February 1979

Thursday 01:

Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.

Friday 02:

Sid Vicious dies of a heroin overdose.

Wednesday 07:

Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either planet was known to science.

Thursday 08:

Denis Sassou-Nguesso became the President of the People?s Republic of the Congo for the first time.

Sunday 11:

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seizes power in Iran.

Tuesday 13:

The intense February 13, 1979 Windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge

Wednesday 14:

In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

Saturday 17:

The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.

Thursday 22:

Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.