This Year in History:
1978
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
On June 25, 1978, activists hoist a vibrant rainbow flag in the midst of the festivities for San Francisco’s Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day parade. According to its creator, Gilbert…
On July 5, 1978, a Regional Transportation District (RTD) bus stops at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway in Denver, Colorado. As passengers board, a group of people in…
On July 11, 1978, a truck carrying liquid gas crashes into a campsite, crowded with vacationers, in San Carlos de la Rapita, Spain. The resulting explosion killed more than 200…
On July 13, 1978, Ford Motor Company chairman Henry Ford II fires Lee Iacocca as Ford’s president, ending years of tension between the two men. Born to an immigrant family…
On July 15, 1978, the “Longest Walk”—a 2,800‑mile trek for Native American justice that had started with several hundred marchers in California in California—ends in Washington, D.C., accompanied by thousands…
On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived via in‑vitro fertilization (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to…
On July 28, 1978, National Lampoon’s Animal House, a movie spoof about 1960s college fraternities starring John Belushi, opens in U.S. theaters. Produced with an estimated budget of $3 million,…
On August 10, 1978, three teenage girls die after their 1973 Ford Pinto is rammed from behind by a van and bursts into flames on an Indiana highway. The fatal…
Oakland Raiders free safety Jack Tatum levels New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley with a helmet‑to‑helmet hit in a preseason game, leaving Stingley paralyzed for life. Despite the sport’s…
The Double Eagle II completes the first transatlantic balloon flight when it lands in a barley field near Paris, 137 hours after lifting off from Presque Isle, Maine. The helium‑filled…
On August 26, 1978, Frankie Valli’s “Grease”—reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. the second chart‑topping hit from the album of the same name. The 1960s was the…
In this This Day in History video, the 9/15 Baptist church bombing by the Ku Klux Klan is covered. Four young girls were killed during Governor George Wallace’s administration. It…
On September 15, 1978, boxer Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his…
An extremely deadly earthquake rocks Iran, killing more than 25,000 people on this day in 1978. The 7.7‑magnitude quake struck the northeastern part of the country, an area that has…
At the White House in Washington, D.C., Egyptian President Anwar el‑Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Accords, laying the groundwork for a permanent peace agreement…
A Pacific Southwest Airlines jet collides in mid‑air with a small Cessna over San Diego, killing 144 people on September 25, 1978. The wreckage of the planes falls into a…
On October 5, 1978, Isaac Bashevis Singer wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. Singer wrote in Yiddish about Jewish life in Poland and the United States, and translations of his…
Disco was at the absolute zenith of its popularity in 1978, and with the likes of even Barbra Streisand, Frankie Valli and Rod Stewart falling under its intoxicating spell, the…
On this day in 1978, Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park” reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100, giving the Queen of Disco her first #1 pop hit. “MacArthur Park” was…
On November 11, 1978, a stuntman on the Georgia set of “The Dukes of Hazzard” launches the show’s iconic automobile, a 1969 Dodge Charger named the General Lee, off a makeshift…
