With the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran after 15 years of exile the Iranian army mutinies and joins the Islamic Revolution. 3000 radical students climb the walls of the US Embassy and take 53 American hostages. President Carter sends a rescue mission that fails in the desert of Eastern Iran. The Iranian Hostage Crisis At Jimmy Carter Center.
A cooling tower relief valve failed at the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania causing a partial meltdown. The accident and the movie The China Syndrome about a fictional nuclear plant meltdown put an end to new construction of nuclear plants in the United States. Three Mile Island Accident..
Called the White Night Riots San Francisco gays turned violent after Dan White who had killed Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone was convicted of voluntary manslaughter under what became known as "The Twinkie Defense". Police retaliated by raiding area gay bars. The gay community rose out of the ashes re electing gay friendly mayor Dianne Feinstein and become more accepted in American culture. Dan White served 5 years of his 7 year sentence and committed suicide shortly after his release in 1985. The White Night Riots.
Near his home in Plains, Georgia, President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a large swamp rabbit intend upon climbing into the small boat he was fishing in alone. Secret Service took verified the story and took a picture of the rabbit after Carter had used oars to dissuade it. It became an issue for Republicans to paint Carter as ineffectual. It worked! The Swamp Rabbit Incident.
Nobel prizes 1979
Physics - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Arno Allan Penzias, Robert Woodrow Wilson Chemistry - Peter D. Mitchell Medicine - Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O. Smith Literature - Isaac Bashevis Singer Peace - Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and Menachem Begin Economics - Herbert Simon
"The dour old man of 79 shuffles in his heel-less slippers to the rooftop and waves apathetically to crowds that surround his modest home in the holy city of Qum. The hooded eyes that glare out so balefully from beneath his black turban are often turned upward, as if seeking inspiration from on high—which, as a religious mystic, he indeed is. To Iran's Shi'ite Muslim laity, he is the Imam, an ascetic spiritual leader whose teachings are unquestioned. To hundreds of millions of others, he is a fanatic whose judgments are harsh, reasoning bizarre and conclusions surreal. He is learned in the ways of Shari'a (Islamic law) and Platonic philosophy, yet astonishingly ignorant of and indifferent to non-Muslim culture. Rarely has so improbable a leader shaken the world." Time cover story Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
The World 1979
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Soon to be come dubbed the "Iron Lady" she and her Conservative Party hold power until 1990. Margaret Thatcher History Page.
The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and installs Babrak Karmal to lead their puppet government in Kabul. The war goes on for 10 years causing the Soviet Union so much trouble it is one of the main causes of its fall in 1989. The United States backed and supplied surface to air missiles to the Mujahideen led by Osama bin Laden. Russian Invasion of Afghanistan.
After the world watches a video of a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier killing ABC news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter, Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza Debayle flees the country to Miami, Florida. The end of the Somoza regime
The Ixtoc I oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico spills up to 428 million gallons of oil into the Southern Gulf. It is the worst oil spill to date. The Ixtoc well blowout.
The Peoples Republic of China reaches one billion people and implements the still controversial One Child Policy, One Child Policy in China at wiki,
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