The following events occurred in February 1979:
February 1, 1979 (Thursday) The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran after nearly 15 years of exile. After a five and one-half hour flight from Paris on Air France Flight 4721 jumbo, a chartered 747, Khomeini stepped off of the plane at 9:30 in the morning local time at Mehrabad Airport. The arrival ceremonies were viewed by millions of Iranians on television, but the broadcast was abruptly shut down by angry Iranian Army officials and was replaced by a photo of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. Speaking to a crowd at the airport, Khomeini said "Our final victory will come when all foreigners are out of the country. I beg Allah to cut off the hands of all evil foreigners and all their helpers." Khomeini then got into a car and was driven in a motorcade on a tour of Tehran streets, lined by cheering supporters."Khomeini Arrives in Teheran, Urges Ouster of Foreigners; Millions Rally to Greet Him", The New York Times, February 1, 1979, p. A1 Patty Hearst, who had been kidnapped from her apartment on February 4, 1974 and later joined her kidnappers in bank robberies, was released from federal prison after her sentence was commuted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. At 7:30 in the morning, Ms. Hearst walked out of the women's Federal Correctional Institute in Pleasanton, California, and was driven to her mother's home in Hillsborough."Joyful Miss Hearst Leaves Prison Five Years After Being Kidnapped", by Lacey Fosburgh, The New York Times, February 2, 1979, p. A1 Died: Abdi Ipekci, 49, Turkish journalist and editor of the daily newspaper Milliyet, was killed in a shooting at his home by the Grey Wolves ultranationalist group."Gunman in Istanbul Kills A Leading Editor", The New York Times, February 2, 1979, p. A5 One of his assassins, Mehmet Ali Agca, would later attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II. Born: Clodoaldo Silva, Brazilian paralympic swimmer and 2004 winner of six gold medals in the Paralympics; in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
February 2, 1979 (Friday) The Ayatollah Khomeini created the Council of the Islamic Revolution. A 29-letter alphabet for the Dyula language of the African nation of Burkina Faso was given official status by the (then) government of Upper Volta. Mau Lear, who had been designated as the President of Fretilin (Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente), seeking the liberation of East Timor from Indonesia, was tracked down and executed by Indonesian troops. Lear had taken office after his predecessor, Nicolau Lobato, was killed eight weeks earlier on December 13. Born: Fani Chalkia, Greek track athlete and gold medalist in the men's 400m hurdles at the 2004 Olympics; in Larissa Died: Sid Vicious (stage name for John Simon Ritchie), 21, British musician for the punk rock group Sex Pistols, died of a drug overdose 13 hours after being released on bail while awaiting trial on the October 12 stabbing death of Nancy Spungen. Upon his release, Vicious celebrated at a party in his honor at his new girlfriend apartment in the Greenwich Village section of New York City and died of an overdose of heroin. Vicious had just completed a court-ordered 55-day detoxification program at the prison on Rikers Island."Sid Vicious, Punk-Rock Musician, Dies, Apparently of Drug Overdose", by John Kifner, The New York Times, February 3, 1979, p. A24 Kenneth "Tug" Wilson, 82, American amateur sports administrator who served as President of the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1953 to 1965, and Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference from 1945 to 1961"Kenneth L. (Tug) Wilson Dies; Headed U.S. Olympic Committee" The New York Times, February 3, 1979, p. A24 Aaron Douglas, 79, African-American painter and illustrator
February 3, 1979 (Saturday) Airship Industries of the UK flew the prototype of its new airship, the AD500, with increased speed and maneuverability. The lone ship did not fly again after being damaged in a storm on March 8."Airship Industries SkyShip 500", The Airship Heritage Trust The Canadian sketch comedy TV series You Can't Do That on Television, which would later become the first successful TV series on the cable network Nickelodeon, premiered on CTV. Born: Epiphanius of Kyiv, leader of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine since 2019; as Serhii Petrovych Dumenko, in Vovkove, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Died: Charlemae Hill Rollins, 81, pioneering African-American librarian and author Betty Danko, 74, American stuntwoman and stunt double on film
February 4, 1979 (Sunday) The Interim Government of Iran was established by the Ayatollah Khomeini, with Mehdi Bazargan as Prime Minister of Iran The CBS television show Co-Ed Fever, the third of three college-themed programs inspired by the success of the film Animal House, premiered for its first and only episode. The show followed the premieres of Delta House on ABC on January 18 and Brothers and Sisters on NBC on January 21. Died: Claude "Jack" Massop, 29, Jamaican gangster and leader of the Phoenix Gang, was killed in a gun battle with police in Spanish Town.
February 5, 1979 (Monday) Joachim Yhombi-Opango was forced to resign as President of the People's Republic of the Congo, by a vote of the Central Committee of the African nation's only political party, the Congolese Workers Party."Congo President Steps Down", The New York Times, February 7, 1979, p. A9 Yhombi-Opango had taken office after the assassination of President Marien Ngouabi on March 18, 1977, was then arrested in Brazzaville by his successor, Denis Sassou Nguesso. Sara Jane Moore, convicted of firing a pistol at then-U.S. President Gerald R. Ford in 1975, escaped from a women's federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia, along with another inmate, by climbing a high fence. The two women hitchhiked and were given a ride to Lewisburg, from the prison, by a good samaritan who called police after realizing that Moore and her friend, Marlene Martino, were escaped prisoners. A taxicab driver in Lewisburg then drove the two to White Sulphur Springs, where a security guard recognized them and detained them until they could be arrested."Sara Jane Moore Back in Prison After Capture While Hitchhiking", The New York Times, February 7, 1979, p. A16 Argentina established the Belgrano II Base in Antarctica, the third most southern of Antarctic bases Protesting the lack of help from the federal government in raising the amount of government farm price supports, hundreds of protesting U.S. farmers and their families jammed the streets of Washington, D.C. by coming in from multiple directions in what they billed as a "Tractorcade", a slow-moving motorcade of farm tractors, camper vans and pickup trucks. Other members of the group blocked the entrances to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by chaining together tractors. Traffic was cleared after three hours and 20 farmers were arrested by city police."20 Farmers Arrested as Hundreds of Tractors Jam Traffic in Washington", The New York Times, February 6, 1979, p. A12 Born: Muhammad Ali, Prince of the Sa'id, son of the last monarch of Egypt, King Fuad II, and heir apparent to the abolished throne; in Cairo Paulo Gonçalves (motorcyclist) Portuguese rally racing motorcycle rider. He won the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship in 2013; in Gemeses (killed 2020) Chhetan Gurung, Nepali film director, died of liver failure, 2020 Died: Nikolay Sakharov, 24, Soviet serial killer known as "The Vologda Ripper", was executed by a firing squad.
February 6, 1979 (Tuesday) Iran announced that it would withdraw from the Baghdad Pact of 1955 that had created an alliance between Iran, the United Kingdom, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey. Iraq had withdrawn after the overthrow of its monarchy in 1958, and the alliance had been renamed the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). Iran's Foreign Minister Ahmad Mirfendereski, who had been appointed by the Shah of Iran in the final month of Iran's monarchy and had continued under the Ayatollah Khomeini, said that continued membership in CENTO would not be compatible with Iran's new foreign policy."Iran Says It Will Abandon Military Pact", by Joe Alex Morris, Jr., Los Angeles Times, February 7, 1979, p. I-1; the story was one of the last written by Morris, who was killed a few days later during rioting Died: Mary Bell, 75, Australian aviator who helped establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II after organizing the Women's Air Training Corps in 1939 as a volunteer paramilitary group
February 7, 1979 (Wednesday) Supporters of the Ayatollah took over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration. The Iranian National Consultative Assembly, adjourned and disbanded. Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either planet was discovered. Dr. Josef Mengele, a Nazi German physician and SS officer known for carrying out medical experiments on prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp, drowned in South America, where he had been able to escape after World War II. Mengele, who was living in the São Paulo State of Brazil under the alias "Wolfgang Gerhard", was visiting friends in the resort town of Bertioga and was swimming in the ocean when he apparently suffered a stroke and was unable to surface.Alan Levy, Nazi Hunter: The Wiesenthal File (Constable & Robinson, 1993) pp. 294-295 His remains were buried in a cemetery in Embu das Artes under the Gerhard name. In 1985, after the search for Dr. Mengele led police to the friends and the site of the grave, Mengele's body was exhumed and confirmed, on June 10, 1985, to be the cadaver of Dr. Mengele, confirmed further by DNA testing in 1992."Discovery, development, and current applications of DNA identity testing", by Rana Saad, Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings (April 1, 2005) pp. 130–133 The magazine Counterspy, which had identified active agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), revealed the identities of nine CIA agents stationed in Iran, and alleged that the CIA and the U.S. Department of Defense appeared to be preparing a military intervention in that country."Magazine Names Nine As C.I.A. Men in Iran", The New York Times, February 8, 1979, p. A6 The Panamanian-registered Skyluck, carrying 2,700 refugees who had fled Vietnam and the People's Republic of China, arrived in Hong Kong and was stopped by local police before it could make the unauthorized dispersion of potential immigrants."Ship adds 3,000 to math of misery", Toronto Star, February 7, 1979 For almost five months, Skyluck refused to leave and the 2,700 refugees lived on board the ship. The stalemate would end on June 29 when some of the refugees cut the anchor chain, and the ship drifted away, struck rocks on Lamma Island and began to sink, forcing the evacuation— and arrest— of 2,000 refugees."Refugees storm ashore through sea blockade", Toronto Star, June 30, 1979 Born: Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni human rights activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate; in Taiz, Yemen Arab Republic Died: General Su Zhenhua, 66, member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo who worked at removing the "Gang of Four" from power in the 1970s after having been rehabilitated from disgrace during the Cultural Revolution Charles Seeger, 92, American musicologist known for theorizing dissonant counterpoint; father of folk singer Pete Seeger
February 8, 1979 (Thursday) Portugal, which had a colony off of the coast of mainland China, established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, but Portuguese Prime Minister Carlos Mota Pinto told reporters that there would be no change in its administration of Macao. The island of Macao, a gambling resort with 300,000 people within its , had been Portuguese territory since 1557, and was Portugal's only remaining overseas territory, as well as the oldest European colony in Asia."Chinese and Portuguese Establish Full Relations", The New York Times, February 9, 1979, p. A14