| 1977-08-10
In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
|
| 1977-10-20
A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot.
|
| 1977-11-22
British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
|
| 1977-03-04
The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.
|
| 1977-01-19
Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen. It also fell in the Bahamas.
|
| 1977-10-24
Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
|
| 1977-06-07
500 million people watch on television as the high day of Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begins.
|
| 1977-08-09
The military-controlled Government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a President and Congress.
|
| 1977-06-26
The Yorkshire Ripper kills 16 year old shop assistant Jayne MacDonald in Leeds, changing public perception of the killer as she is the first victim who is not a prostitute.
|
| 1977-09-27
The 300 metre tall CKVR-TV transmission tower in Barrie, Ontario, Canada is hit by a light aircraft in a fog, causing it to collapse. All aboard the aircraft are killed.
|
| 1977-08-16
Elvis Presley dies of a heart attack brought on by prescription drugs and an irregular heartbeat
|
| 1977-02-18
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.
|
| 1977-12-04
Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100.
|
| 1977-04-28
The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
|
| 1977-08-03
The United States Senate hearing on MKULTRA.
|
| 1977-08-15
The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.
|
| 1977-08-01
Former Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he is flying in Los Angeles
|
| 1977-12-13
A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.
|
| 1977-06-13
Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.
|
| 1977-08-18
Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He would later die of the injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
|
| 1977-01-24
Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
|
| 1977-06-10
Apple ships its first Apple II personal computer.
|
| 1977-11-08
Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.
|
| 1977-09-20
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.
|
| 1977-09-30
Philippine political prisoners, Eugenio Lopez, Jr. and Sergio Osmeña III escape from Fort Bonifacio Maximum Security Prison in the Philippines.
|
| 1977-01-28
The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, which severely affects and cripples much of Upstate New York, but Buffalo, NY, Syracuse, NY, Watertown, NY, and surrounding areas are most affected, each area accumulating close to 10 feet of snow on this one day.
|
| 1977-05-31
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.
|
| 1977-04-07
German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
|
| 1977-09-18
Voyager I takes first photograph of the Earth and the Moon together.
|
| 1977-09-30
Because of US budget cuts and dwindling power reserves, the Apollo program's ALSEP experiment packages left on the Moon are shut down.
|
| 1977-06-27
France grants independence to Djibouti.
|
| 1977-06-16
Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
|
| 1977-09-04
The Golden Dragon Massacre took place in San Francisco, California.
|
| 1977-01-18
Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
|
| 1977-10-07
The adoption of the Fourth Soviet Constitution.
|
| 1977-12-20
Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
|
| 1977-07-13
New York City, amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences a blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to wide-spread fires and looting.
|
| 1977-06-05
A coup takes place in Seychelles.
|
| 1977-07-20
Johnstown is hit by a flash flood that kills eighty and causes $350 million in damage.
|
| 1977-09-25
About 4,200 people take part in the first running of the Chicago Marathon.
|
| 1977-07-24
End of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
|
| 1977-12-25
Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat.
|
| 1977-10-25
Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
|
| 1977-09-12
South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko is killed in police custody.
|
| 1977-12-06
South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
|
| 1977-01-19
President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").
|
| 1977-11-06
The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.
|
| 1977-11-21
Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announces that 'the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem "God Save the Queen" and the poem "God Defend New Zealand", written by Thomas Bracken, as set to music by John Joseph Woods, both being of equal status as national anthems appropriate to the occasion.
|
| 1977-01-15
The Kälvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden's history.
|
| 1977-07-11
Martin Luther King Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
|
| 1977-05-26
George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City's World Trade Center.
|
| 1977-09-07
The Torrijos-Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
|
| 1977-08-12
The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
|
| 1977-08-12
Start of Sri Lankan riots of 1977, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people this riot started less than a month after the United National Party came to power, over 300 Tamils are killed.
|
| 1977-07-05
Military coup in Pakistan: Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, is overthrown.
|
| 1977-05-28
In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
|
| 1977-07-21
The start of the four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
|
| 1977-10-06
In Alicante, Spain, fascists attack a group of MCPV militants and sympathizers, and one MCPV sympathizer is killed.
|
| 1977-07-22
Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.
|
| 1977-10-06
The first prototype of the MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.
|
| 1977-01-21
President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam War draft evaders, some of whom had emigrated to Canada.
|
| 1977-10-21
The European Patent Institute is founded.
|
| 1977-01-03
Apple Computer is incorporated.
|
| 1977-04-27
28 people are killed in the Guatemala City air disaster.
|
| 1977-09-05
Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
|
| 1977-08-26
The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec
|
| 1977-08-20
Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
|
| 1977-10-17
German Autumn: Four days after it is hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.
|
| 1977-08-04
US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
|
| 1977-11-19
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
|
| 1977-11-19
Transportes Aereos Portugueses Boeing 727 crashes in Madeira islands killing 130.
|
| 1977-03-27
Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). 61 survived on the Pan Am flight.
|
| 1977-07-20
The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
|
| 1977-10-26
The last natural case of smallpox is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
|
| 1977-08-23
The Gossamer Condor wins the Kremer prize for human powered flight.
|
| 1977-04-28
The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure is signed.
|
| 1977-01-18
Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.
|
| 1977-05-01
36 people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations.
|
| 1977-12-02
The first World Series Cricket "supertest" match played between Australia and West Indies
|
| 1977-03-10
Rings of Uranus: Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.
|
| 1977-12-30
For the second time, Ted Bundy escapes from his cell in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
|
| 1977-11-25
Former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad.
|
| 1977-10-18
German Autumn: a set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.
|
| 1977-01-17
Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.
|
| 1977-06-05
The Apple II, one of the first personal computers, goes on sale.
|
| 1977-03-11
The 1977 Hanafi Muslim Siege: more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
|
| 1977-03-16
Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
|
| 1977-10-13
Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
|
| 1977-09-10
Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.
|
| 1977-07-03
The Senegalese Republican Movement is founded.
|
| 1977-12-04
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.
|
| 1977-09-05
Hanns Martin Schleyer, is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany by the Red Army Faction and is later murdered.
|
| 1977-01-20
Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States. He is the last President inaugurated at the east front of the Capitol, which had been the traditional site for Presidential inaugurations since 1829.
|
| 1977-05-25
Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday.
|
| 1977-12-05
Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
|
| 1977-06-10
James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee, but is recaptured on June 13.
|
| 1977-11-26
'Vrillon', claiming to be the representative of the 'Ashtar Galactic Command', takes over Britain's Southern Television for six minutes at 5:12 PM.
|
| 1977-03-09
The Hanafi Muslim Siege: In a thirty-nine hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings, killing two and taking 149 hostage.
|
| 1977-07-26
The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
|
