WHAT ALL HAPPENED AUGUST TO NOVEMBER 1979
Find out what all happened August to November 1979

Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. (3. November 1979)

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House. (6. October 1979)

Nuclear false alarm: the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert is cancelled. (9. November 1979)

Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by Korean Central Intelligence Agency head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May. (26. October 1979)

In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising. (5. August 1979)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published. (12. October 1979)

The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi). (1. September 1979)

The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea in Bucharest, Romania. (16. November 1979)

Several tornadoes strike the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding communities. (7. August 1979)

Iran hostage crisis: a mob of Iranians, mostly students, overruns the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). (4. November 1979)

In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten. (23. November 1979)

Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale. (12. September 1979)

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom. (27. October 1979)

The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama. (1. October 1979)

Pope John Paul II denounces all forms of concentration camps and torture while speaking at the U.N. in New York City. (2. October 1979)

A coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I. (20. September 1979)

The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip. (12. October 1979)

The MTR, the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens. (1. October 1979)

Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president. (14. September 1979)

The Hong Kong MTR commences service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka. Kwun Tong Line). (30. September 1979)