January 1

• The United States withdraws from UNESCO.

January 2

• Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

January 15

• Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil.

January 18

• After Nicaragua files charges that the United States has secretly funded contra rebels and mined Nicaraguan harbors, the United States withdraws from the World Court and announces it will no longer abide by the court's decisions.

January 20

• Ronald Reagan is sworn in for his second term as president of the United States.

January 24

• A top-secret space shuttle mission takes place...so secret that not even the launch time is revealed.

January 25

• Bernhard Goetz is indicted on a charge of illegal weapon possession.

January 29

• USA For Africa's "We Are The World" is recorded.

February 4

• It is revealed that the Navy has been buying $640 toilet seats.

February 5

• Spain opens its border with Gibralter, a British colony, for the first time since 1967.

February 13

• Madonna and Sean Penn go on their first date.

February 16

• "Careless Whisper" by Wham! begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

February 17

• Murray Haydon becomes the third artificial heart recipient.

February 18

• 22-year-old Jeff Keith, a right-leg emputee with an artificial leg, completes a an 8-1/2 month run across the United States.

February 24

• The environmental group Nature Conservancy buys 17 acres of California desert in order to protect a creosote bush growing there. At 11,700 years of age, it is the oldest living thing known in the world.

February 27

• Former U.S. senator and ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge dies at the age of 82.

March 3

• Willie Shoemaker became the first jockey to win 100 million dollars over his career.

March 4

• The EPA bans leaded gasoline in the United States.

March 8

• Thomas Creighton, a 33 year old man, died after receiving three heart transplants in 46 hours, one artificial two human.

March 9

• REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling" begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

March 10

• Konstantin Chernenko, leader of the U.S.S.R., dies at the age of 73.

March 11

• Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the general secretary of the Soviet communist party. He is the youngest leader of the U.S.S.R. since Stalin.

• Prime Minister Tom Adams of Barbados dies at the age of 53. he is replaced by Bernard St. John.

March 12

• Orchestra conductor Eugene Ormandy dies at the age of 85.

March 14

• President-elect Tancredo Neves of Brazil undergoes emergency surgery, preventing him from being sworn into office.

March 15

• José Sarney is sworn in as interim president of Brazil.

March 18

• A two-day summit between Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada and President Ronald Reagan of the United States results in an agreement to work on solving the problem of acid rain.
• The American Broadcasting Company is bought by Capital Cities Communications, Inc. for 3.5 billion dollars.

March 25

• Accepting her Academy Award for Best Actress for "Places in the Heart", Sally Field says, "You like me! Right now! You like me!"

March 28

• Bernhard Goetz is indicted on charges of attempted murder.

• Artist Marc Chagall, whose paintings are considered among the greatest of the 20th century, dies at the age of 97.

March 29

• Christos Sartzetakis becomes president of Greece.

March 30

• "One More Night" by Phil Collins begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

April 4

• Zaid Rifai becomes prime minister of Jordan.

April 6

• A military coup overthrows the government of Sudan. Abdel Rahman Siwar el-Dahab assumes power.

• William Schroeder becomes the first artifical heart recipient allowed to live outside the hospital.

April 8

• Union Carbide is sued by India's government over the December 3, 1984 gas leak in Bhopal that killed 2,000 people.

April 13

• "We Are the World" by USA For Africa begins a 4-week reign as the number 1 song.

• Ramiz Alia becomes the leader of Albania.

April 21

• President-elect Tancredo Neves of Brazil dies, and interime president José Sarney is sowrn into office.

April 23

• Former senator Sam Ervin, Jr., dies at the age of 88.

• Coca-Cola announces that it has changed the formula of its cola.

May 1

• The United States bans all trade with Nicaragua.

May 11

• Madonna's "Crazy For You" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

May 12

• Sculptor and painter Jean Dubuffet dies at the age of 83.
• The first female conservative rabbi, Amy Eilberg, is ordained.

May 13

• Philadelphia mayor Wilson Goode orders the bombing of the headquarters of MOVE, a radical black organization that has been in an ongoing confrontation with police. The firestorm resulting from the bombing destroys 61 homes and kills 11 people.

May 17

• On the TV show "Dallas", the character Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) is run over and killed.

May 18

• "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

May 21

• Patricia Frustaci gives birth to 7 babies, the largest recorded multiple birth in history. One baby is stillborn, and three others die shortly after birth. The mother had taken fertility drugs.

May 25

• A cyclone strikes Bangladesh, killing 10,000 people.

• "Everything She Wants" by Wham! begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

May 29

• 19-year-old Steve Vonyo, who had been fitted with an artificial leg after losing a leg to bone cancer, completes a 14 month run across Canada.

• A soccer match between Italy and Britain at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, turns into a death trap when a mob of British fans storms into a stand filled with Italian fans. 41 people are killed in the melee.

May 31

• The drug Ecstasy (MDMA) is banned in the United States.

• Nearly thirty tornadoes strike Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, killing 90 people.

June 4

• In a case involving an Alabama law, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that laws permitting a minute of prayer in public schools are unconstitutional.

June 8

• "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears For Fears begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

June 12

• Spain and Portugal become the 11th and 12th members of the European Economic Community (EEC or Common Market), sparking concerns among a few Christian fundamentalists that the end of the world is near based upon an obscure association between this event and passages from the Book of Revelations.

June 14

• Two Shiite Muslim terrorists hijack a TWA jet in Athens, Greece. The plane, piloted by John Testrake, is commandeered to Beirut. Robert Dean Stethem, a 23-year-old U.S. Marine on the flight, is promptly killed and his body dumped out of the plane. Another passenger, businessman Allyn Conwell of Texas, is permitted to become a spokesman to the press for the hostages. 39 American hostages were removed from the plane and held elsewhere.

June 20

• The Metropolitan Opera announces that it will no longer tour.

June 22

• "Heaven" by Bryan Adams begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

June 23

• A bomb explodes in a suitcase at an airport in Japan. The suitcase had arrived on a plane that had departed from Canada. Less than an hour later, an Air-India flight out of Canada explodes and crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland. All 329 people on board are killed. A bomb is suspected to be the cause.

June 24

• Francesco Cossiga becomes president of Italy.

June 30

• After two weeks of negotiations, the hostages from the June 14 TWA hijacking are released.

July 1

• In a case involving remedial teaching programs in New York and Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that public school teachers cannot provide remedial education in church-run private schools.

July 2

• Andrei Gromyko becomes president of the U.S.S.R., a ceremonial position.

July 6

• "Sussudio" by Phil Collins begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 10

• After numerous complaints about the flavor of Coca-Cola's new formula, the soft drink company announces that it will bring back the old formula as "Coca-Cola Classic" and the new formula will be sold as "New Coke".

July 11

• Nolan Ryan becomes the first pitcher to throw 4,000 strikeouts in his career.

July 13

• George Bush becomes president of the United States for 8 hours while Ronald Reagan undergoes colon surgery.

• Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 19

• After an evaluation 11,000 applicants, Concord, N.H. schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe is selcted by the Teacher In Space program (TISP) to become the first civilian to fly in space.

• An earth dam in Italy collapses, and the ensuing flood kills 220 people.

July 20

• The government of South Africa declares a state of emergency after numerous anti-apartheid demonstrations.

July 23

• At a price of 13.1 million dollars, a new record price is set for a horse at a thoroughbred auction in Lexington, KY.

July 25

• Actor Rock Husdon announces that he has AIDS.

July 27

• A military coup in Uganda overthrows president Milton Obote.

• Paul Young's "Everytime You Go Away" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 28

• Alan Garcia Perez becomes president of Peru.

July 29

• Tito Okello becomes president of Uganda.

July 31

• 13-year-old Ryan White, who has hemophilia and contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion, is banned from returning to his Indiana school.

August 2

• A Delta Airlines jet landing in Dallas during a thunderstorm crashes, killing 133 people.

August 3

• "Shout" by Tears For Fears begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

August 5

• Victor Paz Estenssoro becomes president of Bolivia.

August 6

• President Forbes Burnham of Guyana dies at the age of 62. He is replaced by Desmond Hoyte.

August 12

• A Japan Air Lines flight crashes into a mountain in Japan. 520 of the 524 people on board are killed, making it the worst single-plane air disaster in history.

August 15

• Michael Jackson pays $47,500,000 for the publishing rights to the entire Beatles song library.

August 19

• A ferry capsizes on the Songhua River in China, killing 300 people.

August 23

• The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down its last nuclear power facility due to safety concerns.

August 24

• "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and The News begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

August 25

• Samantha Smith dies in a plane crash at the age of 13.

August 27

• A military coup in Nigeria overthrows Mohammed Buhari. Ibrahim Babangida assumes power.

August 28

• Actress Ruth Gordon dies at the age of 88.

September 1

• The wreckage of the Titanic is positively found by a team of U.S. and French explorers.

September 4

• Ali Lotfi becomes prime minister of Egypt.

September 7

• "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) by John Parr begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

September 9

• President Reagan announced sanctions against South Africa to protest its apartheid policies.

September 11

Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds sets the all-time major league hit record with his 4,192nd hit breaking the record set by Ty Cobb in 1928.

September 18

• The Reverand Benjamin Weir was back in US custody after 16 months as a hostage in Beirut. This left 6 people still held captive in that city.

September 19

• Two massive earthquakes devastate the southwestern portion of Mexico, including Mexico City. Over 5,000 people are killed.

September 21

• "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

September 26-27

Hurricane Gloria struck off the coast of North Carolina forcing the evacuation of 280,000 people.

September 27

• Nikolai Rzyhkov becomes prime minister of the U.S.S.R.

September 28

• Eric Arturo Delvalle becomes president of Panama.

October 1

• Author E B. White, best known for Charlotte's Web, dies at the age of 86.

October 2

• Actor Rock Hudson, who had secretly been suffering from AIDS, dies at the age of 59.

October 4

• The last of the three surviving Frustaci babies is sent home from the hospital.

October 5

• Grambling State football coach Eddie Robinson becomes the winningest football coach in division I NCAA football with his 324th victory.

October 6

• Anibal Cavaco Silva becomes prime minister of Portugal.

October 7

• The Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro is highjacked in the Mediterranean Sea by 4 terrorists representing the Palestinian Liberation Front. During the 3-day hijacking, the terrorists kill Leon Klinghoffer, a 67-year-old wheelchair-bound American, and throw his body overboard.

• Director and actor Orson Welles dies at the age of 70.

• Actor Yul Brynner dies at the age of 65.

October 10

• After the arrival of the Achille Lauro in Egypt, the surviving hostages are released after Egypt grants the four terrorists safe passage from the country. It is not until after the terrorists esacpe that the murder of Leon Klinghoffer is discovered. U.S. fighter jets intercept the plane carrying the terrorists and force it to land in Italy, where the terrorists are promptly arrested.

October 12

• "Ready for the World by Oh Shiela begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 19

• "Take On Me" by a-hah begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 26

• Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 27

• Ali Hassan Mwinyi is elected president of Tanzania.

October 27-November 7

• Hurricane Juan struck off the coast of Louisiana causing more than a billion dollars in damage.

November 2

• "Part-Time Lover" by Stevie Wonder begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 4

Vitaly Yurchenko, a senior official of the KGB that had defected to the US, escaped custody and returned to the USSR.

November 6

• Zbigniew Messner becomes prime minister of Poland.

November 9

• Jan Hammer's "Miami Vice Theme" begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 13

• A volcano, Nevada de Ruiz, erupts in Colombia. 25,000 people are killed.

November 15

• Britain and Ireland reach an agreement to give Ireland a voice in the government of Northern Ireland.

November 16

• "We Built This City" by Starship begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 20-21

President Reagan and new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Geneva, Switzerland.

November 21

• Paias Wingti becomes prime minister of Papua New Guinea.

November 23

• An Egyptian flight from Athens to Cairo is hijacked. The hijackers force the plane to Malta and kill two passengers.

November 24

• Egyptian troops storm the plane hijacked yesterday. The attack kills 57 people, including passengers and crew as well as the terrorists.

• Jose Azcona Hoyo becomes president of Honduras.

November 26

• The rights to Ronald Reagan's autobiography are acquired by Random House at a price of 3 million dollars, which set a record as the highest bid ever for a book. The book's writer is announced as Edmund Morris.

November 28

• Joseph Saidu Momoh becomes president of Sierra Leone.

November 30

• "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

December 3

• Patricia Frustaci files a lawsuit for $3,200,000 damages against the doctors that had given her fertility drugs.

December 7

• "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

• Poet and author Robert Graves dies at the age of 90.

December 8

• Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo is elected president of Guatemala.

December 10

• A jury awarded Texaco Inc 11.1 billion dollars in a judgement against Pennzoil for interfering with Texaco's attempt to buy out Getty Oil. This was the highest award ever.

December 11

• The Gramm-Rudman bill designed to eliminate the budget deficit by 1991 was passed by congress and signed by Reagan on the following day.

December 12

• A plane carrying U.S. military personnel crashes on takeoff from an airport in Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board.

• The Gramm-Rudman bill is signed into law. The bill is intended to eliminate the U.S. Government's deficit by 1991.

December 21

• Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" begins a 4-week reign as the number 1 song.

December 27

• Near-simultaneous terrorist attacks in airports in Rome and Vienna kill 18 and injure 110.

December 31

• Singer/actor Rick Nelson is killed in a plane crash.