The Year 1978
History and Politics
Violence sweeps Nicaragua in nationwide campaign by the Sandinista guerrillas
to overthrow the government of President Anastasio Somoza.
Hubert H. Humphrey dies.
Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped and murdered by the
Red Brigades, a revolutionary terrorist group.
A military junta seizes power in Afghanistan.
US Senate ratifies new Panama Canal treaties.
Premier Chiang Ching-kuo is elected president of Nationalist China.
US and the People's Republic of China announce establishment of full diplomatic realtions.
Antonio Guzman is elected President of the Dominican Republic, first peaceful transfer
of power between constitutionally elected governments in Dominican history.
Zaire's Shaba (Katanga) Province is invaded by secessionist rebels, US airlifts
troops from Morocco & other African countries that help repel invaders.
President Giovanni Leone of Italy resigns; Socialist Alessandro Pertini elected President.
Nobel Peace Prize: Isreali Premier Menahem Begin & Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala is elected President of Columbia.
Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Dominica become independent nations.
Russian human rights activists Yuri Orlov, Anatoly Scharansky, & Alexander Ginzburg are convicted
of "anit-Soviet agitation" and sentenced to 7, 13, and 8 years in prison and forced labor camps.
South Yeman's President is deposed and executed by pro-Soviet faction
that seizes power; North Yeman's President is assassinated.
29 of the 46 Red Brigades members on trial in Turin, Italy, are convicted
of intent to subvert the government and other charges.
Arab League uses military force to seperate warring Syrian & Christian
militia forces and to restore peace to Lebanon.
John Vorster resigns as Prime Minister of S. Africa, succeeded by Pieter William Botha.
A military junta takes control of Hunduras.
US House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigates the Korean lobbying scandal in Congress.
Army officers oust Bolivia's President ans seize control of the government
the 200th coup in Bolivia's 158 years of independent statehood.
The Soviet Union and Vietnam sign a 25-year treaty of friendship and cooperation.
Signing of Japanese-Chinese treaty of peace and friendship.
Isreali Prime Minister Menahem Begin & Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, agree on a famework For
Mideast peace at Camp David summit talks arranged by US President Carter; officials from
Isreal & Egypt negotiate in Washington, D C, on drafting a bilateral peace treaty.
Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlavi imposes martial rule to put an end to violent anti-government
demonstrations in Iran; Iranian oil industry shut down by striking workers; self-exiled
Moslem leader Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini appeals for labor strife to topple Shah.
Science, Technology, Growth
Reinhold Messner (Ital) and Peter Habeler (Aust) make the first
conquest of Mt. Everest without artificial oxygen supplies.
Japanese explorer Naomi Uemura becomes the first to complete a solo journey to the North Pole.
Norwegian explorer-ethnologist Thor Heyedahl saols on a reed boat from Qurna, Iraq, to the coast of Djibouti.
Armand J. Quick (US) doctor and expert on blood clotting & disease dies.
Soviet cosmonauts in orbiting Salyut 6 space station set an endurance record of 139 days and 15 hours.
"Test-tube baby" born in England; Leslie Brown gives birth to girl-first
human baby conceived outside the body of a woman.
Oil drilling begins in the Baltimore Canyon region off the New Jersy shore.
Nobel Prize for Physics: Arno A. Penzias (US), Robert W. Wilson (US), and Pyotr L. Kapitsa (Russ)
Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Peter Mitchell (Eng)
Nobel Prize for Medicine: Daniel Nathans (US), Hamilton O. Smith (US), and Werner Arber (Switz).
Discovery of a moon orbiting Pluto.
Daily Life
Dallas Cowboys defeat Denver Broncos, 27-10, to win Super Bowl.
After 23 years in US keeping, the crown of St. Stephen and its coronation regalia are returned to Hungary.
Air India 747 crash kills 213 persons; India's worst air disaster.
David R. Berkowitz, also known as the 44. caliber killer and the "Son of Sam," receives life
imprisonment for six murders he committed before his arrest in August, 1977.
New York Yankees defeat Los Angeles Dodgers, 4 games to 2, to win World Series.
Gary Player wins 3rd Masters; Jack Nicklaus wins 3rd British Open.
Longest US coal strike ends on 110th day after miners approve agreement.
The "Chicago Daily News" ceases publication after 103 years.
Leon Spinks wins world heavyweight boxing championship; Muhammed Ali beats Spinks 7 months later
to regain title and becomes the first boxer ever to win a heavyweight title 3 times.
Argentina wins soccer's World Cup.
The supertanker "Amoco Cadiz" breaks apart in heavy seas off France's Brittany coast,
spilling a record 220,000 tons of oil which blackens more than 110 miles of coastline.
Brig. General margaret A. Brewer is the first female general in the US Marine Corps.
Trading on the New York Stock Exchange has a record single-day volume of 63.5
million shares on April 17; the Dow-Jones industrial average soars 35.34
points on Nov. 1, a record-breaking single-day advance.
US Congress extends the ratification of the Equal Rights Ammendment from March 22, 1979 to June 30, 1982.
Earthquakes rock Greece, Japan, Mexico, Iran. and central Europe.
California's voters approve "Proposition 13" to cut property taxes 57%.
King Hussein of Jordan marries Elizabeth Halaby; Princess Caroline of Monoco marries Phillippe
Junot; Princess Margaret of Britain & Anthony Armstrong-Jones are divorced; Christina
Onassis, Greek shipping heiress, and Sergei Kausov (Russ) are married.
Jetliner ans single-engine plane collide over San Diego; 144 die in worst mid-air collision in US aviation history.
Chris Evert (US) cptures her 4th consecutive US Open; Jimmy Connors (US) wins
his 3rd US Open; Bjorn Borg (Swed) wins his 3rd consecutive Wimbledon,
his 3rd French Open, and his 2nd italian Open; US wins Davis Cup.
Americans Max Anderson, Ben Abruzzo, and Larry Newman complete the first transatlantic crossing
by balloon; Naomi James (Eng) becomes the first woman to sail around the world alone.
US Rep. Leo J. Ryan and 4 other Americans are shot to death in Guyana by members of the
People's Temple, a California based religious cult; murder-suicide of 917, including
People's Temple leader Jim Jones, occurs at the cult's Guyanese jungle commune.
World's population stands at about 4.4 billion persons, with 200,000 being added daily.
"Affirmed" wins horse racing's Triple Crown.
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page