Historical Events in 1978

Events 1 - 200 of 616

• Jan 1 Air India B747 explodes near Bombay killing 213
• Jan 1 Los Angeles Police chief Edward Davis retires from police force
• Jan 1 News editor Donald Woods finally arrives in London after escaping the apartheid regime in South Africa

• Jan 2 Rhino Records releases their 1st album "Wildmania"
• Jan 3 Indian cricket spin bowler B. S. Chandrasekhar becomes first in Test history to register identical figures in both innings (6 for 52) in Indian innings win over Australia in 3rd Test in Melbourne

• Jan 6 1st postage stamp copyrighted by US (Carl Sandburg stamp)
• Jan 6 US hand over St Stephan crown to Hungary
• Jan 7 Angola revises its constitution in include a state security law

• Jan 8 Israeli government votes to 'strengthen' settlements in occupied Sinai

• Jan 9 Commonwealth of Northern Marianas established
• Jan 10 Soyuz 27 launches, carrying 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
• Jan 11 Soyuz 27 links with Salyut 6 & Soyuz 26 (1st time 3 spacecraft link)
• Jan 13 NASA select its first American women astronauts

• Jan 15 Super Bowl XII, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: Dallas Cowboys beat Denver Broncos, 27-10; MVP: Harvey Martin, Dallas, DE & Randy White, Dallas, DT
• Jan 15 Theodore Bundy kills Fla State U coeds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
• Jan 16 Soyuz 27 returns to Earth

• Jan 18 Geoff Boycott captains England for the 1st time, v Pakistan at Karachi
• Jan 18 Roof of 3-yr-old Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut collapses (no injuries)
• Jan 18 Thiokol conducts 2nd test firing of space shuttle's SRB
• Jan 19 Eddie Mathews elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

• Jan 20 Columbia Pictures pays $9.5 million for movie rights to "Annie"

• Jan 23 Belgian industrial Haron Empain kidnapped in Paris
• Jan 23 Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, due to their harmful effect on the earth's ozone layer.
• Jan 24 Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (# 12036)
• Jan 25 Muriel Humphrey (D-Mn) appointed to fill late husband's Senate seat

• Jan 26 International Ultraviolet Explorer placed in Earth orbit

• Jan 26 Strikers riot in Tunisia, killing about 40
• Jan 28 Ranger's Don Murdoch failed on 4th penalty shot against Islanders
• Jan 28 Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife

• Jan 30 Addie Joss & Larry MacPhail elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

• Jan 31 Israel turns 3 milt outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements

• Feb 3 Australia beat India 3-2 on 6th day of final test, after India are all out for 445 chasing 493 to win

• Feb 5 Blizzard forms in US North East, 100 people killed in New England and New York over 3 days
• Feb 5 Fred Newman makes 88 consecutive basketball free throws blindfolded

• Feb 6 Snowstorm hits New England, parts of Rhode Island (54" / 137cm)
• Feb 7 Ethiopian offensive in Ogaden desert
• Feb 8 Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes Prime Minister of Kuwait
• Feb 8 Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• Feb 10 Frank C. Carlucci succeeds John F. Blake as deputy director of the CIA
• Feb 10 U.S. premiere of "Blue Collar", Paul Schrader's first film direction
• Feb 11 16 Unification church couples wed in NYC

• Feb 11 EOKA disbands in Cyprus
• Feb 13 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 14 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments
• Feb 14 In girls' HS basketball, Chicago Latin beats Harvard St George
• Feb 15 England all out 64 for 1st loss to NZ in cricket (Geoffrey Boycott captain)

• Feb 15 Zaire revises its constitution
• Feb 16 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago)
• Feb 17 11 civilians and 1 RUC officer are killed and 30 wounded by a Provisional Irish Republican Army incendiary bomb at the La Mon Restaurant near Belfast
• Feb 18 1st Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, marathon) held, Kona, Hawaii

• Feb 19 Brigitte Kraus runs world record 1000 m indoor (2:34.8)
• Feb 20 Egypt announces it is pulling its diplomats out of Cyprus
• Feb 21 Electrical workers accidentally discover the Aztec Templo Mayor, or High Temple, two blocks from Mexico City's central square, the Zócalo
• Feb 22 2 tankers with propane gas explode killing 15 at Waverly, Tenn

• Feb 24 Kevin Porter, NJ, sets NBA record with 29 assists in a game

• Feb 27 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll

• Mar 2 Soyuz 28 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Czechoslovakian) to Salyut 6
• Mar 3 1st day of Test cricket for Desmond Haynes (WI v Australia)
• Mar 4 Chicago Daily News, founded in 1875, publishes last issue
• Mar 5 Landsat 3 launched from Vandenberg AFB, California
• Mar 6 Brian Clark's stage drama "Whose Life is it Anyway?" starring Tom Conti and Jane Asher, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, opens at the Mermaid Theatre, London

• Mar 7 Belgian baron Charles Bracht kidnapped
• Mar 7 Canuck's Ron Sedlbauer fails on 5th penalty shot against Islanders
• Mar 7 Dutch 2nd Chamber votes against neutron bomb

• Mar 9 Ice Dance Championship at Ottawa Canada won by Linichuk & Karponosov
• Mar 9 Ice Pairs Championship at Ottawa won by Rodnina & Zaitsev (Soviet Union)
• Mar 9 Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Ottawa won by Anett Pötzsch (East Germany)
• Mar 9 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Ottawa won by Charles Tickner (USA)

• Mar 10 Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
• Mar 11 Terrorists attack mail truck at Tel Aviv, 45 killed
• Mar 11 USF-led Bill Cartwright scores 23 points as the Dons oust NC

• Mar 13 Moluccan "suicide commandos" occupies Province house
• Mar 14 Marines terminate Moluccan action in Province house (1 dead)
• Mar 14 NFL permanently adds 7th official (side judge)
• Mar 15 -21] operation Litani: Israeli offensive in South Lebanon
• Mar 15 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC

• Mar 16 Amoco Cadiz spills 223,000 tons of crude oil off French coast

• Mar 16 Soyuz 26 returns to Earth
• Mar 16 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 16 US Senate accepts Panama Canal treaty
• Mar 17 Amoco Cadiz tanker spills 1.6 mil gallons of oil off French coast
• Mar 17 Reds don green uniforms for St Patricks Day
• Mar 18 250,000 attend rock concert California Jam II in Ontario, California
• Mar 18 Former Pakistani premier Ali Bhutto sentenced to death
• Mar 19 50,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against neutron bomb
• Mar 20 Flyers' Rick MacLeash scores on 6th penalty shot against Islanders
• Mar 21 Padres fire Al Dark (2nd manager ever fired during spring training)
• Mar 21 San Francisco passes the most comprehensive homosexual rights bill in US history
• Mar 22 France performs nuclear test
• Mar 22 Karl "The Great" Wallenda, German acrobat (The Flying Wallendas) dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 73

• Mar 22 The Rutles mockumentary "All You Need is Cash" debuts on NBC television
• Mar 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 24 Wings release single "With a Little Luck"
• Mar 25 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, UCLA beat Maryland 90-74 in Los Angeles
• Mar 27 The Rutles mockumentary "All You Need is Cash" is shown on British TV
• Mar 28 Daryl Gates becomes the 49th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department

• Mar 31 USSR launches Kosmos 1000 navigational satellite
• Mar 31 Wings release "London Town" album

• Apr 1 New York Islanders right wing Mike Bossy becomes first NHL rookie to score 50 goals in a season after scoring #50 and #51 in the closing moments in a 3-2 win over Washington
• Apr 1 Philippine College of Commerce becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines by presidential decree

• Apr 2 Georges de Mestral's patent for "velvet type fabric" expires, puts "Velcro" in the open market
• Apr 2 Jamaican batsman Basil Williams scores 100 on debut for the West Indies in Australia's 3 wicket 3rd Test victory in Georgetown, Guyana

• Apr 3 European market & China signs trade agreement
• Apr 3 Larry King moves his radio show from Miami, Florida to Washington, D.C.
• Apr 6 Karnataka beat Uttar Pradesh by inn & 193 to win Ranji Trophy
• Apr 7 Guttenberg bible sells for $2,000,000 in New York City

• Apr 7 US President Jimmy Carter defers production of neutron bomb
• Apr 9 Brewers sweep Orioles 11-3, 16-3, & 13-5 (each with a grand slam)

• Apr 10 Formation of Major Indoor Soccer League announced
• Apr 12 Gyorgy Ligeti's opera "Le Grand Macabre" premieres in Stockholm
• Apr 13 Jackson slugs a 3-run HR in the 1st inning, & the field is showered
• Apr 14 David Hare's play "Plenty" premieres in London
• Apr 14 Korean Air Lines Boeing 707, fired on by Soviets, crashes in Russia
• Apr 14 Thousands of Georgians demonstrate in the capital Tbilisi against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language
• Apr 14 WRR-AM in Dallas Texas changes call letters to KAAM
• Apr 15 43 die as 2 express trains collide head-on south of Bologna, Italy
• Apr 15 Great Britain performs nuclear test

• Apr 16 NBC's premiere of miniseries "Holocaust"
• Apr 17 63,500,000 shares traded on NY stock exchange (record)

• Apr 18 Senate votes to turn Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec 31, 1999
• Apr 19 Yitzhak Navron elected 5th president of Israel

• Apr 23 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan

• Apr 25 ABC premiere of crime drama "Vega$"
• Apr 25 Phillie Phanatic makes 1st appearance
• Apr 25 Supreme Court rules pension plans can't require women to pay more
• Apr 26 France sends troops to Chad
• Apr 26 NASA launches space vehicle S-201
• Apr 27 Afghanistan revolution (National Day), pro-Russian military coup
• Apr 27 Cooling tower collapses at a coal-fired power plant at Willow Island, West Virginia, kills 51

• May 1 1st African American mayor of New Orleans, Ernest Nathan Morial, inaugurated

• May 1 Naomi Uemura became 1st to reach North Pole overland alone
• May 2 1978 NFL Draft: Earl Campbell from University of Texas first pick by Houston Oilers
• May 3 "Sun Day" - solar energy events held in the US
• May 3 First unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail ("spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the US west coast
• May 3 Last cricket test match appearance for Bobby Simpson, at Kingston
• May 3 West Indies all set to lose the cricket test v Australia at Kingston till riots end game
• May 4 Russian leader Brezhnev visits West-Germany

• May 6 South Africa military goes into Angola
• May 8 ABC TV airs "Stars Salute Israel at 30"

• May 9 Corpse of kidnapped Italian ex-premier Aldo Moro found
• May 9 Fee Waybill of Tubes breaks a leg falling off stage
• May 11 Margaret A Brewer is 1st female general in the US Marine Corps
• May 12 US Commerce Department says hurricane names will no longer be only female
• May 13 Henry Rono of Kenya sets record for 3,000 m steeplechase (8:05.4)
• May 13 Joie Chitwood drives a Chevette 5.6 miles on just 2 wheels
• May 14 First round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta
• May 17 Los Angeles Dodgers Lee Lacy hits record 3rd consecutive pinch-hit home run
• May 18 Italy legalizes abortion

• Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next

• Admirals
• Aviators
• Gangsters
• Generals
• Industrialists
• Suffragists