1st January » Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 crashes into the sea, due to instrument failure and pilot disorientation, off the coast of Mumbai e.g Bombay, India, killing 213.
1st January » The Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands becomes effective.
6th January » The Holy Crown of Hungary e.g Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
13th January » U.S. Food & Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors.
26th January » The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare blizzard named severe blizzard with the lowest non-tropical atmospheric pressure ever recorded in the US until October 2010 North American storm complex called October 2010, strikes the Ohio Great Lakes region with heavy
1st February » Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees the United States to France after pleading guilty to charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
8th February » Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
11th February » Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
13th February » Sydney Hilton bombing known as Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
16th February » The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
17th February » The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army known as Provisional IRA detonates an incendiary bomb at the La Mon restaurant bombing or La Mon restaurant, near Belfast, killing 12 and seriously injuring 30.
18th February » The first Ironman Triathlon competition takes place on the island of Oahu and is won by Gordon Haller.
19th February » Egyptian raid on Larnaca International Airport named Egyptian forces raid Larnaca International Airport in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking, without authorisation from the Republic of Cyprus authorities. The Cypriot National Guard and Police forces
20th February » The last Order of Victory is bestowed upon Leonid Brezhnev.
2nd March » Czechoslovakia Czech Vladimír Remek becomes the first non-Russian (citizen) Russian or non-American to go into outer space space, when he is launched aboard Soyuz 28.
5th March » The Landsat program or Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
14th March » The Israeli Defense Force invades and occupies southern Lebanon, in Operation Litani.
15th March » Somalia and Ethiopia signed a truce to end the Ethiopian-Somali War.
16th March » Former Italy known as Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped and later killed by his captors.
16th March » Supertanker 'Amoco Cadiz' splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history.
22nd March » Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
23rd March » The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for Timeline of UN peacekeeping missions e.g peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line (Lebanon) or Blue Line.
28th March » The Supreme Court of the United States called US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in 'Stump v. Sparkman', 435 U.S. 349, a controversial case involving involuntary Human sterilization called sterilization and judicial immunity.
1st April » The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
7th April » Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
14th April » 1978 Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgia (country) known as Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
20th April » Korean Air Lines Flight 902 is shot down by the Soviet Union.
27th April » Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate scandal named Watergate-related crimes.
28th April » President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassination e.g assassinated in a Saur Revolution or coup led by pro-communist rebels.
3rd May » The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as "spam (electronic) named spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
8th May » The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
12th May » In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Katanga Province or Shaba (now known as Katanga). The local government asks the U.S.A., France and Belgium to restore order.
1st June » The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed.
9th June » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its Priesthood (Mormonism) named priesthood to "all worthy men", ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men.
12th June » David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer in New York City, is sentenced to 365 years in prison for six killings.
13th June » Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from Lebanon.
15th June » Hussein of Jordan called King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor of Jordan named Queen Noor.
22nd June » Charon (moon) named Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, is discovered by American astronomer James W. Christy.
25th June » The rainbow flag (LGBT movement) or rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time in the San Francisco San Francisco Pride named Gay Freedom Day Parade.
28th June » The Supreme Court of the United States called United States Supreme Court, in 'Regents of the University of California v. Bakke' bars quota systems in college admissions.
1st July » The Northern Territory in Australia is granted Self-Government.
7th July » The Solomon Islands becomes independent from the United Kingdom
10th July » 'World News with Charles Gibson e.g World News Tonight' premieres on American Broadcasting Company called ABC.
11th July » Los Alfaques Disaster: A truck carrying liquid gas crashes and explodes at a coastal campsite in Tarragona, Spain killing 216 tourists.
25th July » Puerto Rico police assassinate two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders.
30th July » The 730 (transport), Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the Right- and left-hand traffic called right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side.
7th August » U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been negligently disposed of.
10th August » Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto Ford Pinto Recall called litigation.
13th August » One hundred fifty Palestinian people Palestinians in Beirut are Tel al-Zaatar massacre killed in a List of terrorist incidents terrorist attack during the Lebanese Civil War Second phase of the war, 1977-82 second phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
17th August » 'Double Eagle II' becomes first balloon (aircraft) or balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
22nd August » The 'Sandinista National Liberation Front' (FLSN) occupies national palace in Nicaragua.
26th August » Papal conclave, 1978 (August) e.g Papal conclave: Pope John Paul I is elected to the Papacy.
26th August » Sigmund Jähn becomes first German astronaut known as cosmonaut, on board Soyuz 31.
5th September » Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.
7th September » While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially-designed umbrella.
11th September » Janet Parker is the last person to die of smallpox, in a laboratory-associated outbreak.
15th September » Muhammad Ali outpointed Leon Spinks in a rematch to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three times at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome e.g Superdome in New Orleans.
16th September » An earthquake measuring 7.5 to 7.9 on the Richter magnitude scale known as Richter scale hits the city of Tabas, Iran killing about 25,000 people.
17th September » The Camp David Accords (1978) e.g Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt.
19th September » The Solomon Islands join the United Nations.
25th September » PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727 or Boeing 727-214, collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 and crashes in San Diego, killing 144 people.
1st October » Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1st October » The Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party is founded.
16th October » Karol Wojtyla is elected Pope John Paul II after the Papal conclave, October 1978 known as October 1978 Papal conclave, the first non-Italian pontiff since 1523.
16th October » Wanda Rutkiewicz is the first Pole and the first European woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
21st October » Australian civilian pilot Valentich Disappearance called Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, Australia e.g Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
22nd October » Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II.
3rd November » Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
12th November » Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as the Bishop (Catholicism) called Bishop of Rome.
15th November » A chartered Douglas DC-8 Aviation accidents and incidents named crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.
18th November » In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Leo Ryan e.g Congressman Leo J. Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple
27th November » In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are Moscone-Milk assassinations known as assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.
5th December » The Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
6th December » Spain approves Spanish Constitution of 1978 called its latest constitution in a referendum.
10th December » Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
11th December » The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group led by Lucchese crime family known as Lucchese family associate James Burke (gangster) named Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time.
22nd December » The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao Zedong called Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
27th December » Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.