1978

1978 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1978; MCMLXXVIII
Ab urbe condita	2731
Armenian calendar	1427; ԹՎ ՌՆԻԷ
Assyrian calendar	6728
Baháʼí calendar	134–135
Balinese saka calendar	1899–1900
Bengali calendar	1384–1385
Berber calendar	2928
British Regnal year	26 Eliz. 2 – 27 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2522
Burmese calendar	1340
Byzantine calendar	7486–7487
Chinese calendar	丁巳年 (Fire Snake); 4675 or 4468; — to —; 戊午年 (Earth Horse); 4676 or 4469
Coptic calendar	1694–1695
Discordian calendar	3144
Ethiopian calendar	1970–1971
Hebrew calendar	5738–5739
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2034–2035
- Shaka Samvat	1899–1900
- Kali Yuga	5078–5079
Holocene calendar	11978
Igbo calendar	978–979
Iranian calendar	1356–1357
Islamic calendar	1398–1399
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 53; (昭和５３年)
Javanese calendar	1909–1910
Juche calendar	67
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4311
Minguo calendar	ROC 67; 民國67年
Nanakshahi calendar	510
Thai solar calendar	2521
Tibetan calendar	མེ་མོ་སྦྲུལ་ལོ་; (female Fire-Snake); 2104 or 1723 or 951; — to —; ས་ཕོ་རྟ་ལོ་; (male Earth-Horse); 2105 or 1724 or 952
Unix time	252460800 – 283996799

Last updated January 19, 2026

From top to bottom, left to right: the Iranian Revolution topples the Shah, bringing in the Islamic Republic under Ruhollah Khomeini; the Camp David Accords create a historic peace framework between Egypt and Israel; the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina sees the host nation win its first title; the Bee Gees dominate music with Saturday Night Fever; the Jonestown massacre in Guyana kills over 900; the Cambodian–Vietnamese War begins as Vietnam invades Cambodia; Pope John Paul II becomes the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years; the Saur Revolution installs a communist government in Afghanistan; and the Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 paralyzes the region with record snow.

1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1978th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 978th year of the 2nd millennium, the 78th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1970s decade.

Events

January

January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.^[1]
January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government).^[2]
January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II.^[3]
January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.^[4]
January 13 – Former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a Democrat, dies of cancer in Waverly, Minnesota, at the age of 66.^[5]
January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.^[6]
January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany persona non grata .^[7]
January 24
- Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.^[8]
- Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison since the establishment of the Republic of Ireland.^[9]
January 25–27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.^[10]

February

February 1 – Film director Roman Polanski skips bail in the United States and flees to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.^[11]
February 2 - the Reunion Tower opens in Dallas Texas.
February 5–7 – The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 hits the New England region and the New York metropolitan area, killing about 100, and causing over US$520 million in damage.
February 6 – King Dragon operation in Arakan: Burmese General Ne Win targets Muslim minorities in the village of Sakkipara.
February 8 – United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.^[12]
February 9 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.^[13]
February 11
- Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, killing 44 of the 50 people on board.^[14]
- Somalia mobilizes its troops to deal with an apparent Ethiopian attack.
- The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.^[15]
February 13 – Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing a policeman and two civilians, and injuring several other people.
February 15 – Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations (the other being South Africa), announces that it will accept multiracial democracy within 2 years.
February 19 – Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport: Egyptian Special Forces attempt to rescue several hostages in Larnaca, Cyprus; 20 Egyptian commandos are injured or killed.
February 25 – The first Legislative Assembly election is held in Arunachal Pradesh, India.
February 27 – The first global positioning satellite, the Rockwell International-built Navstar 1, is launched by the United States.^[16]

March

March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.^[17]
March 2 – Soyuz 28 (Aleksei Gubarev, Vladimír Remek) is launched on a rendezvous with Salyut 6 , with the first cosmonaut from a country other than the US or USSR (Czechoslovak Vladimír Remek).
March 3
- Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid of Cuban soldiers, against Somalian troops in the Ogaden.
- Rhodesian Bush War: Rhodesia attacks Zambia.
- The New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man, about a supposed cloning of a human being.
March 8 – The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.^[18]
March 10 – Soyuz 28 lands.
March 11
- Coastal Road massacre: Palestinian terrorists kill 34 Israelis.
- Claude François, French entertainer born 1939, dies by electrocution in his home in Paris.
March 14 – Operation Litani: Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
March 15 – Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
March 16 – Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades; 5 bodyguards are killed.^[19]
March 17 – An oil tanker, Amoco Cadiz , runs aground on the coast of Brittany.
March 18
- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is sentenced to death by hanging, for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.
- California Jam II is held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, attracting more than 300,000 fans.
March 22 – Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies, after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
March 26 – The control tower and some other facilities of New Tokyo International Airport, which were scheduled to open on March 31, are illegally occupied and damaged in a terrorist attack by New Left activists, forcing a rescheduling of its opening date to May 20.
March 28
- San Francisco's City Council signs the United States's most comprehensive gay rights bill.
- Stump v. Sparkman (435 U.S. 349): The Supreme Court of the United States hands down a 5–3 decision, in a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.

April

April 1
- New Zealand National Airways Corporation (the domestic airline of New Zealand) is merged with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand.
- Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.^[20]
- The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, is converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.^[21]
April 2 – Dallas debuts on CBS, and gives birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.^[22]
April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Annie Hall winning Best Picture.^[23]
April 7 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb, a weapon that kills people with radiation, but leaves buildings relatively intact.^[24]
April 9 – Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre; security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.^[25]
April 14 – Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against an attempt by Soviet authorities to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.^[26]
April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes, 68–32, to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.^[27]
April 18– 30 – The Khmer Rouge massacres 3,157 civilians in Ba Chúc, Vietnam.^[28]
April 20 – A Soviet air defense plane shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 902; the plane makes an emergency landing on a frozen lake.^[29]
April 22
- Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song A-Ba-Ni-Bi.^[30]
- The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bob Marley unites two opposing political leaders at this concert, bringing peace to the civil war-ridden streets of the city.^[31]
April 25 – St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the second U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance, after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
April 27
- Saur Revolution – Afghanistan's president Mohammad Daoud Khan and his family are murdered; Nur Muhammad Taraki succeeds him, beginning the Afghan conflict.^[32]
- Willow Island disaster – In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia.^[33]
April 30 – The "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan" is proclaimed, under pro-communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki.^[34]

May

May 4
- South African Border War: The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola.
- Communist activist Henri Curiel is murdered in Paris.
May 8
- Norway opens a natural gas field, in the Polar Sea.
- Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) make the first ascent of Mount Everest, without supplemental oxygen.
May 9 – In Rome, the corpse of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, is found in a red Renault 4.
May 12 – Shaba II: In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The Zairean government asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
May 12–13 – A group of mercenaries, led by Bob Denard, oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros; ten local soldiers are killed. Denard forms a new government.
May 15
- Students of the University of Tehran riot in Tabriz; the army stops the riot.
- First Timezone Opens in Perth, Western Australia
May 17 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is found some 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the cemetery from which it was stolen, near Lake Geneva.^[17]
May 18
- Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced to 7 years' hard labor, for distributing 'counterrevolutionary material'.
- Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics, and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.
May 18–19 – Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire, to aid the fight against the rebels.
May 19–20 – French Foreign Legion paratroopers land in Kolwezi, Zaire, to rescue Europeans in the middle of a civil war.
May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.
May 22 – Exiled leaders Ahmed Abdallah and Muhammad Ahmad return to the Comoros.
May 23 – American basketball player center Bill Walton of the Portland Trail Blazers was named the National Basketball Association regular season MVP.
May 25
- First Unabomber attack: A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard.
- In a rematch of the previous season, the Montreal Canadiens again defeat the Boston Bruins, this time four games to two, to win the Stanley Cup.
May 26 – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
May 28 – Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins his third race, and the first for car owner Jim Hall.
May 29 – Ali Soilih is found dead in the Comoros, allegedly shot when trying to escape.

June

June 1 – The 1978 FIFA World Cup starts in Argentina.
June 2 – Japan Air Lines 115 had its tail struck on the runway on the airport it landed in. The same aircraft would be involved in a 2nd accident 7 years later
June 10 – Affirmed holds off Alydar to win the Belmont Stakes and becomes the last horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown of Horse Racing until 2015.
June 15 – King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
June 19
- England 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.
- Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication.^[35]
June 20 – The 6.2 M_w Thessaloniki earthquake shakes Northern Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Fifty people were killed.
June 21
- A shootout between Provisional IRA members and the British Army in Northern Ireland leaves one civilian and three IRA men dead.
- 1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown: Iranian helicopters stray into Soviet airspace and are shot down.
June 22 – Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.^[36]
June 24 – The Gay & Lesbian Solidarity March is held in Sydney, Australia to mark the 9th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots (which later becomes the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras; later incorporating a festival).
June 25
- Argentina defeats the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time to win the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
- The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time (in its original form) at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
June 26 – A bombing by Breton nationalists causes destruction in the Palace of Versailles.
June 30 – Ethiopia begins a massive offensive in Eritrea.

July

July 1 – Australia's Northern Territory is granted self-government.
July 3 – The Amazon Co-operation Treaty (ACT) is signed.
July 7 – The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
July 11 – At least 217 tourists die in an explosion of a tanker-truck at a campsite in Costa Daurada, Spain.^[37]
July 24 – In Acapulco, Mexico, Margaret Gardiner of South Africa is crowned Miss Universe.
July 25 – Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.^[38]

August

August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies at Castel Gandolfo.
August 12 – The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China is concluded.
August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.
August 22
- Sandinistas seize the Nicaraguan National Palace.
- Kenya's first president and founding father, Jomo Kenyatta, dies aged 89 in Mombasa.
August 26 – Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.

September

September 5 – Camp David Accords: Hosted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat met at Camp David in Maryland to discuss a peace agreement between the two nations.
September 7 – In London, UK, a poison-filled pellet, supposedly injected using an umbrella, fatally poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov; he dies four days later.
September 8 – Iranian Army troops open fire on rioters in Tehran, killing 122, wounding 4,000.
September 12 – The Declaration of Alma Ata is signed and released in the Capital City of Kazakh, USSR. Known as the core document on Primary Health Care Practices and Equity in Healthcare, it paved the way for the modern-day State-sponsored Healthcare System.
September 16
- The 7.4 M_w Tabas earthquake killed at least 15,000 people in the city of Tabas in Iran. The quake was measured with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
- General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq officially assumes the post of President of Pakistan.
September 17 – The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.
September 19
- Police in the West Midlands of England launch a massive murder hunt, when 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater is shot dead after disturbing a burglary.
- The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.^[39]
September 20 – General Rahimuddin Khan assumes the post of martial law Governor of Balochistan.
September 23 – California Angels outfielder Lyman Bostock is shot to death at age 27 while visiting friends in Gary, Indiana during an Angels' road trip in Chicago, Illinois.
September 24 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello makes its first appearance on Live from the Met , in a complete production of the opera starring Jon Vickers. This is the first complete television broadcast of the opera in the U.S. since the historic 1948 one.^{[ citation needed ]}
September 25 – PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California; 144 are killed.
September 27 – The last Forest Brother guerrilla movement fighter is discovered and killed in Estonia.
September 28 – Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days as the Roman Catholic Pontiff.
September 30 – Finnair Flight 405 aircraft is hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras in Oulu, Finland.^[40]
September – Attempted poisoning of 500 members of the African National Congress by South African government infiltrators.^[41]
September – Serial criminal Lawrence Singleton commits heinous crime against Mary Vincent.

October

October 1
- Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
- Tuvalu becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
October 2 – Mommie Dearest , written by Christina Crawford that discusses her adoptive mother Joan Crawford's abusive nature, is published. It is the first celebrity tell-all memoir.
October 7 – Wranslide in New South Wales: the Wran government is re-elected with an increased majority.
October 8 – Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.6 mph (511.13 km/h) at Blowering Dam, Australia.
October 9 – P.W. Botha succeeds John Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.^[42]
October 10
- Daniel arap Moi becomes president of Kenya.
- John Vorster becomes State President of South Africa.^[42]
- A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ends the satellite's scientific mission.
- United States President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
October 13 – The Soviet Union launches a major Russification campaign throughout all union republics.
October 14 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States.
October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523).
October 18 – Thorbjörn Fälldin steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden, and is succeeded by Ola Ullsten, the Leader of the liberal People's Party ("Folkpartiet").
October 20 – The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held as a protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots.
October 21 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 Skylane over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.^[43]
October 27 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
October 31 – The South African Railways sets a still unbeaten world rail speed record on Cape gauge.^[44]

November

November 2: 8:00 pm – The Republic of Ireland's second television channel RTÉ 2 goes on air (renamed Network 2, 1988; RTÉ Network Two, 1995; N2, 1997; and RTÉ Two in 2004).
November 3 – Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
November 5 – Indira Gandhi is elected to the Indian parliament for the first time in 20 months after winning a by-election.^[45]
November 18 – In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder–suicide in his commune, Jonestown, that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Representative Leo J. Ryan is assassinated by members of Peoples Temple shortly beforehand.
November 24 – China starts an experimental "household responsibility system", in Anhui Province.
November 26 – Two British commercial divers, Michael Ward and Tony Prangley, die of hypothermia and drowning in the East Shetland Basin after their diving bell plunges to the seabed at a depth of over 100 metres (330 ft).^[46]
November 27 – Moscone-Milk assassinations: San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White.

December

December 4 – Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone, to become the first woman mayor of San Francisco; she will remain in office until January 8, 1988.
December 6 – Spanish transition to democracy: The Spanish Constitution officially restores the country's democratic government.^[47]
December 11
- Lufthansa heist: Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
- Iranian Revolution: Two million demonstrate against the Shah in Iran.
December 15 – Superman: The Movie is released in cinemas in the United States.
December 16
- Train 87 from Nanjing to Xining collides with train 368 from Xi'an to Xuzhou near Yangzhuang railway station in China, killing 106, injuring 218.
- The Mystery of Mamo is released in cinemas in Japan.
December 19 – Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is arrested and jailed for a week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.
December 22
- The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue the reform and opening up.
- Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men and boys committed between 1972 and 1978, is arrested.
- Argentina begins Operation Soberanía against Chile, but Argentinian forces quickly withdraw.
December 25 – Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
December 27 – The Constitution of Spain is approved in a referendum, officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.

Date unknown

Myriodontium keratinophilum is first isolated in Italy during the screening of soil microbes.^[48]
Synthetic insulin is developed.
Romanian painter Doina Bumbea is abducted by the North Korean government.^[49]
Abortion is legalized in Italy for the first time.
In Seoul, South Korea, construction begins on Seoul Subway Line 2.

Births

Births
January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · September · October · November · December

Tyrese Gibson TyreseGibsonDec08.jpg — Tyrese Gibson