Remember when....

Here's a snapshot of 1978

Factoids:

President: Jimmy Carter, Jr.
Vice President: Walter F. Mondale
Washington State Governer: Dixy Lee Ray
World population: 4.3 billion
Life expectancy: 73.5 years
Federal spending: $458.75 billion
Federal debt: $776.6 billion
Median household income: $15,064 (in 2008 dollars)
Average cost of a new house: $54,800
Cost of a first-class stamp: 13 cents
Cost of a gallon of gas: 63 cents
Cost of a dozen eggs: 48 cents
Cost of a gallon of milk: $1.71
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 893 high; 807 low
$1.00 in 1978 is worth $3.09 in 2008 (using CPI)
Annual inflation rate: 7.62%
Federal reserve interest rate: 11.75%
Price of gold: $169.20 on 1/3/78; $226.00 on 12/29/78
TIME Magazine, Man of the Year: Anwar Sadat
1978 is MCMLXXVIII in Roman numerals
The first human from in vitro fertilization was born
Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation
The best high school class in Richland graduated from Hanford on June 2nd, 1978!

Sports

Basketball: NBA Championship, Washington Bullets defeats Seattle Supersonics, 4-3 series
Basketball: NCAA Championship, Kentucky defeats Duke
Heisman Trophy: Billy Sims
Hockey: Stanley Cup, Montreal Canadiens defeat Boston Bruins, 4-2 series
Football: Super Bowl XII, Dallas Cowboys defeat Denver Broncos, 27-10
Football: NCAA Championship, Alabama defeats USC
Golf: US Open, Andy North; score of 285; Cherry Hills CC in Denver
Baseball: World Series, New York Yankees defeat LA Dodgers Series: 4-2
Tennis: Wimbledon women, Martina Navratilova defeats Chris Evert
Tennis: Wimbledon men, Bjorn Borg defeats Jimmy Connors
Soccer: World Cup, Argentina defeats Holland
Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins

Popular Songs

Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
Night Fever - Bee Gees
You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone
Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees
Kiss You All Over - Exile
How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees
Baby Come Back - Player
(Love Is) Thicker Than Water - Andy Gibb
Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste Of Honey
Three Times A Lady - Commodores
Grease - Frankie Valli
I Go Crazy - Paul Davis
You're The One That I Want - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
Emotion - Samantha Sang
Lay Down Sally - Eric Clapton
Miss You - Rolling Stones
Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel
With A Little Luck - Wings
If I Can't Have You - Yvonne Elliman
Dance - Dance - Dance (Yowsah - Yowsah - Yowsah) - Chic
Feels So Good - Chuck Mangione
Hot Child In The City - Nick Gilder
Love Is Like Oxygen - Sweet
It's A Heartache - Bonnie Tyler
We Are The Champions / We Will Rock You - Queen
Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
Can't Smile Without You - Barry Manilow
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late - Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
Dance With Me - Peter Brown
Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad - Meat Loaf
Jack And Jill - Raydio
Take A Chance On Me - Abba
Sometimes When We Touch - Dan Hill
Last Dance - Donna Summer
Hopelessly Devoted To You - Olivia Newton-John
Hot Blooded - Foreigner
You're In My Heart - Rod Stewart
The Closer I Get To You - Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
Dust In The Wind - Kansas
Magnet And Steel - Walter Egan
Short People - Randy Newman
Use Ta Be My Girl - O'Jays
Our Love - Natalie Cole
Love Will Find A Way - Pablo Cruise
An Everlasting Love - Andy Gibb
Love Is In The Air - John Paul Young
Goodbye Girl - David Gates
Slip Slidin' Away - Paul Simon
The Groove Line - Heatwave
Thunder Island - Jay Ferguson
Imaginary Lover - Atlanta Rhythm Section
Still The Same - Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
My Angel Baby - Toby Beau
Disco Inferno - Trammps
On Broadway - George Benson
Come Sail Away - Styx
Back In Love Again - L.T.D.
This Time I'm In It For Love - Player
You Belong To Me - Carly Simon
Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
Blue Bayou - Linda Ronstadt
Peg - Steely Dan
You Needed Me - Anne Murray
Shame - Evelyn "Champagne" King
Reminiscing - Little River Band
Count On Me - Jefferson Starship
Baby Hold On - Eddie Money
Hey Deanie - Shaun Cassidy
Summer Nights - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
What's Your Name - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle
Because The Night - Patti Smith
Every Kinda People - Robert Palmer
Copacabana - Barry Manilow
Always And Forever - Heatwave
You And I - Rick James
Serpentine Fire - Earth - Wind and Fire
Sentimental Lady - Bob Welch
Falling - LeBlanc and Carr
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda
Bluer Than Blue - Michael Johnson
Running On Empty - Jackson Browne
Whenever I Call You "Friend" - Kenny Loggins
Fool (If You Think It's Over) - Chris Rea
Get Off - Foxy
Sweet Talking Woman - Electric Light Orchestra
Life's Been Good - Joe Walsh
I Love The Night Life - Alicia Bridges
You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On) - High Inergy
It's So Easy - Linda Ronstadt
Native New Yorker - Odyssey
Flashlight - Parliament
Don't Look Back - Boston
Turn To Stone - Electric Light Orchestra
I Can't Stand The Rain - Eruption
Ebony Eyes - Bob Welch
The Name Of The Game - Abba
We're All Alone - Rita Coolidge
Hollywood Nights - Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
Deacon Blues - Steely Dan

Top Albums

Aja - Steely Dan
City To City - Gerry Rafferty
Even Now - Barry Manilow
Feels So Good - Chuck Mangione
The Grand Illusion - Styx
Grease - Soundtrack
52nd Street - Billy Joel
Live and More - Donna Summer
London Town - Wings
Point of Know Return - Kansas
Simple Dreams - Linda Ronstadt
Saturday Night Fever - Soundtrack
Slowhand - Eric Clapton
Some Girls - The Rolling Stones

Popular Movies

Grease
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Superman
National Lampoon's Animal House
Every Which Way But Loose
Jaws 2
Heaven Can Wait
The Deer Hunter
The Goodbye Girl
Halloween
Star Wars (reissue)
Hooper
Foul Play
Revenge of the Pink Panther

Academy Awards

Best Picture: The Deer Hunter
Best Director: Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter
Best Actor: Jon Voight, in Coming Home
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Walken, in The Deer Hunter
Best Actress: Jane Fonda, in Coming Home
Best Supporting Acress: Maggie Smith, in California Suite
Cinematography: Nestor Almendros, Days of Heaven
Best Original Song: Last Dance, from Thank God It's Friday
Best Original Score: Midnight Express

Grammy Awards

Record of the Year: Just the Way You Are; Billy Joel
Best Song: Just the Way You Are; Billy Joel
Best Album: Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack Album
Male Vocalist: Barry Manilow, Copacabana (At the Copa)
Female Vocalist: Anne Murray, You Needed Me
Best New Artist of the Year: A Taste of Honey

Nobel Prizes

Chemistry
- MITCHELL, PETER D., Great Britain, Glynn Research Laboratories, Bodmin, b. 1920, d. 1992:
  for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory
Literature
- SINGER, ISAAC BASHEVIS, U.S.A., b. 1904 (in Radzymin, Poland), d. 1991:
  for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life
Peace
- The prize was divided equally between: MOHAMED ANWARAL-SADAT , Egypt, b. 1918, d. 1981: President of the Arab Republic of Egypt; and MENACHEM BEGIN, Israel, b. 1913, d. 1992: Prime Minister of Israel.
  for jointly negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel.
Physiology or Medicine
- The prize was awarded jointly to:
  ARBER, WERNER, Switzerland, Biozentrum der UniversitSt, Basel, b. 1929; NATHANS, DANIEL, U.S.A., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, b. 1928; and SMITH, HAMILTON O., U.S.A., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, b. 1931:
  for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics
Physics
- The prize was divided, one half being awarded to:
  KAPITSA, PYOTR LEONIDOVICH, USSR, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, b. 1894, d. 1984: for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics;
  and the other half divided equally between:
  PENZIAS, ARNO A., U.S.A., Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, b. 1933 (in Munich, Germany); and WILSON, ROBERT W., U.S.A., Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, b. 1936: for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation

Pulitzer Prizes

Fiction: James Alan McPherson, Elbow Room
History: Alfred D. Chandler, Jr; The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
National Reporting: Walter Mears, Associated Press; Henry Kamm, New York Times
Public Service: Henry Kamm, New York Times