38  
 www.wpma.com / Spring 2026
ture; FEA Sharpens Denition of Agents’ 
Rights; Commission Dealer; Service  
Station Dealer Loans/petroleum Industry 
Divestiture; Old Oil Entitlements Program;  
and Reverse Discrimination.
19 76 (Feb 12) Actor Sal Mineo, known for his role  
in the lm Rebel Without a Cause, was fatally  
stabbed in the alley behind his apartment building  
in West Hollywood, CA, age 37.
(Fe b 17) The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) 
compilation was released. Globally, it became probably 
the second best-selling album of all time, followed by 
their Hotel California album released on December 8.
19 76 (Mar 14) After eight 
years on NBC, The Wizard of Oz returned to CBS, where it 
remained until 1999, setting what was a record at that 
time for the most telecasts of a Hollywood lm on a 
commercial television network. (That record was broken 
by The Ten Commandments in 1996, which began its 
annual network telecasts on ABC in 1973, continuing to 
be telecast by that network as of 2020.)
(M ar 29) The 48th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by 
Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, George Segal, Goldie 
Hawn and Gene Kelly, was held at Dorothy Chandler 
Pavilion in Los Angeles, and broadcast on ABC for the 
rst time. Miloš Forman’s OneFlew Over the Cuckoo’s 
Nest received nine nominations and won ve awards, 
including Best Picture and Best Director for Forman. 
Isabelle Adjani became the youngest actress to be 
nominated for Best Actress 
(until 2004), while George 
Burns became the oldest actor 
to win Best Supporting Actor 
(until 2012), as well as the 
oldest awardee in general (until 
1989) and the nal person born 
in the 19th century to win an 
acting award.
(Mar 31) The New Jersey Supreme 
Court ruled that persistent vegetative 
state patient Karen Ann Quinlan could 
be disconnected from her ventilator. She 
remained comatose and died in 1985.
 
19 76 (Apr 13) The US Treasury 
Department reintroduced 
 the two-dollar bill as a  
Federal Reserve Note on  
Thomas Jeerson’s 233rd 
birthday as part of the US 
Bicentennial celebration.
75 Years Ago 
History of Petroleum: “Due to its high energy density, 
easy transportability and relative abundance, oil has become 
the world’s most important source 
of energy since the mid-1950s.”
19 51 (Feb 27) The Twenty-
second Amendment to the US 
Constitution, limiting presidents 
to two terms, was ratied.
19 51 (Mar 2) The rst NBA All-Star 
Game was played in the Boston 
Garden arena.
(M ar 12) Hank Ketcham’s best-
selling comic strip Dennis the Menace appeared in 
newspapers across the US for the rst time.
(M ar 29) Rodgers and Hammerstein’s "The King and I" 
opened on Broadway and ran for three years. It was 
the rst Rodgers & Hammerstein musical specically 
written for an 
actress (Gertrude 
Lawrence). 
Lawrence was 
stricken with
cancer and died 
halfway through 
its run a year later. 
The show made a star of Yul Brynner.
(M ar 29) The 23rd Academy Awards ceremony, hosted 
by Fred Astaire, was held at RKO Pantages Theatre in 
Hollywood, Los Angeles. Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s  
"All About Eve" won six awards, including Best Motion 
Picture and Mankiewicz's second consecutive Best 
Director win. The lm was also nominated for 14 awards 
overall, breaking the record of 13 set by 1939's  
"Gone with the Wind."
19 51 (Apr 7) Operation Greenhouse: The rst 
thermonuclear burn was carried out on Enewetak Atoll 
in the Marshall Islands of the Pacic by the US. Three 
further tests in this series took place till May 24.
(A pr 11) US President Harry S. Truman relieved General 
Douglas MacArthur of his Far Eastern commands.
(A pr 27) RKO released the Howard Hawks sci- lm  
"The Thing from Another World."
100 Years Ago 
19 26 (Feb 1) Land on Broadway and Wall Street in  
New York City was sold at a record $7 per sq inch.
19 26 (Mar 16) Physics Professor 
Robert Goddard launched  
the rst successful ight of  
his liquid-fuel rocket at  
Auburn, Massachusetts.
19 26 (Apr 12) By a vote of 45–41, 
the US Senate unseated Iowa 
Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seated Daniel F. Steck, 
after Brookhart had served for over one year. 
Quarter in History ... February, March and April continued
S
*Pink boxes added for WPMA State recognition
APR 1976 IOMN Clips

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