The following events happened in July 1980:
July 1, 1980 (Tuesday) "O Canada" became the national anthem for Canada after the National Anthem Act received royal assent and took effect as part of the Dominion Day celebrations."First official anthem highlights festivities", Calgary Herald, July 2, 1980, pA1"Canadians Sing New Anthem", Pittsburgh Press, July 2, 1980, p1 In Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch became the first newspaper to provide an electronic edition for computer users, as part of a service from the electronic CompuServe Information Service."Newspapers enter age of electronics", Dayton (O.) Daily News, July 24, 1980, p4 In a precursor to newspaper websites on the Internet, the text of the Dispatch could be read on the home computers of CompuServe's 3,000 subscribers in Columbus. Initially the service was available from 6:00 in the evening to 5:00 in the morning on weekdays, and all day on weekends and holidays, and transmitted at a rate of 300 words per minute. The cost was an additional 8.33 cents per minute ($5.00 per hour, equivalent to $15.50 per hour in 2020). CompuServe unveiled similar deliveries for 10 other metropolitan newspapers, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Sun-Times."Eleven newspapers chosen for electronic delivery test", Boston Globe, June 27, 1980, p21 The Los Angeles Unified School District became the largest school system in the United States to adopt a calendar of year-round school as part of easing congestion in 44 overcrowded schools, starting with ten units (four elementary schools, and six middle and junior high schools. On July 7, the plan started in 34 more elementaries."Year-Round Classes at 34 Schools Start", Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1980, p3 Under the plan, one-fourth of the elementary students in a year-round school were on a 3-week vacation at any given time for every 9 weeks in school. In secondary schools, the rotation was 18 weeks of school with 6 week vacation breaks throughout the school year. The deregulation of the American trucking industry began as U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 into law."Mixed results expected from trucking deregulation act", The Capital Times (Madison WI), July 5, 1980, p19 In Oslo, Steve Ovett broke the world record for fastest mile, running in 3 minutes, 48.8 seconds, 2/10ths of a second faster than the mark of 3:49.0 set by his fellow Briton, Sebastian Coe in 1979. Earlier in the day, Coe set a new record for running 1,000 meters, in 2 minutes, 13.40 seconds, besting Rick Wohlhuter's 1976 record of 2:13.90."3:48.8 Takes Away Bitter Rival's Mile Record", Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1980, p III-1 The U.S. Congress authorized a site of two acres in Constitution Gardens near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.'"Vietnam War Memorial Authorized", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 2, 1980, p3 With the $2.3 million cost for the memorial to paid for from private donations. In Kansas City, Missouri, the 40-story tall Hyatt Regency Hotel opened to the public, featuring an atrium above the lobby that included three pedestrian bridges and a construction flaw caused by the alteration of the support for the second and fourth floor bridges."Root Cause Analysis of the Hyatt Regency Disaster — Cautionary Tale About Assumptions", ThinkReliability.com website Slightly more than a year later, on July 17, 1981, the decision to suspend the second floor bridge from the bridge above it, rather than from the ceiling, would result in the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse, killing 114 people and injuring 216."Pulitzer Winner Recalls Hyatt Skywalk Collapse", by Mica Marriott, The Gardner (MA) News, January 5, 2014 Born: Nelson Cruz, Dominican Republic-born U.S. baseball outfielder, 2014 American League home run leader; in Las Matas de Santa Cruz Ricky Champ, English TV actor; in Southend-on-Sea, Essex Mizz Nina (stage name for Shazrina binti Azman), Malaysian fashion designer and TV personality; in Kuala Lumpur Died: C. P. Snow, 74, English novelist
July 2, 1980 (Wednesday) The government of Poland announced that the price for consumer goods was being increased, after 14 years of prices being maintained at the same level with government subsidies. Two previous attempts to raise the price of meat— in December 1970 and June 1976— had been rescinded after rioting. Trybuna Ludu, the official newspaper of the ruling Polish United Workers Party, announced that increases were made because "there are now ways speedily to improve the market situation." The price of beef doubled from $1.50 per pound to $3.00 per pound, and raw bacon to $2.30 per pound."Polish workers protest doubling of meat prices", AP report in Dayton (O.) Daily News, July 3, 1980, p1 The first reported reaction was that 6,000 employees of a tractor factory in the Warsaw suburb of Ursus walked off the job in a one-day strike. Two days later, thousands of Polish workers walked off the job on what would be the first of many labor strikes that would lead to the recognition of the Solidarity Movement in August. U.S. President Jimmy Carter issued Presidential Proclamation 4771 and re-instated the requirement that young men register with the Selective Service System."Carter Orders Young Men to Sign for Draft", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 3, 1980, p3 At that time it was required that all males, born on or after January 1, 1960, register with the Selective Service System. Those who were now in this category were male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25; they were required to register within 30 days of their 18th birthday even if they were not actually eligible to join the military. The government of Turkish Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel narrowly survived a vote of confidence in the lower house of parliament, with 214 supporting his removal and 227 opposed."Turkish minority government survives a no-confidence vote", Baltimore Sun, July 3, 1980, p2 Turkish military leaders had planned for a coup d'état to take place on July 11, but called it off in the wake of the vote; the Supreme Military Council met again on August 26 and overthrew Demirel's government on September 12.Feroz Ahmad, Turkey: The Quest for Identity (Simon & Schuster Oneworld Publications, 2014) A U.S. federal judge in Miami ordered a halt to deportation of more than 4,000 black Haitians. In a 180-page decision, James L. King wrote that people who fled Haiti were victims of prejudice by the United States government and had been denied due process by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)."Judge Halts Deportations of Haitians, Criticizes U.S.", Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1980, p1 The comedy Airplane!, a parody of the popular disaster film genre, was released throughout the U.S. and Canada, and attracted generally favorable reviews. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that "'Airplane!' has jokes— hilarious jokes— to spare. It's also clever and confident and furiously energetic.""'Airplane!,' Disaster-Film Spoof", The New York Times, July 2, 1980, pC17 and Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called in "a thrillingly nutty send-up of the movies, with the redeeming and overdue social value of generous and innocent laughter.""'Airplane!' Sends Up a Comic Boom", Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1980, pVI-1 However, Kathleen Carroll of the Daily News wrote that after the first hour, "'Airplane' loses its buoyancy. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker... become so desperate for laughs that the jokes descend to a much cruder level. And 'Airplane' does an abrupt nosedive, turning into a hopelessly flat movie.""'Airplane' loses altitude fast", Daily News (New York), July 2, 1980, p75 Greenland's first national soccer football team played its first international match. The meeting, at Sauðárkrókur at the first annual Greenland Cup in Iceland, was against another Danish territory, the Faroe Islands. The new team lost its first game, 6–0.Greenland Cup results, RecSportSoccerStatisticsFoundation (RSSSF) The next day, Greenland hosted Iceland in Húsavík, losing 4–1, finishing third in the tournament. Harborplace opened as a centerpiece of the revival of downtown Baltimore and the rebuilding of Baltimore's Inner Harbor."Today, Harborplace and city are one", Baltimore Sun, July 2, 1980, p1 The $20 million shopping center had 120 restaurants, specialty markets and shops shielded beneath two glass-enclosed pavilions."Baltimore: Will Harborplace become model for decaying center cities?", Dayton (O.) Journal Herald, July 3, 1980, p111
July 3, 1980 (Thursday) The pilot of a crop-dusting airplane used his aircraft to take himself and 19 other people out of the Socialist Republic of Romania to flee the Communist government of Nicolae Ceaușescu."20 Flee From Romania in Biplane", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 4, 1980, p9 After taking off from Arad, Aurel Popescu flew across the Hungarian People's Republic for two hours before his fuel ran out as he crossed into Austria and glided to a safe landing in a cornfield near the village of Pertlstein. Two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Elena Mukhina, the 1978 world champion in gymnastics was severely injured while training in Minsk."Soviet gynast injures neck in training", Louisville Courier-Journal, July 14, 1980, pD-5 Mukhina fractured her cervical spine while practicing difficult maneuvers and was permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Born: Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricket bowler; in Jalandhar, Punjab state Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer, gold medalist in the 2005 and 2007 world championships and member of 2004 Olympic relay team; in Pretoria Died: Abdelhamid Sharaf, 41, Prime Minister of Jordan since December; from a heart attack. King Hussein announced the death in a live radio broadcast and said that "His death could not have come at a worse time.""Jordan premier Sharaf dies of heart attack at 41", UPI report in Boston Globe, July 4, 1980, p. 8
July 4, 1980 (Friday) Evonne Goolagong of Australia defeated Chris Evert Lloyd of the U.S. to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon for the first time in nine years."Goolagong Wins Wimbledon Women's Title", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 5, 1980, p1 A group of 26 undocumented migrants from El Salvador were smuggled across the border from Mexico into the United States, and then robbed by their guides and abandoned in the Yuma Desert within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. The next day, one of the survivors reached Arizona State Route 85 near the town of Ajo. Searchers from the Pima County sheriff's office, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Customs Service, the National Park Service and the Arizona Department of Public Safety then searched the area and found 12 other survivors, along with 13 bodies of the unfortunate travelers who had died from dehydration."Aliens Robbed, Abandoned in Desert; 13 Die— Salvadorans Left in 110-Degree Arizona Heat by Smugglers", Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1980, p1 Border patrol agents had found three survivors on Friday night, who had insisted that there were no other people in the park, and a search was not started until 24 hours later."10 Aliens May Have Died Because Survivors Told Lie", Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1980, p1
July 5, 1980 (Saturday) Björn Borg of Sweden defeated John McEnroe of the United States to win his fifth consecutive singles title at Wimbledon in what one reporter described as "the tennis match to end all tennis matches"."McEnroe Breaks the Tie, but He Can't Break Borg— The Swede Wins the Fifth Set... and His Fifth Title in a Row", by Ted Green, Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1980, pIII-1 The finals match came down to a tiebreaker in the fifth game of the fifth set after McEnroe edged Borg, 7 games to 6 in a tie breaker to even the best-of-5 match, two sets to two. Born: Fabián Ríos, Colombian TV actor, in Curití