November 1976

Month of 1976

The following events occurred in November 1976:

The prototype of the Dassault Falcon 50 business jet made its first flight. The Party of Labor of Albania (Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë), the Communist party of Albania, completed its five year Congress at Tirana and re elected Enver Hoxha, who had been the party's leader since its founding 35 years earlier. Hoxha, who had been the de facto leader of the Balkan nation for more than 30 years, was the last Stalinist in power in Eastern Europe. All 12 members of the Party of Labor Politburo were re elected by the Central Committee, including Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu. Born: Mark Philippoussis, Australian pro tennis player, 1999 and 2003 Davis Cup team winner, 1998 U. S. Open and 2003 Wimbledon finalist; in Melbourne
Died: Mathew Charles Lamb, 28, Canadian spree killer who shot four people in 1966 and then joined the Rhodesian Army after his release from custody, was accidentally killed by friendly fire from another member of his unit.

The Supreme Court of Utah ruled, 4 to 1, that convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was entitled to be executed as he had requested, and lifted a stay of execution that had been made earlier by the state's Court of Appeals, clearing the way for Gilmore to face a firing squad within five days. While the Governor of Utah issued a stay of execution the next day, Gilmore would be executed on January 17, 1977. At least 5,000 Syrian Army combat troops, accompanied by 60 tanks, entered peacefully into Beirut without firing a shot, marking the first time since 1958 that the capital of Lebanon had been under foreign military control. The United States Marines had landed in and occupied Beirut 18 years earlier to prevent a coup d'état.

A second earthquake struck the Chinese city of Tangshan, which had been destroyed by an earthquake on July 28. Lieutenant Colonel Edouard Nzambimana was named as the new Prime Minister of Burundi. Angola's National Museum of Anthropology was opened in Luanda to preserve Angola's heritage. The first of 18 editions of the celebrity sporting competition Battle of the Network Stars premiered on the U. S. television network ABC with 10 TV stars apiece (six actors and four actresses) from the three television networks that existed in the United States at that time (ABC, CBS and NBC) in various sports (tennis, golf, volleyball), racing in running, swimming and bicycling; and a tug of war competition at the end between the two network teams that had done the best. The show, hated by TV critics, "drew a surprisingly large audience" as the 12th highest rated program of the week.

Members of the church of which U. S. President Elect Jimmy Carter was a member, the Plains Baptist Church of Plains, Georgia, voted to drop a ban that the church had maintained since 1965 against attendance by non white people, after Carter spoke to the congregation prior to the evening's vote. In 1965, the church had voted to ban attendance by African Americans. By a vote of 120 to 66, the church members amended the bylaws with a statement of purpose "to open the doors to all who want to worship Jesus Christ."