1976

Events from the year **1976 in the United States**. Major events include Jimmy Carter defeating incumbent president Gerald Ford in the presidential election of that year, the incorporation of Apple Computer Company and Microsoft, and the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Ann Quinlan could be disconnected from her ventilator.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Gerald Ford (R-MI)
* Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY)
* Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (MN)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Carl Albert (D-OK)
* Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-MT)
* Congress: 94th

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: George Wallace (Democratic)
* Governor of Alaska: Jay Hammond (Republican)
* Governor of Arizona: Raul Hector Castro (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: David Pryor (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Jerry Brown (Democratic)
* Governor of Colorado: Richard Lamm (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: Ella T. Grasso (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Sherman W. Tribbitt (Democratic)
* Governor of Florida: Reubin Askew (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: George Busbee (Democratic)
* Governor of Hawaii: George Ariyoshi (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: Cecil D. Andrus (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Dan Walker (Democratic)
* Governor of Indiana: Otis R. Bowen (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Ray (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Robert F. Bennett (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Julian M. Carroll (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Edwin W. Edwards (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: James B. Longley (Independent)
* Governor of Maryland: Marvin Mandel (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Michael Dukakis (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: William Milliken (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Wendell R. Anderson (Democratic) (until December 29), Rudy Perpich (Democratic) (starting December 29)
* Governor of Mississippi: Bill Waller (Democratic) (until January 20), Cliff Finch (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Governor of Missouri: Kit Bond (Republican)
* Governor of Montana: Thomas Lee Judge (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: J. James Exon (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Mike O'Callaghan (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Meldrim Thomson Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Brendan Byrne (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Jerry Apodaca (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Hugh Carey (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: James Holshouser (Republican)
* Governor of North Dakota: Arthur A. Link (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Jim Rhodes (Republican)
* Governor of Oklahoma: David L. Boren (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Robert W. Straub (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Milton Shapp (Democratic)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Philip W. Noel (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: James B. Edwards (Republican)
* Governor of South Dakota: Richard F. Kneip (Democratic)
* Governor of Tennessee: Ray Blanton (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: Dolph Briscoe (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Cal Rampton (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Thomas P. Salmon (Democratic)
* Governor of Virginia: Mills E. Godwin Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Washington: Daniel J. Evans (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Arch A. Moore Jr. (Republican)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Patrick J. Lucey (Democratic)
* Governor of Wyoming: Edgar J. Herschler (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Jere Beasley (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Lowell Thomas Jr. (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Joe Purcell (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Mervyn M. Dymally (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: George L. Brown (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Robert K. Killian (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Eugene Bookhammer (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Jim Williams (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Zell Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: Nelson Doi (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: John V. Evans (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Neil Hartigan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Robert D. Orr (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Arthur A. Neu (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Shelby Smith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Thelma Stovall (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Jimmy Fitzmorris (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Maryland: Blair Lee III (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Thomas P. O'Neill III (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: James Damman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Rudy Perpich (Democratic) (until December 29), Alec G. Olson (Democratic) (starting December 29)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: William F. Winter (Democratic) (until January 20), Evelyn Gandy (Democratic) (starting January 20)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William C. Phelps (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Bill Christiansen (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Gerald T. Whelan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Robert E. Rose (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Robert E. Ferguson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Mary Anne Krupsak (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Jim Hunt (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Wayne G. Sanstead (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Dick Celeste (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: George Nigh (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Ernest P. Kline (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: J. Joseph Garrahy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: W. Brantley Harvey Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Harvey L. Wollman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John S. Wilder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: William P. Hobby Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Utah: Clyde L. Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Brian D. Burns (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: John N. Dalton (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Martin J. Schreiber (Democratic)

## Events

### January

* January 5 – Beatles associate Mal Evans is fatally shot by police amid a disturbance at his Los Angeles home.
* January 14 – The Lutz family flees from 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, New York, in the United States, 28 days after having moved in on December 18, 1975, inspiring the story *The Amityville Horror*.
* January 15 – Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison.
* January 18 – Super Bowl X: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 21–17 at Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
* January 19 – Jimmy Carter wins the Iowa Democratic Caucus.
* January 23 – Hugo the Hippo, the first animated film of 20th Century Fox is released in theaters.
* January 27 – The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.
* January 30 – *Live from Lincoln Center* debuts on PBS.

### February

* February 5 – Nearly 2,000 students become involved in a racially charged riot at Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida; 30 students are injured in the 4-hour fray.
* February 11 – Clifford Alexander, Jr. is confirmed as the first African-American Secretary of the United States Army.

### March

* March 1 – Bradford Bishop allegedly murders five of his family members in Bethesda, Maryland. The crime goes undiscovered for 10 days and the suspect is never caught. In 2014, he is placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
* March 9 – Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Kentucky.
* March 17 – Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is arrested in New Jersey.
* March 20 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a bank.
* March 27 – The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens.
* March 29 – The 48th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, George Segal, Goldie Hawn and Gene Kelly, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, broadcast on ABC for the first time. Miloš Forman's *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* receives nine nominations and wins five awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Forman. Isabelle Adjani becomes the youngest actress to be nominated for Best Actress until 2004, while George Burns becomes the oldest actor to win Best Supporting Actor until 2012, as well as the oldest awardee in general until 1989 and the final person born in the 19th century to win an acting award.
* March 31 – The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that persistent vegetative state patient Karen Ann Quinlan can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.

### April

* April 1
	+ Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.
	+ Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
* April 13 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.

### May

* May 11 – U.S. President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act.
* May 24 – Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
* May 25 – U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in three Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon.
* May 30 – Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 255 miles (408 km).

### June

* June 2 – A car bomb kills *Arizona Republic* reporter Don Bolles.
* June 5 – The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people.
* June 13 – Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan, Iowa.
* June 16 – Francis E. Meloy Jr., the newly appointed United States Ambassador to Lebanon, is assassinated in Beirut.
* June 17 – The National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association agree on the ABA-NBA merger.
* June 20 – Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon.

### July

* July 3 – *Gregg v. Georgia*: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
* July 4
	+ United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
	+ The Puerto Rican Socialist Party leads 50,000 marchers in Philadelphia to demand a "Bicentennial Without Colonies" and independence for Puerto Rico.
* July 6 – The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
* July 15
	+ Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. President at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
	+ 26 Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver are abducted and buried in a box truck within a quarry in Livermore, California. The captives dig themselves free after 16 hours. The quarry-owner's son and two accomplices are arrested for the crime.
* July 18 – Nadia Comaneci makes history by becoming the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 for her routine on the uneven bars at the Montreal Olympics.
* July 20
	+ Viking program: The *Viking 1* lander successfully lands on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface.
	+ American criminal Gary Gilmore is arrested for murdering two men in Utah.
* July 26 – In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford.
* July 29 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing one and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
* July 31
	+ NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by *Viking 1*.
	+ The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses.

### August

* August 1 – The Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers play their first football game.
* August 2 – A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel, in an incident at Priscilla's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's estranged husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found not guilty in 1977.
* August 4 – The first recognized outbreak of Legionnaires' disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
* August 7 – Viking program: *Viking 2* enters into orbit around Mars.
* August 18 – At Panmunjom, North Korea, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view.
* August 19 – U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City.

### September

* September 3 – Viking program: The *Viking 2* spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.
* September 6
	+ Cold War: Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum from the United States.
	+ Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, Nevada, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years.
* September 13 – Bee Gees' album, *Children Of The World* is released in the United States.
* September 17 – The space shuttle *Enterprise* is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar.
* September 21 – Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
* September 24 – Patricia Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in a 1974 bank robbery (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months).

### October

* October 6 – In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford stumbles when he declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there is at the time).
* October 13 – The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report *Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future*, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States have a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory).
* October 18 – Ford officially launches volume production of Fiesta car at its Valencia plant.
* October 19 – The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the United States.
* October 20 – The Mississippi River ferry *MV George Prince* is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana to Luling, Louisiana, killing 78 passengers and crew.
* October 21 – The Cincinnati Reds sweep the New York Yankees in four games to win the 1976 World Series.

### November

* November 2 – U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
* November 15 – The first megamouth shark is discovered off Oahu in Hawaii.
* November 25 – In San Francisco, The Band holds its farewell concert, *The Last Waltz*.
* November 26 – Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.

### December

* December 8
	+ The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the five Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of New York, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Rio.
	+ *Hotel California* by The Eagles is released.
* December 20 – Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago for 21 years, dies while in office.

## Memoriam

* January 15 – Jim Graner, sports anchor (aged 56; Cleveland, OH, USA)
* January 21 – John Gould Moyer, naval officer, 31st Governor of American Samoa (aged 82; Honolulu, HI, USA)
* January 23 – Paul Robeson, bass baritone (aged 77; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* January 31 – Ernesto Miranda, defendant in *Miranda v. Arizona* (aged 34; Phoenix, AZ, USA)
* February 1
	+ Leland H. Jenks, economic historian (aged 83; Wellesley, MA, USA)
	+ George Whipple, scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (aged 97; Rochester, NY, USA)
* February 12 - Sal Mineo, film actor in *Rebel Without a Cause* (aged 37; West Hollywood, CA, USA)
* February 22 – Florence Ballard, singer (The Supremes) (aged 32; Detroit, MI, USA)
* February 26 – Joseph Weil, con man (aged 100; Chicago, IL, USA)
* March 15 – Jo Mielziner, set and lighting designer (aged 74; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 16 – Dale H. Learn, real estate agent and politician (aged 78; East Stroudsburg, PA, USA)
* March 25 – Josef Albers, Modernist painter (aged 88; New Haven, CT, USA)
* April 5 - Howard Hughes, business magnate, aviator pilot and film producer (aged 70; Houston, TX, USA)
* April 9 – Phil Ochs, protest singer and songwriter (aged 35; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 14 – William H. Hastie, judge and politician (aged 71; East Norriton, PA, USA)
* April 15 – Gerald L. K. Smith, clergyman, politician and organizer (aged 78; Glendale, CA, USA)
* June 6 – J. Paul Getty, industrialist (aged 83; Surrey, England, UK)
* June 9 – James Farley, politician (aged 88; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 20 – Lou Klein, baseball player and coach (aged 57; Metairie, LA, USA)
* August 26 – Lotte Lehmann, soprano (aged 88; Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
* August 28 - Anissa Jones, TV child actress who played 'Buffy Davis' in the late 60s-early 70s sitcom *Family Affair* (aged 18; Oceanside, CA, USA)
* September 10 – Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter and novelist (aged 70; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 9 - Bob Moose, baseball player (aged 29; Martins Ferry, OH, USA)
* October 15 – Carlo Gambino, mafioso (aged 74; Massapequa, NY, USA)
* November 11 – Alexander Calder, sculptor (aged 78; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 28 – Rosalind Russell, film actress (aged 69; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* December 2 – Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (aged 59; Chester, PA, USA)
* December 12 – Jack Cassidy, actor and singer (aged 49; West Hollywood, CA, USA)
* December 20 – Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago from 1955 (aged 74; Chicago, IL, USA)