December 29, 1975: At 6:33 PM, during rush hour, a bomb explodes in a locker at the baggage reclaim terminal for Trans World Airlines (TWA) baggage at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Contrary to the New York Daily News headline above, the death toll turned out to be 11, and the injuries numbered 74.
This bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City between the 1920 Wall Street bombing and the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001.
The perpetrators were never officially identified or charged, although the most common consensus is that it was either anti-Yugoslavian Croats that were part of Otpor, meaning "Resistance"; or Yugoslavia's Communist Belgrade's own State Security Administration, the UDBA, working to malign Otpor through sabotage, which was a common strategy of theirs. Another suspect was the FALN, terrorists seeking independence for Puerto Rico.
Since Yugoslavia, though Communist, was opposed to the Soviet Union, and wasn't making efforts to expand its influence to neighboring nations, and Puerto Rico was still a sensitive issue, President Gerald Ford chose not to press the issue, and no arrests were made.
As of December 29, 2022, Puerto Rico is still a "freely associated state," but not a State, of the United States of America. Yugoslavia held together until 1991, before breaking up into a savage civil war. Mostly at peace since 1999, it is now 7 separate nations: In alphabetical order, Bosnia and Herzegovina (that's one country), Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia (including the former Yugoslav capital of Belgrade), and Slovenia.
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December 29, 1975 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in the middle of its Playoffs. There was 1 college football bowl game: Maryland beat Florida, 13-0 in the Gator Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Jacksonville, Florida.
There was 1 game played in the NBA: The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 94-93 at the Chicago Stadium. Earl "the Pearl" Monroe scored 37 points. And there was 1 game played in the ABA: The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 110-102 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
No games were scheduled for the World Hockey Association, but there were 3 games in the NHL:
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals, 6-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Atlanta Flames, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
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