On this day

March 25, 1979

Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from March 25, 1979

On Eve of Treaty, Guns Pour Into Mideast

By Bernard Weinraub

WASHINGTON — After meeting Defense Secretary Harold R. Brown to discuss Israel's “high priority” needs for tanks, armored personnel carriers and advanced deliveries of F‐16 fighter planes, Ezer Weizman, Israel's defense minister, stepped into the hallway outside Mr. Brown's Pentagon office last week and said firmly: “People probably wonder why is it that on the eve of a peace treaty signature we talk about the military so much. I believe that nothing keeps and defends the peace better than a well‐defended country.”

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Putting Federal Brakes on Energy Use in Buildings

By Jane Rippeteau

Much as the Federal government gave highway traffic a speed limit to cut gasoline consumption, it is planning to give new buildings an energy budget to put a limit on the amount of gas, oil and electricity that they are designed to consume.

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10,000 LAOTIAN AIDES REPORTED DETAINED

By Henry Kamm; Special to The New York Times

former Laotian Prime Min Souvanna Phouma, now Govt adviser, says 10,000 to 15,000 civilian officials and mil officers who served under him have been detained since Communists seized power in '75, int; despite his implication that only corrupt officials have been deported, action was by all accounts general, affecting all civil servants and soldiers from medium rank up; many businessmen also have been banished; Souvanna says they are living in rigorous conditions and have been integrated into soc; family members who receive lrs say almost all prisoners continue to be confined to camps in Vieng Say; some medium‐rank officials and those not associated with former Govt have returned, but it widely believed that banishment is permanent for sr officials; as many as 250,000 Laotians have sought in refuge in Thailand and flow continues; reprs of internatl and development orgns believe most of small class of educated people either have been imprisoned or fled; Souvanna says King Sisavang Vatthana is in Vieng Say and former Queen is in old royal capital of Luang Prabang (M)

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Music on My Birthday

Billboard 200

The Top 50 albums for the chart week of March 21, 1979, covering March 25, 1979.

  1. 1
    Album cover for Spirits Having Flown by Bee Gees

    Spirits Having Flown

    Bee Gees

    Last week
    1
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    6
  2. 2
    Album cover for Minute By Minute by The Doobie Brothers

    Minute By Minute

    The Doobie Brothers

    Last week
    3
    Peak
    2
    Weeks
    14
  3. 3
    Album cover for Dire Straits by Dire Straits

    Dire Straits

    Dire Straits

    Last week
    4
    Peak
    3
    Weeks
    12
  4. 4
    Album cover for Blondes Have More Fun by Rod Stewart

    Blondes Have More Fun

    Rod Stewart

    Last week
    2
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    14
  5. 5
    Album cover for Love Tracks by Gloria Gaynor

    Love Tracks

    Gloria Gaynor

    Last week
    6
    Peak
    5
    Weeks
    12

Notable Births

Muriel Hurtis-Houairi

1979Muriel Hurtis-Houairi, French sprinter[†]

Muriel Hurtis-Houairi is a French track and field athlete. She came to prominence in 2002 when she won the 200 m gold medals at both the European Indoor Championships and the European Athletics Championships. The following year she added the World Indoor title and won a bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics and a gold in the 4 × 100 metres relay with France.

Notable Deaths

Robert Madgwick

1979Robert Madgwick, Australian colonel and academic (born 1905)[†]

Sir Robert Bowden Madgwick was an Australian educationist. He was the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England and served two terms as Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Madgwick was an influential proponent of adult learning and extension studies in tertiary education. At the University of New England, he directed the development of several degree programs, including rural science, agricultural economics, and educational administration which were the first of their kind in Australia. In recognition of his contributions to education, Madgwick was appointed to the Order of British Empire in 1962 and knighted in 1966.

Akinoumi Setsuo

1979Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 37th Yokozuna (born 1914)[†]

Akinoumi Setsuo , born Nagata Setsuo , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hiroshima. He was the sport's 37th yokozuna.

Historical Events

Space Shuttle

1979The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.[†]

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was the Space Transportation System (STS), taken from the 1969 plan led by U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development.

Historical Context for March 25, 1979

In 1979, the world population was approximately 4,368,539,528 people[†]