"History Corner for December of 1978 and 1979"

• 12/01/1978 - Pres Carter more than doubles national park system size
• 12/01/1978 - Test Cricket debut of Rodney Hogg, v England at the Gabba
• 12/01/1978 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 12/02/1978 - Chanting "Allah is great," anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran
• 12/02/1978 - Neil Diamond & Barbra Striesand's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1
• 12/02/1978 - Streisand & Diamond's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," goes #1
• 12/03/1978 - "King of Hearts" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 48 performances
• 12/03/1978 - Pat Bradley/Lon Hinkle wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
• 12/04/1978 - Dianne Feinstein is named SF 1st female mayor
• 12/04/1978 - Dutch War criminal Pieter Menten freed
• 12/04/1978 - Pioneer Venus 1 goes into orbit around Venus
• 12/04/1978 - War criminal Pieter Menten freed
• 12/05/1978 - EG decides establishes EMS, European Monetary System
• 12/05/1978 - Free agent Pete Rose signs 4-year, $32 million contract with Phillies
• 12/05/1978 - Phillies Pete Rose becomes highest paid baseball player
• 12/05/1978 - Pioneer Venus 1 begins orbiting Venus
• 12/05/1978 - Sam Shepard's "Buried Child," premieres in NYC
• 12/05/1978 - Islanders took 28 shots in 1 period vs Penguins Penguins' Ross Lonsberry failed on 7th penalty shot against Islanders
• 12/06/1978 - Spain adopts constitution
• 12/07/1978 - Islander's Mike Bossy's 1st career hat trick
• 12/08/1978 - Commencement of the 1st day/night WSC cricket supertest at VFL Park
• 12/09/1978 - Pioneer Venus 2 drops 5 probes into atmosphere of Venus
• 12/09/1978 - 1st game of Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL), Chicago Hustle vs Milwaukee Does
• 12/10/1978 - "Platinum" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 33 performances
• 12/10/1978 - 67th Davis Cup: USA beats Great Britain in Rancho Mirage (4-1)
• 12/10/1978 - In Oslo, Menachem Begin & Anwar Sadat accept 1978 Nobel Peace Prize
• 12/10/1978 - Islanders ends 15 game undefeated streak (12-0-3) to Canadians
• 12/11/1978 - 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at NY Kennedy Airport & made off with $5.8 M in cash & jewelry
• 12/13/1978 - Susan B Anthony dollar, 1st US coin to honor a woman, issued
• 12/14/1978 - "Ballroom" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 116 performances
• 12/14/1978 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
• 12/14/1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 12/15/1978 - Saint Maarten Patriotic Movement (SPM) forms under W James
• 12/15/1978 - Test Cricket debut of Malcolm Marshall, v India at Bangalore
• 12/16/1978 - Ronald Reagan denounces Pres Jimmy Carter's recognition of China PR
• 12/17/1978 - OPEC raises oil prices 18%
• 12/17/1978 - Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda
• 12/18/1978 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
• 12/18/1978 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
• 12/19/1978 - France performs nuclear test
• 12/19/1978 - Indira Gandhi ambushed in India
• 12/20/1978 - H R Haldeman, Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail
• 12/21/1978 - "Broadway Musical" opens/closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC
• 12/21/1978 - Police in Des Plaines Ill, arrest John Wayne Gacy Jr for murder
• 12/22/1978 - Kenny Jones becomes The Who's new drummer
• 12/22/1978 - Thailand adopts constitution
• 12/23/1978 - Islanders scored 7 goals in 1 period against NY Rangers, Trottier scores 8 points vs Rangers, 5 goals-NHL record 6 pts in 1 period
• 12/26/1978 - India's former PM, Indira Gandhi, released from jail
• 12/27/1978 - King Juan Carlos ratifies Spain's 1st democratic constitution
• 12/28/1978 - 30th hat trick in Islander history (Mike Bossy)
• 12/29/1978 - Shah of Iran, asks Shapour Bahktiar to form a civilian govt
• 12/29/1978 - Spain constitution goes into effect
• 12/29/1978 - Test Cricket debut of Allan Robert Border, v England at the MCG
• 12/30/1978 - "King & I" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 719 performances
• 12/30/1978 - Ohio State dismisses Woody Hayes as its football coach
• 12/31/1978 - "Magic Show" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 1859 performances
• 12/31/1978 - "Runaways" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 199 performances
• 12/31/1978 - CIA director, Admiral Stansfield Turner retires from the Navy
• 12/31/1978 - Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier
• 12/31/1978 - Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with US

• 12/03/1978 - William Grant Still, composer, dies at 83
• 12/04/1978 - Samuel Abraham Goldsmith, Neth/US phycists, dies at 76
• 12/08/1978 - Golda Meir, Israel's PM (1969-74), dies in Jerusalem at 80
• 12/10/1978 - Edward D Wood Jr, director (Plan 9), dies of heart failure at 54
• 12/10/1978 - Miura Isshu, Zen teacher, Hakuin Rinzai line, dies at 75
• 12/12/1978 - Clifton Chenier, US accordionist (Bayou Blues), dies at 53
• 12/12/1978 - Fay Compton, actress (Othello), dies at 74
• 12/15/1978 - Chill Wills, actor (Frontier Circus, Rounders), dies at 75
• 12/16/1978 - Blanche Calloway, US singer/dancer/radio hostess, dies at 76
• 12/27/1978 - Bob de Lange, Dutch actor/director (Daniel), dies at 62
• 12/27/1978 - Chris Bell, rock guitarist (Big Star), dies at 27 in car crash
• 12/27/1978 - Houari Boum‚diene, Algerian Pres, dies after 40 days in a coma at 53
• 12/28/1978 - Harry Winston, US jeweler for the "rich & famous", dies at 82

• 12/02/1979 - Crowds attack US embassy at Tripoli Libya
• 12/02/1979 - Foots Walker becomes 1st Cleve Cavalier to score a triple-double
• 12/02/1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 12/03/1979 - 11 trampled to death at Cincinnati Who concert [or 1204?]
• 12/03/1979 - 45th Heisman Trophy Award: Charles White, Southern Cal (RB)
• 12/03/1979 - Christies auctions a thimble for a record $18,400
• 12/03/1979 - Iran accepts constitution
• 12/04/1979 - Cleveland Cavaliers retire jersey # 7, Bingo Smith
• 12/04/1979 - Liza Minnelli's 3rd marriage (Mark Gero)
• 12/05/1979 - Ireland premier Jack Lynch resigns
• 12/09/1979 - Murle Breer/Dave Eichelberger wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
• 12/10/1979 - Piet Dankert appointed as chairman of European Parliament
• 12/11/1979 - Geoff Boycott scores cricket century in a limited-over international
• 12/11/1979 - Great Britain grants independence to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)
• 12/12/1979 - Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce
• 12/12/1979 - Rhodesia becomes independent nation of Zimbabwe
• 12/13/1979 - "Oklahoma!" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 301 performances
• 12/13/1979 - Strikes against price increases in Gdansk Poland
• 12/14/1979 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 12/15/1979 - Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama
• 12/15/1979 - World Court in Hague rules Iran should relase all US hostages
• 12/16/1979 - 68th Davis Cup: USA beats Italy in San Francisco (5-0)
• 12/16/1979 - QB Roger Staubach's last regular season game with the Dallas Cowboys
• 12/17/1979 - Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)
• 12/18/1979 - Stanley Barrett 1st to exceed land sonic speed (739.666 MPH)
• 12/21/1979 - Gary Unger plays in record 914th consecutive NHL game
• 12/21/1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 12/21/1979 - Zimbabwe adopts constitution
• 12/23/1979 - NY Islanders greatest shutout lose (8-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks
• 12/23/1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 12/24/1979 - 1st Ariane-rocket launched
• 12/25/1979 - Opening day of 4th Test Cricket, India 8-112 v Pakistan at Kanpur
• 12/25/1979 - USSR airlifts invasionary army to Afghanistan
• 12/27/1979 - "Knots Landing," premieres on CBS-TV
• 12/27/1979 - Red Army beats NY Rangers 5-2 at MSG
• 12/27/1979 - Soviet troops invade Afgh nist n, Pres Hafizullah Amin overthrown
• 12/29/1979 - Red Army beats NY Islanders 3-2 at Nassau Coliseum
• 12/30/1979 - Rock group, Emerson, Lake & Palmer break up
• 12/30/1979 - Togo adopts constitution
• 12/31/1979 - Winterland Rock Concert Hall in SF closes after 556 concerts

• 12/02/1979 - Vasily Pavlovich Solov'yov-Sedoy, composer, dies at 72
• 12/04/1979 - Robert Karnes, actor (Max-The Lawless Years), dies at 62
• 12/07/1979 - Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, 1st woman full prof at Harvard U, dies
• 12/07/1979 - Mari Andriessen, sculptor (Docker), Amsterdam, dies at 82
• 12/07/1979 - Nicolas Born, writer, dies at 41
• 12/07/1979 - Prince Chahryar Shafik, Shah of Iran's nephew, murdered in Paris
• 12/09/1979 - Fulton J Sheen, archbishop/religious broadcaster, dies in NYC at 84
• 12/10/1979 - Ann Dvorak, actress (G Men, Life of Her Own, Scarface), dies at 67
• 12/10/1979 - Fulton J Sheen, bishop (Life is Worth Living), dies at 84
• 12/11/1979 - Claire Carleton, NYC, actress (Alice-Cimarron City), dies at 66
• 12/13/1979 - Jon Hall, actor (Ramor of the Jungle), dies at 66
• 12/14/1979 - Nirode Ranjan Chowdhury, cricketer (2 Tests for India, avg 205), dies
• 12/15/1979 - Bern Hoffman, actor (Major Dell Conway), dies at 66
• 12/21/1979 - Bill Anderson, cricketer (Test for NZ 1946, scored five & one), dies
• 12/22/1979 - Darryl F Zanuck, film producer (20th Century Fox), dies at 77
• 12/24/1979 - Dirk Uipko Stikker, Dutch CEO (Heineken)/sect-gen NATO, dies at 82
• 12/24/1979 - Rudi [Rudolf] Dutschke, German student leader, dies at 39
• 12/25/1979 - Joan Blondell, actress (Real McCoys), dies at 70
• 12/25/1979 - Lee Bowman, actor (Ellery Queen, Miami Undercover), dies at 64
• 12/27/1979 - Hafizullah Amin, president of Afghanistan (1979), murdered
• 12/30/1979 - Richard Rodgers, composer (Rogers & Hammerstein), dies at 77