✦ History

Explore January 21, 1972

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Events

Cold War 1947-03-12 - 1991-12-26
Apartheid 1948-05-26 - 1994-04-27
Decolonisation of Africa 1951-12-24 - 1975-11-11
Vietnam War 1955-11-01 - 1975-04-30
Cod Wars 1958-09-01 - 1976-06
Laotian Civil War 1959-05-23 - 1975-12-02
Guatemalan Civil War 1960-11-13 - 1996-12-29
Apollo Program 1961-10-27 - 1972-12-19
Cultural Revolution 1966-05-16 - 1976-10-06
South African Border War 1966-08-26 - 1990-03-21
Cambodian Civil War 1967-03-11 - 1975-04-17
The Troubles 1968-10-05 - 1998-04-10

People

Elizabeth II age 45
Queen - United Kingdom
Mao Zedong age 78
Chairman - Communist Party of China
Richard Nixon age 59
President - United States
Hirohito age 70
Emperor - Japan
Georges Pompidou age 60
President - France
Leonid Brezhnev age 65
General Secretary of the Communist Party - Soviet Union
Chiang Kai-shek age 84
President - Republic of China
Josip Broz Tito age 79
President - Yugoslavia
Anwar Sadat age 53
President - Egypt
Haile Selassie age 79
Emperor - Ethiopia
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi age 52
Shah - Iran
Erich Honecker age 59
General Secretary - East Germany
Hafez al-Assad age 41
President - Syria
Baudouin of Belgium age 41
King - Belgium
Gustav Heinemann age 72
President - Germany
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr age 57
President - Iraq
Luis Echeverría age 50
President - Mexico
Lê Duẩn age 64
General Secretary - Communist Party of Vietnam
Osvaldo Dorticós age 52
President - Cuba
Emílio Garrastazu Médici age 66
President - Brazil
Tôn Đức Thắng age 83
President of North Vietnam - Vietnam
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio age 53
President - Guatemala
Kim Il-sung age 59
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea - North Korea
Pol Pot age 46
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea - Cambodia
Kurt Waldheim age 53
Secretary-General - United Nations
Fidel Castro age 45
Prime Minister - Cuba
Indira Gandhi age 54
Prime Minister - India
Golda Meir age 73
Prime Minister - Israel
Willy Brandt age 58
Chancellor - Germany
Zhou Enlai age 73
Premier - People's Republic of China
Eisaku Satō age 70
Prime Minister - Japan
Edward Heath age 55
Prime Minister - United Kingdom
Alexei Kosygin age 67
Chairman of the Council of Ministers - Soviet Union
Robert McNamara age 55
President - World Bank
Emilio Colombo age 51
Prime Minister - Italy
Jacques Chaban-Delmas age 56
Prime Minister - France
Avery Brundage age 84
President - International Olympic Committee
B. J. Vorster age 56
Prime Minister - South Africa
Souvanna Phouma age 70
Prime Minister - Laos
Phạm Văn Đồng age 65
Prime Minister - Vietnam
Joseph Luns age 60
Secretary General - NATO
Yen Chia-kan age 66
Premier - Republic of China
Jack Lynch age 54
Taoiseach - Ireland
Piotr Jaroszewicz age 62
Prime Minister - Poland
Franco Maria Malfatti age 44
President - European Commission
Kim Il age 61
Premier - North Korea
Aziz Sedki age 51
Prime Minister - Egypt
Marcolino Gomes Candau age 60
Director-General - World Health Organization
Džemal Bijedić age 54
Prime Minister - Yugoslavia
Warren E. Burger age 64
Chief Justice - US Judiciary
Saddam Hussein age 34
Vice President - Iraq
Spiro Agnew age 53
Vice President - United States
Soong Ching-ling age 79
Vice Chairman - People's Republic of China
Dong Biwu age 85
Vice Chairman - People's Republic of China
Salih Mahdi Ammash age 43
Vice President - Iraq
Deng Xiaoping age 67
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Li Xiannian age 62
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Peng Dehuai age 73
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Nie Rongzhen age 72
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Thomas Hinman Moorer age 59
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - United States
William Westmoreland age 57
Chief of Staff of the Army - United States
John Connally age 54
Secretary of the Treasury - United States
William P. Rogers age 58
Secretary of State - United States
Melvin Laird age 49
Secretary of Defense - United States
John N. Mitchell age 58
Attorney General - United States
Reginald Maudling age 54
Home Secretary - United Kingdom
Anthony Barber age 51
Chancellor of the Exchequer - United Kingdom
J. Edgar Hoover age 77
Director of the FBI - Department of Justice
Harold Wilson age 55
Leader - Labour Party (UK)
Thurgood Marshall age 63
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
William Rehnquist age 47
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
William J. Brennan Jr. age 65
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Potter Stewart age 57
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Byron White age 54
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Lewis F. Powell Jr. age 64
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Richard Kleindienst age 48
Deputy Attorney General - Department of Justice
Geoffrey Rippon age 47
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - United Kingdom
Jeremy Thorpe age 42
Leader - Liberal Party (UK)
Oliver Tambo age 54
President - African National Congress
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh age 39
President - Sinn Féin
John Paul Stevens age 51
US Court of Appeals - US Judiciary
Walter Mondale age 44
Senate - United States
Hubert Humphrey age 60
Senate - United States
Daniel Inouye age 47
Senate - United States
Edmund Muskie age 57
Senate - United States
Lloyd Bentsen age 50
Senate - United States
William B. Saxbe age 55
Senate - United States
Margaret Thatcher age 46
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Gerald Ford age 58
House of Representatives - United States
James Callaghan age 59
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Alec Douglas-Home age 68
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Roy Jenkins age 51
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Geoffrey Howe age 45
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Kenneth Clarke age 31
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Denis Healey age 54
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Les Aspin age 33
House of Representatives - United States
Duncan Sandys age 64
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
David Waddington age 42
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Joseph W. Barr age 54
House of Representatives - United States
Barber Conable age 49
House of Representatives - United States
Robert Carr age 55
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking age 37
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Merlyn Rees age 51
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Michael Foot age 58
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Neil Kinnock age 29
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
John Smith age 33
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
David Steel age 33
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Jo Grimond age 58
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Ronald Reagan age 60
Governor of California - United States
Jimmy Carter age 47
Governor of Georgia - United States
Nelson Rockefeller age 63
Governor of New York - United States
Dale Bumpers age 46
Governor of Arkansas - United States
Preston Smith age 59
Governor of Texas - United States
Marvin Mandel age 51
Governor of Maryland - United States
Winfield Dunn age 44
Governor of Tennessee - United States
John J. Gilligan age 50
Governor of Ohio - United States
Edgar Whitcomb age 54
Governor of Indiana - United States
Francis Sargent age 56
Governor of Massachusetts - United States
William T. Cahill age 59
Governor of New Jersey - United States
Bhumibol Adulyadej age 44
King - Thailand
Ferdinand Marcos age 54
President - Philippines
Francisco Franco age 79
Caudillo - Spain
Paul VI age 74
Pope - Vatican City
Salvador Allende age 63
President - Chile
Suharto age 50
President - Indonesia
Idi Amin age 47
President - Uganda
Margrethe II of Denmark age 31
Queen - Denmark
Park Chung-hee age 54
President - South Korea
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto age 44
President - Pakistan
Qaboos bin Said Al Said age 31
Sultan - Oman
Léopold Sédar Senghor age 65
President - Senegal
Mobutu Sese Seko age 41
President - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jomo Kenyatta age 78
President - Kenya
Julius Nyerere age 49
President - Tanzania
Jean-Bedel Bokassa age 50
President - Central African Republic
King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud age 66
King - Saudi Arabia
Hussein I of Jordan age 36
King - Jordan
Habib Bourguiba age 68
President - Tunisia
Hastings Banda age 82
President - Malawi
Omar Bongo age 36
President - Gabon
Urho Kekkonen age 71
President - Finland
Éamon de Valera age 89
President - Ireland
Hassan II age 42
King - Morocco
Kenneth Kaunda age 47
President - Zambia
Olav V of Norway age 68
King - Norway
Alfredo Stroessner age 59
President - Paraguay
Ahmed Sékou Touré age 50
President - Guinea
Juliana of the Netherlands age 62
Queen - Netherlands
Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden age 89
King - Sweden
V. V. Giri age 77
President - India
Giovanni Leone age 63
President - Italy
Cevdet Sunay age 72
President - Turkey
Félix Houphouët-Boigny age 66
President - Ivory Coast
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco age 48
Prince - Monaco
Houari Boumédiène age 39
President - Algeria
Siad Barre age 52
President - Somalia
Makarios III age 58
President - Cyprus
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan age 53
President - United Arab Emirates
Francisco Macías Nguema Biyoko age 48
President - Equatorial Guinea
Seretse Khama age 50
President - Botswana
Ahmadou Ahidjo age 47
President - Cameroon
Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadéma age 36
President - Togo
Jean-Claude Duvalier age 20
President - Haiti
Anastasio Somoza Debayle age 46
President - Nicaragua
Jigme Dorji Wangchuck age 42
King - Bhutan
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg age 51
Grand Duke - Luxembourg
Franz Jonas age 72
President - Austria
Sobhuza II age 72
King - Eswatini
Moussa Traoré age 35
President - Mali
Rafael Caldera age 56
President - Venezuela
Zalman Shazar age 82
President - Israel
Philibert Tsiranana age 59
President - Madagascar
Dawda Kairaba Jawara age 47
President - The Gambia
François Tombalbaye age 53
President - Chad
Kristján Eldjárn age 55
President - Iceland
Yakubu Gowon age 37
President - Nigeria
José Figueres Ferrer age 65
President - Costa Rica
Diori Hamani age 55
President - Niger
William Richard Tolbert age 58
President - Liberia
Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV of Tonga age 53
King - Tonga
Juan Velasco Alvarado age 61
President - Peru
Gaafar Nimeiry age 41
President - Sudan
Hugo Banzer age 45
President - Bolivia
Joaquín Balaguer age 65
President - Dominican Republic
Moktar Ould Daddah age 47
President - Mauritania
Michel Micombero age 31
President - Burundi
Marien Ngouabi age 33
President - Republic of the Congo
Isa II of Bahrain age 38
Emir - Bahrain
Alejandro Agustín Lanusse age 53
President - Argentina
Arthur Chung age 54
President - Guyana
Aboubacar Sangoulé Lamizana age 56
President - Burkina Faso
Américo Tomás age 77
President - Portugal
Siaka Stevens age 66
President - Sierra Leone
Benjamin Sheares age 64
President - Singapore
Jorge Pacheco Areco age 51
President - Uruguay
Haxhi Lleshi age 58
President - Albania
Ignatius Kutu Acheampong age 40
President - Ghana
Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho age 33
King - Lesotho
Grégoire Kayibanda age 47
President - Rwanda
Hammer DeRoburt age 49
President - Nauru