1980 - What happened in 1980 ?

January 1980

Saturday 05:

Hewlett-Packard announces release of its first personal computer.

Monday 07:

President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation.

Friday 11:

Nigel Short, 14, is the youngest chess player to be awarded the degree of International Master.

Tuesday 22:

Andrei Sakharov is arrested in Moscow.

Saturday 26:

Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.

February 1980

Saturday 02:

1980 - Founding congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey.

Monday 04:

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.

Thursday 14:

Walter Cronkite announces his retirement from CBS Evening News.

Friday 15:

Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand goes to air for the first time

Saturday 23:

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

March 1980

Saturday 01:

1983 - Swatch introduces their first timepieces.

Friday 14:

In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.

Friday 21:

On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who Shot JR?"

Monday 24:

Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.

Thursday 27:

The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.

April 1980

Wednesday 02:

U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act in an effort to help the U.S. economy rebound.

Monday 07:

The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.

Saturday 12:

Terry Fox began his trans-Canada marathon to raise money for cancer research (Marathon of Hope) by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland, aiming to dip it again in the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia.

Friday 18:

The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President.

Thursday 24:

Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.

May 1980

Thursday 01:

Foundation of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey.

Friday 09:

The first meeting of Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury takes place in Ghana.

Saturday 17:

General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.

Wednesday 21:

1980 - ' opens in theaters.

Tuesday 27:

The Gwangju Massacre: airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.

June 1980

Sunday 01:

The Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.

Monday 09:

Comedian Richard Pryor attempts to commit suicide by dousing himself with rum and setting it ablaze during a cocaine binge.

Tuesday 10:

Percy Wood, president of United Airlines, is injured by an exploding package sent by the Unabomber.

Friday 20:

Roberto Duran starts his classic boxing trilogy with Sugar Ray Leonard by defeating him in Canada by a decision in 15 rounds, to gain the WBC world Welterweight championship.

Friday 27:

A commercial DC-9 (Itavia Flight 870) was apparently shot down.

July 1980

Tuesday 01:

O Canada officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.

Saturday 05:

Björn Borg wins his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.

Tuesday 08:

State of Origin, Rugby League is born.

Sunday 20:

The United States Air Force reveals it has a stealth plane.

Wednesday 30:

Vanuatu gains independence.

August 1980

Thursday 14:

Lech Wa??sa leads strikes at Gda?sk, Poland shipyards.

Sunday 17:

Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.

Tuesday 19:

Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.

Monday 25:

The Broadway musical 42nd Street opens; the show's director, Gower Champion, had died earlier that day.

Sunday 31:

The Solidarity trade union is formed in Poland.

September 1980

Monday 01:

Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea after the resignation of Choi Kyu-ha.

Friday 05:

The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.

Friday 12:

Military coup in Turkey

Monday 15:

Paul McCartney releases "Temporary Secretary".

Saturday 27:

Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.

October 1980

Tuesday 21:

1980 World Series: In 6 games, the Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Series.

Friday 24:

Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union

Wednesday 29:

Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.

Thursday 30:

El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.

November 1980

Saturday 01:

Wayanad district formed in the state of Kerala, India.

Tuesday 04:

U.S. presidential election, 1980: Republican challenger Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter by a wide margin.

Wednesday 12:

The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest aproach to Saturn.

Friday 21:

1980 -Lake Peigneur drained into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe drilled into the Diamond crystal salt mine; water flowing down into the mine eroded the edges of the hole. The whirlpool created sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet, to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.

Tuesday 25:

No Más Fight: Sugar Ray Leonard recovers the WBC world welterweight boxing title in a fight against Roberto Duran.

December 1980

Monday 08:

Mark David Chapman murders former Beatle John Lennon.

Friday 19:

Anguilla is made a dependency of the United Kingdom separate from Saint Kitts and Nevis

Friday 26:

Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.

Tuesday 30:

After 25 years, the longest-running prime-time TV series The Wonderful World of Disney is cancelled by NBC.