50 Years Ago in Photos: A Look Back at 1974 (2024)

The Swedish pop group ABBA performs during the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 in Brighton, England, with the song "Waterloo," on February 9, 1974. ABBA went on to win the competition that year, launching a hugely successful career. #

Olle Lindeborg / AFP / Getty

A streaker at Twickenham Stadium is discreetly led off by police during the England–Wales rugby international match in London. #

Tony Duffy / Allsport / David Cannon Collection / Getty

Oregon still had scattered gasoline-supply problems in May 1974, after an oil embargo was imposed on the United States in 1973 by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. Here, a gas station in downtown Portland shows a sign saying that the day's allocation was sold out. #

David Falconer / NARA

An overhead view of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in Earth orbit, as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules during its final fly-around by the CSM before returning home. Skylab, launched in May 1973, was home to three crewed astronaut missions until February 1974. #

NASA / MPI / Getty

Marian Skoog shows a customer how to use a new 24-hour sidewalk teller in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1974. Automatic teller users were able to make deposits, withdraw cash in $25 or $50 amounts, and pay mortgages, loans, and utility bills. #

Associated Press

The Atlanta Braves outfielder Hank Aaron swings a bat at home plate during spring training in March 1974. In April, Aaron would hit his 715th career home run, surpassing Babe Ruth's record. #

Associated Press

Sections of pipe form an interesting pattern where they are stacked in a Fairbanks, Alaska, storage yard on May 30, 1974. The sections are set to be joined together to form the 800-mile-long Trans-Alaska Pipeline from the Arctic Ocean oil fields to the ice-free harbor at Valdez. The pipeline began carrying oil in 1977. #

George Brich / AP

South Vietnamese Rangers rush children to a helicopter for evacuation from the Duc Hue base camp, about 35 miles northwest of Saigon, on April 5, 1974. The camp had been under enemy artillery attack for more than a week. #

Associated Press

An overview of the grounds of Expo '74, the World's Fair held in Spokane, Washington, shortly after it opened. Officially named the International Exposition on the Environment, Spokane 1974, the expo lasted from May through November, with pavilions and exhibits from governments and organizations around the world focused on environmental themes. The grounds were set on the revitalized site of a former rail yard, and remain open today as Spokane's Riverfront Park. #

Jacob Dormaier / Spokane Public Library

Evel Knievel sits in the steam powered Sky-Cycle X-2, a rocket motorcycle that will hopefully take him across Snake River Canyon on September 8, 1974. #

Associated Press

A parachute opens behind the Sky Cycle X-2, carrying the stuntman Evel Knievel as he attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon. The parachute deployed early, preventing Knievel from reaching the other side. #

Associated Press

The performer Elton John, seen onstage during a concert tour in October 1974 #

Robert Knight Archive / Redferns / Getty

The boxer Muhammad Ali puts on a show at the New York State Athletic Commission's office in New York City on January 23, 1974, as he tries to force his way into the room where his opponent, Joe Frazier, was getting his pre-fight physical. #

Marty Lederhandler / AP

A ballet routine is used in a roller-skating exercise class in January 1974. #

John Prieto / The Denver Post / Getty

Tom Baker, the actor who portrayed the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the sci-fi television series "Doctor Who," meets one of the show's creatures in a 1974 publicity shot. #

Frank Barratt / Getty

Despite subfreezing temperatures and rain, a crowd waits in line outside the Paramount Theater in New York City for a showing of "The Exorcist" on February 4, 1974. Theater operators in the 28 cities where the picture was showing reported full houses, long lines, and extra showings. #

Ron Frehm / AP

A scene from the "Carnation Revolution," the mostly peaceful coup that took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on April 25, 1974. Military officers overthrew a dictatorial government that had ruled for decades, setting the stage for democratic rule. #

Jean-Claude Francolon / Gamma-Rapho / Getty

Philippe Petit, tightrope walker, walks between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on August 7, 1974. #

Associated Press

A view of the densely populated Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong on June 13, 1974 #

South China Morning Post / Getty

Senator George McGovern reads a newspaper headline announcing President Richard Nixon's resignation on August 8, 1974. #

Associated Press

People dance in the streets of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on August 9, 1974, following the resignation of President Richard Nixon on television. More than a thousand people participated in the demonstration. #

Peter Bregg / AP

As he boards the White House helicopter after resigning the presidency, former President Richard Nixon smiles and gives the victory sign. #

Bettmann Archive / Getty

Original caption: "San Francisco: Patricia Hearst, kidnapped 70 days ago by the Symbionese Liberation Army, was named as a material witness in the robbery of a San Francisco bank. Charles Bates of the FBI said the above photo shows there was a bank robber (upper right), with a weapon pointed at Patricia. Above photo purportedly shows Patricia Hearst (center) with weapon during the holdup." #

Bettmann Archive / Getty

The Manhattan Bridge, framed by nearby buildings, photographed in Brooklyn in June 1974 #

Danny Lyon / NARA

People walk past adult-entertainment establishments on Washington Street, in Boston's "Combat Zone," in 1974. #

Spencer Grant / Getty

Police on motorcycles escort school buses on a street in Boston as schools were desegregated in 1974. #

Associated Press

Original caption: "A crowd of demonstrators in a march against racism in Boston as they tried to defy a city order and attempted to push past a barricade of thirty to forty police officers (at right) who were blocking the way to Bolyston Street at Massachusetts Avenue. Police say two people have been arrested and at least one man slightly injured in the skirmish. The crowd then proceeded along the original route to the Boston Common where a rally was planned." #

Bettmann Archive / Getty

Parents march in support of LGBTQ rights at a gay-pride parade in Greenwich Village, New York City, on June 30, 1974. At right is the lawyer Dick Ashworth, marching with a sign that reads, "I'm Proud of My Gay Son." Ashworth later became one of the founding members of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). #

Bettmann Archive / Getty

The Scottish pop group the Bay City Rollers, photographed in the United Kingdom in March 1974 #

Michael Putland / Getty

Teenage fans react at a David Cassidy concert in White City, London, in May 1974. #

Tim Graham / Evening Standard / Getty

Queen Elizabeth ll takes photographs with her gold Rollei 35 camera during a visit to the Badminton Horse Trials on April 26, 1974, in Badminton, England. #

Anwar Hussein / Getty

The Rolling Stones during the production of their music video for "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)" in June 1974 in London #

Michael Putland / Getty

Original caption: "The scene in Talbot Street, Dublin, where two car bombs exploded, May 17, 1974, during the rush hour as office workers and shoppers were hurrying home for the weekend. Twenty-seven people were killed and scores injured by bombs in the Irish Republic, May 17—the worst single death toll since the Northern Ireland troubles began five years ago. Three bombs in Dublin caused 22 deaths. Another exploded in the center of the border town of Monaghan, killing five and injuring at least twenty." #

Peter Kemp / AP

A Turkish-army tank passes the Saray Hotel in the Turkish section of Nicosia, Cyprus, on July 24, 1974. On the roof of a nearby building is a picture of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic. The 1974 invasion was sparked by an abortive coup by supporters of union with Greece. It led to the occupation by Turkey of the northern third of Cyprus and some 200,000 Greek Cypriots fleeing or being expelled from their homes in the north. #

Associated Press

Released Syrian prisoners of war arrive in Damascus from Israel during a prisoner exchange in June 1974. #

AP

Debbie Harry, the lead vocalist of the band Blondie, performs at CBGB on March 26, 1974, in New York City. #

Ross Lewis / Getty

The Grateful Dead performs at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on June 16, 1974. #

Kirk West / Getty

Michael Palin (left) and John Cleese, members of the Monty Python comedy group, in costume on the set of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" on May 21, 1974 #

John Downing / Express / Getty

A young girl rides her tricycle on a street in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory, on Christmas Day, 1974. The cyclone destroyed some 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, causing more than $800 million in damage and killing more than 65 people. #

Bruce Howard / Newspix / Getty

Original caption from October 30, 1974: "Perspiration flies from the head of George Foreman as he takes a right from challenger Muhammad Ali in the seventh round in the match dubbed 'Rumble in the Jungle,' in Kinshasa, Zaire. Foreman was knocked out in the eighth round." #

Ed Kolenovsky / AP