• 55 MPH - Richard Nixon signed a bill setting the national speed limit at 55 MPH. The lower speed limit was designed to conserve gas during the OPEC oil embargo.
• February 5, 1974 - Patricia “Patty” Hurst, daughter of publisher Randolph Hurst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army .
• Nixon Resigns - July 31, 1974, facing impeachment charges, US President Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency and left office.
• Germany - Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns from office after it is disclosed that a close aide is an East German spy.
Notable Deaths -
Jack Benny, 1894-1974, born Benjamin Kubelsky in Waukegan, Illinois, Benny was a brilliant comedian of old-time radio and early television. Known for his cheapness, Benny's comedic timing was legendry; he was the ultimate straight man.
Oscar Schindler, 1908-1974, Nazi industrialist whose factories saved over 1,000 Polish and Czech Jews from Hitler's death camps during WW2. Oscar Schindler's story was told in the 1993, Steven Spielberg movie “Schindler's List.”
