Events from the year 1977 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: Gerald Ford (R-Michigan) (until January 20), Jimmy Carter (D-Georgia) (starting January 20) Vice President: Nelson Rockefeller (R-New York) (until January 20), Walter Mondale (D-Minnesota) (starting January 20) Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Minnesota) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Carl Albert (D-Oklahoma) (until January 3), Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts) (starting January 4) Senate Majority Leader: Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) (until January 3), Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) (starting January 3) Congress: 94th (until January 3), 95th (starting January 3)
Events
January
January
The world's first personal computer, the Commodore PET, is demonstrated at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. The Coalition of Free Men is founded in Columbia, Maryland, in order to create a unified voice in addressing issues concerning men and boys. The organisation would later become the National Coalition for Men, America's oldest men's rights organization. January 3 – Apple Computer is incorporated. January 9 Super Bowl XI: The Oakland Raiders defeat the Minnesota Vikings 32–14 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Rock band Toto is founded by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. January 17 – In the first execution after the reintroduction of the death penalty in the United States, Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah. January 19 Snow falls in Miami, Florida (despite its ordinarily tropical climate) for the only time in its history. Snowfall has occurred farther south in the United States only on the high mountains of the state of Hawaii. President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka “Tokyo Rose”). January 20 – Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States, and Walter F. Mondale is sworn in as the 42nd vice president. January 21 – President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders. January 23 – Roots begins its phenomenally successful run on ABC. January 28 – The Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 hits Buffalo, New York. January 1 to 31: The contiguous US average monthly minimum temperature of is the coldest for any month since nationwide records were first compiled in 1895. In contrast to the contiguous US, Alaska had to that point its warmest January on record with a mean of being warmer than the 1925 to 1974 average () and warmer than Alaska's previous record warmest January 1937.
February
February 4
Fleetwood Mac's Grammy Award-winning album Rumours is released. Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago. February 12 – Actress Christa Helm is fatally stabbed on a sidewalk in West Hollywood. The perpetrator is never identified. February 18 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747, at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
March
March 9 — Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement Muslims take over three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends two days later. March 11 — Walt Disney Productions' 22nd feature film, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, is released. It is the studio's most critically well-received film in years and the last in the Disney canon in which the late Walt Disney was involved with in any capacity. March 18 — United States lifts its ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. March 15 — Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the PBS opera series Live from the Met both make their American television debuts. Pavarotti stars in a complete production of Puccini's La Boheme. March 26 — The fundamentalist organization Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson. March 28 — The 49th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Richard Pryor, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda and Warren Beatty, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. John G. Avildsen's Rocky receives ten nominations, winning Best Picture and Best Director for Avildsen. Rocky is tied with Sidney Lumet's Network for the most nominations, while the latter film and Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men both won four awards each. The late Peter Finch becomes the first posthumous actor Oscar winner, winning for Best Actor.