Information for the Year 1979

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  • Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce fall of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and collapse of Pol Pot regime (Jan. 7).
  • Shah leaves Iran after year of turmoil (Jan. 16); revolutionary forces under Muslim leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, take over (Feb. 1 et seq.).
  • Conservatives win British election; Margaret Thatcher becomes new prime minister (May 3).
  • Carter and Brezhnev sign SALT II agreement (June 14).
  • Nicaraguan President General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami (July 17); Sandinistas form government (July 19).
  • Iranian militants seize US embassy in Teheran and hold hostages (Nov. 4).
  • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests (Dec. 27).
  • Population:  4.378 billion
  • Nobel Peace Prize:  Mother Teresa of Calcutta (India)
  • Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings (Jan. 4).
  • Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., releases radiation (March 28).
  • President:  James Earl Carter, Jr.
  • Vice President:  Walter F. Mondale
  • Population:  225,055,487
  • Life expectancy:  73.9 years
  • US GDP (1998 dollars):   $2,557.50 billion
  • Federal spending:   $504.03 billion
  • Federal debt:  $829.5 billion
  • Median Household Income(current dollars):$16,461
  • Consumer Price Index:   72.6
  • Unemployment:   5.8%
  • Cost of a first-class stamp:  $0.15
  • Super Bowl  Pittsburgh Steelers defeated Dallas Cowboys (SCORE 35-31)
  • World Series of Baseball  Pittsburgh Pirates defeated Baltimore Orioles
  • National Basketball Association Championship  Seattle defeated Washington Bullets
  • National Hockey League Stanley Cup  Montreal Canadiens defeated New York Rangers
  • Women Wimbledon Tennis   Martina Navratilova defeated Chrissy Evert Lloyd (6-4 6-4)
  • Men Wimbledon Tennis   Bjorn Borg defeated R. Tanner (6-7 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4)
  • Kentucky Derby Horse Race Champion  Spectacular Bid
  • National College Athletic Association Basketball Championship  Michigan St. defeated Indiana St. (SCORE 75-64)
  • National College Athletic Association Football Champions  Alabama (RECORD 12-0-0)
  • The Sugar Hill Gang releases the first commercial rap hit, "Rapper's Delight," bringing rap off the New York streets and into the popular music scene.
  • Academy Award, Best Picture:  The Deer Hunter
  • Grammy Award - Record of the Year  Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
  • Emmy Award - Best Television Comedy   Taxi - ABC
  • Miss America:  Kylene Baker (Virginia)
  • An overheated reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania threatens to melt down. It does not, but 144,000 residents of nearby Middletown are evacuated.
  • The first human-powered aircraft flies across the English Channel: Bryan Allen pilots the Gossamer Albatross from Folkestone, England, to Cap Gris-Nez, France (June 12).

 

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