page_title: March 1980
section_title: March 30, 1980 (Sunday)
hierarchical_section_title: March 1980 / March 30, 1980 (Sunday)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tôn Đức Thắng giving the opening speech at the founding of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front in 1955
context_page_description: The following events happened in March 1980:
context_section_description: The Tony Award winning play Children of a Lesser God, the first major theatrical production to feature a deaf actor in the leading role, began a successful run on Broadway.  Critics' reactions were mixed. Walter Kerr of the New York Times called the play "the season's unexpected find" while Douglas Watt of New York's Daily News said of author Mark Medoff's approach to the problems of deaf persons, "His concern and understanding are clear, but he hasn't bothered to present their story in any but the most elementary dramatic terms.  Instead, he has relied on our obvious sympathies and the novelty of his subject to carry the evening..."
  Delegates of the Canadian Olympic Committee voted to send a team to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, declining to joining the boycott of the games.
  Syria changed its flag for the fifth time in 34 years since becoming independent in 1946, after changes made in 1958, 1961, 1963 and 1972.  The sixth flag, which was a return to the flag it had adopted in 1958, has remained the Syrian Arab Republic's banner for more than 40 years.
  For the first time, West Germany and East Germany simultaneously set their clocks ahead one hour in the spring to observe for Central European Summer Time (similar to the advancement of clocks in North America for daylight saving time).  West Germany's government had voted in 1978 to reintroduce summer time, but had waited until an agreement could be reached with East Germany on simultaneous implementation.
  Died: 
  Ton Duc Thang, 91, the oldest president in the world.  He had succeeded Ho Chi Minh as President of North Vietnam in 1969, and was unified Vietnam from 1976 onward.  Ton was succeeded by Vice President Nguyen Huu Tho, who had administered South Vietnam after the conquest of that nation to by North Vietnam in 1975.
  David Sharpe, 70, American film actor and stuntman
caption: Ton Duc Thang
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