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1977 History

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1977 The first Apple Computer goes on sale. Quebec adopts French as the official language. Jimmy Carter is elected as the President of United States and the first oil flows through the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline. The precursor to the GPS system in use today is started by US Department of defense

Cost of Living 1977

How Much things cost in 1977
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 6.5%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 831
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 7.75%
Average Cost of new house $49,300.00
Average Income per year $15,000.00
Average Monthly Rent $240.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 65 cents
Bikini $9.00
Renault Gordini $6,998,00
BMW 320i $7,990.00



What Events Happened in 1977

  • Jimmy Carter Elected President of United States
  • President Carter grants pardon to American Draft dodgers of the Vietnam War Period
  • Jimmy Carter President of United States warns that Americans need to make profound changes in their Oil Consumption
  • The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr
  • In Hamilton, Bermuda British soldiers are called in to control race riots in the city
  • 1977 Bucharest Earthquake - kills more than 1,500
  • French is adopted as the official language of Quebec
  • Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Amnesty International
  • Menachem Begin a center-right politician for the Likud party became Israel's sixth prime minister.
  • Cyclone in India kills 20,000 and leaves 2 million homeless
  • Jubilee celebrations are held in the United Kingdom to celebrate twenty-five years of Elizabeth II's reign
  • The New York City Blackout lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and disorder.
  • World Trade Center in New York, is completed
  • Two 747 jumbo jets collide at Tenerife Airport in the Canary Islands
  • US Population reaches 216 million
  • Opium Perfume introduced
  • 165 people die in Beverly Hills Supper Club fire
  • The Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline opens
  • Four Palestinian hijackers hijack a Lufthansa airliner demanding the release of 11 imprisoned members of Germany's Baader-Meinhof terrorist group, also known as the Red Army Faction
  • The US returns the Panama Canal back to Panama
  • Elvis Presley dies on August 16.

Popular Culture 1977

  • Record company EMI sacks the controversial UK punk rock group the Sex Pistols.
  • Star Wars opens in cinemas and filmgoers line up for hours to see it
  • Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is released
  • The Clash release their first album "The Clash "
  • Perhaps most important in Popular Culture is the development of punk music from groups like the Ramones, Iggy Pop's ,Clash , Elvis Costello, The Stranglers, and the Sex Pistols

Popular Films

  • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
  • Rocky
  • Smokey and the Bandit
  • A Star Is Born
  • Saturday Night Fever
  • King Kong
  • The Deep
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  • Annie Hall

Popular Musicians

  • Rod Stewart
  • Stevie Wonder with " I Wish "
  • The Eagles with " Hotel California and New Kid in Town "
  • The Bee Gees with " How Deep is your love "
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Fleetwood Mac
  • Wings
  • Hot Chocolate

Technology 1977

  • The first Apple II computers went on sale
  • NAVSTAR Global Positioning System GPS Inaugurated by US Department of defense
  • The first ever Quadraphonic concert in London by Pink Floyd
  • The first commercial flight Concord London to New York
  • The first MRI Scanner is tested in Brooklyn
  • NASA space shuttle makes its first test flight off the back of a jetliner
  • Voyager I and Voyager II are launched unmanned to explore the outer solar system

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )

  • MRI Scanner USA by Raymond Damadian


Research for this year is provided by The People History.
See History By Year and Decade for more prices and information.
Find out more about the 70s at ThePeopleHistory.com.

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