Flashback to 1972 - A Timeline of Life in America

[Music] 1972 was an interesting year so much was going on politically with the drawdown in vietnam watergate and rising security threats with airline hijackings that many of the other events sometimes get forgotten the year brought us the start of the video game era epic new movies and a record-breaking performance at the munich olympics by a u.s swimmer there was a lot going on to say the least which is what makes 1972 such a memorable year [Music] on january 8th the ncaa made freshman athletes eligible to play in its two biggest team sports basketball and football before freshmen were eligible to play on varsity they played on junior varsity teams no matter how dominant they might be in their sport the consensus for decades was that freshmen were not ready to compete at the varsity level especially in football on january 14th the nbc television show sanford and son premiered the funny yet controversial show featured red fox as junk shop owner fred sanford who with his son lamont dealt with the hardships of living in poverty during the 1970s on february 5th all u.s airlines began mandatory inspections of passengers and their baggage looking for weapons and explosives this was in response to rising airline hijackings across the globe [Music] the week of february 14th saw john lennon and yoko ono co-hosting the syndicated mike douglas show for the entire week meant to bridge a generational gap john and yoko brought a modern hip edge to the program that was for the most part viewed by a much older and conservative audience the pair performed on the program on each day and also welcomed a variety of guests including one of john lennon's personal musical heroes and influences the great chuck berry on february 21st richard nixon became the first u.s president to visit china normalizing relations between the countries in a meeting with chinese leader mao zedong in beijing [Music] on march 24th the movie the godfather was released in theaters the three-hour long epic movie was adapted from the best-selling book of the same name by mario puzo [Music] on march 28th nba legend will chamberlain played his final professional basketball game throughout his career he played for the philadelphia and san francisco warriors the philadelphia 76ers and the los angeles lakers his final game was against the new york knicks which the lakers lost but chamberlain scored a dunk with just one second remaining which was a fitting end to a phenomenal career on april 16th two giant pandas named lingling and sing-sing arrived in washington dc the pandas were gifts to the u.s and in direct response to the diplomacy shown by the nixon administration following their visit to china americans instantly adopted them in an outpouring of affection called pandemonium on may 15th during an outdoor rally in maryland governor and democratic presidential candidate george wallace was shot by 21 year old arthur brimmer three others were wounded and wallace was permanently paralyzed from the waist down on june 12th the first popeyes opened outside new orleans louisiana initially it was named chicken on the run but a few months later the owner al copeland reopened the restaurant as popeye's mighty good chicken the watergate scandal began early in the morning of june 17th when burglars were arrested in the office of the democratic national committee located in the watergate complex in washington d.c the men involved were connected to nixon's re-election campaign and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents on june 27th home computer video game company atari was founded by nolan bushnell and ted dabney in sunnyvale california their first video game pong was the first commercially successful video game and led to the start of the video game industry on july 27th the f-15 fighter jet took to the skies for the first time the mcdonald douglas-built aircraft became the most superior fighter plane in military history originally designed as an air-to-air fighter the f-15 evolved to become the air force's most capable multi-role aircraft on august 12th the last u.s combat ground unit departed south vietnam this left only 43 500 advisers airmen and support troops left in the country [Music] on september 3rd american swimmer mark spitz won the coveted 100 meter gold medal in world record time at the munich olympics mark spitz would go on to become the first athlete to win seven gold medals at a single olympics the very first episode of the price is right hosted by bob barker aired on september 4th the cbs show offered up a fur coat as the first prize and the winning bid of 350 got the first contestant up on stage [Music] on september 17th the tv comedy mash which was adapted from the movie also premiered on cbs the show starred alan alda loretta swit wayne rogers and maclean stevenson and followed a group of medics and surgeons during the korean war taking a lighthearted look at a serious topic [Music] on september 24th a vintage f-86 fighter aircraft leaving an air show at the sacramento executive airport failed to take off and crashed into a farrell's ice cream parlor the plane skidded across a road and slammed into the ice cream parlor that was crowded with 100 people 12 children and 11 adults were killed in the accident on october 16th country singer loretta lynn made history becoming the first female ever to win the country music association's entertainer of the year award her signature song coal miner's daughter along with the release of her 21st solo album here i am again helped to earn the award on november 7th a paid programming channel called home box office first began airing hbo started by airing paul newman's 1971 movie sometimes a great notion on december 16th the miami dolphins became the first undefeated nfl team in nfl history the dolphins went 14-0 during the regular season and would go on to win the super bowl against the washington redskins closing out the year on december 30th president richard nixon halted bombing of north vietnam and announced peace talks for nearly two weeks prior the united states bombed north vietnam in what was called the christmas bombings and the effort brought north vietnam back to the table to work out a peace deal you

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 113,135

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, abandoned, 20th century, 1972, watergate, miami dolphins, giant pandas, nixon china, f-15, sanford and son, the godfather, atari, nolan bushnell, pong, mark spitz, munich olympics, mash, hbo

Id: 39eT4hRToBM

Length: 8min 7sec (487 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 05 2021