July 1975

July 1, 1975 (Tuesday)

• CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, went into effect after being ratified by the 10th nation that had signed on March 3, 1973, representing the first international agreement to protect wildlife and plants from extinction as a result of poaching and trade.
• ARPANET, predecessor to the Internet, was declared fully operational and under the control of the Defense Communications Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Defense.
• Former U.S. President Richard Nixon said, in an affidavit to federal court, that he had secretly begun taping Oval Office conversations at the suggestion of his predecessor, President Lyndon Johnson, who had said that the tapes "had proved to be exceedingly valuable in preparing his memoirs, and he urged that I re-install the recording devices". The affidavit was filed as part of Nixon's suit seeking custody of his records, including the tape recordings, some of which had proved he had ordered a coverup of the Watergate investigation.
• As the 1976 fiscal year began, New York City announced the firing of 37,000 city employees in order to save $1.2 billion from the city budget. Laid off were 5,000 police, 2,100 firefighters, 3,000 garbage collectors, 10,000 health workers and 17,000 people in education.
• The Australian Postmaster-General's Department was split forming The Australian Telecommunications Commission and The Australian Postal Commission
• American advice columnist Ann Landers, known for years for her suggestions to save unhappy marriages, announced in her column that she and her husband of 36 years, Jules, were going to divorce.
• Born: Sufjan Stevens, American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist; in Detroit, Michigan

  July 2, 1975 (Wednesday)

• Deputy Australian Prime Minister Jim Cairns was fired by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam after being accused of improper activity in obtaining foreign loans for Australia. Australia's Parliament voted 55-33 on July 14 to accept the firing.
• A young child fishing with his father discovered the body of Donald Watt Cressey, the senior cook at Old Faithful Lodge, who had died on the night of June 29-30 in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park. Only partial remains could be recovered. Cressey had died in the same hot spring in which Brian Parsons, also a Yellowstone park concessioner employee, had been fatally burned in July 1967. After Cressey's death the hot spring was named "Dead Savage Spring" by the U.S. Geological Survey, "savage" being Yellowstone jargon for a park concessioner employee.
• Died: James Robertson Justice, 68, British character actor

  July 3, 1975 (Thursday)

• Barriers against the hiring of gay and lesbian people, as employees of the United States government, were ended, by order of the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Previously, employment could be denied to a homosexual person on grounds of "possible embarrassment to the federal service". The Commission ruled that, as with any other government employee, "there must be some rational connection between the individual's conduct and the efficiency of the service".

  July 4, 1975 (Friday)

• A bomb inside an abandoned refrigerator killed 13 people and injured 72 in Jerusalem's Zion Square in the worst terrorist attack on Israelis since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Most of the casualties were Jewish shoppers who were making their purchases on the eve of the Sabbath. Explosives had been placed inside of the refrigerator that had been set by terrorists in front of a toy store. A Palestinian guerilla group claimed responsibility.
• Billie Jean King defeated Evonne Goolagong to win the Wimbledon women's singles championship. The 6-0, 6-1 win was the most one-sided women's final since 1951. King announced afterward that she was retiring from singles' tournaments to concentrate on her professional league, World Team Tennis.
• Sydney newspaper publisher and heiress, Juanita Nielsen, disappeared after leaving her office at 11:00 am for a luncheon appointment that she never kept. Her handbag was found on July 14 nearby in Penrith. Nielsen published NOW, and had been a crusader against the demolition of a historic part of the city. She was never seen again.
• Born: John Lloyd Young, American actor, winner of Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, 2006, for Jersey Boys; in Sacramento, California

  July 5, 1975 (Saturday)

• Cape Verde gained independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule of the 15 inhabited islands off of the coast of West Africa. At Praia, Portugal's Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves turning over power to National Assembly President Abilio Duarte. Later in the day, the assembly elected Aristides Pereira as President and Pedro Pires as Prime Minister.
• Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating the #1 ranked Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7 and 6-4.
• Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano erupted after 25 years of inactivity, toward the city of Hilo.
• Dmitri Shostakovich completed his final composition, Opus 147 Sonata for viola and piano. He would die five weeks later on August 9.
• The Shia Amal militia, founded by Imam Musa al-Sadr, was being instructed on the use of landmines and explosives by the al Fatah branch of the PLO in Lebanon, when the lesson went horribly wrong. A huge explosion killed 42 of the fighters, and wounded more than 80.
• Born:
• *Hernán Crespo, Argentinian footballer; in Florida, Buenos Aires
• *Ai Sugiyama, Japanese tennis player, one time WTA #1 ranked doubles' player; in Yokohama
• Died:
• *Otto Skorzeny, 67, Nazi Germany colonel who carried out the Gran Sasso raid, the rescue of Benito Mussolini from prison
• *Pavlo Virsky, 70, Soviet Ukrainian choreographer

  July 6, 1975 (Sunday)

• The Chamber of Deputies of the French colony of the Comoros Islands voted 33-0 to declare independence from France. One island, Mayotte, would remain a French overseas department.
• Ruffian, an American champion filly thoroughbred racehorse who had won the 1975 Triple Tiara, American rapper; in New York City

  July 7, 1975 (Monday)

• The U.S. state of Alaska had its highest recorded temperatures ever, with the capital at Juneau registering at for the first time, a mark that has not been exceeded since then. Other high temperatures registered that day were 86° at Fairbanks and at Sitka, but only 68° at Anchorage. By contrast, Miami Beach, Florida, was slightly cooler than Juneau, with a high of 89°.
• The play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, by Ntozake Shange, often shortened to For Colored Girls, was given its first public performance, at New York City's Studio Rivbea. In 1976, it would begin an 867 performance run on Broadway, at the Booth Theatre.
• Died:
• *W. V. D. Hodge, 72, Scottish mathematician who developed Hodge theory, the geometry of the differentiable manifold
• *Jacob Bjerknes, 77, American meteorologist
• *Ruffian, 3, American racehorse
• *George Morgan, 51, American country music singer, father of Lorrie Morgan, and inductee of Country Music Hall of Fame.

  July 8, 1975 (Tuesday)

• U.S. President Gerald R. Ford announced that he would run for President of the United States in 1976, in his first try for national office. Ford, described as "the first unelected President" because he had not run for either the Presidency or the Vice-Presidency, had succeeded Richard Nixon after having been appointed U.S. Vice-President in 1974.
• An earthquake in the Burmese city of Bagan, ancient capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, damaged most of the important structures dating from the 13th Century, many beyond repair, and 80 percent of the city's Buddhist temples.

  July 9, 1975 (Wednesday)

• Four months before the November 11 date set for Angola to become independent from Portugal, the separate liberation organizations began fighting among themselves, as the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, led by Agostinho Neto, attacked the capital at Luanda, which was under the control of the National Liberation Front of Angola, led by Holden Roberto. The Soviet Union would send aid and Cuba would send troops to support the MPLA, while the United States would support FNLA and South Africa would send troops. The MPLA would be successful in taking over Luanda, and Neto would become Angola's first President.
• Dutch photographer and artist Bas Jan Ader departed on a yacht from Cape Cod, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts in an attempt to make an unassisted voyage from west to east of the North Atlantic Ocean. He was never seen in public again. His unmanned boat, Ocean Wave would be found on April 18, 1976, partially capsized, about southwest of Ireland.
• The National Assembly of Senegal passed a law providing for a multi-party system of government, albeit highly restricted and under government control.
• The British rock band The Rolling Stones began a five-night run of sold-out concerts at the Los Angeles Forum as part of their 1975 Tour of The Americas.
• Born:
• *Jack White, American alternative rock musician and founder of The White Stripes; in Detroit
• *Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler; in Orangeburg, South Carolina

  July 10, 1975 (Thursday)

• A ceasefire, mediated by the Organization of African Unity, was reached between the African nations of Upper Volta, and its bordering nations of Mali and Niger.
• Foreign Minister James Callaghan of the United Kingdom flew to Uganda to personally request Ugandan dictator Idi Amin to release Briton Denis Hills, who had been threatened with execution for his criticism of Amin. Hills and Callaghan would leave Uganda the next day.
• Born: Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor best known for his role as Robbie Rotten on the show LazyTown, as well as his popularity as an Internet meme throughout Reddit and multiple other websites; in Hafnarfjörður