January
4th	Citing executive privilege, U.S. President Richard Nixon refuses to surrender 500 tapes and documents which have been subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee
4th	Joni Lenz is attacked in her bedroom by serial killer Ted Bundy in Washington
6th	In response to the energy crisis, Daylight Saving Time commences nearly 4 months early in the United States
30th	G. Gordon Liddy is found guilty of Watergate charges
30th	In his State of the Union Address, U.S. President Richard Nixon declares, "One year of Watergate is enough."

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February
1st	Fire breaks out in the Joelman Bank Building in São Paulo, Brazil leaving 177 dead, 293 injured. A further 11 die later of their injuries
3rd	In the second Bathurst Gaol riot, prisoners destroy much of the facility with petrol bombs
4th	The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst
8th	After 94 days in outer space, the crew of Skylab 4 returns to Earth
8th	The self-titled debut album from KISS is released
12th	U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt rules that Native American tribes in Washington State are entitled to half of the legal salmon and steelhead catches, based on treaties signed by the tribes and the U.S. government
13th	Nobel Prize winning writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is expelled from the Soviet Union (he returns May 27, 1994)
17th	A stampede at a football ground occurs in Cairo, killing 49
21st	The long-running Japanese comic strip "Sazae-san" is published in the Asahi Shimbun for the final time, after 28 years of daily installments
23rd	The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst
28th	The United Kingdom general election results in an almost dead-heat. Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister again, despite his Labour Party having received fewer votes than the Conservative Party
28th	Ethiopian prime minister Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold, who had held the position since 1961, is dismissed by Emperor Haile Selassie and replaced with Endelkachew Makonnen

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March
1st	Seven former White House officials are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice
1st	Pierre Messmer finishes his first term as Prime Minister of France
3rd	A Turkish Airlines DC-10 travelling from Paris to London crashes in a wood near Paris, killing all 346 aboard
8th	Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France
10th	Japanese World War II soldier, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, surrenders in the Philippines
18th	Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Lancashire
18th	Most OPEC nations end a 5-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan
20th	Ian Ball fails in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace

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April
1st	The Local Government Act 1972 comes into effect in England and Wales, creating six new metropolitan counties and comprehensively redrawing the administrative map
2nd	French President Georges Pompidou dies; Senate President Alain Poher becomes Acting President for the second time
3rd	The Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes in history, hits 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province. By the time the last of 149 tornadoes hit early the following morning, 315 die and over 5,000 are injured
6th	ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England with Waterloo, which would subsequently go on to become the band's first No 1 hit single
10th	In Israel, Golda Meir resigns as Prime Minister
15th	In San Francisco, members of the Symbionese Liberation Army rob a branch of the Hibernia National Bank, joined by Patricia Hearst, their erstwhile captive
24th	Stephen King publishes his first novel, Carrie, under his own name
25th	A coup in Portugal restores democracy

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May
4th	An all female Japanese team summits Manaslu in Nepal, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000 metre peak
4th	The Expo '74 World's Fair opens in Spokane, Washington
4th	Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 to win the FA Cup final at Wembley
7th	West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns
9th	The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon
15th	West German Foreign Minister Walter Scheel is elected President of Germany for a term beginning July 1
16th	Helmut Schmidt is elected West German Chancellor
17th	Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing 6 members, including Camilla Hall
17th	Thirty-three people die and over 300 are wounded in the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings in the Republic of Ireland. Members of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force are behind the blast, allegedly in collusion with members of the British intelligence service
18th	Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the sixth nation to do so
18th	The Warsaw radio mast is completed, the tallest structure ever built (it collapses on August 8, 1991)
19th	In the second round of the presidential elections in France, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing wins over François Mitterrand, but by a close margin
28th	The Italian fascist organization Ordine Nuovo bombs demonstrators in Brescia, killing 6 people
30th	NASA's ATS-6 satellite is launched

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June
1st	An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, UK, kills 28 people
6th	A new Instrument of Government is promulgated, making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy
13th	The 1974 FIFA World Cup begins in West Germany
15th	Members of the fascist National Front clash with leftist counter-protesters in London's West End; one student is killed
17th	A bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament in London, damaging Westminster Hall. The Provisional Irish Republican Army claims responsibility for planting the bomb
26th	The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time, to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio
29th	Isabel Peron becomes interim president of Argentina, when Juan Peron falls seriously ill
30th	Alberta Williams King, mother of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., is shot and killed during a church service in Atlanta, Georgia

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July
1st	Juan Peron, President of Argentina dies. He's succeeded by his wife, Vice President Isabel Peron. She becomes the first female Head of State in South America
7th	Hosts West Germany win the football World Cup, beating Netherlands 2 - 1 in the final
14th	In Issaquah, Washington, serial killer Ted Bundy abducts Janice Ott and Denise Naslund in broad daylight at Lake Sammamish State Park
15th	Christine Chubbuck, U.S. television presenter for WXLT-TV, draws a revolver and shoots herself in the head during a live broadcast. She dies in a hospital 14 hours later
15th	A military coup overthrows President Makarios in Cyprus
17th	An Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the White Tower at the Tower of London, killing 1 person and injuring 41. Another bomb explodes outside a government building in South London
20th	Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after the coup d'etat by EOKA B
22nd	Ethiopian Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen is replaced with Mikael Imru
23rd	The Greek military junta government collapses
24th	Constantine Karamanlis is sworn in as interim Prime Minister of Greece
24th	The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules (United States v. Nixon) that President Richard Nixon can not withhold subpoenaed White House tapes, and orders him to surrender them to the Watergate special prosecutor
27th	The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee adopts 3 articles of impeachment charging President Richard M. Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee

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August
4th	A bomb explodes in an Italicus Expressen train between Italy and West Germany. Italian neo-fascist terrorists take responsibility
5th	The "smoking gun" tape of June 23, 1972, is revealed, in which U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman discuss using the Central Intelligence Agency to block a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into Watergate. Nixon's support in Congress collapses
7th	Three Republican congressional leaders (Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott and John Rhodes) visit President Richard Nixon in the White House. They inform him that he lacks the votes to escape impeachment in the United States House of Representatives and conviction in the Senate
7th	French acrobat Philippe Petit walks across a high wire slung between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York
8th	U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his resignation (effective August 9)
9th	Richard M. Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, an action taken to avoid being removed by impeachment in response to his role in the Watergate scandal. Vice President Gerald R. Ford becomes the 38th President, taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House
14th	Turkey invades Cyprus for the second time, occupying 37% of the island's territory
15th	Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1 is opened
28th	Geir Hallgrímsson becomes Prime Minister of Iceland
30th	An express train bound for Germany from Belgrade derails in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing more than 150 passengers
30th	A Powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. 8 killed, 378 injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested May 19, 1975 by Japanese authorities

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September
1st	Daredevil Bob Gill fails a world-record attempt to jump Appalachia Lake in West Virginia
8th	U.S. President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office
8th	TWA Flight 841 crashes into the Ionian Sea 18 minutes after take off from Athens, after a bomb explodes in the cargo hold, and kills 88 people
12th	Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed by the Derg. The imperial throne is offered to his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen on the condition that the Crown Prince returns to Ethiopia
13th	Japanese Red Army members seize the French Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands. They secure the release of member Yatuka Fumiya, $300,000 and a flight to Aden
23rd	Ceefax is started by the BBC - one of the first public service information systems

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October
5th	The Guildford pub bombings at The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars kill 5 people, and lead to the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of the Guildford Four the next year
8th	Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it was the largest bank failure in the history of the United States
10th	The second United Kingdom general election of the year results in a narrow victory for Labour, still led by Harold Wilson
15th	U.S. President Gerald Ford signs a federal campaign reform bill, which sets new regulations in the wake of the Watergate scandal

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November
7th	A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes at the Kings Arms, Woolwich
8th	Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan disappears in England
8th	In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy
10th	Movement 2 June members try to kidnap Günter von Drenkmann, the president of West Germany's Superior Court of Justice, at his home, but he is fatally shot during the attempt
13th	Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murders his parents and his four siblings in what would later become known as "The Amityville Horror House"
16th	The Arecibo radio telescope sends an interstellar radio message towards the M13 Great Globular Cluster. The message will reach its destination around the year 27000
17th	In Dublin, Ireland, President Erskine H. Childers dies suddenly of a heart attack in the middle of a public speech
20th	The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the break up of AT&T and the Bell System
21st	In Birmingham, England, 2 pubs are bombed, killing 21 people (the Birmingham Six are later sentenced to life in prison for this)
22nd	The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status
24th	A skeleton from the hominid species Australopithecus afarensis is discovered and named Lucy
27th	The Prevention of Terrorism Act is passed in the United Kingdom

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December
1st	A Boeing 727 carrying TWA Flight 514 crashes 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Dulles International Airport during bad weather, killing all 92 people on board
8th	Greek voters reject a proposal to restore the Greek monarchy
19th	Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh becomes the fifth President of Ireland, in a state inauguration in Dublin Castle
19th	Former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States
23rd	Former British minister John Stonehouse, who faked his drowning in Florida, is arrested in Melbourne, Australia
24th	Darwin, Australia is almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy