TV actor Eric Johnson

Events in 1979 and 7-8

Events in the world in the birth year of Eric Johnson

• Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce fall of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and collapse of Pol Pot regime (Jan. 7).
• Shah leaves Iran after year of turmoil (Jan. 16); revolutionary forces under Muslim leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, take over (Feb. 1 et seq.).
• Conservatives win British election; Margaret Thatcher becomes new prime minister (May 3).
• Carter and Brezhnev sign SALT II agreement (June 14).
• Nicaraguan President General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami (July 17); Sandinistas form government (July 19).
• Iranian militants seize US embassy in Teheran and hold hostages (Nov. 4).
• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests (Dec. 27).

Birthday Eric Johnson (7-8) in history

• Day 7-8 year 1789: Congress established the U.S. War Department.
• Day 7-8 year 1947: The wooden raft Kon-Tiki, which carried Thor Heyerdahl and five companions more than 4,000 miles, crashed into a reef in the Pacific.
• Day 7-8 year 1959: The United States launched Explorer 6, which sent back a picture of Earth.
• Day 7-8 year 1964: Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which expanded President Johnson's use of military powers in the Vietnam War.
• Day 7-8 year 1987: Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, making the 2.7 mile trip through the frigid waters of the Bering Strait. Cox is surprised by the (relatively) warm welcome she receives from the Soviets.
• Day 7-8 year 1998: U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, by terrorists. Some 224 were killed and more than 5,500 injured.
• Day 7-8 year 2000: Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Conn., was selected by Al Gore to be the first Jewish vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket.
• Day 7-8 year 2007: Barry Bonds passes Hank Aaron on baseball’s all-time homerun list. The record, however, is discredited by many because of Bond’s alleged steroid use.