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CASE’s story begins in 1974, when members of the American College Public Relations Association and the American Alumni Council gathered in Houston, Texas, U.S., to sign the paperwork to merge and become CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

As they gathered on the morning of Nov. 26, 1974, at the downtown Hilton Hotel, there was no shortage of topics for “watercooler” conversation. 1974 was an eventful year!

News Around the World 

• Great Britain’s mandatory three-day working week goes into effect in January, one of several measures by the Conservative government to conserve electricity in the aftermath of an international oil crisis and a mineworker strike. Meanwhile, the U.S. introduces a nationwide 55-miles per hour highway speed limit to save on gas amid the oil crisis.
• Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped in February in Berkeley, California, U.S., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

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• In April, Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano is overthrown in the Carnation Revolution, bringing Portugal’s authoritarian Estado Novo (New State) government to an end. In another 1974 coup, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie is overthrown on Ethiopia’s national day in September.
• French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walks 131 feet between the Twin Towers of New York City’s World Trade Center in August. The unauthorized stunt takes place more than 1,350 feet above ground with no net. The Twin Towers, which opened the previous year, are at the time the tallest buildings in the world. 
• As a result of his involvement in the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign. In August, Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th President of the United States.
• In September, President Ford announces conditional amnesty for Vietnam War deserters. 
• South Africa is suspended in November from the UN General Assembly over racial policies.
• Isabel Perón becomes the world’s first woman president of a country in July, when she succeeds her husband, Juan Perón, as president of Argentina.
• The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in December to Seán MacBride for his human rights work and to Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Satō for signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Discoveries

• Rubik’s Cube, a 3D puzzle, is invented by Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, it would become one of the most popular toys of all time.
• At Lake Mungo in New South Wales, Australia, human remains dated around 40,000 years old are discovered. The “Mungo Man” remains are the oldest Homo sapiens remains found on the Australian continent. 
• The first in an extensive collection of terra-cotta warriors is discovered in Xian, China. 

• Physicist Stephen Hawking publishes his landmark paper “Black Hole Explosions?,” which introduces the idea that black holes are not truly black because they emit heat.

   

Sports

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• West Germany wins the FIFA World Cup, beating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final at the Olympiastadion in Munich, West Germany.
• The Rumble in the Jungle, a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman is held in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali wins in an upset that many have called the greatest sporting event of the 20th century.
• In U.S. football, the Miami Dolphins win their second Super Bowl title in a row.
• U.S tennis pro Jimmy Connors wins three Grand Slam titles (Australia Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open). U.S. player Chris Evert wins her first Grand Slam title as a 19-year-old and follows that with a win at Wimbledon.

• Baseball great Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth’s home run record with his 714th long ball.

   

Entertainment 

Credit: CBS Television

• Swedish group ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo,” launching the group into international pop stardom and Broadway fame. Australian Olivia Newton-John places fourth.
• John Lennon’s single “Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” featuring Elton John, hits number one in the U.S. It would be the only solo chart-topper of Lennon’s career. 
• The first Vossajazz international jazz festival is held in Voss, Norway, where it will become an annual and much-heralded festival held the week before Easter.
• The Billboard top song for 1974 is Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were.” Other popular songs in the U.S. include “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, “Dancing Machine” by the Jackson 5, and “The Loco-Motion” by Grand Funk Railroad.
• Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward publish their book All the President’s Men. It details their groundbreaking Watergate investigation.
• Stephen King publishes his debut novel Carrie.
• The Oscar for Best Picture goes to The Sting. The 46th Academy Awards will be remembered for the shocking moment when a streaker interrupted David Niven as he was introducing Elizabeth Taylor.

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• Mel Brooks’ film Blazing Saddles is the top-grossing movie in the U.S. Other popular movies include The Towering Inferno, starring Paul Newman and Steve McQueen; The Godfather Part II (1975’s best picture); Chinatown; Texas Chain Saw Massacre; and Young Frankenstein, also by Mel Brooks.
• The 27th Cannes Film Festival awards The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.
• Popular television shows in the U.S. include Happy Days, Chico and the Man, Little House on the Prairie, Good Times, and All in the Family.