Important Historical Events of the year 1980, Year 1980 in History

1. Birthday Age Calculator
2. Historical Events By Year
3. 20th Century Years
4. Important Historical Events of the year 1980

List of 1980 Major News Events in History, Most Important Historical Events in 1980

What happened in the year 1980?

Date	Event
January 7, 1980	U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
January 10, 1980	The New England Journal of Medicine publishes the letter Addiction Rare in Patients Treated with Narcotics, which is later misused to downplay the general risk of addiction to opioids.[26]
January 21, 1980	Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.
January 25, 1980	Mother Teresa is honored with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
January 27, 1980	Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper.
January 28, 1980	USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
January 29, 1980	The Rubik's Cube makes its international debut at the Ideal Toy Corp. in Earl's Court, London.
February 2, 1980	Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
February 17, 1980	First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
February 22, 1980	Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
February 23, 1980	Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
February 25, 1980	The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Dési Bouterse.
February 26, 1980	Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
February 28, 1980	Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
February 29, 1980	Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
March 3, 1980	The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
March 4, 1980	Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.
March 14, 1980	LOT Flight 7 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
March 18, 1980	A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.
March 21, 1980	U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet–Afghan War.
March 23, 1980	Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.
March 24, 1980	El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.[57]
March 27, 1980	The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
March 31, 1980	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.
April 2, 1980	United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
April 3, 1980	US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shivwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.
April 7, 1980	During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
April 9, 1980	The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
April 12, 1980	The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed.
April 12, 1980	Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed.
April 12, 1980	Canadian runner and athlete, Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF
April 18, 1980	The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
April 24, 1980	Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
April 25, 1980	One hundred forty-six people are killed when Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes near Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
April 30, 1980	Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
April 30, 1980	The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
May 5, 1980	Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
May 8, 1980	The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
May 9, 1980	In Florida, United States, 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. Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die.
May 9, 1980	In Norco, California, United States, five masked gunmen 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.
May 13, 1980	An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
May 14, 1980	Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
May 17, 1980	General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
May 17, 1980	On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
May 18, 1980	Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
May 18, 1980	Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
May 20, 1980	In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
May 27, 1980	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.
June 1, 1980	Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
June 3, 1980	An explosive device is detonated at the Statue of Liberty. The FBI suspects Croatian nationalists.
June 3, 1980	The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $987 million in 2021) worth of damage.
June 10, 1980	The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.
June 27, 1980	The 'Ustica massacre': Itavia Flight 870 crashes in the sea while en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, killing all 81 on board.
July 1, 1980	"O Canada" officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
July 5, 1980	Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins his fifth Wimbledon final and becomes the first male tennis player to win the championships five times in a row (1976–1980).
July 7, 1980	Institution of sharia law in Iran.
July 7, 1980	During the Lebanese Civil War, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.
July 8, 1980	The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park.
July 8, 1980	Aeroflot Flight 4225 crashes near Almaty International Airport in the then Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (present day Kazakhstan) killing all 166 people on board.
July 19, 1980	Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
July 23, 1980	Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut.
July 24, 1980	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.
July 29, 1980	Iran adopts a new "holy" flag after the Islamic Revolution.
July 30, 1980	Vanuatu gains independence.
July 30, 1980	Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.
August 1, 1980	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world's first democratically elected female head of state.
August 1, 1980	A train crash kills 18 people in County Cork, Ireland.
August 2, 1980	A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
August 14, 1980	Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
August 19, 1980	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.
August 19, 1980	Otłoczyn railway accident: In Poland's worst post-war railway accident, 67 people lose their lives and a further 62 are injured.
August 25, 1980	Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.
August 26, 1980	After John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, in the United States, the FBI inadvertently detonates the bomb during its disarming.
August 27, 1980	1980 South Korean presidential election: After successfully staging the Coup d'état of May Seventeenth, General Chun Doo-hwan, running unopposed, has the National Conference for Unification elect him President of the Fourth Republic of Korea.
August 27, 1980	A massive bomb planted by extortionist John Birges explodes at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, after a failed disarming attempt by the FBI. Although the hotel is damaged, no one is injured.
September 5, 1980	The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.
September 11, 1980	A new constitution of Chile is established under the influence of then Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, which is subject to controversy in Chile today.
September 12, 1980	The 43rd government of Turkey is overthrown in a coup d'état led by General Kenan Evren.
September 17, 1980	After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
September 17, 1980	Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
September 18, 1980	Soyuz 38 carries two cosmonauts (including one Cuban) to the Salyut 6 space station.
September 22, 1980	Iraq invades Iran, sparking the nearly eight year Iran–Iraq War.
September 26, 1980	At the Oktoberfest terror attack in Munich 13 people die and 211 are injured.
September 30, 1980	Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
October 2, 1980	Michael Myers becomes the first member of either chamber of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
October 9, 1980	Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
October 10, 1980	The 7.1 Mw  El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria, killing 2,633 and injuring 8,369.
October 10, 1980	The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is founded in El Salvador.
October 14, 1980	The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party ended, having anointed North Korean President Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il as his successor.[11]
October 17, 1980	As part of the Holy See–United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican.
October 24, 1980	The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
October 25, 1980	Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude.
October 29, 1980	Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in a crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida, leading to the cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.
October 30, 1980	El Salvador and Honduras agree to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
November 4, 1980	Ronald Reagan is elected as the 40th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter.
November 12, 1980	The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
November 20, 1980	Lake Peigneur in Louisiana 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.
November 21, 1980	A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). Eighty-five people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.
November 23, 1980	The 6.9 Mw  Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,483–4,900, and injuring 7,700–8,934.
November 28, 1980	Iran–Iraq War: Operation Morvarid: The bulk of the Iraqi Navy is destroyed by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf. (Commemorated in Iran as Navy Day.)
December 2, 1980	Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries are raped and murdered by a death squad.
December 8, 1980	John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.
December 11, 1980	The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
December 26, 1980	Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".