1978: Encyclopedia II - 1978 - Events

1978 - Events

1978 - January

• January 1 - The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law.
• January 1 - Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay - 213 dead.
• January 4 - Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet.
• January 6 - The Hungarian Holy Crown (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) returned to Hungary from the United States where it was held after World War II.
• January 7 - Emilio Palma is born in Antarctica, making his birth the southernmost in history.
• January 10 - Assassination of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, who had criticized the Nicaraguan government. Riots erupt against Somoza's government.
• January 18 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
• January 19 - Federal Appeals Court Judge William H. Webster appointed as Director of the FBI.
• January 22 - Ethiopia announces the ambassador of West Germany as Persona non grata.
• January 23 - Sweden becomes the first nation to ban aerosol sprays that are thought to damage earth's protective ozone layer.
• January 24 - Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 burns in Earth atmosphere and its debris is scattered over Canadian Northwest Territories
• January 28 - Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", is arrested
• January 30 - Blizzards in the USA kill 90.

1978 - February

• February 1 - Film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
• February 8 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcasted on radio for the first time.
• February 11 - 16 Unification Church couples wed in New York City.
• February 11 - Military mobilization in Somalia due to an apparent Ethiopian attack.
• February 11 - The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
• February 13 - Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two garbagemen, a policeman and several others. Many believe that ASIO was responsible.
• February 15 - Rhodesia's prime minister Ian Smith and three black leaders agree on the transfer to black majority rule.
• February 15 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Florida.
• February 16 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
• February 21 - Electrical workers in Mexico City find an Aztec monolith in the middle of the city.

1978 - March

• March 1 - Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland but are recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.
• March 1 - Broadway play Timbuktu opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
• March 3 - Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid Cuban soldiers against Somalian troops in Ogaden.
• March 3 - Rhodesia attacks Zambia.
• March 3 - New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man about a supposed cloning of a human being
• March 6 - US porn publisher Larry Flynt is shot and paralysed
• March 11 - Coastal Road Massacre by Palestinian terrorists kill 34 Israelis.
• March 14 - Israeli forces invade Lebanon in Operation Litani.
• March 15 - The United States Senate approves the Panama Canal neutrality treaty; votes to turn the canal over to Panama by the year 2000 on April 18.
• March 16 - Former Italian premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by Red Brigades, who kill five bodyguards; he is found dead on May 9.
• March 17 - The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground on the coast of Brittany.
• March 18 - Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is sentenced to death by hanging for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.
• March 22 - Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• March 24 - The tanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two off Brittany spilling 50,000 metric tons of crude oil.
• March 28 - The US Supreme Court hands down 5-3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.

1978 - April

• April 1 - Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.
• April 8 - Regular broadcasts of proceedings in British Parliament start.
• April 16 - In Cologne, 15,000 former members of the resistance movement demonstrate against National Socialism.
• April 18 - The US Senate votes 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
• April 27 - President of Afghanistan, Daud Khan is killed during a military coup - Mohammed Takain succeeds him.
• April 30 - The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is proclamed, under pro-communist leader Nur Mohammed Taraki.

1978 - May

• May 4 - – Communist activist Henri Curiel is murdered in Paris.
• May 5 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3000th major league hit.
• May 8 - Norway opens a natural gas field in the Polar Sea.
• May 9 - In Rome, the body of Aldo Moro, the Italian president of the Christian-Democrats, is found in a parked car.
• May 12-May 13 - Group of mercenaries lead by Bob Denard oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros - 10 local soldiers killed. Denard forms a new government
• May 12 - In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The government of Zaire asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
• May 15 - Students of the University of Teheran riot in Tabriz - an army stops the riot.
• May 17 - Charles Chaplin's coffin is found ten miles from the cemetery it was stolen from, near Lake Geneva.
• May 18 - Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced for seven years hard labor for distributing counterrevolutionary material.
• May 18-May 19 - Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire to aid the fight against the rebels.
• May 20 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becames the first woman to run across the USA - trek took 69 days.
• May 22 - Exiled leaders Ahmed Abdallah and Mohammed Ahmed return to the Comoros
• May 25 - A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University - security guard is wounded. The first bomb of the Unabomber case.
• May 26 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
• May 28 - Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Al Unser wins his third race, and the first for car owner Jim Hall.
• May 29 - Ali Soilih is found dead, allegedly shot when trying to escape

1978 - June

• June 6 - Californians in referendum approve Proposition 13 for a nearly 60% slash in property tax revenues.
• June 9 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extends the priesthood and temple blessings to "all worthy males," ending a general policy of excluding blacks from priesthood and temples since 1849 (see Blacks and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
• June 12 - Serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
• June 15 - King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old Lisa Halaby.
• June 16 - Releasing of Grease film.
• June 19 - 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.
• June 19 - Comic Strip Garfield debuts in newspapers.
• June 21 - An outbreak of shooting between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves one civilian and three IRA men dead.
• June 22 - Discovery of Charon, a satellite of Pluto, announced.
• June 23 - Josip Broz Tito is named for Yugoslav president for life.
• June 24 - President of Yemen Arab Republic Ahmad al-Ghashmi is killed.
• June 25 - Argentina defeats Netherlands 3-1 after extra time to win the 1978 World Cup.
• June 26 - The bombing of Breton nationalists causes destruction in Versailles.
• June 28 - The Supreme Court of the United States, in the Bakke case, bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms constitutionality of programs giving advantage to minorities.
• June 30 - Ethiopia begin a massive offensive in Eritrea.

1978 - July

• July 7 - The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
• July 25 - First human birth, girl Louise Brown, from in vitro fertilization (the test tube baby).

1978 - August

• August 6 - Pope Paul VI dies at age of 80.
• August 7 - United States President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal.
• August 12 - Sino-Japanese relations: The Treaty of Peace and Friendship is signed between Japan and the People's Republic of China.
• August 15 - Foundation of Mirapuri - The City of Peace and Future Man in Europe, Italy.
• August 17 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Preque Isle, Maine
• August 19 - Fire in Rex Cinema in Tehran - 477 dead.
• August 20 - Gunmen open fire on an Israeli El Al airline bus in London.
• August 20 - In Abadan, Iran, nearly 400 are killed when Muslim extremist arsonists set fire to a crowded theater.
• August 25 - The Shroud of Turin goes on public display for the first time in 45 years.
• August 25 - US Army sergeant Walter Robinson "walks" across the English Channel in 11 hours 30 minutes using homemade water shoes
• August 26 - Albino Cardinal Luciani succeeds Pope Paul VI as Pope John Paul I.

1978 - September

• September 1 - Dublin Institute of Technology is established.
• September 5 - Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
• September 8 - Riots in Teheran - Iranian army troops open fire - 122 dead, 4000 wounded.
• September 11 - The tip of an umbrella poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov, probably on orders of Bulgarian intelligence. He dies four days later.
• September 17 - Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt
• September 19 - British Police launch a massive murder hunt when newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater is shot dead after disturbing a burglary.
• September 25 - PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California resulting in the death of 144.
• September 28 - Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.

1978 - October

• October 1 - Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
• October 7 - Wranslide in NSW; the Wran government is re-elected with a increased majority.
• October 8 - Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.60mph at Blowering Dam, Australia.
• October 10 - US President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• October 14 - Daniel arap Moi becomes president of Kenya.
• October 16 - Cardinal Karol Wojtyła becomes Pope John Paul II.
• October 27 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.

1978 - November

• November 3 - Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• November 5 - Riots and demonstrations in Teheran - the British embassy is sacked.
• November 7 - Indira Gandhi re-elected to Indian parliament.
• November 17 - The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS.
• November 18 - Jonestown mass suicide: In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple in a mass murder-suicide; 913 die, including 276 children.
• November 19 - The first US Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.
• November 20 - Military coup in Spain fails.
• November 27 - In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.
• November 30 - Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems until November 13, 1979.

1978 - December

• December 4 - Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she served until Friday, January 8, 1988).
• December 11 - Lufthansa heist - Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's Kennedy airport.
• December 11 - Massive anti-Shah demonstration in Iran - 2 million demonstrators.
• December 13 - First Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation.
• December 15 - Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to go into default since the Great Depression, under the mayoral administration of Dennis Kucinich.
• December 25 - Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
• December 27 - The Spanish Constitution is approved in referendum officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.

1978 - Unknown dates

• The Hillside Strangler, a stealthy serial killer, is on the prowl in Los Angeles.
• The Usu volcano erupts in Japan.
• Eagles' Hotel California was nominated for a Grammy award.
• Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was nominated for a Grammy award.
• Artificial insulin is invented.
• David Rorvik claims he has participated in a creation of a human clone in his book In His Image.
• Abortion legalized in Italy for first time.
• Acorn Computers Ltd is founded.
• Remove Intoxicated Drivers established.
• Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems established to promote temperance.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Events", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki