In July 1976, the month when 218 million Americans were feting their nation¡¯s 200th birthday, dramatic events were taking place on other continents also. On July 4 ¡ª America¡¯s Independence Day ¡ª an Israeli commando force staged a dramatic raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the 106 hostages who had been aboard a hijacked Air France jet.
On July 28, in one of the most deadly natural disasters of the 20th century, a massive earthquake struck the Chinese city of Tangshan, Hebei Province, killing hundreds of thousands.
The day before the earthquake devastated Tangshan, Japan was rattled by a manmade quake, in a manner of speaking, as Kakuei Tanaka ¡ª who had served as prime minister from July 1972 to December 1974 and, as head of the largest faction in the Liberal Democratic Party, remained Japan¡¯s most influential politician ¡ª was arrested and marched off to the Tokyo Detention Center on charges of receiving nearly $2 million in bribes from Lockheed Aircraft Corp.
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