On April 29th in US Political History
Part III
On April 29th in 1974 President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
On April 29th in 1975 US forces pulled out of Vietnam. The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon. Just hours after the last American was lifted out by helicopter from the roof of the embassy. NVA shell Tan Son Nhut air base in Saigon, killing two U.S. Marines at the compound gate. Conditions then deteriorate as South Vietnamese civilians loot the air base. President Ford orders Operation Frequent Wind, the helicopter evacuation of 7000 Americans and South Vietnamese from Saigon. At Tan Son Nhut, frantic civilians begin swarming the helicopters. The evacuation is then shifted to the walled-in American embassy, which is secured by U.S. Marines in full combat gear. But the scene there also deteriorates, as thousands of civilians attempt to get into the compound. Three U.S. aircraft carriers stand by off the coast of Vietnam to handle incoming Americans and South Vietnamese refugees. Many South Vietnamese pilots also land on the carriers, flying American-made helicopters which are then pushed overboard to make room for more arrivals.
On April 29th in 1975 The last four Americans killed in action in Vietnam included two Marines: Lance Corporal Darwin Judge of Marshalltown, Iowa, and Corporal Charles McMahon Jr. of Woburn, Massachusetts, by rocket and artillery bombardment following an air raid on Tan Son Nhut. Two Marine helicopter pilots died when their chopper crashed into the sea near an aircraft carrier taking part in the evacuation: Captain William Craig Nystul of Coronado, California, and First Lieutenant Michael John Shea of El Paso, Texas.
On April 29th in 1983 Harold Washington was sworn in as the first black mayor of Chicago.
On April 29th in 1992 Exxon executive Sidney Reso was kidnapped outside his Morris Township, N.J., home by Arthur Seale, a former Exxon security official, and Seale's wife, Irene, and held for ransom; Reso died in captivity. Arthur Seale is serving a 95-year prison term, while his wife is serving a 20-year sentence.
On April 29th in 1995 10 days after the blast, rescue workers in Oklahoma City continued the grim task of searching for bodies and pulling debris from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people died.
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