November 1977

November 1, 1977 (Tuesday)

• The Soviet Union began supersonic passenger service with the first flight of the new Tu-144, a close copy of the Concorde airliner of the UK and France. Designer Alexei Tupolev was one of the passengers, along with other Soviet officials and celebrities, and a delegation of foreign reporters, as Captain Boris Kuznetsov flew the aircraft from Moscow to Alma-Ata.
• In the Spanish city of Covadonga, 9-year-old Prince Felipe of Borbon and Greece, son of King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sophia, was ceremoniously given the title of Prince of Asturias, a recognition of his being heir to the throne of Spain. He would become King Felipe VI in 2014 upon the abdication of his father.
• 2060 Chiron, the first of the outer Solar System asteroids known as Centaurs, was discovered by Charlie Kowal of the Palomar Mountain Observatory in the U.S., near San Diego, California. The large object, estimated to be as much as in diameter, was discovered from an analysis of photographs taken on October 18 and 19 from Palomar.
• U.S. president Jimmy Carter signed the largest increase up to that time in the federal minimum wage, at the time $2.30 an hour, to go up on the first of each of the next four years. The wage would rise to $2.65 to start 1978, $2.90 in 1979, $3.10 in 1980 and $3.35 in 1981.
• The United States withdrew its membership in the International Labour Organization, marking the first time that the U.S. had withdrawn from a United Nations agency since the founding of the UN in 1945.

  November 2, 1977 (Wednesday)

• In the Netherlands, kidnappers released Dutch real estate tycoon Maurits Caransa five days after his kidnapping, upon payment of 10 million Dutch guilders, equivalent to four million U.S. dollars.
• The worst storms in modern Greek history caused the Kifissos and Ilios rivers to rise, flooding Athens and Piraeus and killing at least 25 people.
• Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev said in a speech that the Soviet Union was ready to agree to a moratorium on nuclear testing and to pursue a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty, similar to the partial test-ban of 1963.
• A rocket struck and damaged a hotel in Rhodesia after being fired by guerrillas from neighboring Zambia. The target had been an airplane carrying sightseers over Victoria Falls, and instead it set fire to the Elephant Hills Country Club.

  November 3, 1977 (Thursday)

• David Vetter, a 6-year-old boy born with severe combined immunodeficiency and confined to a sterile plastic "bubble" room at the Texas Children's Hospital in Dallas, was able to walk out of his room for the first time, thanks to a specially designed airtight suit and oxygen supply.
• The U.S. State Department announced that it would return the Crown of St. Stephen to Hungary, provided that the Hungarian government would give assurances that the crown would be available on public display for all Hungarian citizens to see. The crown had come under U.S. possession near the end of World War II and had been kept at Fort Knox since 1953.
• Three Ecauadorian oil prospectors, employed by the French Geophysical General Company, were killed in the western jungles of Ecuador by the independent Huaorani people, also referred to as the "Auca Indians", after disregarding a Huaorani warning— two crossed spears— warning strangers to proceed no further into the jungle. Two other prospectors in the group were able to escape, and one of them was able to reach a military outpost. An Ecuadorian Army patrol located the three dead prospectors, who had "twenty poison-tipped spears" embedded in their bodies.
• René Lévesque, the Premier of Quebec and an advocate of independence for the predominantly French-speaking the Canadian province, became the first Canadian to be presented the Legion of Honor medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by France. Lévesque was presented the medal by French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at the presidential residence at the Élysée Palace in Paris, for "exceptional service in the cause of France or French relations". The Canadian government registered a complaint to the French government by way of its embassy in Paris, pointing out that Canadian law required approval by Canada's government for the granting of foreign titles or awards to Canadian citizens.
• Died: Florence Vidor, 82, American silent film actress

  November 4, 1977 (Friday)

• The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose an embargo against the sale of weapons to South Africa, marking the first time in United Nations history that mandatory sanctions had been applied to a UN member.
• An Indian Air Force jet, carrying India's prime minister Morarji Desai, crashed on landing at Tetala Gaon in the state of Assam, killing all five of the crew, but sparing the lives of all 16 of the passengers. The jet had been on its way to Jorhat, but navigation problems led to the plane flying past the larger city before making an emergency landing.
• The Incredible Hulk, based upon the popular Marvel Comics feature of the same name, was adapted to television as a pilot film starring veteran actor Bill Bixby as scientist David Bruce Banner), body builder Lou Ferrigno as Banner's alter ego, "The Hulk", and Jack Colvin as a news reporter pursuing him. One critic described the film as "the best adaptation of a comic book character to television" but complained of the transformation sequence, which he said "makes the Hulk look like a giant green night light." Two TV movies proved popular enough for the CBS network to adapt the show to a regular series that would run from 1978 to 1982.
• Died: Betty Balfour, 75, British silent film star

  November 5, 1977 (Saturday)

• In advance of November 7 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviet Union's official news agency, Tass, announced that amnesty was being granted to non-political prisoners who in different categories. Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, decorated heroes of the Soviet Union or a Soviet republic, and women and children were set free if they were serving terms of five or fewer years. A complete pardon was given to all male inmates 60 and older; women 55 and older; mothers of minor children; pregnant women; and disabled prisoners. Tass added that the decree of the Supreme Soviet "does not apply to persons convicted for particularly dangerous offenses against the state", or to "particularly dangerous recidivists" or "those convicted for grave crimes."
• A bus collision caused by "a stray camel" killed seven Dutch tourists in Israel, and injured 14 others. The dead were passengers in a minibus that was taking the tourists to Eilat, after the driver swerved to avoid a camel crossing the winding desert road and went into the path of a larger tour bus traveling the other way.
• Died:
• *Guy Lombardo, 75, Canadian big band leader
• *René Goscinny, 51, French comic book writer who created the Asterix adventure series, died of a heart attack while undergoing a stress test at his doctor's office

  November 6, 1977 (Sunday)

• In the U.S. state of Georgia, flash floods killed 39 people when the Kelly Barnes Dam burst and sent reservoir waters downhill to, located above Toccoa Falls Institute, a small Bible college. At 4:30 in the morning, pressure from rising waters caused the 40-year-old dam to break, sending 112 million gallons of water down on the small college and the 8,300 person town of Toccoa, Georgia. Two of the 39 deaths were volunteer firemen who had been warning residents of homes to evacuate.
• The Chief Minister of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, issued a security ordinance allowing the state government to jail people for up to two years without charges, as well as to ban newspapers from reporting "information that may incite people to commit acts prejudicial to Kashmir's security."

  November 7, 1977 (Monday)

• The Italian criminal gang Banda della Magliana committed its first major crime, kidnapping Duke Massimiliano Grazioli. Despite payment of the demanded ransom of 1.5 billion lire, the kidnappers killed Grazioli anyway.
• Bernard Pomerance's play The Elephant Man, based on the life of a victim of deformity, Joseph Merrick was staged for the first time, premiering at the Hampstead Theatre in London. It would debut on Broadway in 1979, winning a Tony Award for Best Play. The successful play is unrelated to a film about Merrick with the same name. The successful 1980 film was based on the 1923 Frederick Treves book. The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences rather than the play.
• The Soviet Union celebrated the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution with a parade through Moscow's Red Square. Returning to the tradition of displaying the nation's military might, the parade included the first public showing of the new T-72 battle tank.
• Born: Paul Buchheit, American computer engineer and creator of the Google e-mail service Gmail; in Webster, New York
• Died: Giorgio De Stefano, 36, Italian mobster and a boss of the organized crime syndicate 'Ndrangheta, was lured to a meeting in Santo Stefano in Aspromonte and murdered by a mob enforcer. The enforcer, Giuseppe Suraci, would later be killed on orders of Giorigio's brother Paolo De Stefano.

  November 8, 1977 (Tuesday)

• Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovered the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, at Vergina.
• San Francisco voters elected Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S., as City Supervisor

  November 9, 1977 (Wednesday)

• Egypt's President Anwar Sadat spoke at the opening of the new session of the nation's parliament, the Egyptian People's Assembly, and told a cheering audience that he was prepared to travel to Israel in order to pursue a peace agreement. Sadat, the first Arab leader to announce a willingness to accept the existence of the Jewish State of Israel, told the legislators, "Israel would be astonished when they hear me say this. But I say it. I am ready to go even to their home, to the Knesset and discuss peace with them if need be." The next day, Israel's prime minister Menahem Begin told a delegation from the U.S. Congress that he would accept Sadat's offer to come to Jerusalem and that he would personally greet him at the airport, adding "We shall receive him with all honor due a president."
• General Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announced that constitutional democracy would be restored in the South American nation in 1978, with elections to be held on July 6 and transfer from military to civilian rule on August 6. Banzer had earlier stated that the transition would occur no earlier than 1980. On December 1, Banzer, who had been expected to easily win an election, announced that he would not be a candidate, but gave no explanation.
• Israeli fighter bombers attacked the Lebanese cities of Azzieh and Nahariya in reprisal for raids by Palestinian terrorists into Israel. Lebanon reported the deaths of more than 100 civilians.
• Died:
• *Gertrude Astor, 90, American film actress
• *William C. Sullivan, 65, former director of domestic intelligence operations for the FBI, was killed in a hunting accident in New Hampshire after a fellow hunter mistook him for a deer. In January, the 21-year-old hunter had his hunting license revoked and was assessed with a $500 fine.