1980 Calendar
What Happened In Year 1980?
- January 7, 1980 – President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
- 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 16, 1980 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Metal Monkey in Chinese astrology.
- March 4, 1980 – Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe’s first black prime minister.
- March 21, 1980 – On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase “Who shot J.R.?”
- 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 22, 1980 – Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man.
- 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.
- June 1, 1980 – Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
- July 7, 1980 – Institution of sharia in Iran.
- August 8, 1980 – The Central Hotel Fire occurs in Bundoran, Ireland.
- August 26, 1980 – John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, US.
- September 16, 1980 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the United Nations.
- October 29, 1980 – Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s murderer, leaves for New York from his home in Hawaii.
- November 12, 1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
- November 21, 1980 – A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally’s Las Vegas). 87 people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.
- December 11, 1980 – The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or Superfund, is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
Are you not curious to learn some fun facts about your birthday? Find out who shares your birthday, number one song, and the meaning of your day of birth. (Sponsored link)
Share or Link to This Page: