January 1980

January 1, 1980 (Tuesday)

• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Azores at 3:42 in the afternoon local time on the first day of the new decade, and killed 61 people. Hardest hit by the quake was Terceira Island and its provincial capital, Angra do Heroísmo.
• Forty-eight people at a New Year's party in Canada were killed, and 50 others injured, in the Opémiska Community Hall fire in Chapais, Quebec. At 1:15 in the morning, one of the party goers set fire to a decorative arch, made from dried pine tree branches over the doorway, igniting a blaze that spread to Christmas trees that had been used to decorate the community hall ballroom.
• At 12:01 a.m., Massachusetts became the last of the 50 states of the U.S. to permit drivers to turn right at a red light. Massachusetts changed its law under pressure from the United States Department of Energy, which had threatened to withhold one million dollars in special funds if the state failed to amend its rules to prevent drivers from wasting fuel while idling at a light. The Massachusetts law still allowed municipalities to install a "No Turn on Red" sign at designated intersections, and the Boston Globe noted that the state paid for $100,000 worth of new signs "plus unknown installation costs"; within a week, the Department of Public Works estimated that only one-third of intersections in the state allowed a right turn.
• Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession placed Princess Victoria of Sweden first in line to the throne and therefore Crown Princess, ahead of her younger brother under the new law of absolute primogeniture. Victoria's daughter, Princess Estelle, is next in line for the throne.
• The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, a mutual defense pact between the Republic of China and the United States, came to an end a little less than 25 years after it had been signed on March 3, 1955, after the U.S. exercised its option for either party to terminate the treaty upon one year's notice. U.S. President Jimmy Carter had given notice on January 1, 1979, upon establishing full diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China. The Supreme Court of the United States had declined to review a challenge by U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, arguing that the treaty could not be terminated by a president without congressional approval.
• Five islands that were part of the New Hebrides protectorate attempted to secede to create the Tafea Nation. The United Kingdom would intervene on May 26, 1980, and the New Hebrides would become independent as Vanuatu in July.
• The #1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes lost to the #3-ranked USC Trojans, 17 to 16, in the Rose Bowl. In the evening, the #2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the #6 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, 24 to 9, in the Sugar Bowl to set up the question of whether the wire service polls would vote the mythical national college football championship to unbeaten Alabama or to unbeaten but once-tied USC. The vote came the next day in Alabama's favor.
• Richard Petty who won his 7th NASCAR Drivers' Championship was named the 1979 Driver of the Year by the editors of Auto Racing Digest Magazine.
• The 2nd running of Dakar Rally started in Paris, with 216 vehicles and a truck class running as a separate category for the first time.
• The 26th Airborne Regiment of the Afghan Commando Forces rebelled against the Soviet Army in Bala Hissar, with 700 Afghan paratroopers either being killed or captured.
• Born:
• *Richie Faulkner, English heavy metal guitarist for the band Judas Priest since 2011 ; in London
• *Mark Nichols, Canadian curler and gold medalist for the 2006 Olympic team; in Labrador City, Newfoundland
• Died:
• *Adolph Deutsch, 82, British-born American film score composer and conductor, and winner of three Academy Awards
• *Pietro Nenni, 89, Italian leftist Senator who twice served as Italy's Foreign Minister, and as the nation's Deputy Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968
• *Frank Wykoff, 70, American relay racer and member of the U.S. team that won gold medals at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympic games

  January 2, 1980 (Wednesday)

• Both the Associated Press poll of 67 sportswriters and the United Press International poll of 38 coaches agreed that the University of Alabama Crimson Tide was the number one college football team in the United States after the postseason bowl games, which the NCAA acknowledged in the pre-playoff era as the "unofficial college football national champion". In the AP poll, Alabama received more first place votes than the University of Southern California Trojans, 46 to 21 and in the UPI poll, the coaches favored Alabama 28 to 9, with one vote for the 11-1-0 University of Oklahoma Sooners.
• Willie Stargell of the famed 1979 MLB World Champions Pittsburgh Pirates was named The Sporting News Man of the Year.
• Bert Parks, known for 25 years as the host of the annual Miss America beauty pageant, was fired by the pageant's organizers. Although Parks, known for closing the pageant every year by singing "There She Is, Miss America", said that he knew "nothing about this at all" until being informed by a reporter, the pageant's CEO said that Parks had been sent a letter two weeks earlier that he would not be rehired for another one-year contract.
• Born:
• *Kemi Badenoch, British Secretary of State for Business and Trade; in Wimbledon, London
• *Mac Danzig, American mixed martial artist and King of the Cage lightweight champion from 2005 to 2007; in Cleveland

  January 3, 1980 (Thursday)

• U.S. President Jimmy Carter asked the Senate to delay further consideration of ratification of the SALT II Treaty, the second U.S. and U.S.S.R. agreement from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks to limit the number of nuclear missiles. The treaty had been signed on June 18, 1979, but would never be ratified. Both sides would voluntarily avoid building more missiles beyond the limitations, but the U.S. would exceed the limits in 1986. On July 31, 1991, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would sign a new agreement to reduce their stockpile of missiles, START , which would be ratified and later superseded by new agreements.
• The five-member Revolutionary Government Junta that had ruled El Salvador since October 15 fell apart as two of the three civilian members resigned, leaving the Central American nation controlled by two Salvadoran colonels and one civilian, who resigned the next day. Earlier in the week, all but one of the cabinet ministers had quit in protest over the military domination of the government that had replaced the president, General Carlos Humberto Romero. All three civilian members of the junta resigned on January 3, 1980, along with 10 of the 11 cabinet ministers. The two military leaders, junta chairman Adolfo Majano and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez, formed a second junta with three new civilians, José Morales, Héctor Dada, and José Ávalos replacing Guillermo Ungo, Mario Andino and Román Mayorga.
• Francisco de Sá Carneiro took office as Prime Minister of Portugal after his Social Democratic Party captured 128 of the 250 seats in Parliament in the December 2 election for the Assembleia da República, succeeding Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo. Sá Carneiro would be killed in a plane crash before the end of the year, on December 4, 1980.
• Ottis Anderson, the St. Louis Cardinals running back who shattered the NFL's rookie rushing record, became the first player in NFC history to earn both the UPI Player and Rookie of the year Awards when he was a runaway choice as the conference's top first-year player.
• The first production model of the VAZ-2105 automobile, also known as Lada Riva, has been produced in Tolyatti, USSR. It represents an improved and "freshened" version of VAZ-2101, which itself was based on Fiat 124. It would go on to become the world's third best selling, single generation automobile platform, and one of the longest production run platforms, seizing production in 2015.
• Died: Joy Adamson, 69, Austro-Hungarian naturalist and author of the bestselling book Born Free, was murdered by a former employee. The media initially reported that Adamson, famous for raising Elsa the lioness from a cub to maturity, had been killed by a lion. On February 8, the employee, Paul Ekai, was charged with Adamson's murder and convicted on August 28, 1981.

  January 4, 1980 (Friday)

• U.S. President Carter proclaimed a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. The embargo, which was ineffective against the USSR bypassed by the Soviets would be lifted by Carter's successor, President Ronald Reagan, on April 24, 1981.
• Prime Minister of Mauritania Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla became the new head of state of the African nation, forcing out Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly as the Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation.
• Born:
• *Happy Salma, Indonesian film actress; in Sukabumi, West Java
• *D'Arcy Carden, American TV actress and comedian, co-star of The Good Place; in Danville, California

  January 5, 1980 (Saturday)

• At least 29 Iranian civilians were killed in rioting against the Ayatollah Khomeini's efforts to suppress all opposition to his government rule, mostly in fighting between Sunni Muslims and the ruling Shi'ite Muslim faction in the cities of Bandar Lengeh, Tabriz and Qom.
• While hookah diving for Chilean abalones, José Larenas Miranda was attacked and killed by an extremely large shark at Punta Negra, near Pichidangui, Chile. The diver tried to fend the shark off, but was decapitated.
• In bowling, Mark Roth became the first person to succeed on national television on the sport's most difficult play, knocking down both pins in a 7–10 split. The shot came during the opening event of the 1980 PBA National Tour, the ARC Alameda Open in Alameda, California. Roth finished in fourth place.
• Start of epoch time of the Global Positioning System at 23:59:42 UTC.
• Born: Garette Ratliff Henson, American child actor known for The Mighty Ducks series of films from 1992 to 1996; in Burbank, California