1980 Calendar
What Happened In Year 1980?
- January 27, 1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper.
- February 4, 1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
- February 16, 1980 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Metal Monkey in Chinese astrology.
- February 22, 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3.
- February 28, 1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
- April 12, 1980 – Terry Fox begins his “Marathon of Hope” at St. John’s, Newfoundland.
- May 8, 1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
- May 9, 1980 – In Norco, California, five masked gunman hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.
- May 13, 1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
- May 17, 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
- May 27, 1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
- July 20, 1980 – The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- August 1, 1980 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the country’s first democratically elected female head of state
- September 1, 1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
- September 5, 1980 – The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world’s longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.
- September 12, 1980 – Military coup in Turkey.
- September 16, 1980 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the United Nations.
- October 24, 1980 – The government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
- December 24, 1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, an incident called “Britain’s Roswell”.
- December 26, 1980 – Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
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