On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Hundreds of paraders pay tribute to late Dr M L King Jr, NYC, May 7, 5th annual Dr M L King Jr parade, sponsored by 369th Veterans' Assn; also hold brief memorial; natl pres of veterans' assn W K De Fossett explains purpose of parade; Reprs C B Rangel, O R Reid, M Biaggi, W F Ryan and B S Abzug participate
Sen Symington makes public on May 7 copy of rept made by Sen Foreign Relations Com staff members J G Lowenstein and R M Moose that says US has committed itself to provide up to $100-million a yr to support Thai irregular army of 10,000 in Laos; rept, which is on study mission Lowenstein and Moose made to SE Asia in Jan, says that for 1st time Amer helicopter gunships, under US Army command but apparently with Thai pilots, are being used in northern Laos to support med evacuation missions and that Thai Air Force, using equipment and ammunition supplied by US, is flying combat support missions in Laos; Symington, in accompanying statement, complains Adm is excessively secret about US activities in Laos, largely in deference to 'sensitivity' of Thai Govt; State Dept acknowledgement last yr that US, through CIA, pays Thai 'volunteers' to fight in Laos in support of Laotian Govt noted; there has been running disagreement between State Dept and com on whether support of Thai soldiers violates 'antimercenary' provision in '71 Defense Procurement Act; details on rept, which quotes Laotian Premier Souvanna Phouma; map
May 8: Amer planes raid Hanoi area early May 8, firing missiles at targets about 6 miles north of city; formation of N Vietnamese MIG's flies low over city to intercept raiders but antiaircraft guns do not open fire; US command announces on May 8 that Navy F-4 Phantom jets shot down 3 enemy MIG fighters that were apparently trying to stop Amer aircraft from hitting airfield at Baithuong during 2 dogfights 50-75 mi SW of Hanoi; US repr says Navy A-7 attack plane was downed May 6 by surface-to-air missile during raid over N Vietnam and that destroyer Hansen was hit by fire from shore batteries while bombarding N Vietnamese coast; Amer mil and civilian officials in Saigon reptdly weigh plans to bring back US Marines to protect remaining Amer troops and installations in Vietnam, especially in Danang on northern coast; danger to Amers in Danang is underscored early May 8 when Communist gunners wound 4 Amers and destroy 1 plane in rocket attack on air base; North Vietamese artillery and infantrymen make series of attacks on S Vietnamese bases and positions around Central Highlands provincial capital of Kontum; S Vietnamese Air Force planes attack an enemy force estimated to be of battalion strength and 4 tanks moving fron Binhdinh Province into Quangngai Province; N Vietnamese artillery fire into Anloc and Communist forces' shelling of installation Fire Base King noted; US command announces Amer B-52 Stratofortresses carried out 20 bombing missions and US fighter-bombers flew 350 strikes over S Vietnam; other mil action developments noted; illus; map
PRIVATE PRE‐SCHOOLS: BOOMING BUSINESS, Read about it. Turn to Page 14. Alphabetland Pre‐School Centers, Advt.
A South Vietnamese sol dier who ran away on March 31, the second day of the enemy invasion, hitches a ride in our car. Asked if he is returning to fight with his unit, he says no, he is only returning to try to col lect his pay. What if he gets arrested for desertion, he is asked. “I would rather go to jail than to the battlefield,” he replies.
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of May 3, 1972, covering May 8, 1972.
Roberta Flack
Neil Young
America
The Allman Brothers Band
Yes
1972Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter[†]
Darren Stanley Hayes is an Australian singer, songwriter, music producer and composer. He was the singer of the pop duo Savage Garden from their 1993 establishment until their disbandment in 2001. Their 1997 album Savage Garden peaked at No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in the United Kingdom, and No. 3 in the United States. It spawned the singles "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", and Australian and US No. 1 hit "Truly Madly Deeply". The duo followed the success of their debut album with Affirmation (1999), which provided additional hits such as Australian and US No. 1 hit "I Knew I Loved You" and Australian No. 3 hit "The Animal Song". Savage Garden disbanded in 2001.
1972Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player[†]
Raymond D. Whitney is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was given the nickname "The Wizard" for his passing and playmaking skills.
1972Pandurang Vaman Kane, Indian Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Bharat Ratna awardee (born 1880)[†]
Pandurang Vaman Kane was an Indian academic, historian, lawyer, Indologist, and Sanskrit scholar. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award in 1963.
1972Beatrice Helen Worsley, Mexican-Canadian computer scientist (born 1921)[†]
Beatrice Helen Worsley was a Canadian computer scientist, the first woman in the country to work in that profession. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge with Maurice Wilkes as adviser, the first Ph.D. granted in what would today be known as computer science. She wrote the first program to run on EDSAC, co-wrote the first compiler for Toronto's Ferranti Mark 1, wrote numerous papers in computer science, and taught computers and engineering at Queen's University and the University of Toronto for over 20 years before her death at the age of 50.
1972Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.[†]
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian Civil Wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.
In 1972, the world population was approximately 3,844,917,680 people[†]