February 1972


The following events occurred in February 1972:

[February 1], 1972 (Tuesday)

[February 2], 1972 (Wednesday)

  • Following the funerals in Derry of 13 of the people killed by British paratroopers in Northern Ireland on "Bloody Sunday", a mob, estimated at 25,000, poured into Dublin's Merrion Square and burned down the four story British embassy in Ireland. Due to threats and attacks earlier in the week, all important records had been removed and the building was unoccupied.
  • Born: Naheed Nenshi, the first Muslim mayor of a large North American city, known for serving as the Mayor of Calgary from 2010 to 2021; in Toronto
  • Died:
  • *Genaro Vázquez, 40, Mexican guerilla leader died after injuries sustained in a car wreck.
  • *Natalie Barney, 95, lesbian pioneer

[February 3], 1972 (Thursday)

[February 4], 1972 (Friday)

[February 5], 1972 (Saturday)

[February 6], 1972 (Sunday)

[February 7], 1972 (Monday)

[February 8], 1972 (Tuesday)

[February 9], 1972 (Wednesday)

  • The Iran blizzard ended after seven days, during which as much as of snow buried villages in northwestern, central and southern Iran. An estimated 4,000 people were killed, particularly in the area around Ardakan.
  • Born: Crispin Freeman, American voice actor; in Chicago
  • Died: Chico Ruiz, 33, Cuban-born American major league baseball player, was killed in a car accident a month after having become a U.S. citizen.

[February 10], 1972 (Thursday)

  • Kinney Services, Inc., a conglomerate which had purchased the Warner Bros. studio in 1969, completed reorganization as shareholders approved its disincorporation in New York and its reincorporation in Delaware, with the new name of Warner Communications, Inc. The company, which now owns Turner Broadcasting, HBO, Cinemax, DC Comics, New Line Cinema, and part of TheCW television network, is now known as Warner Bros. Discovery.
  • In Calama, Chile, where it was said that no rain had fallen "for more than 400 years", rain fell in a downpour and caused mudslides.
  • David Bowie opened his concert tour with his new alter ego of "Ziggy Stardust", starting at the Toby Jug Pub in Tolworth.
  • American and South Vietnamese forces completed a 24-hour period of bombing strikes against North Vietnam, with almost 400 bombing strikes carried out in some of the heaviest raids of the Vietnam War.
  • Ras Al Khaimah joined the United Arab Emirates as its sixth emirate.

[February 11], 1972 (Friday)

[February 12], 1972 (Saturday)

[February 13], 1972 (Sunday)

  • The 1972 Winter Olympics closed in Sapporo. The Soviet Union had the most medals and most gold medals, followed by East Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United States.
  • The Tony Award-winning musical 1776 closed after 1,217 performances on Broadway.

[February 14], 1972 (Monday)

[February 15], 1972 (Tuesday)

[February 16], 1972 (Wednesday)

[February 17], 1972 (Thursday)

[February 18], 1972 (Friday)

[February 19], 1972 (Saturday)

[February 20], 1972 (Sunday)

  • In the United States sixty million people tuned in to watch live television coverage of President Nixon's Monday morning arrival in Communist China, starting at Eastern time and 10:30 in the morning February 21 in Beijing. The three networks split the cost of $8,300 per hour for satellite broadcasting during the eight-day visit, and each sent eleven people on the trip.
  • What one author would describe as "the best live performance" of The Dark Side of the Moon by British progressive rock band Pink Floyd took place one year before the best-selling album was released.
  • Died:
  • *Walter Winchell, 74, American newspaper columnist and radio commentator
  • *Maria Goeppert Mayer, 65, German-born American theoretical physicist and 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for her work on describing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus, died after a year of being in a coma following a heart attack.

[February 21], 1972 (Monday)

[February 22], 1972 (Tuesday)

  • Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani, who had been the Emir of Qatar since its independence in 1971, was removed from office by unanimous vote of other members of the Al Thani family. Ahmad, who had failed even to organize a government and had used the nation's wealth to support an expensive lifestyle, was replaced by his cousin, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, who ruled until 1995.
  • In retaliation for the killing of 13 Irish civilians by the British army on "Bloody Sunday", the Irish Republican Army exploded a car bomb outside of a mess hall reserved for officers at the Aldershot, England, headquarters of the 16th Parachute Brigade. Seven people were killed by the IRA bomb, and none of them were soldiers. Killed in the blast were an Army chaplain and six waitresses.
  • Born: Claudia Pechstein, German speed-skater, winner of five Olympic gold medals ; in East Berlin

[February 23], 1972 (Wednesday)

[February 24], 1972 (Thursday)

  • Twenty-eight men on board the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19 were killed when fires broke out in three of its compartments while the sub was submerged. The twelve survivors remained trapped inside the sub as it was towed, over the next three weeks, from the Arctic Ocean back to the Kola Peninsula.
  • For the first time since the Paris Peace Talks three years earlier, the two Communist delegations walked out of a session. The groups were protesting the recent surge in bombing by the United States. The talks resumed the following week. The bombings had been in response to a North Vietnamese military build up, threatening large portions of South Vietnam.
  • Born:
  • *Manon Rhéaume, Canadian ice hockey player who became the first woman to play in the all-male National Hockey League, appearing in preseason games in 1992 and 1993; in Beauport, Quebec
  • *Richard Chelimo, Kenyan long-distance runner who held the world record for five days in 1993 for the 10,000-meter race; in the Marakwet District

[February 25], 1972 (Friday)

[February 26], 1972 (Saturday)

[February 27], 1972 (Sunday)

  • The Addis Ababa Agreement was signed at the palace of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie, bringing an end to the First Sudanese Civil War after more than 17 years and more than 500,000 deaths. Ezboni Mondiri Gwonza of the South Sudan Liberation Movement, and Sudan's Foreign Minister, Mansour Khalid, signed an agreement to end fighting in return for recognition by the Islamic governments of political and religious autonomy for the people living in the southern half of the nation. The agreement lasted until 1983, when fighting broke out again.
  • The Shanghai Communiqué was issued jointly by President Richard M. Nixon of the United States and Prime Minister Zhou Enlai of the People's Republic of China. The two leaders agreed that normalization of relations between the U.S. and the PRC was in the interest of both nations.
  • The New York Times carried on its front page the troublesome World3 forecast of a group at MIT for the century ahead, writing that began "A major computer study of world trends has concluded, as many have feared, that mankind probably faces an uncontrollable and disastrous collapse of its society within 100 years unless it moves speedily to establish a 'global equilibrium' in which growth of population and industrial output are halted." The study, soon published as The Limits to Growth, was funded by the Club of Rome.

[February 28], 1972 (Monday)

  • Before departing the People's Republic of China following an historic visit, President Nixon of the United States signed the Shanghai Communiqué with Premier Zhou of China, setting out agreements to improve diplomatic relations and to prevent the hegemony of any nation over the "Asia-Pacific Region".

[February 29], 1972 (Tuesday)

  • "We now have evidence that the settlement of the Nixon administration's biggest antitrust case was privately arranged between Atty. Gen. John Mitchell and the top lobbyist for the company involved", was the opener to Jack Anderson's syndicated column. "We have this on the word of the lobbyist herself, crusty, capable Dita Beard of the International Telephone and Telegraph Co. She acknowledged the secret deal after we obtained a highly incriminating memo, written by her, from ITT's files." The subsequent investigation by the Nixon Administration into the source of leaked information was one of seven improper activities cited by the Watergate Committee in its final report.
  • Born:
  • *Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain since 2018; in Madrid
  • *Antonio Sabàto Jr., Italian-born U.S. TV and film actor; in Rome