Chronology of Events, page 2

January-June

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JULY

1 The National Air and Space Museum opened in Washington, D. C.

2 North and South Vietnam were officially reunited as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
2 The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment does not violate the Eighth Amendment.
2 An Eastern Airlines plane "parked" at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, was destroyed by a bomb.

4 José López Portillo was elected President of Mexico.

5 A Burma Air Force Douglas C-47 caught fire and exploded at Daiku, Burma, killing all 17 persons aboard.

6 The Soviet Union launched Soyuz 21.

12 Seven persons were shot to death in the library of California State University, Fullerton.

13 A commuter train rammed the rear of a standing train at the New Canaan, Connecticut, station, killing 1 person and injuring 24 others.
13 Eighteen Ethiopian military leaders were executed after being accused of planning a coup.

14 A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck the northern tip of the island of Bali, killing 573 people.
14 The National Council of Uruguay named Aparicio Mendez President.

16 Twenty-four schoolchildren and a bus driver were kidnapped from their school bus in San Joaquin Valley, California.

17 The Summer Olympic Games opened in Montreal, Canada.

20 Viking I placed a robot lander on Mars.

21 Britain's Ambassador to Ireland, Christopher T. E. Ewart-Biggs, was killed when his car drove over a land mine.

28 Two powerful earthquakes struck Tanghan, China, killing about 650,000 people.
28 A Czechoslovak airliner crashed into a lake while on a landing approach to Bratislava, Yugoslavia, killing 70 of the 76 persons aboard.

29 The U. S. House of Representatives voted to censure Robert L. F. Sikes for financial misconduct.

30 Giulio Andreotti was sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy.

31 Flash floods in the Big Thompson River Canyon near Denver, Colorado, killed 139 persons.

AUGUST

1 The Reichsbrücke, a 790-foot suspension bridge spanning the Danube River at Vienna, Austria, collapsed, killing 4 persons.
1 Trinidad and Tobago officially became a republic.

3 U. S. Congressman Jerry Litton, his wife, their two children, and two other persons were killed in a plane crash at the Chillicothe (Missouri) Airport.

8 A ferryboat capsized off southern Thailand, killing 26 persons.

9 A Spanish Air Force Douglas C-54E crashed about 15 minutes after taking off from Moron, Spain, killing 11 of the 33 persons aboard.
9 Five persons were killed when an undergound natural gas pipeline exploded in Calhoun, Louisiana.

11 Pro-Palestinian guerrillas killed 4 persons and wounded at least waiting to board an Israeli airliner at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

13 An explosion at the Tenneco Oil Company refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, killed 11 workers and injured 10 others.
13 A tornado struck Largo, Florida, killing 1 person and injuring 12 others.

15 An Ecuadoran airliner en route from Quito to Cuenca, Ecuador, crashed into the Andes Mountains, killing all 59 persons aboard.

17 A magnitude 7.8 earthquake and resulting tsunamis killed over 3,000 people in the Philippines.

18 A clash in the demilitarized zone of Korea left 10 American soldiers dead, and 4 Americans and 5 South Koreans wounded.

20 Argentinian extremists killed 48 persons in retaliation for the assassination of a retired general.

22 Former Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek died.

25 Raymond Barre succeeded Jacques Chirac as Premier of France.

26 Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands resigned most of his military and business posts.

27 A team from Tokyo, Japan, defeated a team from Campbell, California, to win the Little League World Series.

28 A U. S. Air Force Lockheed C-141A crashed near Thorney, England, after flying into a severe thunderstorm, killing all 18 persons aboard.
28 A U. S. Air Force Lockheed C-141A crashed while landing at Sondrestrom Air Force Base, Greenland, killing 23 of the 27 persons aboard.

29 Fire in a fraternity house at Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas, killed 5 persons.

30 La Soufrière volcano on the island of Guadeloupe erupted; there were no casualties.
30 More than 400 people were injured during a riot at a West Indian fair in London, England.

SEPTEMBER

3 The lander of the Viking II touched down on Mars.
3 J. M. G. Adams was sworn in as Prime Minister of Barbados.
3 A Venezuelan Air Force plane carrying a choir to Spain crashed while on approach to Lajes Air Force Base in the Azores, killing all 68 persons aboard.

6 A Russian pilot landed his MiG-25 jet fighter on the Japanese island of Hokkaido and defected.

9 A six-story apartment building in Karachi, Pakistan, collapsed, killing more than 80 people.
9 Two Aeroflot airliners collided mid-air off Adler, Russia, killing all 64 persons aboard the two planes.
9 Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung died.

10 British and Yugoslav airliners collided over Zagreb, Yugoslavia, killing 178 persons.
10 A natural gas explosion in a shopping area of Blue Island, Illinois, killed 1 person and injured at least 10 others.

11 Two passenger trains collided in southern Cameroon, killing almost 100 people.

13 A typhoon struck the Japanese island of Kyushu, killing more than 150 people and leaving about 325,000 others homeless.

14 Jimmy Connors won the men's singles championship of the U. S. Open.

16 The Episcopal Church formally approved the ordination of women to the priesthood.

17 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

19 A Turkish Air Lines Boeing 727 crashed into a mountain while on approach to Isparta, Turkey, killing all 154 persons aboard.

20 Olof Palme resigned as Prime Minister of Sweden.

26 A U. S. Air Force KC-135A crashed near Alpena, Michigan, killing 15 of the 20 persons aboard.

OCTOBER

1 Hurricane Liza killed more than 600 people in the Baja California region of Mexico.

4 U. S. Secretary of Agriculture resigned.

6 Seni Pramoj, Premier of Thailand, was overthrown by a military coup.
6 A Cuban passenger jet crashed into the Caribbean Sea just off Barbados after at least one bomb exploded on board, killing all 73 persons aboard.
6 A rain-swollen river broke through a dike in Pereira, Colombia, killing 47 persons.

8 Thorbjörn Fälldin took office as Prime Minister of Sweden.

12 An Indian Airlines jet crashed at the Bombay, India, airport, killing all 95 persons aboard.

13 A cargo jet crashed onto a major thoroughfare in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, killing 116 persons.

15 Two runaway rail freight cars struck a crowded bus near Havana, Cuba, killing 54 passengers.

16 The cargo ship Sylvia L. Ossa, with a crew of 37, disappeared off the southeast coast of the United States.

20 A ferryboat was struck by a tanker and sank in the Mississippi River north of New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 77 persons.

21 The Cincinnati Reds won their fourth straight game against the New York Yankees to win the World Series.

22 Thailand approved a new constitution giving Premier Thanin Kraivichien absolute power.
22 Cearbhall O Dalaigh resigned as President of Ireland.

24 Fire swept through a Bronx, New York, social club, killing 25 young party-goers and injuring 24 others.

26 The Transkei became the first of South Africa's black homelands to be given independence.

NOVEMBER

1 President Michel Micombero of Burundi was deposed in a bloodless coup.

2 James Earl Carter was elected President of the United States.
2 Alaskans voted to move the state capital from Juneau to Willow.

3 An express train rammed into the rear of a standing passenger train at the Julianka, Poland, rail station, killing 25 persons and injuring 60 others.

4 A Bali International Air Service plane crashed while attempting to land at Banjarmasin, Indonesia, killing 29 of the 38 persons aboard.

9 The United Nations General Assembly condemned South Africa's apartheid policy.
9 Patrick J. Hillery was declared President-elect of Ireland.
9 The real-life incarnation of Smokey Bear died.

11 A Japanese lumber ship sank in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, killing 19 crewmen.

14 A bus plunged into the Urubu River near Manaus, Brazil, killing 38 persons.

21 An explosion and fire at the American Chicle gum factory in Long Island City, New York, killed 5 persons and injured more than 45 others.
21 A cyclone killed at least 29 people in Andhra Pradesh, India.

23 An Olympic Airways airliner crashed near Kozani, Greece, killing all 50 persons aboard.

24 A magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed about 3,600 people in eastern Turkey.

29 An Aeroflot airliner crashed during takeoff from Moscow, Russia, killing all 73 persons aboard.
29 An express train plunged into a river at Kathekani, Kenya, killing 12 persons.
29 A bus and taxi collision in Van, Turkey, killed 25 persons and injured 15 others.

DECEMBER

1 A gas explosion destroyed a McDonald's restaurant in Newark, Delaware, and injured 23 persons.

15 The Liberian tanker Argo Merchant ran aground on shoals off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.
15 Amtrak's "Lone Star" train struck an oil transport truck at a crossing in Morland, Oklahoma, killing the truck driver and 2 crew members of the train.

17 An Aeroflot AN-24 crashed while attempting to land at Kiev, Russia, in heavy fog, killing 48 of the 55 persons aboard.

20 Yitzhak Rabin resigned as Prime Minister of Israel.

20 Chicago, Illinois, Mayor Richard J. Daley died.

25 An EgyptAir Boeing 707 crashed while on approach to Bangkok, Thailand, killing all 53 persons aboard.

26 Fire in a Goulds, Newfoundland, Canada, nursing home killed at least 20 people.

31 A Douglas C-54A crashed soon after taking off from Trujillo, Peru, killing all 19 persons aboard.

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This page was last updated on January 15, 2019.