and then execute them.
In total, 31 people are killed and 70 are injured.
For the first time in the history of the “Miss World” beauty pageant, the reigning titleholder has her crown revoked.
Majorie Wallace of the US (Miss World 1973) is dethroned for “being too promiscuous.”
Chilean President Allende, whose bodyguards have left him, appears on the balcony of La Moneda Palace to beg his people to come to his aid. Nobody comes except for one adolescent Socialist, who brings a machine gun to the balcony to defend Allende from the Army.
India becomes the world’s sixth nuclear power with the successful detonation of a nuclear weapon at the Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan.
The test intentionally took place on the ceremonial birthday of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, and the operation was code-named “Smiling Buddha.”
A military coup by left-wing officers overthrows Portugal’s authoritarian Estado Novo regime after 41 years of rule and immediately ends all wars in which Portugal is involved.
The most-anticipated college football game of the year takes place as the
#1
University of Nebraska Cornhuskers visit the
#2
University of Oklahoma Sooners. Nebraska scores the winning touchdown with 1:38 left in the game and wins 35-31.
Hiroo Onoda, an Imperial Japanese soldier who has been hiding and fighting WWII in the Philippines for 29 years, is located by Japanese explorer Norio Suzuki, who tells Onoda that WWII is over.
Onoda replies that he will not surrender until ordered by a superior officer.
In a spectacular, beautiful, and very dangerous stunt, 24-year-old French highwire artist Philippe Petit, who broke into the World Trade Center overnight, walks between the twin towers for over an hour before the NYPD coax him onto the roof and arrest him.
Hiroo Onoda, an Imperial Japanese soldier who has been hiding and continuing to fight WWII in the Philippines for 29 years, surrenders after his superior officer from the war, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, flies to the Philippines and personally delivers the order.
[Fourth-Wall Break]
This is, far and away, the most-viewed 50 years ago tweet in the 11,000-tweet history of this account.
I’m blown away. Thanks for taking this to the stars. 🌠🚀
Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated in Madrid by Basque terrorist group ETA.
They planted a bomb in his car that, in front of photographers’ cameras, went flying.
President Ford is off to pick a Vice President.
Today he had a private meeting with Senator Barry Goldwater. George H.W. Bush has also thrown his hat into the ring.
Marshal Georgy Zhukov, supreme commander of the Red Army during WWII, dies of a heart attack in Moscow. He was 77.
Here he is pictured as a soldier during WWI; during WWII; in 1958; and in 1971.
At 8:01 AM this morning, the first purchase of a product with a Universal Product Code (UPC, or “bar code”) was made: a 67-cent package of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum from a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
[Fourth-Wall Break]
Donald Sutherland, an august actor with a career spanning more than 60 years, passed away at age 88 today. 🧵of stories from this account that include him:
Basil Brown, a vegetarian activist in Croydon, England, dies from liver damage after consuming 70 million servings of Vitamin A through 10 gallons (38 liters) of carrot juice.
His skin turned bright yellow and he was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late.
[Fourth-Wall Break]
This story alone resulted in a lot of angry DMs saying things such as “it didn’t happen” and “the kids deserved it, they were Zionists.” Many of the tweet’s comments say the same.
Please be civil in the comments and respect the dead.
At a school in Ma’alot, Israel, Palestinian terrorists take 26 children hostage and then execute them.
In total, 31 people are killed and 70 are injured.
Lewis Strauss, one of the founding members of the US Atomic Energy Commission and rival of J. Robert Oppenheimer who spearheaded a hearing to revoke Oppenheimer’s security clearance in 1954, dies of cancer in Brandy Station, Virginia. He was 77.
American singer Cass Elliot, a member of band the Mamas & the Papas and an independent artist, dies in London of heart failure linked to morbid obesity. She was 32.
[Fourth-Wall Break]
At 1.2 million views and climbing, this is now the most-popular post in this account’s five-year history.
I’m flying high with excitement, I hope I never crash!
The skeleton of MI-6 intelligence officer Sir Peregrine Henniker-Heaton is found sitting in an armchair in his home in London, three years after his disappearance on October 5, 1971.
Ivor Bell, leader of the Provisional IRA terrorist group in Northern Ireland, walks out of Maze Prison in Belfast only seven weeks after capture.
Bell stole a release form, posed as another prisoner, and simply walked away.
The Indians join the Rangers to defend against the fans with baseball bats, and they successfully hold off under siege conditions for 20 minutes until Cleveland Police arrive to restore orders.
It is considered one of the greatest sports disasters of all time.
Three men, US Airforce Airmen Dale Shelby Pierre, William Andrews, and Keith Roberts rob a Hi-Fi store in Ogden, Utah.
They take five hostages and force them to drink bleach and insert pens into their ears. Then, the three Airmen rape their victims and fatally shoot them.
In an effort to save energy, President Nixon bans gasoline sales on Sundays across the United States.
Pictured is a lone car on the road in Portland, Oregon.
South Korean President Park Chung Hee issues an emergency declaration making it illegal to “oppose, misrepresent, or defame” him. The South Korean press immediately stops reporting on him.