The following events happened in April 1980:
April 1, 1980 (Tuesday) The 1980 United States census was taken, with the United States Bureau of the Census counting everyone who had been born on and before April 1 and who had still been alive at the time that the census form was completed."Census day— Bureau extremely thorough in search of U.S. residents", by Cheryl Coggins, Austin (TX) American-Statesman, April 1, 1980, p1 The initial announcement by the Bureau on December 31 would be that the population was 226,504,825."Official Census Figures Released", Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff AZ), December 31, 1980, p1 The adjusted official figure, made public by the Bureau on April 19, 1982, was 226,545,805 United States residents."State Has Top % Of Foreign-Born", Sacramento (CA) Bee, April 20, 1982, p1 Boston television station WNAC-TV aired a fake news bulletin at the end of the 6 o'clock news which reported that Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts, had become an erupting volcano, and presented a report "complete with film of flowing lava, burning houses and edited remarks from President Jimmy Carter and Governor Edward J. King"."'Yuk-Yuk News' (on Ch.7, folks) no joke in Milton"], Boston Globe, April 2, 1980, p1 Though intended as an April Fool's Day joke, the fake news bulletin on Channel 7 was believed by many of the residents of Milton, and the city's police department received more than 100 calls from panicked viewers. The executive producer of the 6 o'clock news, Homer Cilley, was fired by the WNAC station for "his failure to exercise good news judgment" and for violating Federal Communications Commission rules about showing stock footage without identifying it as such."Fired for April Fooling", AP report in Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent, April 3, 1980, p1 Iran's de facto leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, announced through a speech delivered by his son Ahmad Khomeini that there would be no transfer of the 50 U.S. Embassy hostages from their student captors to Iranian government control, despite what appeared to be an agreement between the U.S. and Iranian governments. The elder Khomeini described the American proposal as "diabolic trickery" and Iran's President Abolhassan Banisadr said that the U.S. would need to "remain silent on the issue" until the newly elected Parliament could convene in June."Khomeini Rejects Plan to Transfer Hostages", Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1980, p1 The Southern African Development Community (SADCC) was formed by the leaders of nine nations— Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe — at a summit in the Zambian capital at Lusaka."9 African Leaders at Summit", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 1, 1980, p6"Black states form trade alliance", The Guardian (London), April 2, 1980, p7 Syrian Special Forces began the Siege of Aleppo to suppress the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, an anti-government movement that had started with strikes in March."Fighting flares in Syria", The Guardian (London), April 2, 1980, p6 By Saturday, troops, tanks and armored vehicles from the Syrian Army's Third Division arrived in the city and began arresting dissidents. During the occupation, which would continue for ten months, at least 1,000 residents were killed and 8,000 others arrested.Middle East Watch, Syria Unmasked: The Suppression of Human Rights by the Asad Regime (Yale University Press, 1991) p.14 California Governor Jerry Brown dropped out of the race for the Democratic Party nomination of president, after coming in third place in the Wisconsin and Kansas primaries."Carter and Reagan Sweep; Take Kansas, Wisconsin; Brown Quits", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 2, 1980, p1 The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) executive board voted to open the 1980 baseball season, but to cancel all remaining exhibition games and to set a May 23 strike date if their May 22 deadline for an agreement was not signed."Baseball Players Delay Strike, Drop Exhibitions", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 2, 1980, p1 The exhibition season had eight more days to run, from April 2 to April 9. Born: Hafiz Bakhshaliyev, Azerbaijani World Kickboxing Champion between 2004 and 2008; in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union Randy Orton, American WWE professional wrestling champion; in Knoxville, Tennessee
April 2, 1980 (Wednesday) The Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act was signed into law by U.S. President Jimmy Carter."Carter signs $227 billion windfall tax", Arizona Republic, April 3, 1980, p1 It would be repealed on August 23, 1988 after a continuing drop in the worldwide price of oil."Windfall profits tax repealed", Odessa (TX) American, August 24, 1988, p1 The St. Pauls Riot broke out in Bristol after local police raided the Black and White Café on suspicion of narcotics sales. At the height of the riot, 3,000 young Britons, both black Jamaicans and white, damaged local businesses and damaged police cars and fire trucks. Nineteen regular city policemen, normally unarmed except for clubs, were injured along with six rioters."19 police hurt as rioters burn, loot city streets", The Guardian (London), April 3, 1980, p1 After the outnumbered city police were ordered to withdraw, a unit of 400 helmeted riot police retook the St. Paul's section without incident."Jamaicans Riot in Bristol, Injure 21 Bobbies— Unarmed Police Driven Back as 3,000 Youths Throw Rocks and Pillage Stores", Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1980, p7 Born: Bobby Bones (stage name for Bobby Estell), American radio talk show host; in Hot Springs, Arkansas Died: Stanley F. Reed, 95, U.S. Supreme Court justice from 1938 to 1957
April 3, 1980 (Thursday) The Federal Home Loan Bank Board voted to authorize savings and loan associations to offer the first adjustable-rate mortgage in the United States, changing existing regulations to offer the renegotiable-rate mortgage (RRM) to mortgagors for home purchases, the first variable rate mortgage in the United States."Flexible-Rate Mortgage Approved", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 4, 1980, p13 Under the regulations, the interest rate could be changed every three years, and could rise no more than 5 percentage points over the original APR life of a 30-year mortgage, or be lowered without limit. The new rule was made in response to a decrease in new housing starts and purchases by buyers hesitant about a long-term commitment to the high interest rates at the time, and was a concept similar to the "rollover mortgage" that were already in use in Canada."Carter mortgage aid not surprising", by David Frink, Austin (TX) American-Statesman, April 10, 1980, pD6 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that the Viking 2 lander had ceased operating after having sent data from Mars for almost 3½ years."Batteries Fail, Mars Viking Lander 2 Dies", April 3, 1980, p3 A spokesman for JPL in Pasadena, California said that the last useful transmission had been on January 31 and that the one made on March 15 was unintelligible. On September 3, 1976, Viking 2 had landed at the Utopia Planitia on Mars since ceased operation after its batteries were drained. Kosmos 1171, a Soviet satellite intended solely as a target for an anti-satellite weapon, was launched into orbit from the USSR's Plesetsk Cosmodrome."Moscow Signals Anti-Satellite Test; New Space Arms Race Looms, U.S. Believes", Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1980, p1 Between April 18 and April 20, Kosmos 1174 was used for three unsuccessful attempts to intercept and destroy the orbiting target, after which 1174 was given a self-destruct order.U.S. Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Soviet Space Programs, 1976-80: Unmanned Space Activities (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985) p1103 Thirty years after its launch, Kosmos 1171 remained in orbit. The two competing U.S. car racing organizations, the United States Auto Club (USAC) and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), agreed on a partial merger as the Championship Racing League (CRL), with USAC and CART jointly sanctioning the races of the 1980 Indy Car racing season."USAC, CART reconcile; agree to race as new CRL", Fort Myers (FL) News-Press, April 4, 1980, p6C The partnership lasted for only five races, starting with the Datsun Twin 200 on April 13 in Ontario, California, and included the Indianapolis 500. After the Red Roof Inns 150 on July 13, the USAC withdrew from the agreement. Johnny Rutherford, who finished in first place of three of the races, was the champion of the brief CRL season. Born: Suella Braverman, Home Secretary of the United Kingdom since 2022; in Harrow, London Died: Edward Bullard, 72, British geophysicist who found new evidence to confirm the continental drift Mary McCarty, 56, American stage, film and TV character actress.
April 4, 1980 (Friday) Puerto Rican terrorists Carlos Alberto Torres, Oscar López Rivera, Elizam Escobar, Adolfo Matos, and seven other members of the Puerto Rican nationalist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña (FALN), were arrested in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois on suspicion of complicity in 100 attempted and successful bombings over a six-year period. Torres had been on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 1977. Evanston police were alerted by a resident who had called concerning suspicious activity by nine people who were making repeated trips to and from a van parked "in the 1200 block of Forest Avenue"."11 FALN terror suspects seized with arsenal here— Suburb cops grab 'most wanted' man", Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1980, p1 Many of the group would accept an offer of presidential clemency on September 7, 1999."12 jailed FALN members take U.S. clemency deal", Chicago Tribune, September 8, 1999, p1 López Rivera would refuse clemency and remain in federal prison until the commutation of his 55-year prison sentence in 2017."Puerto Rican nationalist returns to hero's welcome", Chicago Tribune, May 19, 2017, p1 Fidel Castro removed the Cuban police who had been guarding the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, allowing the embassy grounds to become a haven for dissatisfied Cuban citizens.David W. Engstrom, Presidential Decision Making Adrift: The Carter Administration and the Mariel Boatlift (Rowman & Littlefield, 1997) p54 After the police were removed, hundreds of Cubans entered the diplomatic protection of the embassy grounds."1,300 Cubans rush Peru's Embassy— Scramble for asylum abroad sought after guards removed", Arizona Republic, April 6, 1980, p5 The radical environmental advocacy group Earth First! was founded by Dave Foreman and four other men— Howie Wolke, Mike Roselle, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar— as the group was driving home from the Pinacate Desert in Mexico.Douglas Long, Ecoterrorism (Facts on File, 2014) p101Kenn Kassman, Envisioning Ecotopia: The U.S. Green Movement and the Politics of Radical Social Change (Praeger Press, 1997) p23 Died: Red Sovine (Woodrow Wilson Sovine), 62, American country music singer and songwriter known for the "truck driver songs" "Teddy Bear" and "Phantom 309", from a heart attack and subsequent crash while driving in Nashville. Aleksander Ford (stage name for Mosze Lifszyc), 71, Polish film director who had fallen into disfavor with Poland's Communist government and fled to the U.S. in 1968, killed himself in Miami.
April 5, 1980 (Saturday) The long-running American police drama Hawaii Five-O came to an end after 12 seasons and 279 episodes."Last Call for 'Hawaii Five-O'", Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1980, pII-3 In the series finale, Honolulu police detective Steve McGarrett (portrayed by actor Jack Lord was finally able to capture his archenemy, Wo Fat (played by Khigh Dhiegh), who had been introduced on the first episode on September 20, 1968.