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1978

The following events occurred in December 1978:

December 1, 1978 (Friday)

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December 2, 1978 (Saturday)

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December 3, 1978 (Sunday)

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December 4, 1978 (Monday)

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Pioneer 12
  • Pioneer 12, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter, launched from the U.S. on May 20, 1978, entered an ellipical orbit around Venus.[8] It would transmit data for almost 14 years until decaying from orbit and crashing on Venus on October 22, 1992.[9]
  • Dianne Feinstein succeeded the murdered George Moscone, to become the first woman mayor of San Francisco. She would remain in office until January 8, 1988.
  • Born: Lars Bystøl, Norwegian ski jumper, 2006 Olympic gold medalist; in Voss

December 5, 1978 (Tuesday)

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December 6, 1978 (Wednesday)

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December 7, 1978 (Thursday)

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December 8, 1978 (Friday)

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December 9, 1978 (Saturday)

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Artist's rendition of the arrival of the probes at Venus
  • All five space components of the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe from Pioneer 13, launched by the U.S. on August 8, landed at different areas of the planet Venus, with four probes entering the Venusian atmosphere between 18:45 and 18:56 UTC and descending to their respective targets on the planet.[13] The largest of the probes was the first to make impact, transmitting data until it crashed at 19:39:53 UTC. The North Probe crashed less than three minutes later, at 19:42:40. The Day Probe was the only one to survive impact, landing at 19:47:59 and then transmitting data for one hour and almost eight minutes. The "Bus" that had carried the probes entered the atmosphere at 20:21 and it signal was lost on its way down.
  • Born: Gastón Gaudio, Argentine professional tennis player, winner fo the 2004 French Open; in Temperley[14]

December 10, 1978 (Sunday)

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December 11, 1978 (Monday)

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The Ashura demonstration
  • In Tehran, capital of Iran, on the holy day of Ashura (Muharram 10, 1399 A.H.) a reported six million protesters, and perhaps as many as nine million, demonstrated against the Shah of Iran as part of the "Muharram protests" that had started on December 2. On historian would comment later that " "even discounting for exaggeration, these figures may represent the largest protest event in history."[16]
  • Robert Piest, a 15-year-old employee at a pharmacy in Des Plaines, Illinois, became the last victim of serial murderer John Wayne Gacy. Piest was lured to Gacy's home on the promise of part-time employment, and then sodomized and murdered. Before disappearing, Piest and told his mother that "some contractor wants to talk to me about a job," and the pharmacy's owner identified Gacy as the contractor who had talked to Piest. The two statements led to Gacy's arrest a few days later.
  • Six men robbed more than five million dollars from a Lufthansa airlines cargo facility at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport and got away with $5,000,000 in cash for the largest cash robbery up to that time in U.S. history[17], and $875,000 in jewelry, equivalent to more than $28 million as of 2024. The money and jewelry had not been recovered 45 years after the crime.
  • Died: Vincent du Vigneaud, 77, American biochemist

December 12, 1978 (Tuesday)

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  • All 28 crewmembers on the West German freighter MS München were killed when the ship was struck by a rogue wave in the North Atlantic Ocean north of the Azores Islands while sailing from Bremerhaven to the U.S. port at Savannah, Georgia.[18]. Although the ship's emergency buoy and five empty lifeboats were found, but the ship and its crew remained undiscovered more than 45 years later.
  • Voting was held in South Korea for 154 of the 231 members of the Daehanminguk Gukhoe, the nation's parliament. Although the opposition New Democratic Party (Sinmindang) of Yi Cheol-seung won more votes than President Park Chung-hee's ruling Democratic Republican Party (Minjugonghwadang), the NDP received 61 seats compared to the DRP's 68. President Park appointed the 77 non-elected members, subject to the December 21 approval of the National Conference for Unification. Of the 2,581 conference delegates, 2,539 approved the slateof appointees..[19]
  • In Zambia, where President Kenneth Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP) was the only legal political party, voters chose from multiple UNIP candidates in 119 of the 125 districts of the National Assembly, with 732 candidates (or an average of more than three for each district) were approved.[20] Kaunda, the sole candiate for President, was approved for another 5-year term by almost 81% of the voters in while almost 245,000 people voted "no" to his re-election.[21]
  • Born: Chen Dong, Chinese taikonaut who orbited the Earth in the Shenzhou 11 and Shenzhou 14 space missions; in Luoyang, Henan province[22]
  • Died: Fay Compton (stage name for Virginia Compton-Mackenzie), 84, English stage and film actress[23]

December 13, 1978 (Wednesday)

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Deng Xiaoping

December 14, 1978 (Thursday)

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December 15, 1978 (Friday)

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December 16, 1978 (Saturday)

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  • The collision of two trains in China killed 106 people and injured 218 others. Train 87 was traveling from Nanjing to Xining while Train 368 was on its way from Xi'an to Xuzhou. The two collided near the Yangzhuang railway station.
  • The Mystery of Mamo was released in cinemas in Japan.

December 17, 1978 (Sunday)

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  • Born: Manny Pacquiao, Philippine professional boxer and politician; WBC flyweight champion, 1998-1999, WBC super bantamweight (1999-2001), IBF super bantamweight (2001-2003), WBA, The Ring featherweight (2003-2005), WBC super featherweight (2005-2008), WBC lightweight (2008-2009); WBO and WBA welterweight (2009-2019), WBC super welterweight (2019-2021) champion; in Kibawe, Bukidnon
  • Died:
    • Don Ellis, 42, American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader
    • Josef Frings, 91, German Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne[29]

December 18, 1978 (Monday)

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December 19, 1978 (Tuesday)

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  • Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, who had recently won a by-election to be restored to the Lok Sabha parliament, was arrested on charges of breach of privilege and contempt of parliament, and jailed for a week .

December 20, 1978 (Wednesday)

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  • Born:
    • Geremi Sorele Nijtap Fotso, Cameroonian footballer with 118 caps for the Cameroon national team and 2000 Olympic gold medalist; in Bafoussam
    • Jacqueline Saburido, Venezuelan crusader against drunk driving who appeared world wide after being severely burned in a 1999 crash; in Caracas (d. of cancer, 2019)[32]

December 21, 1978 (Thursday)

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Gacy
  • Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy was arrested after police discovered human remains in his home in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois. Gacy would be convicted of the murders of 33 young men and boys committed between 1972 and 1978. He would be executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.
  • The Soviet space probe Venera 12 made a soft landing on the planet Venus at 03:30 UTC, slightly more than three months after its September 14 launch. It transmitted data to the orbiting flight platform for 110 minutes.[33] Venera 2 would continue sending signals until April 18, 1980.[34]

December 22, 1978 (Friday)

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December 23, 1978 (Saturday)

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December 24, 1978 (Sunday)

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December 25, 1978 (Monday)

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  • Vietnam launched an invasion of Cambodia (at the time, "Democratic Kampuchea") in a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge Communists.
 
Soviet postage stamp honoring Venera 11 and Venera 12

December 26, 1978 (Tuesday)

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December 27, 1978 (Wednesday)

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December 28, 1978 (Thursday)

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December 29, 1978 (Friday)

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December 30, 1978 (Saturday)

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December 31, 1978 (Sunday)

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References

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  1. ^ vorarlberg ORF at red (2023-04-23). "Rückblick: Die Eröffnung des Arlbergtunnels 1978 (Review: The opening of the Arlberg tunnel in 1978)" (in German). Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  2. ^ Angelo, Joseph A. (2014). Frontiers in Space: Satellites. Infobase Publishing. p. 165.
  3. ^ "History of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Jennifer Psaki, Gregory Mecher". The New York Times. 2010-05-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-12-22. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  5. ^ "Xankəndi separatçılarının yeni rəhbəri kimdir? - Dosye ("Who is the new leader of Khankendi separatists? - Dossier")". Axar.Az. 2023-08-13. Archived from the original on 2023-08-31.
  6. ^ Harris M. Lentz, Heads of States and Governments Since 1945, 2014, S. 756
  7. ^ Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975–1979 (Yale University Press, 2006) p.442
  8. ^ "Pioneer Venus Orbiter/Pioneer Venus 1/Pioneer 12". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  9. ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Archived from the original on 2003-10-11.
  10. ^ Druckmann, Neil. "Neil Druckmann - Bio". Carnegie Mellon University. Archived from the original on October 30, 2003. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  11. ^ "Spain starts a new post-Franco era - archive, 1978". The Guardian. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Golda Meir". Britannica Presents 100 Women Trailblazers. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Pioneer Venus Multiprobe/Pioneer Venus 2/Pioneer 13". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  14. ^ "Tennis Feuds by Paul Fein". Sports Illustrated South Africa. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 29 September 2006. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
  15. ^ "EMILIO PORTES GIL" (in Spanish). residencia de la Republica de Mexico. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  16. ^ Charles Kurzman, The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran (Harvard University Press, 2004) p.122
  17. ^ "N.Y. theft largest in history". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. December 12, 1978. p. 2.
  18. ^ Lars Schmitz-Eggen, Die letzte Fahrt der „München“ (The Last Voyage of the 'München (Osterholz-Scharmbeck 2001)
  19. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p420 ISBN 0-19-924959-8
  20. ^ Zambia 1978 Inter-Parliamentary Union
  21. ^ Zambia: 1973 and 1978 one-party elections, Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa
  22. ^ Zhan Kang (占康) (2002). 陈冬:第二批航天员中的首位指令长 [Chen Dong: the First Commander in the Second Batch of Astronauts]. Celebrities' Biographies (in Chinese). 602. Zhengzhou, Henan: Henan Literature and Art Publishing House: 6–11. ISSN 1002-6282.
  23. ^ Trewin, J. C. "Compton, Fay (real name Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie) (1894–1978), actress", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
  24. ^ Lahiri, Dan Kopf, Tripti (18 December 2018). "The charts that show how Deng Xiaoping unleashed China's pent-up capitalist energy in 1978". Quartz. Retrieved 2020-04-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Denmark, Abraham. "40 years ago, Deng Xiaoping changed China — and the world". Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  26. ^ "Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unite as one in looking to the future". China Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  27. ^ Stevens, Larry; Ganz, David L. (February 1979). "Minting the Anthony Dollar". COINage. 13 (2). Encino, California: Behn-Miller Publishers: 33.
  28. ^ "Susan B. Anthony debuts Monday", by Jack Hemstock, Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1979, p. 3-8
  29. ^ "German Resistance Memorial Center - Biographie". www.gdw-berlin.de. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  30. ^ Darren Crosdale. Dawson's Creek: The Official Companion. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel, 1999; ISBN 978-0-7407-0725-4, pp.113–114
  31. ^ Mike Rose, cleveland com (2023-12-18). "Famous birthdays list for December 18, 2023 includes celebrities Billie Eilish, Brad Pitt". cleveland. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  32. ^ Steinbuch, Yaron (23 April 2019). "Jacqui Saburido, face of anti-DWI campaigns, dies at 40". New York Post. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  33. ^ Siddiqi, Asif (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF) (second ed.). NASA History Program Office.
  34. ^ Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF). The NASA history series (second ed.). Washington, DC: NASA History Program Office. pp. 152–153. ISBN 978-1-62683-042-4. LCCN 2017059404. SP2018-4041.
  35. ^ Banks, Wendy (February 6, 2003). "Bay watching – Joanne Kelly doesn't look like a newcomer in Canuck feature". Now. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
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    • Career statistics from MLB
  37. ^ Baştürk], WorldFootball.net
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  39. ^ Garnham, P. C. C. (1980). "Alexander John Haddow. 27 December 1912 – 26 December 1978". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 26: 225–254. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1980.0006. S2CID 74365761.
  40. ^ Angelo Taylor, Olympedia.org
  41. ^ William H. Sullivan, Mission to Iran (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1981) p.212
  42. ^ Tomomi Miyamoto, Sports-Reference Olympic Sports
  43. ^ "Indonesia: Fretilin leader shot dead in East Timor", Business Times (Kuala Lumpur), January 3, 1979, p.18, quoted in Translations on South and East Asia, February 8, 1979, p.17 (United States Joint Publications Research Service)
  44. ^ "Body of Timor-Leste's first prime minister still missing after 41 years". Tempo Timor. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  45. ^ Basil Wolverton at the Lambiek Comiclopedia.Archived from the original on February 21, 2019.