Major Stories

January 21: The supersonic transport Concorde enters commercial service.

January 30: Former Texas congressman George Bush is named the new Director of the CIA by President Ford.

February 4: A devastating earthquake in Guatemala kills more than 25,000 and leaves a quarter of the population homeless.

April 5: James Callaghan becomes prime minister of Britain.

July 2: North and South Vietnam are officially reunited with Hanoi as the capital.

July 4: Year-long Bicentennial celebrations in the United States reach a height on the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

July 20: Viking I lands on Mars and begins sending back the first pictures from the surface of another planet.

July 28: An 8.2 earthquake, the worst of the century, shatters 20 square miles around Tangshan, China, leaving over 650,000 dead.

August 1: The Summer Olympics in Montreal end leaving the city more than $1B in debt.

August 18: A clash in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea leaves two American soldiers dead.

September 9: Mao Zedong of China dies.