January
1st	The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research
15th	Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison
16th	The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany
18th	The Scottish Labour Party is formed
19th	Jimmy Carter wins the Iowa Democratic Caucus
21st	The first commercial Concorde flight takes off
27th	The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state
29th	Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in London's West End

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February
4th	The 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria
4th	In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000
5th	Nearly 2,000 students become involved in a racially charged riot at Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida. 30 students are injured in the four-hour fray
11th	Clifford Alexander Jr. is confirmed as the first African-American Secretary of the U.S. Army
13th	General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria was assassinated in a military coup
15th	The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by national referendum
24th	Cuba's current constitution is enacted
26th	Witdrawal of the Spanish Armed Forces in Western Sahara
27th	Western Sahara declares independence
28th	Spain gives up territories in Sahara but retains its enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta

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March
1st	UK Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland
4th	The Maguire Seven are found guilty of possessing explosives and subsequently jailed for 14 years
4th	The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British parliament
9th	A cable-car disaster in Cavalese, Italy leaves 42 dead
16th	Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
17th	Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is retried in New Jersey
20th	Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank
24th	Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Peron
26th	Queen Elizabeth II sends the first royal e-mail
27th	The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens
29th	The military dictatorship of General Jorge Videla comes to power in Argentina

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April
1st	The Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
1st	Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public
1st	Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect first reported by the astronomer Patrick Moore 2nd Norodom Sihanouk forced to resign as Head of State of Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot. Under their control the country becomes known as Cambodia
3rd	The 21st Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song, "Save Your Kisses for Me"
4th	Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest
5th	James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
5th	Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed, provoking a police crackdown
13th	An explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland kills 40
16th	As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women
23rd	The Punk rock group The Ramones release their first self-titled album
25th	Portugal's new constitution is enacted

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May
4th	The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched
4th	A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people
6th	An earthquake hits Friuli area in Italy killing more than 900 people with another 100,000 homeless
9th	Ulrike Meinhof of Red Army Faction is found hanging in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stannheim prison cell
10th	Southampton won The FA cup
25th	U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in three Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon
31st	Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization whom it had previously supported

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June
1st	The UK and Iceland end the Cod War
2nd	A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles
5th	The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people
14th	The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther
16th	The Soweto riots in South Africa begin
20th	Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. ambassador
20th	General elections are held in Italy
20th	Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5-3 on penalties to win Euro 76, after the game ended 2-2 after extra time
26th	The CN Tower is built in Toronto; the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public
27th	Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda

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July
2nd	North and South Vietnam unite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country
3rd	Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment
3rd	The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak
4th	From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
4th	The Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP) leads 50,000 marchers in Philadelphia to demand a "Bicentennial Without Colonies" and independence for Puerto Rico
4th	Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; 1 Israeli soldier and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid
6th	The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD
7th	German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin
10th	Three British and 1 American mercenaries are shot by firing squad in Angola
15th	Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. President at the Democratic National Convention in New York City
17th	The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
17th	East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia
18th	Nadia Comaneci earns the first of seven perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics
20th	The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars
21st	A bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British ambassador to the Irish Republic
26th	In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford
27th	The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda
28th	The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851
29th	In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing 1 and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorise the city for the next year
30th	In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions
31st	NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1
31st	The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses

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August
1st	1st The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II with a President as its head of state
1st	Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix
4th	The first recognised outbreak of Legionnaires' disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia
5th	The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over 9 months
6th	Former UK Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud, theft and forgery
7th	Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars
14th	Ten thousand Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland
14th	The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognised. PAI-Rénovation thus becomes the third legal party in the country
19th	U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City
24th	In Uruguay, the army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Marcelo is later killed and his wife (and unborn child) disappear
25th	Resignation of Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre
26th	First known outbreak of Ebola virus in Yambuku, Zaire
26th	Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, resigns from various posts over a scandal involving alleged corruption in connection with business dealings with the Lockheed corporation

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September
3rd	The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface
6th	Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum from the United States
6th	Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, Nevada, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years
9th	Chairman Mao Zedong, of the People's Republic of China, dies
10th	Zagreb mid-air collision: a British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing all 176 aboard
17th	The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar
20th	The 100 Club Punk Festival in London ignites the careers of several influential punk and gothic rock bands, arguably sparking the Punk Movement's introduction into mainstream culture
21st	Seychelles joins the United Nations
21st	Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet
24th	Patricia Hearst is sentenced to 7 years in prison for her role in a 1974 bank robbery (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months)
25th	The Irish rock band U2 is formed after drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posts a note seeking members for a band on the notice board of his Dublin school

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October
4th	The new Intercity 125 High Speed Train is introduced in the United Kingdom
6th	Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Fidel Castro terrorists, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. All 73 people on board are killed
6th	Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government
6th	In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford stumbles when he declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there was at the time)
12th	The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to Mao Zedong, as Chairman of the Communist Party of China
13th	The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States had a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory)
19th	The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the United States
19th	The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon
19th	The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species
20th	The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, LA to Luling, LA, killing 78 passengers and crew
22nd	Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the fifth President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defense
25th	Clarence Norris, the last known survivor of the Scottsboro Boys, is pardoned

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November
2nd	U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War
15th	The first megamouth shark is discovered off Oahu in Hawaii
19th	Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal
24th	At least 3,840 killed in Richter scale magnitude 7.3 earthquake of Van and Muradiye in Turkey
25th	In San Francisco, The Band holds its farewell concert, The Last Waltz
26th	Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico

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December
1st	Angola joins the United Nations
1st	José López Portillo takes office as President of Mexico
1st	Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they unleash several 4-letter words live on Bill Grundy's TV show
3rd	Bob Marley and his manager Don Taylor are shot in an assassination attempt in Kingston, Jamaica
3rd	Patrick Hillery is elected unopposed as the sixth President of Ireland
8th	Hotel California by The Eagles released
15th	Samoa joins the United Nations
23rd	A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire