January 5 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.

January 24 – Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi is discovered in Guam; he had spent 28 years in the jungle and becomes the third-to-last Japanese soldier to surrender after World War II.

February 4 – Mariner 9 sends pictures from Mars.

February 5 – U.S. airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage.

February 18 – The California Supreme Court voids the state's death penalty, commuting all death sentences to life in prison.

February 21–28 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.

February 24 – North Vietnamese negotiators walk out of the Paris Peace Talks to protest U.S. air raids.

March 2 – The Pioneer 10 spacecraft is launched from Cape Kennedy, to be the first man-made satellite to leave the solar system.

April 10 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union join some 70 nations in signing the Biological Weapons Convention, an agreement to ban biological warfare.

April 16 – Vietnam War – Nguyen Hue Offensive: Prompted by the North Vietnamese offensive, the United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong.

May 8 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the mining of Haiphong Harbor in Vietnam.

May 15  - Okinawa is returned to Japan after 27 years of United States Military occupation.

May 15 – Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur Herman Bremer at a Laurel, Maryland political rally.

May 26 – Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT I treaty in Moscow, as well as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and other agreements.

May 26 – The Watergate first break-in, the "Ameritas dinner", fails.

May 26 – Wernher von Braun retires from NASA, frustrated by the agency's unwillingness to pursue a manned trans-orbital space program.

May 27 – A second Watergate break-in attempt fails.

June 17 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee.

June 23 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the C.I.A. to obstruct the F.B.I.'s investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

June 28 – U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam.

June 29 – Furman v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

July – U.S. actress Jane Fonda tours North Vietnam, during which she is photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.

July 10–14 – The Democratic National Convention meets in Miami Beach. Senator George McGovern, who backs the immediate and complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Vietnam, is nominated for President. He names fellow Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate.

July 21 – Comedian George Carlin is arrested by Milwaukee, Wisconsin police for public obscenity, for reciting his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television" at Summerfest.

August 12 – The last U.S. ground troops are withdrawn from Vietnam.

August 21 – The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida renominates U.S. President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew for a second term.

September 1 – Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chess match at Reykjavík, Iceland, becoming the first American chess champion.

October 16 - Country singer Loretta Lynn makes history becoming the first female ever to win the coveted Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award. Her signature song, Coal Miner's Daughter was pivotal in earning her this award.

October 25 – The first female FBI agents are hired.

October 26 – Following a visit to South Vietnam, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger suggests that "peace is at hand."

November – At a scientific meeting in Honolulu, Herbert Boyer and Stanley N. Cohen conceive the concept of recombinant DNA.

November 7 – U.S. presidential election, 1972: Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern in a landslide.

November 11 – Vietnam War – Vietnamization: The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.

November 14 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16) for the first time.

November 30 – Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning United States troop withdrawals from Vietnam because troop levels are now down to 27,000.

December 14 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 17. This is the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th Century.

December 22 – A peace delegation that includes singer-activist Joan Baez and human rights attorney Telford Taylor visit Hanoi to deliver Christmas mail to American prisoners of war (they will be caught in the Christmas bombing of North Vietnam).

December 23 – The Pittsburgh Steelers win their first ever post-season NFL game, defeating the Oakland Raiders 13–7, on a last second play that becomes known as The Immaculate Reception.

December 25 – The Christmas bombing of North Vietnam causes widespread criticism of the U.S. and President Richard Nixon.

December 31 – Roberto Clemente dies in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico while en route to deliver aid to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

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Women are allowed to compete in the Boston Marathon for the first time.

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• Cold War (1945–1991)

• Space Race (1957–1975)

• Vietnam War, U.S. involvement (1962–1973)

• Détente (c. 1969–1979)

• Watergate scandal (1972–1974)

• Capital punishment suspended by Furman v. Georgia (1972–1976

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