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1983
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| March 23, 1983 - The initial proposal to develop
technology to intercept incoming missiles, the Strategic Defense
Initiative Program, or Star Wars, is made by President Ronald Reagan. April 20, 1983 - President Reagan signs legislation meant to rescue the Social Security System from bankruptcy. June 18, 1983 - Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to travel into space. October 23, 1983 - A terrorist truck bomb kills two hundred and forty-one United States peacekeeping troops in Lebanon at Beirut International Airport. A second bomb destroyed a French barracks two miles away, killing forty there. October 25, 1983 - The United States invasion of Grenada occurs at the request of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to depose the Marxist regime. |
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1984
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| February 7, 1984 - Navy Captain Bruce McCandless and
Army Lt. Colonel Robert Stewart become the first astronauts to fly free
of a spacecraft in orbit during a space shuttle flight that began four
days earlier. May 12, 1984 - The Louisiana World Exposition of 1984 opens along the Mississippi River waterfront in New Orleans. The event, the last world's fair held in the United States, was plagued with financial trouble, and drew significantly fewer visitors than predicted over the next six months, 7.3 million, although it was regarded as the catalyst in the recovery of the waterfront and warehouse district to public use. July 12, 1984 - Democratic candidate for President, Walter Mondale, selects Geraldine Ferraro as his Vice Presidential running mate, the first woman chosen for that position. July 28, 1984 - The opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games is held. The games run by Peter Ueberroth, prove a financial and U.S. success, despite a retaliatory boycott by most allies of the Soviet Union due to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow games. November 1984 - President Ronald Reagan wins reelection over Democratic challenger Walter F. Mondale, increasing his Electoral College victory since the 1980 election to a margin of 525 to 13. |
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1985
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| July 13, 1985 - A famine relief concert organized by
British artist Bob Geldof and held simultaneously in London and
Philadelphia is seen in one hundred and fifty-two countries.
The seventeen hour concert raised $70 million for relief efforts in
Ethiopia and other African nations. September 11, 1985 - Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's record for most career hits in Major League Baseball history. He would be banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling, thus making him ineligible for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. November 19, 1985 - The first meeting in six years between the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States occurs when Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan engage in a five hour summit conference in Geneva, Switzerland. December 11, 1985 - General Electric Corporation agrees to buy RCA Corporation for $6.28 billion in the largest corporate merger ever outside the oil industry. |
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1986
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1987
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| August 12, 1987 - Near the end of hearings into the
Iran-contra affair, President Reagan admitted to a policy that went
astray, but denied knowledge of the diversion of funds to the contras. October 19, 1987 - The stock market crash known as Black Monday occurred on the New York Stock Exchange, recording a record 22.6% drop in one day. Stock markets around the world would mirror the crash with drops of their own. October 23, 1987 - The President's nominee to the Supreme Court, Robert Bork, is rejected by the U.S. Senate, 58-42, in the largest margin of rejection for the role in history. December 8, 1987 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign an agreement, the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, to dismantle all 1,752 U.S. and 859 Soviet missiles in the 300-3,400 mile range. December 31, 1987 - El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico is established by legislation. It preserved a natural volcanic area, a seventeen mile lava tube system, and remains from the Pueblo Indian culture. |
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1988
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| February 3, 1988 - The United States House of
Representatives rejects the request of President Reagan for $36.25
million to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. May 4, 1988 - The deadline for amnesty application by illegal aliens is met by 1.4 million, who apply. It is estimated that 71% of those who applied had entered the United States from Mexico. October 31, 1988 - Poverty Point National Monument in Louisiana is established by President Ronald Reagan in order to preserve some of the most extensive earthworks from prehistoric times in North America. November 8, 1988 - Vice President under Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, claims victory in the presidential election over Democratic challenger Michael S. Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts. The Electoral College vote tallied 426 for Bush and 111 for Dukakis. The first patent for a genetically engineered animal is issued to Harvard University researchers Philip Leder and Timothy Stewart. |
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1989
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| January 6, 1989 - Economic reports on the previous year
from the Labor Department indicated a growth rate of 3.8%, the largest
in four years and an unemployment rate of 5.3%, a low of fourteen years. March 24, 1989 - The Exxon Valdez crashed into Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, causing the largest oil spill in American history, eleven million gallons, which extended forty-five miles. August 9, 1989 - The Savings and Loan Bailout was approved by Congress and signed into law by President George Herbert Walker Bush. The total cost of the bill would approach $400 billion over thirty years to close and merge insolvent Savings & Loans. August 10, 1989 - Army General Colin Powell is elevated to the position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, becoming the first African American to be nominated to that post. November 9, 1989 - The Berlin Wall, after thirty-eight years of restricting traffic between the East and West German sides of the city, begins to crumble when German citizens are allowed to travel freely between East and West Germany for the first time. One day later, the influx of crowds around and onto the wall begin to dismantle it, thus ending its existence. (Photo below) President Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall speech, fronting the Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987. Photo: White House Photographic Office. |
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Historic Travel Tip
America's Best
History Historic Travel Tip
Take a trip along the Appalachian Trail. There are a myriad of National Park and other historic sites either on the trail or just nearby. From Acadia National Park in Maine to Harper's Ferry National Park in West Virginia, plus other Civil War sites nearby, down to Georgia. So you can take a hike, visit some history, and see a whole lot a nature and beauty along the way.
