WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO AUGUST 1972
Find out what all happened May to August 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)

Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth. (21. May 1972)

An East German Ilyushin Il-62 crashes during takeoff from East Berlin, killing 156. (14. August 1972)

Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen. (15. June 1972)

Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds. (23. June 1972)

The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to "Greenpeace Foundation". (4. 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)

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

In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, ID, killing 91 workers. (2. May 1972)

The Eltham Well Hall rail crash, caused by an intoxicated train driver, kills six people and injures 126. (11. June 1972)

Dhofar Rebellion: British SAS units help the Omani government against Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels in the Battle of Mirbat. (19. 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)

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 island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control. (15. May 1972)

In Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others. (30. May 1972)

The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. (29. June 1972)

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

Willandra National Park is established in Australia. (26. May 1972)

Severe rainfall causes a dam in the Black Hills of South Dakota to burst, creating a flood that kills 238 people and causes $160 million in damage. (9. June 1972)

Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex. (20. June 1972)