:: wikimiki.org ::
| Hua Kuo-feng |
Hua Kuo-feng
Hua Guofeng () (born February 16, 1921) was Mao Zedong's designated successor as the paramount leader of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China. Upon Zhou Enlai's death in 1976, he succeeded him as Premier of the People's Republic of China. Months later, Mao died, and Hua succeeded Mao as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, to the surprise and dismay of Jiang Qing and the rest of the Gang of Four. He brought the Cultural Revolution to an end, ousted the Gang of Four from political power, but was himself outmaneuvered a couple years later by Deng Xiaoping, who forced Hua into early retirement.
Born in Jiaocheng, Shanxi province as Liu Zhengrong (刘苏铸), Hua joined the Communist Party of China in 1938 as a part of counter-Japanese resistance. During the mid-1940's he became propaganda chief for the county Party committee.
Hua was elected to the Politburo in 1973 and was minister of public security in 1975. He became acting Premier of the People's Republic of China following Zhou Enlai's death, in January 1976, full Premier and party vice chairman in April 1976, and Chairman of the Communist Party of China when Mao died, in September 1976 (although this was not announced to the world until October 12).
During his relatively short leadership, Hua was credited for quickly ousting the Gang of Four from political power and thus became the leader whose emergence marked the end of the Cultural Revolution as currently dated. Hua's economic and political program involved the restoration of Soviet-style industrial planning and party control similar to that followed by China before the Great Leap Forward. However, this model was rejected by supporters of Deng Xiaoping who argued for a more market based economic system. This argument was decisively resolved in Deng's favor in 1978, which is generally taken as the start of the era of Chinese economic reform.
As Deng Xiaoping gradually regained control over the CPC, Hua was denounced for promoting the Two Whatevers policy and replaced by Zhao Ziyang as Premier in 1980, and by Hu Yaobang as Party Chairman in 1981. Both Zhao and Hu were protégés of Deng who were dedicated to Chinese economic reform. Hua Guofeng was demoted to junior Vice Chairman, and when this post was abolished in 1982 he remained as an ordinary member of the Central Committee, a position which he held until the 16th Party Congress of November 2002 despite having passed the designated retirement age of seventy. The ousting of Hua was significant in at least two respects. First it demonstrated the unimportance of official titles in the Chinese Communist Party during the late-1970's and early-1980's. Despite being the official leader of the party, the state, and the army, Hua was unable to defeat a leadership challenge by Deng Xiaoping. Second, Hua's ousting helped establish a norm within the PRC that political leaders who lost a power struggle would not be physically harmed or jailed, in contrast to the situations both during the Cultural Revolution and afterwards with the Gang of Four.
It was reported that Hua Guofeng quit the Chinese Communist Party in October 2001 for "health reasons". This report has not been confirmed by the Communist Party.
See also: Politics of China
Hua
Category:CPC leaders
Hua
ja:華国鋒
1980
1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. It is equivalent to 2733 a.U.c., and to 1359 AH.
Events
January-February
- January 1–April 1 - National steel strike in the United Kingdom.
- January 1 - Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession creates Victoria of Sweden, Crown Princess over her younger brother.
- January 4 - American president Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
- January 5 - Hewlett-Packard announces release of its first personal computer.
- January 7 - President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation.
- January 9 - In Saudi Arabia, sixty three Muslim fanatics are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November, 1979.
- January 11 - Nigel Short, fourteen years old, is the youngest chess player to be awarded the degree of International Master.
- January 22 - Andrei Sakharov, a Russian scientist and human right activist, is arrested in Moscow.
- January 26 - Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
- February 2 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the U.S. Congress in a sting operation.
- February 4 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
- February 15 - In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea.
- February 23 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
- February 25 - Coup in Surinam ousts government of Henck Arron. Leaders Desi Bouterse and Rou Horb replace it with National Military Council.
- February 27 - M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding sixty people hostage, including fourteen ambassadors.
March
- March 1 - Voyager 1 probe confirms the existence of Janus, a moon of Saturn.
- March 3 - Pierre Trudeau returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.
- March 4 - Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
- March 10 - Jean Harris shoots doctor Herman Tarnower, the inventor of the Scarsdale diet.
- March 14 - In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.
- March 18 - Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation.
- March 20 - The pirate radio station Radio Caroline sinks.
- March 21 - President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
- March 21 - Mafioso Angelo Bruno assassinated in Atlantic City.
- March 24 - Australia Olympic Committee announces it will send an Olympic delegation to Moscow, despite objections by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
- March 24 - Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
- March 26 - A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reef gold mine in South Africa falls 1.2 miles, killing twenty-three.
- March 27 - The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
April
- April 1 - The Mariel boatlift begins.
- April 7 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on Sunday, November 4, 1979.
- April 10 - Spain and United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain, closed since 1969.
- April 18 - Zimbabwe's formal independence from the United Kingdom. Robert Mugabe takes his post as a Prime Minister.
- April 21 - Rosie Ruiz wins the Boston Marathon, but is later exposed as a fraud and stripped of her award.
- April 24–April 25 - Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.
- April 27 - The Dominican embassy siege ends with all hostages released and the guerrillas flying to Cuba.
- April 30
- Iranian Embassy Siege - Six Iranian-born terrorists take over Iranian embassy in London, UK. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5 — one terrorist survives.
- Luis Muñoz Marín, first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at the age of 82.
- Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates, and her daughter Beatrix ascends to the throne.
May
- May 7 - Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days - the longest-ever time served by an inmate
- May 9 - In Florida, a Liberian freighter named the Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay sending 35 people (most of whom were in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapsed
- May 17 - Florida court acquits 4 police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie. Three days of race riots follow
- May 18 - Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage
- May 18 - Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
- May 20 - Referendum in Quebec where the population rejects by a vote of 60% the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
- May 24 - The International Court of Justice calls for the release of U.S. embassy hostages in Tehran.
- May 26 - John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices in the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away
- May 26 - In South Korea, military government forces and pro-democracy protesters clash - 2000 protesters die
June
- June 1 - Comedian Richard Pryor is badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.
- June 3 - A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing five people and injuring over 250.
- June 10 - Apartheid: The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a statement by their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela which says in part 'UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF UNITED MASS ACTION AND THE HAMMER OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE WE SHALL CRUSH APARTHEID!'[http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mandela/64-90/anvil.html]
- June 10 - Unabomber bomb injures Percy Wood, president of the United Airlines in Lake Forest, Illinois
- June 19 - Iraqi security forces shoot dead three gunmen who attacked the British embassy in Baghdad. The unknown attackers were killed in the embassy gardens by Iraqi security men, sent at the urgent request of the British ambassador, Alex Stirling.
- June 22 - West Germany beat Belgium 2-1 to win Euro 80
- June 23 - Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies in an air crash
- June 23–September 6 - Heat Wave of 1980
- June 25 - Muslim Brotherhood assassination attempt against Syrian president Hafez al-Assad fails. Assad retaliates by sending the army against them
- June 26 - A DC-9 belonging to the Italian Airline Itavia crashes into the sea near Naples after an explosion occurs in the air - 81 people dead - a bomb or a missile is suspected to be the cause of the accident but no culprits will ever be found
- June 29 - Vigdis Finnbogadottir becomes the president of Iceland
July-August
- July 9 - Pope John Paul II visits Brazil. Seven people crush to death in a crowd meeting him
- July 15 - A severe and destructive thunderstorm strikes four counties in western Wisconsin, including the city of Eau Claire. It caused over $250m in damage, and one person was killed.
- July 19 - Former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim is killed by two gunmen in Istanbul, Turkey.
- July 19–August 3 - Summer Olympic Games in Moscow, USSR.
- July 30 - Vanuatu gains independence
- August 2 - A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.
- August 2 - Hurricane Allen hits landfall on Haiti and Jamaica in a Category 5, it reached Category 3 on Southern Texas on August 9 causing $2.6 billion on damage.
- August 14 - Lech Wałęsa leads the first of many strikes at the Gdańsk shipyard
- August 17 - In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo
September-October
- September 5 - The St. Gothard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.
- September 12 - Military coup in Turkey lead by Kenan Evren. It stopped political violence among gangs, but was the beginning of stronger state violence which lead to the execution of many young activists.
- September 17 - After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
- September 17 - Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asuncion, Paraguay
- September 22 - The command council of Iraq ordered its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets," initiating the Iran-Iraq War.
- September 26 - The Mariel Boatlift officially ends.
- September 29 - Washington Post publishes Janet Cooke's story of Jimmy, an 8-year-old heroin addict (later proven to be fabricated)
- September 30 - Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which was the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.
- October 14 - The Staggers Rail Act is enacted, deregulating American railroads.
- October 18 - Fraser Government re-elected for a third consecutive term in Australia
- October 27 - Six IRA prisoners in Maze prison refuse food and demand status as political prisoners - hunger strike lasts until December
- October 30 - El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
- October 31 - Polish government recognizes Solidarity.
- October 31 - Mohammad Reza Shah, eldest son of the late shah of Iran, proclaimed himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.
November-December
- November 4 - U.S. presidential election, 1980: Republican challenger Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin.
- November 12 - Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn when it flies within 77,000 miles of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth
- November 20 - The trial of the Gang of Four begins in China.
- November 21 - A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada kills 87 people.
- November 21 - Millions of viewers tune into the TV soap opera Dallas to learn who shot lead character J.R. Ewing. The event is an international obsession.
- November 23 - A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.
- December 8 - John Lennon is shot outside his New York apartment, by Mark Chapman.
- December 16 - During a summit on the island of Bali, the OPEC decides to raise the price of petroleum by 10%.
- December 26 - Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", kills himself by overdose on San Quentin prison death row
Unknown dates
- Lawrence Klein is awarded the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
- Hassan Fathy and Plenty International / Stephen Gaskin are awarded the Right Livelihood Award.
- Victoria, Australia, decriminilises homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Births
January-February
- January 1 - Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
- January 2 - Rebekah Teasdale, British model and journalist
- January 7 - Gabriela Bazan, Peruvian activist
- January 8 - Rachel Nichols, American actress
- January 9 - Sergio García, Spanish golfer
- January 11 - Mike Williams, American football player
- January 14 - Cory Gibbs, American soccer player
- January 16 - Albert Pujols, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- January 16 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian actress
- January 22 - Christopher Masterson, American actor
- January 25 - Christian Olsson, Swedish athlete
- January 25 - Michelle McCool-Alexander, American professional wrestler
- January 27 - Marat Safin, Russian tennis player
- January 30 - Wilmer Valderrama, Venezuelan/Colombian-American comedian
- February 10 - César Izturis, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- February 11 - Natasha Bobo, American actress
- February 11 - Matthew Lawrence, American actor
- February 12 - Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
- February 12 - Christina Ricci, American actress
- February 16 - Ashley Lelie, American football player
- February 20 - Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
March-June
- March 13 - Molly Stanton, American actress
- March 16 - Todd Heap, American football player
- March 18 - Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater
- March 21 - Ronaldinho, Brazilian football player
- March 21 - Marit Bjørgen, Norwegian cross-country skier
- March 31 - Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwanese Major League Baseball player
- April 1 - Randy Orton, American professional wrestler
- April 1 - Takeuchi Yuko, Japanese actress
- April 17 - Brenda Villa, American water polo player
- April 20 - Jasmin Wagner, German singer
- April 20 - Channing Tatum, American actor and model
- April 21 - Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian hockey player
- May 7 - Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
- May 9 - Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer
- May 18 - Matt Long, American actor
- May 24 - Cecilia Cheung, Hong Kong actress
- May 30- Steven Gerrard, English footballer
- June 1 - Oliver James, British actor
- June 13 - Sarah Connor, German singer
- June 16 - Joey Yung, Hong Kong singer
- June 17 - Venus Williams, American tennis player
- June 19 - Jason White, American football player
- June 22 - Jade Marcela, American actress
- June 23 - Ramnaresh Sarwan, West Indian cricketer
- June 26 - Jason Schwartzman, American actor
- June 26 - Michael Vick, American football player
- June 29 - Katherine Jenkins, Welsh soprano
July-August
- July 3 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
- July 6 - Pau Gasol, Catalan basketball player
- July 7 - Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
- July 8 - Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
- July 10 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000)
- July 10 - Jessica Simpson, American singer
- July 18 - Kristen Bell, American actress
- July 22 - Kate Ryan, Belgian singer
- July 24 - Gauge, American actress
- August 11 - Lee Suggs, American football player
- August 16 - Vanessa Carlton, American singer
- August 26 - Macaulay Culkin, American actor
- August 28 - Debra Lafave, American teacher
- August 29 - Nicholas Tse, Hong Kong singer
September-October
- September 3 - Jennie Finch, American softball player
- September 7 - Mark Prior, baseball player
- September 10 - Mikey Way, American bassist (My Chemical Romance)
- September 12 - Sean Burroughs, baseball player
- September 12 - Yao Ming, Chinese basketball player
- September 21 - Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
- September 30 - Martina Hingis, Swiss tennis player
- October 4 - Me'Lisa Barber, American athlete
- October 13 - Ashanti, American musician
- October 14 - Terrence McGee, American football player
- October 16 - Sue Bird, American basketball player
- October 17 - Ekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
- October 28 - Alan Smith, English footballer
- October 28 - Christy Hemme, American Professional Wrestler
November-December
- November 12 - Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
- November 16 - Kayte Christensen, American Basketball Player
- November 17 - Isaac Hanson, American musician
- November 21 - Hank Blalock, baseball player
- December 6 - Steve Lovell, English footballer
- December 7 - John Terry, English footballer
- December 10 - Sarah Chang, American violinist
- December 10 - Alexa Rae, American (pornographic film) actress
- December 18 - Christina Aguilera, American singer
- December 19 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor
- December 19 - Marla Sokoloff, American actress
- December 30 - Eliza Dushku, American actress
Deaths
January-April
- January 3 - Joy Adamson, Austrian-born conservationist and author (murdered) (b. 1910)
- January 8 - John Mauchly, American physicist and inventor (b. 1907)
- January 10 - George Meany, American labor leader (b. 1894)
- January 18 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English photographer (b. 1904)
- January 29 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1893)
- January 30 - Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918)
- February 2 - William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- February 7 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (b. 1904)
- February 13 - David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
- February 19 - Bon Scott, Scottish-born singer (AC/DC) (b. 1946)
- February 20 - J.B. Rhine, parapsychologist (b. 1895)
- March 5 - Jay Silverheels, American actor (b. 1912)
- March 16 - Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (b. 1898)
- March 25 - Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b. 1913)
- March 29 - Mantovani, Italian-born conductor and arranger (b. 1905)
- March 31 - Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
- March 31 - Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)
- April 12 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker and billiards player (b. 1895)
- April 15 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- April 24 - Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (b. 1904)
- April 29 - Alfred Hitchcock, British film director (b. 1899)
May-September
- May 4 - Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
- May 18 - Ian Curtis, British musician and singer (Joy Division) (b. 1956)
- May 28 - Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
- June 7 - Henry Miller, American writer (b. 1891)
- June 12 - Milburn Stone, American actor (b. 1904)
- June 13 - Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
- June 21 - Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923)
- June 23 - Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
- July - Robert Brackman, American painter (b. 1898)
- July 7 - Dore Schary, American film writer, director, and producer (b. 1905)
- July 17 - Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
- July 24 - Peter Sellers, English actor (b. 1925)
- July 26 - Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic (b. 1927)
- July 27 - Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (b. 1919)
- August 7 - Jackie Cochran, American pilot (b. 1906)
- August 10 - Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1917)
- August 14 - Dorothy Stratten, Canadian model (murdered) (b. 1960)
- August 24 - Yootha Joyce, British actress (b. 1927)
- September 8 - Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
- September 16 - Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (b. 1896)
- September 25 - John Bonham, British drummer (Led Zeppelin) (b. 1948)
October-December
- October 25 - Virgil Fox, American organist (b. 1912)
- October 25 - Victor Galindez, Argentine boxer (race car accident) (b. 1948)
- October 27 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- November 4 - Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (b. 1904)
- November 7 - Steve McQueen, American actor (b. 1930)
- November 20 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1900)
- November 22 - Mae West, American actress (b. 1893)
- December 2 - Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born writer (b. 1914)
- December 4 - Francisco Sá Carneiro, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1934)
- December 4 - Stanislawa Walasiewicz, Polish-born runner (b. 1911)
- December 7 - Darby Crash, American songwriter, singer for The Germs (heroin overdose) (b. 1958)
- December 8 - John Lennon, British singer, songwriter, and guitarist (The Beatles) (murdered) (b. 1940)
- December 16 - Harland Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1890)
- December 16 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
- December 24 - Karl Dönitz, President of Germany (b. 1891)
- December 29 - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
- December 31 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and professor (b. 1911)
Unknown dates
- Clement Martyn Doke, South African linguist
Nobel Prizes
- Physics - James Watson Cronin, Val Logsdon Fitch
- Chemistry - Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert, Frederick Sanger
- Medicine - Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George D. Snell
- Literature - Czeslaw Milosz
- Peace - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
- Prof. Ralph Burhoe
Category:1980
als:1980
ko:1980년
ja:1980年
simple:1980
th:พ.ศ. 2523
1976
1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January-February
- January 12 - UN Security Council votes 11-1 to admit the Palestinian Liberation Organization
- January 15 - Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison
- January 16 - Trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany
- January 18 - The Scottish Labour Party is formed
- January 21 - The first commercial Concorde flight takes off.
- January 25 - 12 PIRA bombs explode in London's East End
- January 27 - The trial of SLA member Patty Hearst begins. She is found guilty of robbery on March 20
- February 4 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
- February 4 - 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria
- February 11 - Clifford Alexander Jr is confirmed as 1st African-American Secretary of US Army.
- February 20 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands
- February 24 - Cuba's current constitution enacted.
- February 27 - Western Sahara declares independence
- February 28 - Spain gives up territories in Sahara but retains its enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta
March
- March 1 - Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland
- March 3 - Fleetwood Mac records Rumours, which will be a blockbuster album in 1977
- March 9-March 11 - Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, Letcher County, Ky
- March 17 - Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is retried
- March 18 - Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- March 19 - Actor Nicholas Downs born in Des Moines, Iowa at 6:45am
- March 20 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank
- March 24 - Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Peron
- March 27 - The first 4.6 miles of the Washington, DC subway system opens
- March 29 - Military junta of general Jorge Videla comes to power in Argentina
- March 31 - New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985
April-May
- April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
- April 4 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest
- April 5 - Jim Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- April 5 - Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs in commemoration of the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed. This was followed by a police crackdown and became known as the Tiananmen Incident.
- April 13 - An explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland kills 40
- April 16 - In India the minimum age for marriage is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women; it is to curb population growth
- April 21 - Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne. Bandits steal A$1.4 Million in bookmakers settlements in Queen Street, Melbourne
- April 23 - Powerful punk rock group The Ramones release their first album which starts a new form of music
- April 25 - Portugal's new constitution enacted
- May 4 - Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 revolutionizes world of wine.
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof of RAF is found hanging in an apparent suicide in her cell in Stuttgart-Stannheim prison
- May 11 - President Gerald Ford signs Federal Election Campaign Act.
- May 24 - Washington, DC Concorde service begins
June
- June 1 - UK and Iceland end the Cod War
- June 5 - Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people.
- June 14 - the trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
- June 16 - Soweto riots in South Africa mark the beginning of the end of apartheid
- June 20 - Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the US military, following the murder of the US ambassador.
- June 20 - Czechoslovakia beat West Germany 5-3 on penalties to win Euro 76, after the game had ended 2-2 after extra time.
- June 27 - Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda, where Israeli commandos storms it on July 4
- Sismik incident starts when the Turkish survey ship Sismik entered Greek waters.
July
- July 2 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country
- July 3 - Supreme Court of the United States rules on Gregg v. Georgia and decides that death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment
- July 3 - The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
- July 4 - United States Bicentennial
- July 4 - Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; one Israeli and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in raid.
- July 7 - German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from Lehrterstrasse maximum security prison in West Berlin
- July 10 - Explosion in Seveso, Italy, kills a large number of people
- July 16-July 20 - Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France
- July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Canada.
- July 17 - East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia
- July 19 - Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
- July 20 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars
- July 21 - A bomb kills Christopher Ewart, British ambassador to the Irish Republic
- July 27 - United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda
- July 28 - Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan,China, killing 242,769 people, and 164,851 people are heavily injured
- July 29 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag killing one and seriously wounding another in the first of a series of attacks that terrorized the city for the next year.
- July 30 - In Santiago, capital of Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil wins River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions.
- July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1
August
- August 1 - the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II with an elected president as their Head of State.
- August 2 - A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr, and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel in an incident at Priscilla's Mansion at Mockingbird Lane in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, was tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder. He was later found innocent of a plot to kill several people, including Priscilla and a judge, and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen went broke afterwards
- August 4 - First outbreak of Legionnaire's disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia
- August 5 - Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand prix; the Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over nine months
- August 6 - Former UK Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced for seven years for fraud
- August 7 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars
- August 14 - 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland
- August 14 - The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized. PAI-Rénovation thus becomes the third legal party in the country.
- August 18 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view
- August 24 - Uruguayan army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Marcelo is later killed and his wife and child disappears
September-October
- September 3 - Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars takes the first close-up, color photos of the planet's surface
- September 6 - Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido in Japan and requests political asylum from the United States
- Military Junta in power in Argentina.
- September 17 - Space Shuttle Enterprise rolled out.
- September 21 - Seychelles joins the United Nations.
- September 21 - Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
- October - The Damned release New Rose - the first ever single released / marketed as "punk rock".
- October 6 - Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Castrist militants, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4535661.stm]
- October 6 - Students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom are massacred by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
- October 12 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of Communist Party of China
- October 19 - Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the United States
- October 22 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, fifth President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defence.
- October 25 - Full pardon given to Clarence Norris, last known survivor of the Scottsboro Boys.
November-December
- November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Rudolph Ford to become first candidate from deep south to win since the Civil War.
- November 15 - First Megamouth Shark is discovered off Oahu in Hawaii
- November 26 - Little known company Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
- December 1 - Angola joins the United Nations
- December 3 - Patrick Hillery is elected unopposed as the sixth President of Ireland.
- December 15 - Samoa joins the United Nations
- December 23 - New volcano, Murara, began erupting in eastern Zaire.
Unknown dates
- Christopher Maier, American murder victim born, died 1997
- First laser printer introduced by IBM - the IBM 3800
- Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, invented by Seymour Cray
- California's sodomy law repealed.
- The term memetics first proposed by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene.
- Toronto Blue Jays created
- CN Tower built in Toronto - The tallest free standing land structure.
- Diffie-Hellman cryptography proposed
- Plans to move the Nigerian capital from Lagos to Abuja are approved.
- Ebola is first discovered in Zaire
- Women For Sobriety established.
Births
January-March
- January 2 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- January 7 - Éric Gagné, Canadian Major League Baseball player
- January 7 - Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- January 11 - Amanda Peet, American actress (born really 1972?)
- January 20 - Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
- January 21 - Emma Bunton, English musician (Spice Girls)
- January 28 - Mark Madsen, American basketball player
- January 31 - Buddy Rice, American race car driver
- February 2 - James Hickman, British swimmer
- February 4 - Cam'ron, Harlem, New York rapper
- February 9 - Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- February 10 - Lance Berkman, baseball player
- February 12 - Silvia Saint, Czech actress
- February 15 - Brandon Boyd, American musician (Incubus)
- February 20 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- February 28 - Ja Rule, American rapper
- March 5 - Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lithuanian basketball player
- March 8 - Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
- March 20 - Chester Bennington, American musician (Linkin Park)
- March 22 - Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
- March 22 - Reese Witherspoon, American actress
- March 23 - Keri Russell, American actress
- March 24 - Aaron Brooks, American football player
- March 24 - Peyton Manning, American football player
- March 25 - Juvenile, American rapper
- March 26 - Amy Smart, American actress
April-June
- April 6 - Candace Cameron, American actress
- April 13 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
- April 18 - Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
- April 25 - Tim Duncan, West Indian basketball player
- April 25 - Rainer Schuettler, German tennis player
- May 3 - Beto, Portuguese footballer
- May 4 - Jason Michaels, baseball player
- May 15 - Tyler Walker, baseball player
- May 19 - Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
- May 20 - Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- May 25 - Miguel Tejada, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- May 31 - Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- June 8 - Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
- June 10 - Freddy Garcia, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- June 13 - Jason 'J' Brown, English musician (5ive)
- June 23 - Brandon Stokley, American football player
July-September
- July 1 - Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer
- July 1 - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer
- July 3 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- July 2 - Gabriel Mughadam, Bodybuilder
- July 4 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer
- July 8 - Ellen MacArthur, English yachtswoman
- July 9 - Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler
- July 9 - Fred Savage, American actor
- July 11 - Eduardo Najera, Mexican basketball player
- July 20 - Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver
- July 23 - Judit Polgar, Hungarian chess player
- July 31 - Annie Parisse, American actress
- August 6 - Melissa George, Australian actress
- August 9 - Jessica Capshaw, American actress
- August 9 - Rhona Mitra, English actress
- August 8 - JC Chasez, American singer
- August 12 - Antoine Walker, American basketball player
- August 14 - Alex Albrecht, American television personality
- August 15 - Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
- August 27 - Carlos Moyà, Spanish tennis player
- August 27 - Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
- September 7 - Stevie Case (Killcreek), American video game celebrity
- September 7 - Shannon Elizabeth, American actress
- September 8 - Abi Titmuss, British TV presenter and model
- September 8 - Sjeng Schalken, Dutch tennis player
- September 10 - Gustavo Kuerten, Brazilian tennis player
- September 16 - Tina Barrett, English singer (S Club 7)
- September 22 - Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer
- September 25 - Chauncey Billups, American basketball player
- September 26 - Michael Ballack, German footballer
- September 29 - Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian footballer
October-December
- October 1 - Blu Cantrell, American rapper
- October 4 - Alicia Silverstone, American actress
- October 10 - Bob Burnquist, Brazilian skateboarder
- October 19 - Michael Young, baseball player
- October 23 - Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
- November 6 - Pat Tillman, American football player (d. 2004)
- November 7 - Mark Philippoussis, Australian tennis player
- November 19 - Jun Shibata, Japanese singer and songwriter
- November 24 - Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
- November 29 - Anna Faris, American actress
- December 1 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
- December 12 - Dan Hawkins, British guitarist (The Darkness)
- December 13 - Tom Delonge, American musician (Blink-182)
- December 15 - Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
- December 17 - Takeo Spikes, American football player
- December 18 - Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
Deaths
January-March
- January 8 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
- January 10 - Howlin' Wolf, American musician (b. 1910)
- January 12 - Agatha Christie, English writer (b. 1890)
- January 23 - Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, writer, and activist (b. 1898)
- January 30 - Mance Lipscomb, American singer (b. 1895)
- February 1 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- February 1 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
- February 2 - Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (b. 1903)
- February 6 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
- February 9 - Percy Faith, Canadian-born musician and composer (b. 1908)
- February 11 - Lee J Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
- February 11 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist (b. 1894)
- February 11 - Charlie Naughton, Scottish actor (b. 1886)
- February 12 - Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
- February 13 - Lily Pons, American soprano (b. 1898)
- February 20 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
- February 22 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
- March 6 - Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (b. 1903)
- March 7 - Wright Patman, American politician (b. 1893)
- March 14 - Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)
- March 17 - Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and film director (b. 1906)
- March 19 - Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (Free) (b. 1950)
- March 24 - Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1897)
April-June
- April 1 - Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
- April 5 - Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, and eccentric (b. 1905)
- April 9 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
- April 18 - Henrik Dam, Dutch biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
- April 26 - Sid James, South African actor (b. 1913)
- May 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof, German terrorist (b. 1934)
- May 11 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
- May 14 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (b. 1943)
- May 26 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)
- May 27 - Hilde Hildebrand, German actress, (b. 1897)
- May 31 - Jacques Monod, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1910)
- June 10 - Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-born film producer (b. 1893)
- June 15 - Jimmy Dykes, baseball player and manager (b. 1896)
- June 25 - Johnny Mercer, American songwriter (b. 1909)
- June 30 - Firpo Marberry, baseball player (b. 1898)
July-September
- July 1 - Zhang Mintian, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1900)
- July 4 - Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and writer (b. 1895)
- July 13 - Joachim Peiper, German military leader (b. 1915)
- August 6 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
- August 22 - Juscelino Kubitschek, President of Brazil (b. 1902)
- August 25 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- August 26 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- August 27 - Mukesh, Indian singer (b. 1923)
- September 2 - Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish writer (b. 1934)
- September 9 - Mao Zedong, Chinese leader (b. 1893)
- September 26 - Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
October-December
- October 5 - Lars Onsager, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- October 11 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (b. 1897)
- November 12 - Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
- December 2 - Danny Murtaug | | |
