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
- MITCHELL, PETER D., Great Britain, Glynn Research Laboratories, Bodmin, b. 1920, d. 1992:
- 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
- SINGER, ISAAC BASHEVIS, U.S.A., b. 1904 (in Radzymin, Poland), d. 1991:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- The prize was awarded jointly to:
- 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
- The prize was divided, one half being awarded to:
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
Tony Awards
- Best Play: Da; Hugh Leonard
- Best Musical: Ain’t Misbehavin'
- Best Actor in a play: Barnard Hughes, in Da
- Best Actress in a play: Jessica Tandy, in The Gin Game
- Best Actor in a musical: John Cullum, in On the Twentieth Century
- Best Actress in a musical: Liza Minnelli, in The Act
Most Popular Books
- Fiction:
- Chesapeake, by James Michener
- War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk
- Fools Die, by Mario Puzo
- Bloodlines, Sidney Sheldon
- Scruples, by Judith Krantz
- Nonfiction
- If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries- What Am I Doing in the Pits?, by Erma Bombeck
- Gnomes, by Wil Huygen
- The Complete Book of Running, by James Fixx
- Mommie Dearest, by Christina Crawford
- Memoirs of Richard Nixon, by Richard Nixon
Most Popular Television Shows
- Laverne & Shirley
- Three's Company
- Mork & Mindy
- Happy Days
- Angie
- What's Happening!
- Alice
- 60 Minutes
- M*A*S*H
- One Day at a Time
- The Ropers
- All in the Family
- Taxi
- Charlie's Angels
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- Soap
- Eight Is Enough
- Barney Miller
People Magazine's Most Intriguing People of 1978
- John Travolta
- Brooke Shields
- John Belushi
- Jimmy Carger
- John Paul II
- Cheryl Tiegs
- Baby Louise Brown
- Reverend Jim Jones
- Miss Piggy
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Meat Loaf
- Nancy Lopez
- Burt Reynolds
- Donna Summer
1978 Magazines Slideshow
1978 Advertisements Slide show
Wikipedia link to "Events of 1978"


