A snapshot of the year
1972
In the White House: Richard Nixon
The soundtrack and the screen
The number one song
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
by Roberta Flack
Number one album
Harvest by Neil Young
Top movie of the year
The Godfather
Best Picture winner
The Godfather
Academy Awards
On television
All in the Family
Highest rated show
On the bestseller list
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
by Richard Bach
The nation and the world
In the White House
Richard Nixon
Time Person of the Year
Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger
The story of the year
The Watergate break-in set off a scandal that toppled a presidency.
On the field
World Series champions
Oakland Athletics
Baseball
Pro football champions
Dallas Cowboys
NFL
Life and the times
Born this year
Dwayne Johnson
actor
We said goodbye to
Harry S. Truman
U.S. president
Car of the Year
Citroen SM
Motor Trend
New that year
The first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey
Everybody was into
Pong arcade gaming
What things cost
Figures are representative US averages for 1972, drawn from federal and industry records.