On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 1979, the world population was approximately 4,368,539,528 people[†]
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of November 7, 1979, covering November 9, 1979.
Eagles
Led Zeppelin
Styx
Commodores
Foreigner
Fleetwood Mac
Herb Alpert
Donna Summer
Barbra Streisand
Barry Manilow
1979Dave Bush, American baseball player[†]
David Thomas Bush is an American professional baseball coach and former pitcher who is the current assistant pitching coach for the Texas Rangers. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Texas Rangers, as well as in the KBO League for the SK Wyverns.
1979Adam Dunn, American baseball player[†]
Adam Troy Dunn, nicknamed "Big Donkey", is an American former professional baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Cincinnati Reds. A two-time MLB All-Star, Dunn was known for his prodigious power and his high propensity to strike out. He hit 38 or more home runs in seven straight seasons, tied with Babe Ruth for the second-longest such streak in MLB history, and was 11th all-time in at bats per home run at the time of his retirement. In addition, in 2004, he hit the fourth-longest home run in MLB history, a 535-foot blast that landed in a different state. However, he ranks third on the all-time strikeout list, with 2,379, and still holds the American League record for most strikeouts in a single season, with 222 in 2012.
1979Caroline Flack, English television presenter, radio presenter, and model (died 2020)[†]
Caroline Louise Flack was an English television presenter and actress. Flack grew up in Norfolk and took an interest in dancing and theatre while at school. She began her professional career as an actress, starring in the comedy sketch show Bo' Selecta! (2002), and went on to present various ITV2 shows including I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW! (2009–2010) and The Xtra Factor (2011–2013).
1979Martin Taylor, English footballer[†]
Martin Taylor is an English retired footballer who played as a defender.
1979Cold War: Nuclear false alarm: The NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland, detect a purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars, the alert is cancelled.[†]
The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.
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Otmar Emminger, president of Bundesbank, predicts slow decline in interest rates in US within next 2-3 months, interview (M)
Aging cities of industrial Middle West are being forced to give up their control over city functions to wealthier county governments; counties, by assuming extra burden, are gaining in political influence; in Detroit, Cleveland and Louisville, counties have taken over control of city sewers, jails, mass transit and other services cities can no longer afford; trend poses special problems for blacks, who have been gaining political power in cities at time when city's powers are being ceded to agencies in hands of mostly-white outsiders (M)
book depicts fierce and previously unpublicized struggle over safety of Chevrolet Corvair; alleges that car was unsafe as it was originally designed; DeLorean's judgement supports Ralph Nader book Unsafe at Any Speed, which severely criticized car (M)
illus of court clerk Joel Levine and Councilman Abraham G Gerges inspecting unpaid summonses
Article describes how interest-rate futures work; drawing (M)
Federal Reserve Bank of NY reports $400 million drop in money supply in week ended Oct 31, bringing short-term growth of money supply within Fed's targets; graph showing growth in money supply from May '79 to present (M)
retired Coca-Cola chairman Robert W Woodruff gives Emory University $100 million, gift that is believed to be largest single donation in history of American philanthropy; gift is in form of 3 million shares of Coca-Cola stock; brings to $210 million money that Woodruff has given to Emory; as of present, Emory is South's richest private university; its endowment of $270 million is 11th nationally; president James T Laney comments; Woodruff por (M)
Ford Motor Co lays off 24,300 workers and temporarily suspends passenger car production at 7 plants; has laid off 53,800 workers in '79; GM places 5,750 workers on indefinite layoff; has laid off 37,250 workers; 120,000 auto workers have been laid off in '79 (M)
In the obituary of Mamie Eisenhower in The Times on Nov. 2, it was stated that Dwight D. Eisenhower had served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He never held that position.
Iran says ‘operational difficulties’ are forcing it to cut oil deliveries 5% for period between Oct 1 and end of '79, which means that to cover retroactive period deliveries will be cut close to 10% for rest of year; cites ‘operational difficulties’ (M)