The one millionth run in Major League Baseball history was scored by Bob Watson of the Houston Astros.
The Khmer Rouge seized control of South Vietnam's Phú Quốc Island.
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The ARVN surrendered in the Battle of Long Xuyên, An Giang, the last South Vietnamese soldiers to do so.
Heavily criticized throughout the American period of involvement in the war, the ARVN had been engaged in fighting prior to largescale US involvement and while its conscript troops often did lack motivation, it's best units were good. The final fighting in 1972 demonstrated both qualities, with the ARVN coming apart in the northernmost section of South Vietnam, but putting up a stout fight outside of and in Saigon. Frankly, the American Army had enormously declined in quality during the war and by the time the US withdrew in 1972 it was largely an ineffective fighting force.
Henry Kissinger wrote a memo:
25 year old Smokey the Bear, a black bear at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was retired from service as a living symbol of fire prevention.
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ARVN troops in Cần Thơ surrendered to the VC following the suicide of Gen. Nguyễn Khoa Nam, age 48, Major General of IV Corps in Cần Thơ. This effectively brought organized resistance to the VC and NVA almost to an end after twenty years of combat. The country remains, of course, under the regime that won the war.
Quân VNCH ở Cần Thơ đầu hàng VC sau cái chết của Tướng Nguyễn Khoa Nam, 48 tuổi, Thiếu tướng Quân đoàn IV ở Cần Thơ. Điều này đã khiến cho sự kháng cự có tổ chức chống lại VC và Bắc Việt gần như chấm dứt một cách hiệu quả sau hai mươi năm chiến đấu. Tất nhiên, đất nước vẫn nằm dưới chế độ đã thắng trong chiến tranh.
Les troupes de l'ARVN à Cần Thơ se sont rendues au VC suite au suicide du général Nguyễn Khoa Nam, 48 ans, major général du IVe Corps à Cần Thơ. Cela a effectivement mis fin à la résistance organisée au VC et à la NVA après vingt ans de combat. Le pays reste bien entendu sous le régime qui a gagné la guerre.
By this point, I'd quit tracking the war on my National Geographic map of Vietnam. There came to be no point.
Khmer Rouge forces landed on Phú Quốc which was claimed by Cambodia but controlled by South Vietnam. It was also the location of a large South Vietnamese POW camp.
Hank Aaron broke the career record for RBIs.
The New York Stock Exchange dropped the requirement of a fixed commission for stock transactions following pressure to do so from the SEC.
Footnotes:
*Google Translate text. I don't speak Vietnamese.
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U.S Consul Francis Terry McNamara met with ARVN Major General Nguyễn Khoa Nam about the plans to evacuate U.S consulate employees, some American civilians and some Vietnamese employees by boat. General Nam didn't want any members of the ARVN to be included, so they could remain and fight.
A North Vietnamese air raid on Tan Son Nhut Air Base caused half of the fixed winged aircraft to be evacuated from the air base.
The RVNAF launched a helicopter attack on VC troops who were attempting to occupy the Newport Bridge, which was followed by a ground attack.
President Dương Văn Minh made an inaugural speech about the struggle of the South Vietnam military and finding ways for the peace to end the war. He ordered the ARVN to hold all remaining ground and urged the South Vietnamese to stay in the country pending a ceasefire which he promised would keep South Vietnam separate from the north.
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Duong Van Minh, "Big Minh" was unanimously elected as President of South Vietnam by the South Vietnamese National Assembly, and authorized to negotiate a peace agreement with the Viet Cong and with North Vietnam. "
Tran Van Huong refused to step aside as President, however.
A career Army office, Minh had joined the French Army early in World War Two and had been captured by the Japanese. He subsequently joined the French supported Vietnamese National Army and became aprionser of the Viet Minh. After the Paris Peace Accords he's advocated for Vietnam to be reunited as neither a right wing or Communist nation. He was regarded as a friendly South Vietnamese politician by the Communists and therefore was allowed to return to his villa after the South Vietnamese surrender, which he orchestrated. In 1983 he moved to France, and then in 1988 to the US. He remained silent about the war after the 1975 surrender.
He died in 2001, unlamented by the Vietnamese diaspora, who blamed him for the South Vietnamese surrender.
The NVA took Nam Yet Island, Ba Ria Town, and the entire Phuoc Tuy Province.
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The U.S. Embassy in Saigon decided that to signal "Evacuation Day" for Americans, the Defense Attaché Office (DAO) radio station would broadcast the phrase "the temperature is 105 degrees and rising" followed by playing Bing Crosby's recording of the song "White Christmas".
The last Australians, including their ambassador, were evacuated by the RAAF.
91.7% of eligible Portuguese voters turned out for the first multiparty election in the country in nearly fifty years. The Socialist Party won 116 of the 250 seats, Social Democrats won 81 and the Portuguese Communist Party 30 seats.
There had been real fears the Communist Party would win.
The Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre raided a branch of the Banco de Comercio at Villa Coapa, Mexico City, killing six police who were guarding the bank. They killed two more policemen and two bystanders in their escape.
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The last Pan Am flight out of South Vietnam occured.
Episode 4: Evacuation of Saigon, Wings of Freedom Mission
Six terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang (the "Red Army Faction") seized the West German embassy in Sweden. They took eleven hostages and demanded the release of Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, which the German government refused. They after killed two of the hostages before a bomb they took in the embassy accidentally exploded, allowing the hostages to escape and fatally injuring two of the terrorists.
The Swedish army took the rest prisoner.
The change in policy on negotiations with terrorists marked the beginning of the decline of domestic terrorism directed at West Germany.
Colorado Attorney General Joyce Murdoch invalidated all six marriage licenses for same-sex marriages that had been issued by Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex.
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The new President of South Vietnam, Trần Văn Hương, proposed a ceasefire in the fighting and negotiations, a really delusional proposition given that the NVA was about to take Saigon.
Huong was a politician who had been into a family so poor, that his parents had given him away to be raised by foster parents. He initially was a teacher. He had been a member of the Việt Minh but left when Communist domination became too strong in the organization. Unlike many of his fellows, he remained in Vietnam, even after he was imprisoned following the war.
The Department of Justice made plans to admit 130,000 Vietnamese refugees into the US.
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The ARVN, which had fought hard at Xuân Lộc, finally abandoned the city and retreated toward Saigon.
President Thiệu resigned, leaving the government in the hands of Vice President Trần Văn Hương.
He was a career army officer who interestingly started off in the Việt Minh, in which he rose to be a district chief. He left them, however when it became obvious they were Communist and were committing atrocities. He enrolled in the French controlled Vietnamese governments Merchant Marine Academy but rejected a position on a ship when he discovered that the French owners were going to pay him less than his French colleagues. He thereafter transferred to the National Military Academy in Đà Lạt, graduating in 1949. He was part of the junta that overthrew Ngô Đình Diệm in 1963, after having prevented a coup a few years earlier. He was elected President in 1967 after the US insisted on democratic elections. He was reelected in 1971, as the only candidate running, as opponents believed the polls would be rigged. His resignation speech was a whopping two hours long, but did include the memorable lines,"I resign, but I do not desert."
He was a convert to Catholicism.
He died on September 29, 2001, in Boston. In Hawaii to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife Mai Anh, the September 11 attacks impacted him psychology and contributed to his death which occurred after his return to his home in Boston.
Kissinger bizarrely believed that his resignation would lead to a negotiation to save Saigon, which is something that apparently his successor, Dương Văn Minh, also believed would occur.
The last New Zealanders at their embassy in South Vietnam were evacuated from the country.
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President Ford requested Congress to provide South Vietnam: $722 million in military aid and $250 million for economic aid, an absolutely massive amount in 1975 dollars. He also asked for the lifting of Case-Church restrictions in the event U.S. military intervention became necessary to help American citizens in Vietnam. He asked for a response by April 17. . Congress declined and expressed doubt that the aid could arrive in time to be useful, which, quite frankly, absent direct American intervention, was probably correct.
His appeal reinforced by recent successes by the ARVN at Xuan Loc and in IV CORPS. Units of the ARVN were fighting well.
We also start today with a surprising recollection by the Department of Defense recalling events that commenced on this day in 1975.
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The legislature of the Kingdom of Sikkim voted to become part of India.
Lee Elder became the first African American to play in the Masters.
The Masters must be played surprisingly early in the year.
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