Tuesday, May 20, 1975. Seas of blood.

The Khmer Rouge began to purge Cambodians associated with the former government, a move that would feature mass execution.

This is commonly viewed as the beginning of the Cambodian Genocide.

The House of Representatives voted 303-96 to admit women to the previously all-male service academies.   The move was quite controversial at the time.

The Senate would follow suit, with the first women entering the academies in the summer of 1976.

The final episode of the police series Adam-12 was broadcast.

The series had run for 12 years, and in many ways formed the concept for those raised in the 60s, and even the 70s, as to what being a policeman was all about.  Much more gritty television police dramas, and even comedies, would come in during the 70s and change much of that view.

Last episode.

Monday, May 19, 1975. Executive Order 11860—Establishing the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Executive Orders, Gerald Ford, It was because of the Vietnam War, Refugees

Sunday, May 11, 1975. Celebrating a peace that wasn't.

A photograph of doves and an Asian woman for the celebration.  In reality, the PAVN and Cambodians were already fighting.  The Khmer Rouge was murdering people and sending the entire population into the countryside, and the Pathet Lao were getting ready to murder the Hmong.

A celebration organized by anti war figure and songwriter Phil Ochs marked the end of the Vietnam War, which of course by necessary implication marked the South Vietnamese defeat.  The event in Central park included performances by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Paul Simon.

The ironies are thick, as the poster above portrays. Rather than smiling Vietnamese women, there were thousands of South Vietnamese going into an uncertain future that included "reeducation", although this time the Communists in Vietnam did not commit mass murders.  The Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao, however, were about to.

A partial solar eclipse was visible in Greenland, Europe, north Africa and north Asia.

Last edition:

Saturday, May 10, 1975. Cambodian aggression.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Cambodia, Cambodian–Vietnamese War, North Vietnamese Army, Peoples Army of Vietnam, Vietnam War

Friday, April 18, 1975. Executing the radicals.

Hang Thun Hak, 48 year old former radical Socialist Prime Minister of Cambodia was executed by the Khmer Rouge.  He'd been in the far left himself and had contacts with the Khmer Rouge, none of which saved him, with execution of left wing radicals actually being common amongst Communist.

The NVA took Phan Thiết.

Van McCoy released The Hustle.

ZZ Top released Fandango!

Last edition:

Thursday, April 17, 1975. The fall of Phnom Penh.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, 1978, 1979, Cambodia, Cambodian Civil War, Cambodian genocide, Cambodian Vietnamese War, Communism, Espionage, Khemr Rouge, Phnom Penh, Royal Australian Air Force, Vietnam, Vietnam War

Thursday, April 17, 1975. The fall of Phnom Penh.

Khmer Rouge cadres marched into Phnom Penh, forced all residents out of their homes, marched them into the countryside, and began mass murders.

Around 2,000,000 Cambodians would die during the Cambodian genocide which only ended when the Vietnamese Army conquered Cambodia during the Cambodian Vietnamese War.

A CIA spy inside the North Vietnamese government inner circle informed the US Embassy in Saigon that the North would not negotiated, which was pretty obvious by this point anyway.

The last flight of the RAAF out of Vietnam took place, thereby taking a total of 270 Vietnamese civilians to Thailand.

Last edition:

Wednesday, April 16, 1975. Ford denounces Congress.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, 94th Congress, Egypt, Gerald Ford, USSR, Vietnam, Vietnam War