1987

1987 is a common year starting on Thursday.

Events

January

• 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 New York collides with CONRAIL engines killing 16.
• January 5 - US President Ronald Wilson Reagan undergoes prostate surgery causing worries about his health.
• January 21 - Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon (released 1991)
• January 22 - In Pennsylvania, R. Budd Dwyer, Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shoots 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

February

• February 11 - British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• Wednesday, February 11, 1987 - Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect.
• Wednesday, February 11, 1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• February 12 - Unabomber bomb explodes in Salt Lake City, Utah
• February 16 - The trial of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem. He was eventually convicted, but this ruling was overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court.
• February 20 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, Utah a bomb explodes in a computer store.
• February 23 - Supernova 1987a is observed, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604.
• February 26 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes American President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

March-April

• March 2 - Chrysler acquires American Motors
• March 6 - The Herald of Free enterprise ferry capsizes off of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 189
• March 10 - Reproductive rights: The Vatican condemns the practice of surrogate motherhood along with test-tube babies and artificial insemination.
• March 12 - Les Misérables opens on Broadway.
• March 17 - An Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter fires two exocet missiles at the USS Stark while patrolling the Persian Gulf, killing 37 sailors, wounding 62 others.
• March 19 - Following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, televangelist Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL.
• March 20 - The Food and Drug Administration approves anti-AIDS drug AZT.
• March 22 - Apple announces Macintosh II ja Macintosh SE
• March 30 - Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" is bought for $39.85 million.
• April 1 - The Japanese National Railways are privatized and split up into the modern Japan Railway group.
• April 6 - The White Patriot Party declares "war" against the Zionist Occupation Government (of America)

May-June

• May 8 - Gary Hart drops out of the running for the Democratic Party nomination in the 1988 U.S. presidential election, amid allegations of an extra-marital affair with Donna Rice
• May 11 - The first heart-lung transplant takes place (Baltimore, Maryland).
• Monday, May 11, 1987 - Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
• May 17 - Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by a missile from an Iraqi Mirage fighter killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
• May 28 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defense and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and will later be released on Wednesday, August 3, 1988.
• June 5 - Ted Koppel hosts a "National Town Meeting on AIDS" on a special 4-hour long live broadcast of Nightline.
• June 11 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term.
• June 12 - The Central African Republic's former Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule.
• June 12 - Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

July-August

• July 4 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
• July 6 - Martha Stewart signs a contract with Kmart to be the company's lifestyle spokesperson.
• July 10 - In Auckland harbor in New Zealand, Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior sinks after French agents in diving gear plant a bomb on the hull of the vessel.
• August 4 - The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues.
• August 16 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines flight 255 crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport killing all but one of the 156 people on-board (sole survivor was four-year old Cecelia Cichan). The crew forgot to properly set the planes flaps.
• August 17 - The Harmonic Convergence is observed.
• August 19 - Hungerford Massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills 16 with an assault rifle and then commits suicide.
• August 19 - Order of Garter opened to women

September-October

• 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 - World's first conference on artificial life, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• September 28 - Star Trek: The Next Generation premieres on syndicated television with the double-length episode "Encounter at Farpoint"
• 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 and is later rescued.
• October 15 - Hurricane force winds cause extensive damage in southern England
• October 19 - Black Monday: sharp stock market falls around the world
• October 22 - Israel Porter born in New Zealand with IQ of 200
• October 30 - The NEC PC Engine is released in Japan

November

• November 5 - Apartheid: In South Africa, Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years in the Robben Island prison. He had been sentenced to life for treason against the white minority South Africa government.
• November 7 - In Tunisia, president Habib Bourguiba is overthrown and replaced by Prime Minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
• November 8 - Enniskillen massacre: In Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, an Irish Republican Army bomb explodes, at a ceremony honoring Britain's war dead, killing eleven people.
• November 18 - Kings Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross.
• Wednesday, November 18, 1987 - Iran-Contra scandal: The United States Congress issues its final report on the Iran-Contra affair, stating that US President Ronald Wilson Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law."
• November 28 - A Boeing 747 carrying South African Airways 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on-board.
• November 28 - In Wappingers Falls, New York, Tawana Brawley is found wrapped in garbage bags, with human excrement smeared all over her body and a racial slur written on her body. She later told police that she was held against her will for four days and repeatedly raped by a group of white men, one of which had a police badge. Investigations determined her story was fabricated.
• November 29 - A Korean Air Boeing 707 exploded over the Thai-Burmese border killing 155.

December

• December 1 - NASA announces the names of four companies who were awarded contracts to help build the International Space Station: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric's Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell.
• Tuesday, December 1, 1987 - Channel Tunnel digging commences
• December 8 - first Intifada begins
• December 29 - Prozac® makes its debut in the US

unknown dates

• Pendolino train in Italy
• Shoko Asahara founds Aum Shinrikyo
• Televangelist Jimmy Bakker is involved in a sex scandal, which causes him to step down as the host of The PTL Club.
• US Politician Gary Hart is involved with a sex scandal which destroys his career.

Fictional events

• September 26 - September 30 - The Events of James Bond's 15th mission, The Living Daylights

Year in Topic

• 1987 in film
  • Friday, January 30, 1987 - Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold
  • Friday, February 6, 1987 - Black Widow
  • Friday, March 6, 1987 - Lethal Weapon 1 starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover
  • Wednesday, May 20, 1987 - Beverly Hills Cop 2 starring Eddie Murphy
  • Friday, June 12, 1987 - Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Friday, June 26, 1987 - Dragnet
  • Friday, July 17, 1987 - Jaws 4: The Revenge
  • The Untouchables
• 1987 in literature
• 1987 in music
• 1987 in science
• 1987 in sports
• 1987 in television

Births

• March 9 - Bow Wow, rap musician, actor
• April 11 - Joss Stone, musician
• May 21 - Ashlie Brillault, actress (Lizzie McGuire)
• June 3 - Lalaine, actress (Lizzie McGuire)
• September 28 - Hilary Duff, actress, singer (Lizzie McGuire, Agent Cody Banks)

Deaths

January-July

• January 15 - Ray Bolger, actor, singer, dancer
• February 2 - Alistair MacLean, British thriller writer, heart attack
• February 4 - Liberace
• February 22 - Andy Warhol, artist, director, writer
• March 2 - Randolph Scott, actor
• March 3 - Danny Kaye, actor, singer, comedian
• March 19 - Louis-Victor de Broglie, physicist and winner 1929 of the Nobel Prize in Physics
• March 21 - Robert Preston, actor
• March 28 - Maria von Trapp, singer
• April 2 - Buddy Rich, drummer
• April 4 - C. L. Moore, science fiction writer
• April 28 - Ben Linder, American engineer murdered in Nicaragua
• May 3 - Dalida, French singer
• May 6 - William Casey, controversial director of the CIA
• May 11 - Peter Tosh, musician
• May 14 - Rita Hayworth, actress
• May 19 - James Tiptree, Jr, science fiction author
• June 22 - Fred Astaire, actor
• July 10 - John Hammond, record producer (b. 1910)

August-December

• August 17 - Rudolf Hess, Hitler's second-in-command, commits suicide in Spandau Prison
• September 23 - Bob Fosse, theater choreographer and director
• October 3 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist
• October 19 - Jacqueline Du Pre, English Cellist
• October 20 - Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician
• October 29 - Woody Herman, jazz musician (b. 1913)
• October 31 - Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alexander Müller
• Chemistry Donald J Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, Charles J Pedersen
• Medicine - Susumu Tonegawa
• Literature - Joseph Brodsky
• Peace- Oscar Arias Sanchez
• Economics - Robert Solow