Events from the year 1978 in the United States.
Incumbents Federal government President: Jimmy Carter (D-Georgia) Vice President: Walter Mondale (D-Minnesota) Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts) Senate Majority Leader: Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) Congress: 95th
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. Edward M. Davis retires from the Los Angeles Police Department, after 30 years on the force and more than 8 years as its police chief. January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as the Crown of St. Stephen) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. January 14–15 – The body of former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, following his death from cancer. January 14 – The Sex Pistols hold their last concert, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. January 15 – Ted Bundy commits an infamous murder and assault at the Chi Omega Sorority House at Florida State University. January 15 – The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Denver Broncos at Super Bowl XII January 16 – Robert F. Rock succeeds Edward M. Davis as the LAPD's interim chief. January 19 – Federal Appeals Court Judge William H. Webster is appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. January 25–27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes, causing 51 deaths in Ohio. January 28 – Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", is arrested.
February
February 1 – Hollywood film director Roman Polanski flees to France to avoid sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. 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 – The first Home Depot opens in Marietta, Georgia. February 8 – United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time. February 9 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. February 11 – Sixteen Unification Church couples wed in New York, New York. February 15 – Serial killer Ted Bundy is recaptured in Pensacola, Florida. February 16 The Hillside Strangler, a serial killer prowling Los Angeles, claims a 10th and final victim. The first computer bulletin board system (CBBS) is created in Chicago. February 24 – Five men with mild mental-health issues from Yuba City, California disappear in the snow on their way home from a basketball game. In June, four of the bodies are discovered in the Sierra. The fifth, Gary Mathias, is never found. The circumstances surrounding their deaths remains a mystery.
March March 3 – 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 6 – American porn publisher Larry Flynt is shot and paralyzed in Lawrenceville, Georgia. March 22 – Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. March 28 – 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 2 – The CBS soap opera Dallas is launched. It is set to be aired later this year in several countries, including the United Kingdom by the BBC. April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope for the final time, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Woody Allen's Annie Hall wins Best Picture, with Allen winning Best Director. George Lucas' Star Wars wins six awards, while Fred Zinnemann's Julia and Herbert Ross' The Turning Point both receive eleven nominations each. April 7 – President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb – a weapon which kills people with radiation but leaves buildings relatively intact. April 10 – The Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly plant near New Stanton, Pennsylvania is dedicated, having begun production of the Rabbit, the North American version of the Volkswagen Golf, the previous week. Volkswagen thus becomes the second non-American automobile manufacturer (after Rolls-Royce in 1921–1931) to open a plant in the United States. (The plant closes in 1988.) April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes 68–32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999. 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 Dade County, Florida. April 27 – 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. April 28 – WAC abolished; women integrated into regular Army.
May May 5 – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit. May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days. May 25 – A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard (the first Unabomber attack). 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.
June June 6 – California voters approve Proposition 13, which slashes property taxes nearly 60%. June 9 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extends the priesthood and temple blessings to "all worthy males", ending a general policy of excluding "Canaanites" from priesthood ordination and temple ordinances. June 10 – Affirmed becomes only the 11th horse to ever win the Triple Crown by defeating Alydar in the 110th running of the Belmont Stakes. June 12 – Serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," is sentenced to 365 years in prison. June 16 – The musical film Grease is released, starring 24-year-old New Jersey born actor John Travolta and 29-year-old British-Australian actress and singer Olivia Newton-John. June 19 – Garfield, which eventually becomes the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut nationwide. June 25 – 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 28 The U.S. scientific satellite Seasat is launched. University of California Regents v. Bakke: The Supreme Court of the United States bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of programs which give advantages to minorities. June 29 – Actor Bob Crane is found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale, Arizona, apartment. The crime is never solved.
August August 2 – President Jimmy Carter declares an unprecedented state emergency and evacuation immediately following the revelation that Niagara Falls, New York neighborhood Love Canal was built on a toxic waste dump. August 12 – During a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley sustains a spinal cord injury on a hit from Jack Tatum, leaving Stingley a quadriplegic. He will die from complications of his injury on April 5, 2007. August 13 – The 5.8 Santa Barbara earthquake affected the central coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), causing 65 injuries and $12 million in financial losses. August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France. August 18 – The first F-16 Fighting Falcon was delivered to the United States Air Force USAF
September
September 17 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin the peace process at Camp David, Maryland. September 18 – WKRP in Cincinnati premieres on CBS. September 25 PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California; 144 are killed. 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.
October October 2 – The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox 5–4 at Fenway Park to clinch the AL East after being 14 games out of first place only two months earlier. The Yankees would eventually go on to defeat the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers and win the World Series. October 4 – Pier 39 opens on Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, as a tourist attraction. October 10 – President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar. October 14 – President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States. October 17 – The New York Yankees clinch their 22nd World Series championship, defeating the Dodgers 7–2 in Los Angeles and winning the Series 4 games to 2. October 25 – John Carpenter's low-budget slasher film, Halloween, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence, is released. October 27 – President Jimmy Carter signs the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act, adjusting the government's economic goals to include full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget.
November November 7 – California voters defeat the Briggs Initiative that would have prohibited gay school teachers. November 10 – Theodore Roosevelt and Badlands National Park is established. November 17 – The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS; this is its first and only airing. November 18 – Mass murder/suicide of 909 Americans in Jonestown, Guyana under the direction of Jim Jones. November 19 – The first U.S. Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco. November 16 – A Fire occurs at a Holiday Inn in Greece, New York, leaving 10 people dead November 27 – In San Francisco, California, Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.
December December 3 – The Southern Crescent passenger train derails at Shipman, Virginia, killing six and injuring 60. December 4 – Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone as San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she serves until January 8, 1988). December 11 – Lufthansa heist: Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's Kennedy airport. December 13 – The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation. December 15 Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to go into default since the Great Depression, under Mayor Dennis Kucinich. Superman is released in theaters in the United States. December 22 – Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who is subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men, is arrested. December 28 – United Airlines Flight 173 during a flight leg from Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon, makes a forced emergency landing in a suburban neighborhood in Portland after running out of fuel, killing 10 of 189 people on board.
Full date unknown Ford initiates a recall for the Pinto because of a public outcry resulting from deaths associated with gas tank explosions. The New York International Bible Society's New International Version of the complete Bible translated into modern American English is published.
Ongoing Cold War (1947–1991) Détente (c. 1969–1979) 1970s energy crisis (1973–1980)
Births January
January 2 – Karina Smirnoff, Ukrainian-born dancer January 3 Kimberley Locke, singer Shawnna, rapper January 5