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August 1978

Month of 1978 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

August 1978
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The following events occurred in August 1978:

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August 6, 1978: Pope Paul VI dies after 15 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church
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August 1, 1978 (Tuesday)

  • The Montoneros terrorist group made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the chairman of Argentina's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rear Admiral Armando Lambruschini, in the bombing of a nine-story apartment building. Lambruschini was uninjured but three civilians were killed, including the Admiral's 15-year-old daughter.[1]

August 2, 1978 (Wednesday)

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Warning sign at former Love Canal neighborhood
  • The Health Commissioner of the U.S. state of New York declared a public health emergency arising from the toxic contamination of the water supply of Niagara Falls, New York, particularly in the Love Canal neighborhood with over 1,000 residences and an elementary school. Dr. Robert P. Whalen initially recommended that "pregnant women should move away at once" from the site and declared it to be "a great and imminent peril to the health of the general public... as a result of exposure to toxic substances."[2] In 1976, two reporters from the Niagara Gazette, David Pollak and David Russell, had first discovered the presence of poisonous substances in a dumpsite that had been used near the Love Canal neighborhood by the Hooker Chemical Company.[3] Another investigative reporter, Michael Brown, followed up in early 1978 and found that residents had suffered a higher rate of illnesses and disabilities than the national average, and that the primary toxic chemical in the dumpsite was dioxin.[4] On August 7, U.S. President Jimmy Carter invoked use of the new Superfund to evacuate the Love Canal neighborhood and then to initiate a cleanup that would until 2004; in all, 950 families were relocated.[5]
  • Six firefighters were killed and 28 injured while responding to a blaze at the Waldbaum's supermarket at 2892 Ocean Avenue in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood in Brooklyn in New York City. The group was on top of the building's roof when the structure collapsed.[6]
  • Died:
    • Totie Fields (stage name for Sophie Feldman), 48, American comedian, died from a pulmonary embolism the day before she was scheduled to begin a two weeks of shows at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas.[7]
    • Richard D. Obenshain, 42, Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Virginia, was killed in a small plane crash while returning to Richmond from a day of campaigning. Obenshain, favored to win the November 7 election to replace retiring Senator William L. Scott, died along with an aide and the pilot of the twin-engine Piper Seneca.[8][9]John Warner, whom Obenshain had defeated in the Republican primary would become the new nominee. Warner, husband of Elizabeth Taylor, would win in November and retain the U.S. Senate seat until 2009.[10]
    • Carlos Chávez, 79, Mexican composer and conductor who founded the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico (Orquesta Sinfónica de Mexico)[11][12]
    • Ronald Bannerman, New Zealand World War One flying ace with 17 victories[13]
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August 3, 1978 (Thursday)

August 4, 1978 (Friday)

  • A bus accident drowned 40 people near Eastman, Quebec, with only 7 survivors, in what was, at the time, the deadliest road accident in Canadian history. The bus had taken a group of handicapped residents of the town of Asbestos, Quebec, to watch a play at the Théâtre de la Marjolaine in Eastman and was returning them home when its brakes failed while it was descending a steep hill toward the Lac d'Argent. The vehicle went across a beach, skimmed across the lake and stopped in water 20 metres (66 ft) deep, where it floated for 15 minutes before sinking. The driver and six volunteers were able to swim to safety, while the people left inside were unable to leave.[17] The bus was found the next day at the bottom of the lake, and had the bodies of 41 passengers.[18]
  • A flash flood killed at least nine people in the U.S. town of Albany, Texas and left others missing.[19]
  • Died:
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August 5, 1978 (Saturday)

  • The Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, announced the introduction of Western-type political freedoms in the indefinite future, with legislation to be considered by the Iranian parliament in October. Speaking on TV, the Shah told viewers "We shall give the maximum possible political liberties, freedom of speech and of the press, freedom to stage public demonstrations within the limits of law," but added that "Iran's monarchy, Iran's fate is not something to tamper with."[21]
  • At Islamabad in Pakistan, terrorists backed by Iraq invaded the liaison office of the Palestine Liberation Organization and fired submachine guns, killing four people, in an attempt to assassinate the Yousaf Abu Hantash, the PLO diplomatic representative. Shouting out Hantash's name, the two gunmen were unable to recognize him from among the crowd of Palestinians who were visiting the office at the time.[22]
  • Born: Carolina Duer, Argentine boxer and holder of the women's bantamweight title in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight title and the World Boxing Organization (WBO); in Buenos Aires[23]
  • Died: Arshad al-Umari, 90, Prime Minister of Iraq during 1946 and 1954
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August 6, 1978 (Sunday)

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August 7, 1978 (Monday)

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August 8, 1978 (Tuesday)

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August 9, 1978 (Wednesday)

  • In Greece, the pilot and co-pilot of Olympic Airways Flight 411 were able to save all 418 people on board and to prevent the Boeing 747 from crashing into downtown Athens. At 2:00 in the afternoon, the aircraft took off from Ellinikon International Airport with a crew of 18 and 400 passengers bound for New York's JFK Airport. One of the engines failed and a member of the crew mistakenly turned off the water pump switch, preventing the airplane from climbing higher than 35 feet (11 m) altitude.[41] Captain Sifis Migadis and Captain Kostas Fikardos were able to keep the other engines from stalling and climbed to 209 feet (64 m), narrowly clearing 200 feet (61 m)-high Pani Hill at Alimos, dropping to an altitude of 180 feet (55 m) as it flew over apartment buildings in the suburbs of Kallithea, Nea Smyrni, and Syggrou.[42] The flight engineer was able to increase engine power sufficiently to increase altitude and to make a gradual turn to avoid impact with 1,539 feet (469 m) Mount Aigaleo, after which Migadis and Fikardos flew over the Aegean Sea, dumped most of its heavy load of fuel, and safely landed back at the airport.
  • Born: Daniela Denby-Ashe, English TV actress known for the BBC sitcom My Family; in London,[43]
  • Died:

August 10, 1978 (Thursday)

  • All three of New York City's major newspapers— The New York Times, the Daily News, and the New York Postceased publication after failing to come to an agreement with the Printing Pressman's Union for a new contract.[44][45] and would remain inactive for several months, temporarily replaced by The City News, "edited by out-of-work staff members of the Daily News and the Times",[46] The New York Daily Press, and The New York Daily Metro. The New York Post and its publisher, Rupert Murdoch, reached an agreement with the striking labor union and resumed publishing on October 5. The Times and the Daily News would not resume publication until on November 6.[47]
  • Nine people were killed and 25 injured in the collision of two trains in Sweden near Ostersund.[48]
  • Meeting in Canterbury in England, the Lambeth Conference, a decennial assembly of over 400 Anglican bishops from all over the world voted overwhelmingly to endorse the ordination of women as priests in the Episcopal and Anglican church organizations in the U.S. and in three other nations, but left the question of women priests to be decided by each nation on its own.[49]
  • A group of 43 Roman Catholic cardinals voted to set the papal conclave, to elect a successor to the late Pope Paul VI, to begin within 10 days, on August 25.[50]
  • The Progress 3 supply capsule, launched without a crew, made the largest delivery of supplies up to that time for an orbiting space station as it docked at the Salyut 6 orbiter.[51]
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August 11, 1978 (Friday)

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The Double Eagle II lifts off

August 12, 1978 (Saturday)

August 13, 1978 (Sunday)

  • The bombing of a 9-story building in the Lebanon capital of Beirut killed 121 people as terrorists, believed to be from the al-Fatah (PLO) the militant wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, were targeting the Iraqi-backed Palestine Liberation Front (PLF).[58][59]
  • Three men, Stuart Glass of Canada, John Dewhirst of Australia and Kerry Hamill of New Zealand, had the misfortune of being blown off course in a storm while sailing from Singapore to Bangkok on their Chinese sailing vessel, Foxy Lady and captured by the gunboats of the Khmer Rouge while seeking shelter on Cambodia's Koh Tang island. Glass was shot and killed when the Khmer Rouge began firing on the sailboat, while Dewhirst and Hamill were transported to the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh where they were tortured and forced to write confessions. Dewhirst was executed shortly afterward and Hamill was executed in October.[60]
  • In the U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio, roughly 120,000 voters participated in a rare Sunday election to decide whether to recall Mayor Dennis Kucinich from office. Kucinich retained his office by a margin of only 236 votes.[61][62] The final margin was 60,014 to remove Kucinich and 60,250 to retain him in office.[63]
  • A 5.1 magnitude earthquake injured almost 100 people in the U.S. city of Santa Barbara, California and derailed a freight train, but caused no fatalities and only minimal property damage.[64]

August 14, 1978 (Monday)

August 15, 1978 (Tuesday)

August 16, 1978 (Wednesday)

August 17, 1978 (Thursday)

August 18, 1978 (Friday)

August 19, 1978 (Saturday)

August 20, 1978 (Sunday)

August 21, 1978 (Monday)

August 22, 1978 (Tuesday)

  • A group of 20 Sandinista Liberation Front guerrillas, led by Edén Pastora and opposed to the continued dictatorship of Nicaragua by the Somoza family, captured the National Palace in Managua while the Chamber of Deputies was in session and took hundreds of people inside as hostages.[104] After two days, the government agreed to pay $500,000 and to release 59 political prisoners, as well as giving Pastora and the other Sandinistas safe passage.[105][106]
  • Daniel arap Moi was sworn in as the new President of Kenya upon the death of President Jomo Kenyatta, who had led the east African nation since Kenya had become independent in 1964. The oath was administered to Moi by the white and English-born Chief Justice of the Kenyan Supreme Court, Sir James Wicks.[107]
  • The U.S. Senate narrowly approved the proposed District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment by a vote of 67 to 32, one vote more than necessary two-thirds necessary for submitting an amendment for ratification by at least 38 states. In doing so, the Senate joined the U.S. House of Representatives, which had approved it in March, 289 to 127. Under U.S. constitutional rules for submitting new amendments by a vote of two-thirds of both houses of Congress, the action became effective without the approval of the president.[108] The proposed amendment, which would have given the District of Columbia two seats in the Senate and one in the House, but would not have given D.C. statehood, was never ratified by the necessary three-fourths majority of the states.
  • The U.S. Navy frigate USS Whipple rescued all 410 Vietnamese refugees from a rickety 60 feet (18 m) boat in the South China Sea during a storm, and transported them to Hong Kong for transfer to the U.N. High Commission for refugees.[109]
  • Born: James Corden English comedian known in the UK for the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey and the U.S. for The Late Late Show with James Cordentalk show; in Hillingdon, London,[110]
  • Died: Jomo Kenyatta, 89, President of Kenya since its independence; he was succeeded by his vice-president, Daniel Arap Moi

August 23, 1978 (Wednesday)

August 24, 1978 (Thursday)

  • Near Rock, Kansas, seven U.S. Air Force personnel were injured, two of them fatally, when a Titan II rocket leaked propellant inside the missile silo where it was housed.[115] Staff Sergeant Robert Thomas died immediately, while Airman First Class Erby Hepstall died in a hospital from his lung injuries.[116]
  • Died: Louis Prima, 67, American bandleader and trumpeter[117]

August 25, 1978 (Friday)

August 26, 1978 (Saturday)

  • Cardinal Albino Luciani, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Venice, was elected as the 263rd Pope by the College of Cardinals, succeeding the late Pope Paul VI and taking the regnal name of Pope John Paul I.[125] At 6:24 in the evening local time, smoke appeared from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, indicating a result after four rounds of balloting, but without certainty of whether a candidate had received the necessary two-thirds of votes to be the new Pontiff. After an hour, Cardinal Pericle Felici n stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and delivered the Habemus Papam ("We have a Pope") announcement in Latin, announcing Luciani's election.[126] At 7:31, Pope John Paul I stepped onto the balcony to deliver a blessing and to confirm his acceptance of the papacy.[127]
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Bykovsky and Jähn

August 27, 1978 (Sunday)

August 28, 1978 (Monday)

August 29, 1978 (Tuesday)

August 30, 1978 (Wednesday)

August 31, 1978 (Thursday)

References

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