April 1976

April 1, 1976 (Thursday)

• Apple Computer Company was formed in the United States by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, in Cupertino, California. Wayne sold his 10 percent share in the company to Jobs and Wozniak eleven days later.
• Conrail began operations in the United States. It had been created by the U.S. government to take control of 13 major Class-1 railroads in the northeastern United States following bankruptcy proceedings.
• British astronomer Patrick Moore spoke on BBC Radio 2, on the subject of the "Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect", an April Fool's Day hoax. Moore, a popular radio and television personality, told listeners that at 9:47 that morning, the alignment of Jupiter and Pluto would produce a combination of gravitational forces sufficient to decrease Earth's gravity for a moment and that if they jumped up and down at that moment, they would feel a sensation of floating. Moore's reputation was such that the BBC received hundreds of calls from listeners who said that they jumped in the air had noticed the non-existent effect.
• A mid-air collision was narrowly averted between two passenger jets that were carrying a total of 181 people at the airport in Spokane, Washington, when the pilot of Hughes Airwest Flight 5, a DC-9, was able to veer suddenly during his landing approach to avoid colliding with Northwest Airlines Flight 603, a DC-10 jumbo jet that had just departed the airport. The Northwest flight had 111 people on board when it was at an altitude of and encountered the faster-moving Hughes Airwest flight, and the two aircraft were within of each other before the disaster was averted.
• A cult following for The Rocky Horror Picture Show began with the inauguration of a regular midnight showing of the film at the Waverly Theatre in New York City, and audience participation with shouting at the characters on the screen and the use of props.
• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission becomes the regulator of Canadian television and radio.
• The New Zealand Fire Service was established, as a result of the New Zealand Fire Service Act.
• Born: David Oyelowo, British actor, in Oxford, to Nigerian parents
• Died: Max Ernst, 84, German Dadaist and surrealist artist

  April 2, 1976 (Friday)

• Norodom Sihanouk resigned as Cambodia's head of state Sihanouk, the former King of Cambodia and head of state until 1970, had been retained as the nominal head of state while being kept under house arrest by the Khmer Rouge at the former royal palace after returning to Democratic Kampuchea in 1975 at the invitation of the nation's new Communist government. According to the state news agency broadcast made later, Sihanouk addressed the new 250-member People's Assembly and said in a speech, "I request the representatives of the people to allow me to retire— while remaining an ardent supporter of the Khmer Revolution, the democratic people, the Presidium and the Government." Prime Minister Khieu Samphan announced that Sihanouk would receive a pension and that "a large statue" would be erected in honor of the former leader. Sihanouk and the new government had a parting of ways after Sihanouk had witnessed conditions in the countryside.
• The Constitution of Portugal, endorsed by voters in a referendum on April 25, was proclaimed to be in effect, creating a parliamentary system and elections contested by candidates from multiple political parties.
• Jean Monnet of France became the first of only three people to receive the honor of Honorary Citizen of Europe, given by the European Council of the European Communities, now the European Union. Monnet had been instrumental in creating the European Coal and Steel Community of five nations in 1952, which became a model prior to the formation of the European Economic Community in 1957.
• In Vancouver, Washington, Douglas A. Wallace, a high priest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ordained an African-American man, Larry Lester, as an Aaronic priest to challenge church doctrine that excluded black persons from serving as priests. The ordination was declared void because Wallace had not sought prior authorization for ordination of a person to the priesthood. The Church revises its policy in 1978.
• Born: Samoëla Rasolofoniaina, Malagasy popular folk music singer and songwriter; in Antananarivo, Madagascar

  April 3, 1976 (Saturday)

• The identities of members of the Organización Primero de Marzo, a guerrilla group fighting against the dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay, were given away when medical student and OPM member Carlos Brañas was captured by border guards in the city of Encarnación while trying to enter the South American nation after crossing over the Paraná River from Argentina. After being found to have OPM documents, Brañas was tortured and revealed the names of most of the organization's members and the location of their headquarters in the nation's capital, Asunción. OPM founder Juan Carlos Da Costa died later that day in a gunbattle with Asunción police, but not before shooting and killing its police commissioner, Alberto Buenaventura Cantero. Two other OPM leaders— Mario Schaerer Prono and his wife Guillermina Kannonikoff— escaped but would later be turned in by a local priest. Over the next several weeks, Paraguayan law enforcement would arrest more than 1,500 people and kill 20 of them.
• The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was held at The Hague, Netherlands, and was won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with "Save Your Kisses for Me".
• The first César Awards, France's version of the Oscar, were presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma at a ceremony at the Palais des congrès de Paris. The award for Best French Film of 1975 went to Le Vieux Fusil, Best Actor went to its star Philippe Noiret and Best Actress went to Romy Schneider for L'important c'est d'aimer.
• Rigoberto Riasco of Panama won the first World Boxing Council super bantamweight championship, defeating Philip Waruinge of Kenya.

  April 4, 1976 (Sunday)

• Large crowds gathered at Beijing's "Monument of the Martyrs" in Tiananmen Square on the traditional Chinese day of mourning, to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems criticising the influential "Gang of Four" were read out loud. The next day, Beijing police removed the tributes; riots ensued and order was not restored until the day after.
• Voting was held in Thailand for the 279 seats of Thailand's House of Representatives, the Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon. Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj of the Social Action Party lost re-election for his seat, and was replaced by his older brother Seni Pramoj, leader of the Thailand Democrat Party that captured a plurality with 114 seats.
• The Cryonics Institute was founded in the Detroit suburb of Clinton Township by Robert Ettinger, with the preservation of the bodies of dead human beings in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of for possible restoration to life at a future time. The Institute would have 188 people in preservation 45 years after its founding, including Ettinger himself after his death in 2011.
• Died:
• *Harry Nyquist, 87, Swedish physicist and specialist in signal processing, for whom the Nyquist stability criterion, the Nyquist rate and the Nyquist frequency were named
• *Boris Ignatovich, 77, Soviet cinematographer and photojournalist

  April 5, 1976 (Monday)

• James Callaghan won the Labour Party leadership election as the members of parliament of the Labour Party vote on the replacement for Harold Wilson as leader of the majority party in the House of Commons and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In the third and final round of balloting among the 313 Labour MPs, Foreign Secretary Callaghan won 176 votes and Secretary of State for Employment Michael Foot received 137.
• A group of 29 Basque separatists incarcerated in Spain escaped from Segovia prison through tunnels they had built to reach the prison's drainage system. Most were recaptured by police and Civil Guards, although one was killed.
• The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph captioned The Soiling of Old Glory was taken by Boston Herald American photojournalist Stanley Forman, as a white teenager used a flagpole with the American flag to attack a black lawyer during protests against busing to achieve desegregation of schools.
• Died:
• *Howard Hughes, 70, U.S. billionaire and recluse; The eccentric Hughes had not been seen in public since 1961, and had become a recluse in 1966 with a permanent residence in the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. He was staying in the 30th-floor penthouse of the Acapulco Princess Hotel in Mexico when he became ill and was placed aboard a chartered Learjet for an emergency flight to Houston. According to a spokesman for the Summa Corporation, the holding company for the various companies owned by the aviator, Hughes died at 1:27 while the plane was approaching its landing in Texas.
• *Wilder Penfield, 85, U.S.-born Canadian neurosurgeon

  April 6, 1976 (Tuesday)

• Italy's ballistic missile program came to an end with the final test launches of its Alfa missile. Because of the high cost of the program in its first three years and Italy's ratification of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the launches would be discontinued afterward.
• South Korea's President Park Chung Hee announced at a meeting of his presidential cabinet that he was beginning a campaign to purify the Korean language in the nation by purging it of foreign words and phrases, most of them imports from English and Japanese. Park declared that "Foreign words are too excessive in our life, such as in advertisements, signboards, radio and TV broadcasting... and even in broadcasting sports," and assigned the Education Minister the role of coordinating the government's changeover to Korean substitute words. Park's previous decrees had been against long hair for men or short skirts for women, as well as putting limits on the amount of money to be spent on weddings and funerals. A deadline was given to merchants to have their signs "Koreanized" by August 4 or to face a month in jail.
• Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, who had been the front-runner in the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States, said in a campaign speech that the federal government should not interfere with the "ethnic purity" of American neighborhoods, raising questions of whether he was a bigot or white supremacist. On the same day, Carter finished as a distant third place competitor in the New York state Democratic primary, with only 33 delegates compared to 107 for Henry M. Jackson and 69 for Morris K. Udall. Carter apologized two days later for using the phrases "ethnic purity", "black intrusion" and "alien groups" in discussing established neighborhoods but said that his intent was to say that he "would not arbitrarily use federal force to move people of different ethnic background into a neighborhood just to change its character," though acknowledging that no plans for moving people had actually been proposed in Congress.
• Removal of Karen Ann Quinlan from life support by her parents became certain after New Jersey Attorney General William F. Hyland announced that he would not appeal the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• The 1976 Gent–Wevelgem cycle race was held in Belgium and was won by Freddy Maertens.
• Two Cuban fishing boats, the Ferro 119 and Ferro 123, were attacked and sunk by a boat operated by Cuban exiles. One crew member was killed and another three were injured.
• William Schuman's Symphony No. 10, commissioned for the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra for the United States Bicentennial celebrations, was given its first performance.
• Born: Candace Cameron, American TV actress known for the TV series Full House and later as a panelist for The View; in the Panorama City neighborhood of Los Angeles
• Died: Luther Skaggs Jr., 53, U.S. Marine and Medal of Honor recipient for his heroism in repelling a Japanese attack during the 1944 Battle of Guam despite being severely wounded