1978 | Political Events
Political Events
Religious riots rock Iran's holy city of Com January 7, on the 15th anniversary of the shah's land reform and women's emancipation decrees, both despised by the nation's 180,000 Muslim preachers. The shah has the chief of the Savak secret police arrested June 9 on charges of corruption and torturing prisoners. A packed movie theater at Abadan burns August 20 with a loss of 377 lives; opponents of the shah charge that Savak agents set the fire, but the government blames Islamic Marxists. The prime minister resigns August 27 and the shah, hoping to appease his opponents, closes gambling casinos and dismisses high-ranking members of the Bahai sect, including his personal physician. Martial law is imposed in the capital and 11 other cities after 100,000 march in an anti-shah demonstration at Teheran. Troops open fire in Teheran's Jaleh Square, killing 121 demonstrators, wounding 200 others. The cabinet resigns November 6, and Iran's first military government since 1953 comes to power. Moscow cautions Washington against military intervention, Washington warns Moscow to stay out. Marine guards use tear gas to chase away a Teheran mob trying to storm the U.S. embassy December 24. The shah asks a leader of the opposition National Front to form a new civilian government December 29, and Shahpour Bakhtiar, 62, assumes power (see 1979).
Afghanistan has a bloody coup April 27 as pro-Soviet leftists oust President Mohammed Daud (see 1973). Mur Muhammad Taraki, 60, succeeds Daud as president and concludes a 20-year economic and military treaty with Moscow (see 1979).
Pakistan's president Fazel Elahi Chaudhry leaves office September 16 after a 5-year term; the chief martial law administrator Gen. Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, 54, declares himself president (see 1986).
A bomb kills the president of North Yemen (The Yemen Arab Republic) June 24 as he receives the credentials of the new ambassador from South Yemen (The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen), whose presidential council head is ousted and executed June 26. South Yemen's Supreme Council elects a new president December 27, he reverses moves toward reconciliation with North Yemen, acquiesces to a continuing Soviet military buildup in his country, but will embarrass Moscow and resign abruptly in 1980 (see 1979).
Syrians begin fighting with Lebanon's Christian militia in February (see 1976), and an Al Fatah guerilla assault on the Haifa-Tel Aviv road March 11 kills 30 Israeli civilians. Israel invades Lebanon March 14, pushes back Palestinians who have been harassing Israelis, establishes a "security zone," and begins a phased pullback April 11 as a UN peacekeeping force occupies a buffer zone between the border and the Litani River. Yasir Arafat of the PLO agrees May 24 to keep his forces out of the UN buffer zone, and Israelis complete their withdrawal June 13, turning over posts to the Christian militia, who declare an independent enclave but permit UN forces to occupy some sites (see 1981).
The Camp David accord reached September 17 after 13 days of negotiating by Egypt's president Anwar el-Sadat, Israel's prime minister Menachem Begin, and President Carter provides what all parties call a "framework for peace" in the Middle East (see 1977). Sudan's president Gaafar el-Nimeiri has been prominent among Arabs supporting President Sadat's efforts to make peace with Israel, President Carter has summoned Sadat and Begin to Camp David and worked intensively to keep the two parties talking, but many Muslims have opposed the peace effort (see 1979). Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir dies of viral hepatitis and a malignant lymphoma at Jerusalem December 9 at age 80 after a 12-year struggle with leukemia.
A Soviet fighter jet attacks a Korean Air Lines commercial jet bound from Paris to Seoul April 20 when defective navigational equipment causes the KAL 707 to stray over Russian territory. Two passengers are killed and 10 injured by the Soviet missile; the plane crash-lands on a frozen lake near Murmansk.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act signed into law by President Carter October 25 bars the National Security Agency established in 1952 from targeting suspected terrorists within the United States unless it can persuade a special federal court that a suspect is probably an agent of a foreign power involved in espionage, sabotage, or terrorism. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in the Department of Justice Building at Washington, D.C., will file brief semi-annual reports providing the number of surveillance orders that it has approved but will otherwise have no obligation to provide information to congressional oversight committees on search and wire-tap orders, whose numbers will escalate in the next 20 years.
The Ethics in Government Act signed into law by President Carter October 26 requires yearly financial statements by 14,000 top federal officials in all three branches of the government, including the Supreme Court. Designed (in Carter's words) to "help to restore public confidence in the integrity of our government," the law sets up standby authority for a special prosecutor (independent counsel), appointed by the attorney general, to investigate alleged wrongdoing on the part of the president, vice president, cabinet members, or others highly placed in the executive branch. The new law will have unintended consequences, with blatantly political motives driving special prosecutors to spend tens of millions of dollars on harassing public officials.
The Presidential Records Act signed into law by President Carter November 4 calls for the release of presidential papers 12 years after any administration. The law is scheduled to take effect in 1981 (but see 2001).
Former vice president Hubert H. Humphrey dies of cancer at Waverly, Minn., January 13 at age 66; Gen. Lucius D. Clay (ret.) of emphysema at Chatham, Mass., April 16 at age 80; former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. George S. Brown (ret.) of cancer at Washington, D.C., December 5 at age 60 (Brown aroused controversy in 1974 by suggesting that U.S. Jews exerted undue influence on U.S. affairs and, again, 2 years ago when he called Israel a "burden" to the United States).
Italian Red Brigade terrorists kidnap former premier Aldo Moro, 61, March 16 after killing Moro's five bodyguards in a bloody ambush on Rome's Via Fani. The government rejects demands to release imprisoned terrorists, the Red Brigades announce that they have held a "people's trial" and have found Christian Democratic Party leader Moro guilty, and his bullet-riddled body is found 55 days later in a parked car on the Via Caetani May 9. The election of socialist Sandro Martini, 81, to the presidency July 8 assures continued cooperation between Italy's communists and the Roman Catholic Christian Democrats, but conflict between communists and neo-Fascists continues (see 1980).
Former British foreign minister John Selwyn Loyd, Baron Selwyn Lloyd, dies at his Oxfordshire home May 17 at age 73.
Former S.S. colonel Herbert Keppler dies of stomach cancer at Soltau, West Germany, February 9 at age 70 (he escaped from a military hospital at Rome in mid-August of last year); former German tank commander Gen. Hans von Manteuffel dies of a heart attack at Reith, Austria, September 24 at age 81; Soviet presidium president Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan of cancer at Moscow October 22 at age 82.
Spain adopts a new constitution following its approval in a national referendum December 6.
The Panama Canal treaties approved by the U.S. Senate 68 to 32 March 16 and April 18 provide for Panamanian operation of the canal beginning December 31, 1999 (see 1977). Neutrality of the canal is guaranteed. The action is intended to begin a new era in U.S.-Latin American relations but has been vigorously opposed by former diplomat Spruille Braden, who has died of heart disease at Los Angeles January 10 at age 83.
Nicaraguan leftist guerrillas seize the National Palace at Managua August 22 and hold hundreds hostage for two days in a bid to oust dictator Anastasia Somoza. The Sandinista Liberal Front takes its name from guerrilla Gen. César Augusto Sandino (see 1934). Sandanista rebels free all but eight hostages August 24 in exchange for the release of political prisoners held by the Somoza regime, $71,000 in cash, and safe passage to Panama, where they seek asylum (see 1979).
Guatemalans elect Gen. Romeo Lucas Garcia president. Washington cuts off military aid as Lucas Garcia begins a brutal and corrupt dictatorship that will continue until 1982.
Dominica in the Caribbean gains independence November 3 after 153 years of British colonial rule.
Former Paraguayan president Federico Chávez dies at his native Asunción April 24 at age 96 (approximate) and is buried with full state honors, dictator Alfredo Stroessner attending; former Mexican president Emilio Portes Gil dies of cardiac arrest at Mexico City December 10 at age 87.
Mauritania's president Moktar Ould Daddah is deposed July 10, having held office since the country gained her independence in 1960. His efforts to annex part of the Spanish Sahara has been costly and created discontent; Daddah's chief of staff Lieut. Col. Mustapha Ould Salek leads a coup d'état, Daddah goes into exile, but Salek will rule the country only until June of next year.
Rhodesia's civil war continues with massacres on both sides (see 1976); rebel troops under the command of Joshua Nkomo shoot down an Air Rhodesia flight September 4; 18 of the 56 civilians aboard survive, but guerrillas arrive on the scene and allegedly shoot 10 of them in cold blood. Nkomo chuckles about the incident in a BBC radio interview, enraging white Rhodesians, but although they mount a furious counterattack their days of power are numbered (see 1979).
Guinea-Bissau's premier Francisco Mendes dies in an auto accident July 7 at Lisbon at age 39; Kenya's president Jomo Kenyatta (Kaman Ngengi) dies in his sleep while vacationing at Mombasa August 22 at age 86 (approximate) after 15 years in office and is succeeded by Daniel arap Moi, 53, who will hold office until the end of 2002; South Africa's president Nicolaas Diederichs dies of a heart attack at Cape Town August 21 at age 74.
South Africa approves a UN plan to set up an independent government in Namibia (South-West Africa). Pretoria agrees December 22 to let a peacekeeping force of 1,500 South Africans and 7,500 UN troops police the 318,261-square mile area (estimated population: 1 million) and to hold UN-supervised elections in 1979. Differences will develop over UN proposals for monitoring guerrillas of the South West Africa People's Organization (Swapo) during a cease-fire and over South African demands that the internal parties have a formal part in negotiations (see 1974).
Algeria's president Houari Boumedienne (Mohammed Ben Braham Boukharuba) goes into a coma with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia for 6 weeks and dies at Algiers December 27 at age 53 after 13 years in office. He is succeeded by Chadi Benjedid, 49.
Former Australian prime minister Robert Gordon Menzies dies of cancer while reading in his study at Melbourne May 14 at age 83. He has been confined to a wheelchair by a stroke since 1971.
The Solomon Islands gain independence July 7 after 85 years of British rule.
Tuvalu (Ellice Islands) in the western Pacific gain independence September 30 after 86 years as a British protectorate.
A Sino-Japanese treaty of friendship signed August 12 brings Soviet charges that the pact is hostile to Moscow. Beijing (Peking) and Washington then announce that they will reopen full diplomatic relations January 1, 1979. Washington recognizes the People's Republic of China December 15, announcing that it will sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan as of January 1, 1979, despite objections that this will abrogate a 1954 treaty of mutual security and mean deserting an old friend.
Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia (Kampuchea) December 25, using Soviet-supplied arms to stop Khmer Rouge border attacks and drive out Pol Pot's regime (see 1976). Vietnam's communist regime made a sudden announcement early in the year that it would implement a program socializing industry and agriculture in the south; hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese and other Vietnamese have fled the country on foot or by sea (see 1979).