July 1979


The following events occurred in July 1979:

July 1, 1979 (Sunday)

July 2, 1979 (Monday)

July 3, 1979 (Tuesday)

July 4, 1979 (Wednesday)

  • The AutoZone chain of automotive parts and accessories was founded with the opening of its first location, a store in Forrest City, Arkansas. Originally called "Auto Shack", the company, which now has more than 6,000 franchises, would change its name to AutoZone after being sued for trademark infringement by the Tandy Corporation, owner of the Radio Shack chain of electronic stores.
  • The house arrest of Ahmed Ben Bella, the first President of Algeria, was partially lifted after more than 14 years in conjunction with the 17th anniversary of Algeria's independence. Ben Bella had been confined to a house in the city of M'Sila after being deposed on June 14, 1965.
  • Died:
  • *Mendy Rudolph, 53, American professional basketball referee from 1973 to 1975, and inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, died of a heart attack.
  • *Theodora Kroeber, 82, American anthropologist

July 5, 1979 (Thursday)

  • The millennial anniversary of the founding of the parliament of the world's oldest continuously operated parliament, the High Court of Tynwald, was celebrated on the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II came to the island's capital, Douglas, to open the Tynwald Day ceremonies. The millennial date appeared to have been picked arbitrarily, with no evidence of the founding of Tynwald in the year 979 nor of an assembly earlier than the 15th century.
  • Japan banned the importation of whale meat from any nation that was not a member of the International Whaling Commission.
  • Angola's President Agostinho Neto issued a decree requiring all Angolan citizens 18 or older to serve in the military for three years.
  • Born:
  • *Amélie Mauresmo, Swiss-born French professional tennis player, former ATP No. 1 for five weeks in 2005, and winner of the Australian Open and Wimbledon' in Geneva
  • *Shane Filan, Irish singer and songwriter; in Sligo
  • Died: Rachel Sherwood, 45, American poet, was killed in an automobile accident.

July 6, 1979 (Friday)

  • Ahmad Shah Massoud launched the first insurrection in Afghanistan against the Soviet-backed communist government, attempting to start an insurrection in the Panjshir Province.
  • Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia, who had defected to the U.S. in 1975, won the women's singles tennis title at Wimbledon, defeating Chris Evert of the U.S. in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4.
  • Born:
  • *Nic Cester, Australian singer and musician, in Melbourne
  • *Kevin Hart, American comedian, in Philadelphia
  • Died:
  • *Elizabeth Ryan, 87, American-born British professional tennis player who won 19 doubles titles in Grand Slam events, and three singles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Ms. Ryan was at Wimbledon to watch the final of the men's doubles, and collapsed after walking to the women's restroom.
  • *Van McCoy, 39, American songwriter known for The Hustle, died from a heart attack
  • *Dr. Luisa Guidotti Mistrali, 47, Italian physician and Roman Catholic missionary, was shot to death by police in Zimbabwe Rhodesia when she turned her car as she was approaching a roadblock.

July 7, 1979 (Saturday)

July 8, 1979 (Sunday)

  • The People's Republic of China gave permission for foreign investment for the first time since the 1949 Communist revolution, promulgating a 15-article code that would provide rules for foreign corporations to invest capital as part of joint ventures and for the companies to keep their profits.
  • A crowd of 10,000 spectators at the Elstree stadium at Hertfordshire, near London, witnessed the death of motorcycle stunt rider Robin Winter-Smith as he was attempting to jump over a row of Rolls-Royce automobiles. Winter-Smith, a 27-year-old Englishman, had gotten over all 28 of the Rolls-Royces after attaining a speed of at takeoff from a ramp, but his motorcycle struck the edge of the landing ramp, throwing him into the scaffolding.
  • Died:
  • *Shin'ichirō Tomonaga, 73, Japanese physicist and 1965 Nobel laureate known for the Schwinger–Tomonaga equation
  • *Michael Wilding, 66, English stage, film and television actor
  • *Robert Burns Woodward, 62, American organic chemist and 1965 Nobel laureate for whom the Woodward–Hoffmann rules and the Woodward cis-hydroxylation chemical reaction are named

July 9, 1979 (Monday)

  • The U.S. interplanetary probe Voyager 2 made its closest approach to the planet Jupiter at 22:29 UTC at a range of. It transmitted new data on the planet's clouds, its newly discovered four moons, and ring system as well as 17,000 new pictures.
  • The second round of the presidential election in Ghana took place as a runoff between the two highest receiver of votes in the June 18 primary. Hilla Limann of the People's National Party won 62 percent of the vote over Victor Owusu of the Popular Front Party.
  • In Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed a general amnesty for "all people who committed offenses under the past regime" during the reign of the Shah of Iran, with the exception of persons involved in murder or torture.
  • A car bomb destroyed a Renault owned by Nazi hunters Serge Klarsfeld and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. The Klarsfelds were not in or near the car when the explosion took place, and there was no second incident. An anonymous claim of responsibility was made by individuals who said they were with ODESSA, a group founded after World War II by former SS officers to assist fellow Nazis in escaping from Germany.
  • Born: Gary Chaw, Malaysian singer-songwriter and star in Taiwan; as Chaw Pak Haw in Kota Belud, Sabah

July 10, 1979 (Tuesday)

  • President Jimmy Carter of the United States issued an order for all federal buildings to limit their use of air conditioning to no lower than during hot months, and no warmer than during cold weather.
  • Thirteen people were killed and 60 injured in the collision of two trains in Italy near Mount Vesuvius and the village of Santa Caterina.
  • American gangster Anthony Provenzano, convicted of racketeering on May 25, was sentenced to prison for 20 years. He would die less than 10 years later on December 12, 1988.
  • Died:
  • *Arthur Fiedler, 84, American orchestra conductor for the Boston Pops and the Boston Symphony.
  • *U.S. Air Force Major General John D. Lavelle, 62, controversial military officer demoted to lesser rank and forcibly retired
  • *Adrianus Djajasepoetra, 85, Indonesian Roman Catholic priest and former Archbishop of Jakarta

July 11, 1979 (Wednesday)

July 12, 1979 (Thursday)

  • The Gilbert Islands became fully independent of the United Kingdom as Kiribati. Ieremia Tabai, the 29-year-old Chief Minister of the Gilbert Islands, was sworn in as the first President of Kiribati, after accepting the independence documents brought by Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II.
  • In Spain, a fire at the Hotel Corona de Aragón, in Zaragoza killed 72 people, and injured 46 others. The blaze started in the kitchen hotel's coffee shop on the ground floor during the frying of cooking oil.
  • Disco Demolition Night, a publicity stunt at Chicago's Comiskey Park that featured a bonfire for fans to destroy their disco music records, went awry, forcing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit their game against the Detroit Tigers.
  • Carmine Galante, boss of the Bonanno crime family, was shot to death along with his bodyguard and the owner of the restaurant where he was dining. Galante was at a patio table of the Joe and Mary Italian-American Restaurant on Knickerbocker Avenue in Brooklyn when three gunmen, wearing ski masks, shot him at point-blank range. Killed as well were bodyguard Leonardo Coppolla and restaurateur Giuseppe Turano. The Galante family was subsequently refused a Roman Catholic funeral mass by the Archbishop of New York City, Terence Cardinal Cooke.
  • A new constitution was promulgated in Peru, bringing an end to 10 years of military rule and replacing the suspended 1933 Constitution. It became effective in 1980 with the re-election of deposed President Fernando Belaúnde Terry. It limited the president to a single five-year term and established a bicameral legislature consisting of a 60-member Senate and a 180-member Chamber of Deputies. It also eliminated the literacy requirement for voting and extended suffrage to all adults 18 or older.
  • Died: Minnie Riperton, 31, American singer known for "Lovin' You", died from metastatic breast cancer

July 13, 1979 (Friday)

July 14, 1979 (Saturday)

  • The second of two rounds of elections in Nigeria for the 449-seat Nigerian House of Representatives was completed, with the National Party winning 168 seats, followed by 111 for the United Party and three other parties gaining the remaining 170 seats.
  • Born: Frederik Siouen, Belgian singer and songwriter; in Ghent
  • Died:
  • *Bernard Darke, 54. Guyanese journalist and Jesuit priest, was stabbed to death by supporters of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham while taking pictures of a riot in the South American nation's capital, Georgetown.
  • *Billy McCrary, 32, American professional wrestler who, with his identical twin brother, was part of a tag team wrestling duo called "The McGuire Twins", was killed in a motorcycle accident. At, McCrary and his brother Benny were listed by Guinness World Records as the "World's Heaviest Twins".

July 15, 1979 (Sunday)

  • U.S. President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation on television, talking about the "crisis of confidence" in America at that time as part of measures to respond to the shortage of oil and gasoline, in what would be remembered as the "national malaise" speech. Although the word "malaise" was never actually used, the speech was one of the more pessimistic given by an American president as he told listeners that "I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy," which he identified as a "crisis of confidence". Among Carter's statements were that "For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years," and "there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions."
  • Morarji Desai announced his resignation as Prime Minister of India, one day before he was facing a vote of no confidence in India's lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha. Earlier in the day, 18 members of parliament announced that they were leaving Desai's Janata Party that formed the largest part of his coalition government.
  • Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin set a new record for space flight endurance as they completed their 140th day in orbit aboard the Salyut 6 space station. Lyakhov and Ryumin had arrived at the station on February 25 after being launched aboard Soyuz 32, and broke the record of 139 days, 14 hours and 48 minutes set in November by cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov of Soyuz 29.
  • Born:
  • *Laura Benanti, American stage actor and Tony Award-winner for Gypsy; in New York City
  • *Amanda Downum, American fantasy fiction author; in Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • *Travis Fimmel, Australian-born U.S. TV actor; in Echuca, Victoria
  • Died:
  • *Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, 68, President of Mexico from 1964 to 1970
  • *Juana de Ibarbourou, 87, Uruguayan poet

July 16, 1979 (Monday)

July 17, 1979 (Tuesday)

  • Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned and fled to Miami as the Sandinista guerrillas approached the capital at Managua. Nicaragua's Congress accepted Somoza's resignation at 1:50 in the morning and named Chamber of Deputies leader Francisco Urcuyo as the new president during negotiations for transition of government to a Sandinista-backed junta. Somoza and 45 aides boarded an airplane and departed Managua at 5:10 in the morning, bringing an end to 46 years of rule by the Somoza family.
  • Simone Veil, a concentration camp survivor and the former Minister of Health of France, was elected President of the European Parliament. Voting for the presiding officer of the 410-member body took place in Strasbourg, and Ms. Veil defeated Mario Zagari of Italy on the second ballot.
  • At the request of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, all 34 members of his Cabinet and senior staff of advisers offered their resignations as part of a plan by Carter to reorganize his government, giving him the option to replace any person whose offer he accepted. Among those replaced by Carter were Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal, Attorney General Griffin Bell and Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr. by G. William Miller, Benjamin R. Civiletti and Patricia Roberts Harris, respectively.
  • Sebastian Coe of England set the new world record for the shortest time for running one mile, covering the distance at Oslo's Bislet Stadium in Norway in 3 minutes, 48.95 seconds. Coe, who had broken the world record for fastest time in running 1500 meters on July 5, broke the mile record, set by New Zealand's John Walker on August 12, 1975, of 3 minutes, 49.4 seconds.
  • Born: Mike Vogel, American film actor and male model; in Abington, Pennsylvania
  • Died: Edward Akufo-Addo, 73, President of Ghana, 1970 to 1972, died from natural causes a month after three other former presidents of Ghana had been executed.

July 18, 1979 (Wednesday)

  • More than 500 people were killed by a tsunami that struck the island of Lembata in Indonesia. The tidal wave resulted from massive landslides from a nearby summit, Mount Werung. The waters of the Flores Sea swept inward in the middle of the night when most of its victims were asleep, washing away houses, trees and farms. The estimate of 539 deaths was made based on the recovery of 175 bodies and the failure to find 364 people who had been missing since the wave had destroyed four villages on the island.
  • Less than 24 hours after being made the acting President of Nicaragua, Francisco Urcuyo boarded an airplane at the airport in Managua and fled to Guatemala.
  • Born: Jason Weaver, American comedian and TV actor, and, American rap artist; in Chicago

July 19, 1979 (Thursday)

  • Twenty-six of the crew of the Greek oil tanker SS Atlantic Empress were killed when the ship collided with another oil tanker, SS Aegean Captain, which lost one crewman. After being set ablaze, Atlantic Empress burned for two weeks and sank on August 4 in the Caribbean Sea away from the island of Tobago, spilling 287,000 metric tonnes of crude oil, the largest spill ever from a tanker.
  • Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo became prime minister of Portugal.
  • A motion in the British House of Commons, to restore capital punishment as the maximum penalty for crimes, overwhelmingly failed to pass with 243 in favor and 362 against.
  • Died: Jack Filmer, 83, Australian-born New Zealand agricultural scientist

July 20, 1979 (Friday)

July 21, 1979 (Saturday)

July 22, 1979 (Sunday)

  • Six days after taking office as President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein ordered a purge of the leadership of the Ba’ath Party with the arrest and later execution of nearly 70 members of the Party. The government confirmed on July 29 that arrests had been taking place since July 20 of government officials accused of "conspiracy against the party and revolution" and that a seven-member special court of the Revolutionary Command Council was conducting hearings on people accused of treason.
  • A two-hour battle between the Navy of South Korea and an armed spy ship from North Korea took place off of the southern coastal port of Tongyeong in South Korea. Two South Koreans were killed, and the North Korean vessel was sunk. Five bodies were recovered from the sea around the ship, which went down with an unknown number of crew.
  • The new Sandinista government of Nicaragua promulgated the Law of National Emergency allowing all media in the Central American nation to be placed under government control.
  • The first ascent of Mount Demaria, located in Antarctica, was made by four British explorers.
  • Died: Sándor Kocsis, 49, Hungarian soccer footballer with 68 caps for the Hungary national team, fell to his death from his hospital room in Barcelona

July 23, 1979 (Monday)

July 24, 1979 (Tuesday)

July 25, 1979 (Wednesday)

  • A major accident occurred at Moruroa Atoll during a nuclear test by France. A test was conducted at half the usual depth because the nuclear weapon being used got stuck halfway down the shaft. After engineers were unable to move the device to its proper level, the decision was made to leave it in place for detonation. The blast caused a large submarine landslide on the southwest rim of the atoll, causing a significant chunk of the outer slope of the atoll to break loose, causing a tsunami affecting Mururoa and injuring workers. The blast caused a 2 kilometre long and 40 cm wide crack to appear on the atoll.
  • Israel transferred control of of territory in the Sinai Peninsula, around the populated oasis of Bir Nasseb, back to Egypt, 12 years after the land had been captured in the Six-Day War in 1967.
  • Born: Allister "Ali" Carter, English professional snooker player and runner-up in the 2008 and 2012 world championships; in Colchester, Essex

July 26, 1979 (Thursday)

  • Dr. George F. Andreasen, an orthodontist and mechanical engineer working at the University of Iowa, received the patent for his creation of the first shape-memory alloy, Nitinol, allowing for wire that could be manipulated as necessary, then returned to its original configuration after the application of heat. Dr. Andreasen's alloy of nickel and titanium received U.S. Patent No. 4,037,324.
  • The new government of Nicaragua announced it would allow 199 of 271 refugees to leave the Central American nation, and provide for safe passage, after the group had been given sanctuary at the Salvadoran embassy in Managua. The Sandinista government, however, demanded that El Salvador turn over 72 other former Guardia Nacional members and government officials who were suspected of war crimes.
  • India's President N. Sanjiva Reddy asked Deputy Prime Minister Charan Singh to form a new coalition government after Singh had garnered the support of 280 of the 538 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament from various parties.
  • Born:
  • *Johnson Beharry, Grenadian-born British Army officer and Victoria Cross recipient; in St. George's, Grenada
  • *Derek Paravicini, English autistic savant and musical prodigy; in Reading, Berkshire

July 27, 1979 (Friday)

  • Morarji Desai, who had already resigned as Prime Minister of India, announced that he was also quitting as leader of the ruling Janata Party. The move came after former Janata Party member and Deputy Prime Minister Charan Singh had challenged Desai's leadership and left the party.
  • One of the highest-grossing independent films in history, The Amityville Horror, premiered in North America. The horror film was based on the bestselling book of the same name, written by Jay Anson and based on the experiences of the Lutz family at 112 Ocean Avenue in the Long Island suburb of Amityville, New York.
  • The Australian heavy metal band AC/DC released its breakthrough album, Highway to Hell, bringing the group to prominence with American audiences.
  • Born: Jorge Arce, Mexican professional boxer and world flyweight champion, light flyweight, super flyweight, junior featherweight and bantamweight champion for the World Boxing Organization and the WBA, WBC and IBF between 1998 and 2010; in Los Mochis, Sinaloa state
  • Died:
  • *Zuheir Mohsen, 43, Palestinian and Jordanian politician, was assassinated in France, shot multiple times while walking towards his apartment in Cannes after leaving a casino. No group claimed responsibility, and the motive for his killing was never identified.
  • *Shirley Mason, 78, American silent film actress

July 28, 1979 (Saturday)

July 29, 1979 (Sunday)

July 30, 1979 (Monday)

  • Carless days in New Zealand were introduced by the national government of New Zealand, going into effect at 2:00 in the morning. The first person fined was Gordon Marks of Christchurch, stopped at 3:45 a.m. after a post-party nap in his car. He was fined $50 for the first offense rather than the $400 maximum fine.
  • The government of Israel's Prime Minister Menahem Begin survived a vote of no confidence in the Knesset, with 48 in favor of the motion and 58 against. The motion followed a July 15 cabinet meeting that failed to reach an agreement on resolving an economic crisis of inflation of prices.
  • The long-running Philippine daytime variety show Eat... Bulaga! premiered.
  • Born:
  • *Graeme McDowell, Northern Irish professional golfer and 2010 U.S. Open winner; in Portrush County Antrim
  • *Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rican pro basketball point guard in the NBA and pro leagues in Israel, Tukey and Spain; in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, U.S.
  • *Show Lo, Taiwanese pop singer; in Keelung City
  • *Maya Nasser, Syrian TV journalist; in Damascus

July 31, 1979 (Tuesday)