38 Years Ago

In honor of my wife's birthday, here are some notable events from the year she was born, 1970:

January 5 - The first episode of All My Children is broadcast on the ABC television network.



March 25 - The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight (700 mph/1127 km/h).

April 1 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, banning cigarette television advertisements in the United States.



April 1 - American Motors Corporation introduces the Gremlin.



April 10 - Paul McCartney announces that the Beatles have disbanded, while at the same press conference, announcing the release of his first solo album.

April 22 - The first Earth Day is celebrated in the U.S.

May 4 - Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and nine wounded by Ohio State National Guardsmen at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia.



May 9 - In Washington, D.C., 100,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War.

June 10 - U.S. President Richard Nixon signs a measure lowering the voting age to 18.

September 11 - The Ford Pinto is introduced.



September 13 - The first New York City Marathon begins.

September 18 - Jimi Hendrix dies from choking on his own vomit while unconscious due to a barbiturate overdose in London.



October 4 - Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 27.



October 5 - The Public Broadcasting Service begins broadcasting.

October 26 - Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury debuts in approximately two dozen newspapers in the United States.



October 28 - Gary Gabelich drives the rocket-powered Blue Flame to an official world land speed record of 622.287 mph (1,001.452863 km/h) on the dry lake bed of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The record, the first above 1,000 km/h, stands for nearly 13 years.

November 3 - Democrats sweep the U.S. Congressional midterm elections; Ronald Reagan is reelected governor of California; Jimmy Carter is elected governor of Georgia.

December 23 - The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world.