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Super Bowl IV
Super Bowl IV was played on January 11th, 1970 at the Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the Chiefs VS the Vikings. The Chiefs won -
Beatles Break Up
The Beatles lasted from 1960 to 1970 they were together an amazing 10 years. There is more than one reason to why the Beatles broke up, one was because the death of their manager in 1967. In 1969 all band members started working on their own solo projects, but the break up wasn’t publically announced until 1970. It was a sad day for many Beatles fans. -
Apollo 13 mission suffers huge setback
A ruptured air tank on their way to the moon almost sealed the fate of the three astronauts on board the spacecraft. With the oxygen stores depleted, the command module was unusable, the mission had to be aborted, and the crew transferred to the lunar module and powered down the command module. -
First Earth Day
Earth day was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson as a environmental class held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated, now days more than 500 million people participate. -
Kent State Shootings
The Kent state shootings happened on May 4th, 1970. Unarmed college students were shot. 4 Students were killed and 9 wre injured and one who was injured suffered permanent paralysis. The guardsman shot off 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds. -
Aswan High Dam Completed
The Aswan High Dam was constructed for 11 years. It was acrossed the Nile River in Egypt. It was completed July 21, 1970. It costerd $1 Billion dollars to complete, but it successfully ended the flood, and drought in the Nile River region. -
EPA is created
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 3, 1970, after Nixon submitted a reorganization plan to Congress and it was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. -
World Trade Center is Completed
The cost for the construction was $400 million. The original World Trade Center was designed by Minoru Yamasaki in the early 1960s using a tube-frame structural design for the twin 110-story towers. In gaining approval for the project, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agreed to take over the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, which became the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). Groundbreaking for the World Trade Center took place on August 5, 1966. -
Cigarette ads are banned on TV
Americans began a new year free of cigarette advertisements broadcast on television today. "As of midnight Friday night, all TV and radio commercials for cigarettes are banned by federal law, since tobacco has been alleged hazardous to health and because of the apparent statistical relationship between smoking and high death rates from lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema," explained the Delta Democrat-Times on January 3, 1971. -
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Ed
An important United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools. the Court held that busing was an appropriate remedy for the problem of racial imbalance among schools, even where the imbalance resulted from the selection of students based on geographic proximity to the school rather than from deliberate assignment based on race. This was done to ensure all students would receive equal educational opportunities regardless of their race. -
Amtrak created
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak (reporting mark AMTK), is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C. All of Amtrak's preferred stock is owned by the U.S. federal government. -
The Pentagon Paper Released
Secret documents detailing the U.S. role in Indochina from World War II to 1968. Daniel Ellsberg, who was opposed to U.S. participation in the Vietnam War, leaked details of the documents to the press. The New York Times began publishing articles based on the study. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government had failed to justify restraint of publication, and the documents were published widely, fueling debate over the country's Vietnam policy. -
18 year olds given the right to vote
The Twenty-sixth Amendment was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, upon passage by the House of Representatives, the Senate having previously passed an identical resolution on March 10, 1971. President Nixon certified the amendment in a signing ceremony at the White House on July 5th. -
First Benefit Concert organized for Bangladesh by George Harrison
The Concert For Bangladesh was the event title for two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at noon and at 7:00 p.m. on August 1, 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Organized for the relief of refugees from East Pakistan (now independent Bangladesh) after the 1970 Bhola cyclone and during the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities and Bangladesh Liberation War, the event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world -
End of Gold Standard for US Currency
The Nixon Shock was a series of economic measures taken by U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1971 including unilaterally cancelling the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold that essentially ended the existing Bretton Woods system of international financial exchange. -
Attica State Prison Riots
The Attica Prison riot occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States in 1971. The riot was based in part upon prisoners' demands for better living conditions, and was led in large part by a small band of political revolutionaries. 1,000 of the prison's approximately 2,200 prisoners rioted and seized control of the prison. During the following four days of negotiations, authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners' demands. -
VCRs Introduced
The Sony U-matic system was released in Tokyo first. It was officially the world’s first commercial videocassette format. It used three- fourth inch tape, and had a maximum playing time of sixty minutes. These sixty minutes was soon extended to ninety minutes. However, it was extremely expensive. The model cost over one thousand dollars—today, that would be roughly seven thousand dollars if adjusted for inflation. Thus, the majority of Americans were unable to afford this. -
Disney World Opens
On Friday October 1, 1971 - after seven years of planning - about 10,000 visitors converged near Orlando, Florida, to witness the grand opening of Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom (the only theme park at the time on Disney property) featured Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Tomorrowland, a Main Street USA, and about 5,500 Cast Members. The price of admission was $4.95! -
London Bridge Brought to the U.S.
London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, United States, that is based on the 1831 London Bridge that spanned the River Thames in London, England until it was dismantled in 1967. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge, that was bought by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London. The bridge was completed in 1971 along with a canal, and links an island in the lake with the main part of Lake Havasu City. -
China joins the UN
China's seat in the United Nations and membership of the United Nations Security Council has been occupied by the People's Republic of China (PRC) since October 25, 1971. The representatives of the PRC first attended the UN, including the United Nations Security Council, as China's representatives on November 23, 1971. -
The microprocessor is introduced
The Intel 4004 was a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU) released by Intel Corporation in 1971. It was the first complete CPU on one chip, and also the first commercially available microprocessor. Such a feat of integration was made possible by the use of then new silicon gate technology allowing a higher number of transistors and a faster speed than was possible before. The 4004 employed a 10-μm silicon-gate enhancement load pMOS technology and could execute approximately 92,000. -
D.B. Cooper
D.B. Cooper is the name popularly used to refer an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, USA on November 24, 1971, extorted USD $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and an exhaustive (and ongoing) FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or positively identified. To date, the case remains the only unsolved airline hijacking in American aviation history -
Nixon visits China
U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, who at that time considered the U.S. one of its staunchest foes. The visit has become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician. -
First successful video game (Pong) launched
Pong (marketed as PONG) is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. Several publications consider Pong the game that launched the video game industry as a lucrative enterprise. -
George Wallace shot while campaigning
A young assailant dressed in red, white and blue shot Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama May 16, 1972 in the midst of a Laurel campaign rally, leaving him paralyzed in both legs. -
Title IX signed into law by Nixon
President Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) into law on June 23, 1972. The law states that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..."
—United States Code Section 20, -
Supreme Court rules against death penalty
Furman v. Georgia. The court rules the death penalty does not violate the Constitution, but the manner of its application in many states does. The court notes capital punishment was likely to be imposed in a discriminatory way and that blacks were far more likely to be executed than whites. The decision essentially ends the practice of executions. -
Watergate Scandal Begins
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Effects of the scandal ultimately led to the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974, the first and only resignation of any U.S. President. -
Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals
Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics -
Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in Southern Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually murdered by the Islamic terrorist group Black September. Members of Black September contended that Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization secretly endorsed the operation. -
M*A*S*H Show Premiers
M*A*S*H Premiered on CBS Friday Night Movie on September 13. -
Pocket Calculators Introduced
The first American-made pocket-sized calculator, the Bowmar 901B (popularly referred to as The Bowmar Brain), measuring 5.2×3.0×1.5 in (131×77×37 mm), came out in the fall of 1971, with four functions and an eight-digit red LED display, for $240, while in August 1972 the four-function Sinclair Executive became the first slimline pocket calculator measuring 5.4×2.2×0.35 in (138×56×9 mm) and weighing 2.5 oz (70g). -
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) introduced
President Richard Nixon signed the Social Security Amendments of 1972 on October 30, 1972 which created the SSI Program. The SSI program officially began operations in January 1974 by federalizing states' programs, designating the Social Security Administration (SSA) to administer the SSI program -
HBO launched
The movie channel HBO is on television for the first time ever. -
Last man on the moon
On December 11, 1972, Cernan, the commander of Apollo 17, became the last man to step foot on the moon. In his own words, "I lowered my left foot and the thin crust gave way. Soft contact. There, it was done. A Cernan bootprint was on the moon." -
Aboriton Legalized in U.S.
Abortion in the United States has been legal in every state since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, on January 22, 1973. Prior to "Roe", there were exceptions to the abortion ban in at least 10 states; "Roe" established that a woman has a right to self-determination (often referred to as a "right to privacy") covering the decision whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term, but that this right must be balanced against a state's interest in preserving fetal life. -
U.S. Pulls out of Vietnam War
In 1972, North Vietnam finally realized that the war was a stalemate. The two sides met and arranged a cease fire. In January of 1973 the Paris Accords went into effect. The US agreed to withdraw all its troops from Vietnam in 60 days. Congress had stopped funding the war effort. -
• UPC Barcodes come to US
In the spring of 1971 RCA demonstrated a bulls-eye bar code system at a grocery industry meeting. Visitors got a round piece of tin; if the code on top contained the right number, they won a prize. IBM executives at that meeting noticed the crowds RCA was drawing and worried that they were losing out on a huge potential market. -
OPEC doubles price of oil
In March 1971, the balance of power shifted. That month the Texas Railroad Commission set proration at 100 percent for the first time. This meant that Texas producers were no longer limited in the volume of oil that they could produce. A little over two years later OPEC, through the unintended consequence of war, obtained a glimpse of the extent of its power to influence prices. -
Paul Getty Kidnapped
at 3am on 10 July 1973, Getty was kidnapped in the Piazza Farnese in Rome. A ransom note was received, demanding $17 million in exchange for his safe return. He was blindfolded and imprisoned in a mountain hideout. In November 1973, an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear was delivered to a daily newspaper with a threat of further mutilation of Paul, unless $3.2 million was paid. -
U.S. Vice President Resigns
On October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew became the second Vice President to resign the office. Agnew resigned and then pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion, part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme where in he was accused of accepting $29,500 in bribes during his tenure as governor of Maryland. After two appeals by Agnew, he finally resigned himself to the matter and a check for $268,482 was turned over to Maryland State Treasurer William James in early 1983. -
Sears Tower Built
Willis Tower (formerly named, and still commonly referred to as Sears Tower) is a 108-story, 1451-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois.[4] At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years. The Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States and the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. -
The War Powers Act
The War Powers Act is found as 50 USC S.1541-1548, passed in 1973 over the veto of President Nixon. It's supposed to be the mechanism by which the President may use US Armed Forces. It purports to spell out the situations under which he may deploy the Forces with and without a Congressional declaration of war. -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. § 136, 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq. , ESA) is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation. -
National speed limit 55
In response to the 1973 oil crisis, Congress enacted the National Maximum Speed Law that created the universal 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) speed limit. -
Patty Hearst Kidnapped
On February 4, 1974, the 19-year-old Hearst was kidnapped from the Berkeley, California apartment she shared with her fiancé Steven Weed by a left-wing urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. When the attempt to swap Hearst for jailed SLA members failed, the SLA demanded that the captive's family distribute $70 worth of food to every needy Californian – an operation that would cost an estimated $400 million. -
U.S. President Nixon Resigns
- In light of his loss of political support and the near certainty of impeachment, Nixon resigned the office of the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. The core of the speech was Nixon's announcement that Gerald Ford, as Vice President, would succeed to the presidency, effective at noon Eastern time the next day. Around this announcement, he discussed his feelings about his presidential work.
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Gerald Ford pardons Nixon
On September 8, 1974, Ford issued Proclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation "is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. -
Girls allowed to play in little league baseball
A ruling by Sylvia Pressler, hearing examiner for the New Jersey Civil Rights Division on Nov. 7, 1973, was later upheld in the Superior Court, leading to Little League Baseball’s admittance of girls into its programs. Until then, Little League regulations had prohibited girls from participating, and the change led to greater opportunities, such as those for the 10 girls who played on teams that have reached the Little League Baseball World Series. In 1974, nearly 30,000 girls signed up. -
Freedom of Information Act passed over Ford’s veto
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a federal law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States Government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures and grants nine exemptions to the statute. -
Saigon falls to communism
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975. South Vietnam capitulated shortly after. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after communist leader Ho Chi Minh. The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation of almost all the American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians associated with the southern regime. -
Microsoft Founded
Microsoft was formed soon after the introduction of the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Altair, the first "personal computer," a build-it-yourself kit for hobbyists. Bill Gates and Paul Allen seized the opportunity to transform this early PC into a breakthrough -- the Altair needed software, a programming language that could make it perform useful computing tasks. -
Arthur Ashe First Black Man to Win Wimbledon
Arthur Ashe was a tennis star of the 1960s and '70s and an African-American pioneer: the first black man to win at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. He scored many other firsts in his career, including becoming the first African-American on the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1963. Ashe played tennis at UCLA and was national collegiate champion in 1965. He won three major tournaments in his career: the U.S. Open (1968), the Australian Open (1970) and Wimbledon (1975). -
Francisco Franco dies
Francisco Franco, commonly known as Franco, was a Spanish military general and head of state of Spain from October 1936 (whole nation from 1939 onwards), and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November 1975. As head of state, Franco used the title Caudillo de España, por la gracia de Dios, meaning Leader of Spain, by the grace of Go. From a military family, originally intent on entering the Spanish Navy, Franco instead became a soldier. -
Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens
Nadia Comaneci is given perfect 10s at the Olympics of 1976. TheOlympic Legend. -
Betamax VCR’s released
The first stand-alone Sony Betamax VCR in the United States, the SL-7200, came on the market in February 1976 priced at $1295. This unit sold much better than the previous TV/VCR combo LV-1901. The external clock to turn the unit on and off at preset times was an optional accessory. -
Apple Computer launched
The Apple Computer was founded in Los Altos, California on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak. They sold the Apple I personal computer kit at $666.66. They were built by hand in Jobs' parents' garage, and the Apple I was first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. -
Entebbe Air Raid
Operation Entebbe was a hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976.[1] A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and supporters and flown to Entebbe, near Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Shortly after landing, all non-Jewish passengers were released. -
Mao Tse-tung dies
At five o'clock in the afternoon of September 2, 1976, Mao suffered a heart attack, far more severe than his previous two and affecting a much larger area of his heart. X rays indicated that his lung infection had worsened, and his urine output dropped to less than 300 cc a day. Mao was awake and alert throughout the crisis and asked several times whether he was in danger. His condition continued to fluctuate and his life hung in the balance. -
West Point admits women
On October 8, 1976 , the President of the United States signed into law a bill directing that women would be admitted to America ’s service academies. -
Karen Ann Quinlan
Karen Ann Quinlan (March 29, 1954 – June 11, 1985) was an important person in the history of the right to die controversy in the United States. -
Legionnaire’s disease strikes 182, kills 29
Legionnaire's disease strikes 182, kills 29 The first appearance of the flu like disease struck at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia. -
President Carter pardons Vietnam Draft Dodgers
On January 21st 1977, US President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. In total, some 100,000 young Americans went abroad in the late 1960s and early 70s to avoid serving in the war. Ninety percent went to Canada, where after some initial controversy they were eventually welcomed as immigrants. -
Miniseries Roots Airs
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's work Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine; it also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still standing as the third-highest rated U.S. television program ever. It was shot on a budget of $6 million. -
Star Wars Movie Released
It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the six-film saga. It is the fourth film in terms of the series' internal chronology. Ground-breaking in its use of special effects, unconventional editing, and science fiction/fantasy storytelling, the original Star Wars is one of the most successful and influential films of all time. -
New York City blackout
The New York City Blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout that affected most of New York City from July 13, 1977 to July 14, 1977. The only neighborhoods in New York City that were not affected were the Southern Queens, and neighborhoods of the Rockaways, which are part of the Long Island Lighting Company System. -
Elvis Found Dead
His body was found by girlfriend, Ginger Alden in the upstairs bathroom. Elvis had probably been dead for many hours by the time his body was found. Elvis had not gone to bed at his customary time, between six and seven am. Elvis was pronounced "dead on arrival" after an 30 minute attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was pronounced clinically dead at on the steps of the Baptist Hospital, Memphis. Elvis Aaron Presley was pronounced dead at 3.30pm on the 16 August 1977 by his physician. -
Red Dye #2 is banned
Progress and the 20th century boom in chemistry. Since the late 1950's, the food processing industries in North America have turned to using more exotic chemicals to color food, and in increasing doses. Perhaps the most famous case is that of the heavy use of suspected cancer-causing Red Dye #2. -
Neutron bomb funding began
President Jimmy Carter flashed a yellow light—proceed with caution—for the funding of a weapon that most U.S. military strategists consider necessary to avoid such a scenario. The neutron bomb,* they argue, would enable NATO commanders to foil an attack without virtually destroying West Germany in the process, as would be the case if existing tactical nukes were used. -
Atlantic City permits gambling
- During a gala Memorial Day weekend in 1978, nearly 18 months after voters approved a statewide referendum to permit casino gambling in Atlantic City, Resorts International opens the nation’s first legal casino outside Nevada. Thousands of people flood the Boardwalk to gawk at what state and gambling officials have billed as a panacea for the city’s faded opulence.
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First Test-Tube Baby Born
On November 10, 1977, Lesley Brown underwent the very experimental in vitro ("in glass") fertilization procedure. This time, the doctors implanted the fertilized egg back into Brown in a shorter time period than they had previously tried. At 11:47 p.m. on July 25, 1978, Lesley Brown delivered a five-pound 12-ounce baby girl via Cesarean section. They baby girl was named Louise Joy Brown. -
Love Canal in New York declared federal disaster
On August 2, 1978, the New York State Commissioner of Health declared a State of Emergency in Love Canal and ordered the closing of the 99th Street School which was located near the center of the old chemical landfill. He also recommended that all pregnant women and families with children under the age of two evacuate the area immediately surrounding the landfill. -
Camp David accords for Middle East
The peace between Egypt and Israel has lasted for thirty years, and Egypt has become an important strategic partner of Israel. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defence minister known for his close ties to Egyptian officials has stated that "Egypt is not only our closest friend in the region, the co-operation between us goes beyond the strategic. -
John Paul II Becomes Pope
The Papal conclave of October 1978 was triggered by the sudden death, after only thirty-three days in office, of Pope John Paul I on September 28. The conclave to elect John Paul I's successor began on October 14, and ended two days later, on October 16, after eight ballots. The cardinals elected Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, then Archbishop of Kraków, as the new pope. Resulting in the most recent Year of Three Popes, he accepted his election and took the pontifical name of John Paul II. -
Jonestown Massacre
Almost three decades ago an unusual series of events led to the deaths of more than 900 people in the middle of a South American jungle. Though dubbed a "massacre," what transpired at Jonestown on November 18, 1978, was to some extent done willingly, making the mass suicide all the more disturbing. The Jonestown cult (officially named the "People's Temple") was founded in 1955 by Indianapolis preacher James Warren Jones. -
Ayatollah Khomeini Returns as Leader of Iran-
On February 1, 1979, the Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran in triumph after 15 years of exile. The shah and his family had fled the country two weeks before, and jubilant Iranian revolutionaries were eager to establish a fundamentalist Islamic government under Khomeini's leadership. -
Margaret Thatcher First Woman Prime Minister of Great Britain
Edward Heath appointed Thatcher Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975 she was elected Leader of the Conservative Party, the first woman to head a major UK political party, and in 1979 she became the UK's first female Prime Minister. -
Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial core meltdown in Unit 2 (a pressurized water reactor manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979. ). It was the most significant accident in the history of the USA commercial nuclear power generating industry. -
Jerry Falwell begins Moral Majority
The Moral Majority was a political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying. It was founded in 1979 and dissolved in the late 1980s. -
ESPN starts broadcasting
Founded by Bill Rasmussen,[1] his son Scott Rasmussen and Getty Oil executive Stuart Evey, it launched on September 7, 1979, under the direction of Chet Simmons, the network's President and CEO (and later the United States Football League's first commissioner). Getty Oil Company provided the funding to begin the new venture. Geoff Bray of New Britain, CT was chosen as the architect. -
Sony Introduces the Walkman
The original Walkman was marketed in 1979 as the Walkman in Japan, the Soundabout in many other countries including the US, Freestyle in Sweden and the Stowaway in the UK. Advertising, despite all the foreign languages, still attracted thousands of buyers in the US specifically. Morita hated the name "Walkman" and asked that it be changed, but relented after being told by junior executives that a promotion campaign had already begun using the brand name and that it would be too expensive. -
The Greensboro Massacre
The Greensboro massacre occurred on November 3, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Five protest marchers were shot and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. The protest was the culmination of attempts by the Communist Workers Party to organize mostly black industrial workers in the area. -
Iran Takes American Hostages in Tehran
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two US citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamic students and militants took over the Embassy of the United States in support of the Iranian Revolution.
