Official Gold Price Raised
United States legislation raises the official gold price to 38 dollars per ounce, formalising the dollar devaluation agreed under the Smithsonian arrangements.
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
1972 in United States of America — Page 2
Explore 674 historical events and records for United States of America in 1972.
Historical records for United States of America in 1972
Sorted by month and day. Records with no month are shown last. Showing 40 of 674 unique records.
674Unique records
2 of 17Page
36Named events on this page
8Named people on this page
9Places on this page
March
April
Intelligence Budget Review
A White House review of campaign decisions includes the approximately $250,000 budget for the CRP intelligence program headed by Liddy.
Biological Weapons Convention Opens
The Biological Weapons Convention opens for signature in Washington, London and Moscow.
Kilometre-Scale Interferometer Design
Weiss documents a kilometre-scale interferometric detector, identifies fundamental noise sources and describes methods capable in principle of reaching astrophysically useful gravitational-wave sensitivity.
Apollo 16 CSM-LM Docking
Pilots Casper during transposition and docking with lunar module Orion after launch.
Apollo 16 Launch
Commands Apollo 16, the fifth crewed lunar landing mission.
Bombing of Hanoi
US bombers attack Hanoi, 1st raid on a North Vietnamese city by the US since 1968
Bombing of Hanoi
Senate debates the bombing of Hanoi & refuses to support Nixon's policy in Vietnam
Apollo 16 Lunar Landing
Commands Orion to a landing in the Descartes Highlands after Mission Control clears the delayed descent.
Apollo 16 SPS Oscillation Check
Helps evaluate service propulsion system yaw oscillations before Mission Control clears Orion to land.
Descartes Landing
Pilots Orion to the Descartes Highlands after a delay caused by command-module propulsion concerns.
Apollo 16 ALSEP Deployment
Helps deploy the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package during the first surface EVA.
Apollo 16 First EVA
Explores the Descartes Highlands with Young during the first lunar surface excursion.
Apollo 16 First EVA
Begins the first surface excursion, deploying equipment and exploring the Descartes landing area.
Apollo 16 Heat Flow Cable Break
Accidentally breaks the heat-flow experiment cable while moving near the ALSEP site.
Apollo 16 Landing
Explores the Descartes Highlands during Apollo 16.
Apollo 16 Lunar Orbit
Conducts command module science during Apollo 16.
Apollo 16 Rover Grand Prix
Performs the planned Lunar Roving Vehicle Grand Prix exercise to evaluate rover handling.
Apollo 16 Solar Wind Composition Deployment
Participates in deploying the Apollo 16 Solar Wind Composition experiment near the lunar module to collect solar-wind particles on exposed foil.
Bombing of Haiphong
Haiphong is bombed
Flag Crater Sampling
Collects samples and photographs terrain during the first rover traverse near Flag Crater.
Lunar Rover
Uses the lunar rover during Apollo 16 exploration.
Stone Mountain Traverse
Drives the rover toward Stone Mountain during Apollo 16’s second surface EVA.
Apollo 16 Lunar Module Liftoff
Leaves the Moon with Young aboard Orion after completing three lunar surface excursions.
Apollo 16 Lunar Module Liftoff
Commands Orion's ascent stage as it leaves the Moon for rendezvous with Casper.
Apollo 16 North Ray Crater Traverse
Explores North Ray Crater and nearby House Rock with Young during the third surface excursion.
North Ray Crater Traverse
Explores the North Ray Crater area and samples large rocks during the final surface EVA.
Apollo 16 Subsatellite Deployment
Deploys the Particles and Fields subsatellite from Casper before the return to Earth.
Apollo 16 Trans-Earth Injection
Pilots Casper during the burn that sends Apollo 16 from lunar orbit toward Earth.
Apollo 16 Deep-Space EVA
Performs an EVA during the return flight to retrieve film from the service module scientific instrument bay.
Apollo 16 Splashdown
Returns with Young and Duke after the fifth successful Apollo lunar landing mission.
Apollo 16 Guidance Workaround
Continues toward the Moon after a programming change neutralizes an erroneous guidance-system gimbal-lock indication.
Apollo 16 Orbital Photography
Conducts extensive lunar photography from Casper while Young and Duke explore the surface.
Apollo 16 SIM Bay Science
Operates scientific instruments in the service module's SIM bay during lunar orbit.
Apollo 16 Ultraviolet Camera
Helps operate the far-ultraviolet camera and spectrograph used for astronomical observations from the lunar surface.
Bombing of Vietnam
Bombers are ordered north for the 1st time since 1968
Operation Arc Light
The monthly sortie rate is increased to 2,500
Vincent
Don McLean writes & sings a musical tribute to the artistic genius, titled "Vincent"
May
Survivor Benefit Reemployment Request
Hunt asked CIA whether a brief return to active service could allow him to correct an earlier retirement-benefit election affecting his wife.
Bombing of Haiphong
2,000 pound mines are dropped in Haiphong harbour
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.