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1987

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years: 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
1987 by topic:
Arts
Architecture - Art - Film - Literature
Music (Country, UK) - Television - Home video
Science and technology
Archaeology - Aviation
Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science
By country
Australia - Canada - France - Germany - India
Ireland - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Pakistan
Singapore - South Africa - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe
Other topics
Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Sovereign states - Religious leaders - Video gaming
Birth and death categories
Births - Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments - Disestablishments
Works category
Works
1987 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar 1987
MCMLXXXVII
Ab urbe condita 2740
Armenian calendar 1436
ԹՎ ՌՆԼԶ
Chinese calendar 4683 – 4684
丙寅 – 丁卯
Ethiopian calendar 1979 – 1980
Hebrew calendar 5747 – 5748
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat 2042 – 2043
- Shaka Samvat 1909 – 1910
- Kali Yuga 5088 – 5089
Iranian calendar 1365 – 1366
Islamic calendar 1408 – 1409

1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents

Events

January

January
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
  • January 1 - Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories, changes its name to Iqaluit. In 1999, it becomes the capital of Nunavut.
  • January 2 - At Fada the Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
  • January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  • January 4 - An Amtrak train en route from Washington, DC to Boston collides with Conrail engines, killing 16.
  • January 5 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan undergoes prostate surgery, causing speculation about his physical fitness to continue in office.
  • January 8 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,000 for the first time, gaining 8.30 to close at 2,002.25.
  • January 13 - New York mafiosi Anthony Salerno and Carmine Peruccia are sentenced to 100 years in prison for racketeering.
  • January 16 - Leon Cordero, president of Ecuador, is kidnapped by followers of imprisoned General Frank Vargas, who successfully demand his release.
  • January 20 - Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).
  • January 22 - R. Budd Dwyer, Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, shoots and kills himself at a press conference after being found guilty on charges of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering.
  • January 24 - In Lebanon, gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh.
  • January 29 - William J. Casey ends his term as CIA Director.
  • January 31 - The last Ohrbach's department store closes in New York City after 64 years of operation.

February

February
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28
The damaged US Frigate, USS Stark, after being struck by an Iraqi Exocet Missile in the Persian Gulf.
Enlarge
The damaged US Frigate, USS Stark, after being struck by an Iraqi Exocet Missile in the Persian Gulf.
  • February 11
    • British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
    • The new Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect.
    • The US military detonates an atomic weapon at the Nevada Test Site.
  • February 12 - A Unabomber bomb explodes in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • February 20 - A second Unabomber bomb explodes at the Salt Lake City computer store; the owner is injured.
  • February 23 - Supernova 1987A is observed (the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604).
  • February 26 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security staff.

March

March
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
  • March 4 - President Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran-Contra Affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had 'deteriorated' into an arms-for-hostages deal.
  • March 6 - A cross-channel ferry capsizes outside the harbor off Zeebrugge, Belgium - 180 drown.
  • March 7 - U2's The Joshua Tree album is released.
  • March 19 - In Charlotte, North Carolina, televangelist Jim Bakker, head of PTL Ministries, resigns after admitting an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn.

April

April
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30
  • April 7 - Harold Washington is re-elected Mayor of Chicago.
  • April 13 - Portugal and the China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999.
  • April 20 - Professional cyclist and reigning Tour de France winner Greg LeMond is accidentally shot while turkey hunting.
  • April 27 - The United States Department of Justice declares incumbent Austrian president Kurt Waldheim an "undesirable alien".

May

May
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • May 5 - The Assemblies of God defrocks Jim Bakker.
  • May 8 - U.S. Senator Gary Hart drops out of the running for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, amid allegations of an extra-marital affair with Donna Rice.
  • May 11
    • The first heart-lung transplant takes place in Baltimore, Maryland.
    • Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
  • May 14 - Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka executes a bloodless coup in Fiji.
  • May 17 - Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31), while patrolling the Persian Gulf, is struck by two Exocet missiles from an Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter, killing 37 sailors and injuring 21 other crew members.
  • May 24 - Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins for a fourth time, the second driver to do so, after A.J. Foyt in 1977.
  • May 28 - Nineteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained (but is released on Wednesday, August 3, 1988).

June

June
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30
  • June 10 - During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
  • June 11 - 1987 election: Margaret Thatcher is elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the third time.
  • June 17 - With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.

July

July
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31
  • July 1
    • The Single European Act is passed by the European Union.
    • The first ever Edgefest festival takes place at Molson Park in Barrie, Ontario.
    • U.S. President Ronald Reagan nominates former Solicitor General Robert Bork, a controversial conservative judge and legal scholar, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • July 3
    • In the Soviet Union, Vladimir Nikolayev is sentenced to death for cannibalism.
    • Greater Manchester Police recover the body of 16-year-old Pauline Reade from Saddleworth Moor after her killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley helped them in their search - almost exactly 24 years since Pauline was last seen alive.
  • July 4 - A court in Lyon sentences former Gestapo boss Klaus Barbie to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
  • July 11 - Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke's government is re-elected for a third term.
  • July 17 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04.
  • July 22 - Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28.
  • July 27- Australian singer Kylie Minogue releases her first hit, a remake of Little Eva's The Locomotion.
  • July 31 - Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.

August

August
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
  • August 4
    • The World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, publishes its report, Our Common Future.
    • The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine, which had required radio and television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues.
  • August 9 - Nine people die and 17 are injured when 19-year-old Julian Knight goes on a shooting rampage in Melbourne.
  • August 16 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines flight 255 crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport killing all but 1 (4-year old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on-board (among them Nick Vanos, a center for the Phoenix Suns).
  • August 17
    • The Harmonic Convergence is observed around the world.
    • Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison. Hess, 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex, which is expected to be demolished.
  • August 19
    • In London, The Order of the Garter is opened to women.
    • Hungerford Massacre: Michael Ryan kills 16 with an assault rifle before committing suicide.

September

September
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
  • September 2 - In Moscow, the trial of 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May 1987, begins.
  • September 7-September 21 - The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  • September 17
    • The 200th anniversary of the United States Constitution is celebrated across the country.
    • At a small rally in Harlem, televangelist Pat Robertson announces his candidacy for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.

October

October
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
Performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Index during Black Monday
Enlarge
Performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Index during Black Monday
  • October 10 - The Reverend Jesse Jackson launches his second campaign for U.S. President.
  • October 14-October 16 - The US is caught up in a drama that unfolds on television as a young child, Jessica McClure, falls down a well in Midland, Texas, and is later rescued.
  • October 15-October 16 - Great Storm of 1987: hurricane force winds hit much of the South of England, killing 23 people.
  • October 19 - Black Monday: stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street and around the world.
  • October 22 - John Coolidge Adams's opera Nixon in China debuts at the Houston Grand Opera in Houston, Texas.
  • October 23

November

November
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30
  • November 8 - Enniskillen bombing: Eleven people killed by an PIRA bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.
  • November 18
    • The King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31.
    • Iran-Contra affair: U.S. Senate and House panels release reports charging President Ronald Reagan with 'ultimate responsibility' for the affair.
  • November 25 - Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 165 mph winds and devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 1,036 deaths.
  • November 29 - Korean Air Flight 858 is blown up over the Andaman Sea, killing 115 crew and passengers (North Korean agents are suspected).

December

December
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31
  • December 1
    • NASA announces the names of 4 companies who were awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric's Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell.
    • Construction of the Channel Tunnel is initiated.
    • Queensland: Following a week of turmoil from his National Party of Australia colleagues, Joh Bjelke-Petersen resigns as Premier of Queensland. He is replaced by Mike Ahern, the only premier never to contest an election as premier.
  • December 2 - Hustler Magazine v. Falwell is argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • December 7
    • Delaware, the first state admitted to the Union, celebrates its bicentennial.
    • PSA Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.
  • December 8
    • The first Palestinian Intifada begins in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
    • Queen Street Massacre in Melbourne, Australia: 22-year-old Frank Vitkovic kills 8 and injures another 5 in an Australia Post office building in Queen Street, before committing suicide by jumping from the 11th floor.
    • The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
    • Alianza Lima air disaster: A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43.
  • December 9
    • Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
    • General Rahimuddin Khan retires from the Pakistan Army, as well as the cabinet of the country's military dictatorship.
  • December 12 - Pennsylvania celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
  • December 17 - Czechoslovakian leader Gustáv Husák resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party.
  • December 18
    • New Jersey celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
    • Square Co., Ltd. releases Final Fantasy in Japan for the Famicom.
  • December 21 - The ferry Doña Paz collides with the oil tanker Vector I - 1,500 confirmed deaths (reportedly closer to 4,000 due to unregistered passengers).
  • December 29 - Prozac® makes its debut in the United States.

Environmental change

  • Varroa destructor, an invasive parasite, is found in the U.S.

Unknown dates

  • Pendolino train in Italy
  • Shoko Asahara founds Aum Shinrikyo
  • Barry Minkow's ZZZZ Best fraud unravels
  • World Population reaches five billion (5,000,000,000)
  • Scream Bloody Gore by Death is released, a landmark in extreme music.

Births

January

  • January 11 - David Allen, American Actor/Comedian/Writer
  • January 14 - Kristin Cavallari, cast member of MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
  • January 15 - Jake Epstein, Canadian actor
  • January 21 - Ian Garvey, Pokémon League Champion

February

March

April

May

  • May 1 - Shahar Pe'er, Israeli Tennis Player
  • May 2 - Nana Kitade, Japanese singer
  • May 4 - Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish football player
  • May 5 - Ian Michael Smith, American child actor
  • May 6 - Moon Geun Young, Korean actress
  • May 7 - Asami Konno, Japanese singer
  • May 15 - Andrew Murray, Scottish tennis player
  • May 15 - Jennylyn Mercado, Filipino actress and singer
  • May 21 - Ashlie Brillault, American actress

June

  • June 3 - Lalaine, American actress
  • June 3 - Masami Nagasawa, Japanese actress
  • June 16 - Diana DeGarmo, American singer
  • June 17 - Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer
  • June 24 - Lionel Messi, Argentine soccer player
  • June 29 - Yasuka Saitou,Japanese actor

July

  • July 6 - Matt O'Leary, American actor
  • July 24 - Mara Wilson, American actress
  • July 25 - Nathan Lawrence, American actor
  • July 25 - Michael Welch, American actor

August

  • August 7 - Sidney Crosby, Canadian hockey player
  • August 8 - Katie Leung, Scottish actress
  • August 25 - Liu Yifei, Chinese actress
  • August 25 - Blake Lively, American actress

September

October

November

  • November 3 - Gemma Ward, Australian Model
  • November 30 - Dougie Poynter, English musician (McFly)
  • November 30 - Ian Hecox, American comedian and co-founder of Smosh

December

Deaths

January

February

March

  • March 2 - Randolph Scott, American actor (b. 1898)
  • March 3 - Danny Kaye, American singer, actor, and comedian (b. 1918)
  • March 11 - Woody Hayes, Football coach at Ohio State (b. 1913)
  • March 19 - Louis-Victor de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
  • March 21 - Dean Paul Martin, American actor (b. 1951)
  • March 21 - Robert Preston, American actor (b. 1918)
  • March 26 - Eugen Jochum, German conductor (b. 1902)
  • March 28 - Maria von Trapp, Austrian singer (b. 1905)
  • March 28 - Patrick Troughton, British actor (b. 1920)

April

May

  • May 3 - Dalida, French singer (b. 1933)
  • May 4 - Paul Butterfield, American musician (b. 1942)
  • May 6 - William J. Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1913)
  • May 14 - Rita Hayworth, American actress (b. 1918)
  • May 17 - Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
  • May 19 - James Tiptree, Jr, American author (b. 1915)
  • May 27 - John Howard Northrop, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

June

  • June 2 - Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
  • June 6 - Fulton Mackay, Scottish actor (b. 1922)
  • June 10 - Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (suicide) (b. 1943)
  • June 18 - Teresa Cormack, New Zealand murder victim (b. 1981)
  • June 22 - Fred Astaire, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
  • June 22 - John Hewitt, Northern Irish poet (b. 1907)
  • June 24 - Jackie Gleason, American actor and comedian (b. 1916)

July

  • July 10 - John Hammond, American record producer (b. 1910)
  • July 17 - Kristjan Palusalu, Estonian wrestler (b. 1908)
  • July 17 - Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (b. 1934)

August