On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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SAIGON, South Vietnam, April 2—This capital is on the brink of chaos. The streets are humid and eerily silent at night as soldiers cluster on street corners or sprawl on the pavement and sleep beneath tamarind trees.
Vietcong Foreign Min Nguyen Thi Binh says Vietcong are prepared to start talks with new S Vietnamese Govt, Paris airport statement; statament; distribute statements in Paris calling on all S Vietnamese to join Vietcong cause; chief Vietcong delegate Dinh Ba Thi says members of '3d force' will be given responsible positions in areas taken over in current drive; 3d force refers to people who are neither Communists nor supporters of Pres Thieu; Thi and Binh say Vietcong policy will be to put '73 cease-fire agreement into effect; both refuse to discuss whether Communist forces intend to storm Saigon; S Vietnamese delegation head Nguyen Van Phong contends parties must resume negotiations in Paris immediately and without preconditions (M)
US Embassy, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to begin evacuating diplomatic and other personnel on Apr 3 (S)
S Vietnamese Govt forces offer little resistance as Communist forces take Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh; Saigon mil command confirms Da Lat, Phan Rang and Phan Thiet have fallen; fighting erupts in Go Cong; refugees begin to arrive in Saigon; Communist demolition units and infantry divs reptdly draw closer to capital; Saigon mil command communique acknowledges loss of Mil Regions I and II; Premier Tran Thien Khiem's and Gen Cao Van Viem's comments during recent broadcasts noted; Royal Australian Air Force plane flys 1,800 refugees from Phan Rang; panic ensues as Communist rockets hit near evacuation site; S Vietnamese security forces holding back mobs quickly claw their way aboard planes and take off just ahead of refugee mob; Communists reptdly fire on refugee column 10 miles from Ham Tan; at least 7,000 refugees arrive at Vung Tau from Qui Nhon, Cam Ranh and other points; Govt officials say Communist demolition soldiers disguised as civilians or as S Vietnamese soldiers are moving with refugees; Saigon officials ban use of cyclos in cycles to impede expected wave of terrorism in capital; police reptdly are ordered to shoot looters and robbers on sight; map (L)
Con Ed requests $456-million elec rate increase, largest in history of NYS PSC; 21.7% rate increase is expected to add $4-5 a mo to utility bills of most NYC residents and almost $9 to bills of Westchester County customers; includes provision for summer surcharge to recover extra costs of providing service during peak summer demand period and request for 'energy stamp program' that would enable low-income customers to obtain subsidy for energy consumption and would provide lower permanent rates for chs and synagogues; chmn Charles F Luce defends increase; NYC Consumer Affairs Comr Elinor C Guggenheimer scores request and asks Gov Carey to appt another consumer repr to PSC before it rules on request; Mayor Beame says rate request will increase city's annual elec bill from projected $110-million to $135-million; PSC Chmn Alfred E Kahn says comm action on ruling will be affected by forthcoming comm opinion revising rate structure to make charges more responsive to relative costs and by comm study of mgt and operations aimed at improved efficiency; graph of avg monthly cost of elec to residential customers '65 to present; graph of permanent Con Ed rate increases Sept 8 '70 to present; Luce illus (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of April 2, 1975, covering April 3, 1975.
Led Zeppelin
Olivia Newton-John
John Denver
Bob Dylan
Minnie Riperton
1975Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player[†]
Shawn William Bates is an American former professional ice hockey center. He played in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders.
1975Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player[†]
Michael Olowokandi is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in London, he played collegiately for the Pacific Tigers in Stockton, California. Nicknamed "the Kandi Man," Olowokandi was selected as the first overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He played professionally until 2007, when he was forced to retire due to severe hernia and knee injuries.
1975Aries Spears, American comedian and actor[†]
Nairobi Aries Spears is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, and actor from New Jersey. Spears was a regular on Fox's sketch comedy series Mad TV (1997–2005), appearing in 198 episodes, making him the second longest-serving cast member on the show behind Michael McDonald. In 2011, he released a special called Aries Spears: Hollywood, Look I'm Smiling. He co-hosted for the AVN Awards twice in 2018 and 2020.
1975Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player[†]
Yoshinobu Takahashi is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager. He spent his entire playing career with the Yomiuri Giants and served as the team's manager for three seasons. He graduated from Keio University.
1975Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player[†]
Koji Uehara is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), as well as the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB).
1975Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (born 1933)[†]
Eileen Mary Ure was a British actress. She was the second Scottish-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in the 1960 film Sons and Lovers.
1975Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins.[†]
Operation Babylift was the name given to the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other Western countries at the end of the Vietnam War, on 3–26 April 1975. By the final American flight out of South Vietnam, over 3,300 infants and children had been airlifted, although the actual number has been variously reported.
1975Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.[†]
Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11–0 score, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Qualifying for the 1972 World Championship, Fischer swept matches with Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by 6–0 scores. After winning another qualifying match against Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, the match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.
In 1975, the world population was approximately 4,070,735,277 people[†]