| 1980-07-30
Vanuatu gains independence.
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| 1980-03-18
At Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, 50 people are killed by an explosion of a Vostok-2M rocket on its launch pad during a fueling operation.
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| 1980-03-31
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.
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| 1980-12-08
John Lennon, an English musician and peace activist, is assassinated by Mark David Chapman, a mentally unstable fan, in front of the Dakota apartment building in New York City.
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| 1980-10-30
El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
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| 1980-05-09
In Norco, California, five masked gunman hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.
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| 1980-03-24
Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
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| 1980-05-27
The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
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| 1980-10-24
Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
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| 1980-01-26
Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
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| 1980-09-16
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the United Nations.
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| 1980-12-02
Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a death squad in El Salvador.
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| 1980-09-30
Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
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| 1980-03-21
On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who shot J.R.?"
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| 1980-12-04
English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbands, following the death of drummer John Bonham on September 25th.
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| 1980-09-18
Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (including 1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station.
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| 1980-11-12
The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
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| 1980-07-10
Alexandra Palace burns down for a second time.
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| 1980-04-24
Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
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| 1980-11-21
Lake Peigneur drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole. The resulting whirlpool sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet down to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.
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| 1980-06-10
The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.
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| 1980-04-12
Terry Fox begins his "Marathon of Hope" at St. John's, Newfoundland.
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| 1980-05-22
Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man.
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| 1980-08-19
Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
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| 1980-05-13
An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
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| 1980-05-17
On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
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| 1980-04-18
The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President.
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| 1980-05-08
The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
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| 1980-12-11
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or Superfund, is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
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| 1980-08-01
Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 and injures dozens of train passengers in Ireland.
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| 1980-06-03
The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak. Seven tornadoes hit Grand Island, Nebraska takes five lives, 357 single-family homes, 33 mobile homes, 85 apartments, 49 businesses and $300 million in damages all told, according to National Weather Service and American Red Cross statistics on the deadly storm.
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| 1980-04-24
Triple Six Fix
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| 1980-08-12
Signature of the Montevideo Treaty establishing the Latin American Integration Association.
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| 1980-09-22
Iraq invades Iran.
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| 1980-03-20
The Radio Caroline ship, Mi Amigo founders in a gale off the English coast.
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| 1980-11-23
A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.
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| 1980-08-25
Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
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| 1980-04-09
The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
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| 1980-05-20
In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
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| 1980-02-28
Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
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| 1980-08-02
A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
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| 1980-08-08
The Central Hotel Fire, Bundoran occurs in Ireland.
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| 1980-07-21
Australian Hard Rock band, AC/DC released the second best selling album of all time, Back in Black (Second only to Michael Jackson's Thriller)
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| 1980-05-18
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
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| 1980-07-24
The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level.
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| 1980-09-17
Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
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| 1980-03-10
Formation of the Irish Army Ranger Wing
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| 1980-02-04
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
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| 1980-05-05
Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
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| 1980-08-26
John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada.
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| 1980-02-29
Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
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| 1980-11-21
A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). 87 people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.
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| 1980-05-18
Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
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| 1980-06-01
Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
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| 1980-02-24
The United States Olympic Hockey team completes their Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal.
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| 1980-04-12
Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'état, ending over 130 years of national democratic presidential succession.
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| 1980-07-30
Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law
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| 1980-05-17
General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
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| 1980-07-20
The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
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| 1980-08-31
Zimbabwe establishes diplomatic relations with Algeria.
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| 1980-10-25
Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
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| 1980-03-21
US President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
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| 1980-03-27
Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, led to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.
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| 1980-02-22
Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4-3, in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
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| 1980-02-23
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
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| 1980-04-02
President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act in an effort to help the U.S. economy rebound.
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| 1980-10-29
Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.
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| 1980-02-02
Reports surface that the FBI was targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
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| 1980-07-01
O Canada officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
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| 1980-08-14
Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
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| 1980-09-17
After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
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| 1980-05-04
President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia dies in Ljubljana at the age of 87.
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| 1980-05-09
In Florida, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. 35 people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die.
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| 1980-03-03
The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
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| 1980-03-27
The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
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| 1980-09-05
The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.
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| 1980-02-25
The Suriname government is overthrown by a military coup which is initiated with the bombing of the police station from an army ship off the coast of the nation's capital, Paramaribo
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| 1980-09-01
Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope ends in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
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| 1980-04-30
Accession of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
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| 1980-01-27
Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper.
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| 1980-07-07
During the Lebanese civil war, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.
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| 1980-10-29
Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's murderer, leaves for New York from his home in Hawaii.
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| 1980-03-10
Madeira School headmistress Jean Harris shoots and kills Scarsdale diet doctor Herman Tarnower
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| 1980-04-20
Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
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| 1980-03-04
Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.
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| 1980-01-07
President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
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| 1980-09-01
Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
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| 1980-01-28
USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
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| 1980-03-14
In Poland, a plane crashes during final approach near Warsaw, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
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| 1980-08-17
Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
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| 1980-02-23
The United States Men's Olympic hockey team defeats the Swedish team to claim gold.
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| 1980-03-23
Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.
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| 1980-07-07
Institution of sharia in Iran.
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| 1980-12-26
Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
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| 1980-01-01
Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.
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| 1980-04-29
Corazones Unidos Siempre Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority Inc. is founded.
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| 1980-05-24
The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January.
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| 1980-09-12
Military coup in Turkey.
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