June 1978


The following events occurred in June 1978:

June 1, 1978 (Thursday)

June 2, 1978 (Friday)

June 3, 1978 (Saturday)

June 4, 1978 (Sunday)

June 5, 1978 (Monday)

June 6, 1978 (Tuesday)

  • Voters in the U.S. state of California overwhelmingly approved "Proposition 13", an amendment to Article XIII of the state constitution passed in a citizens' initiative that had been placed on the ballot through the lobbying efforts of Howard Jarvis. The measure, approved by more than 62% of 6.8 million voters through direct democracy, reversed a 1976 increase in property taxes on California landowners, and placed limits on future increases in taxes. Placement of the proposition on a state election ballot began a "tax revolt" across the United States.
  • The Shah of Iran removed his friend General Nematollah Nassiri from the position of Director of SAVAK, Iran's secret police agency, and appointed him as ambassador to Pakistan. Summoned back from Pakistan Nassiri would be arrested on orders of the Shah on November 8 along with 60 other SAVAK officials and, remaining in prison during the Shah's departure and the arrival of the Ayatollah Khomeini, would be executed on February 15, 1979.
  • The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, a multilateral treaty to standardize traffic signs, went into effect after ratification by 15 nations, almost ten years after it had been signed on November 8, 1968. The Convention, not signed in the U.S, Canada, Australia or China, applies to signs in almost all of Europe except for Ireland and Portugal.
  • Born:
  • * Konstantīns Konstantinovs, Latvian powerlifter who held the world record in his weight class with a raw deadlift of, for 13 years, from 2009 until 2022; in Liepāja, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
  • * Judith Barsi, American child actress known for voicing the role of "Ducky" in the animated film The Land Before Time; in Los Angeles
  • Died: Paul Lambert, 43, American college basketball coach for Southern Illinois University, was killed in a fire at the Airport Holiday Inn motel in Columbus, Georgia, two months after being hired to be the head coach of Auburn University's men's basketball team, and six months before the start of the 1978-1979 college basketball season.

June 7, 1978 (Wednesday)

June 8, 1978 (Thursday)

June 9, 1978 (Friday)

June 10, 1978 (Saturday)

June 11, 1978 (Sunday)

June 12, 1978 (Monday)

  • A 7.7 magnitude earthquake off of the coast of Japan killed 28 people and injured 1,325 others. The quake struck at 5:14 in the afternoon local time at the east coast of the Miyagi Prefecture
  • David Berkowitz, also referred to as the "Son of Sam", received a 25-year prison sentence with the possibility of parole after he was found guilty of 6 counts of second degree murder and 7 counts of attempted second degree murder.
  • For the first time, the U.S. House of Representatives allowed a live broadcast of one of its sessions, with Associated Press Radio after authorization by Speaker of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill.
  • Died: Guo Moruo, 85, Chinese author, historian and archaeologist

June 13, 1978 (Tuesday)

  • The explosion of a gun turret on the Soviet navy cruiser Admiral Senyavin, during a test firing exercise, killed 37 of the ship's crew. The disaster occurred as shells were being fired from a 152 mm cannon. After eight were fired, a ninth shell became stuck in the gun turret and on the next firing, the tenth shell impacted the ninth, exploding both and sending smoke back into the bow tower, killing everyone inside. The incident would remain secret until after the end of the Soviet Union in 1992.
  • The Ehden massacre took place in Lebanon as 1,200 members of the Kataeb Phalangists killed almost 40 people in an attack on the mansion of Antoine "Tony" Frangieh, a leader of the Marada Brigade. The attack, ordered by Bachir Gemayel and carried out by hundreds of guerrillas led by Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika, was made in retaliation for the June 7 assassination of Joud el Bayeh. Gemayel would be elected President of Lebanon in 1982, but assassinated before his inauguration.
  • Complying with a United Nations resolution, Israel withdrew its troops from Lebanon after 91 days of occupation. Rather than turning authority over to a UN peacekeeping force, however, the Israelis invited Lebanese Christians to replace them.
  • Born: Vishwananda, Mauritiuan Hindu guru who founded Bhakti Marga; in Beau Bassin-Rose Hill

June 14, 1978 (Wednesday)

June 15, 1978 (Thursday)

June 16, 1978 (Friday)

June 17, 1978 (Saturday)

June 18, 1978 (Sunday)

June 19, 1978 (Monday)

June 20, 1978 (Tuesday)

June 21, 1978 (Wednesday)

  • The musical Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, was performed for the first time, premiering in London's West End at the Prince Edward Theatre. With Elaine Paige in the title role as Argentine First Lady Eva Peron, Evita ran for 3,176 performances on the West End before closing more than seven years later on February 8, 1986. With an American cast, Evita would make its Broadway debut on September 25, 1979, and run for 1,567 performances until June 26, 1983.
  • Four Imperial Iranian Air Force helicopters strayed into Soviet airspace and two were shot down near the village of Gjaurs in the Turkmen SSR.
  • A shootout between Provisional IRA members and the British Army in Northern Ireland left one civilian and three IRA men dead.
  • In World Cup competition, the determination of which two teams would qualify for the June 25 championship game was decided. In Group A, the Netherlands and Italy both had records of 1-1-0 and were scheduled to play each other in Buenos Aires. The Netherlands won, 2 to 1, to win Group A with a record of two wins and one tie. In Group B, Argentina and Brazil also had records of one win and one draw; Brazil had a goal differential of +3 points and Argentina +2 points. In the first match, Brazil beat Poland 3 to 1 to increase their differential to +5, so Argentina had to win and to get at least four goals more than opponent Peru; Argentina defeated Peru, 6 goals to 0.
  • Born:
  • * Erica Durance, Canadian TV actress known for Saving Hope and for Smallville; in Calgary
  • * Jean-Pascal Lacoste, French singer and TV actor ; in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne département

June 22, 1978 (Thursday)

June 23, 1978 (Friday)

June 24, 1978 (Saturday)

June 25, 1978 (Sunday)

June 26, 1978 (Monday)

June 27, 1978 (Tuesday)

  • Soyuz 30 was launched from the Soviet Union with the first cosmonaut from Poland, Mirosław Hermaszewski, along with Belarusian Soviet cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk, who was on his third mission. Hermaszewski became only the space traveler who was a citizen of neither the Soviet Union nor the United States, and was trained and sent under the Soviet Interkosmos program.
  • Seasat, the first orbiting satellite designed for remote sensing of the Earth's oceans, was launched by the U.S. from Cape Canaveral. The satellite's mission would last for less than four months, ending on October 10, 1978, when a short circuit in Seasat's electrical system caused it to shut down.
  • In Moscow, the U.S. Embassy gave sanctuary to a group of seven Russian people who rushed passed Soviet police into the embassy entrance, and requested asylum. Pyotr Vashchenko, his wife Augusta and three of their daughters were accompanied by two other people who identified themselves as members of a sect of Pentecostal Christians. For the next five years, the "Siberian Seven" would stay inside the U.S. embassy compound, living in a one-room basement apartment in what one reporter would describe as "religious refugees, embarrassing to one superpower, frustrating to the other." The group would finally be granted exit visas and permission to emigrate by the Soviet government on June 26, 1983.
  • Born: Olukorede Yishau, Nigerian novelist known for In The Name Of Our Father and Vaults of Secrets ; in Somolu, Lagos State
  • Died: Josette Day, 63, French film actress

June 28, 1978 (Wednesday)

June 29, 1978 (Thursday)

June 30, 1978 (Friday)

  • Ethiopia began a massive offensive in Eritrea.
  • The accidental explosion of an ice cream truck in New York City injured 114 bystanders in lower Manhattan, 15 of whom sustained serious injuries.
  • The inaugural voyage of the Venture Cruise Lines ocean liner SS America began with a ship unprepared for business. Problems with its lack of cleanliness, leaking pipes and overbooking that caused many to be turned away, ended with passengers so angry that the ship returned to New York and 969 disembarked. The ship departed again later in the day, and 200 more passengers elected to leave. On its third try on July 3, SS America stopped at Nova Scotia and was served with $2,500,000 worth of claims for refund. The ship would be impounded on July 18, fail its inspection and be ordered sold on August 28 after Venture Cruise Lines filed for bankruptcy.
  • Died: William F. Harrah, 67, founder of Harrah's Casino in 1946, operator at the time of the world's biggest purely gaming casino business