November 6 - Agustín Lara, Mexican composer and poet (b. 1900)
November 21 - Newsy Lalonde, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
November 25 - Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer (b. 1925)
December 23 - Charles Ruggles, American actor (b. 1886)
December 26 - Lillian Board, British athlete (b. 1948)
December 29 - Marie Menken, American experimental filmmaker and socialite (b. 1909)
December 30 - Sonny Liston, American boxer (b. 1932)
Events
January 12 - Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war.
January 15 - After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
January 15 - Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
January 16 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
January 31 - A Saskatchewan Court convicts 17-year-old hippie David Milgaard of murder; he is sentenced to life in prison. He spent 23 years in jail until April 14, 1992 when DNA evidence proves him innocent of all charges.
February 15 - A Dominican DC-9 crashes into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.
February 18 - The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
February 21 - Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
February 24 - National Public Radio is founded in the United States.
February 26 - National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation.
March 2 - Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.
March 5 - The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
March 5 - Dubnium atoms are first detected conclusively.
March 10 - Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged with My Lai war crimes.
March 15 - The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Osaka, Japan.
March 17 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
March 18 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
March 21 - The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
March 21 - Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski-jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes that of the "agony of defeat guy" in the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports.
March 27 - The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight.
March 31 - Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere (after 12 years in orbit).
March 31 - Nine terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb.
April 1 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
April 6 - Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed.
April 13 - An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon.
April 17 - Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
April 21 - The Hutt River Province Principality secedes from Australia.
April 24 - The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
April 24 - The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President.
April 28 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
April 29 - Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
May 1 - Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
May 4 - Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: the Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, open fire killing four students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the United States' invasion of Cambodia.
May 8 - The Hard Hat riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with anti-war demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
May 9 - Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protesters demonstrate in front of the White House.
May 10 - The Boston Bruins win their first Stanley Cup since 1941 when Bobby Orr makes an overtime winning goal followed by a leap in the air that would become one of the most famous photographs in hockey
May 11 - Henry Marrow is murdered in a violent racially-motivated crime in Oxford, North Carolina.
May 11 - The Lubbock Tornado: An F5 tornado hits downtown Lubbock, Texas, killing 26.
May 14 - The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
May 15 - President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals.
May 15 - Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
May 17 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
May 23 - A fire breaks out in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and causing approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
May 24 - The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.
May 26 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
May 28 - The formerly united Free University of Brussels officially splits into two separate entities, the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
May 31 - The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
June 4 - Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
June 5 - Chile becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
June 11 - After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
June 13 - "The Long and Winding Road" becomes the Beatles' last Number 1 song.
June 19 - The Patent Cooperation Treaty is signed.
July 1 - President General Yahya Khan abolished One-Unit of West Pakistan restoring the provinces.
July 3 - A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 113 people.
July 5 - Air Canada Flight 621 crashes near Toronto International Airport killing 109 people.
July 8 - Richard Nixon delivers special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act.
July 21 - After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
July 23 - Qaboos ibn Sa’id becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Sa’id ibn Taimur.
July 31 - Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
August 7 - California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
August 17 - Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
August 29 - Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Ruben Salazar.
September 1 - Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerillas, who attacked his motorcade.
September 2 - NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation was re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
September 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: the United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien province.
September 6 - Two passenger jets bound from Europe to New York are simultaneously hijacked by Palestinian terrorist members of PFLP and taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
September 7 - Fighting between Arabic guerillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan.
September 7 - Bill Shoemaker sets record for most lifetime wins as a jockey (passing Johnny Longden).
September 8 - Hijacking (and subsequent destruction) of three airliners to Jordan by Palestinians; the events to follow would later become known as Black September
September 9 - A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
September 11 - 88 of the hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings are released. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25.
September 12 - Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman.
September 17 - Fighting breaks out along the Syria-Jordanian border between Jordanian troops and the fedayeen.
September 18 - Jimi Hendrix found dead in his hotel room in London
September 19 - The first Glastonbury Festival is held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, United Kingdom.
September 20 - Syrian tanks roll into Jordan in response to continued fighting between Jordan and the fedayeen. The Jordanians knock out 30 of the Syrian tanks.
September 21 - New York Times starts first modern op-ed page.
September 22 - Tunku Abdul Rahman resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
September 25 - Cease-fire between Jordan and the fedayeen ends fighting triggered by four hijackings on September 6 and 9.
September 26 - The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
September 30 - Jordan makes a deal with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for the release of the remaining hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings.
October 2 - A plane carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado killing 31 people.
October 5 - Montreal, Quebec: British Trade Commissioner James Cross is kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
October 8 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion".
October 9 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
October 10 - In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
October 12 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
October 15 - Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
October 15 - Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt.
October 16 - In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act.
October 17 - Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
October 20 - Siad Barre declares Somalia a socialist state.
October 22 - Tunku Abdul Rahman resign from Prime Minister of Malaysia.
October 25 - The wreck of Confederate submarine Hunley was found off Charleston, South Carolina, by pioneer underwater archaeologist, Dr. E. Lee Spence, then just 22 years old. Hunley was the first submarine to sink a ship in warfare.
October 28 - Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.
October 30 - In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November 1 - A fire at a dance hall in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 144 young people.
November 4 - Genie, a 13 year old feral child is found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.
November 5 - Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
November 9 - Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 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 10 - The Soviet Lunar probe Lunokhod 1 is launched.
November 12 - The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous exploding whale incident.
November 13 - Bhola cyclone: A 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. This is regarded as the 20th century's worst natural disaster.
November 14 - Southern Airways Flight 932 crashes in the mountains near Huntington, West Virginia, killing 75, including members of the Marshall University football team.
November 17 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
November 17 - Luna program: 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 was released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
November 17 - Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse.
November 18 - U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the Congress of the United States for $155 million USD in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.
November 25 - In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and two compatriots commit ritualistic suicide after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
November 26 - In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1.5 inches (38.1mm) of rain fall in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever on record.
December 2 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
December 3 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Canadian government grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
December 5 - Premiere of Dario Fo's Morte accidentale di un anarchico.
December 7 - The first ever general election on the basis of direct adult franchise is held in Pakistan for 313 National Assembly seats.
December 15 - Illinois State Constitution is adopted at a special election.
December 15 - South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsized off Korean Strait, 308 killed.
December 17 - Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
