1978 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government

• President: Jimmy Carter
• Vice President: Walter Mondale
• Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill
• Senate Majority Leader: Robert Byrd
• Congress: 95th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January

• January 1 - The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law.
• January 6 - The Holy Crown of Hungary is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II.
• January 14-15 - The body of former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, following his death from cancer.
• January 19 - Federal Appeals Court Judge William H. Webster is appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• January 25-27 - The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes, causing 51 deaths in Ohio.
• January 28 - Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", is arrested.

  February

• February 1 - Hollywood film director Roman Polanski flees to France to avoid sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor.
• February 5-7 - The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 hits the New England region and the New York metropolitan area, killing about 100 and causing over US$520 million in damage.
• February 8 - United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• February 11 - Sixteen Unification Church couples wed in New York, New York.
• February 15 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida.
• February 16
• *The Hillside Strangler, a serial killer prowling Los Angeles, claims a 10th and final victim.
• *The first computer bulletin board system is created in Chicago.

  March

• March 3 - The New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man, about a supposed cloning of a human being.
• March 6 - American porn publisher Larry Flynt is shot and paralyzed in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
• March 22 - Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• March 28 - Stump v. Sparkman : The Supreme Court of the United States hands down a 5–3 decision in a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.

  April

• April 2 - The CBS soap opera Dallas is launched. It is set to be aired later this year in several countries, including the United Kingdom by the BBC.
• April 3 - The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California with Annie Hall winning Best Picture.
• April 7 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb - a weapon which kills people with radiation but leaves buildings relatively intact.
• April 10 - Volkswagen becomes the second non-American automobile manufacturer to open a plant in the United States, commencing production of the Rabbit, the North American version of the Volkswagen Golf, at the Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant near New Stanton, Pennsylvania with a unionized workforce
• April 18 - The U.S. Senate votes 68–32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
• April 25 - St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the 2nd U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Dade County, Florida.
• April 28 - WAC abolished; women integrated into regular Army.

  May

• May 5 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit.
• May 20 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.
• May 25 - A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard.
• May 26 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
• May 28 - Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins his third race, and the first for car owner Jim Hall.

  June

• June 6 - California voters approve Proposition 13, which slashes property taxes nearly 60%.
• June 10 - Affirmed becomes only the 11th horse to ever win the Triple Crown by defeating Alydar in the 110th running of the Belmont Stakes.
• June 16 - The musical film Grease is released, starring 24-year-old New Jersey born actor John Travolta and 29-year-old British-Australian actress and singer Olivia Newton-John.
• June 28
• * The U.S. scientific satellite Seasat is launched.
• * University of California Regents v. Bakke: The Supreme Court of the United States bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of programs which give advantages to minorities.
• * The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

  August

• August 2 - President Jimmy Carter declares an unprecedented state emergency and evacuation immediately following the revelation that Niagara Falls, New York neighborhood Love Canal was built on a toxic waste dump.
• August 13 - The 5.8 Santa Barbara earthquake affected the central coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing 65 injuries and $12 million in financial losses.
• August 17 - Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.

  September

• September 17 - Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin the peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
• September 25
• *PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California; 144 are killed.
• *Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello makes its first appearance on Live from the Met, in a complete production of the opera starring Jon Vickers. This is the first complete television broadcast of the opera in the U.S. since the historic 1948 one.

  October

• October 2 - The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox 5–4 at Fenway Park to clinch the AL East after being 14 games out of first place only two months earlier. The Yankees would eventually go on to defeat the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers and win the World Series.
• October 4 - Pier 39 opens on Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, as a tourist attraction.
• October 10 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• October 14 - President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States.
• October 17 - The New York Yankees clinch their 22nd World Series championship, defeating the Dodgers 7–2 in Los Angeles and winning the Series 4 games to 2.
• October 27 - President Jimmy Carter signs the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act, adjusting the government's economic goals to include full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget.

  November

• November 7 - California voters defeat the Briggs Initiative that would have prohibited gay school teachers.
• November 10 – Theodore Roosevelt and Badlands National Park is established.
• November 18 - Mass murder/suicide of 909 Americans in Jonestown, Guyana under the direction of Jim Jones.
• November 19 - The first U.S. Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.
• November 27 - In San Francisco, California, Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.

  December

• December 3 - The Southern Crescent passenger train derails at Shipman, Virginia, killing 6, injuring 60.
• December 4 - Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone as San Francisco, California's first woman mayor.
• December 11 - Lufthansa heist: Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's Kennedy airport.
• December 13 - The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation.
• December 15 - Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to go into default since the Great Depression, under Mayor Dennis Kucinich.
• December 22 - Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who is subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men, is arrested.

  Ongoing

• Cold War
• Détente
• 1970s energy crisis

  Births">:Category:1978 births">Births

• January 6
• *Casey Fossum, baseball player
• *Bubba Franks, American football player
• January 7 - Kevin Mench, baseball player
• January 9 - AJ McLean, pop singer-songwriter
• January 29
• *Rob Bironas, American football player
• *Brian Windhorst, basketball journalist
• February 7 - Ashton Kutcher, screen actor and venture capitalist
• February 17 - Jacob Wetterling, kidnapping victim
• February 22 - Gus Sorola, actor and podcast host
• March 1 - Jensen Ackles, screen actor
• March 6
• * Mike Jackson, Oklahoma politician
• * Sage Rosenfels, American football player
• March 12 - Claudio Sanchez, alternative rock musician and writer
• April 2 - John Gall, baseball player
• April 19 - James Franco, screen actor
• April 20 - Rebecca Makkai, novelist and short story writer
• April 26 - Joe Crede, baseball player
• May 1 - Nick Traina, singer-songwriter
• May 9 - Aaron Harang, baseball player
• May 10 - Kenan Thompson, African American comic screen actor
• May 12 - Josh Phelps, baseball player
• May 15 - David Krumholtz, screen actor
• May 22 - Ginnifer Goodwin, actress
• May 23 - Mike Gonzalez, baseball player
• June 2
• * Nikki Cox, screen actress and comedy writer
• * Justin Long, screen actor
• June 6 - Judith Barsi, actress and murder victim
• June 7
• * Jesse Ball, poet, fiction writer and artist
• * Bill Hader, comic screen actor
• June 10 - Shane West, screen actor, punk rock musician and songwriter
• June 19 - Zoe Saldana, screen actress
• June 20 - Bobby Seay, baseball player
• June 29 - Nicole Scherzinger, screen performer
• July 1 - Hillary Tuck, screen actress
• July 4
• * Becki Newton, screen actress
• * Tony Reali, sports personality
• July 6 - Tia and Tamera Mowry, African American actresses
• July 13 Harrison Ford
• July 13 Jennetta Parrish.
• July 21 - Crystal Mangum, Murderer responsible for making false rape allegations in the Duke lacrosse case
• July 21 - Josh Hartnett, screen actor
• July 23 - Lauren Groff, fiction writer
• July 28 - Julian Peterson, American football player
• August 3 - Shanelle Workman, television actress
• August 4 - Kurt Busch, stock car racing driver
• August 18 - Andy Samberg, comic screen actor
• August 23 - Kobe Bryant, African American basketball player
• August 25 - Kel Mitchell, African American comic screen actor
• September 14 - Teddy Park, rapper
• September 16 - Brian Sims, Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• September 23 - Anthony Mackie, African American actor
• October 5 - James Valentine, pop rock guitarist
• October 9 - Kristy Kowal, U.S. Swimmer
• October 14
• *Ryan Church, baseball player
• *Usher, African American R&B singer-songwriter
• *Javon Walker, American football player
• October 20 - Dionne Quan, voice actress
• October 26 - CM Punk, martial artist
• November 3 - Tim McIlrath, Singer of Rise Against
• November 14
• * Bobby Allen, ice hockey player
• * Xavier Nady, baseball player and coach
• * Chris Shar, rock drummer
• November 15 - Floyd Womack, American football player
• November 24 - Katherine Heigl, screen actress
• November 30 - Clay Aiken, singer and politician
• December 7 - Shiri Appleby, screen actress
• December 8 - Ian Somerhalder, screen actor
• December 18 - Katie Holmes, screen actress
• December 22 - Danny Ahn, rapper
• December 28 - John Legend, African American R&B singer-songwriter
• December 31 - Craig Wayne Boyd, country music singer

  Deaths

• January 3 - Jack Oakie, actor
• January 13 - Hubert H. Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States from 1965 to 1969
• January 14 - Kurt Gödel, mathematician
• January 20 - Gilbert Highet, classicist, academic, writer, intellectual, critic and literary historian
• February 16 - Edward Lindberg, Olympic track athlete
• February 18 - Maggie McNamara, actress
• February 22
• * Phyllis McGinley, children's story writer and poet
• * C. Paul Jennewein, sculptor
• * Dennie Moore, actress
• March 13 - John Cazale, film actor
• March 18
• * Leigh Brackett, science fiction author
• * Peggy Wood, actress
• March 19 - Faith Baldwin, romantic novelist and poet
• March 22
• * Karl Wallenda, circus performer
• * John Hall Wheelock, poet
• April 16 - Lucius D. Clay, military governor of Germany from 1947 to 1949
• April 21 - Thomas Wyatt Turner, civil rights activist, biologist and educator; first African American to receive a doctorate from Cornell
• May 6 - Ethelda Bleibtrey, Olympic swimmer
• May 12 - Louis Zukofsky, modernist poet
• May 16 - William Steinberg, conductor
• May 22
• * Joe Colombo, gangster
• * Aubrey Fitch, admiral
• June 3 - Frank Stanford, poet, suicide
• June 18 - Walter C. Alvarez, physician and writer
• July 18 - Claude P. Dettloff, photographer
• August 14 - Joe Venuti, jazz violinist
• August 21 - Charles Eames, architect and designer
• August 24 - Louis Prima, swing singer and bandleader
• August 26 - Charles Boyer, film actor
• August 27 - Gordon Matta-Clark, artist, cancer
• August 28 - Bruce Catton, Civil War historian, Pulitzer Prize winner in 1954
• August 31 - Lee Garmes, cinematographer
• September 23 - Lyman Bostock, baseball player, killed
• September 24 - Ruth Etting, "torch" singer
• September 30 - Edgar Bergen, actor and ventriloquist
• October 8 - Bertha Cody, Native American archaeologist
• October 10 - Ralph Metcalfe, sprinter and U.S. Congressman
• October 12 - Nancy Spungen, groupie and girlfriend of Sid Vicious, killed
• October 16 - Dan Dailey, actor
• October 19 - Gig Young, actor
• November 8 - Norman Rockwell, painter and illustrator
• November 15 - Margaret Mead, cultural anthropologist
• November 25 - Elaine Esposito, coma victim
• November 27 - Harvey Milk, politician and gay activist, killed
• December 3 - William Grant Still, "the Dean" of African American composers
• December 10 - Ed Wood, American filmmaker, actor, writer, producer and director
• December 28 - Harry Winston, diamond dealer