Chronology of Events in 1977

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JANUARY

3 Israeli Housing Minister Abraham Ofer committed suicide.

9 The Oakland Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in the Super Bowl.

10 A lava flow from the Nyiragongo volcano in Zaire killed 70 persons.

11 The U. S. and Canadian coast guards reported the loss of a Panamanian tanker with 38 persons aboard.

13 A Soviet TU-104 exploded and crashed in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, killing all 96 persons aboard.

14 Former British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden died.
14 Actor Peter Finch died.

17 Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed in Utah.
17 At least 46 U. S. servicemen were killed when their launch collided with a Spanish freighter in the Barcelona, Spain, Harbor.

18 Yugoslav Prime Minister Dzemal Bijedic was killed in a plane crash near Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
18 Investigators at the Centers for Disease Control announced that they had found the cause of "Legionnaires' Disease."
18 A commuter train derailed outside Sydney, Australia, and smashed into supports for an overhead bridge, killing 82 persons.

21 U. S. President Jimmy Carter granted a full and unconditional pardon to Vietnam War draft evaders.

23 ABC-TV aired the first episode of a 12-hour dramatization of Alex Haley's book Roots.

29 Actor Freddie Prinze committed suicide.

FEBRUARY

3 Brigadier General Tafari Banti and six other members of Ethiopia's ruling military council were reported killed in factional fighting.

4 A Chicago, Illinois, elevated train rammed the end of another train during the evening rush hour, killing 11 persons and injuring about 180 others.

6 Seven white Roman Catholic missionaries (4 nuns and 3 priests) were shot to death by black nationalist guerrillas in Rhodesia.

7 The Soviet Union launched Soyuz 24, with Viktor V. Gorbatko and Yuri Glazkov aboard.

9 Queen Alia of Jordan and three other persons were killed in the crash of a military helicopter in southern Jordan.

11 Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died.

18 The United States flight-tested a space shuttle for the first time.

20 U. S. Congressional salaries were increased from $44,600 to $57,500 a year.
20 General Carlos Humberto Romero was elected President of El Salvador.
20 Donnie Allison won the Daytona 500.

21 Josê Serrano, a New York City, New York, construction worker, received a kidney transplant from a Russian donor.

24 A plane crash in a suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, killed Transportation Secretary William Sherlock, Senator Richard Frame, and seven others.

25 Fire swept through the Rossiya hotel in Moscow, Russia, and killed 45 persons.

22 Pierre Elliott Trudeau became the first Canadian Prime Minister to address a joint session of the U. S. Congress.

MARCH

4 About 1,500 people died when an earthquake struck Bucharest, Romania.

9 Twelve Hanafi Muslims invaded three Washington, D. C., buildings and took about 150 people hostage

18 President Marien Ngouabi of Congo was assassinated.

23 Emile Biayenda, Archbishop of Brazzaville, was murdered.

24 Morarji R. Desai was sworn in as Prime Minister of India.

25 Earthquakes in Elazig Province, Turkey, killed 30 persons and damaged homes, schools, and mosques.
25 Former Congo President Alphone Massamba-Debat was executed in Brazzaville, Congo.

27 Two jumbo jets collided on a runway at Los Rodeos Airport on Tenerife, Canary Islands, killing 583 persons.

30 NASA announced the discovery of at least five rings around the planet Uranus.

APRIL

1 Brazilian President Ernesto Geisel dissolved Congress.
1 Tornadoes killed 900 people in Bangladesh.

3 Colonel Joachim Yombi Opango was named to succeed Marien Hgouabi as President of the Congo.

4 A Southern Airlines jet crashed in New Hope, Georgia, after its engines ingested hail, killing 62 persons on the plane and 8 on the ground.

5 Former Cuban President Carlos Prio Socarrás committed suicide.

8 Yitzhak Rabin resigned as a candidate for another term as Prime Minister of Israel.

9 The U. S. Coast Guard seized a Soviet fishing vessel for violating rules governing the United States' 200-mile fishing zone.
9 The Communist Party was legalized in Spain.

10 Tom Watson won the Master's Golf Tournament.

11 The United States began allowing natives of the Enewetak Atoll to return, 30 years after the U. S. began using the island for nuclear testing.

17 Women in Liechtenstein were allowed to vote for the first time.

19 The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the spanking of students by teachers or school officials was not a violation of the students' constitutional rights.
19 Mauricio A. Borgonovo Pohl, Foreign Minister of El Salvador, was kidnapped.

21 Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan imposed martial law in Karachi, Lahore, and Hyderabad.

22 A pipe on a North Sea oil well blew out, causing a major oil slick.

MAY

1 More than 1,400 people were arrested while demonstrating against the construction of a nuclear power plant near Seabrook, New Hampshire.

4 The first David Frost interview of former U. S. President Richard Nixon was aired by CBS-TV.

5 Former West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard died.

10 An Israeli helicopter crash during military exercises killed all 54 paratroopers and crewmen aboard.
10 Actress Joan Crawford died.

11 A gas explosion 800 feet underground killed 25 miners in Hokkaido, Japan.

14 The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup.

16 A helicopter tipped over after landing atop the Pan Am building in New York City, New York, killing 4 persons on the roof and 1 on the ground.
16 Former Mali President Modibo Keita died.

21 Seattle Slew won the Preakness Stakes and became the tenth horse to win the Triple Crown.

23 South Moluccan terrorists seized a train and an elementary school in the Netherlands.

24 All four of France's major unions staged a nationwide strike.

27 A Soviet passenger jet crashed on approach to Havana, Cuba, killing 66 persons.

28 Fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, killed 168 persons.

29 A. J. Foyt won the Indianapolis 500.

31 The Trans Alaska Pipeline was completed.
31 An express train crashed into a flood-swollen river in Assam, India, killing 44 persons.

JUNE

1 U. S. President Jimmy Carter signed the American Convention on Human Rights.

4 The Soviet Union published the draft of a new constitution.

5 Seychelles President James R. M. Mancham was overthrown in a coup led by Prime Minister F. Albert René.
5 The Portland Trail Blazers won the NBA Championship.

6 A bomb explosion in a crowded Salisbury, Rhodesia, department store killed 11 persons and wounded 76 others.

7 Voters in Dade County, Florida, repealed an ordinance banning discrimination in employment or housing based on a person's sexual preference.

9 Fire in a club in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, killed 41 persons.
9 The U. S. Railway Mail Service ended operation.

10 James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr., escaped from a maximum-security prison in Tennessee.

11 Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes and became the 10th horse to win the Triple Crown.

15 Spain held its first free parliamentary elections since 1936.

16 Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun died.

17 Swiss Brigadier General Jean-Louis Jeanmarie was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.

19 John Nepomucene Neumann was declared a saint by Pope Paul VI.

20 The first crude oil entered the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

21 Fire in a Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, jail killed 21 prisoners and injured 13 others.
21 Menahem Begin was sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel.

26 Fire killed 42 persons in a Maury County, Tennessee, jail.

27 Djibouti became an independent republic.
27 An express passenger train and a freight train collided head-on near Lebus, East Germany, killing 29 persons.

[July-December]

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This page was last updated on January 06, 2019.