TIMELINE KEY:

Red- American events
White- Foreign affairs that may include America

1970

• American Soldiers Accused of Murdering Entire Town of Vietnamese Civilians

• Aswan High Dam Completed

• Beatles Break Up

• Computer Floppy Disks Introduced

• Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes

• Kent State Shootings
-May 4, 1970....National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of students, wounding many, 4 fatally, on the campus of Kent State University. Today, memorials to the four students stand near the place of the shootings.

• Chilie elects Marxist, Allende, as head of state• Black September
-Jordan's King Hussein started to drive Palestinian commandos from his country, and on the 28th, Egyptian president Nasser died of a heart attack.

• First Earth Day, April 22

• EPA created
• Prime time football
-ABC begins it's long running Monday Night Football
• World Trade Center is completed
• Childproof safety caps
• First female jockey in Kentucky Derby
• Mexico City subway is completed
• California is the first no-fault divorce state
• First New York City marathon
• Lithium is approved by the FDA
-Used to treat manic-depressives.
• Arcosanti, a desert utopia is begun
• The New English Bible is printed
-Directly translated from ancient texts into English, it created a big stir of controversy due to it's deviations from the King James version of the Bible (which had been originally translated from other languages)
• Spain's Franco regime convicts Basque leaders
• The Beatles release Let It Be, their last album
• First successful oil well in the North Sea found

• Artist Rothko commits suicide
-After an investigation of his dealer, it is discovered that he had purchased 800 paintings after Rothko's death at much less their true cost.
• Canadian October Crisis
-Two Canadian leaders were kidnapped by Front de liberation du Quebec, a Quebec seperatist movement. This resulted in martial law being declared in the Quebec province. One of the leaders, Pierre Laporte was killed by his captors, the other freed.
• Doonesbury comic strip goes national
• Apollo 13 mission suffers a huge setback
-A ruptured air tank on their way to the moon almost sealed the fate of the three astronauts on board the spacecraft.
• Charles Manson Convicted of Murdering Sharon Tate -Charles Manson, the leader of a bizzare cult, and 4 of his followers were convicted of the murders of several people including actress Sharon Tate and her unborn baby.
• Earthquake in Peru May 31, 1970 -72,000 people were killed and 700,000 were left homless
• China Launches Its First Satellite
-APRIL 24. The People's Republic of China becomes the fifth nation to put a satellite into orbit. China 1's first broadcast is the song "Tang Fang Hung" (The East is Red).
• Federal Elections
-18 year olds are given the right to vote in federal elections.
• The introduction of bar codes -Bar codes are introduced for retail and industrial use in England.
• Marshall University plane crash
-On November 14, 1970 a chartered plane carrying 75 players, coaches, and prominent residents of Huntington, WV and Marshall University crashed just short of the runway after returning from the days game against ECU. There were no survivors.

• First F-14 Tomcat Tested
-Dec. 21, 1970: The first ever F-14 Tomcat was tested; This led to use by the NAVY for about 30 years.
• The FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) approved Lithium to treat manic-depressives.

1971
• The microprocessor is introduced
-The foundation of all computers, or just about anything electric.
• End of the Gold Standard for American Currency
-Gold payments ended in 1971 in an attempt to halt the increasing inflation America was seeing.
• NASA and the Soviets send probes to Mars
-The NASA Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet on November 14th. The Soviets Mars 2 and Mars 3 arrived a month later, and sent a probe down to the planet (which unfortunately didn't work for long).
• Three cosmonauts die after record breaking trip
-After a record breaking 24 days in space, the cosmonauts died on their return to Earth when their cabin depressurized.
• The Pentagon Papers are released to newspapers
-Despite an attempt to conceal the evidence researched by the government, the 47 volume study was given to the New York Times and The Washington Post who printed excerpts from the study. It revealed the Eisenhower had been warned against involvment by his generals, Kennedy had approved the overthrow of the Sout Vietnam president, and Johnson's covert operations had sparked the Tonkin Gulf incident.
• Bangladesh is created
-East Pakistan and West Pakistan split, and after a civil war which involved India and the US as well, the country was formed.
• Cigarette ads are banned on TV
• Direct dial between New York and London
• China joins the UN

• Native Americans forced out of Alcatraz
-Citing an 1868 treaty which allowed them to live on unoccupied land, they were protesting the US goverment's poor record of handling treaties. Alcatraz became a national park in 1972.
• Attica State Prision riot in Buffalo, New York
-The 1200 inmates took the 30 guards and other employees prision in an attempt for reforms. It ended in bloodbath four days later with 28 inmates and 9 gaurds killed, all by police gunfire when they took the prision back.
• Supreme Court rules desegregation constitutional
• Congress authorizes federal bailout of Lockheed
• PBS begins Masterpiece Theater
-This started a trend with us today, of importing British shows directly to PBS.
• South Vietnam & The US invades Laos
-In an attempt to shut down the Ho Chi Minh trail, the North Vietnam supply route. It wasn't successful.
• Benefit Concert for Bangladesh organized
-George Harrison organized the first benefit concert, which would be the model for many more benefit concerts (especially in the 80s)
• CAT scanning was introduced
-Computerizes Axial Tomograpghy (CAT), was the most important medical breakthrough since the X-ray
• Black Admiral
-Captain Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. becomes the first black American Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy.
• Cellular Phone Battery Invented
-African-American Henry Thomas Sampson invents the gamma electric cell (US Patent # 3,591,860).
• Greenpeace
-Founding of environmental organization Greenpeace
• School House Rock Airs
-The songs are still played and they were first aired on Abc in 1971.
• Disney World Opens
• Amtrak created
-In April of 1971, the government created Amtrak to rescue America's long-distance passenger trains. Ridership had been decreasing since the late 1950s because of competition from the jet airplanes and the growing interstates.
• Voting Age Lowered To 18
-On June 30, 1971, Ohio becomes the 38th state to ratify the 26th amendment to the U.S. Constitution - lowering the voting age to eighteen.
• D.B. Cooper
-On Thanksgiving Eve, November 24,1971, a man who called himself, "Dan Cooper" skyjacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. Later known as "D.B. Cooper," he demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes with a claim he had a bomb in his briefcase. Cooper jumped with the money to be never seen or heard of again.
• United Arab Emirates is formed
-The seven Emirates of Abu Dhabi, DUBAI, Ras Al khaimah, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain federate and become known as the United Arab Emirates with their own new flag
• Charles Manson is convicted
-Charles Manson and his female followers were convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder. They murdered seven people including actress, Sharon Tate.
• Debut of Southwest Airlines
-June 18, 1971 After 4 years of legal infighting with other Texas airlines the small regional carrier "Southwest Airlines" is allowed to take flight.
• The Electric Company debuts on PBS
-The first show aired on October 25th, it included Bill Cosby in the first season. Also among its cast were Irene Cara (2nd season), Rita Moreno, Skip Hinnant, Morgan Freeman, Jim Boyd, and Spider-man in seasons 5 and 6. New series continued in groups of 130 shows, aired twice a year, until the last new show aired on April 22, 1977.
• A new stock market index called the Nasdaq
- A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts.
• Opening of the Magic Kingdom in Florida
-Disney opened its second theme park on October 1, 1971. Walt didn't live to see the opening.

1972
• Vietnamization fails
-The process of allowing South Vietnam to defend itself without US intervention proved to be a mistake, the 120,000 North Vietnamese soldiers stormed into South Vietnam, surprising the 6000 US troops still in the country.
• Attempts for Vietnam peace fail
-In October North Vietnam offered a comprimise if Communist troops were allowed to stay in South Vietnam, it wouldn't expell the South Vietnam government and try to reach a new agreement with them. The US agreed, and declared that peace "was at hand." Once Nixon was re-elected, Kissinger reversed himself on the issue of troops remaining and bombing of Hanoi resumed.
• President Nixon visits China in February
-Officialy opening talks between the two countries, which had been bitter opponents during the 60s.
• Idi Amin orders all Asians out of Uganda
-In order to distract the people from the collapsing economy, Idi Amin ordered all asian non-citizens out of the country and confiscated their businesses.
• Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland
-13 protesters were shot by the British Army, touching off riots which led to the suspension of the Northern Ireland parliment.
• Israeli athletes taken hostage/killed at Olympics
-The PLO group Black September in revenge for the 1970 defeat of Palestinian guerrillas, broke into the Olympic Village and killed two coaches and took nine hostages. It later ended in the death of the hostages and the commandos as they tried to leave the country.
• The european Airbus takes its maiden flight
-The first European wide-body passenger plane, designed in part by five different countries. By 1992, the Europeans had gained 30 percent of the aircraft industry.
• HBO (Home Box Office) subscription cable TV launch
• First commercially successful game (Pong) released
• Nike running shoes hit the market
• George McGovern dropped his running mate
-After it was revealed that his running mate, Thomas Eagleton had electric-shock therapy to treat depression, he was replaced by Sargent Shriver.
• George Wallace shot while campaigning
-While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was shot and permanently paralyzed. He was well known for physically barring black students from entering the University of Alabama in 1963.
• Last Apollo mission to the moon
• Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union
• Richard Nixon becomes the first US president to visit the Soviet -talks on arms control, penning the SALT I treaties, which restricted the development of nuclear arms and helped ease US-Soviet relations.
• Anwar al-Sadat expells 15,000 Soviet troops
• EPA bans use of DDT
• Federal Express is founded
• Supplimental Security Income (SSI)
-Aid for the aged, blind, and disabled
• Federal Election Campaign Act
-Passed to limit campaign spending.
• Watergate Burglary
-The act that felled the President two years later, was committed in June of 1972 by five men, among them ex-FBI man G. Gordon Liddy and ex-CIA man E. Howard Hunt.
• Clifford Irving pleads guilty to forgery
-The novelist had complelty fabricated notes and "interviews" with Howard Hughes in an attempt to write an autobiography on the man.
• Bobby Fischer beats Soviet Spassky
-The 15 year old Chicago born chess prodigy openly took on the Soviets in an attempt to reverse the Soviet dominated chess masters.
• First Jamican general elections held
• The book, Joy of Sex, is released
-The title is a take on the popular, Joy of Cooking, cookbook
• Okinawa islands returned to the Japanese
• Supreme Court rules against death penalty
-Ruling 5-4, it determined the death penalty as it was administered, was cruel and unusual punishment.
• Chinese pandas at the Washington Zoo
-Chinese Giant Pandas HSING HSING and LING LING made their debut at the Washington Zoo in April of 1970, following Nixon's visit to China in February. The pandas were a gift from the chinese government as a gesture of peace and friendship between the United States and China. It also let us know about the plight of the panda and how it was in danger of becoming extinct. They were the first pandas to ever be introduced to a zoo in the United States.
• ERA passed in the Senate
-The ERA Amendment passed in the Senate.
• The Wars Act
-This was passed because Nixon authorized the invasion of Cambodia, Loas and later Hanoi and Haiphong. It requires that the president account for action within 30 days and taking troops into foreign wars.
• E-Mail invented
-In 1972 the first E-Mail program was invented by Ray Tomlinson of the BBN.
• KKK riots in NYC and 3 people die
-The KKK rioted in Central Park and 3 people died in the riot/protest.
• Signing of Title IX
-On July 1, 1972, Richard Nixon signed into law Title IX of the Education Amendments. Few people noticed at the time, but eventually it became the single greatest force for full participation of females in education, both academics and sports.
• Martial Law declared in the Philippines
-On September 21, 1972, then President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared Martial Law in the Philippines and suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.
• Strong earthquake shakes Nicaragua
-In 1972 Nicaragua was bracing for possible aftershocks to an earthquake measuring 5.9 degrees on the Richter scale that killed four people, injured at least 45 and caused widespread damage southeast of the capital, according to police. Then Nicaragua suffered a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake on December 23, 1972 that practically leveled Managua killing around 10,000 people, injuring 20,000 and leaving another 30,000 homeless.
• First sucessful report of freezing embryo's.
-First successful report of freezing mouse embryo's. They actually survived after being frozen!
• Last man on the moon
-Eugene Cernan Last man to walk on the moon. He was on Appollo 17 on December 1972.

1973

• OPEC doubles price of oil
Thus beginning the gas crisis of the 70s, it was only the first step in rising prices. Oil went from $1.50 a barrel to $11.56 a barrel over the course of a few months. This was in retaliation for the support of Isreal. Most of the shortages in the US however were caused by the gas companies who used this as an excuse to raise prices.
• October war in Israel
In retaliation for the 1967 defeat, Egypt and Syria attack Israel over occupied lands. In less than a month however, the Israelis had won the war and a US pressured cease-fire had taken place.
• General Juan Peron returns to Argentina
• Coup in Chilie
President Salvador Allende Gossens was assasinated after years of trying to move the country towards Socialism by taking control of businesses throughout the country.
• Roe vs. Wade abortion law decided by Supreme Court
This overturned state laws prohibiting first and second trimester abortions.
• UPC barcodes first introduced
• Sydney opera house opened
The famous building with the roof resembling sails opens after 16 years of construction
• Rabies vaccine requiring five arm shots
Replaced the 14-21 shot abdominal procedure
• Sears Tower in Chicago finished
1454 feet tall, the world's largest building at the time constructed.
• Spiro Agnew resigns
He plead no content to charges of tax evasion.
• AIM seizes Wounded Knee, SD
The American Indian Movement (AIM) seized the hamlet for 90 days before surrendering. It was a protest of violations to American Indian treaties over the past centuries.
• Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in Tennis
• War Powers Act passed by Congress
It prevents the president from commitment of US forces abroad for more than 60 days without Congressional approval
• The Bahamas gain their independence from Britian
• Nixon releases Watergate tapes
• Endangered Species act passed
• Tower Number Two of The World Trade Center opens
This officially completes the construction of the Center. An official ribbon cutting is held on April 4th 1973.
• Vietnam War Ends
President Nixon takes last troops out of Vietnam.
• Manned Skylab Missions
Skylab was the United States' first attempt at a space station, and its first laboratory for studying the long-term effects of weightlessness on humans. Two Skylab missions took place entirely in 1973. The third and final manned Skylab mission launched November 13, 1973 and landed February 8, 1974.

1974

• Nixon resigns
Once the articles of impeachment had been drawn up, Nixon was required to release more tapes, which clearly tied him to the Watergate coverup. On August 8th, he resigned.
• Gerald Ford pardons Nixon
• Patricia Hearst is abducted
The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a terrorist group which ordered the wealthy Hearst family to distribute $2 million in free food to the area's poor. After the demands were met, they got a picture of their daughter with a machine gun that stated she was staying on to fight with the group. When she was caught a year later, it was argued that she had been brainwashed. She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prision (later commuted by President Carter).
• First black model on cover of a major fashion mag
Beverly Johnson on Vogue
• Speed limits decreased to 55 mph on highways
• Heimlich maneuver developed
• Girls allowed to play in Little League baseball
• Stephen Hawking proposes new Black Hole theory
Hawking proposed the theory that radiation was able to escape the pull of a black hole, which ran counter to Einstein's theory that nothing, not even light, can escape the pull of a blackhole.
• First women priests in the Episcopal Church
The church declared the ordinations illegal, but in 1976 officially sanctioned women priests in the church.
• Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie dethroned
After a famine which killed over 200,000 people and had seen no help from the government, he was over-thrown.
• Ford grants limited amnesty to draft dodgers
• Freedom of Information act passed over Ford's veto
• Election Campaign Act limits contributions
An individual could no longer contribute more than $1,000. Of course ways were quickly found to get around that limit.
• The first pocket calculators become widespread
The introduction of cheap large-scale integrated (LSI) chips made it possible for a calculator to be cheaper and smaller.
• Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union
• India tests it's first nuclear bomb
• Super Tornado Outbreak
April 3, 1974 148 tornados devestated 13 U.S. States killing some 330 people and leaving over 5,000 injured, it is the largest reported tornado outbreak in world history.
• Hank Aaron beats Babe Ruth's homerun record
• Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump
On Sept 8th 1974 the legendary Evel Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls Idaho.
• Kootenai Nation Declares War on the United States
Kootenai Nation small tribe of 67 Indians living in Bonners Ferry, Idaho declared war on the US Government in 1974. The many grievances listed in the document is the Kootenai Tribe never signed an agreement with the US and lands were being taken away without representation of their tribal leadership.
• Comet Kohoutek
When first discovered on its approach to Earth, this comet was expected to shine so brightly that it would be easily visible with the naked eye, even during daylight. Its arrival was a spectacular disappointment.
• Evel Knievel attempts to jump snake river canyon.
Evel Knievel tries to jumps the canyon but instead falls 600 feet to the ground and suffers only minor injuries

1975
• General Francisco Franco dies
Paving the way for democratic reforms under his heir, Juan Carlos over the next two years.
• Portugal withdraws from Guinea
• Lebanon civil war begins
Sparked by Christians killing a busload of Palestinians and other Muslims, the country was quickly thrown into a war between the privlidged christians and the poor muslims.
• Saigon falls to communism
America suspended it's aid two years after removing it's military forces. In April, US official ordered the remaining 1000 US citizens to evacuate to the embasssy in Saigon. This lead to the now famous image of citizens climbing the ladder to helicoptors to be airlifted out of the city.
• The Altair, the first home computer is introduced
No screen, no printer, not a single luxury. A kit computer you had to assemble parts for yourself, based on the Z-80 microprocessor.
• Computerized Supermarket checkouts begin to appear
• Disposable razors are introduced
• Catalytic converters are introduced on cars
• Lyme disease first discovered
• First US born Roman Catholic saint
• Jimmy Hoffa disappears
• Ford assasination attempts
Lynette "Squaky" Fromme, a Charles Manson follower, pointed a gun at Ford, though no shots were fired. This was followed by Sara Jane Moore 17 days later to shoot the president in a crowd.
• New York City is bailed out by federal government
• Literacy requirement for voting repelled
• Energy Policy and Coservation Act of 1975
Sets importation quotas on petroleum
• Metric Conversion Act passed in the US
A big failure too, widely ignored by people.
• Poland treaty allowing immigration to West Germany
• 8,000 ceramic warriors discovered in China
Life sized statues of warriors, and over 10,000 artifacts of gold, jade, silk and iron were discovered in the tomb of emperor Shih Huang-ti, ruller from 221 to 206 BC
• Mayaguez Incident
The United States' merchant ship, the SS Mayaguez, was seized in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia because of alledged contraband. The 39 crew members were held captive for three days, until a rescue attempt was made by President Gerald Ford that resulted in the death of 41 American marines.
• Moorgate Tube Disaster
(Central London, UK) 43 killed when the underground (subway) train traveling on the Drayton Park branch of the Northen Line crashed into a dead end tunnel.
• Ford Assasination Attempt
Lynette "Squaky" Fromme, a Charles Manson follower, pointed a gun at Ford, though no shots were fired. This was followed by Sara Jane Moore 17 days later to shoot the president in a crowd.
• Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
This boat sank in Lake Superior in 1975. Gordon Lightfoot sang a ballad about the event the following year.
• Founding Of Microsoft
Microsoft was founded in 1975
• Patty Hearst Is Arrested By The FBI
After a 19 month search, Patty Hearst is arrested.
• Alaska Pipeline Construction Begins
The Alaska pipeline was started on March 13, 1975 and finshed on may 3, 1977 and produces more than 15% on America's oil today.
• Apollo-Soyuz Mission
First joint US-USSR space mission. Astronauts from both nations joined their crafts using a specially-designed docking module. This was seen publicly as a step forward in improving relations between the two superpowers.

1976

• Soweto uprising in South Africa
• First artifical gene
Capable of working in a living cell, it was the first living cell created entirely in a test tube without any other gene as a template.
• Apple Computer is launched
• Legionnaire's disease strikes 182, kills 29
The first appearance of the flu like disease struck at an American Legion convention in Philadelphi
• Tall Ships celebration in New York Harbor
To celebrate the bicentennial of the country.
• CB radio popularity peaks
656,000 CB radio applications were filed each month 1976
• Courts allow removal of life support
Karen Ann Quinlan had been in a coma for over a year before her parents won the right to remove the life support equipment keeping her alive. It took 9 years for her to die afterwards.
• First Cray Supercomputer
• Betamax and VHS VCRs released
• Doctors protest increase in mapractice insurance
• Mao Tse-tung died
The communist leader of China died in 1976 after over 25 years of rule.
• Concord Supersonic Airliner
First Concord (Supersonic Airliner) to make trans-Atlantic commercial flight.
• Entebbe Air Raid
Israeli commandos stormed hijacked Air France plane in Uganda's Entebbe Airport, releasing 103 hostages held by a pro-Palestinian terrorist group.
• Ebola Outbreak
First Ebola outbreak in Africa, marked beginning of an epidemic that still plagues African countries today.
• Bicenntenial
The United States of America's 200th Birthday.
• The Viking Probe lands on Mars
In July the Viking Probe set down safely on Mars and sent back pictures of rocky terrain.
• West Point admits women
West Point military academy started accepting women.

1977
• Egyptian president visits Israel
President Anwar al-Sadat was the first Arab country to visit and acknowledge Israel's right to exist. This began the long peace process in the region.
• Neutron bomb funding began
The Neutron bomb was an atomic weapon designed to spread radiation to kill people and leave buildings intact.
• Red Dye No. 2 isbanned
It was found to cause cancer, so it's use was discontinued, but led to a red dye scare.
• MRI is first used
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to map the brain and other parts of the body.
• Son of Sam murderer arrested
His arrest ended a 12 month long killing spree. He was clinically paranoid and believed the 1000 year old spirit of a black dog named Sam ordered him to kill people.
• Treaty to signover Panama Canal passed
Control was given back to the country of Panama on December 31, 1999.
• The first Concorde SST leaves from New York City
Despite design setbacks and environmental protests, a flight route was established between New York and Pairs.
• New York City blackout
July 13th saw a 25 hour blackout in the city, resulting in widespread looting.
• Carter halts development of B-1 bomber
• Airline Disaster
The worst air disaster in history. Two 747's collide at airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands killing nearly 600 people
• First black Miss Universe crowned
On July 16th, Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad & Tobago becomes the first black woman in the pageant's 26-year history to win the coveted crown.
• President Carter Pardons VietNam Draft Dodgers
President Jimmy Carter officially pardons all those who avoided the draft during the Vietnam war.
• Legoinnaire's Disease Source Identified
Legionnaire's Disease, which was affecting people in 1976, was identified as a bacterium by scientists on January 18, 1977.
• First Woman Episcopal Priest Ordained
First woman Episcopal priest ordained on January 1.
• Nuclear-Proliferation Pact Signed
On September 21, 1977, The Nuclear-Proliferation Pact was signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the then, USSR, which was to "curb" the spread of nuclear weapons

1978

• Jonestown massacre
The suicide and murder of 900 people who drank cyanide in fruit-flavored drink, the leader shot himself.
• First test tube baby - In vitro fertilization
• Camp David accords for Middle East peace
Egypt, Israel and the US met in the presidential retreat in Maryland to hammer out a peace agreement between the two leaders.
• Ultrasound first used
• Atlantic City permits gambling
• Garfield the Cat is syndicated
• Love Canal in New York declared federal disaster
• Hustler Publisher Larry Flynt Shot & Paralyzed
Larry Flynt, publisher of the hardcore porno mag HUSTLER, was shot and paralyzed from the waist down by an unknown assailant. There are rumours that the assailant was infuriated by a multi-racial photo spread in one issue of HUSTLER.

1979

• The Shah flees Iran
The Ayatollah Khomeini assumes power an introduces Islamic law
• Iranian students storm the US embassy
They held 52 of the 66 people in the embassy hostage for 444 days, which helped to undermine Jimmy Carters re-election efforts in the 1980.
• Margaret Thatcher becomes British PM
The Conservatives had taken over the Parliment, and Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to hold the highest office in a European country.
• The Soviets invade Afghanistan
• The Sony Walkman is introduced
• Moral Majority is begun by Jerry Falwell
• Susan B Anthony dollar coin
• Skylab fell into the Indian Ocean
• Diplomatic ties with China formalized
• Three Mile Island partial meltdown
In March a series of mechanical and human errors caused a near meltdown of the reactor at one of the plants in Three Mile Island Pennsylvania near Harrisburg.
• Sioux Nation awarded $100 million in land claim
• Ayatollah Khomeini
Ayatollah took power in Iran on February 11, 1979.
• The Greensboro Massacre
On Nov. 3, a group of Klu Klux Klan members and American Nazi party members attacked a group of Communist Worker's Party members who were gathered for a demonstration that was speaking out against the klan.
• Mother Teresa Wins Nobel Peace Prize
In Stockholm Sweden, Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her saint-like presence in India.
• Terrorism at Saudi Mosque
Radical militants of the Wahhabi sect of Islam stormed the grand mosque of Mecca and held it until Saudi security forces with the help of French special forces were able to retake it.
• The Who Concert Tragedy
December 3, 1979. 11 people were trampled to death outside the Riverfront Coliseum in Nicaraguan Revolution
On July 17, 1979, the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan people won their freedom from the dictator Anastasio Somoza, who fled to Miami with the Nicaraguan treasury. A junta was set up to run Nicaragua until their first real election, in 1984, in which Daniel Ortega was elected president.
• ESPN starts broadcasting
ESPN started as an alternative to standard television news broadcasts and the information found in "Sports" sections of newspapers. It launched on September 7, 1979.
• Cicinnatti, OH. The city of Cicinnatti passed a by-law banning festival seating and general admission.