March 19 – The release of Tommy, a musical/drama produced by Ken Russel and Robert Stigwood.
March 29 – Blow by BlowbyJeff Beck is released. It would become his most successful album in the United States, reaching the top five and selling over one million copies.
March 31 – In his final game on the sideline, John Wooden coaches UCLA to its 10th national championship in 12 seasons when the Bruins defeat Kentucky 92–85 in the title gameatSan Diego.
April 15 – Karen Ann Quinlan, 21, faints after consuming Quaaludes at a party. She becomes a controversial subject in the right to die movement after her parents sue to have her comatose body removed from life-support. She lives off a feeding tube until 1985.
April 30 – Vietnam War: The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon, resulting in mass evacuations of Americans and South Vietnamese. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.
May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines; 38 Americans are killed.
June 10 – In Washington, DC, the Rockefeller Commission issues its report on CIA abuses, recommending a joint congressional oversight committee on intelligence.
June 20 – Universal Pictures releases Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Peter Benchley's bestseller Jaws in 409 cinemas across the United States. The coupling of this broad distribution pattern with the movie's then even rarer national television marketing campaign has yielded a release method virtually unheard-of. Regardless, the film ultimately brings in $123.1 million by the end of its initial run, and is considered to be the first modern blockbuster as a result.
July 17 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations. It is also the last Apollo mission and the last manned U.S. space mission until STS-1 (the first Space Shuttle orbital flight).
October 21 – 1975 World Series: US baseball team the Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds in Game 6 off Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning home run in one of the most famous World Series games ever played.[7] The following day, the series ends with Game 7 victory by the Reds, in a broadcast that breaks records for a televised sporting event.
An independent audit of Mattel, one of the United States' largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth".
The long-running television game show The Price Is Right expands from 30 minutes to its current hour-long format on CBS.
November 5 – Travis Walton, a 22-year-old logger, is working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest with six co-workers near Snowflake, Arizona, when he suddenly disappears.[8] Walton is found five days later and says that he has been abducted by extraterrestrial aliens.[9] His book, The Walton Experience (1978), will become the basis for a film, Fire in the Sky (1993).[10]
While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.
The 7.4 MwHawaii earthquake hits several of the Hawaiian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing two deaths, up to 28 injuries, and a destructive tsunami.
^Hauck, Dennis William (2002). Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Supernatural Locations. Penguin Books.
Media related to 1975 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
