September 1979

September 1, 1979 (Saturday)

• The U.S. interplanetary probe Pioneer 11 became the first Earth spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passed the planet at a distance of less than. At 16:29:34 UTC it came within of Saturn. Less than two hours earlier, it had come within of the moon Epimethus.
• Hurricane David swept through the Dominican Republic as a Category 5 storm, devastating much of the western side of the island of Hispaniola and killing at least 2,000 people there. Neighboring Haiti, on the eastern side of Hispaniola, was not affected.
• A 33-year old woman, Jessie Thomas, became the first person to receive an artificial spine, following a successful 19-hour surgery at the University of Maryland in Baltimore during which a metal device took the place of four vertebrae of her lower back. Dr. Charles Edwards designed the metal spinal prosthesis and led the surgical team in performing the surgery.
• Color television was introduced to Indonesia as the TVRI network began color broadcasting.
• The Australian rock band INXS performed its first concert under that name, after having been formed on August 16, 1977 by Andrew, Jon and Tim Farriss as "The Farriss Brothers". After briefly performing as "The Vegetables" in 1978, the group adopted its current name shortly before playing at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Umina, New South Wales.
• Died:
• *Doris Kenyon, 81, American film and TV actress
• *Aaron Rosenberg, 67, American college athlete and film producer

  September 2, 1979 (Sunday)

• The Transglobe Expedition, the first trip around the world from south to north to both poles, began as Ranulph Fiennes, Charles R. Burton, and Oliver Shepard departed London. They would reach the South Pole on December 15, 1980 and the North Pole on April 11, 1982, before returning to London on August 29, 1982.
• The championship game of the Gaelic Athletic Association's hurling competition was played at Croke Park in Dublin before a crowd of over 53,000 between Kilkenny GAA of Leinster, and Galway GAA of Connacht. Kilkenny won 2-12 to 1-8, equivalent to an 18 to 11 win.
• The first, and only, flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia was approved by the transitional government of the southern African nation.
• The Palace of Gold of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness was dedicated in the relatively new, unincorporated community of New Vrindaban, West Virginia, near Moundsville in Marshall County.
• Born: Ron Ng, Hong Kong TV actor Iten, Kenya
• Died: Felix Aylmer, 90, English character actor

  September 3, 1979 (Monday)

• The U.S. Navy combat supply ship USS White Plains rescued 154 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea, the largest number saved by the U.S. since it had started its search for "boat people" in July. A U.S. Navy Lockheed P-3 Orion patrol plane had spotted two overloaded boats from the Philippines.
• Aeroflot Flight 513 crashed in the Soviet Union as it was approaching the airport in Amderma, after having taken off from Arkhangelsk on a trip. Only three of the 43 people on board survived when the plane crashed on a hillside.
• Born: Júlio César, Brazilian soccer football goalkeeper with 87 caps for the Brazil national football team; in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro

  September 4, 1979 (Tuesday)

• The United States banned the importation of tuna from Canada in retaliation for the seizure of 19 American tuna fishing boats by the Canadian Coast Guard on charges of fishing in Canada's territorial waters, defined by Canadian law as within of Canada's coastline. The cargo of each of the 19 boats had been confiscated, and a company was required to post a $5,000 bond for the release of a boat pending criminal action. At the time, the amount of Canada's exports of tuna to the U.S. was worth only $130,000.
• Died:
• *Alberto di Jorio, 95, Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal and Vatican Bank advisor
• *Guy Bolton, 96, English screenwriter and playwright

  September 5, 1979 (Wednesday)

• Ann Meyers became the first woman to be signed to a National Basketball Association player's contract, receiving $50,000 by the Indiana Pacers and an opportunity to try to make the team. At 5'9" and weighing, Meyers had led the U.S. national team in the 1979 FIBA women's basketball world championship and had chosen not to play in the first season of the Women's Professional Basketball League. While she would be cut from the Pacers on September 12, Meyers would sign with the WPBL's New Jersey Gems and become that league's most valuable player. She would later be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Computer manufacturer International Business Machines and recorded music manufacturer MCA announced a joint venture, Disco-Vision Associates, to manufacture a less expensive system for videodiscs and players, a forerunner of the smaller-diameter and larger capacity DVD.
• Born: John Carew, Norwegian soccer football striker with 91 caps for the Norway national team; in Lørenskog

  September 6, 1979 (Thursday)

• U.S. President Jimmy Carter commuted the long prison sentences given to four Puerto Rican nationalists in the 1950s who had been convicted of attempted assassinations, including that of Oscar Collazo, who had attempted to kill U.S. President Harry S Truman. Collazo had been incarcerated for almost 29 years, since his attempt to kill President Truman on November 1, 1950. Clemency was also granted to three nationalists who had wounded five U.S. Representatives on March 1, 1954, when they shot from the gallery during an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Lolita Lebrón, Irvin Flores Rodriguez and Rafael Cancel Miranda had served 25 years of sentences of up to 75 years. Carter had previously freed a fourth defendant from the 1954 attack, Andres Figueroa Cordero, in 1977.

  September 7, 1979 (Friday)

• The first cable sports channel, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, was launched in the United States at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on participating cable television systems. The first program was a half-hour segment called "ESPN Premiere", followed by a preview of the 1979 college football season.
• Diosdado Macapagal, the former President of the Philippines, was charged with sedition and arrested in Manila by the government of his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos. The charges arose from Macapagal's criticism of martial law while at a birthday dinner. In 1976, Macapagal had published a book, Democracy in the Philippines, which called upon the nation's armed forces to overthrow the Marcos government "to free the people from dictatorship".
• Born: Nathan Hindmarsh, Australian National Rugby League player and five-time winner of the Provan-Summons Medal; in Bowral, New South Wales

  September 8, 1979 (Saturday)

• Soccer Bowl '79, the championship game of the North American Soccer League was played before a crowd of 50,699 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The Vancouver Whitecaps defeated the Tampa Bay Rowdies, 2 to 1, with both goals scored by Trevor Whymark of England.
• Born: P!nk, American R&B singer; in Doylestown, Pennsylvania

  September 9, 1979 (Sunday)

• As part of its campaign to eliminate the Baháʼí Faith in Iran, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran demolished the House of the Báb in Shiraz, the 19th century home of the founder of Bábism, Sayyed `Alí Muḥammad Shírází.
• Tracy Austin, a 16-year old professional tennis star, became the youngest person to win the U.S. Open when she defeated Chris Evert Lloyd in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-3. 20-year old John McEnroe then became the youngest man to win the tournament when he beat Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 and 6-3.
• Died:
• *Norrie Paramor, 65, British record producer
• *Mahmoud Taleghani, 68, Iranian Shi'a Muslim theologian and member of the Council of the Islamic Revolution

  September 10, 1979 (Monday)

• Agostinho Neto, President of Angola since its independence in 1975, died while undergoing surgery for cancer at a hospital in Moscow. Lúcio Lara, the General Secretary for the ruling MPLA, took over briefly as acting president until Vice President José Eduardo dos Santos could be approved to take over from Neto.
• The long-running comic strip For Better or For Worse, by Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston, made its first appearance in newspapers in the United States and Canada.
• Died: Stanyslav Lyudkevych, 100, Ukrainian composer and musicologist named People's Artist of the USSR

  September 11, 1979 (Tuesday)

• Portugal's President António Ramalho Eanes signed a decree dissolving the 250-seat Assembleia da República and scheduled new elections to take place on December 2.
• For the first time in the history of the United States Navy, women were deployed overseas on a warship when about 50 female sailors and six officers were sent to patrol the Mediterranean Sea on the 730-member repair ship USS Vulcan.
• Afghanistan's leader Nur Muhammad Taraki, who had traveled to a summit, in Cuba, of the leaders of Communist nations, returned to Kabul, with instructions from the Soviets to dismiss Defense Minister Hafizullah Amin. Instead of accepting a transfer to an overseas job, Amin confronted Taraki at a cabinet meeting and told Taraki to step down.
• U.S. Representative Raymond Lederer met with two representatives of an Arab sheik and accepted a $50,000 bribe in exchange for his pledge to help the men's client obtain entry into the United States. Despite being re-elected overwhelmingly in 1980 while under indictment, Lederer would resign from the House of Representatives on April 29, 1981, a day after a House Committee voted in favor of expelling him. Lederer would later serve 10 months in a minimum security prison near Allenwood, Pennsylvania.
• Born:
• *Ariana Richards, American actress and Young Artist Award winner; in Healdsburg, California
• *Eric Abidal, French soccer football defender with 67 caps for the France national team, 2004 to 2013; in Saint-Genis-Laval
• Died: Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, 86, British colonial administrator and negotiator for the Iraq Petroleum Company who obtained oil rights for IPC in the Gulf States.