1978 Trivia, History, and Fun Facts

In 1978, a human being was conceived outside the human body for the first time and born healthy in an English hospital, permanently altering the boundary of what medicine could do. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John told everyone they had chills that were multiplying. 918 people died in the Jonestown jungle in Guyana at the direction of a man who had convinced them he was a prophet. The Bee Gees spent most of the year at number one. Superman arrived in theaters and made Marlon Brando the highest-paid actor in history for thirteen days of work. It was, as years in the 1970s tended to be, eventful in ways that required some processing afterward.

Quick Facts from 1978

• World-Changing Event: Louise Brown, the first human conceived through in vitro fertilization, was born July 25, 1978, at Oldham General Hospital in England — the first “test-tube baby.”
• Top Song: Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb was the best-performing single of the year on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100; Night Fever by the Bee Gees spent 8 weeks at number one and defined the disco era’s peak
• Must-See Movies: Grease, Superman, Animal House, Heaven Can Wait, Every Which Way But Loose, Coming Home, and The Deer Hunter
• Most Famous Person in America: Muhammad Ali, whose cultural presence extended well beyond boxing into politics, religion, and social commentary
• Notable Books: Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett and The World According to Garp by John Irving
• Price of a 1200-Watt Hairdryer: $9.99
• Price of a Postage Stamp: 15 cents
• US Life Expectancy: Males: 69.6 years / Females: 77.3 years
• The Funny Late Night Host: Johnny Carson
• The Big Pay Day: Marlon Brando received $3.7 million plus a percentage of profits for thirteen days of work on Superman, earning approximately $14 million in total for ten minutes of screen time. Christopher Reeve, who played the title role, received $250,000
• Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Horse, associated with energy, independence, and a tendency to gallop away before thinking things through
• The Habits: Playing Simon, hosting toga parties, watching Grease, singing along
• The Conversation: Have you seen Grease yet? Did you hear about Jonestown?

Top Ten Baby Names of 1978

Girls: Jennifer, Melissa, Jessica, Amy, Heather Boys: Michael, Jason, Christopher, David, James

Jennifer held the top spot for girls for the seventh consecutive year. Jason was climbing steadily, reflecting the name’s broader cultural presence through the decade. Heather had entered the top five, a name that had been relatively rare before the 1970s and was becoming one of the generation’s defining choices.

The Sex Symbols, Hotties, and Fashion Icons of 1978

Loni Anderson, Barbara Bach, Adrienne Barbeau, Kim Basinger, Valerie Bertinelli, Dyan Cannon, Lynda Carter, Farrah Fawcett, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Harry, Kate Jackson, Marilu Henner, Lauren Hutton, Cheryl Ladd, Olivia Newton-John, Stevie Nicks, Dolly Parton, Bernadette Peters, Victoria Principal, Diana Ross, Jane Seymour, Brooke Shields, Jaclyn Smith, Suzanne Somers, Donna Summer, Cheryl Tiegs, Lindsay Wagner, Mary Woronov

Olivia Newton-John’s transformation from the wholesome Sandy to the leather-clad Sandy in Grease was one of the more discussed image shifts of the year. Carrie Fisher had been Princess Leia for a year. Brooke Shields was 12 years old and already on magazine covers. Donna Summer was releasing records at a pace that made most artists’ entire careers look modest.

Leading Men and Hollywood Heartthrobs of 1978

Christopher Reeve, John Travolta, Warren Beatty

John Travolta had Grease in June and was already famous from Saturday Night Fever the previous year. Christopher Reeve had no significant film credits before Superman in December and immediately became one of the most recognized faces in the world.

The Quotes

“My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.” — John Belushi as Bluto Blutarsky in National Lampoon’s Animal House, practical advice delivered in circumstances where it was arguably appropriate

“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” — John Vernon as Dean Wormer in National Lampoon’s Animal House, offering the counterpoint, also in circumstances where it was applicable

“Toga! Toga!” / “Food fight!” — John Belushi as Bluto in Animal House, lines that generated campus behavior for decades

“Nanoo nanoo!” — Robin Williams as Mork from Ork on Mork and Mindy, the show that launched Williams’s television career and introduced his improvisational approach to a mass audience

“Da plane! Da plane!” — Hervé Villechaize as Tattoo on Fantasy Island, announcing the arrival of guests at the beginning of each episode with a phrase that became one of the most recognized in 1970s television

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

Deng Xiaoping, who had consolidated power in China following Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, launched the economic reform program that would transform China from a rigid command economy into the world’s manufacturing base over the following four decades. Time recognized Deng for his opening of China to foreign investment, his agricultural reforms, and his pragmatic departure from strict Maoist ideology. His statement that it did not matter whether a cat was black or white as long as it caught mice was cited as the philosophy underlying his reforms.

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Susan Perkins, Columbus, Ohio
Miss USA: Judi Anderson, Hawaii

We Lost in 1978

Keith Moon, the drummer for The Who whose playing style — attacking the kit with an energy that frequently resulted in broken equipment and occasional physical hazard to bandmates — had defined rock drumming for a generation, died September 7, 1978, at age 32, of an accidental overdose of Heminevrin, a medication prescribed to manage alcohol withdrawal. He died in the London apartment belonging to Harry Nilsson — the same apartment where Mama Cass Elliot had died four years earlier in 1974.

Hubert Humphrey, the former Vice President of the United States under Lyndon Johnson and Democratic presidential nominee in 1968, died January 13, 1978, at age 66, of bladder cancer. He had served as senator from Minnesota, vice president, and one of the most consistent advocates for civil rights legislation within the Democratic Party for three decades.

Norman Rockwell, the illustrator whose covers for the Saturday Evening Post had depicted American life with warmth, humor, and idealism from 1916 to 1963, died November 8, 1978, at age 84. His paintings had been somewhat condescended to by the serious art world throughout his career; subsequent reappraisals have been more generous.

Bob Fosse, the director and choreographer, had All That Jazz in production in 1978 — a semi-autobiographical film about a choreographer who works himself toward a heart attack. Fosse himself suffered a heart attack while in production. He finished the film.

America in 1978 — The Context

The Carter presidency was in its second year, navigating a combination of economic difficulties — inflation, energy costs — and significant foreign policy work. The Camp David Accords, signed September 17, 1978, were Carter’s most significant diplomatic achievement: a framework agreement between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin that led to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty the following year. Carter received no Nobel Peace Prize for his role; Sadat and Begin shared it in 1978. Carter received his own Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

The Panama Canal Treaties were ratified by the Senate in 1978, providing for the gradual transfer of the Canal to Panamanian sovereignty, completed in 1999. The ratification was controversial and became a significant issue in the conservative opposition to Carter that was building toward the 1980 election.

ABSCAM, the FBI sting operation in which agents posed as representatives of a fictional Arab sheik and offered bribes to government officials, was conducted from 1978 80. The operation caught 31 politicians accepting bribes, including one senator and six members of the House of Representatives. The results became public in 1980 and generated both convictions and significant debate about the ethics of government entrapment operations.

Jonestown

On November 18, 1978, 918 people — including 304 children — died in Jonestown, Guyana, the compound of the Peoples Temple cult led by Jim Jones. The deaths followed the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan, who had traveled to Jonestown to investigate concerns raised by relatives of members. When Ryan’s delegation attempted to leave with some members who wanted out, Jones ordered them killed at the airstrip. Believing a government crackdown was imminent, Jones then directed his followers to drink cyanide-laced Flavor Aid — not Kool-Aid, though the misattribution has persisted since the first day of news coverage. Most of the adults died willingly or under coercion; the children had no choice. It was the largest loss of American civilian life in a deliberate event until September 11, 2001.

The phrase “drink the Kool-Aid,” meaning to follow a leader or ideology without question, derives from this event, with the brand name misidentified. Jones died of a gunshot wound to the head; whether he shot himself or was shot by a follower was never definitively established.

The First Test-Tube Baby

Louise Joy Brown was born on July 25, 1978, at Oldham General Hospital in Greater Manchester, England, the first human being conceived through in vitro fertilization. Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been unable to conceive naturally due to Lesley’s blocked fallopian tubes. Gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and physiologist Robert Edwards had developed the IVF technique over a decade of research. The birth generated a combination of wonder and ethical alarm that accompanied the technique for years. Edwards received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2010 for the development. Steptoe had died in 1988 and was ineligible. Louise Brown, who went on to have two children of her own — conceived naturally — has remained a figure of gentle public interest throughout her life.

Grease

Grease, directed by Randal Kleiser and starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, opened June 16, 1978, and grossed $396 million worldwide on a $6 million budget, making it the highest-grossing film of the year and one of the most commercially successful movie musicals in history. The film’s soundtrack produced several hit singles, including Summer Nights, Hopelessly Devoted to You, You’re the One That I Want, and the title song by Frankie Valli. Olivia Newton-John was 29, playing a high school student. John Travolta was 23. Neither resembled their characters in age; both resembled them in energy. The film’s final scene — in which Sandy transforms from wholesome to sexually assertive — was discussed at length for its implications by people who had just watched it.

Superman

Superman, directed by Richard Donner and starring Christopher Reeve in the title role, opened December 15, 1978, with the tagline “You’ll believe a man can fly.” The special effects technology used to achieve flight sequences was new enough that the tagline was not unreasonable. Reeve’s portrayal of both Superman and Clark Kent — two distinct and convincing performances within the same film — was considered the ideal embodiment of the character for decades. Marlon Brando received $3.7 million plus a percentage of profits for thirteen days of work as Jor-El. His total earnings from the film were approximately $14 million. Reeve, playing the title role for 143 minutes, received $250,000 and third billing behind Brando and Gene Hackman.

National Lampoon’s Animal House

Animal House, directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi, opened July 28, 1978, and grossed $141 million on a $3 million budget. It was the highest-grossing comedy in American film history at that time. Belushi’s Bluto Blutarsky — who appeared in the film less than the other main characters but generated more memorable moments per minute of screen time — established a template for the anarchic college comedy that influenced American cinema for decades. The film was produced by Universal Pictures, whose executives had little faith in it; the initial screening for the studio reportedly caused considerable concern among those who had approved it.

Pop Culture Facts and History

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream opened its first scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont in May 1978. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield had taken a $5 correspondence course in ice cream making from Penn State and invested $12,000, of which $4,000 was borrowed. Their combination of distinctive flavors, large chunks, and unconventional business practices eventually made them one of the most recognized food brands in the world. Unilever acquired the company in 2000 for $326 million.

Home Depot was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, who had just been fired from another home improvement chain. The first two stores opened in Atlanta in June 1979. The concept — a warehouse-style store with an enormous selection of home improvement products at competitive prices — was not immediately obvious to everyone, but it worked well enough that Home Depot eventually became the largest home improvement retailer in the world.

Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first people to summit Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen on May 8, 1978. The achievement was considered physiologically impossible by many experts, who believed the human body could not survive at that altitude without bottled oxygen. Messner proved them wrong by doing it and then writing about it.

The Star Wars Holiday Special, a two-hour variety program featuring the principal cast of Star Wars alongside Bea Arthur, Jefferson Starship, and an animated sequence introducing the character Boba Fett, aired on CBS on November 17, 1978. It has never been officially rebroadcast or released. George Lucas has reportedly said that if he had the time and a sledgehammer, he would destroy every copy. It introduced Boba Fett, who became one of the franchise’s most popular characters.

Prince released his debut album For You on April 7, 1978. He was 19 years old and had written, arranged, composed, produced, and performed every element of the album himself — an achievement that was unusual enough that the album’s liner notes noted it explicitly. The record did not chart significantly but established the template for his subsequent work.

Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” was recorded in 1978 and first released as a bonus track on their compilation The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1. It was subsequently released as a standalone single in November 1978. The song’s opening line — “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” — has prompted annual social media posts on September 21 for as long as social media has existed.

The Harvey Milk assassination: On November 27, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk — the first openly gay elected official in California — were shot and killed at City Hall by Dan White, a former supervisor who had recently resigned and been denied reinstatement. White’s defense at trial argued diminished capacity due to depression, with junk food consumption cited as a contributing symptom — a defense the press reduced to the “Twinkie defense,” an oversimplification that suggested Twinkies had caused the murders rather than that depression had impaired White’s judgment. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder. The verdict prompted the White Night Riots, during which thousands of people gathered at City Hall and clashed with police. Milk is considered a martyr of the gay rights movement. Dan White was released from prison in 1984 and died by suicide the following year.

Howard Cosell mentioned nachos during a Monday Night Football broadcast in 1978, calling them a “delicious new snack,” effectively introducing stadium nachos to the national mainstream. The combination of tortilla chips and melted processed cheese had existed before, but had not previously had a network television endorsement.

Simon, the electronic memory game produced by Milton Bradley, launched in 1978 and became the toy phenomenon of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The game required players to replicate increasingly long sequences of lights and tones. It was the first major consumer electronics toy and demonstrated that children would engage enthusiastically with games that had no physical pieces whatsoever.

Aveda, the hair care and cosmetics company, was founded in 1978 by Minneapolis hairdresser Horst Rechelbacher, who had discovered Ayurvedic principles during a trip to India. The company’s focus on plant-based ingredients and environmental responsibility was unusual enough in 1978 to be considered a niche proposition. It became one of the most recognized salon brands in the world.

Nobel Prize Winners in 1978

Physics was awarded to Pyotr Kapitsa for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics and jointly to Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation — the faint afterglow of the Big Bang, discovered accidentally in 1965 when they noticed their antenna was picking up a persistent signal from every direction in the sky, regardless of where they pointed it.

Chemistry recognized Peter Mitchell for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory, which explains how cells convert energy from food into the chemical currency ATP that powers virtually all biological processes.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, and Hamilton Smith for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems in molecular genetics. Restriction enzymes, which cut DNA at specific sequences, became the foundational tools of genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Literature turned to Isaac Bashevis Singer, writing in Yiddish, for his impassioned narrative art, which, rooted in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life. Singer was the first Yiddish-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. In his acceptance speech, he argued for the continued vitality of Yiddish as a literary language.

Peace was awarded to Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel for the Camp David Accords, the framework agreement negotiated with American mediation that formed the basis of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty signed the following year. President Carter, whose patient mediation at Camp David over 13 days had made the agreement possible, did not share the prize.

Economics went to Herbert Simon for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations — the concept of bounded rationality, which described how actual human decision-making differs from the perfectly rational actor assumed by classical economics.

1978 Toys and Christmas Gifts

Hungry Hungry Hippos and Simon were the year’s defining toy introductions. Hungry Hungry Hippos, produced by Milton Bradley, combined the competitive instincts of marble-collecting with the noise level of a small avalanche, generating a combination of excitement and parental regret that has remained constant since 1978. Simon required memory and attention. Both are still in production.

Broadway in 1978

Ain’t Misbehavin’, a revue celebrating the music of Fats Waller, opened May 9, 1978, at the Longacre Theatre and ran until February 21, 1982. It won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The original cast included Nell Carter, André De Shields, Armelia McQueen, Ken Page, and Charlaine Woodard, all of whom were nominated for Tony Awards.

Deathtrap, Ira Levin’s thriller about a playwright who schemes to steal a student’s script, opened February 26, 1978, at the Music Box Theatre. It ran 1,793 performances — the longest run of any mystery play in Broadway history.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, a musical comedy loosely based on the real Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas, opened June 19, 1978, at the 46th Street Theatre. It won two Tony Awards and ran until March 27, 1982. Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds starred in the 1982 film adaptation.

Evita, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical about Eva Perón, opened in London’s West End at the Prince Edward Theatre on June 21, 1978, with Julie Covington’s recording of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” already a hit. The West End production starred Elaine Paige and ran until 1986.

Best Film Oscar Winner

Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen and starring Allen and Diane Keaton, won Best Picture at the 50th Academy Awards on April 3, 1978, for the 1977 film year. Diane Keaton won Best Actress. Allen won Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The film defeated Star Wars for Best Picture — a result that has been cited in discussions of Academy preferences ever since. Allen did not attend the ceremony; he was playing his weekly clarinet gig at Michael’s Pub in New York.

Top Movies of 1978

1. Grease
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (special edition re-release)
3. National Lampoon’s Animal House
4. Every Which Way But Loose
5. Heaven Can Wait
6. Superman
7. The Deer Hunter
8. Hooper
9. Jaws 2
10. Coming Home

Grease was so far ahead of everything else that the year’s commercial story is essentially told by that single entry. Superman, despite opening in December, performed strongly enough to finish sixth for the year. The Deer Hunter, directed by Michael Cimino, won Best Picture at the following year’s Academy Awards. Animal House was the highest-grossing comedy in American history at the time of its release.

Most Popular TV Shows of 1978

1. Laverne and Shirley (ABC)
2. Happy Days (ABC)
3. Mork and Mindy (ABC)
4. Three’s Company (ABC)
5. Angie (ABC)
6. 60 Minutes (CBS)
7. M*A*S*H (CBS)
8. The Ropers (ABC)
9. All in the Family (CBS)
10. Taxi (ABC)

ABC dominated the ratings in 1978 in a way that the network had not previously achieved. Happy Days, which had launched Laverne and Shirley as a spinoff, also launched Mork and Mindy from a single episode in which Mork from Ork appeared to try to take Richie Cunningham back to his planet. Robin Williams’s performance in that episode was so immediate and so unusual that a spinoff was ordered before the episode had finished airing. Taxi, produced by the creators of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, premiered September 12, 1978, and was immediately recognized as something different — a comedy about working-class people in New York that was both funny and genuinely melancholy.

1978 Billboard Number One Hits

December 24, 1977 – January 13, 1978: How Deep Is Your Love — Bee Gees (carryover from late 1977)
January 14 – February 3: Baby Come Back — Player
February 4 – March 3: Stayin’ Alive — Bee Gees
March 4 – March 17: (Love Is) Thicker Than Water — Andy Gibb
March 18 – May 12: Night Fever — Bee Gees (8 weeks)
May 13 – May 19: If I Can’t Have You — Yvonne Elliman
May 20 – June 2: With a Little Luck — Wings
June 3 – June 9: Too Much, Too Little, Too Late — Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
June 10 – June 16: You’re the One That I Want — John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
June 17 – August 4: Shadow Dancing — Andy Gibb (7 weeks)
August 5 – August 11: Miss You — The Rolling Stones
August 12 – August 25: Three Times a Lady — Commodores
August 26 – September 8: Grease — Frankie Valli
September 9 – October 27: Boogie Oogie Oogie — A Taste of Honey (7 weeks)
October 28 – November 3: Hot Child in the City — Nick Gilder
November 4 – November 10: You Needed Me — Anne Murray
November 11 – December 1: MacArthur Park — Donna Summer (3 weeks)
December 2 – December 8: You Don’t Bring Me Flowers — Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond
December 9, 1978 – January 5, 1979: Le Freak — Chic (carrying into 1979)

The Bee Gees dominated the first half of 1978 with a level of commercial control that is difficult to overstate: How Deep Is Your Love carried over from 1977, Stayin’ Alive spent four weeks at number one, and Night Fever spent eight consecutive weeks at the top — 15 weeks of Bee Gees at number one in the first five months of the year. Andy Gibb, their younger brother, added two more Bee Gees-adjacent number ones with (Love Is) Thicker Than Water and Shadow Dancing, the latter spending seven weeks at the top. The Saturday Night Fever and Grease soundtracks, between them, produced five number-one singles. Le Freak by Chic closed the year at number one and carried into 1979, becoming one of the best-selling singles in Atlantic Records’ history.

Sports Champions of 1978

World Series: The New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to two, their second consecutive championship. Bucky Dent hit a three-run home run over the Green Monster in the one-game playoff against the Red Sox — a shot that New England has not forgotten — and was named World Series MVP. The Dodgers had led the series two games to none before the Yankees won four straight.

Super Bowl XII: The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10 on January 15, 1978, in New Orleans. The Cowboys’ defense was dominant throughout, holding Denver’s offense largely in check. Harvey Martin and Randy White shared the MVP award — the first time defensive players had been named Super Bowl co-MVPs.

NBA Champions: The Washington Bullets defeated the Seattle SuperSonics four games to three, in a rematch of their previous year’s playoff meeting. Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld anchored Washington’s frontcourt. Bob Dandridge was named Finals MVP. The Bullets had their only NBA championship.

Stanley Cup: The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins four games to two, winning their third consecutive Stanley Cup. Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur, and the supporting cast were in the middle of a dynasty that would win four consecutive Cups from 1976 to 1979.

U.S. Open Golf: Andy North won in unusual circumstances at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, needing to make only a bogey on the final hole to win and proceeding to make a bogey. It was one of only three PGA Tour victories in his career, and two of them were U.S. Opens.

U.S. Open Tennis: Jimmy Connors won the men’s title and Chris Evert won the women’s.

Wimbledon: Bjorn Borg won his third consecutive Wimbledon title, and Martina Navratilova won the women’s.

NCAA Football: Alabama and USC shared the 1978 national championship. Bear Bryant’s Alabama went 11-1. John Robinson’s USC went 12-1. The split was one of several that year, strengthening the argument for a playoff system, which college football did not adopt for another 35 years.

NCAA Basketball: Kentucky defeated Duke 94-88 in the national championship game in St. Louis. Jack Givens scored 41 points in the final, one of the great individual performances in championship game history. It was Kentucky’s fifth national title.

Kentucky Derby: Affirmed, ridden by Steve Cauthen, won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 13th and final Triple Crown winner in thoroughbred racing history until Justify in 2018. Affirmed’s Triple Crown campaign was conducted entirely against Alydar, trained by Lucien Laurin and owned by Calumet Farm, who finished second in all three races. The two horses ran as close a series of three races as any Triple Crown sequence in history; the Belmont was decided by a nose. Affirmed and Alydar met 10 times during their careers; Affirmed won 7 times, Alydar 3.

FIFA World Cup: Argentina defeated the Netherlands 3-1 in extra time in the final in Buenos Aires. The Argentine government of General Jorge Rafael Videla used the tournament, which it had organized and hosted, as an international public relations event. Political prisoners were reportedly held in a detention center within earshot of the stadium during matches. Mario Kempes scored twice in the final.

Frequently Asked Questions About 1978

Q: Who was Louise Brown, and why was her birth significant? A: Louise Brown, born July 25, 1978, at Oldham General Hospital in England, was the first human conceived through in vitro fertilization — the first “test-tube baby.” Her conception outside the human body, achieved by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards after a decade of research, opened the field of assisted reproduction that has since enabled millions of births. Robert Edwards received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2010.

Q: What happened at Jonestown?
A: On November 18, 1978, 918 people — including 304 children — died in the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana, following the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan at a nearby airstrip. Jim Jones directed his followers to drink cyanide-laced Flavor Aid, not Kool-Aid as is commonly misreported. It was the largest loss of American civilian life in a deliberate event until September 11, 2001.

Q: What was the Twinkie defense?
A: The media shorthand for the diminished capacity defense offered at Dan White’s trial for the murders of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. White’s attorneys argued his judgment had been impaired by clinical depression, with his shift from a health-conscious diet to junk food cited as a symptom of his mental deterioration — not, as the popular account suggested, as a direct cause. The “Twinkie defense” was a journalistic simplification that has outlasted the actual legal argument.

Q: How much did Marlon Brando earn for Superman?
A: Brando received $3.7 million plus a percentage of gross profits for thirteen days of work playing Jor-El. His total earnings from the film were approximately $14 million for ten minutes of screen time. Christopher Reeve, who played the title role across the entire film, received $250,000 and third billing.

Q: What was the Bee Gees’ commercial dominance in 1978?
A: The Bee Gees spent approximately 15 weeks at number one in the first five months of 1978 through How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin’ Alive, and Night Fever, the latter alone spending 8 consecutive weeks at the top. Their younger brother Andy Gibb added two more number ones. Songs connected to the Saturday Night Fever and Grease soundtracks dominated the year’s chart. At the peak, the Gibb family was associated with three separate artists simultaneously charting in the top ten.

Q: Who was Affirmed, and why is the 1978 Triple Crown significant?
A: Affirmed, ridden by 18-year-old Steve Cauthen, won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in 1978, becoming the 13th Triple Crown winner. His rival Alydar finished second in all three races, the most competitive Triple Crown series in history. Affirmed was the last Triple Crown winner until American Pharoah in 2015, a gap of 37 years.

In a year when the first test-tube baby was born, 918 people died in a jungle commune in South America, Superman convinced audiences a man could fly, and the Bee Gees spent so much time at number one that months passed before anyone else had a turn. 1978 compressed a generation’s worth of events into 12 months and still had room for Howard Cosell to introduce nachos to America. Ben and Jerry opened an ice cream shop in a gas station. Home Depot opened in Atlanta. The future was being built in places that did not yet look like the future.

More 1978 Facts & History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
30 Big Things That Happened in 977
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1978X
1978 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Fact Monster
1970s, Infoplease.com World History
Jonestown Massacre/ Murder-Suicide
1978 in Movies (according to IMDB)
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
1970s Slang
Unabomber (FBI.org)
Wikipedia 1978