~Flashback 1978~

1978

World Statistics; Population: 4.302 billion

Nobel Peace Prize:Menachem Begin (Israel) and Anwar el-Sadat (Egypt)
Rhodesia's Prime Minister Ian D. Smith and three black leaders agree on transfer to black majority rule (Feb. 15).
US Senate approves Panama Canal neutrality treaty (March 16); votes treaty to turn canal over to Panama by year 2000 (April 18).
Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro kidnapped by left wing terrorists, who kill five bodyguards (March 16); he is found slain (May 9).
Pope Paul VI , dead at 80, mourned (Aug. 6); new Pope, John Paul I, 65, dies unexpectedly after 34 days in office (Sept. 28); succeeded by Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland as John Paul II (Oct. 16).
"Framework for Peace" in Middle East signed by Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin after 13-day conference at Camp David led by President Jimmy Carter (Sept. 17).
Jim Jones's followers commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (Nov. 18).

U.S. Events

U.S. StatisticsPresident: James Earl Carter, Jr. Vice President: Walter F. Mondale

Population: 222,584,545; Life expectancy: 73.5 years; Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 51.4; Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 46.4

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $2,291.40 billion; Federal spending: $458.75 billion; Federal debt: $776.6 billion; Median Household Income(current dollars): $15,064; Consumer Price Index: 65.2; Unemployment: 6.1%; Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.13 ($0.15 as of 5/29/78)

Entertainment

Oscars awarded in 1978Academy Award, Best Picture: Annie Hall, Charles H. Joffe, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer (US)

Grammys awarded in 1978

Record of the Year: "Hotel California," Eagles; Album of the Year: Rumours, Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros.) Song of the Year: "Love Theme From A Star Is Born" (Evergreen), Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams, songwriters
Miss America: Susan Perkins (OH)

Events
Sony introduces the Walkman, the first portable stereo.

Movies
The Deer Hunter, Midnight Express, Heaven Can Wait, Coming Home

Books
Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise
John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
Barry Hannah, Airships
John Irving, The World According to Garp
Peter Mathiessen, The Snow Leopard
Richard Nixon, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon
Adrienne Rich, The Dream of a Common Language
Herman Wouk, War and Remembrance


Balloon anigoplasty is developed to treat coronary artery disease. Background: Health & Nutrition

Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, is born at Oldham Hostpital in London. Background: reproduction

Deaths
Hubert Humphrey
Anastus Mikoyan
Norman Rockwell
Bob Crane (Hogans Heroes)