January 1980


The following events happened in January 1980:

January 1, 1980 (Tuesday)

January 2, 1980 (Wednesday)

January 3, 1980 (Thursday)

  • U.S. President Jimmy Carter asked the Senate to delay further consideration of ratification of the SALT II Treaty, the second U.S. and U.S.S.R. agreement from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to limit the number of nuclear missiles. The treaty had been signed on June 18, 1979, but would never be ratified. Both sides would voluntarily avoid building more missiles beyond the limitations, but the U.S. would exceed the limits in 1986. On July 31, 1991, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would sign a new agreement to reduce their stockpile of missiles, START, which would be ratified and later superseded by new agreements.
  • The five-member Revolutionary Government Junta that had ruled El Salvador since October 15 fell apart as two of the three civilian members resigned, leaving the Central American nation controlled by two Salvadoran colonels and one civilian, who resigned the next day. Earlier in the week, all but one of the cabinet ministers had quit in protest over the military domination of the government that had replaced the president, General Carlos Humberto Romero. All three civilian members of the junta resigned on January 3, 1980, along with 10 of the 11 cabinet ministers. The two military leaders, junta chairman Adolfo Majano and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez, formed a second junta with three new civilians, José Morales, Héctor Dada, and José Ávalos replacing Guillermo Ungo, Mario Andino and Román Mayorga.
  • Francisco de Sá Carneiro took office as Prime Minister of Portugal after his Social Democratic Party captured 128 of the 250 seats in Parliament in the December 2 election for the Assembleia da República, succeeding Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo. Sá Carneiro would be killed in a plane crash before the end of the year, on December 4, 1980.
  • Ottis Anderson, the St. Louis Cardinals running back who shattered the NFL's rookie rushing record, became the first player in NFC history to earn both the UPI Player and Rookie of the year Awards when he was a runaway choice as the conference's top first-year player.
  • The first production model of the VAZ-2105 automobile, also known as Lada Riva, has been produced in Tolyatti, USSR. It represents an improved and "freshened" version of VAZ-2101, which itself was based on Fiat 124. It would go on to become the world's third best selling, single generation automobile platform, and one of the longest production run platforms, seizing production in 2015.
  • Died: Joy Adamson, 69, Austro-Hungarian naturalist and author of the bestselling book Born Free, was murdered by a former employee. The media initially reported that Adamson, famous for raising Elsa the lioness from a cub to maturity, had been killed by a lion. On February 8, the employee, Paul Ekai, was charged with Adamson's murder and convicted on August 28, 1981.

January 4, 1980 (Friday)

January 5, 1980 (Saturday)

January 6, 1980 (Sunday)

January 7, 1980 (Monday)

  • U.S. President Carter signed the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 into law, providing a guaranteed federal government loan of $1.5 billion to bail out the financially ailing Chrysler Corporation. "This legislation does not violate the principle of letting free enterprise function on its own," President Carter said, "because Chrysler is unique in its present circumstance." The ten-year loan came with conditions that Chrysler would turn over $162,500,000 of its stock to its employees, in return for hourly workers to forgo $462,500,000 of bargained for wage increases, and white-collar employees yielding $125 million of future raises. Chrysler was also required to obtain $500,000,000 in additional private bank loans on top of the federal loan, and to sell $1.43 billion of its own assets to raise money. Within less than four years, Chrysler would pay off the loan, plus interest, to the United States Treasury, presenting a final check for $813,487,500 to the government on August 12, 1983.
  • The United Nations Security Council voted, 13 to 2, to approve UNSC Resolution 462 to demand that the Soviet Union withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, which the USSR had invaded on December 22. The Soviets used their veto power, as one of the five permanent members of the council, to negate the resolution. Two days later, the Security Council approved Resolution 463, a motion to submit the question to the entire General Assembly for consideration, a procedural move that could not be vetoed.
  • Sister Carolyn Farrell became the first nun to govern an American city, after the city council selected her as the new Mayor of Dubuque, Iowa. Sister Carolyn was part of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
  • National Airlines, one of three U.S. carriers that had scheduled passenger flights to Europe prior to the 1978 deregulation of the industry, was purchased by Pan American World Airways for $437,000,000. Pan Am acquired National's fleet of 43 Boeing 727 jets and 16 DC-10 jumbo jets, but also worsened its financial problems and would cease operations on December 4, 1991.
  • Died:
  • *Simonne Mathieu, 71, French tennis player who won the women's French Championships singles title in 1938 and 1939, and had 11 doubles titles at the French Open and at Wimbledon
  • *Dov Yosef, 80, Canadian-born Israeli politician in nine ministries from 1948 to 1966

January 8, 1980 (Tuesday)

January 9, 1980 (Wednesday)

January 10, 1980 (Thursday)

January 11, 1980 (Friday)

January 12, 1980 (Saturday)

January 13, 1980 (Sunday)

January 14, 1980 (Monday)

January 15, 1980 (Tuesday)

  • The Islamic Republic of Iran ordered all foreign television journalists to leave the country by midnight on Friday.
  • Brandon Tartikoff, who would turn around the fortunes of the third-place NBC television network during the 1980s, became chief of programming for the network at the age of 31, when he was named as the new President of NBC Entertainment.
  • In an unusual show of vigilante justice, a mob of about 300 people in the town of Belford Roxo in Rio de Janeiro state beat two robbers to death. The two thieves had boarded a bus, forced passengers in the impoverished town to give up money at gunpoint, and then were chased by an outraged mob. One thief was shot four times by a victim. The two men had taken less than ten dollars.

January 16, 1980 (Wednesday)

January 17, 1980 (Thursday)

January 18, 1980 (Friday)

  • The price of silver hit its peak during trading as brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt and Lamar Hunt attempted to corner the market by buying one-third of the world's silver in what economists would later describe as "one of the most serious manipulations of an American futures market to occur in this century." At the start of 1979, the price had been $6.08 per troy ounce. After January 18, the price steadily declined, with a massive selloff on March 27, 1980, now referred to as Silver Thursday.
  • The Almö Bridge, connecting the Swedish city of Tjörn to the mainland, collapsed after the Norwegian freighter MS Star Clipper struck the bridge arch at 1:27 in the morning and took out its main span. Eight motorists were killed when, driving through a fog and unaware that the bridge was out, plunged to their deaths below into the waters of the Hake Fjord. Police on the mainland sealed off their side of the bridge within 14 minutes. According to a report of the Associated Press, "A policeman on Tjorn Island was telephoned at home some 10 minutes after the accident, but it took him 50 minutes to get dressed and drive to the site to block the other end, police said."
  • Born:
  • *Julius Peppers, American football defensive end and NFL star; in Wilson, North Carolina
  • *Estelle, British singer and songwriter; in London
  • *Jason Segel, American TV comedian and actor known for How I Met Your Mother; in Los Angeles
  • Died:
  • *Cecil Beaton, 76, English costume designer for stage and film, winner for four Tony Awards and three Academy Awards
  • *Barbara Britton, 59, American film, radio and television actress best known as one of the title characters in the Mr. and Mrs. North broadcast series; from pancreatic cancer

January 19, 1980 (Saturday)

January 20, 1980 (Sunday)

  • The Pittsburgh Steelers pro football team defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 31 to 19, to win Super Bowl XIV and their fourth NFL title in six seasons. Played in Pasadena, California, at the Rose Bowl Stadium, the game was watched by 103,985 spectators, a record that still stands, as well as an estimated 76,200,000 viewers on television. The Rams led the game at the end of each of the first three quarters, but Pittsburgh scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach with a less than two minutes to play.
  • The collapse of wooden bleachers during a bullfight in the Colombian town of Sincelejo, and the subsequent stampede of panicked survivors who trampled those people who were on the ground, killed 222 spectators. An estimated 40,000 fans were at the bullring, the largest in the South American nation, and about 3,000 had been standing on the section that fell. Investigators concluded that the ground beneath the supporting beams had been softened by recent heavy rains.
  • U.S. President Carter informed the United States Olympic Committee that he wanted the USOC not to participate in the Summer Olympic Games, scheduled to open in Moscow on July 19, as a response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. "The course I am urging is necessary to help secure the peace of the world at this critical time," he wrote in a letter to USOC President Robert Kane, adding "If our response to aggression is to continue with international sports as usual in the capital of the aggressor, our other steps to deter aggression are undermined." Within one week, the U.S. Congress passed a non-binding resolution of support for a deadline giving the Soviet Union until February 20 to withdraw invading troops from Afghanistan, with 386-12 approval in the House and 88-4 approval in the Senate.
  • In Ljubljana, as Yugoslavian head of state Josip Broz Tito became worse in his illness, his left leg was amputated.
  • Born:
  • *Philippe Gagnon, Canadian Paralympic gold medalist and swimmer; in Saguenay, Quebec
  • *Philippe Cousteau Jr., U.S. environmentalist, journalist and TV personality; in Santa Monica, California

January 21, 1980 (Monday)

  • The price of gold reached a record high of $887.50 per troy ounce shortly after the opening of the Commodity Exchange in New York City, before dropping during the day to close at $851.00. The price on the London Bullion Market Association trading floor closed at a record of $843.00 per troy ounce. In 2019, the price would close at $1,523 per tr.oz.
  • All 128 people on board Iran Air Flight 291 were killed when the Boeing 727 jet crashed on its approach to Tehran after a 90-minute flight from Mashhad, Iran's second largest city. At 7:11 in the evening, the jet went down in the Elburz Mountains about from the Tehran-Mehrabad Airport.
  • American spy Christopher John Boyce, convicted in 1977 of selling classified documents to the Soviet Union, escaped from the federal prison in Lompoc, California, where he was serving a 40-year sentence. Boyce eluded capture for almost two years, committing 17 bank robberies in an attempt to finance an escape to the U.S.S.R., before being arrested by U.S. Marshals on August 21, 1981. Boyce, nicknamed "the Falcon" and the subject of a book and the 1985 film The Falcon and the Snowman, would be released in 2002 to a halfway house in San Francisco, then paroled on March 14, 2003, after having served 25 years of an 89-year prison sentence.
  • The song I Got You by Split Enz, which would go on to become the best-selling single in Australian history up to that time, was released.
  • Born:
  • *Nana Mizuki, Japanese pop singer and voice singer; in Niihama, Ehime
  • *Kevin McKenna, Canadian soccer football centre back and Canadian national team player; in Calgary
  • Died: Georges Painvin, 93, French cryptanalyst who broke the German ADFGVX cipher during World War One

January 22, 1980 (Tuesday)

  • Andrei Sakharov, Soviet nuclear physicist and human rights activist, was arrested in Moscow and then deported to the city of Gorky, off limits at the time to foreigners. Sakharov, who had publicly criticized the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, was leaving his apartment to attend a meeting when police stopped his car and drove him to the office of prosecutor general Aleksandr Rekunkov, who informed him of his relocation to Gorky. Yelena Bonner, Sakharov's wife, was allowed to go with him and the two were then taken to Domodedovo Airport and then flown to the exile city. Sakharov, the chief designer of the Soviet Union's first hydrogen bomb, would live in exile in Gorky until December 19, 1986, and would live for almost three more years in Moscow until his death on December 14, 1989.
  • The Guardia Nacional of El Salvador fired into a crowd of anti-government protesters in San Salvador, killing at least 22 people and possibly as many as 50, while wounding hundreds of others.
  • Born: Christopher Masterson, American TV actor known for Malcolm in the Middle; in Hempstead, New York

January 23, 1980 (Wednesday)

January 24, 1980 (Thursday)

January 25, 1980 (Friday)

  • Voters in Iran participated in that nation's first presidential election and overwhelmingly favored Foreign Minister Abolhassan Banisadr, the candidate endorsed by Iran's spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini. Banisadr received more than 75 percent of the votes in a field of eight candidates. The second-place finisher, Ahmad Madani received less than 16 percent. Banisadr was inaugurated as the Islamic Republic's first President on February 5, but would serve only 16 months before being removed from office by the Majlis. After a month in hiding, Banisadr was able to fly out of Iran and would eventually live in exile in France.
  • At 11:00 in the evening Eastern Time, Black Entertainment Television began telecasting as the first cable channel aimed at African American audiences. Robert L. Johnson, President of BET, said in a press release "The creation of a black television network means that, for the first time in this nation's history, black Americans will have access to a network that programs specifically to their entertainment and informational interests." The initial offering, available to 350 cable systems and 4,500,000 households, was the 1974 film Visit to a Chief's Son. BET originally operated only two hours per week, on Friday nights, offering unedited films, along with commercials. The next two programs were 1977's Which Way Is Up? on February 1 and Scott Joplin on February 8.
  • Born:
  • *Christian Olsson, Swedish Olympic gold medalist and professional track and field athlete; in Gothenburg
  • *Xavi, Spanish soccer football midfielder with 133 appearances for the Spanish national team; in Terrassa, Barcelona province
  • *Michelle McCool, American professional wrestler and WWE Women's Champion; in Palatka, Florida

January 26, 1980 (Saturday)

January 27, 1980 (Sunday)

  • Disguised as a Canadian film crew, four United States diplomats and their spouses — Joseph and Kathleen Stafford, Mark and Cora Lijek, Bob Anders and Lee Schatz — used fake Canadian passports to escape from Tehran, Iran, as they boarded Swissair Flight 363 at 5:30 in the morning and flew to Zürich. On November 4, five members of the group had escaped from the back of the U.S. Embassy compound during a rainstorm, even as it was being taken over by student demonstrators, and were joined by a sixth who had been working in a nearby office. For almost three months, they were protected by Kenneth D. Taylor, Canada's Ambassador to Iran and in the home of Canada's chief immigration officer, John Sheardown. The New York Times was aware of the six Americans, but the editors agreed with the U.S. Department of State not to reveal the story. Antonio J. Mendez of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Technical Service provided the fake passports, along with disguise materials and clothing "to match what might be expected of a film crew", and then escorted the six Americans to the Mehrabad Airport. The event would be dramatized in the 2012 film Argo.
  • The border between Egypt and Israel was opened for the first time since the founding of Israel in 1948. A woman named Geula Gilboa was the first Israeli citizen to cross into Israel by land, traveling across the border at El Arish, where she was welcomed by Egyptian officials. Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Israel's Prime Minister Menahem Begin announced the agreement on November 21, 1977.
  • A group of 300 Tunisian rebels crossed from Libya into Tunisia and attacked Gafsa, killing 20 people.
  • Robert Mugabe, leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union, returned to Rhodesia after more than four years in exile to run in the upcoming national elections, and was greeted in Salisbury by a crowd of 200,000 people, noted as a larger crowd than that which had greeted his rival, Joshua Nkomo. ZANU won the control in parliamentary elections and Mugabe became the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe on April 18.
  • David Sutton, a coin shop owner in Everett, Washington, became the first victim of Charles T. Sinclair, the "Coin Shop Killer".
  • Born: Marat Safin, Russian-born professional tennis player, winner of the 2000 U.S. Open and the 2005 Australian Open, and the ATP #1 ranked player for nine weeks in 2000; in Moscow
  • Died:
  • *Giuseppe "Peppino" De Filippo, 76, Italian comedian and film actor
  • *Sir Eric Wyndham White, 67, British economist and the first executive secretary of GATT

January 28, 1980 (Monday)

  • Twenty-three of the 50 crew died when the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Blackthorn collided with the oil tanker SS Capricorn in Tampa Bay and then capsized. At 8:21 in the evening, the cutter and the much larger tanker impacted. The anchor of Capricorn tore into the hull of Blackthorn, then separated, pulling the cutter downward and leaving a large hole that filled with water. Within three minutes, by 8:24, the Coast Guard cutter sank along with the crew who had not been able to evacuate. A shrimp boat, The Bayou rescued 22 of the 27 survivors from chilly waters.
  • The Coca-Cola Company announced that it would cease sweetening its beverages with sucrose from cane sugar, and began substituting high-fructose corn syrup, which caused a slight, but noticeable, change in the flavor. A spokesman said, "The sugar from corn is just an alternative sweetener as was the case years ago when beet sugar became an alternate sugar to sugar cane. It is an alternative sweetener and in most cases is expected to result in a less expensive sweetener system which may help offset other increased costs."
  • Born:
  • *Nick Carter, American pop musician and founding member of the Backstreet Boys; in Jamestown, New York
  • *Yasuhito Endō, Japanese soccer football midfielder with the most appearances for the national team; in Kagoshima
  • Died:
  • *Franco Evangelisti (composer), 54, Italian electronic music composer
  • *James J. Saxon, 65, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency from 1961 to 1967

January 29, 1980 (Tuesday)

  • The Rubik's Cube made its international debut at The British Toy and Hobby Fair, Earl's Court, London.
  • The song Call Me by Blondie, which would become the best-selling single of the U.S. in the Billboard Hot 100, was released.
  • Born: Jason James Richter, American child actor known for the Free Willy series of films; in Medford, Oregon
  • Died:
  • *Jimmy Durante, 86, American film, radio and television comedian
  • *Kroger Babb, 73, American exploitation film promoter

January 30, 1980 (Wednesday)

January 31, 1980 (Thursday)

  • Spain's Embassy in Guatemala was invaded and set on fire during an attempt by Guatemalan commandos to free 10 people taken hostage by the Committee for Peasant Unity. Eight of the hostages and 28 of the occupiers were burned to death after a fire swept through the second floor. Spain severed all diplomatic relations with Guatemala after the incident.
  • Kang Shi'en, a Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China and chief of the nation's Economic Commission, made the first statement from the Chinese government that the nation's population had reached one billion people. Kang's remarks came in an address to a group of delegates from Norway's shipping industry, when he said "Even if we succeed in restricting the population, we will have 1 billion, 200 million people by the year 2000. We already have 1 billion." Western analysts noted that Kang's estimate "presumably includes the 17 million people on Taiwan, which the Peking government considers a part of China." The official number as of the Census of July 1, 1982 was that the mainland population was 1,008,180,738 people, a figure announced in the newspaper People's Daily on October 27, 1982.
  • U.S. Representative Daniel J. Flood of Pennsylvania resigned from Congress after being censured for his conviction for bribery.
  • Queen Queen Juliana of the Netherlands announced that she would abdicate the throne on April 30, her 71st birthday, in favor of her eldest daughter, Crown Princess Beatrix. Juliana, who had ascended the throne on September 4, 1948, upon the abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina, timed the nationally televised announcement for Beatrix's 42nd birthday.