- January 4
- U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. [120]
- January 6
- Indira Gandhi's Congress Party wins elections in India. [1]
- Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. [120]
- The president of Sicily, Piersanti Mattarella, is assassinated by the Mafia. [120]
- January 9
- In Saudi Arabia, 63 Muslim fanatics are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November, 1979. [1] [120]
- January 11
- Debut of The Pretenders rock music group. [1]
- January 13
- Togo's constitution becomes effective. [1]
- Head of narcotic brigade arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium. [1]
- January 18
- Price of an ounce of silver hits record high of $50.35 in Comex trading. [444.44] [474.14]
- Gold briefly reaches US$1,000 an ounce. [1]
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- January 21
- The MS Athina B is beached at Brighton, becoming a temporary tourist attraction. [120]
- The London Gold Fixing hits its highest price ever, at US$850 a troy ounce. (This record will stand until 2008.) [1] [120] [474.14] (January 23 [771.92])
- Price of an ounce of silver reaches a daytime high of US$50.35, closing at US$42.07. (The closing price record will remain until 2011.) [620.44] [763.1] (January 23 [771.92])
- January 22
- Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist and human rights activist, is arrested in Moscow. He and Jelena Bonner are banished to Gorki. [1] [120]
- January 24
- North of Livermore Valley, California, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurs. [53]
- January 25
- Bani-Sadr elected President of Iran. [1]
- January 26
- Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations. [1] [120]
- 175,000 pay to hear Frank Sinatra sing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [1]
- January 27
- Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland. [120] (January 29 [1])
- January 31
- The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. [120]
- Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41. [1]
- February 2
- FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected and public officials for bribes for political favors. [1] [120]
- (to February 3) New Mexico State Penitentiary inmates riot; 33 are killed and more than 100 injured. [120]
- February 3
- Muhammed Ali tours Africa as US President Jimmy Carter's envoy. [1]
- February 4
- Abolhassan Bani-Sadr sworn in as first president of Iran. [1] [120]
- February 5
- Egyptian parliament votes to end boycott of Israel. [1]
- February 13
- Apollo Computer is incorporated. [1]
- February 14
- US launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares. [1]
- February 15
- In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea. [120]
- February 16
- Continuous traffic jam extends 176km north of Lyons, France. [1]
- February 18
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canada's elections. [1]
- February 22
- Afghanistan declares martial law. [1]
- February 23
- France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
- Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-million-gallon spill. [1]
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages. [120]
- February 25
- Military coup under Desi Bouterse and Roy Horb in Suriname ousts Prime Minister Henck Arron, replacing the government with a National Military Council. [1] [120]
- February 26
- Egypt and Israel exchange ambassadors for the first time. [1]
- February 27
- M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding 60 people hostage, including 14 ambassadors. [1] [120]
- March 1
- Commonwealth Trade Union Council is established. [1]
- March 3
- France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
- Pierre Trudeau returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada. [120]
- March 4
- Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF wins parliamentary election in Zimbabwe. [1] [120]
- March 5
- Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49. [1]
- March 8
- The first festival of rock music kicks off in the Soviet Union. [120]
- March 9
- Flemish/Walloon battles in Belgium, 40 injured. [1]
- March 12
- Jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago, Illinois. [1]
- March 13
- Ford Motor Company found innocent in death of three women in a fiery Pinto. [1]
- March 14
- In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others. [1] [120]
- March 18
- Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation. [1] [120]
- March 20
- US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran. [1]
- The Mi Amigo ship containing England's pirate Radio Caroline sinks. [1] [120]
- March 21
- U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. [120]
- March 23
- Swedes vote in a national referendum on the use of atomic energy. of the 4.7 million ballots, 58 percent vote in favor of completing the nuclear energy program and retaining it for at least 25 years. [7]
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- March 24
- Archbishop Óscar Romero assassinated while conducting mass in San Salvador. [1] [120]
- March 26
- Bombay, India, gets its first rock concert in ten years (The Police). [1]
- March 27
- Elevator in Vaal Reef, South Africa gold mine crashs 1900 metres down (23 die). [1] [120]
- Mount Saint Helens in Washington state becomes active after 123 years. [1]
- The Norwegian offshore oil-drilling platform Alexander L Kielland collapses in rough weather in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212. [120] [720.105]
- March 28
- Talpiot Tomb is found in Jerusalem. [120]
- April 1
- The Mariel boatlift from Cuba to Florida begins. [120]
- Failed assassination attempt on Iraqi vice-premier Tariq Aziz. [1]
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- April 2
- The St. Pauls riot breaks out in Bristol, England. [120]
- April 3
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- April 4
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- April 5
- In New York City, USA, Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries sells at auction a British Guiana 1856 1-cent stamp, error on magenta paper, used, for 437,000 British pounds (US$935,000), to John E. du Pont, a world record for a single postage stamp. [674.86] [798.3] [1017.38] [1156.8] [1135] [1268.7] [1481.4] [1793.15]
- April 6
- Post It Notes are introduced. [1]
- April 7
- The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions. [1] [120]
- April 9
- Soyuz 35 carries two cosmonauts to Salyut 6. [1]
- Belgium's Marten's government resigns. [1]
- April 10
- Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain, closed since 1969. [120]
- April 12
- Black Consciousness Movement of Azania forms. [1]
- Samuel Kanyon Doe takes over Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country. Liberian President William R Tolbert Junior and 27 others are killed. [1] [120]
- April 13
- Grease closes at Broadhurst Theater in New York City after 3,388 performances. [1]
- Soviet news agency TASS denounces US boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympics. [1]
- April 14
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Norman Mailer (Executioner's Song). [1]
- April 18
- The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) declares independence from United Kingdom. Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister. [81.60] [120] [278.476] [285.1184]
- April 19
- Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song, "What's Another Year". [120]
- April 20
- The Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana. 125,000 Cubans flee by the end of the exodus in October, with 27 deaths. [1] [129]
- April 23
- Soviet submarine catches fire off Japan, nine die. [1]
- 146 people die near Los Rodeos, Tenerife, Spain, as a Dan Air Boeing 727 crashes while attempting to land. [57] [120]
- April 24
- (to April 25) Operation Eagle Claw, a US commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation. [1] [120] [129]
- April 25
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- Announcement of US President Jimmy Carter of the hostage rescue bungle in Iran. [1]
- April 26
- Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site. [1]
- Iran begins scattering US hostages from the US Embassy. [1]
- April 27
- The Dominican embassy siege ends with all hostages released and the guerrillas flying to Cuba. [120]
- April 30
- Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, England. [1] [120]
- Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates. [1] [12]
- Queen Beatrix of Netherlands, Wilhelmina Armgard, ascends to the throne. [1]
- May 2
- In Sweden, employers lock out 770,000 workers, after labor unions reject a government wage proposal of a 2.3 percent increase. Unions had demanded 11 percent. (Unions respond to the lock-out with strikes of over 100,000 more workers. One quarter of Sweden's work force is affected. The situation is resolved in nine days, with a mediated wage increase of seven percent.) [7]
- Joseph Doherty and three other Irish Republican Army men arrested for murder. [1]
- The South African government bans the Pink Floyd song "Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)". The song had been adopted as the anthem for black children who boycotted schools because of inferior education standards. [1] [457]
- Pope John Paul II begins African tour. [1]
- May 4
- Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (1945-80), dies at age 87 (born 1892). [1] [120] [1268.87]
- May 5
- Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends; British commandos and police storm the building. [1]
- May 7
- The International Monetary Fund holds the last of 45 gold auctions. [492.32] [621.58]
- Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate). [120]
- May 8
- World Health Organization announces smallpox has been eradicated. [1]
- May 9
- In Florida, Liberian freighter Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, sending 35 people to death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses. [1] [120]
- May 15
- Shawn Weatherly, of Sumter, South Carolina, crowned 29th Miss USA/Miss Universe-1980. [1]
- First trans-US balloon crossing (Maxie Anderson and son Chris). [1]
- May 17
- A Miami, Florida court acquits four white police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, provoking three days of race riots - 16 killed, 300 injured. [1] [120]
- May 18
- At Mount Saint Helens, Washington, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurs, preceeding an eruption by seconds. [53]
- Mount Saint Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage. 396 metres of the top of the mountain explodes in a gigantic dust cloud. [1] [53] [120]
- Death of David A. Johnston, American volcanoligist, victim of Mount Saint Helens' eruption (born 1949). [120]
- Belgium's third Government of Martens forms. [1]
- People's Republic of China launches first intercontinental rocket. [1]
- Fernando Belaúnde Terry elected President of Peru. [1]
- (to May 27) Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms. [120]
- May 19
- Apple Computer introduces the Apple III computer. It features twice the processor speed (2 MHz 6502 processor) as the Apple II, twice the memory (128 kB), built-in 5.25-inch floppy drive, Apple SOS operating system. With a small case and no cooling fan, reliability problems limit lifetime sales over four years to 65,000 units. [4]
- May 20
- Fire in nursing home in Kingston, Jamaica, kills 157. [1]
- In a referendum, 59.5 percent of Québec, Canada, voters reject separatism. [1] [120]
- May 21
- Fox releases the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $538 million (1st for 1980).) [1] [120] [955]
- May 22
- Namco releases the video game Pacman. [5]
- May 24
- The International Court of Justice calls for the release of U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran. [1] [120]
- May 26
- Soyuz 36 carries two cosmonauts (one Hungarian) to Salyut 6. [1]
- In South Korea, military government forces and pro-democracy protesters clash; 2,000 protesters die. [120] (May 27 [1])
- John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away. [120]
- May 27
- In Gwangju, Republic of Korea, government forces kill hundreds of civilian militias that had seized control of the city. [1479.29]
- May 30
- J Turner's painting Juliet and Her Nurse sells for US$6.4 million in New York City. [1]
- First papal visit to France since 1814. [1]
- May 31
- Police and youthful rebels battle in Zurich, Switzerland. [1]
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