Carter and Brezhnev sign SALT II
Margaret Thatcher becomes new prime minister (May 3).
The Deer Hunter…
Album of the Year: Saturday Night Fever, Bee Gees
Song of the Year: “Just the Way You Are”, Bill Joel, Songwriter
Nobel in Medicine: Allan MacLeod Cormack (U.S.) and Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield (U.K.),
for developing computed axial tomography (CAT scan) X-ray technique
US GDP (1998 dollars): $2,557.50 billion
Federal spending: $504.03 billion
Federal debt: $829.5 billion
Median Household Income (current dollars): $16,461
Consumer Price Index: 72.6
Unemployment: 5.8%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.15
Fall of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh