On this day in conspiracies

At about 0845, all ten Minuteman I missiles of Echo Flight, controlled from an underground launch control facility in central Montana, lose strategic alert almost simultaneously, each showing a no-go fault. Strategic Air Command orders an immediate engineering analysis.

On the morning a new government resting on that compromise is to be confirmed, a Red Brigades commando ambushes Moro's motorcade on Via Fani in Rome. His five-man escort, two Carabinieri and three police officers, is shot dead in seconds and Moro is dragged into a waiting car. The precision of the assault fuels immediate suspicion that the small far-left group had outside help.