WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO AUGUST 1972
Find out what all happened January to August 1972

Vietnam War: The Associated Press photographer Nick Ut takes his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a naked 9-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc running down a road after being burned by napalm. (8. June 1972)

The first leap second is added to the UTC time system. (30. June 1972)

Watergate scandal: five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition. (17. June 1972)

The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment. (18. February 1972)

Vietnam War: the last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam. (11. August 1972)

The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia. (26. February 1972)

Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order. (6. May 1972)

The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others. (22. February 1972)

In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become President. (15. May 1972)

The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history. (3. February 1972)

The first game of the World Chess Championship 1972 between challenger Bobby Fischer and defending champion Boris Spassky starts. (11. July 1972)

Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths. (13. May 1972)

Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T. (17. February 1972)

Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué. (28. February 1972)

Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. (24. January 1972)

The Troubles: A Provisional IRA car bomb kills seven and injures 148 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the first of many car bomb attacks by the group. (20. March 1972)

The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom. (30. May 1972)

The Troubles: Bloody Friday – the Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing 9 and injuring 130. (21. July 1972)

Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. (5. May 1972)

In an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, the Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat. (16. August 1972)