1972

It is also the year that saw the beginning of the Watergate Scandal when police apprehend five men who attempted to bug the U.S. Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate complex of Washington D.C. It also witnessed the start of the greatest modern-day political scandal.

On the other hand, Britain finally managed to take over Northern Ireland’s direct rule in an attempt for peace. Alabamans also got a bad hit the same year when Gov. George C. Wallace was shot at a political rally at Laurel, Md. Furthermore, anyone who had received a death penalty had a reason to smile because this is the year that the US Supreme Court ruled against the death penalty and deemed it unconstitutional.

In the pop culture, women got an opportunity to shine when they dominated the Grammy Awards by taking all the four top categories.

1972 is also the year that saw the first pay cable network, HBO, being transmitted by Time Inc. MAS*H also premiered on CBS and to top it all up; it was this year that saw the debut of Gloria Steinem’s Ms magazine.

Video game lovers have this year to thank the gaming fraternity, as it was when the first video game, Pong’s arcade version, was introduced by Atari.

For the Scientists, 1972 was the development year of the Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) scanning in England. Correspondingly, US’ RCA developed the compact disk almost during the same time. Then again, the Health and Nutrition sector saw the development of Prozac (fluoxetine) antidepressant by the Scottish Bryan B. Malloy and the American Klaus K. Schmiegel.

It was also the time when the last US ground troops were withdrawn from Vietnam while President Nixon signed in the Black Lung Benefits bill into law.