January 7 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation approving $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
January 16 – Paul McCartney is arrested in Tokyo, Japan for bringing 7.7 ounces of marijuana into the country.
January 18 – Silver prices reach a record high of $49.45 per troy ounce (based on the London FIX), due to the Hunt brothers' attempts to corner the silver market.
The 5.8 MwLivermore earthquake shakes the East Bay area of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). This first event in a doublet earthquake is followed two days later by a 5.4 Mw shock. Total financial losses from the events is $11.5 million.
January 28 – The 180' coast guard buoy tender USCGC BLACKTHORN collides with the 600' tanker SS CAPRICORN in the Tampa Bay shipping channel. The coast guard vessel capsizes and sinks, after becoming entangled in CAPRICORN'S anchor chain. 23 of BLACKTHORN'S 50 crew members perish in the accident.
April 7 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
April 15 – A mass exodus of Cubans to the United States known as the Mariel boatlift begins. It ends on October 31 by agreement between the two countries.
April 21 – Rosie Ruiz wins the Boston Marathon, but is later exposed as a fraud and stripped of her award.
April 24–25 – Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.
May 7 – Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate).
In Florida, the Liberian freighter Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, sending 35 people (most of whom were in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses.
In Norco, California, 5 men robbed a bank, leading to a shootout and pursuit that left 2 of the robbers dead, 1 sheriff deputy killed, 33 police vehicles destroyed, and 11 people, consisting of 8 officers, a civilian, and 2 other perpetrators wounded.[5]
May 17 – A Miami, Florida court acquits four white police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, provoking three days of race riots.
September 18–19 – 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion: Liquid fuel in an LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile explodes at a missile launch facility north of Damascus, Arkansas.
October 2 – Congressman Michael Myers is expelled from the House of Representatives by a vote of 376–30, the first congressional expulsion since the Civil War.
October 14 – The Staggers Rail Act is enacted, deregulating American railroads.
October 15 – James Hoskins murdered his girlfriend earlier that morning and forced his way into WCPO's television studio in Cincinnati, holding nine employees hostage for several hours before releasing them and taking his own life.
October 28 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan debate in Cleveland, Ohio. Reagan's genial, witty performance causes him to overtake Carter in the polls.
November 8 – The 7.3 MwEureka earthquake shook the North Coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), causing six injuries and $2–2.75 million in losses.
November 10 – November 12 – Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles (124,000km) of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.
↑ Redman, Nick. "Fielding, Jerry". Jackson, Kenneth T.; Markoe, Karen E.; Markoe, Arnold (1995). Dictionary of American Biography; Supplement 10: 1976–1980. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 238-239. ISBN0-684-19399-X.
↑ "Actor George Tobias Dies". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri, St. Louis. Associated Press. February 28, 1980. p.45. Retrieved August 10, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
↑ "Passings". Los Angeles Times. March 10, 1980. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
↑ "Peter Stoner Dies at 92". Newsletter of the American Scientific Affiliation and Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation. 22 (3). June–July 1980.
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