The U.S. interplanetary probe Pioneer 11 became the first Earth spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passed the planet at a distance of less than 13,000 miles (21,000 km).[1] At 16:29:34 UTC it came within 20,591 km (12,795 mi) of Saturn. Less than two hours earlier, it had come within 6,676 kilometres (4,148 mi) of the moon Epimethus.
Hurricane David swept through the Dominican Republic as a Category 5 storm,[2] devastating much of the western side of the island of Hispaniola and killing at least 2,000 people there. Neighboring Haiti, on the eastern side of Hispaniola, was not affected.
A 33-year old woman, Jessie Thomas, became the first person to receive an artificial spine, following a successful 19-hour surgery at the University of Maryland in Baltimore during which a metal device took the place of four vertebrae of her lower back. Dr. Charles Edwards designed the metal spinal prosthesis and led the surgical team in performing the surgery.[3][4]
Color television was introduced to Indonesia as the TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) network began color broadcasting.
The Australian rock band INXS performed its first concert under that name, after having been formed on August 16, 1977 by Andrew, Jon and Tim Farriss as "The Farriss Brothers". After briefly performing as "The Vegetables" in 1978, the group adopted its current name shortly before playing at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Umina, New South Wales.[5]
The U.S. Navy combat supply ship USS White Plains rescued 154 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea, the largest number saved by the U.S. since it had started its search for "boat people" in July. A Navy F-3 Orion patrol plane had spotted two overloaded boats 285 miles (459 km) from the Philippines.[10]
Aeroflot Flight 513 crashed in the Soviet Union as it was approaching the airport in Amderma, after having taken off from Archangelsk on a 650 mi (1,050 km) trip. Only three of the 43 people on board survived when the plane crashed on a hillside.[11]
The United States banned the importation of tuna from Canada in retaliation for the seizure of 19 American tuna fishing boats by the Canadian Coast Guard on charges of fishing in Canada's territorial waters, defined by Canadian law as within 200 miles (320 km) of Canada's coastline.[12] The cargo of each of the 19 boats had been confiscated, and a company was required to post a $5,000 bond for the release of a boat pending criminal action. At the time, the amount of Canada's exports of tuna to the U.S. was worth only $130,000.
Died:
Alberto di Jorio, 95, Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal and Vatican Bank advisor [13]
Guy Bolton, 96, English screenwriter and playwright [14]
Computer manufacturer International Business Machines (IBM) and recorded music manufacturer MCA announced a joint venture, Disco-Vision Associates, to manufacture a less expensive system for videodiscs and players, a forerunner of the smaller-diameter and larger capacity DVD.[17]
The first cable sports channel, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (better known as ESPN), was launched in the United States at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on participating cable television systems. The first program was a half-hour segment called "ESPN Premiere", followed by a preview of the 1979 college football season.[19]
Diosdado Macapagal, the former President of the Philippines, was charged with sedition and arrested in Manila by the government of his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos. The charges arose from Macapagal's criticism of martial law while at a birthday dinner. In 1976, Macapagal had published a book, Democracy in the Philippines, which called upon the nation's armed forces to overthrow the Marcos government "to free the people from dictatorship".[20]
Tracy Austin, a 16-year old professional tennis star, became the youngest person to win the U.S. Open when she defeated Chris Evert Lloyd in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-3. 20-year old John McEnroe then became the youngest man to win the tournament when he beat Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 and 6-3.[23]
Agostinho Neto, President of Angola since its independence in 1975, died while undergoing surgery for cancer at a hospital in Moscow.[25]Lúcio Lara, the General Secretary for the ruling MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola), took over briefly as acting president until Vice President José Eduardo dos Santos could be approved to take over from Neto.
For the first time in the history of the United States Navy, women were deployed overseas on a warship when about 50 female sailors and six officers were sent to patrol the Mediterranean Sea on the 730-member repair shipUSS Vulcan.[29]
Afghanistan's leader Nur Muhammad Taraki, who had traveled to a summit, in Cuba, of the leaders of Communist nations, returned to Kabul, with instructions from the Soviets to dismiss Defense Minister Hafizullah Amin. Instead of accepting a transfer to an overseas job, Amin confronted Taraki at a cabinet meeting and told Taraki to step down.
U.S. Representative Raymond Lederer (D-Pennsylvania) met with two representatives of an Arab sheik and accepted a $50,000 bribe in exchange for his pledge to help the men's client obtain entry into the United States.[30] Despite being re-elected overwhelmingly in 1980 while under indictment, Lederer would resign from the House of Representatives on April 29, 1981, a day after a House Committee voted in favor of expelling him. Lederer would later serve 10 months in a minimum security prison near Allenwood, Pennsylvania.
The eruption of the Mount Etna volcano in Italy killed at least nine tourists, and severely injured 12 others who required amputation of limbs because of burns. A rescue official reported that the death toll from the explosion of Etna was probably higher because "based on what we've seen so far, some victims must literally have been blown to pieces" while others were buried under large rocks.[31][32]
Hurricane Frederic struck the U.S. Gulf Coast with winds of 130 miles per hour (210 km/h) and caused heavy damage to a stretch of coast along the U.S. states of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.[33] Because of advance warning, the death toll was only nine people, compared to 250 killed when Hurricane Camille struck the same area in August 1969.[34]
South Africa granted nominal independence to the "tribal homeland" or Bantustan of Venda. The impoverished nation, located in northeast South Africa along the border with Zimbabwe, was recognized as sovereign only by South Africa, Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and Botswana[citation needed]. With a population of 320,000 and a capital at Thohoyandou, it was the third of a planned 10 black-ruled nations (after Transkei and Bophuthatswana), established by the white-minority government, which had set aside 13 percent of South Africa's land for relocation of much of its black population. Chief Patrick Mphephu was sworn in as the first President of the Republic of Venda.[35]
At least 50 people were killed in Yugoslavia when a heavily-loaded freight train crashed into the back of an express train transporting newly-recruited soldiers of the Yugoslavian Army.[36] The accident happened outside of the railway station at the Serbian village of Stalać, when the freight train engineer went through a stop signal.
All 31 people aboard ATI Flight 12 were killed when an Italian DC-9 jetliner crashed into a mountainside on the island of Sardinia at 2,000 feet (610 m), while approaching Cagliari. The multi-stop flight, with a final scheduled destination of Rome, had taken off from Alghero only 15 minutes earlier.[39]
All 12 firefighters aboard a DC-7 air tanker were killed when the airplane crashed into a mountain after dropping flame retardant on a fire at the Winema National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon.[40]
The popular video game Galaxian was introduced by the Namco corporation, initially in Japan [41] before being marketed in the United States by Midway Manufacturing on February 2, 1980.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the first to run in a ten-kilometre footrace while in office, almost collapsed from heat exhaustion while participating in a 10K run at Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.[42] President Carter, a regular jogger at 54 years old, became ill about two-thirds of the way during the 6.2 mile race and required immediate medical attention from the White House physician, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral William M. Lukash, including an intravenous saline solution while lying on the ground. When his condition stabilized, he was driven to Camp David for more treatment, and had recovered by the next day.[43]
An unsuccessful TV show whose stars would go on to greater fame, Working Stiffs premiered on CBS. Starring Jim Belushi and Michael Keaton as a pair of brothers who were janitors, Working Stiffs was canceled after its fourth episode on October 20.
Born:
Edna Kiplagat, Kenyan long-distance runner and winner of the women's division of the Boston Marathon (2017), the New York Marathon (2010) and the London Marathon (2014); in Iten
Elections were held in Sweden for the 349-seat Riksdag, in a race that was not decided until the counting of mail-in ballots three days later. Although results from polling places initially indicated that a Socialist coalition of the Social Democrats and the Vänsterpartiet ("Left" party) would return to control the Riksdag for the first time since 1976, the final results showed that the non-Socialist parties (the People's Party, the Centre Party and the Moderate Party) were able to combine for 175 while the Social Democrats and Leftists had 174. The margin of difference was the examination of the mailed ballots, that showed that in one of the 310 elected constituencies, the Moderate Party had won a seat initially thought to have been won by the Social Democrats.[45]
Two families fled in a homemade hot-air balloon from East Germany to West Germany, crossing 23 miles (37 km) of the heavily-guarded border of the then-Communist nation and landing in the west after running out of fuel. Led by an aircraft mechanic, Hans-Peter Strelzik of Pössneck, the group of four adults and four children departed from a forest near Ziegenrück at 2:40 in the morning, and landed in Naila 20 minutes later.[46]
Leonid Koslov and Valentina Koslova, principal dancers with Russia's Bolshoi Ballet, were given political asylum by the United States while the ballet company was in Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Koslov had contacted the Los Angeles Police Department the day before, and the LAPD contacted federal agents. The defection came at the end of the company's U.S. tour, and almost four weeks after the August 22 defection of Alexander Godunov. The rest of the company flew back to the Soviet Union.[47]
The Soviet husband-and-wife figure skating team of Lyudmilla Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, winners of Winter Olympic gold medals in 1964 and 1968, defected to the West a day before they were scheduled to fly from Geneva back to Moscow, after a four week tour of West Germany and Switzerland.[48]
In response to continuing price inflation in the United States, the Federal Reserve Board of the U.S. voted, 4 to 3, to raise the discount rate for commercial banks to a then-record high of 11 percent as a way of limiting the amount of money available to lenders. Chairman Paul A. Volcker cast the deciding vote to break a disagreement between the other six directors.[49]
A mountain climber in France found the bodies of two U.S. Army Air Force fliers and the remnants of their warplane, believed to have crashed more than 34 years earlier in late 1944 or early 1945.[50] The discovery was made at a glacier on a 9,200 foot (2,800 m) high Alpine peak above the town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice.
Struck by Lightning, one of the least successful shows of the 1979 U.S. television season, premiered on the CBS network. A fantasy comedy featuring Frankenstein's monster, it was canceled two weeks later, after its third episode on October 3.
Five people were killed by an earthquake in Italy, and more than 500 injured, and various ancient monuments in Rome sustained damage. The fatalities occurred in the villages of San Marco di Norcia and in Chiavano di Cascia.[52] The Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine and the Column of Marcus Aurelius all were found to have "superficial" cracks after the quake and multiple aftershocks.[53]
The Treaty of Tarawa was signed between representatives of the United States and the newly-independent Republic of Kiribati as a "treaty of friendship and territorial sovereignty", acknowledging Kiribati's sovereignty of 14 islands in the South Pacific Ocean in return for being able to maintain military bases on the islands of Kanton, Enderbury and Hull.
Theunis de Klerk, one of the white members of the Zimbabwe Rhodesia House of Assembly, was assassinated by a rocket attack on his home.[55] His death was the second of an Assembly member, four days after Terrence Mashambanhaka was murdered by guerrillas who attacked him with axes on September 16.
A series of murders that would claim the lives of 12 women in its first year began in the U.S. state of Michigan in Detroit and its suburbs. Another 14 would be murdered in the two years that followed until the arrest of Carl Eugene Watts on May 23, 1982. The headless body of 34-year-old Mimi Haddad was found in Allen Park, Michigan. In the first year, women were murdered in Taylor, Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms, Ann Arbor, Braeburn, and Southgate.[56]
The Cabinet of India voted to declare the Jewels of the Nizams of Hyderabad to be an Indian national treasure and ruled that it was not in the national interest to allow the jewelry collection to be taken out of the country.[58] The ruling effectively ended a proposed auction of the collection. Both Stavros Niarchos, the Greek shipping magnate, and banker Abdul Wahab E. Galadari of Dubai had deposited $26 million with the auction house as an opening bid for the jewels.[59]
Three members of a six-team Japanese mountain climbing team, led by Kenji Hirasawa, became the first persons to climb to the summit of Devi Mukut, at 21,811 feet (6,648 m) the 59th highest mountain in the world
Born:
Koxa (Rodrigo ‘Koxa’ Augusto do Espírito Santo), Brazilian surfer who holds the world record for the highest wave successfully surfed, an 80 foot (24 m) high wave off of the coast of Portugal on November 8, 2017; in Jundiaí, São Paulo state
Basque separatists assassinated Spain's military governor of the province of Guipuzcoa (now Gipuzkoa), Brigadier General Lorenzo Gonzales-Valles Sanchez, as he and his wife were walking through the Basque seaside resort of San Sebastián.[62]
The CBS medical drama television series Trapper John, M.D. premiered for the first of seven seasons on CBS, with actor Pernell Roberts continuing the role of the title character, who had been played in the film M.A.S.H. by Elliott Gould and then by Wayne Rogers in the TV series M*A*S*H.
After more than seven years of military rule in the West African nation of Ghana, an elected civilian president and 140-member parliament were inaugurated. Hilla Limann, an economist and a former diplomat, was sworn into office. The leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, Flight Lieutenant Jerry J. Rawlings, told listeners in a radio broadcast that he was handing over power three months after overthrowing the previous government and that his fellow council members would "return to the barracks" and warned that "if people in power use their offices to pursue self-interest, they will be resisted and unseated, no matter how unshakeable their opposition may seem to be." [63]
Born:
Julia Clarete (stage name for Edda Nuñez Clarette), Filipino actress and co-host of Eat Bulaga! from 2005 to 2016; in Makati
The government of Argentina released former newspaper publisher Jacobo Timerman, who had been held under house arrest since April 1977 without being charged with a crime. Timerman, who had founded the opposition newspaper La Opinión in Buenos Aires in 1971, was taken to an airport and placed on an Aerolineas Argentinas flight to Rome as part of an order expelling him from Argentina.[64] Timerman would later publish a bestselling memoir of his experience, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.
The Montreal Star, which had published for 111 years, announced that it had published its last issue.[65]
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed legislation permitting the completion of the Tellico Dam hydroelectric project in Tennessee, almost three years after construction had been halted because of its threat to a species of fish on the Little Tennessee River, the snail darter (Percina tanasi). The project had stopped on January 31, 1977, because of a lawsuit brought under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the bill passed by Congress exempted the Tellico Dam project from the ESA. [66] The dam was completed on November 29 and the Tellico Reservoir began forming.
Born:
Michele Scarponi, Italian professional bicycle racer, 2011 Giro d'Italia winner; in Jesi, Marche region (killed 2017)
Under orders from Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, troops of the Arizona National Guard took over a chemical plant of the American Atomics Corporation in Tucson and seized 1,000 gallons of the radioactive hydrogen isotope tritium. The plant had been closed since July because of leaks of tritium that had been found to have contaminated food in a preparation facility that supplied all of Tucson's elementary schools, as well as a swimming pool and a senior citizen's center.[67]
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines granted amnesty to 1,602 people who had been arrested during the nation's period of martial law since 1972. The amnesty followed the amnesty already given to 705 people.[69]
A fire at the Am Augarten Hotel in Vienna killed 25 people after apparently having been started in a wastebasket in the hotel's reception area and then spreading up the elevator shafts of the four-story building.[70][71]
General Roberto Viola, commander of the Army of Argentina, suppressed a revolt in Córdoba by the Argentine Third Army Corps after 30-hours, without bloodshed, after the intervention of 4,000 paratroopers.[75] Major General Luciano Menendez was fired by General Viola, who would later become the South American nation's president.[76]
The Panama Canal Zone marked its last day of existence after 76 years of operation as a United States territory.[77] The 533 sq mi (1,380 km2) enclave, with a population of 12,000 Americans who described themselves as "Zonians", came under the control of Panama at the end of the day as the October 1 date of the U.S. and Panamanian treaty took effect. The U.S. would continued to control the Panama Canal itself until December 31, 1999.
^"Spacecraft Takes First Close Look At Saturn, Slipping Through Rings; Pioneer 11, After 4 Hours Near Second Largest Planet, Then Veers Off Toward Titan, the Largest Moon", by John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, September 2, 1979, p. A1
^"Dominicans Report 400 Killed by Hurricane and Flooding; Residents Flee Keys", The New York Times, September 3, 1979, p. A1
^"World's First Surgery to Replace Vertebrae Is Termed Successful", The New York Times, September 2, 1979, p. A18
^"Spine device patient goes off the respirator", Daily News (New York), September 5, 1979, p. 10
^Ed St John, Burn : The life and times of Michael Hutchence and INXS (Bantam Books, 1998)
^"12 Britons Set Off to Circle Globe Via the North and South Poles", by R. W. Apple Jr., The New York Times, September 3, 1979, p. A1
^Ranulph Fiennes, To the Ends of the Earth : The Transglobe Expedition, the First Pole-to Pole Circumnavigation of the Globe (Gage Learning, 1983) p. 290
^"Zimbabwe Rhodesia Holds Ceremony for New Flag", The New York Times, September 3, 1979, p. A2
^"Krishna Palace Amazes West Virginia— Sect's New Temple, on a Mountaintop, Cost Half a Million", by Edward Schumacher, The New York Times, September 3, 1979, p. A6
^"U.S. Warship Saves 154, Largest Refugee Total Yet", The New York Times, September 4, 1979, p. A13
^"The great tuna tussle— U.S., Canada swap charges, threats as fish fray continues to boil", The Ottawa Citizen, September 5, 1979, p. 1
^"Alberto Di Jorio, Oldest Cardina, Dies at 95 at His Home in Rome", The New York Times, September 6, 1979, p. D21
^"Guy Bolton, One of the Originators of the Broadway Musical, 96, Dies", The New York Times, September 6, 1979, p. D21
^"Change of Pace in NBA: Ann Meyers Signs to Play", The Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1979, p.III-1
^"Pacers Close Book On The Ann Meyers Story", by Dick Mittman, Indianapolis News, September 13, 1979, p.30
^"I.B.M. and MCA Form Video-Disk Joint Venture", The New York Times, September 6, 1979, p. D4
^"President to Free 4 Puerto Ricans In Washington Shootings of 1950's— Nationalists Tried to Kill Truman and Shot Five Congressment in House", by Martin Tolchin, The New York Times, September 7, 1979, p. A3
^"24-Hour Sports Channel Starts Tonight on Cable", Wichita (KS) Eagle, September 7, 1979, p. 4D
^"Ex-President Arrested by Manila for Rumormongering and Sedition", The New York Times, September 8, 1979, p. A3
^"Whitecaps Set Back Rowdies for Title, 2-1", by Alex Yannis, The New York Times, September 9, 1979, p. 5-1
^"Non-Socialists Win Swedish Elections— Count of Postal Ballots Snatches Victory From Socialist Bloc by Margine of Single Seat", by John Vinocur, The New York Times, September 20, 1979, p. A9
^"2 East German Families Escape To West in a Homemade Balloon", The New York Times, September 17, 1979, p. A2
^"Two Principal Dancers of Bolshoi Are Given Political Asylum in U.S.", by Ari L. Goldman, The New York Times, September 18, 1979, p. A1
^"Soviet 60's Olympic Skating Couple Defect to Swiss", The New York Times, September 25, 1979, p. A1
^"Reserve Board, by 4-3, Raises Rate On Loans to Banks to Record 11%", by Robert A. Bennett, The New York Times, September 19, 1979, p. A1
^"2 World War II U.S. Fliers' Bodies Found on a French Alpine Glacier", The New York Times, September 23, 1979, p. A22
^"Bokassa Is Reported Overthrown In Coup in Central African Empire", The New York Times, September 21, 1979, p. A1
^"Quake Strikes Central Italy", The New York Times, September 21, 1979, p. A7
^"Severe Italian Quake Cracks Colosseum and Other Sites", The New York Times, September 22, 1979, p. A4
^"Sweden's Premier Resigns To Negotiate on Cabinet", The New York Times, September 21, 1979, p. A7
^"Rhodesian Legislator Killed", The New York Times, September 22, 1979, p. A3
^"Cabinet Rules Prince's Gems Must Be Kept in India", The New York Times, September 22, 1979, p. A4
^"Indian Jewel Auction Bidding Starts at $25 Million", The New York Times, September 10, 1979, p. A5
^"U.S. Monitors Signs of Atom Explosion Near South Africa— A Top Pretoria Aide Denies All Knowledge of Any Nuclear Arms Test", by Bernard Gwertzman, The New York Times, October 26, 1979, p. A1
^"Military Governor Is Killed By Basque Separatists", The New York Times, September 24, 1979, p. A7
^"Military Regime in Ghana Yields Power to Civilians", by Pranay B. Gupte, The New York Times, September 25, 1979, p. A3
^"Argentina Expels Publisher It Had Held for 29 Months", by Juan de Onis, The New York Times, September 26, 1979, p. A6
^"Montreal Star Ceases Publication After Loss of Circulation in Strike", by Dierdre Carmody, The New York Times, September 26, 1979, p. A12
^"Carter Signs Legislation Approving Completion of a Dam in Tennessee", The New York Times, September 26, 1979, p. A17
^"Arizona Guardsmen Seize Factory Where Radioactive Gas Is Leaking", by Robert McG. Thomas Jr.", The New York Times, September 27, 1979, p. A1
^"Congress Approves Dept. of Education; Victory for Carter; House Backs 13th Cabinet Unit— H.E.W. Losing Key Agencies and Getting New Name", by Marjorie Hunter, The New York Times, September 28, 1979, p. A1
^"1,602 More Get Amnesty In Marcos 'Unity' Move", The New York Times, September 28, 1979, p. A5
^"25 Die in Vienna Hotel Fire, Including 3 From Maine", The New York Times, September 29, 1979, p. A3
^"Vienna Blaze That Killed 25 Began in Hotel Wastebasket", The New York Times, September 30, 1979, p. A11
^"2 Million Irish Expected to See Pope During 3-Day Visit", by R. W. Apple Jr., The New York Times, September 29, 1979, p. A6
^"Pontiff, In Ireland, Makes Strong Plea for End to Violence— 2 Million Go out to See Him", By R. W. Apple Jr., The New York Times, September 30, 1979, p. A1
^"Pope's Itinerary for Ireland—U.S. Visits", The New York Times, September 19, 1979, p. A21
^"Argentine Army Reports Rebellion Move by General", The New York Times, September 30, 1979, p. A11
^"Argentine Army Revolt Ended", The New York Times, October 1, 1979, p. A3
^"Americans in Canal Zone Sadly Witness End of an Era", by Alan Riding,The New York Times, October 1, 1979, p. A1