February 24 – Five men with mild mental-health issues from Yuba City, Californiadisappear in the snow on their way home from a basketball game. In June, four of the bodies are discovered in the Sierra. The fifth, Gary Mathias, is never found. The circumstances surrounding their deaths remains a mystery.
April 2 – The CBS soap opera Dallas is launched. It is set to be aired later this year in several countries, including the United Kingdom by the BBC.[5]
April 7 – President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb – a weapon which kills people with radiation but leaves buildings relatively intact.
April 18 – The U.S. Senate votes 68–32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
April 25 – St. Paul, Minnesota becomes the second U.S. city to repeal its gay rights ordinance after Anita Bryant's successful 1977 anti-gay campaign in Dade County, Florida.
June 9 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extends the priesthood and temple blessings to "all worthy males", ending a general policy of excluding "Canaanites" from priesthood ordination and temple ordinances.
June 10 – Affirmed becomes only the 11th horse to ever win the Triple Crown by defeating Alydar in the 110th running of the Belmont Stakes.[11]
June 12 – Serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," is sentenced to 365 years in prison.
August 13 – The 5.8 MwSanta Barbara earthquake affected the central coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), causing 65 injuries and $12 million in financial losses.
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello makes its first appearance on Live from the Met, in a complete production of the opera starring Jon Vickers. This is the first complete television broadcast of the opera in the U.S. since the historic 1948 one.
^Decisions of the United States Courts Involving Copyright. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1985. pp. 311–.
^"Advice and Consent: The Panama Canal Treaties". archives.gov. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
^Crouse, Chuck (1990). Budd Car, the RDC Story. Mineola, NY: Weekend Chief Publishing. p. 141. ISBN 0-9612814-2-1.
^"Pensacola Police Make a Mark in History". pensacolapolice.com. Pensacola Police Department. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
^Baker, Chris (2 April 2012). "Critique: 'Dallas' Episode 1 – 'Digger's Daughter'". Dallas Decoder. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
^Wylie, William H. (10 April 1978). "Westmoreland Rabbits On Parade". The Pittsburgh Press. Vol. 91, no. 287. pp. A-1, A-6. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
^"U.S. Rabbit All Set to Hop". Time. 10 April 1978. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
^Acton, Robin (24 August 2008). "Local workers recall East Huntingdon plant closing". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
^Peterson, Iver (28 April 1978). "51 Killed in Collapse of Scaffold At Power Plant in West Virginia". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
^Ward, Ken Jr. (27 April 2008). "'It was gone': String of problems led to 51 deaths at Willow Island". The Charleston Gazette. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
^"History of Belmont Stakes Racing Festival - Belmont Stakes - Belmont Stakes". www.belmontstakes.com.
^Schwartz, Larry (August 12, 1978). "Stingley paralyzed after being clocked by Tatum". ESPN Classic. Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
^James Stuart Olson, ed. (1999). "Chronology". Historical Dictionary of the 1970s. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-30543-6.
^"Investigators probe fatal train wreck". Anchorage Daily News. 1978-12-05. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2016-09-19.