1977 in the United States

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Last updated April 23, 2024

Events from the year 1977 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

President: Jimmy Carter (D-Georgia)
Vice President: Walter Mondale (D-Minnesota)
Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Minnesota)
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Carl Albert (D-Oklahoma) (until January 3), Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts) (starting January 4)
Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) (until January 3), Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) (starting January 3)
Congress: 94th (until January 3), 95th (starting January 3)

Governors and lieutenant governors
Governors Governor of Alabama: George Wallace (Democratic) Governor of Alaska: Jay Hammond (Republican) Governor of Arizona: Raul Hector Castro (Democratic) (until October 20), Wesley Bolin (Democratic) (starting October 20) Governor of Arkansas: David Pryor (Democratic) Governor of California: Jerry Brown (Democratic) Governor of Colorado: Richard Lamm (Democratic) Governor of Connecticut: Ella T. Grasso (Democratic) Governor of Delaware: Sherman W. Tribbitt (Democratic) (until January 18), Pierre S. du Pont, IV (Republican) (starting January 18) Governor of Florida: Reubin Askew (Democratic) Governor of Georgia: George Busbee (Democratic) Governor of Hawaii: George Ariyoshi (Democratic) Governor of Idaho: Cecil D. Andrus (Democratic) (until January 24), John V. Evans (Democratic) (starting January 24) Governor of Illinois: Dan Walker (Democratic) (until January 10), James R. Thompson (Republican) (starting January 10) Governor of Indiana: Otis R. Bowen (Republican) Governor of Iowa: Robert D. Ray (Republican) Governor of Kansas: Robert F. Bennett (Republican) Governor of Kentucky: Julian M. Carroll (Democratic) Governor of Louisiana: Edwin W. Edwards (Democratic) Governor of Maine: James B. Longley (Independent) Governor of Maryland: Marvin Mandel (Democratic) Governor of Massachusetts: Michael Dukakis (Democratic) Governor of Michigan: William Milliken (Republican) Governor of Minnesota: Rudy Perpich (Democratic) Governor of Mississippi: Cliff Finch (Democratic) Governor of Missouri: Kit Bond (Republican) (until January 10), Joseph P. Teasdale (Democratic) (starting January 10) Governor of Montana: Thomas Lee Judge (Democratic) Governor of Nebraska: J. James Exon (Democratic) Governor of Nevada: Mike O'Callaghan (Democratic) Governor of New Hampshire: Meldrim Thomson Jr. (Republican) Governor of New Jersey: Brendan Byrne (Democratic) Governor of New Mexico: Jerry Apodaca (Democratic) Governor of New York: Hugh Carey (Democratic) Governor of North Carolina: James Holshouser (Republican) (until January 8), Jim Hunt (Democratic) (starting January 8) Governor of North Dakota: Arthur A. Link (Democratic) Governor of Ohio: Jim Rhodes (Republican) Governor of Oklahoma: David L. Boren (Democratic) Governor of Oregon: Robert W. Straub (Democratic) Governor of Pennsylvania: Milton Shapp (Democratic) Governor of Rhode Island: Philip W. Noel (Democratic) (until January 4), J. Joseph Garrahy (Democratic) (starting January 4) Governor of South Carolina: James B. Edwards (Republican) Governor of South Dakota: Richard F. Kneip (Democratic) Governor of Tennessee: Ray Blanton (Democratic) Governor of Texas: Dolph Briscoe (Democratic) Governor of Utah: Cal Rampton (Democratic) (until January 3), Scott M. Matheson (Democratic) (starting January 3) Governor of Vermont: Thomas P. Salmon (Democratic) (until January 6), Richard A. Snelling (Republican) (starting January 6) Governor of Virginia: Mills E. Godwin Jr. (Republican) Governor of Washington: Daniel J. Evans (Republican) (until January 12), Dixy Lee Ray (Democratic) (starting January 12) Governor of West Virginia: Arch A. Moore Jr. (Republican) (until January 17), Jay Rockefeller (Democratic) (starting January 17) Governor of Wisconsin: Patrick J. Lucey (Democratic) (until July 6), Martin J. Schreiber (Democratic) (starting July 6) Governor of Wyoming: Edgar J. Herschler (Democratic) Lieutenant governors Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Jere Beasley (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Lowell Thomas Jr. (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Joe Purcell (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of California: Mervyn M. Dymally (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: George L. Brown (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Robert K. Killian (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Eugene Bookhammer (Republican) (until January 18), James D. McGinnis (Democratic) (starting January 18) Lieutenant Governor of Florida: J.H. Williams (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Zell Miller (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: Nelson Doi (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: until January 24: John V. Evans (Democratic) January 24-January 28: vacant starting January 28: William J. Murphy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Neil Hartigan (Democratic) (until January 10), Dave O'Neal (Republican) (starting January 10) Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Robert D. Orr (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Arthur A. Neu (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Shelby Smith (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Thelma Stovall (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Jimmy Fitzmorris (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Maryland: Blair Lee III (political party unknown) Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Thomas P. O'Neill III (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: James Damman (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Alec G. Olson (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Evelyn Gandy (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William C. Phelps (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Montana: Bill Christiansen (Democratic) (until January 3), Ted Schwinden (Democratic) (starting January 3) Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Gerald T. Whelan (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Robert E. Rose (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Robert E. Ferguson (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of New York: Mary Anne Krupsak (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Jim Hunt (Democratic) (until January 8), James C. Green (Democratic) (starting January 8) Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Wayne G. Sanstead (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Dick Celeste (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: George Nigh (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Ernest P. Kline (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: J. Joseph Garrahy (Democratic) (until January 4), Thomas R. DiLuglio (Democratic) (starting January 4) Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: W. Brantley Harvey Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Harvey L. Wollman (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John S. Wilder (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Texas: William P. Hobby Jr. (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Utah: Clyde L. Miller (Democratic) (until January 3), David Smith Monson (Republican) (starting January 3) Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Brian D. Burns (Democratic) (until January 6), T. Garry Buckley (Republican) (starting January 6) Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: John N. Dalton (Republican) Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic) Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Martin J. Schreiber (Democratic)

Events

January

January
- The world's first personal computer, the Commodore PET, is demonstrated at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.^[1]
- The Coalition of Free Men is founded in Columbia, Maryland, in order to create a unified voice in addressing issues concerning men and boys. The organisation would later become the National Coalition for Men, America's oldest men's rights organization.^[2]
January 3 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
January 9
- Super Bowl XI: The Oakland Raiders defeat the Minnesota Vikings 32–14 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
- Rock band Toto is founded by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.
January 13 – Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045, a charter flight from Grant County, Washington to Tokyo, Japan, with a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, stalls and crashes immediately after takeoff in Anchorage, killing all 5 people on board. The causes of the accident were later revealed to be drag on the aircraft by ice and an inebriated captain^[3]
January 17 – In the first execution after the reintroduction of the death penalty in the United States, Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.^[4]
January 19
- Snow falls in Miami, Florida (despite its ordinarily tropical climate) for the only time in its history. Snowfall has occurred farther south in the United States only on the high mountains of the state of Hawaii.
- President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka “Tokyo Rose”).
January 20 – Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States, and Walter F. Mondale is sworn in as the 42nd vice president.
January 21 – President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.
January 23 – Roots begins its phenomenally successful run on ABC.
January 28 – The Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 hits Buffalo, New York.^[5]
January 1–31
- The contiguous US average monthly minimum temperature of 12.52 °F or −10.82 °C^[6] is the coldest for any month since nationwide records were first compiled in 1895.^{[lower-alpha 1]}
- In contrast to the contiguous US, Alaska had to that point^{[lower-alpha 2]} its warmest January on record with a mean of 17.4 °F or −8.1 °C being 16.2 °F or 9.0 °C warmer than the 1925 to 1974 average (1.2 °F or −17.1 °C) and 1.8 °F or 1.0 °C warmer than Alaska's previous record warmest January 1937.^[7]

February

February 4
- Fleetwood Mac's Grammy Award-winning album Rumours is released.
- Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago.
February 12 – Actress Christa Helm is fatally stabbed on a sidewalk in West Hollywood. The perpetrator is never identified.
February 18 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747, at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

March

March 9 – Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement Muslims take over three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends two days later.
March 11 – Walt Disney Productions' 22nd feature film, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh , is released. It is the studio's most critically well-received film in years and the last in the Disney canon in which the late Walt Disney was involved with in any capacity.
March 18 – United States lifts its ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam.
March 15 – Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the PBS opera series Live from the Met both make their American television debuts. Pavarotti stars in a complete production of Puccini's La Boheme .
March 26 – The fundamentalist organization Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson.
March 28 – The 49th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda and Warren Beatty, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. John G. Avildsen's Rocky receives ten nominations, winning Best Picture and Best Director for Avildsen. Rocky is tied with Sidney Lumet's Network for the most nominations, while the latter film and Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men both won four awards each. The late Peter Finch becomes the first posthumous actor Oscar winner, winning for Best Actor.

April

April 4
- Grundy, Virginia, experiences a major flood that causes around $15 million in damages to 228 residential and commercial structures.
- Southern Airways Flight 242 during a flight leg en route to Atlanta, Georgia from Huntsville, Alabama, is forced to make an emergency landing on a highway after complete failure of the aircraft's two engines following the aircraft flying through a hailstorm.^[8] 63 of the 85 people on board and 9 people on the ground are killed in the accident.^[9]
April 5 – Beginning of demonstrations in 10 cities across the U.S., the longest being the 3.5 week sit-in the San Francisco Federal Building to persuade President Jimmy Carter to implement the first Federal civil rights law for people with disabilities, Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, without reinstituting the "separate but equal" doctrine.
April 7
- The Toronto Blue Jays play their first game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox.
- The Seattle Mariners play their first-ever game of baseball against the California Angels.
April 21 – Residents of Dover, Massachusetts, report sightings of the so-called "Dover Demon".

May

May 4 – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rule that divorced Catholics, including those who remarried outside the Church, are no longer automatically excommunicated and can still attend Mass but if they remarry without obtaining a Church annulment, cannot receive Holy Communion and confession.^[10]
May 8 – Suzanne Lacy's extended performance piece about rape, Three Weeks in May begins in Los Angeles and continues until May 24.^[11]
May 14 – The Montreal Canadiens sweep the Boston Bruins in four games to win their second straight Stanley Cup.
May 16 – A 20-passenger S-61L helicopter 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 fatally struck by a fallen blade.
May 17 – Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre first opens in San Jose, California.
May 25 – The movie Star Wars , directed by George Lucas is released as the first film in the Star Wars Saga and the first in the Original Trilogy. It is premiered in 32 movie theaters across the United States ^[12] before reaching other cinemas nationwide. Critics who had previewed the film gave it good reviews, with Time magazine dubbing it "the year's best movie".^[13] Charles Champlin called it "the year's most razzle-dazzling family movie, an exuberant and technically astonishing space adventure".^[14] Gene Siskel commented that "'Star Wars' is not a great movie in the sense that it describes the human condition. It simply is a fun picture," with "spectacular visual effects, the best since Stanley Kubrick's 2001 .^[15] Some hated the film, with one calling it "frequently boring with its fairy-tale plot", "relentlessly childish", and "no more sophisticated or believable than an old Spider Man comic book."^[16]Star Wars would go on to break the record for highest-grossing film (surpassing Jaws, The Godfather and The Sound of Music) ^[17]
May 26 – George Willig climbs the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
May 27 – Space Mountain opens at Disneyland and will become one of the park's most popular attractions.
May 28 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky is engulfed in fire, killing 165 inside.
May 29 – Indianapolis 500: A. J. Foyt becomes the first driver (to date) to win a record four times.

June

June 4–5 – Humboldt Park riot in Chicago.
June 5 – The Portland Trail Blazers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 109–107 to win the NBA finals 4–2. Bill Walton is named series MVP.
June 7 – After campaigning by Anita Bryant and her anti-gay "Save Our Children" crusade, Miami-Dade County, Florida voters overwhelmingly vote to repeal the county's gay rights ordinance.
June 10 – Assassin James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. He is recaptured on June 13.
June 16 – Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
June 20 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions.
June 22 – Walt Disney Productions' 23rd feature film, The Rescuers , is released to box office success and positive critical reception.
June 25 – American Roy Sullivan is struck by lightning for the 7th time.
June 26
- Some 200,000 protesters march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita Bryant's anti-gay remarks and the murder of Robert Hillsborough.
- Elvis Presley performs his final concert, in Indianapolis, Indiana's Market Square Arena. Two previous performances were filmed in Omaha, Nebraska (June 19th) and Rapid City, South Dakota (June 21st) for the TV Special "Elvis In Concert." This special was not televised until October 3 of that year on CBS.
June 30 – Women Marines disbanded; women are integrated into regular Marine Corps.

July

July 13 – The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in looting and disorder.
July 19–20 – Flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, caused by massive rainfall, kills over 75 people and causes billions of dollars in damage.
July 24 – Led Zeppelin plays their last U.S. concert in Oakland, California at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A brawl erupts between Led Zeppelin's crew and promoter Bill Graham's staff, resulting in criminal assault charges for several of Led Zeppelin's entourage including drummer John Bonham.
July 28 – The first oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska.

August

August 3 – United States Senate hearings on MKULTRA are held.
August 4 – President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
August 9 – Hulk Hogan debuts as The Super Destroyer for Championship Wrestling from Florida when he is defeated by Don Serrano at John Carroll Catholic High School's gym in Fort Pierce, Florida
August 10 – David Berkowitz is captured in Yonkers, New York, after over a year of murders in New York City as the Son of Sam.
August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise , makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).
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.
August 16 – Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis for his funeral, which occurred on August 18, but wasn't televised until August 20.^[18]
August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

September

Voyager 1 launched Sept. 5, 1977 Voyager.jpg — Voyager 1 launched Sept. 5, 1977

September – Evangelical pastor Oral Roberts publishes plans to build the 'City of God Hospital' in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The towers are completed in 1981 for $120m ($299m, in 2012)^[19]
September 4 – The Golden Dragon Massacre takes place in San Francisco, California.
September 5 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
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 13 – Soap debuts on ABC and launches the career of Billy Crystal.
September 18 – Courageous , skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps Australia in the 24th America's Cup yachting race.
September 19 – Nicaraguan drug cartels rise to power in New Jersey. Pablo Escobar as facilitating drug lord.
- Under pressure from the Carter administration, President Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.
- Closure of steelworks in Youngstown, Ohio, is announced.
September 21 – A nuclear non-proliferation pact is signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union.
September 23 – Jazz-rock group Steely Dan releases their sixth studio album Aja ; it becomes their highest charting album at No. 3 and goes on to win a Grammy Award.
September 29
- Singer-songwriter Billy Joel releases his fifth studio album The Stranger ; it becomes the first of several hit albums, spawning five hit singles, going 10× platinum in the US, and later ranking at No. 70 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
- The modern Food Stamp Program begins when the Food Stamp Act of 1977 is enacted.
September 30 – A series of partial government shutdowns occur, finally ending in December.

October

October 1
- Energy Research and Development Administration part of Department of Energy.
- Pelé plays his final professional football game as a member of the New York Cosmos.
October 6 – Irish American mobster Danny Greene is murdered with a car bomb by the Cleveland crime family in Lyndhurst, Ohio.
October 12 – The passage of the Community Reinvestment Act.
October 14 – Anita Bryant is famously pied by four gay rights activists during a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa. This event resulted in her political fallout from anti-gay activism.
October 18 – Newly acquired and flamboyantly charismatic slugger Reggie Jackson hits three home runs to lead the New York Yankees to their first World Series championship victory since 1962 over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1977 World Series in six games.
October 20 – Three members (lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his older sister Cassie Gaines, band's backup singer) of the Southern 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 – Rock singer Meat Loaf (real name Marvin Lee Aday) releases the album Bat Out of Hell .^[20]
October 24 – A new Peanuts special, It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown , airs on CBS. It shows and names "Heather", the Little Red-Haired Girl, thereupon ending the 'mystery'.

November

November 6 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.
November 8 – San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.
November 13 – The comic strip Li'l Abner ends its 43-year run in newspapers.
November 22 – British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
November 27 – The Rankin/Bass animated film The Hobbit premieres on NBC in the United States.
November 28 – Jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp records "On Green Dolphin Street", the first digitally recorded album to be released commercially in the USA.

December

December 1 – Pinwheel debuts on Channel C-3 (now Nickelodeon).
December 11 – After losing 26 games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the US National Football League record their very first win; against the New Orleans Saints.
December 12 – The Lockheed's top-secret stealth aircraft project, designated Have Blue, precursor to the U.S. F-117A Nighthawk, makes its first flight.
December 13 – Crash of Air Indiana Flight 216: A DC-3 charter plane carrying the University of Evansville basketball team crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Dress Regional Airport. Twenty-nine people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.
December 16 – Mikhail Baryshnikov's 1976 production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker comes to CBS a year after premiering onstage at the Kennedy Center. This adaptation will become the most popular television production of the work.
December 19–21 – The Great Bakersfield Dust Storm hits the Southern San Joaquin Valley, in California; resulting in three deaths and $40 million in damages.

Undated

Polish-American mathematician Antoni Zygmund authors his major work Measure and Integral.
Feature films released in 1977 include: Star Wars , Annie Hall , Saturday Night Fever , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , The Goodbye Girl , A Bridge Too Far , Exorcist II: The Heretic , The Turning Point , New York, New York , Smokey and the Bandit
John Travolta's role in Saturday Night Fever inspired young Americans to wear Flare jeans, an updated version of Bell-bottoms.
Atari 2600, released in October, popularized the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code.
The coldest winter for fifty-nine years in the Ohio Valley region^[3] and a record dry year throughout the West,^[21] especially the Pacific Northwest,^[22] creates heating fuel and water shortages plus extended freezing of the Great Lakes^[23] and freezing of the Mississippi River as far as Cairo, Illinois.

Ongoing

Cold War (1947–1991)
Détente (c. 1969–1979)
1970s energy crisis (1973–1980)