This is a list of important events the occured during 1974. Exact dates are listed when known.

We also have pages on this topic devoted to the 80s and 90s

• Nixon resigns
  Once the articles of impeachment had been drawn up, Nixon was required to release more tapes, which clearly tied him to the Watergate coverup. On August 8th, he resigned.
  
  
• Gerald Ford pardons Nixon
  
  
• Patricia Hearst is abducted
  The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a terrorist group which ordered the wealthy Hearst family to distribute $2 million in free food to the area's poor. After the demands were met, they got a picture of their daughter with a machine gun that stated she was staying on to fight with the group. When she was caught a year later, it was argued that she had been brainwashed. She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prision (later commuted by President Carter).
  
  
• First black model on cover of a major fashion mag
  Beverly Johnson on Vogue
  
  
• Speed limits decreased to 55 mph on highways
  
  
• Heimlich maneuver developed
  
  
• Girls allowed to play in Little League baseball
  
  
• Stephen Hawking proposes new Black Hole theory
  Hawking proposed the theory that radiation was able to escape the pull of a black hole, which ran counter to Einstein's theory that nothing, not even light, can escape the pull of a blackhole.
  
  
• First women priests in the Episcopal Church
  The church declared the ordinations illegal, but in 1976 officially sanctioned women priests in the church.
  
  
• Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie dethroned
  After a famine which killed over 200,000 people and had seen no help from the government, he was over-thrown.
  
  
• Ford grants limited amnesty to draft dodgers
  
  
• Freedom of Information act passed over Ford's veto
  
  
• Election Campaign Act limits contributions
  An individual could no longer contribute more than $1,000. Of course ways were quickly found to get around that limit.
  
  
• The first pocket calculators become widespread
  The introduction of cheap large-scale integrated (LSI) chips made it possible for a calculator to be cheaper and smaller.
  
  
• Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union
  
  
• India tests it's first nuclear bomb
  
  
• Super Tornado Outbreak
  April 3, 1974 148 tornados devestated 13 U.S. States killing some 330 people and leaving over 5,000 injured, it is the largest reported tornado outbreak in world history.
  
  
• Hank Aaron beats Babe Ruth's homerun record
  
  
• Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump
  On Sept 8th 1974 the legendary Evel Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls Idaho.
  
  
• Kootenai Nation Declares War on the United States
  Kootenai Nation small tribe of 67 Indians living in Bonners Ferry, Idaho declared war on the US Government in 1974. The many grievances listed in the document is the Kootenai Tribe never signed an agreement with the US and lands were being taken away without representation of their tribal leadership.
  
  
• Comet Kohoutek
  When first discovered on its approach to Earth, this comet was expected to shine so brightly that it would be easily visible with the naked eye, even during daylight. Its arrival was a spectacular disappointment.
  
  
• Evel Knievel attempts to jump snake river canyon.
  Evel Knievel tries to jumps the canyon but instead falls 600 feet to the ground and suffers only minor injuries
  
  

[1970] [1971] [1972] [1973] =[1974]= [1975] [1976] [1977] [1978] [1979] [1980s] [1990s]

We also have pages on this topic devoted to the 80s and 90s

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