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1974_10 | Section: November (2):
November 2 – Nelly, American rapper
November 5
Ryan Adams, American singer and songwriter
Dado Pršo, Croatian footballer
Jerry Stackhouse, American basketball player
November 8
Penelope Heyns, South African swimmer
Masashi Kishimoto, Japanese manga author
Matthew Rhys, Welsh actor
November 9 – Alessandro Del Piero, Italian football player
November 10 – Chris Lilley, Australian comedian and actor
November 11 – Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor, producer and environmentalist
November 13 – Kerim Seiler, Swiss artist and architect
November 14 – Chip Gaines, an American actor, producer, television personality, and author
November 15
Chad Kroeger, Canadian singer
Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of Lithuania
November 16 – Paul Scholes, English football player
November 18
Chloë Sevigny, American actress
Petter Solberg, Norwegian rally driver
November 20
Drew Ginn, Australian rower
Kurt Krömer, German television presenter, comedian and actor
November 24 – Stephen Merchant, English actor and comedian
November 26 – Roman Šebrle, Czech decathlete
November 27
Wendy Houvenaghel, British racing cyclist
Zsófia Polgár, Hungarian-born chess player
November 29 – Ferenc Merkli, Hungarian Slovene priest, writer and translator
November 30 – Wallace Chung, Hong Kong actor and singer
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1974_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1 – Costinha, Portuguese footballer
December 4 – Anke Huber, German tennis player
December 5
Kid Koala, Canadian DJ, turntablist, musician and graphic novelist
Ben McAdams, American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021 in Utah
December 7 – Nicole Appleton, Canadian singer
December 10 – Meg White, American drummer
December 11
Rey Mysterio, American wrestler
Gete Wami, Ethiopian long-distance runner
Ben Shephard, TV presenter and journalist
December 12 – Michelle Saram, Singaporean singer and actress
December 17
Sarah Paulson, American actress
Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
December 18
Kari Byron, American artist and television personality
Mutassim Gaddafi, Libyan Army commander (d. 2011)
Viki Miljković, Serbian singer
Nelly Karim, Egyptian actress
December 19 – Ricky Ponting, Australian cricketer
December 20 – Paul Linger, English footballer
December 24
Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
Ryan Seacrest, American television personality
December 27 – Alena Vinnitskaya, Ukrainian singer
December 29 – Mekhi Phifer, American actor
December 30
Dr. Jitheshji, Indian Speed Cartoonist and Pictorial Orator
December 31
Tan Tolga Demirci, Turkish director and writer
Tony Kanaan, Brazilian racing driver
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1975_0 | 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1975th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 975th year of the 2nd millennium, the 75th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1970s decade. |
1975_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up.
January 2
The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
A bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
January 5 – Tasman Bridge disaster: The Tasman Bridge in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier MV Lake Illawarra, causing a partial collapse resulting in 12 deaths.
January 15 – Alvor Agreement: Portugal announces that it will grant independence to Angola on November 11.
January 20
In Hanoi, North Vietnam, the Politburo approves the final military offensive against South Vietnam.
Work is abandoned on the 1974 Anglo-French Channel Tunnel scheme.
January 24 – Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett plays the solo improvisation The Köln Concert at the Cologne Opera. The live recording becomes the best-selling piano recording in history.
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1975_1 | Section: February (2):
February 4 – The Haicheng earthquake in Haicheng, Liaoning, China, kills 2,041 and injures 27,538, but much of the city has been evacuated in a claimed example of earthquake prediction.
February 5 – The Argentinian president Isabel Perón decrees Operativo Independencia, aiming to neutralize or annihilate the "subversive elements" in the province of Tucuman. Isabelita assumes extraordinary powers.
February 11
Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the opposition UK Conservative Party. Thatcher, 49, is Britain's first female leader of any political party.
Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar, is assassinated.
February 27 – The 2 June Movement kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met.
February 28
A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.
In Lomé, Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lomé Convention.
The National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) approaches the South African Embassy in London and requests 40 to 50 artillery pieces to assist their cause in the Angolan Civil War.
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1975_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1
Aston Villa win the English Football League Cup at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1–0 in the final.
Australian television switches to full-time colour.
March 6
Algiers Agreement: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement in their border dispute.
A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of Springer publishers. The March 6 Group (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the Baader-Meinhof Group.
March 9 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
March 10
Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in South Vietnam on their way to capturing Saigon.
An extended portion of Sanyō Shinkansen between Okayama Station and Hakata Station opens, giving the Japanese Shinkansen high speed rail network access to the country's second island, Kyushu.
March 11 – The leftist military government in Portugal defeats a rightist coup attempt involving former president António de Spínola, who flees to Brazil.
March 13 – Vietnam War: South Vietnam President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu orders the Central Highlands evacuated. This turns into a mass exodus involving troops and civilians (the "Convoy of Tears").
March 15 – In Brazil, Guanabara State merges into the state of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro.
March 22 – "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In (music by Dick Bakker, lyrics by Will Luikinga and Eddy Ouwens) wins the 20th Eurovision Song Contest 1975 (staged in Stockholm) for the Netherlands.
March 25 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by his nephew.
March 27 – The South African government announces that it will consolidate the 113 separate homeland areas into 36.
March 28 – A fire in the maternity wing at Kučić Hospital in Rijeka, Yugoslavia (Croatia), kills 25 people.
March 31 – Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (39th government), a four-party coalition, the so-called First National Front (Turkish: Milliyetçi cephe).
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1975_3 | Section: April (2):
April 4
Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff, killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft (at this time known as Micro-Soft) in Albuquerque, New Mexico and release their Altair BASIC interpreter. (Microsoft becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976.)
April 5 – The Soviet crewed space mission (Soyuz 18a) ends in failure during its ascent into orbit when a critical malfunction occurs in the second and third stages of the booster rocket during staging at an altitude of 192 km, resulting in the cosmonauts and their Soyuz spacecraft having to be ripped free from the vehicle. Both cosmonauts (Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov) survive.
April 9 – Eight people in South Korea, who are involved in the People's Revolutionary Party Incident, are hanged.
April 13
Bus massacre: The Kataeb militia kills 27 Palestinians during an attack on their bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon, triggering the Lebanese Civil War which lasts until 1990.
A coup d'état in Chad led by the military overthrows and kills President François Tombalbaye.
April 17 – The Khmer Republic surrenders, when the Communist Khmer Rouge guerilla forces capture Phnom Penh ending the Cambodian Civil War, with mass evacuation of American troops and Cambodian civilians.
April 18 – The Khmer Rouge begins a forcible mass evacuation of the city and starts the genocide.
April 19 – Nico Diederichs becomes the 3rd State President of South Africa.
April 24 – West German Embassy siege in Stockholm: Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over the West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members; shortly after, they are captured by Swedish police.
April 25 – Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese Army forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost 10 years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
April 29 – Vietnam War: North Vietnam concludes its East Sea Campaign by capturing all of the Spratly Islands that were being held by South Vietnam.
April 30 – The Vietnam War ends with the Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War concludes as Communist forces from North Vietnam take over Saigon, resulting in mass evacuation of the remaining American troops and South Vietnam civilians. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally and is replaced with a temporary Provisional Government.
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1975_4 | Section: May (2):
May 3 – West Ham United win the FA Cup at Wembley, beating Fulham 2–0 in the final.
May 6 – The South African government announces that it will provide all Black children with free and compulsory education.
May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines; 38 Americans are killed.
May 16
Sikkim accedes to India after a referendum and abolishes the Chogyal, its monarchy.
Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
May 25 – Bobby Unser wins the Indianapolis 500 for a second time in a rain-shorted 174 lap, 700 km (430 mi) race.
May 27 – The Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, England, results in 32 deaths (the highest toll in a United Kingdom road accident).
May 28 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
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1975_5 | Section: June (2):
June 5 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
June 6 – The Georgetown Agreement, formally creating the ACP Group, is signed.
June 9 – The Order of Australia is awarded for the first time.
June 11 – After a referendum and seven years of military rule, modern-day Greece is established as the Hellenic Republic.
June 25
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency in India, suspending civil liberties and elections.
Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.
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1975_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1 – The Postmaster-General's Department is disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post).
July 4 – Zion Square refrigerator bombing. A terrorist attack in downtown Jerusalem kills 15 civilians and wounds 77.
July 5 – Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule.
July 6 – The Comoros declares and is granted its independence from France.
July 9 – The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a multi-party system (albeit highly restricted).
July 12 – São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
July 17 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: A crewed American Apollo spacecraft and the crewed Soviet Soyuz spacecraft for the Soyuz 19 mission dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the 2 nations.
July 21 – The Parliament of India votes to approve Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's declaration of a state of emergency, with a 301-76 vote in the lower house and a 147-32 vote in the upper house.
July 30 – Typhoon Nina forms over the Philippine Sea.
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1975_7 | Section: August (2):
The first Cuban forces arrive in Angola to join Soviet personnel who are there to assist the MPLA that controls less than a quarter of Angolan territory. The United States, Zaire and Zambia request South Africa to provide training and support for the FNLA and UNITA forces.
August 1 – The Helsinki Accords, which officially recognize Europe's national borders and respect for human rights, are signed in Finland.
August 8 – The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after Typhoon Nina; over 200,000 people perish.
August 11 – Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese East Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a UDT coup and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
August 15
Founder President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh is killed during a coup led by Major Syed Faruque Rahman.
Some members of Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Armageddon will occur this year based on the group's chronology and some sell their houses and businesses to prepare for the new world paradise which they believe will be created when Jesus establishes God's Kingdom on Earth.
August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
August 24 – Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment.
August 25 – The Victoria Falls Conference between Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and the United African National Council is held in a South African Railways coach on the Victoria Falls Bridge, officiated by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and South African Prime Minister John Vorster.
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1975_8 | Section: September (2):
September–October – In New Zealand, Māori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5,000 people, in support of Maori claims to their land.
September 5
In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.
The London Hilton Hotel is bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army; two people are killed and 63 injured.
September 6 – An earthquake of magnitude Ms 6.7 kills at least 2,085 in Diyarbakır and Lice, Turkey.
September 14 – Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch is slashed a dozen times at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
September 15 – The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).
September 16
Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.
Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe join the United Nations.
September 19 – General Vasco Gonçalves is ousted as Prime Minister of Portugal.
September 20 – The term of Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, ends.
September 21 – Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra of Kelantan, becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
September 22 – In San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate U.S. President Ford, but is foiled by the Secret Service.
September 27 – Francoist Spain executes five ETA and FRAP members, the last executions in Spain to date.
September 30
The Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
(US time) Home Box Office becomes the first pay television network to deliver a continuous signal via satellite by broadcasting the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match live.
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1975_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – "Thrilla in Manila": Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines. The fight is viewed live by well over 100 million people worldwide.
October 14
The South African Defence Force invades Angola during Operation Savannah in support of the FNLA and UNITA prior to the Angolan elections scheduled for November 11.
A British Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber explodes and crashes over Żabbar, Malta after an aborted landing, killing five crew members and one person on the ground.
October 16
The "Balibo Five" ,Australian television journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian Army special forces in the buildup to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.
The last naturally occurring case of smallpox is diagnosed and treated, the victim being two-year-old Rahima Banu in Bangladesh.
October 30 – Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting head of state after General Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern. His death on November 20 effectively marks the end of the dictatorship established following the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy.
October 31
The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 takes effect in Australia.
Tun Mustapha resigns as Chief Minister of Sabah, a state in Malaysia, bringing to an end speculation that he would attempt to lead secession for Sabah to become an independent nation.
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1975_10 | Section: November (2):
November 6 – The Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.
November 7 – A vapor cloud explosion at a petroleum cracking facility in Geleen, Netherlands, leaves 14 dead and 109 injured, with fires lasting for five days.
November 10
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379: By a vote of 72–35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world. It is repealed in 1991.
The Treaty of Osimo is signed between Italy and Yugoslavia, resolving their dispute over Trieste. Under the agreement, a majority of the land area and residents go to Italy.
The 729-foot (222 m)-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 27 kilometres (17 mi) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board (an event immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot).
Lev Leshchenko revives "Den Pobedy", one of the most popular World War II songs in the Soviet Union.
November 11
Angola becomes independent from Portugal and civil war erupts.
Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr controversially dismisses the Whitlam Labor government and commissions Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal/National Country Coalition as caretaker Prime Minister.
The first annual Vogalonga rowing "race" is held in Venice, Italy.
November 12 – The Comoros joins the United Nations.
November 14 – Madrid Accords: Spain agrees to hand over power of the Spanish Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania by the end of February 1976.
November 15 – The "Group of 6" industrialized nations (G-6) is formed and holds its 1st summit at the Château de Rambouillet in France.
November 16 – Beginning of the Third Cod War between UK and Iceland, which lasts until June 1976.
November 19 – The United States Congress approves the Clark Amendment, ending aid to the FNLA and UNITA.
November 22 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of General Francisco Franco; he will reign until his abdication in 2014.
November 25
Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
A failed military coup d'état by far-left activists occurs in Portugal.
November 28
Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor.
South African Navy frigates evacuate 26 SADF members from behind enemy lines at Ambrizete, 160 kilometres (99 mi) north of Luanda in Angola.
November 29
While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.
1975 New Zealand general election: The New Zealand National Party led by Robert Muldoon defeats the incumbent New Zealand Labour Party led by Prime Minister Bill Rowling.
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1975_11 | Section: December (2):
December 2 – In Laos, the communist party of the Pathet Lao takes over Vientiane and defeats the Kingdom of Laos, forcing King Sisavang Vatthana to abdicate and creating the Lao People's Democratic Republic. This ends the Laotian Civil War, with mass evacuation of American troops and Laotian civilians, but effectively begins the Insurgency in Laos with the Pathet Lao fighting the Hmong people, Royalist-in-exile and the Right-wings. The Insurgency in Laos wouldn't end until March 30, 2022, when the last unorganized resistance against the Lao People's Army was finally put down.
December 3 – Wreck of HMHS Britannic (sunk by mine 1916) is found in the Kea Channel by Jacques Cousteau.
December 7 – Indonesian invasion of East Timor: Indonesia invades East Timor; the occupation continues until 1999 when U.N. peacekeepers take control until 2002.
December 13
1975 Australian federal election: The Liberal/National Country Coalition led by Malcolm Fraser defeats the recently dismissed Labor government led by Gough Whitlam. The Fraser government achieves what is so far the largest parliamentary majority in federal Australian political history. Whitlam would subsequently survive a leadership challenge against him.
United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961) comes into effect.
December 18 – The Algerian president Houari Boumediene orders the expulsion of all Moroccans from Algeria.
December 21 – Six people, including Carlos the Jackal, kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna.
December 29 – A bomb explosion at LaGuardia Airport in New York City kills 11 people.
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1976_0 | 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1976th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 976th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1970s decade. |
1976_0 | Section: January (2):
January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
January 18 – Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War.
January 27
The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.
The First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara.
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1976_1 | Section: February (2):
February 4
The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria.
The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured.
February 9 – The Australian Defence Force is formed by unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.
February 13 – General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup.
February 24 – Cuba's constitution of 1976 is enacted.
February 26 – The Spanish Armed Forces withdraw from Western Sahara.
February 27 – The Polisario Front, Western Sahara's national liberation movement, declares independence of the territory under the name "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic".
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1976_2 | Section: March (2):
March – The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research, with the first purchaser being the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
March 1
U.K. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terroristcrimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.
Bradford Bishop allegedly murders five of his family members in Bethesda, Maryland. The crime goes undiscovered for 10 days and the suspect is never caught. From 2014 to 2018 he is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
March 4
The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in Direct rule over Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom in London.
The Maguire Seven are found guilty in London of possessing explosives for use by the Provisional Irish Republican Army and subsequently jailed for 14 years; their convictions were overturned in 1991.
March 9 – A cable car disaster occurs when a supporting cable breaks in Cavalese, Italy, resulting in 43 deaths.
March 9–11 – Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, in Letcher County, Kentucky.
March 16 – Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
March 20 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974.
March 24
Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Perón.
A general strike takes place in the People's Republic of the Congo.
March 26
The Body Shop, the retail chain for skin care products and cosmetics founded by Anita Roddick, opens its first branch in Brighton, England.
March 27
The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.
The first 7.4 kilometres (4.6 mi) of the Washington Metro subway system opens.
March 29 – The military dictatorship of General Jorge Videla comes to power in Argentina.
March 31 – The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that patient in a persistent vegetative state in the Karen Ann Quinlan case can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.
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1976_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1
Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California.
Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that have filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.
The Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by British astronomer Patrick Moore.
April 2 – Norodom Sihanouk is forced to resign as Head of State of Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot and is placed under house arrest.
April 3 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me.
April 5
James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Tiananmen Incident: Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed, provoking a police crackdown.
Segovia prison break: in Spain's largest prison break since the Spanish Civil War, 29 political prisoners escape from Segovia prison.
April 13
The Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion in Lapua, Finland kills 40.
The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
April 16 – As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
April 19 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured.
April 21 – The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne, Australia: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
April 25 – Portugal's new constitution is enacted.
April 29 – Sino-Soviet split: A concealed bomb explodes at the gates of the Soviet embassy in China, killing four Chinese. The targets were embassy employees, returning from lunch, but on this day they had returned to the embassy earlier.
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1976_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – Neville Wran becomes Premier of New South Wales.
May 4
The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.
May 6 – An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.
May 9 – Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction is found hanged in an apparent suicide in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.
May 11
U.S. President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act.
An accident involving a tanker truck carrying anhydrous ammonia takes place in Houston, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 7 people.
May 13 – The Atari video arcade game Breakout is released.
May 16 – The Montreal Canadiens sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey. Flyers forward Reggie Leach became the only non-goaltender from a finals losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs after scoring a record 19 goals in 16 playoff games.
May 21 – The Yuba City bus disaster, the second-worst bus crash in U.S. history, leaves 28 students and one teacher killed.
May 24
Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
The Judgment of Paris pits French vs. California wines in a blind taste-test in Paris, France. California wines win the contest, surprising the wine world and opening the wine industry to newcomers in several countries.
May 25 – U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in 3 Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon.
May 30 – Indianapolis 500 automobile race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 408 kilometres (254 mi).
May 31 – Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which it has previously supported.
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1976_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1 – The United Kingdom and Iceland end the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters to 200 nautical miles in exchange for defined fishing rights.
June 2
A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.
The Philippine government opens relations with the Soviet Union.
June 4 – The Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 128–126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association Finals at the Boston Garden. In 1997, the game is selected by a panel of experts as the greatest of the NBA's first 50 years.
June 5 – The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the US, killing 11 people.
June 6 – The Double Six Crash, a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, kills everyone on board, including Sabahan Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens.
June 12 – Alberto Demicheli, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay after Juan María Bordaberry is deposed by the military.
June 13 – Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa, spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan.
June 16 – The Soweto uprising in South Africa begins.
June 20
Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. Ambassador.
General elections are held in Italy, resulting in the best result for the Communist Party (PCI) in a general election.
Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win Euro 76 when the game ends 2–2 after extra time.
June 25 – Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; they end on June 30.
June 26 – The CN Tower is opened in Toronto, the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.
June 27
G-6 is renamed "Group of 7" (G-7) with the inclusion of Canada.
Palestinian militants hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
June 29
Seychelles gains independence from the United Kingdom.
The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.
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1976_6 | Section: July (2):
July 2 – North Vietnam dissolves the Provisional Government of South Vietnam and unites the two countries to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
July 3
Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment overturning the Furman v. Georgia case of 1972.
The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
July 4
The U.S. celebrates its bicentennial, in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the 1776 adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom.
Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; Yonatan Netanyahu and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.
July 6 – The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
July 7
German left-wing women terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin.
David Steel becomes leader of the UK's Liberal Party in the aftermath of the scandal which forced out Jeremy Thorpe.
July 10
Four mercenaries, three British and one American, are shot by firing squad in Angola, following the Luanda Trial.
Seveso disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy, causes extensive pollution to a large area in the neighborhood of Milan, with many evacuations and a large number of people affected by the toxic cloud.
July 12 – In the United States:
California State University, Fullerton massacre: seven people are shot and killed, and two others are wounded in a mass shooting on campus at California State University, Fullerton.
Price Club, as predecessor of Costco, a worldwide membership-registration-only retailer, is founded in California.
July 15
Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. president at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
Twenty-six Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver are abducted and buried in a box truck within a quarry in Livermore, California. The captives dig themselves free after 16 hours. The quarry-owner's son and two accomplices are arrested for the crime.
July 16–20 – Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Société Generale Bank in Nice, France.
July 17
The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
July 18 – 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci earns the first of seven perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
July 19 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
July 20
Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
American criminal Gary Gilmore is arrested for murdering two men in Utah.
July 21 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, new British ambassador to the Irish Republic, and Judith Cooke, a Northern Ireland Office private secretary, in Dublin; two others are seriously wounded but survive.
July 26 – In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford.
July 27
The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with its former colony Uganda in response to the hijacking of Air France Flight 139.
Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, US, begin falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this will eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and will end in the deaths of 29 attendees.
July 28 – The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851.
July 29 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing one and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
July 30
Bruce Jenner wins the gold medal in the men's decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions in Association football.
July 31
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses and killing 143 people.
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1976_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1
The 1976 Summer Olympics ends in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Elizabeth II as its head of state with President Ellis Clarke.
Defending F1 World Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix after a huge accident that nearly cost him his life.
August 2 – A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel, in an incident at Priscilla's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder, involvement in a plot to kill several people (including Priscilla and a judge), and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen goes broke afterwards.
August 5 – The clock of "Big Ben" at the Palace of Westminster in London suffers internal damage and requires frequent repairs. The clock is stopped at times on 26 of the next 275 days.
August 6 – Former United Kingdom Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud, theft and forgery.
August 7 – Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
August 8 – As part of the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger, a dispersal draft is conducted to assign teams for the players on the two ABA franchises which have folded.
August 11 – A sniper rampage in Wichita, Kansas on a Holiday Inn results in 3 deaths while 7 others are wounded.
August 14
Around 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized, becoming the third legal party in the country.
August 17 – The 8.0 Mw Moro Gulf earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.
August 18 – At Panmunjom, North Korea, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which has obscured their view.
August 19 – U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City.
August 24 – In Uruguay, the army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Gelman is later killed and his wife disappears.
August 25
Jacques Chirac resigns as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre.
Landslide disaster in Sau Mau Ping, Hong Kong.
August 26
The first known outbreak of Ebola virus occurs in Yambuku, Zaire.
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, resigns from various posts over a scandal involving alleged corruption in connection with business dealings with the Lockheed Corporation.
August 30 – James Alexander George Smith McCartney is sworn in as the first chief minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
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1976_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1
Cigarette and tobacco advertising is banned on Australian television and radio.
Aparicio Méndez, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay in the framework of a dictatorship.
The state of emergency in the Republic of Ireland legally still in force since 1939 is lifted.
September 3
Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photographs of the planet's surface.
A Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the Venezuelan Air Force crashed near Lajes Field, Azores Islands, Portugal, killing all 68 occupants on board.
September 6
Cold War: Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum in the United States.
Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years.
September 9 - Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong dies in Beijing after a series of heart attacks.
September 10 – Zagreb mid-air collision: A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (modern-day Zagreb, Croatia), killing all 176 aboard.
September 15 – Darryl Sittler scores the winning goal in the 1976 Canada Cup for Canada to win over Czechoslovakia in overtime, to win the first Canada Cup in ice hockey.
September 16
Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir.
Beginning with the Night of the Pencils, a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances followed by torture, rape, and murder of students under the Argentine dictatorship takes place.
September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a hangar in Palmdale, California, United States.
September 21
The Seychelles join the United Nations.
Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
September 24 – Patty Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in the armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974 (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months).
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1976_9 | Section: October (2):
October 4 – The InterCity 125 high-speed train is introduced in the United Kingdom.
October 6
Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Fidel Castro terrorists, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados; all 73 people on board are killed.
Students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand are massacred, while protesting the return of ex-dictator Thanom Kittikachorn by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford incorrectly declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there is at the time).
The Cultural Revolution in China concludes upon the capture of the Gang of Four.
October 8 – Thorbjörn Fälldin replaces Olof Palme as Prime Minister of Sweden.
October 10 – Taiwan Governor Hsieh Tung-min is injured by a letter bomb from a pro-independence activist.
October 12 – The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party following the latter's death on September 9 from a heart attack.
October 13 – The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States have a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory).
October 19
The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon.
The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 19 years in the United States.
The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.
October 20 – The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana to Luling, Louisiana, killing 78 passengers and crew.
October 22 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the 5th President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defense.
October 26 – Transkei gains "independence" from South Africa.
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1976_10 | Section: November (2):
November 2 – 1976 United States presidential election: Jimmy Carter narrowly defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
November 12 – Disappearance of Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew from Inverness in Scotland; this becomes Britain's longest-running missing persons case.
November 15 – The first megamouth shark is discovered off Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi.
November 19 – Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.
November 24 – 1976 Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake: Between 4,000 and 5,000 are killed in a 7.3 Ms earthquake at Van and Muradiye in eastern Turkey.
November 26
Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
The Warsaw Treaty Organization joint secretariat is established.
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1976_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1
Angola joins the United Nations.
José López Portillo takes office as President of Mexico.
Sir Douglas Nicholls is appointed the 28th Governor of South Australia, the first Australian Aboriginal appointed to vice-regal office.
December 3 – Patrick Hillery is sworn in after being elected unopposed as the 6th President of Ireland.
December 5 – The Japanese general election takes place, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party loses its majority in the 511-member House of Representatives, but remains the largest party with 249 seats.
December 6 – The Viet Cong is disbanded, and its former members become a part of the Vietnam People's Army.
December 8 – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the five Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of the Bronx, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Río.
December 10 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.
December 15
Samoa joins the United Nations.
Denis Healey announces to the British Parliament that he has successfully negotiated a £2.3bn loan from the International Monetary Fund.
December 23 – A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.
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1977_0 | 1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1977th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 977th year of the 2nd millennium, the 77th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1970s decade. |
1977_0 | Section: January (2):
January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
January 17 – 49 marines from the USS Trenton and USS Guam are killed as a result of a collision in Barcelona harbour, Spain.
January 18
Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.
Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.
SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
January 19 – An Ejército del Aire CASA C-207C Azor (registration T.7-15) plane crashes into the side of a mountain near Chiva, on approach to Valencia Airport in Spain, killing all 11 people on board.
January 20 – Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States.
January 23 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India calls for fresh elections to the Lok Sabha, and releases all political prisoners.
January 24 – The Massacre of Atocha occurs, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
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1977_1 | Section: February (2):
February 2 – The Congress Party of India, led by Indira Gandhi, splits with Jagjivan Ram and other senior leaders, forming Congress for Democracy. This party later merges with the Janata Party.
February 3 – In northern Japan a blizzard piles snow on rooftops, causing many to collapse killing at least 31 people.
February 4 – Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago, United States.
February 7 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24 (Viktor Gorbatko, Yury Glazkov) to dock with the Salyut 5 space station.
February 18
American Space Shuttle program: First test flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise mated to the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignites wreaths to the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 people, mostly children. It remains the deadliest fire in China.
February 23 – Óscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of violence, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.
February 28 – Queen Elizabeth II opens the New Zealand Parliament in person, after Parliament is summoned for a special short session to allow her to deliver the Speech from the Throne.
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1977_2 | Section: March (2):
March 4 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in the Vrancea Mountains of Romania kills over 1,500 people.
March 8 – The Australian parliament is opened by Elizabeth II in her capacity as Queen of Australia.
March 9 – Hanafi Siege: Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement members take over 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., killing 1 person and taking 149 hostages (the hostage situation ends 2 days later).
March 10 – The rings of Uranus are discovered.
March 12 – The Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
March 19 – Results of elections to the Indian Parliament are declared. Indira Gandhi's Congress Party is routed by the opposition Janata alliance.
March 21 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi withdraws the state of emergency which was implemented on June 25, 1975.
March 27 – Tenerife disaster: A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people. This becomes the deadliest accident in aviation history.
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1977_3 | Section: April (2):
April 2 – Horse racing: Red Rum wins a record third Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in the UK.
April 4 – Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes on a highway in New Hope, Georgia, United States, killing 72 people.
April 7 – German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. The "Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility.
April 9 – Spain legalizes the Communist Party of Spain, which had been outlawed since 1939.
April 11 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.
April 17 – Belgian prime minister Leo Tindemans' Christian Social Party gains eight seats in the lower house in parliamentary elections.
April 18 – An annular solar eclipse was visible in Africa, and was the 29th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 138.
April 24 – In northern Bangladesh, a cyclone kills 13 people and injures about 100 others.
April 28 – A federal court in Stuttgart, West Germany, sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment.
April 30 – The Cold War between Cambodia and Vietnam evolves into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
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1977_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – The Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul results in 34 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
May 12 – Portugal and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
May 14 – An IAS Cargo Boeing 707 airplane crash in Lusaka, Zambia, kills all six on board.
May 16 – A 20-passenger S-61L topples sideways at takeoff from the roof of the Pan Am Building in Midtown Manhattan. Four passengers are killed by the turning rotors and a woman at street level is killed by a falling blade.
May 17 – The Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, wins the national elections in Israel.
May 23
Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin via gene splicing.
Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the Bovensmilde–Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. The children are released on May 26. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train, and six terrorists and two hostages are killed.
May 27
The 1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 airplane crash in Cuba kills 69 people.
A demonstration and coup attempt in Angola takes place. Thousands are killed by the government and Cuban forces.
May 28 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, United States, is engulfed in fire; 165 are killed inside.
May 29 – Indianapolis 500: A. J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win the race four times.
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1977_5 | Section: June (2):
June 5 – A bloodless coup installs France-Albert René as President of the Seychelles.
June 15 – Spain has its first democratic elections, after 41 years of Francoist Spain.
June 21 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (40th government since the founding of the Turkish republic, but fails to receive the vote of confidence).
June 25 – The 1977 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 13–12 victory over Great Britain at the Sydney Cricket Ground before about 24,450 spectators.
June 27
Djibouti receives its independence from France.
Constitution for the Federation of Earth is adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.
June 30 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is permanently disbanded.
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1977_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
The East African Community is dissolved.
The Championships, Wimbledon (tennis) – Virginia Wade wins the women's singles title in the centenary year of the tournament, Wade's first and only Wimbledon title and her third and final Grand Slam title overall; she remains the last British woman to win the singles title at Wimbledon.
July 5 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
July 9 – The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile organises the youth event of Acto de Chacarillas, a ritualised act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.
July 10 – A temperature of 48.0 °C (118.4 °F), a record for continental Europe, is recorded in Greece.
July 13
Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethio-Somali War.
New York City is affected by a complete electricity blackout lasting through the following day that results in citywide looting and other criminal activity, including arson.
July 21–24 – The Libyan–Egyptian War, sparked by a Libyan raid on Sallum, begins.
July 21 – Süleyman Demirel, of AP forms the new government of Turkey (41st government a three-party coalition, so-called second national front (Turkish: Milliyetçi cephe)).
July 22 – The purged Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power nine months after the "Gang of Four" was expelled from power in a coup d'état.
July 27 – The Soviet Politburo orders Boris Yeltsin to demolish the Ipatiev House, where Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were shot in 1918. Yeltsin later refers to this as a barbarian act.
July 30 – Left-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht, Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar assassinate Jürgen Ponto, chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany.
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1977_7 | Section: August (2):
August 4 – U.S. president Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
August 9 – The military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a president and Congress.
August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
August 15
The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the Wow! signal for a notation made by a volunteer on the project.
Nazi war criminal Herbert Kappler escapes from the Caelian Hill military hospital in Rome.
August 17 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
August 26 – The National Assembly of Quebec passes the Charter of the French Language (Law 101, La charte de la langue française) making French the official language of the Canadian province of Quebec.
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1977_8 | Section: September (2):
September 4 – The Golden Dragon massacre, involving rival Chinatown gangs, takes place in San Francisco, United States. Five are killed.
September 5
Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
German Autumn: Employers Association President Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. The kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand the release of Red Army Faction prisoners.
September 7 – Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
September 8 – Interpol issues a resolution against the copyright infringement of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs.
September 10 – Hamida Djandoubi is the last person executed by guillotine in France (at Marseille) and the last legal beheading in the Western world.
September 15 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic, as an Italian company in Turin, Centro Studi e Laboratori Telecomunicazioni (CSELT) begins operation of two telephone exchanges.
September 18 – Courageous (U.S.), skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps the Australian challenger Australia in the 24th America's Cup yacht race.
September 19
Under pressure from the Carter Administration, President of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.
North Korean agents abduct Yutaka Kume from Noto Peninsula starting the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.
September 20 – The Petrozavodsk phenomenon is observed in the Soviet Union and some northern European countries.
September 28 – The Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Motor Show.
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1977_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1 – Energy Research and Development Administration combines with the Federal Energy Administration to form United States Department of Energy.
October 7
The Soviet Union adopts its third Constitution. The Soviet National Anthem's lyrics are returned after a 24-year period, with Joseph Stalin's name omitted.
Pelé plays his final professional football game, as a member of the New York Cosmos.
October 13 – German Autumn: Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand the release of 11 Red Army Faction members.
October 17–18 – German Autumn: GSG 9 troopers storm the hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; three of the four hijackers die.
October 18 – German Autumn: Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried on October 27.
October 19 – German Autumn: Kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer is found murdered in Mulhouse, France.
October 20 – Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, three days after the release of their fifth studio album Street Survivors.
October 21 – The European Patent Institute is founded.
October 23 – The president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returns to Barcelona from exile and the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, is restored.
October 26
The last natural smallpox case is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, a great success of vaccination and, by extension, of modern science.
Space Shuttle program: Last test taxi flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise, over California.
October 27 – British punk band Sex Pistols release Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols on the Virgin Records label. Despite refusal by major retailers in the UK to stock it, it enters the UK Album Charts at number one the week after its release.
October 28 – Hong Kong police attack the ICAC headquarters.
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1977_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1 – 2060 Chiron, first of the outer Solar System asteroids known as Centaurs, is discovered by Charlie Kowal.
November 2 – The worst storm in Athens' modern history causes havoc across the Greek capital and kills 38 people.
November 6 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, United States, fails, killing 39 people.
November 8
Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.
San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.
November 9 – Gen. Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.
November 19
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel, when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes at Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal, killing 131 and leaving 33 survivors.
November 22
British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
The TCP/IP test succeeds, connecting 3 ARPANET nodes (of 111), in what eventually becomes the Internet protocol.
November 30 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is founded as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
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1977_11 | Section: December (2):
December – The Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific (CESDAP) is implemented.
December 4
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself emperor.
Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all 100 passengers and crew on board.
December 6 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
December 10 – 1977 Australian federal election: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition government is re-elected with a slightly reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Consequently, Whitlam resigns as ALP leader after holding the job for nearly 11 years; he is replaced by former treasurer Bill Hayden.
December 13 – a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tennessee, crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Regional Airport; 29 people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.
December 18 – SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, an international charter service from Zurich to Funchal Airport (Madeira), hits the sea during a landing attempt. Many of the 36 who die drown, trapped inside the sinking aircraft. Twenty-one people survive with the help of rescuers and by swimming to the shore.
December 19 – The Mw 5.9 Bob–Tangol earthquake rocks Iran, killing at least 584 people and injuring 1,000.
December 20 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
December 22 – A grain elevator explodes in Westwego, Louisiana, United States, killing 36 people.
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1978_0 | 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1978th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 978th year of the 2nd millennium, the 78th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1970s decade. |
1978_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government).
January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II.
January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.
January 13 – Former American Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a Democrat, dies of cancer in Waverly, Minnesota, at the age of 66.
January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany persona non grata.
January 24
Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.
Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison since the establishment of the Republic of Ireland.
January 25 – 27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.
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1978_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1 – Film director Roman Polanski skips bail in the United States and flees to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
February 5–7 – The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 hits the New England region and the New York metropolitan area, killing about 100, and causing over US$520 million in damage.
February 6 – King Dragon operation in Arakan: Burmese General Ne Win targets Muslim minorities in the village of Sakkipara.
February 8 – United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.
February 9 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
February 11
Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, killing 44 of the 50 people on board.
Somalia mobilizes its troops to deal with an apparent Ethiopian attack.
The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
February 13 – Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing a policeman and two civilians, and injuring several other people.
February 15 – Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations (the other being South Africa), announces that it will accept multiracial democracy within 2 years.
February 19 – Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport: Egyptian Special Forces attempt to rescue several hostages in Larnaca, Cyprus; 20 Egyptian commandos are injured or killed.
February 25 – The first Legislative Assembly election is held in Arunachal Pradesh, India.
February 27 – The first global positioning satellite, the Rockwell International-built Navstar 1, is launched by the United States.
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1978_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.
March 2 – Soyuz 28 (Aleksei Gubarev, Vladimír Remek) is launched on a rendezvous with Salyut 6, with the first cosmonaut from a country other than the US or USSR (Czechoslovakian Vladimír Remek).
March 3
Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid of Cuban soldiers, against Somalian troops in the Ogaden.
Rhodesia attacks Zambia.
The New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man, about a supposed cloning of a human being.
March 8 – The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.
March 10 – Soyuz 28 lands.
March 11
Coastal Road massacre: Palestinian terrorists kill 34 Israelis.
Claude François, French entertainer born 1939, dies by electrocution in his home in Paris.
March 14 – Operation Litani: Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
March 15 – Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
March 16 – Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades; 5 bodyguards are killed.
March 17 – An oil tanker, Amoco Cadiz, runs aground on the coast of Brittany.
March 18
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is sentenced to death by hanging, for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.
California Jam II is held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, attracting more than 300,000 fans.
March 22 – Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies, after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
March 26 – The control tower and some other facilities of New Tokyo International Airport, which were scheduled to open on March 31, are illegally occupied and damaged in a terrorist attack by New Left activists, forcing a rescheduling of its opening date to May 20.
March 28
San Francisco's City Council signs the United States's most comprehensive gay rights bill.
Stump v. Sparkman (435 U.S. 349): The Supreme Court of the United States hands down a 5–3 decision, in a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
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1978_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1
New Zealand National Airways Corporation (the domestic airline of New Zealand) is merged with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand.
Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.
The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, is converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
April 2 – Dallas debuts on CBS, and gives birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.
April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Annie Hall winning Best Picture.
April 7 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb, a weapon that kills people with radiation, but leaves buildings relatively intact.
April 9 – Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre; security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.
April 14 – 1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against an attempt by Soviet authorities to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes, 68–32, to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
April 18– 30 – The Khmer Rouge massacres 3,157 civilians in Ba Chúc, Vietnam.
April 20 – A Soviet air defense plane shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 902; the plane makes an emergency landing on a frozen lake.
April 22
Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song A-Ba-Ni-Bi.
The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bob Marley unites two opposing political leaders at this concert, bringing peace to the civil war-ridden streets of the city.
April 25 – St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the second U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance, after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
April 27
Saur Revolution – Afghanistan's president Mohammad Daoud Khan and his family are murdered; Nur Muhammad Taraki succeeds him, beginning the Afghan war which has not ended yet.
Willow Island disaster – In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia.
April 30 – The "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" is proclaimed, under pro-communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki.
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1978_4 | Section: May (2):
May 4
The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola.
Communist activist Henri Curiel is murdered in Paris.
May 8
Norway opens a natural gas field, in the Polar Sea.
Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) make the first ascent of Mount Everest, without supplemental oxygen.
May 9 – In Rome, the corpse of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, is found in a red Renault 4.
May 12 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The Zairean government asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
May 12–13 – A group of mercenaries, led by Bob Denard, oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros; ten local soldiers are killed. Denard forms a new government.
May 15
Students of the University of Tehran riot in Tabriz; the army stops the riot.
First Timezone Opens in Perth, Western Australia
May 17 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is found some 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the cemetery from which it was stolen, near Lake Geneva.
May 18
Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced to 7 years' hard labor, for distributing 'counterrevolutionary material'.
Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics, and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.
May 18–19 – Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire, to aid the fight against the rebels.
May 19–20 – French Foreign Legion paratroopers land in Kolwezi, Zaire, to rescue Europeans in the middle of a civil war.
May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.
May 22 – Exiled leaders Ahmed Abdallah and Muhammad Ahmad return to the Comoros.
May 23 – American basketball player center Bill Walton of the Portland Trail Blazers was named the National Basketball Association regular season MVP.
May 25
First Unabomber attack: A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard.
In a rematch of the previous season, the Montreal Canadiens again defeat the Boston Bruins, this time four games to two, to win the Stanley Cup.
May 26 – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
May 28 – Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins his third race, and the first for car owner Jim Hall.
May 29 – Ali Soilih is found dead in the Comoros, allegedly shot when trying to escape.
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1978_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1 – The 1978 FIFA World Cup starts in Argentina.
June 2 – Japan Air Lines 115 had its tail struck on the runway on the airport it landed in. The same aircraft would be involved in a 2nd accident 7 years later
June 10 – Affirmed holds off Alydar to win the Belmont Stakes and becomes the last horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown of Horse Racing until 2015.
June 15 – King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
June 19
England cricketer Ian Botham becomes the first man in the history of the game to score a century and take eight wickets in one innings of a Test match.
Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication.
June 20 – The 6.2 Mw Thessaloniki earthquake shakes Northern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Fifty people were killed.
June 21
A shootout between Provisional IRA members and the British Army in Northern Ireland leaves one civilian and three IRA men dead.
1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown: Iranian helicopters stray into Soviet airspace and are shot down.
June 22 – Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.
June 24 – The Gay & Lesbian Solidarity March is held in Sydney, Australia to mark the 9th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots (which later becomes the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras; later incorporating a festival).
June 25
Argentina defeats the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time to win the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time (in its original form) at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
June 26 – A bombing by Breton nationalists causes destruction in the Palace of Versailles.
June 30 – Ethiopia begins a massive offensive in Eritrea.
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1978_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1 - Australia's Northern Territory is granted self-government.
July 3 – The Amazon Co-operation Treaty (ACT) is signed.
July 7 – The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
July 11 – At least 217 tourists die in an explosion of a tanker-truck at a campsite in Costa Daurada, Spain.
July 24 – In Acapulco, Mexico, Margaret Gardiner of South Africa is crowned Miss Universe.
July 25 – Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.
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1978_7 | Section: August (2):
August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies, at Castel Gandolfo.
August 12 – The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is concluded.
August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.
August 22
Sandinistas seize the Nicaraguan National Palace.
Kenya's first president and founding father, Jomo Kenyatta dies aged 89 in Mombasa.
August 26 – Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.
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1978_8 | Section: September (2):
September 5 – Camp David Accords: Hosted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat met at Camp David in Maryland to discuss a peace agreement between the two nations.
September 7 – In London, UK, a poison-filled pellet, supposedly injected using an umbrella, fatally poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov; he dies four days later.
September 8 – Iranian Army troops open fire on rioters in Tehran, killing 122, wounding 4,000.
September 12 – The Declaration of Alma Ata is signed and released in the Capital City of Kazakh, USSR. Known as the core document on Primary Health Care Practices and Equity in Healthcare, it paved the way for the modern-day State-sponsored Healthcare System.
September 16
The 7.4 Mw Tabas earthquake killed at least 15,000 people in the city of Tabas in Iran. The quake was measured with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq officially assumes the post of President of Pakistan.
September 17 – The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.
September 19
Police in the West Midlands of England launch a massive murder hunt, when 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater is shot dead after disturbing a burglary.
The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.
September 20 – General Rahimuddin Khan assumes the post of martial law Governor of Balochistan.
September 23 – California Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock is shot to death at age 27 while visiting friends in Gary, Indiana during an Angels' road trip in Chicago, Illinois.
September 24 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello makes its first appearance on Live from the Met, in a complete production of the opera starring Jon Vickers. This is the first complete television broadcast of the opera in the U.S. since the historic 1948 one.
September 25 – PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California; 144 are killed.
September 27 – The last Forest Brother guerrilla movement fighter is discovered and killed in Estonia.
September 28 – Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days after being installed as the Roman Catholic Pontiff.
September 30 – Finnair Flight 405 aircraft is hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras in Oulu, Finland.
September – Attempted poisoning of 500 members of the African National Congress by South African government infiltrators.
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1978_9 | Section: October (2):
October 1
Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
Tuvalu becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
October 2 – Mommie Dearest, written by Christina Crawford that discusses her adoptive mother Joan Crawford's abusive nature, is published. It is the first celebrity tell-all memoir.
October 7 – Wranslide in New South Wales: the Wran government is re-elected with an increased majority.
October 8 – Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.6 mph (511.13 km/h) at Blowering Dam, Australia.
October 9 – P.W. Botha succeeds John Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.
October 10
Daniel arap Moi becomes president of Kenya.
John Vorster becomes State President of South Africa.
A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ends the satellite's scientific mission.
United States President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
October 13 – The Soviet Union launches a major Russification campaign throughout all union republics.
October 14 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States.
October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523).
October 18 – Thorbjörn Fälldin steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden, and is succeeded by Ola Ullsten, the Leader of the liberal People's Party ("Folkpartiet").
October 20 – The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held as a protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots.
October 21 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 Skylane over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
October 27 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
October 31 – The South African Railways sets a still unbeaten world rail speed record on Cape gauge.
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1978_10 | Section: November (2):
November 2: 8:00 pm – The Republic of Ireland's second television channel RTÉ 2 goes on air (renamed Network 2, 1988; RTÉ Network Two, 1995; N2, 1997; and RTÉ Two in 2004).
November 3 – Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
November 5 – Indira Gandhi is elected to the Indian parliament for the first time in 20 months after winning a by-election.
November 18 – In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder–suicide in his commune, Jonestown, that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Representative Leo J. Ryan is assassinated by members of Peoples Temple shortly beforehand.
November 24 – China starts an experimental "household responsibility system", in Anhui Province.
November 26 – Two British commercial divers, Michael Ward and Tony Prangley, die of hypothermia and drowning in the East Shetland Basin after their diving bell plunges to the seabed at a depth of over 100 metres (330 ft).
November 27 – Moscone-Milk assassinations: San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White.
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1978_11 | Section: December (2):
December 4 – Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone, to become the first woman mayor of San Francisco; she will remain in office until January 8, 1988.
December 6 – The Spanish Constitution officially restores the country's democratic government.
December 11
Lufthansa heist: Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Two million demonstrate against the Shah in Iran.
December 15 – Superman: The Movie is released in cinemas in the United States.
December 16
Train 87 from Nanjing to Xining collides with train 368 from Xi'an to Xuzhou near Yangzhuang railway station in China, killing 106, injuring 218.
The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas in Japan.
December 19 – Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is arrested and jailed for a week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.
December 22
The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men and boys committed between 1972 and 1978, is arrested.
Argentina begins Operation Soberanía against Chile, but Argentinian forces quickly withdraw.
December 25 – Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
December 27 – The Constitution of Spain is approved in a referendum, officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.
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1979_0 | 1979 (MCMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1979th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 979th year of the 2nd millennium, the 79th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1970s decade. |
1979_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1
United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the International Year of the Child. Many musicians donate to the Music for UNICEF Concert fund, among them ABBA, who write the song Chiquitita to commemorate the event.
In 1979, the United States officially severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan). This decision marked a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy, turning to view the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China.
The United States and the People's Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations.
Following a deal agreed during 1978, French carmaker Peugeot completes a takeover of American manufacturer Chrysler's European operations, which are based in Britain's former Rootes Group factories, as well as the former Simca factories in France.
January 6 – Geylang Bahru family murders: Four children, aged five to ten, are brutally killed in Geylang Bahru, Singapore.
January 7 – Cambodian–Vietnamese War: The People's Army of Vietnam and Vietnamese-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area along the Thai border, ending large-scale fighting.
January 8 – Whiddy Island Disaster: The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry, Ireland; 50 are killed.
January 9 – The Music for UNICEF Concert is held at the United Nations General Assembly to raise money for UNICEF and promote the Year of the Child. It is broadcast the following day in the United States and around the world. Hosted by the Bee Gees, other performers include Donna Summer, ABBA, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire. A soundtrack album is later released.
January 16 – Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran with his family, relocating to Egypt after a year of turmoil.
January 19 – Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell is released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.
January 22 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Mutukula: The Tanzanian military captures the Ugandan border town of Mutukula after a short battle.
January 25 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Mexico City for his first visit to Mexico, mainly for 1979's Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) or Conference of Puebla.
January 28 – Deng Xiaoping arrives in Washington, D.C., for the first visit of a paramount leader of the People's Republic of China to the United States.
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1979_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
February 3 – Ayatollah Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution.
February 7
Iranian Revolution: Supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts, and government administration; the final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held.
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was known to science.
Nazi criminal Josef Mengele suffers a fatal stroke and drowns while swimming in Bertioga, Brazil. His remains are found in 1985.
February 10–11 – The Iranian Revolution ends with the Iranian army withdrawing to its barracks leaving power in the hands of Ayatollah Khomeini, ending the Pahlavi dynasty.
February 11 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Simba Hills: The Tanzanian military began its assault on the Simba Hills near the town of Kakuuto.
February 12 – Prime Minister Hissène Habré starts the Battle of N'Djamena in an attempt to overthrow Chad's President Félix Malloum.
February 13
An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1.3 km (0.81 mi) long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
The Guardian Angels are formed in New York City as an unarmed organization of young crime fighters.
February 14 – In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
February 15 – A suspected gas explosion in a Warsaw bank kills 49.
February 17 – The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.
February 18
The 1979 Daytona 500 is televised on CBS, the first ever full airing of a 500-mile race on US television, Richard Petty wins after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison battle for first place on the final lap and crash out, leading to a fist fight. This race brought NASCAR to a wider audience.
The Khomeini government in Iran cuts diplomatic relations with Israel.
February 21 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Gayaza Hills: A Tanzanian brigade successfully dislodged Ugandan forces from the Gayaza Hills. The battle is hard-fought, and the Tanzanians suffer their largest number of casualties in a single engagement of the war.
February 22 – Saint Lucia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
February 26
A total solar eclipse, the last visible from the continental United States until 2017, arcs over northwestern conterminous US and central Canada ending in Greenland. A partial solar eclipse is visible over almost all of North America and Central America including the eastern half of Alaska and the western half of the UK.
The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.
February 27
The annual Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans is cancelled due to a strike called by the New Orleans Police Department.
The Soviet oil tanker Antonio Gramsci suffers a minor shipwreck in shallow waters shortly after leaving shore in Ventspils, resulting in a 5,000 ton oil spill, the largest that has ever occurred on the Baltic Sea.
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1979_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1
Scottish devolution referendum: Scotland votes in favour of a Scottish Assembly, which is not implemented due to failing a condition that at least 40% of the electorate must support the proposal; in a Welsh devolution referendum, Wales votes against devolution.
Philips publicly demonstrate a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
March 2 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Tororo: Ugandan rebels attack and capture the town of Tororo.
March 4
The U.S. Voyager 1 spaceprobe photos reveal Jupiter's rings.
Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Tororo: The Ugandan military retakes Tororo from rebels.
March 5 – Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 277,000 kilometres (172,000 mi).
March 7 – The largest Magnetar (Soft gamma repeater) event is recorded.
March 8
Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
Thousands of women participate in the International Women's Day Protests in Tehran, 1979 against the introduction of mandatory veiling during the Iranian revolution.
Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.
March 10 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Lukaya: The Ugandan military, a Libyan expeditionary force and allied Palestine Liberation Organisation militants begin a counter-offensive against Tanzanian troops in south-central Uganda. The Ugandan-led alliance retakes Lukaya after a short clash with the Tanzanian military.
March 11 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Lukaya: The Tanzanian military counter-attacks at Lukaya, completely defeating the Ugandan-led alliance. This defeat permanently cripples the Ugandan military.
March 13 – Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup in Grenada. His government will be crushed by American intervention in 1983.
March 14 – In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing 31 people on the ground and injuring 200.
March 16
End of major hostilities in the Sino-Vietnamese War.
In his letter to the United Nations, Elisio De Figueiredo, the People's Republic of Angola's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, requests an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the question of South Africa's continuous acts of aggression in Angola.
March 17 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel in the UK collapses, killing two workers.
March 19 – C-SPAN, an American television channel focusing on government and public affairs, is launched.
March 18 – Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.
March 22 – The National Hockey League votes to approve its merger with the World Hockey Association, to take effect in three months, following the leagues' respective postseasons.
March 25 – The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the Kennedy Space Center, to be prepared for its first launch.
March 26
In a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel sign an Egypt–Israel peace treaty.
Michigan State University, led by Earvin "Magic" Johnson, defeats Larry Bird-led Indiana State 75–64 in the NCAA tournament championship game at Salt Lake City.
March 28
In Britain, James Callaghan's minority Labour government loses a motion of confidence by one vote, forcing a general election which is to be held on 3 May.
America's most serious nuclear power plant accident occurs, at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
March 29 – Sultan Yahya Petra of Kelantan, the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Head of State) of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang.
March 30 – Airey Neave, Conservative M.P. in the British House of Commons, is killed, presumably by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the car park for the Houses of Parliament.
March 31
The last British soldier (belonging to the Royal Navy) leaves the Maltese Islands, after 179 years of presence. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
Milk and Honey win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 for Israel, with the song Hallelujah.
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1979_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1
Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
Nickelodeon launches from QUBE's Pinwheel experiment and begins airing on various Warner Cable systems beginning in Buffalo, New York, expanding its audience reach.
Dale Earnhardt Sr. wins his first career NASCAR race at the 1979 Southeastern 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He would go on to win 76 races and seven championships during his career.
April 1–18 – Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz, Austria and forget about him, leaving him there without food or drink.
April 2 – Sverdlovsk anthrax leak: A Soviet biowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock. It is a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972.
April 2 – In Japan, the channel of TV Asahi premieres Doraemon.
April 4 – Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is executed by hanging for the murder of a political opponent.
April 6 – Student protests break out in Nepal.
April 7 – In Japan, Yoshiyuki Tomino directs Mobile Suit Gundam, the first series of the metaseries of the same name.
April 10 – A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people (the most notable of 26 tornadoes that day).
April 11 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Fall of Kampala: Tanzanian troops take Kampala, the capital of Uganda; Idi Amin flees.
April 13 – The La Soufrière volcano erupts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
April 14 – The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting over 70 deaths and over 500 injured.
April 15 – 1979 Montenegro earthquake: A 6.9 Mw shock affects Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia) and parts of Albania, causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking 136 lives; the old town of Budva is devastated.
April 17 – Schoolchildren in the Central African Republic are arrested (and around 100 killed) for protesting against compulsory school uniforms. An African judicial commission later determines that Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa "almost certainly" took part in the massacre.
April 22 – The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
April 23 – Fighting breaks out in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group; protester Blair Peach receives fatal injuries during the incident, now officially attributed to the SPG.
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1979_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – Greenland is granted limited autonomy from Denmark, with its own Parliament sitting in Nuuk.
May 3 – The 1979 United Kingdom general election for the House of Commons takes place, giving the Conservatives a majority, and designating Margaret Thatcher the nation's first woman prime minister, ending the rule of James Callaghan's Labour government.
May 4 – Thatcher is appointed the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
May 8 – Ten shoppers die in a fire at the Woolworths department store in Manchester city centre in England.
May 9
The Salvadoran Civil War begins.
The Unabomber bomb injures Northwestern University graduate student John Harris.
May 10 – The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
May 15 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Lira: Tanzania and its Uganda National Liberation Front allies capture Lira, Uganda, from the forces of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
May 21
Dan White is convicted of manslaughter, rather than murder, for the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, after using what would become known as the "Twinkie defense" and persuading a jury that the crime was not premeditated. The maximum sentence is seven years imprisonment, with eligibility for early parole, prompting the "White Night riots" in the gay community.
The Montreal Canadiens defeat the New York Rangers four games to one to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.
May 24
Thorpe Park: Opens its doors having attractions such as Phantom Fantasia also next door had a farm called Thorpe Farm
May 25
American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport, killing all 271 on board and 2 people on the ground in the deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.
John Spenkelink is executed in Florida, in the first use of the electric chair in America after the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976.
Etan Patz, six years old, is kidnapped in New York. He is often referred to as the "Boy on the Milk Carton" and the investigation later sprouts into one of the most famous child abduction cases of all time. This is a cold case until 2010 when it is re-opened. In April 2017, Pedro Hernandez is convicted of the murder and kidnapping and sentenced to life imprisonment.
May 27 – Indianapolis 500: Rick Mears wins the race for the first time, and car owner Roger Penske for the second time.
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1979_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1
The Vizianagaram district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India.
The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, in succession to Ian Smith and under his power-sharing deal, in the unrecognized republic of Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
The Seattle SuperSonics win the NBA Championship against the Washington Bullets.
June 2
Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland on his first official, nine-day stay, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. This visit, known as nine days that changed the world, brings about the solidarity of the Polish people against Communism, ultimately leading to the rise of the Solidarity movement.
Los Angeles' city council passes the city's first homosexual rights bill signed without fanfare by mayor Tom Bradley.
June 3
Ixtoc I oil spill: A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date. Some estimate the spill to be 428 million gallons, making it the largest unintentional oil spill until it is surpassed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
1979 Italian general election: The Italian Communist Party loses a significant number of seats.
June 4
Joe Clark becomes Canada's 16th and youngest Prime Minister.
Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
Following the "Muldergate" Information Scandal, John Vorster resigns as State President of South Africa.
June 7 – 1979 European Parliament election: The first direct elections to the European Parliament begin, allowing citizens from across all nine (at this time) member states of the European Union to elect 410 MEPs. It is also the first international election in history.
June 9–23 – The 1979 Cricket World Cup is held in England with West Indies defeating England in the final.
June 12 – Bryan Allen flies the man-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.
June 13 – The 1979 NHL Expansion Draft takes place, restocking the franchises from Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg, which are being admitted from the WHA as expansion teams.
June 15
McDonald's introduces the Happy Meal in the United States in a nationwide advertising campaign after testing the product since February in franchises in the U.S. state of Missouri.
The ecological horror-thriller Prophecy is released in the United States by Paramount Pictures.
June 18 – Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna.
June 19 – Marais Viljoen becomes State President of South Africa.
June 20 – A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape.
June 22
Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a relationship with him.
The WHA formally ceases operations, completing the merger with the NHL.
June 23 – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway in Sydney. It operates as a shuttle between Central and Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line in 1980.
June 24 – The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an international opinion tribunal, is founded in Bologna at the initiative of Senator Lelio Basso.
June 25 – NATO Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig escapes an assassination attempt in Belgium by the Baader-Meinhof terrorist organization.
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1979_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1
Sweden becomes the first country to outlaw corporal punishment in the home.
The Sony Walkman goes on sale for the first time in Japan.
July 3 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan.
July 5 – Queen Elizabeth II attends the millennium celebrations of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald.
July 8 – Los Angeles passes its gay and lesbian civil rights bill.
July 9 – A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
July 11 – NASA's first orbiting space station, Skylab, begins falling back Earth as its orbit decays after more than six years.
July 12
The Gilbert Islands become fully independent of the United Kingdom as Kiribati.
A Disco Demolition Night publicity stunt goes awry at Comiskey Park, forcing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit their game against the Detroit Tigers.
Carmine Galante, boss of the Bonanno crime family, is assassinated in Brooklyn.
A fire at a hotel in Zaragoza, Spain, leaves 72 dead, the worst hotel fire in Europe in decades.
July 15 – President Jimmy Carter addresses the nation in a televised speech talking about the "crisis of confidence in America today"; it would go on to be known as his "national malaise" speech.
July 16 – Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam al-Tikriti, more commonly referred to in the Western press as "Saddam Hussein".
July 17 – Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami.
July 18 – Over 500 people die after a tsunami occurs on Lembata Island, triggered by a landslide on the Iliwerung volcano.
July 21
The Sandinista National Liberation Front concludes a successful revolutionary campaign against the Somoza dynasty and assumes power in Nicaragua.
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo becomes prime minister of Portugal.
Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela wins the Miss Universe pageant; the stage collapses after contestants and news photographers rush to her throne.
The disco music genre dominates and peaks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the first six spots (beginning with Donna Summer's Bad Girls), and seven of the chart's top ten songs ending that week.
July 22 – 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein arranges the arrest and later execution of nearly seventy members of his ruling Ba'ath Party.
July 28 – Morarji Desai resigns as India's prime minister and Charan Singh succeeds him.
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1979_7 | Section: August (2):
August 3 – Dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
August 4 – Opening game of the American Football Bundesliga played between Frankfurter Löwen and Düsseldorf Panther, first-ever league game of American football in Germany.
August 5 – The Polisario Front signs a peace treaty with Mauritania. Mauritania withdraws from the Western Sahara territory it had occupied, and cedes it to the SADR.
August 6 – Bauhaus releases their debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead", considered to be the first gothic rock release.
August 8 – Two American commercial divers, Richard Walker and Victor Guiel, die of hypothermia after their diving bell becomes stranded at a depth of over 160 metres (520 ft) in the East Shetland Basin. The legal repercussions of the accident will lead to important safety changes in the diving industry.
August 9 – Raymond Washington, co-founder of the Crips, today one of the largest, most notorious gangs in the United States, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; the killers have not yet been identified.
August 10 – Michael Jackson releases his breakthrough album Off the Wall. It sells 7 million copies in the United States alone, making it a 7× platinum album.
August 11
The former Mauritanian province of Tiris al-Gharbiyya in Western Sahara is annexed by Morocco.
The Machchu-2 dam in Morbi, India, collapses, killing between 1800 and 25000 people in one of the worst ever dam failures.
August 14 – A freak storm during the Fastnet Race results in the deaths of 15 sailors.
August 17 – The controversial religious satirical film Monty Python's Life of Brian premieres in the United States.
August 27 – The Troubles: Lord Mountbatten of Burma and two others are killed in a bombing on his boat in the Republic of Ireland by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Mountbatten was a British fleet admiral, statesman and an uncle of The Duke of Edinburgh. On the same day, the Warrenpoint ambush occurs, killing 18 British soldiers. Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne would die in a hospital the following day from injuries sustained in the bombing.
August 29 – A national referendum is held in which Somali voters approve a new liberal constitution, promulgated by President Siad Barre to placate the United States.
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1979_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1
The U.S. Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).
Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps is formed.
September 7 – The first cable sports channel, the Entertainment Sports Programming Network (better known as ESPN), is launched in the United States.
September 9 – The long-running comic strip For Better or For Worse begins its run, in Canada, before becoming syndicated elsewhere in North America and the world.
September 12 – Hurricane Frederic makes landfall at 10:00 p.m. on Alabama's Gulf Coast.
September 13 – South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
September 16
East German balloon escape: Two families flee from East Germany by balloon.
The Sugarhill Gang release Rapper's Delight in the United States, the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
September 20 – French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Emperor Bokassa in the Central African Empire.
September 22 – Vela incident: The "South Atlantic Flash" is observed near the Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, thought to be a nuclear weapons test conducted by South Africa and Israel.
September 29 – The overthrown dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is convicted of genocide and executed by firing squad.
September 30 – The MTR in Hong Kong begins service with the opening of its Modified Initial System, the Kwun Tong Line.
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1980_0 | 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1980th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 980th year of the 2nd millennium, the 80th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1980s decade. |
1980_0 | Section: January (2):
January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
January 9 – In Saudi Arabia, 63 Islamist insurgents are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November 1979.
January 14 – Congress (I) party leader, Indira Gandhi returns to power as the Prime Minister of India.
January 20 – At least 200 people are killed when the Corralejas Bullring collapses at Sincelejo, Colombia.
January 21 – The London Gold Fixing hits its highest price ever of $843 per troy ounce ($2,249.50 in 2020 when adjusted for inflation).
January 22 – Andrei Sakharov, Soviet scientist and human rights activist, is arrested in Moscow.
January 26 – Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
January 27 – Canadian Caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran, as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on Swissair.
January 31 – Burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala: The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. In the United States, it is dubbed "Spain's own Tehran".
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1980_1 | Section: February (2):
February 2 – Abscam: FBI personnel target members of the Congress of the United States in a sting operation.
February 2–3 – The New Mexico State Penitentiary riot takes place; 33 inmates are killed and more than 100 inmates injured.
February 4 – Abolhassan Banisadr is sworn in as the first President of Iran after winning the January 25 presidential election.
February 13 – The 1980 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
February 15 – In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea.
February 16 – A total solar eclipse is seen in North Africa and West Asia. It was the 50th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
February 22 – The US upset the USSR in the Olympics, a hockey game known as the Miracle on Ice. They then proceeded to defeat Finland to secure the first and only gold medal since 1960.
February 23 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
February 25 – A coup in Suriname ousts the government of Henck Arron; leaders Dési Bouterse and Roy Horb replace it with a National Military Council.
February 27 – M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding 60 people hostage, including 14 ambassadors.
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1980_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1
Steven Stayner returned home after being kidnapped for seven years, and brought a 5 year old, Timothy White (abduction victim), who had been kidnapped after Steven, to a police station to save him.
The Commonwealth Trade Union Council is established.
The Voyager 1 probe confirms the existence of Janus, a moon of Saturn.
March 3 – Pierre Trudeau returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.
March 4 – Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
March 8 – The Soviet Union's first rock music festival starts.
March 14 – LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, Poland, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.
March 18 – Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation.
March 19–20 – The MV Mi Amigo, the ship housing pirate radio station Radio Caroline, sinks off the English coast (the station returns aboard a new ship in 1983).
March 21 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
March 26 – A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reefs gold mine in South Africa falls 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi), killing 23 workers.
March 27 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
March 28 – The Talpiot Tomb is discovered by construction workers in Jerusalem.
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1980_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1 – The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is formed in Lusaka, Zambia.
April 2 – The St Pauls riot breaks out in Bristol.
April 7 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
April 10 – In Lisbon, Portugal, the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain (closed since 1969) in 1985.
April 12
1980 Liberian coup d'état: Samuel K. Doe overthrows the government of Liberia in a violent coup d'état, executing President William Tolbert and ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country.
Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope, a plan to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research, setting off from St. John's, Newfoundland and running westward.
April 14 – Iron Maiden's debut self-titled album Iron Maiden is released in the U.K.
April 18 – Zimbabwe gains de jure independence from the United Kingdom with Robert Mugabe as its first Prime Minister.
April 24–25 – Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.
April 25 – Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes in Tenerife, killing all 146 occupants; at the time it was the worst air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft in terms of loss of life.
April 26 – Louise and Charmian Faulkner disappear from outside their flat in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.
April 27 – The Dominican embassy siege in Colombia ends with all remaining hostages released after the guerrillas are allowed to escape to Cuba.
April 30
Iranian Embassy siege: Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, England. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5; one terrorist survives.
Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates and her daughter Beatrix accedes to the throne.
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1980_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – "About that Urban Renaissance...", an article by journalist Dan Rottenberg in Chicago, contains the first recorded use of the word "yuppie".
May 2 – Referendum on system of government held in Nepal.
May 4 – Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito dies. The largest state funeral in history is organized, with state delegations from 128 different countries out of 154 UN members at the time.
May 7 – Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate).
May 8 – Global eradication of smallpox certified by the World Health Organization.
May 9
In Florida, United States, the Liberian freighter Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay. A 1,400-foot (430 m) section of the bridge collapses and 35 people (most of them on a bus) are killed.
James Alexander George Smith "Jags" McCartney the Turks and Caicos Islands' first chief minister, is killed in a plane crash over New Jersey.
May 14 – The Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
May 17 – Internal conflict in Peru: On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho.
May 18 – The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington (state) kills 57 and causes US$3 billion in damage.
May 18–27 – Gwangju Uprising: Students in Gwangju, South Korea, begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
May 20 – 1980 Quebec referendum: Voters in Quebec reject, by a vote of 60%, a proposal to seek independence from Canada.
May 22 – Namco's Pac-Man, the highest-earning arcade game of all time, is released in Japan.
May 24 – The International Court of Justice calls for the release of U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran.
May 26
John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away.
May 28 – A fiery bus crash near the small village of Webb, Saskatchewan, Canada, claims 22 lives.
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1980_5 | Section: June (2):
June 1 – The first 24-hour news channel, Cable News Network (CNN), is launched.
June 3 – 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak: A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing five people and injuring over 250.
June 10 – Apartheid: The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a statement by their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.
June 23–September 6 – The 1980 United States heat wave claims 1,700 lives.
June 23
Sanjay Gandhi, the politically influential son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is killed in a plane crash.
Tim Berners-Lee begins work on ENQUIRE, the system that will eventually lead to the creation of the World Wide Web in autumn 1990.
June 25 – A Muslim Brotherhood assassination attempt against Syrian president Hafez al-Assad fails. Assad retaliates by sending the army against them.
June 27
Itavia Flight 870 crashes into the sea near Ustica island, Italy, killing all 81 people on board. The cause of the accident remains unclear.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs Proclamation 4771, requiring 18- to 25-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
June 29 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland, making her the first woman democratically elected as head of state.
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1980_6 | Section: July (2):
July 8 – A wave of strikes begins in Lublin, Poland.
July 9 – Pope John Paul II visits Brazil; seven people are crushed to death in a crowd waiting to see him at afternoon Mass at the stadium in Fortaleza.
July 16 – Former California Governor and actor Ronald Reagan is nominated for U.S. president, at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit. Influenced by the Religious Right, the convention also drops its long-standing support for the Equal Rights Amendment, dismaying moderate Republicans.
July 19 – Former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim is killed by two gunmen in Istanbul, Turkey.
July 19–August 3 – The 1980 Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, Soviet Union. As 82 countries boycott the Games, athletes from 16 of them participate under a neutral flag.
July 30
Vanuatu gains independence.
Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.
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1980_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir becomes the 4th President of Iceland, the world's first democratically directly elected female president.
August 2 – Strage di Bologna: A terrorist bombing at the Bologna Centrale railway station in Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.
August 3 – The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow officially ends.
August 4 – Hurricane Allen (category 5) pounds Haiti, where it kills more than 200 people.
August 7–31 – Lech Wałęsa leads the first of many strikes at the Gdańsk Shipyard in the Polish People's Republic.
August 17 – In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.
August 19 – In one of aviation's worst disasters, 301 people are killed when Saudia Flight 163 catches fire in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
August 31 – Victory of the strike in Gdańsk Shipyard, Poland. The Gdańsk Agreement is signed, opening a way to start the first free (i.e. not state-controlled) trade union in the communist bloc, "Solidarity" (Solidarność).
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1980_8 | Section: September (2):
September 1 – Terry Fox is forced to end his Marathon of Hope run outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, after finding out that the cancer has spread to his lungs.
September 2 – Ford Europe launches the Escort MK3, a new front-wheel-drive hatchback.
September 3 – Zimbabwe breaks diplomatic and consular relations with South Africa, even though it maintains a commercial mission in Johannesburg.
September 5 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel, at 16.3 kilometres (10.1 mi), stretching from Göschenen to Airolo beneath the Gotthard Pass.
September 12 – Kenan Evren stages a military coup in Turkey. It stops political gang violence, but begins stronger state violence leading to the execution of many young activists.
September 17 – After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
September 21 – Bülent Ulusu, ex admiral, forms the new government of Turkey (44th government, composed mostly of technocrats).
September 22 – The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets", initiating the Iran–Iraq War.
September 26
Oktoberfest bombing: 13 people are killed and 211 injured in a right-wing terror attack in Munich (West Germany).
The Mariel boatlift in Cuba officially ends.
September 30 – Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.
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1980_9 | Section: October (2):
October 5
The Elisabeth blast furnace is demolished at Bilston Steelworks, marking the end of iron and steel production in the Black Country region of the U.K.
British Leyland launches its new Metro, a three-door entry-level hatchback which is designed as the eventual replacement for the Mini. It gives BL a long-awaited modern competitor for the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Chevette.
October 10 – The 7.1 Mw El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,633–5,000 and injuring 8,369–9,000.
October 14
The Staggers Rail Act is enacted, deregulating American railroads.
The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party ends, having anointed North Korean President Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il as his successor.
October 15 – James Callaghan announces his resignation as leader of the British Labour Party.
October 16 – The most recent atmospheric nuclear weapons test to date was conducted by China.
October 18 – 1980 Australian federal election: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition government is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Bill Hayden. The Government also loses control of the Senate, with the Australian Democrats winning the balance of power.
October 20
Greece rejoins the NATO military structure.
In continuous production since 1962, the last MG MGB roadster rolls off the assembly line at the Abingdon-on-Thames (England) factory, ending production for the MG Cars marque.
October 21 – In Major League Baseball, The Philadelphia Phillies of the National League defeat the Kansas City Royals of the American League, 4–1, in Game Six of the World Series to win the championship.
October 25 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
October 27 – Six Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners in Maze prison in Northern Ireland refuse food and demand status as political prisoners; the hunger strike lasts until December.
October 30 – El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
October 31
The Polish government recognizes Solidarity.
Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the Shah of Iran, proclaims himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.
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1980_10 | Section: November (2):
November 4 – 1980 United States presidential election: Republican challenger and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California defeats incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and is elected the 40th President of the United States.
November 7 – Legendary actor Steve McQueen dies at the age of 50 of a cardiac arrest after surgery to remove tumours in his neck after previously been diagnosed with lung cancer.
November 10–12 – Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles (124,000 km) of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high-resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.
November 20 – The Gang of Four trial begins in China.
November 21
A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip kills 85 people.
A record number of viewers on this date (for an entertainment program) tune into the U.S. television show Dallas to learn who shot lead character J. R. Ewing. The "Who shot J.R.?" event is an international obsession.
November 23 – The 6.9 Mw Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Officially, there were 2,483 people killed and 8,934 injured, though the deaths may have been as high as 4,900.
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1980_11 | Section: December (2):
December 2 – A missionary (Jean Donovan) and three Roman Catholic nuns (Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel), all Americans, are murdered by a military death squad in El Salvador while doing charity work during that country's civil war.
December 8 – Murder of John Lennon: Mark David Chapman is arrested following the murder of English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota.
December 14 – Four people are murdered and four others are injured by two armed robbers at Bob's Big Boy on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, in what is one of the city's most brutal crimes ever.
December 15 – The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian language) is created.
December 16 – During a summit on the island of Bali, OPEC decides to raise the price of petroleum by 10%.
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1981_0 | 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1981st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 981st year of the 2nd millennium, the 81st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1980s decade. |
1981_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1
Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz following his death on December 24.
January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments.
January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican.
January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis.
January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.
January 24 – An earthquake of Ms6.8 magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day.
January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the Great Karoo.
January 27 – The Indonesian passenger ship Tampomas II catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580 people.
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1981_1 | Section: February (2):
February 4 – Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes Prime Minister of Norway.
February 8 – In Greece, 20 fans of Olympiacos F.C. and 1 fan of AEK Athens die, while 54 are injured, after a stampede at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, possibly because Gate 7 does not open immediately after the end of the game.
February 9 – Polish Prime Minister Józef Pińkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
February 14 – Stardust fire: A fire at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours kills 48 young people and injures 214. In 2024 these will be declared as unlawful killings.
February 17–22 – Pope John Paul II visits the Philippines.
February 23 – 1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt ("23-F"): Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil, enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup fails after being denounced by King Juan Carlos.
February 24 – A powerful Ms6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Athens, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in Corinth and the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylokastro.
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1981_2 | Section: March (2):
March 1 – 1981 Irish hunger strike: Bobby Sands, a Provisional Irish Republican Army member, begins a hunger strike for political status at HM Prison Maze (Long Kesh) in Northern Ireland, dying on May 5, the first of 7 IRA and 3 INLA hunger strikers to die.
March 11 – Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President of Chile for another 8-year term.
March 17 – In Italy, the Propaganda Due Masonic lodge is discovered.
March 19 – Two or three workers are killed and four are injured during a ground test of Space Shuttle Columbia at Kennedy Space Center in the United States.
March 29 – The first London Marathon starts, with 7,500 runners.
March 30 – Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan: U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.
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1981_3 | Section: April (2):
April 4 – UK pop group Bucks Fizz's song "Making Your Mind Up" wins the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland.
April 11 – 1981 Brixton riot: Rioters in south London, UK, throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.
April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia, with NASA astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit.
April 15 – The first Coca-Cola bottling plant in China is opened.
April 18 – A Minor League Baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23).
April 26 – French presidential election: A first-round runoff results between Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand.
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1981_4 | Section: May (2):
May – Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon basin.
May 1 – Pensions in Chile: The new Chilean pension system, based on private pension funds, begins.
May 4 – The European Law Students' Association (ELSA) was founded in Vienna by law students from Austria, West Germany, Poland and Hungary.
May 6 – A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., from among 1,421 other entries.
May 11 – The Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley dies at age 36 from cancer.
May 13 – Pope John Paul II assassination attempt: Pope John Paul II is shot by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to address a general audience. The Pope recovers.
May 15 – A prison officer, 31-year-old Donna Payant, disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer Lemuel Smith. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States.
May 21 – François Mitterrand becomes the first socialist President of the French Fifth Republic.
May 22 – Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder in England.
May 25 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created among Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
May 26 – The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due.
May 30 – Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in Chittagong.
May 31 – Burning of Jaffna library, one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the century.
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1981_5 | Section: June (2):
June 5 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, the first recognized cases of AIDS.
June 6 – Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the Bagmati River in Bihar, India, killing between 500 and 800.
June 7 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, killing ten Iraqi troops and a French technician.
June 10 – Alfredo Rampi, a 6-year-old boy, falls into an artesian well in Vermicino, near Rome. After nearly three days of failed rescue attempts followed with bated breath from all over Italy, Alfredo dies inside the well, at a depth of 60 meters (200 ft).
June 13 – At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, teenager Marcus Sarjeant fires 6 blank shots close to Queen Elizabeth II, startling her horse.
June 18
The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States is founded.
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter makes its first flight at Groom Lake (Area 51), Nevada.
June 22 – Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed.
June 27
The first game of paintball is played, in Henniker, New Hampshire, United States.
The E-mu Emulator sampler keyboard with floppy disk operation is unveiled at NAMM international Sound & Music Expo, Chicago. Production Model Serial Number 001 is issued to Stevie Wonder.
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1981_6 | Section: July (2):
July 1 – Wonderland murders: The Wonderland Gang of cocaine dealers is brutally murdered in Los Angeles. Eddie Nash is suspected of involvement, but will never be convicted.
July 3 – The Toxteth riots in Liverpool, England, start after a mob prevents a youth from being arrested. Shortly afterward, the Chapeltown riots in Leeds start amid increased racial tension.
July 7 – United States President Ronald Reagan nominates the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor, to the Supreme Court of the United States.
July 9 – Donkey Kong is released, marking the first Donkey Kong and Mario smash hit arcade game developed by Nintendo in Japan.
July 10
Mahathir Mohamad becomes the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia.
1981 Handsworth riots in Birmingham begin, followed by further 1981 England riots in several urban areas including Liverpool and Leeds.
July 16–21 – England become the first team this century to win a cricket Test match after the follow-on when they beat Australia by 18 runs at Headingley cricket ground, Leeds, England.
July 17
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.
Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut, destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO-associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.
July 19 – The 1981 Springbok Tour commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of apartheid.
July 21 – Panda Tohui is born in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, the first panda to ever be born and survive in captivity outside of China.
July 29 – A worldwide television audience of over 750 million people watch the Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London, UK.
July 30 – 1981 Polish hunger demonstrations: As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, take to the streets in Łódź to protest about food ration shortages in Communist Poland.
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1981_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1 – The first 24-hour video music channel MTV (Music Television) is launched in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
August 9 – 1981 Major League Baseball strike ends in the United States, and Major League Baseball resumes with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
August 12 – The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.
August 19 – Gulf of Sidra incident: Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. Navy fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The U.S. jets destroy the Libyan fighters.
August 23 – South African troops attack SWAPO bases in Xangongo and Ongiva, Angola, during Operation Protea.
August 24 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering John Lennon in Manhattan eight months earlier.
August 27 – North Korea fires a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird spy plane flying in South Korean and international airspace. The missile misses and the airplane is unharmed.
August 30 – 1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing: Eight people, including the country's president and prime minister, are killed when a briefcase, planted by People's Mujahedin of Iran, explodes in the building.
August 31 – A bomb explodes at the United States Ramstein Air Base in West Germany, injuring 20 people.
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1981_8 | Section: September (2):
September – Little Miss Bossy, the first book in the Little Miss series (the female counterpart to the Mr. Men series) is first published, in the U.K.
September 1 – Gregorio Conrado Álvarez is inaugurated as a military de facto President of Uruguay.
September 4 – An explosion at a mine in Záluží, Czechoslovakia, kills 65 people.
September 7 – British plantation company Guthrie is taken over by the Malaysian government after successfully purchasing shares to become the major shareholder. This is famously called the 'Dawn Raid attack'.
September 10 – Picasso's painting Guernica is moved from New York to Madrid.
September 15
Our Lady of Akita in Japan cries for the last time, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, D.C.
September 17 – Ric Flair defeats Dusty Rhodes to win his first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in Kansas City.
September 18 – France's National Assembly votes to abolish Capital punishment in France.
September 19 – Solidarity Day march, in support of organized labor, draws approximately 250,000 people in Washington, D.C.
September 20 – The overcrowded ferry boat Sobral Santos II capsizes in the Amazon River, Ób, idos, Brazil, killing at least 300 people.
September 21 – Belize, formerly British Honduras, gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
September 22, a Northrop F-5 crashes during a military exercise, in Babaeski, Turkey, killing 1 crew and 65 soldiers on ground.
September 25 – Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 26
The Boeing 767 airliner makes its first flight.
The Sydney Tower opens to the public in Australia.
September 27 – TGV high-speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France, begins.
September 27–29 – Iran–Iraq War: Iranian forces break the Siege of Abadan in Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh.
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1981_9 | Section: October (2):
October 5 – Raoul Wallenberg posthumously becomes an honorary citizen of the United States.
October 6 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a military parade.
October 10 – The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.
October 14 – Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a parade, by servicemen who belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization led by Khalid Islambouli and oppose his negotiations with Israel.
October 16 – Gas explosions at a coal mine at Hokutan, Yūbari, Hokkaidō, Japan, kill 93 people.
October 21 – Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
October 22 – The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D. P. Singh begins.
October 27 – Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground outside the Karlskrona, Sweden, military base, leading to a minor international incident.
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1981_10 | Section: November (2):
November 1 – Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
November 9 – Slavery in Mauritania is abolished by Edict No. 81-234.
November 12 – The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.
November 22 – The Edmonton Eskimos (14–1–1) barely stave off defeat and win a record 4th consecutive Grey Cup in the Canadian Football League, at the 69th Grey Cup at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders (5–11–0) with a score of 26–23 in the final three seconds, after being down 20–1 at halftime.
November 23
Iran–Contra affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak, the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history.
November 25–26 – 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt: A group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport. Most of them escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; six are later arrested.
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1981_11 | Section: December (2):
December 1 – An Inex-Adria Aviopromet McDonnell Douglas MD-80 strikes a mountain peak and crashes while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
December 4 – South Africa grants Ciskei independence, not recognized outside South Africa.
December 7 – Rotary International charters the Rotary Club of Grand Baie, Mauritius.
December 8
The No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee, kills 13.
Arthur Scargill becomes President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain).
December 10 – During the Ministerial Session of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Spain signs the Protocol of Accession to NATO.
December 11
Boxing: Muhammad Ali loses to Trevor Berbick; this proves to be Ali's last-ever fight.
El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians.
December 13 – Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
December 15 – 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut: An Islamic Dawa Party car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Lebanon, killing 61 people in one of the earliest significant postwar suicide attacks.
December 17 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian Red Brigades.
December 20 – The Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the Union Star off the coast of South-West Cornwall (England), the lifeboat Solomon Browne is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.
December 28 – The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia.
December 31 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the PNDC led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
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1982_0 | 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1982nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 982nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 82nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1980s decade. |
1982_0 | Section: January (2):
January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., United States, then falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.
January 18 – 1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash: Four Northrop T-38 aircraft of the United States Air Force crash at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada, killing all 4 pilots.
January 26 – Mauno Koivisto is elected President of Finland.
January 27 – The government of Garret FitzGerald in Ireland is defeated 82–81 on its budget; the 22nd Dáil is dissolved.
January 30 – The first computer virus, the Elk Cloner, written by 15-year old Rich Skrenta, is found. It infects Apple II computers via floppy disk.
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1982_1 | Section: February (2):
February 1 – Senegal and The Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation.
February 2 – The Hama massacre begins in Syria.
February 3 – Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.
February 5 – London-based Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 stranded passengers and debts of $270 million.
February 7 – Iraqi club Al-Shorta win the 1982 Arab Club Champions Cup with a 4–2 aggregate win over Al-Nejmeh in the final.
February 9 – Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board.
February 15 – The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 rig workers aboard.
February 18 – The Ireland general election gives a boost to Fianna Fáil.
February 24 – In South Africa, 22 National Party MPs, led by Andries Treurnicht, vote for no confidence in P. W. Botha.
February 25 – The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tawse children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.
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1982_2 | Section: March (2):
March 2 – Decentralisation in France: the Law of Decentralisation creates the administrative regions of France (régions).
March 9 – Charles Haughey becomes Taoiseach of Ireland.
March 10
The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan state-sponsored terrorism.
Syzygy: All 9 planets recognized at this time align on the same side of the Sun.
March 16 – Claus von Bülow is found guilty of the attempted murder of his wife by a court in Newport, Rhode Island.
March 18 – A legal case brought by Mary Whitehouse against the National Theatre of Britain concerning alleged obscenity in the play The Romans in Britain ends after the Attorney General intervenes.
March 19 – Argentine scrap metal workers (infiltrated by marines) raise the flag of Argentina on South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, two British overseas territories.
March 24 – Hussain Muhammad Ershad seizes power in Bangladesh.
March 29
Royal Assent is given to the Canada Act 1982, setting the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution on April 17.
The 54th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Chariots of Fire wins Best Picture and 3 other Academy Awards.
March 30 – Space Shuttle Columbia ends an eight-day mission, STS-3, by landing at White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was the only time a Space Shuttle has landed at White Sands. The orbiter was forced to land at White Sands due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California.
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1982_3 | Section: April (2):
April 1 – The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands begins when Argentine forces land near Stanley, beginning the Falklands War.
April 2 – Rex Hunt, the British governor of the Falkland Islands, surrenders the islands to Argentine forces, leading to their occupation.
April 3 – Invasion of the Falkland Islands: Argentine forces begin the invasion of South Georgia.
April 17 – Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada patriates its constitution, gaining full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.
April 24 – German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 (held in Britain) with the song Ein Bisschen Frieden.
April 25 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979.
April 26 – Falklands War: British troops retake South Georgia Island during Operation Paraquet.
April 30 – The Bijon Setu massacre takes place in broad daylight at a railway crossing in India.
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1982_4 | Section: May (2):
May 1 – A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is kicked off with an address by President Ronald Reagan. Over 11 million people attend during its 6-month run.
May 2
Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. Operation Algeciras, an attempt to destroy a Royal Navy warship in Gibraltar, fails.
The Weather Channel airs on cable television in the United States as the first 24-hour all-weather network.
May 4 – Falklands War: HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentine Exocet missile and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sinks on May 10.
May 8 – French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.
May 12 – Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latter's pilgrimage to the shrine at Fátima.
May 16 – The New York Islanders sweep the Vancouver Canucks in four games to win the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey.
May 18 – Falklands War: The British Special Air Service launches Operation Plum Duff, a reconnaissance mission preliminary to Operation Mikado, which is planned to destroy three Argentinean Exocet missiles and five Super Étendard fighter-bombers. Both Operation Plum Duff and Operation Mikado are called off after the Plum Duff insertion is revealed by a helicopter landing in Chile.
May 21
Falklands War: HMS Ardent is sunk by Argentine aircraft, killing 22 sailors.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is established.
May 23 – Falklands War: HMS Antelope is lost.
May 24
Iranian troops retake Khorramshahr.
KGB head Yuri Andropov is appointed to the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
May 25 – British ships HMS Coventry and SS Atlantic Conveyor are sunk during the Falklands War; Coventry by two A-4C Skyhawks and Atlantic Conveyor by two Exocets.
May 26 – Aston Villa F.C. wins the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 after a 69th-minute goal by Peter Withe in Rotterdam.
May 28–29 – Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green: British forces defeat a larger Argentine force.
May 30
Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
Indianapolis 500: 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds. Leading to the closest finish to this date, Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps, in what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history.
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1982_5 | Section: June (2):
June 6 – The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
June 8
Falklands War: British supply ship RFA Sir Galahad is destroyed during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks
VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727 passenger jet, crashes into a forest hillside in Fortaleza in Brazil, killing 137.
The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games to win the 1982 NBA Finals.
June 11 – E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is released in the United States; this will become the biggest box-office hit for the next 11 years.
June 12 – The Nuclear Disarmament Rally, an event against nuclear weapon proliferation, draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park. Performers included Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt. An international convocation at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine features prominent peace activists from around the world and afterward participants march on Fifth Avenue to Central Park for the rally.
June 13
The 1982 FIFA World Cup begins in Spain.
Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
June 14 – Argentine surrender in the Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital, Stanley, surrender to British forces.
June 18 – Argentine military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri resigns in the wake of his country's defeat in the Falklands War.
June 20 – Falklands War ends with British forces retaking the South Sandwich Islands.
June 24 – British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane after flying through the otherwise undetected volcanic ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.
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1982_6 | Section: July (2):
July 4 – Four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped upon Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
July 6 – A lunar eclipse (umbral duration 236 min and total duration 106 min, the longest of the 20th century) occurs.
July 9 – Pan Am Flight 759 (Boeing 727) crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.
July 11 – Italy beats West Germany 3–1 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
July 16 – In New York City, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
July 20 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: the Provisional IRA detonates 2 bombs in central London, killing 8 soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses.
July 23
The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986.
Torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan, destroy bridges and kill 299.
Twilight Zone accident: During filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors die in a helicopter stunt accident in California.
July 31 – Beaune coach crash: In Beaune, France, 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a highway accident (France's worst).
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1982_7 | Section: August (2):
August 1 – Attempted coup against the government of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya.
August 2 – The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system in Finland, opens to the general public.
August 4 – The United Nations Security Council votes to censure Israel because its troops are still in Lebanon.
August 7 – Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini resigns.
August 12 – Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spreads throughout Latin America.
August 13 – In Hong Kong, health warnings on cigarette packets are made statutory.
August 17 – The first compact discs (CDs) are produced in Germany.
August 20 – Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.
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1982_8 | Section: September (2):
September 14
Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut.
Princess Grace of Monaco dies after having suffered a car crash a few days previously.
September 18
A Lebanese Christian militia (the Phalange) kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut; the massacre is a response to the assassination of the president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, four days earlier.
The funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco takes place.
September 19 – The first emoticons are posted by Scott Fahlman.
September 21
The first International Day of Peace is proclaimed by the (United Nations).
In the United States, the National Football League Players Association calls a strike, the first in-season work stoppage in the National Football League's 63-year history. The strike lasts for 57 days, reduces the regular season from 16 games to 9, and forces an expanded 16-team playoff tournament.
September 23 – Amine Gemayel, brother of Bachir, is elected president of Lebanon.
September 24 – The Wimpy Operation, the first act of armed resistance against Israeli troops in Beirut.
September 25 – In Israel, 400,000 marchers demand the resignation of Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
September 26 – Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main parachute to fall to a lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.
September 29 – Chicago Tylenol murders: an unknown killer laces Tylenol capsules with potassium cyanide that kills seven in Chicago, Illinois.
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Subsets and Splits