Historical Events in August 1972

1st Watergate Article

Aug 1 1st article exposing Watergate scandal by Bernstein and Woodward in "The Washington Post"

• Aug 1 Nate Colbert hits MLB record tying 5 HRs and record 13 RBI as Padres beat Atlanta 9-0, 11-7 in a doubleheader
• Aug 2 Gold hits a record $70 an ounce in London

Dock Strike Crisis

Aug 3 British premier Edward Heath proclaims emergency crisis due to dock strike

• Aug 3 Chozen-ji/Intl Zen Dojo founded by Omori Sogen Roshi, in Hawaii
• Aug 3 US Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union to limit the use of missile systems capable of defending against missile-delivered nuclear weapons
• Aug 4 Arthur Bremer jailed for 63 years for shooting Alabama Governor Wallace

Idi Amin Expels British Asians

Aug 4 Uganda dictator Idi Amin orders the expulsion of 50,000 Asians with British passport from Uganda

• Aug 5 Detroit Tigers shortstop Ed Brinkman commits an error, ending record streak of 72 games & 331 total chances without a misplay
• Aug 5 Moody Blues re-issue their 1967 single "Nights in White Satin", and it reaches #2 on US charts, higher than the initial release

Aaron Breaks Ruth Record

Aug 6 Hank Aaron hits 660th & 661st HRs for the Atlanta Braves, breaking Babe Ruth's MLB record of homers for one team

Aug 6 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Oakland Hills CC: Gary Player of South Africa wins by 2 shots from Americans Tommy Aaron & Jim Jamieson

• Aug 8 NY Yanks sign 30-year lease to play in remodeled Yankee Stadium
• Aug 9 There is widespread and severe rioting in Nationalist areas of Northern Ireland on the anniversary of the introduction of Internment
• Aug 10 1 million kg meteorite grazes atmosphere above Canada
• Aug 10 Finnish runner Lasse Virén wraps up the 5,000/10,000m double at the Munich Olympics; runs Olympic record 13:26.42 for the 5k gold medal

Wings Arrested

Aug 10 Paul & Linda McCartney, and their band Wings are arrested in Gothenburg, Sweden on drug possession charges when custom official discover a package of hashish

• Aug 10 The Great Fireball, a rare daylight meteor seen from Utah, US to Alberta, Canada, passes 35 miles from Earth's surface
• Aug 11 "Cheech & Chong Day" in San Antonio Texas
• Aug 11 Two IRA members are killed when a bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely

Aug 12 "Oh! Calcutta!" closes at Belasco Theater in NYC after 1316 performances

• Aug 12 Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam

A Funny Thing

Aug 12 Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical-comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", starring Phil Silvers, closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater, NYC, after 156 performances

• Aug 13 Dutch KRO-TV transmits 440th & last episode of American western series "Bonanza"
• Aug 14 2 British soldiers are killed by an IRA booby trap bomb in Belfast
• Aug 14 A Catholic civilian is shot dead during an IRA attack on a British Army patrol in Belfast

Coup Attempt Fails

Aug 16 King of Morocco Hassan II's Boeing 727 is attacked and shot at by six F-5 military jets during a failed coup attempt by General Mohamed Oufkir. Reportedly, King Hassan grabbed the radio and told the rebel pilots "Stop firing! The tyrant is dead!" fooling the pilots to break off the attack.

• Aug 16 Philip Potter appointed sect-gen of World council of Churches
• Aug 16 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan

• Aug 18 4th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at El Cortez Hotel
• Aug 18 Police fine Paul & Linda McCartney ś800 in Sweden for cannabis possession
• Aug 20 USSR performs underground nuclear test
• Aug 21 1st hot air balloon flight over Alps
• Aug 21 33rd Venice Film Festival opens
• Aug 21 British dock strike ends after dockers accept an amended Jones-Adlington Agreement
• Aug 21 Grace Slick maced by police when a band official called cops, pigs
• Aug 21 Republican convention opens in Miami Beach
• Aug 21 US orbiting astronomy observatory Copernicus launched
• Aug 22 IRA bomb explodes prematurely at a customs post at Newry, County Down - 9 people, including three members of the IRA and five Catholic civilians, are killed in the explosion
• Aug 22 Rhodesia is expelled by the International Olympic Committee for its racist policies.
• Aug 23 4 civilians and 1 British soldier are injured in separate overnight shooting incidents in North Ireland

Baseball Record

Aug 23 Chicago White Sox Dick Allen is 4th player to homer into Comiskey Park's center field bleachers; previously slugged by only Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, & Alex Johnson

Republicans Renominate Spiro Agnew

Aug 23 Republican convention (Miami Beach, Fla) renominates Vice President Spiro Agnew but not unanimously: 1 vote went to NBC newsman David Brinkley

• Aug 24 Dennis Amiss scores 1st one-day int century, 103 v Australia

• Aug 26 NY Cosmos beat St Louis Stars, 2-1 to win NASL championship
• Aug 26 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
• Aug 26 XX Summer Olympic Games open in Munich, West Germany
• Aug 27 Operation Lion's Den: US Navy bombards Haiphong Harbor, North Vietnam from the sea, firing over 700 rounds in 33 minutes [1]
• Aug 27 The Grateful Dead holds a benefit concert for the Springfield Creamery (a yogurt company owned by writer Ken Kesey's brother) at the Old Renaissance Faire Grounds in Veneta, Oregon [1]

World Record 100m Relay

Aug 28 American 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of David Edgar, John Murphy, John Heidenreich & Mark Spitz swim a world record 3:26.42 to beat Soviet Union for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics

World Record 200m Medley

Aug 28 Australian teenage swimmer Shane Gould sets a world record 2:23.07 to beat German Kornelia Ender in the 200m individual medley at the Munich Olympics; her first of 3 gold medals at the Games

• Aug 28 North Korean shooter Ri Ho-jun wins the 50m rifle prone event at the Munich Olympics; his nation's first ever Olympic gold medal

Darling of Munich

Aug 28 Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut becomes media darling at the Munich Olympics; wins gold in the teams all-round ; follows with 2 gold and a silver

• Aug 28 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• Aug 29 Sandy Neilson wins the blue ribband women's 100m freestyle gold medal in 58.59 at the Munich Olympics beating fellow American Shirley Babashoff and Shane Gould of Australia
• Aug 29 SF Giant Jim Barr retires 1st 20 batters he faces added to last 21 he retired 6 days earlier for record 41 in a row
• Aug 30 American women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Shirley Babashoff, Jane Barkman, Jenny Kemp & Sandy Neilson beats East Germany by just 0.36 to win gold at the Munich Olympics; world record 3:55.19
• Aug 30 Amidst Olga Korbut mania at the Munich Olympics, Soviet teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva wins the gymnastics individual all-round competition, her 2nd gold medal of the Games
• Aug 30 Australian teenage swimmer Shane Gould with a world record 4:19.04 for the 400m, wins her second of 3 gold medals at the Munich Olympics
• Aug 30 Japanese breaststroker Nobutaka Taguchi beats American pair Tom Bruce & John Hencken to win the 100m gold medal in world record 1:04.94 at the Munich Olympic Games

One on One

Aug 30 John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "One on One" benefit shows (matinee and evening) for children at Madison Square Garden, New York, his final full concert performance

• Aug 30 Slalom canoeing is introduced at the Munich Olympics with East Germany winning all 4 events
• Aug 31 American 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter & Mark Spitz swim a world record 7:35.78 to beat West Germany for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Aug 31 American super swimmer Mark Spitz wraps up the Olympic butterfly double with a world record 54.27 in the 100m in Munich, having already won the 200m in world record time 2:00.70
• Aug 31 Australian swimmer Gail Neall with a world record 5:02.97 wins the 400m individual medley gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Aug 31 Finnish runner Lasse Viren runs Olympic and world record 10,000m (27:38.4)
• Aug 31 Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut wins balance beam & floor exercise gold medals at the Munich Olympics; follows gold in the teams all-round

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