The United States, Canada, and all European countries except Albania signed a non-binding agreement intended to reduce conflict and increase cooperation between the signatories. The agreement provided for the inviolability of post-war European frontiers, respect for human rights, and promoted cooperation in various fields including economics, technology, and humanitarian issues.
The CIA escalated Operation CHAOS, a program for domestic spying on American citizens. Over the next ten years, the CIA used questionable tactics to investigate and profile thousands of anti-war American citizens and organizations.
In Sacramento, California, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (a follower of infamous cult leader Charles Manson) attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford, but her gun failed to fire.
Female tennis star Billie Jean King accepted a challenge from self-described “male chauvinist pig” and former Wimbledon winner Bobby Riggs. In a symbolic win for the women’s movement, King defeated Riggs in the tennis match dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes.”
President Gerald Ford met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Vladivostok, Siberia, to discuss a long-term strategic arms limitation agreement; a previous agreement set in 1972 was only temporary and set to expire in 1977.
After a thirteen-day summit hosted by US President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a peace agreement. As the first peace framework between Israel and any of its Arab neighbors, the agreement marked a historical change in the Middle East and a major accomplishment for Jimmy Carter, who played a major role in the negotiations.
The last American combat troops left Vietnam.
Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, which declared that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridge by the United States or any State on account of sex,” but the amendment was never ratified.
On November 29, 1969, a group of American Indians sailed to Alcatraz, the island in San Francisco Bay that formerly housed a federal prison. Led by Russell Means, they intended to occupy Alcatraz to protest the government’s treatment of Native peoples. The protestors demanded the return of the island to American Indians. They also sought funding for its development and maintenance. The government refused and, after nineteen months, removed the protestors from the island on June 11, 1971.
The New York Times published the first of a series of articles on the Pentagon Papers, a Department of Defense report on US involvement in Vietnam. The documents revealed government deception about its actions during the previous three decades.