January
January 1
The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law.
Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes into the ocean near Bombay, killing 213.
Edward M. Davis retires from the Los Angeles Police Department after 30 years on the force and more than 8 years as its police chief.
January 4 – A referendum in Chile supports the policies of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government).
January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II.
January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.
January 14 – January 15 – The body of former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, following his death from cancer.
January 16 – Robert F. Rock succeeds Edward M. Davis as LAPD's interim chief.
January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
January 19 – Federal Appeals Court Judge William H. Webster is appointed FBI Director.
January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany persona non grata.
January 24
Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.
Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.
January 25 – January 27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.
January 28 – Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", is arrested.
February
February 1 – Hollywood film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
February 5 – February 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 6 – King Dragon operation in Arakan: Burmese General Ne Win targets Muslim minorities in the village of Sakkipara.
February 8 – United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.
February 11
Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, killing 44 of the 50 people on board.
Sixteen Unification Church couples wed in New York City.
Somalia mobilizes its troops, due to an apparent Ethiopian attack.
The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
February 13 – Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing 2 garbagemen, a policeman and injuring several others.
February 15
Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations (the other being South Africa), announces that it will accept multiracial democracy within 2 years.
Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida.
February 16
The Hillside Strangler, a serial killer prowling Los Angeles, claims a tenth and final victim.
The first computer bulletin board system (CBBS) is created in Chicago.
February 19 – Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport
February 21 – Electrical workers in Mexico City find the remains of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in the middle of the city.
March
March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.
March 2 – Soyuz 28 (Aleksei Gubarev, Vladimír Remek) is launched on a rendezvous with Salyut 6, with the first cosmonaut from a third country (besides the Soviet Union and United States) – Czechoslovak citizen Vladimír Remek.
March 3
Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid of Cuban soldiers against Somalian troops in the Ogaden.
Rhodesia attacks Zambia.
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 10 – Soyuz 28 lands.
March 11 – Coastal Road massacre: Palestinian terrorists kill 34 Israelis.
March 14 – Operation Litani: Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
March 15 – Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
March 16 – Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades; 5 bodyguards are killed.
March 17 – The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground on the coast of Brittany.
March 18
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is sentenced to death by hanging for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.
California Jam II is held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, attracting more than 300,000 fans.
March 22 – Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
March 26 – The control tower and some other facilities of New Tokyo International Airport, which were scheduled to open on March 31, are illegally occupied and damaged in a terrorist attack by New Left activists, forcing a rescheduling of its opening date to May 20.
March 28
San Francisco city council signs the U.S.'s most comprehensive homosexual rights bill.
Stump v. Sparkman (435 U.S. 349): The Supreme Court of the United States hands down a 5–3 decision in a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
Daryl Gates succeeds Robert F. Rock as LAPD's chief, a role he will keep for the next 14 years.
April
April 1
New Zealand National Airways Corporation (the domestic airline of New Zealand) is merged with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand.
Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.
The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, is converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
April 2 - Dallas debuted on CBS and gave birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.
April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles 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 8 – Regular radio broadcasts of British Parliament proceedings start.
April 9 – Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre; security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.
April 10 – Volkswagen becomes the second (after Rolls-Royce) 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 (UAW) workforce (the plant closes in 1992).
April 14 – 1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against an attempt by Soviet authorities to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes 68–32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
April 22
Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi".
The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bob Marley unites 2 opposing political leaders at this concert, bringing peace to the civil war-ridden streets of the city.
April 25 – St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the second U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Dade County, Florida.
April 27 – Afghanistan President Daoud Khan is killed during a military coup; Nur Muhammad Taraki succeeds him beginning the Afghan Civil War which as of 2014 has not ended.
April 30 – The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is proclaimed under pro-communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki.
May
May 4
The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola.
Communist activist Henri Curiel is murdered in Paris.
May 5 – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit.
May 8
Norway opens a natural gas field in the Polar Sea.
Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) make the first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.
May 9 – In Rome, the corpse of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is found in a red Renault 4.
May 12 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The Zairean government asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
May 12 – May 13 – A group of mercenaries led by Bob Denard oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros; 10 local soldiers are killed. Denard forms a new government.
May 15 - Australia's longest serving prime minister sir Robert Menzies died
May 15 – Students of the University of Tehran riot in Tabriz; the army stops the riot.
May 17 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is found some 15 km from the cemetery from which it was stolen, near Lake Geneva.
May 18
Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced to 7 years hard labor for distributing 'counterrevolutionary material'.
Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.
May 18 – May 19 – Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire to aid the fight against the rebels.
May 19 – May 20 – French Foreign Legion paratroopers land in Kolwezi, Zaire, to rescue Europeans in the middle of a civil war.
May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.
May 22 – Exiled leaders Ahmed Abdallah and Muhammad Ahmad return to the Comoros.
May 25 – A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard (the first Unabomber attack).
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.
May 29 – Ali Soilih is found dead in the Comoros, allegedly shot when trying to escape.
June
June 1 – The 1978 FIFA World Cup starts in Argentina.
June 3 – The Congo Republic recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
June 6 – California voters approve Proposition 13, which slashes property taxes nearly 60%.
June 9 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extends the priesthood and temple blessings to "all worthy males", ending a general policy of excluding "Canaanites" from priesthood ordination and temple ordinances.
June 12 – Serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," is sentenced to 365 years in prison.
June 15 – King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
June 19
Cricketer Ian Botham becomes the first man in the history of the game to score a century and take 8 wickets in 1 inning of a Test match.
Garfield, which eventually becomes the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.
June 20 – A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, killing 45 people, injuring hundreds and damaging some of the city's Byzantine landmarks.
June 21
A shootout between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves 1 civilian and 3 IRA men dead.
1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown: Iranian helicopters stray into Soviet airspace and are shot down.
June 22
Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.
São Tomé and Príncipe recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
June 23 – Panama recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
June 24
Yemen Arab Republic President Ahmad al-Ghashmi is killed.
The Gay & Lesbian Solidarity March is held in Sydney, Australia to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots (which later becomes the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras; later incorporating a festival).
June 25 – Argentina defeats the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time to win the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
June 26 – A bombing by Breton nationalists causes destruction in Palace of Versailles.
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.
June 30 – Ethiopia begins a massive offensive in Eritrea.
July
July 3 – The Amazon Co-operation Treaty (ACT) is signed.
July 7 – The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
July 11 – More than 200 tourists die in an explosion of a tanker-truck at a campsite in Costa Daurada, Spain.
July 25
Cerro Maravilla murders: Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists are killed in a police ambush.
Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.
August
August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies in Castel Gandolfo.
August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.
August 22 – Sandinistas seize the Nicaraguan National Palace.
August 26 – Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.
September
September 6: Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter, and Menachem Begin meet on the Aspen Cabin patio at Camp David.
September 3 – Annual Urs sharif of Gulam Ghous Qadri Sadikshah baba (R. A.) Maharashtra.
September 5 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin the peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
September 7
In London, England, a poison-filled pellet, supposedly injected using an umbrella, poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov, probably on orders of Bulgarian intelligence; he dies 4 days later.
In London, England, Keith Moon dies in Curzon Place, Mayfair.
September 8 – Iranian Army troops open fire on rioters in Tehran, killing 122, wounding 4,000.
September 16 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq officially assumes the post of President of Pakistan.
September 17 – The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.
September 19 – Police in the West Midlands of England launch a massive murder hunt, when 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater is shot dead after disturbing a burglary.
September 20 – General Rahimuddin Khan assumes the post of Martial Law Governor of Balochistan.
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.
September 27 – The last Forest Brother guerilla movement fighter is discovered and killed in Estonia.
September 28 – Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.
October
October 1
Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
Tuvalu becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
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 7 – Wranslide in New South Wales: the Wran government is re-elected with an increased majority.
October 8 – Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.6 mph (511.13 km/h) at Blowering Dam, Australia.
October 10
Daniel arap Moi becomes president of Kenya.
A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ends the satellite's scientific mission.
United States President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
October 14
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States.
October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523). He will later die in 2005.
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 20 – The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held as a protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots.
October 27 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
November
November 2: 8:00 pm – The Republic of Ireland's second television channel RTÉ 2 goes on air (renamed Network 2, 1988; RTÉ Network Two, 1995; N2, 1997; and RTÉ Two in 2004).
November 3
Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
Equatorial Guinea recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 5 – Rioters sack the British Embassy in Tehran.
November 7
Indira Gandhi is re-elected to the Indian parliament.
California voters defeat the Briggs Initiative that would have prohibited gay school teachers.
November 9 – Tanzania recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 18 – Jonestown incident: In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder–suicide that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo J. Ryan is assassinated by members of Peoples Temple shortly beforehand.
November 19 – The first U.S. Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.
November 27 – In San Francisco, Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.
November 30 – Publication of The Times is suspended due to labor problems until November 13, 1979.
December
December 4 – Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone, to become the first woman mayor of San Francisco (she serves until January 8, 1988).
December 6 – The Spanish Constitution officially restores the country's democratic government.
December 11
Lufthansa heist: Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Two million demonstrate against the Shah in Iran.
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 16 – Train 87 from Nanjing to Xining collides with train 368 from Xi'an to Xuzhou near Yangzhuang railway station in China, killing 106, injuring 218.
December 19 – Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is arrested and jailed for a week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.
December 22
The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men, is arrested.
Argentina started the Operation Soberanía against Chile.
December 25 – Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
December 27 – The Constitution of Spain is approved in a referendum, officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.
January 1
The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law.
Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes into the ocean near Bombay, killing 213.
Edward M. Davis retires from the Los Angeles Police Department after 30 years on the force and more than 8 years as its police chief.
January 4 – A referendum in Chile supports the policies of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government).
January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II.
January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.
January 14 – January 15 – The body of former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, following his death from cancer.
January 16 – Robert F. Rock succeeds Edward M. Davis as LAPD's interim chief.
January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
January 19 – Federal Appeals Court Judge William H. Webster is appointed FBI Director.
January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany persona non grata.
January 24
Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.
Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.
January 25 – January 27 – The Great Blizzard of 1978 strikes the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70.
January 28 – Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", is arrested.
February
February 1 – Hollywood film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
February 5 – February 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 6 – King Dragon operation in Arakan: Burmese General Ne Win targets Muslim minorities in the village of Sakkipara.
February 8 – United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.
February 11
Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashes in Cranbrook, British Columbia, killing 44 of the 50 people on board.
Sixteen Unification Church couples wed in New York City.
Somalia mobilizes its troops, due to an apparent Ethiopian attack.
The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
February 13 – Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing 2 garbagemen, a policeman and injuring several others.
February 15
Rhodesia, one of only two remaining white-ruled African nations (the other being South Africa), announces that it will accept multiracial democracy within 2 years.
Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida.
February 16
The Hillside Strangler, a serial killer prowling Los Angeles, claims a tenth and final victim.
The first computer bulletin board system (CBBS) is created in Chicago.
February 19 – Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport
February 21 – Electrical workers in Mexico City find the remains of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in the middle of the city.
March
March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.
March 2 – Soyuz 28 (Aleksei Gubarev, Vladimír Remek) is launched on a rendezvous with Salyut 6, with the first cosmonaut from a third country (besides the Soviet Union and United States) – Czechoslovak citizen Vladimír Remek.
March 3
Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid of Cuban soldiers against Somalian troops in the Ogaden.
Rhodesia attacks Zambia.
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 10 – Soyuz 28 lands.
March 11 – Coastal Road massacre: Palestinian terrorists kill 34 Israelis.
March 14 – Operation Litani: Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
March 15 – Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.
March 16 – Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades; 5 bodyguards are killed.
March 17 – The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground on the coast of Brittany.
March 18
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is sentenced to death by hanging for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.
California Jam II is held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, attracting more than 300,000 fans.
March 22 – Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
March 26 – The control tower and some other facilities of New Tokyo International Airport, which were scheduled to open on March 31, are illegally occupied and damaged in a terrorist attack by New Left activists, forcing a rescheduling of its opening date to May 20.
March 28
San Francisco city council signs the U.S.'s most comprehensive homosexual rights bill.
Stump v. Sparkman (435 U.S. 349): The Supreme Court of the United States hands down a 5–3 decision in a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
Daryl Gates succeeds Robert F. Rock as LAPD's chief, a role he will keep for the next 14 years.
April
April 1
New Zealand National Airways Corporation (the domestic airline of New Zealand) is merged with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand.
Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.
The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, is converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
April 2 - Dallas debuted on CBS and gave birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.
April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles 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 8 – Regular radio broadcasts of British Parliament proceedings start.
April 9 – Somali military officers stage an unsuccessful coup against the government of Siad Barre; security forces thwart the attempt within hours, and several conspirators are arrested.
April 10 – Volkswagen becomes the second (after Rolls-Royce) 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 (UAW) workforce (the plant closes in 1992).
April 14 – 1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against an attempt by Soviet authorities to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes 68–32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
April 22
Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi".
The One Love Peace Concert is held at National Heroes Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. Bob Marley unites 2 opposing political leaders at this concert, bringing peace to the civil war-ridden streets of the city.
April 25 – St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the second U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Dade County, Florida.
April 27 – Afghanistan President Daoud Khan is killed during a military coup; Nur Muhammad Taraki succeeds him beginning the Afghan Civil War which as of 2014 has not ended.
April 30 – The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is proclaimed under pro-communist leader Nur Muhammad Taraki.
May
May 4
The Battle of Cassinga occurs in southern Angola.
Communist activist Henri Curiel is murdered in Paris.
May 5 – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit.
May 8
Norway opens a natural gas field in the Polar Sea.
Reinhold Messner (Italy) and Peter Habeler (Austria) make the first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.
May 9 – In Rome, the corpse of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is found in a red Renault 4.
May 12 – In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The Zairean government asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
May 12 – May 13 – A group of mercenaries led by Bob Denard oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros; 10 local soldiers are killed. Denard forms a new government.
May 15 - Australia's longest serving prime minister sir Robert Menzies died
May 15 – Students of the University of Tehran riot in Tabriz; the army stops the riot.
May 17 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is found some 15 km from the cemetery from which it was stolen, near Lake Geneva.
May 18
Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced to 7 years hard labor for distributing 'counterrevolutionary material'.
Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.
May 18 – May 19 – Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire to aid the fight against the rebels.
May 19 – May 20 – French Foreign Legion paratroopers land in Kolwezi, Zaire, to rescue Europeans in the middle of a civil war.
May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.
May 22 – Exiled leaders Ahmed Abdallah and Muhammad Ahmad return to the Comoros.
May 25 – A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard (the first Unabomber attack).
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.
May 29 – Ali Soilih is found dead in the Comoros, allegedly shot when trying to escape.
June
June 1 – The 1978 FIFA World Cup starts in Argentina.
June 3 – The Congo Republic recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
June 6 – California voters approve Proposition 13, which slashes property taxes nearly 60%.
June 9 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extends the priesthood and temple blessings to "all worthy males", ending a general policy of excluding "Canaanites" from priesthood ordination and temple ordinances.
June 12 – Serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," is sentenced to 365 years in prison.
June 15 – King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
June 19
Cricketer Ian Botham becomes the first man in the history of the game to score a century and take 8 wickets in 1 inning of a Test match.
Garfield, which eventually becomes the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.
June 20 – A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, killing 45 people, injuring hundreds and damaging some of the city's Byzantine landmarks.
June 21
A shootout between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves 1 civilian and 3 IRA men dead.
1978 Iranian Chinook shootdown: Iranian helicopters stray into Soviet airspace and are shot down.
June 22
Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.
São Tomé and Príncipe recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
June 23 – Panama recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
June 24
Yemen Arab Republic President Ahmad al-Ghashmi is killed.
The Gay & Lesbian Solidarity March is held in Sydney, Australia to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots (which later becomes the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras; later incorporating a festival).
June 25 – Argentina defeats the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time to win the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
June 26 – A bombing by Breton nationalists causes destruction in Palace of Versailles.
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.
June 30 – Ethiopia begins a massive offensive in Eritrea.
July
July 3 – The Amazon Co-operation Treaty (ACT) is signed.
July 7 – The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
July 11 – More than 200 tourists die in an explosion of a tanker-truck at a campsite in Costa Daurada, Spain.
July 25
Cerro Maravilla murders: Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists are killed in a police ambush.
Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.
August
August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies in Castel Gandolfo.
August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.
August 22 – Sandinistas seize the Nicaraguan National Palace.
August 26 – Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.
September
September 6: Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter, and Menachem Begin meet on the Aspen Cabin patio at Camp David.
September 3 – Annual Urs sharif of Gulam Ghous Qadri Sadikshah baba (R. A.) Maharashtra.
September 5 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin the peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
September 7
In London, England, a poison-filled pellet, supposedly injected using an umbrella, poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov, probably on orders of Bulgarian intelligence; he dies 4 days later.
In London, England, Keith Moon dies in Curzon Place, Mayfair.
September 8 – Iranian Army troops open fire on rioters in Tehran, killing 122, wounding 4,000.
September 16 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq officially assumes the post of President of Pakistan.
September 17 – The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.
September 19 – Police in the West Midlands of England launch a massive murder hunt, when 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater is shot dead after disturbing a burglary.
September 20 – General Rahimuddin Khan assumes the post of Martial Law Governor of Balochistan.
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.
September 27 – The last Forest Brother guerilla movement fighter is discovered and killed in Estonia.
September 28 – Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.
October
October 1
Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
Tuvalu becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
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 7 – Wranslide in New South Wales: the Wran government is re-elected with an increased majority.
October 8 – Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.6 mph (511.13 km/h) at Blowering Dam, Australia.
October 10
Daniel arap Moi becomes president of Kenya.
A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ends the satellite's scientific mission.
United States President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
October 14
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States.
October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523). He will later die in 2005.
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 20 – The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held as a protest march and commemoration of the Stonewall riots.
October 27 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
November
November 2: 8:00 pm – The Republic of Ireland's second television channel RTÉ 2 goes on air (renamed Network 2, 1988; RTÉ Network Two, 1995; N2, 1997; and RTÉ Two in 2004).
November 3
Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
Equatorial Guinea recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 5 – Rioters sack the British Embassy in Tehran.
November 7
Indira Gandhi is re-elected to the Indian parliament.
California voters defeat the Briggs Initiative that would have prohibited gay school teachers.
November 9 – Tanzania recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 18 – Jonestown incident: In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder–suicide that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo J. Ryan is assassinated by members of Peoples Temple shortly beforehand.
November 19 – The first U.S. Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.
November 27 – In San Francisco, Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.
November 30 – Publication of The Times is suspended due to labor problems until November 13, 1979.
December
December 4 – Dianne Feinstein succeeds the murdered George Moscone, to become the first woman mayor of San Francisco (she serves until January 8, 1988).
December 6 – The Spanish Constitution officially restores the country's democratic government.
December 11
Lufthansa heist: Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Two million demonstrate against the Shah in Iran.
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 16 – Train 87 from Nanjing to Xining collides with train 368 from Xi'an to Xuzhou near Yangzhuang railway station in China, killing 106, injuring 218.
December 19 – Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is arrested and jailed for a week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.
December 22
The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men, is arrested.
Argentina started the Operation Soberanía against Chile.
December 25 – Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
December 27 – The Constitution of Spain is approved in a referendum, officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.