Chrysler is Bailed Out – January 7
Loan guarantees of $1.5B are announced by President Carter that keep Lee Iacocca's Chrysler Corporation from liquidation.

Steelers Win Super Bowl XIV - January 20
Pittsburgh took home its fourth world championship in six years with a 31-19 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Terry Bradshaw, the Steelers' quarterback, was named the Super Bowl MVP. 

US Olympic Boxing Team is Killed - March 14

Fourteen members of the U.S. amateur boxing team died along with 59 others in a plane crash near Warsaw, Poland. An engine disintegrated after power was applied during a go-around severing the rudder and elevator controls.

U.S. Boycotts Moscow Olympics - March 21

Citing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Carter tells a group of American athletes that the U.S. won't be sending a team to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Later in the month, President Carter orders the U.S. secretary of commerce to ban all exports to the Soviet Union "of any goods or technology" related to the games, further encouraging other nations to join a U.S.-led boycott.

Many western governments, like West Germany and Japan followed suit and withheld their athletes. But others, like Britain and France, while supporting the boycott, allowed their Olympic committees to participate if they wished. The first Games to be held in a Communist country opened in July with 81 nations in attendance and were dominated by the USSR and East Germany. They were also plagued by charges of rigged judging and poor sportsmanship by Moscow fans who, without the Americans around, booed the Poles and East Germans unmercifully.

Rescue Mission Fails in Iran - April 25
As the Iranian hostage crisis drags into its second year, 52 Americans are still held captive by the new regime in Tehran, with no resolution in sight. President Carter's threats and sanctions fail to bring them home, and in April 1980 the administration calls on the military. An airborne commando raid is launched, but ends in disaster when a rescue plane and a helicopter collide in the Iranian desert. There aren't enough spare helicopters to continue, so the mission is called off amid doubts that it ever could have succeeded in the first place. The result: eight Americans dead, and the hostages no closer to freedom.

Photo Credit: Seattle Times

Mount St. Helens Erupts - May 18

Following a weeklong series of earthquakes and smaller explosions of ash and smoke, Mount St. Helens, dormant since 1857, erupts in Washington state, blowing the side of the mountain off, hurling ash 15,000 feet into the air, setting off mudslides and avalanches, and destroying an estimated 230 square miles of timber and wildlife. About 400 people -- mostly loggers and forest rangers -- were evacuated and 57 people died. 

State of Emergency at Love Canal - May 21

President Carter declares a state of emergency at Love Canal in Niagra Falls, New York. The property had been a dumping site for Hooker Chemicals and Plastics, and in 1981 plans were be made to evacuate 710 families. The evacuation would be ordered after a study reported that 30 percent of the residents in the area had suffered chromosone damage.

CNN Goes On Air - June 1

Cable News Network goes on the air for the first time June 1,1980, at 6 p.m. Based in Atlanta, CNN is conceived by media and sports magnate Ted Turner as the world's first around-the-clock news network. At its launch, the operation has 300 employees in bureaus in nine cities, including London and Rome, and is available to more than 2 million viewers through cable outlets in 30 states.

Saddam Takes Power – July 17
Saddam Hussein succeeds Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as president of Iraq and will invade Iran on September 24, starting eight years of hostilities between the two Persian Gulf nations.

Gov. Reagan Secures Republican Nomination

Governor Reagan ran in all the republican primaries winning against Howard Baker, John Connaly and Robert Dole, and finally George Bush. Reagan entered the Republican convention in Detroit with the nomination sewed up. President Carter was renominated at the Democratic convention in New York, after turning back a challenge from Senator Teddy Kennedy. In the campaign of 1980 there were very clear issues dividing the candidates. Carter supported the Equal Rights Amendment, while Reagan opposed it. Reagan opposed S.A.L.T. II, while Carter supported it. Carter called for a national health insurance program. Ultimately, however, it was not these issues but the twin issues of the American Hostages in Iran and what the Republicans called the misery index (inflation plus unemployment) that ended Carter's chance of being re-elected. In November, Ronald Reagan, promising "to put America back to work again," was elected the 40th President of the nation with a surprising sweep in the East, South and crucial battlegrounds of the Middle West.

1980 Population: 227,224,681
1980 World Population: 4.453 billion
1980 Life Expectancy: 73.7 years

2004 Population: 294 million
2004 world Population: 6.4 billion
2001 Life Expectancy: 77.2 years

Heart-Tugging Movie Wins Big at Academy Awards
The 1979 Academy Awards were presented April 14, 1980, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. Kramer vs. Kramer won "Best Picture," Dustin Hoffman took "Best Actor" for his role in that movie, and Sally Field made the "You really like me!" speech when she won "Best Actress" for Norma Rae.

What Movies Were We Watching in 1980?
We were spending time at the theatres seeing Superman II, Stir Crazy, 9 to 5, Coal Miner's Daughter, Stir Crazy, The Elephant Man, Ordinary People, Raging Bull, Tess, Fame, Airplane! and The Empire Strikes Back. Ordinary People won “Best Picture” at the 1980 Academy Awards which were presented March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles.

Billy Joel Took Top Honors at the Grammys

Billy Joel’s album, 52^nd Street, was chosen Album of the Year and the song of the same name won for “Best Pop Male Vocal.” Other winners included: “I'll Never Love This Way Again,” Dionne Warwick for "Best Pop Female Vocal"; “Heartache Tonight,” Eagles for "Best Rock Male Vocal"; “Hot Stuff,” Donna Summer for "Best Rock Female Vocal"; and “What a Fool Believes,” Doobie Brothers for "Best Record of the Year" and "Best Song of the Year."

Billboard's Top Ten included:

1. Heart Of Glass - Blondie

2. My Sharona - The Knack

3. Just When I Needed You Most - Randy Van Warmer

4. Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes

5. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

6. Y. M. C. A. - Village People

7. Sad Eyes - Robert John

8. Fire - Pointer Sisters

9. Ring My Bell - Anita Ward

10. Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels

 

Lou Grant is TV’s Top Show

CBS’s Lou Grant, which featured the continuation of a beloved character from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, was chosen as “Outstanding Drama Series” and Ed Asner won “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series” for his lead role on that show. “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series” went to Barbara Bel Geddes for Dallas, Taxi was chosen “Outstanding Comedy Series,” Richard Mulligan took “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series” for Soap, and Cathryn Damon won “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series” also for Soap. M*A*S*H's Harry Morgan and Loretta Swit each took home awards for their supporting actor roles.

Evita Dominates 1980 Tony Awards

The 1980 Tony Awards ceremony loved Evita, where the musical took “Best Musical,” “Best Actress - Musical” for Patti LuPone, “Best Featured Actor - Musical” for Mandy Patinkin, “Best Director - Musical” for Harold Prince and “Best Book – Musical” for Tim Rice. Children of a Lesser God also scored big with awards for “Best Play,” “Best Actor – Play” for John Rubinstein, and “Best Actress – Play” for Phyllis Frelich.

Beloved Track Star Jesse Owens Dies March 31

Born Sept. 12, 1913, Jesse Owens won the broad-jump titles at the outdoor (1933–34) and indoor (1934–35) meets of the National Amateur Athletic Union, and while on the track team of Ohio State Univ., he broke (1935–36) several world records at broad jumping, hurdle racing, and flat racing. At the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Owens astounded the world and upset Hitler's “Aryan” theories by equaling the world mark (10.3 sec) in the 100-meter race, by breaking world records in the 200-meter race (20.7 sec) and in the long jump (26 ft 5 3/8 in./8.07 m), and by also winning the 4 x 100-meter relay race (along with Ralph Metcalfe and others). Hitler was conspicuously absent when Owens’ four gold medals were presented. Owens’ records lasted for more than 20 years.

Genius Director Hitchcock Dies April 29
Sir Alfred Hitchcock, the British director known for his dark, voyeuristic suspense films, once said his mission in life was “to simply scare the hell out of people.” Born Aug. 13, 1899, in London, he is best known for Strangers on a Train (1951), Rear Window (1954), North by Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960). Though revered by cinephiles and other directors, Hitchcock never won an Academy Award. He was, however, knighted in 1980.

Smallpox is Eradicated
The history of the rise and decline of smallpox, a contagious, disfiguring and often-deadly disease caused by the variola virus, is perhaps one of the greatest success stories in the history of infectious disease. Historically, about one-third of all people infected with smallpox would die. As many as 300 million people are thought to have died of smallpox in the 20th century alone. Epidemics of smallpox plagued Britain, and indeed Europe, until 1796 when Edward Jenner developed a vaccine. After this, the numbers of infected individuals around the world declined until the World Health Organization officially declared the disease to be globally eradicated in 1980 (based on intense verification activities in countries). For the first time in human history, a disease had been eliminated.