1974

From Harpo's Juke Joint

February

4 - Patricia Campbell Hearst, age 19, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

May

24 - Jazz legend Duke Ellington, 75, dies of pneumonia in New York City, New York

July

Isabel Peron becomes the first female Head of State in South America following the death of her husband, Argentinean president Juan Peron.

August

August 9, 1974 - Richard Milhous Nixon resigns as President of the United States

9 - Avoiding impeachment due to his role in the Watergate scandal yet admitting no guilt, Richard Nixon becomes the first (and as of 2007, the only) President of the United States to resign from office. The following month, President Gerald Ford grants Nixon a full presidential pardon.

September

8 - A bomb explodes on TWA Flight 841 in Athens, Greece. The plane crashed into the Ionian Sea, killing everyone aboard.

November

25 - British musician Nick Drake dies at age 26 of an overdose of antidepressants. The death is ruled a suicide.

Births

March 22 - Kidada Jones, American actress
March 25 - Lark Voorhies, American actress
September 4 - Nona Gaye, American actress/singer
September 18 - Xzibit, American actor/rapper

Deaths