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News and Events of 1980

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1980 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.453 billion
population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Argentina)

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Six US embassy aides escape from Iran with Canadian help (Jan. 29). Background: Iran Hostage Crisis
US breaks diplomatic ties with Iran (April 7).
Eight US servicemen are killed and five are injured as helicopter and cargo plane collide in abortive desert raid to rescue American hostages in Teheran (April 25). Background: Iran Hostage Crisis
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, ousted Nicaraguan ruler, and two aides are assassinated in Paraguayan capital of Asunción (Sept. 17).
Iraqi troops hold 90 square miles of Iran after invasion; 8-year Iran-Iraq War begins (Sept. 19).
Three US nuns and a lay worker are found shot in El Salvador (Dec. 4).

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U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: James Earl Carter, Jr.
Vice President: Walter F. Mondale
Population: 227,224,681
Life expectancy: 73.7 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 59.5
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 53.5

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F.B.I.'s undercover operation "Abscam" (for Arab scam) implicates public officials (Feb. 2).
US Supreme Court upholds limits on federal aid for abortions (June 30).
Ronald Reagan elected president in Republican sweep (Nov. 4).

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Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars):   $2,784.20 billion
Federal spending:   $590.95 billion
Federal debt:   $909.1 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars):  $17,710
Consumer Price Index:   82.4
Unemployment:   7.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.15

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

Super Bowl

Pittsburgh d. La Rams (31-19)

World Series

Philadelphia Phillies d. Kansas City (4-2)

NBA Championship

LA Lakers d. Philadelphia 76ers (4-2)

Stanley Cup

NY Islanders d. Philadelphia (4-2)

Wimbledon

Women: Evonne Cawley d. C. Evert Lloyd (6-1 7-6)
Men: Bjorn Borg d. J. McEnroe (1-6 7-5 6-3 6-7 8-6)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Genuine Risk

NCAA Basketball Championship

Louisville d. UCLA (59-54)

NCAA Football Champions

Georgia (12-0-0)

1980 Summer Olympics

1980 Winter Olympics

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer
Music: In Memory of a Summer Day, David Del Tredici
Drama: Talley's Folly, Lanford Wilson

Oscars awarded in 1980
Academy Award, Best Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer, Stanley R. Jaffe, producer (Columbia)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Czeslaw Milosz (US)

1980 Emmy Awards

1980 Tony Awards

Grammys awarded in 1980
Record of the Year: "What a Fool Believes," Doobie Brothers
Album of the Year: 52nd Street, Billy Joel (Columbia)
Song of the Year: "What a Fool Believes," Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, songwriters

Miss America: Cheryl Prewitt (MS)

More Entertainment Awards...

Events

John Lennon of the Beatles shot dead in New York City.
Ted Turner launches CNN, the first all-news network.
Mark Morris establishes the Mark Morris Dance Group in New York and is widely received as the most promising modern-dance choreographer of his generation.

Movies

Raging Bull, Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Tess

Books

William Golding, Rites of Passage
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert (both US), and Frederick Sanger (UK), for developing methods to map the structure and function of DNA, the substance that controls the activity of the cell

Physics: James W. Cronin and Val L. Fitch (both US), for work concerning the asymmetry of subatomic particles

Physiology or Medicine: Baruj Benacerraf, George D. Snell (both US), and Jean Dausset (France), for discoveries that explain how the structure of cells relates to organ transplants and diseases

Janice Brown, a 98-lb. former teacher, makes the first long-distance solar-powered flight in the Solar Challenger. Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
Voyager I reaches Saturn, returning data on its 14 moons as well as its more than 1,000 rings (November). Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs
In Diamond v. Shakrabarty, the US Supreme Court rules that genetically engineered organisms may be patented.
Philadelphia's Wistar Institute develops a new, less painful rabies vaccine.