The following events occurred in August 1975:
August 1, 1975 (Friday) The Helsinki Accords, recognized Europe's national borders and respect for human rights, were signed by the leaders of 35 nations in Finland, including the 15 member states of NATO and the 7 Warsaw Pact nations. Among other things, the agreement conceded the legality of the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, but also provided the first mechanism for holding the Communist nations to commitments toward human rights, and was later cited by Václav Havel as a key to the success of liberating Eastern Europe in 1989. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment commenced in India, bringing television for the first time to 2,500 villages in six Indian states and territories, in a project conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA with the ATS-6 satellite. It would operate until July 31, 1976.
The skull of "KNM ER 3733", a woman of the species Homo ergaster, was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo, 1,750,000 years after her death, at the Koobi Fora Ridge near Lake Turkana in Kenya. By August 9, the nearly intact skull had been carefully unearthed. The Republic of Cabinda unilaterally declared independence.
August 2, 1975 (Saturday) The highest temperatures ever recorded in Massachusetts (107 °F at New Bedford) and Rhode Island (104 °F at Providence) took place during a heat wave in northeast United States. Carrying U.S. President Ford on his departure from the Helsinki summit, Air Force One strayed from its flight plan and veered into restricted air space near Swedish military installations, prompting the Swedish Air Force to send a J35 Draken to intercept the jet and turn it away. Major Carl-Christen Hjort said that the fighter was equipped with air-to-air missiles, "but, of course, there were no plans to use them". Billy Martin had his first game as manager of baseball's New York Yankees for owner George Steinbrenner being hired and fired in several times between 1975 and 1988. In his outing, he guided the Yankees to a 5–3 win over the Cleveland Indians.
August 3, 1975 (Sunday) Less than four weeks after becoming the first President of the Comoros, Ahmed Abdallah was overthrown in a bloodless coup. Foreign mercenaries, sponsored by French soldier of fortune Bob Denard, seized the lone radio station and television station in Moroni, the capital city. An hour later, opposition leader Ali Soilih announced that he was the new President. Solih would place Said Mohamed Jaffar in the office of President, before assuming the job himself in January. A0620-00, the first x-ray nova to also be visible on an optical telescope (designated V616 Mon), was seen and detected to flare. After eight months, the flare diminished, and the object is considered to be likely to be a black hole that was created around the time of the 10th century BCE based on its distance from earth of an estimated 3,000 light years. The Louisiana Superdome opened in New Orleans. Died: Jack Molinas, 43, gambler and former college and professional basketball player convicted for "fixing" games, was shot and killed while standing in his backyard at his home in Hollywood Hills, California, in what was believed to have been a mob hit. The gunman, Eugene Conner, was convicted of murder in 1978 after being turned in by his own brother.
August 4, 1975 (Monday) A chartered ALIA, Royal Jordanian Airlines Boeing 707 crashed into the side of a mountain while attempting to land at Agadir after departing Paris three hours earlier. All but four of the passengers were Moroccans who worked in France and who were coming home on their vacations. All 188 people on the jet were killed. Members of the Japanese Red Army terrorist group fought their way into the American consulate in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then took 52 hostages, only five of whom were American. The group demanded the release of 7 jailed Red Army members. Five of the JRA prisoners accepted the offer of safe passage and were flown to Libya.
August 5, 1975 (Tuesday)