In celebration of my birthday today, here is a list of facts, major events and general trivia about 1978, my birth year.

• US Senate approves neutrality treaty (March 16); votes treaty to turn canal over to by year 2000 (April 18).
• Former Italian Premier Aldo Moro kidnapped by left wing , who kill five bodyguards (March 16); he is found slain (May 9).
• Jim Jones’s followers commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (Nov. 18).

More History…

U.S. Statistics

President: James Earl Carter, Jr.
Vice President: Walter F. Mondale
Population: 222,584,545
Life expectancy: 73.5 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 51.4
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 46.4

US GDP (1998 dollars): $2,291.40 billion
Federal spending: $458.75 billion
Federal debt: $776.6 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $15,064
Consumer Price Index: 65.2
Unemployment: 6.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.13 ($0.15 as of 5/29/78)

Sports

World Series

NY Yankees d. LA Dodgers (4-2)

Super Bowl

Dallas d. Denver (27-10)

NBA Championship

Washington Bullets d. Seattle (4-3)

Stanley Cup

Montreal d. Boston (4-2)

Wimbledon

Women: Martina Navratilova d. C. Evert (2-6 6-4 7-5)
Men: Bjorn Borg d. J. Connors (6-2 6-2 6-3)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Affirmed

NCAA Basketball Championship

Kentucky d. Duke (94-88)

NCAA Football Champions

Alabama (AP, FW, NFF) (11-1-0) & USC (UPI) (12-1-0)

World Cup

Argentina d. Holland (3-1)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Elbow Room, James Alan McPherson
Music: Déjà Vu for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra, Michael Colgrass
Drama: The Gin Game, Donald L. Coburn

Oscars awarded in 1978
Academy Award, Best Picture: Annie Hall, Charles H. Joffe, producer (United Artists)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer (US)

Grammys awarded in 1978
Record of the Year: “Hotel California,” Eagles
Album of the Year: Rumours, Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros.)
Song of the Year: “Love Theme From A Star Is Born” (Evergreen), Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams, songwriters

Miss America: Susan Perkins (OH)

Events

• Sony introduces the Walkman, the first portable stereo.

Movies

• The Deer Hunter, Midnight Express, Heaven Can Wait, Coming Home

Books

• Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise
• John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
• Barry Hannah, Airships
• John Irving, The World According to Garp
• Peter Mathiessen, The Snow Leopard
• Richard Nixon, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon
• Adrienne Rich, The Dream of a Common Language
• Herman Wouk, War and Remembrance

Deaths

• Hubert Humphrey
• Anastus Mikoyan
• Norman Rockwell
• Pope Paul VI

Josh H.