On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Nixon's 2,027th and penultimate day in office as Pres described; in addition to announcing his resignation, Nixon performs with composure routines of busy Pres; meets with Ford, bipartisan Cong leaders, appts Fed judges, accepts resignations, signs several laws and vetoes Agr Dept funds bill (M)
A new upward surge of farm prices joined a big jump in industrial prices to produce the year's largest monthly increase in the wholesale price index. The rise for July was 3,7 per cent, seasonally adjusted, and 3.9 per cent before adjustment. Page 45.
Vice Pres Ford, commenting on Nixon's resignation, vows that he, as Pres, will continue Nixon's foreign policy; announces Kissinger has agreed to stay on as State Sec (S)
R B Semple Jr appraisal of Pres Nixon's career holds Nixon's appraisal of himself as 'pol man' may provide possible explanation for both his success and failure; says if words implied talent for finding opportunities for pol profit and for right issues at right time, they implied absence of any guiding commitment other than burning dedication to victory in his chosen field; says Nixon appears to have lavished as much time on neutralizing or destroying his enemies as he did on winning friends, and in so doing he directly or indirectly sanctioned activities that have now brought him down; says another ingredient which helped in Nixon's success and failure is his long and occasionally feverish pol memory; cites White House-edited Watergate transcripts; discusses Nixon's tactical shrewdness, with exception of Watergate; holds that aside from foreign policy it was difficult in beginning and even harder at end to find sustained philosophical basis in Nixon's approach to his Govt and his people; says that by mid-'72, mere confusion had become chaos as more and more initiatives were either sacrificed to or altered by perceived pol realities; says electoral math of '72 makes it hard to argue that Nixon's strategy was untimely yet neither his pol nor personal triumphs gave him enought confidence or professional serentity to deal head-on with his adversaries; holds reasoned debate or mere assertion of belief was not, to Nixon, sufficient response to such challenges; says opposition to Nixon's policies became challenges to himself, respectability of his office and his pol future; says having thus exaggerated menace, he counterattacked accordingly and in the end it ruined him; illus of Nixon with State Sec Kissinger in Oct '73, in Oval Office and with Mrs Nixon, then-Vice Pres and Mrs S T Agnew at '73 inauguration (L)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of August 7, 1974, covering August 9, 1974.
John Denver
Elton John
Bob Dylan
Eric Clapton
Loggins & Messina
1974Derek Fisher, American basketball player and coach[†]
Derek Lamar Fisher is an American professional basketball coach and former player. Fisher played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 18 seasons, spending the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he won five NBA championships. He also played for the Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Dallas Mavericks. He has also served as president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
1974Stephen Fung, Hong Kong actor, singer, director, and screenwriter[†]
Fung Chun-choi, known professionally as Stephen Fung Tak-lun, is a Hong Kong actor, singer, writer, and film director.
1974Lesley McKenna, Scottish snowboarder[†]
Lesley McKenna is a former British professional snowboarder based in Aviemore, Scotland. McKenna has to date competed in three Winter Olympic Games in 2002, 2006 and 2010 but has not won any medals. At the 2010 games, she crashed in both her qualification runs in the women's halfpipe and finished last. She has also competed on the world cup circuit for several years with more success achieving six podium positions including two first placings in 2003. She was ranked 3rd in the world by the FIS for halfpipe in 2004 despite suffering from a broken jaw which took her out for most of the season. Lesley was also an ambassador for Scotland and after competing worked as the international team manager for the brand Roxy which is the female sister brand of the surf brand Quiksilver. Lesley is now the Team Manager for the GB Park and Pipe Team.
1974Matt Morris, American baseball player[†]
Matthew Christian Morris is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1997 through 2008, most notably as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was a two-time All-Star and led the National League in 2001 with 22 wins. After playing nine seasons with the Cardinals, he played his last three seasons with the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates.
1974Kirill Reznik, American lawyer and politician[†]
Kirill Reznik is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He was previously a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from District 39 from 2007 to 2023, resigning to become the Assistant Secretary for Inter-Departmental Data Integration for the Maryland Department of Human Services.
1974Raphaël Poirée, French biathlete[†]
Raphaël Poirée is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever.
1974Bill Chase, American trumpet player and bandleader (born 1934)[†]
Bill Chase was an American trumpeter and leader of the jazz-rock band Chase.
1974As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. Vice President Gerald Ford becomes president.[†]
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revolved around members of a group associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign, who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 1972, where they planted listening devices, and Nixon's later attempts to conceal his administration's involvement in the burglary.
In 1974, the world population was approximately 3,996,416,096 people[†]