"Old times there are not forgotten"
Israel invaded Lebanon in response to repeated attacks on Israel by Palestinians operating from Lebanon. The United States engaged in an embargo of goods shipped to the U.S.S.R. owing to it's invasion of Afghanistan and institution of martial law in Poland. Inflation began to decrease but unemployment in the United States rose to 10.8 percent. More Americans were receiving unemployment compensation than at any time since the payments began in the 1930s. United States Marines were sent into Lebanon as a peace keeping force. The first successful artificial heart transplant was competed at the University of Utah Medical Center. Kodak introduced the disc camera. IBM introduced the most powerful main frame computer to date. American deaths from smoking tobacco products was set at 320,000 per year by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.
New book titles: The Fate of Earth, God's Grace, The Dean's December and Oh, What A Paradise It Seems.
At the movies: An Officer and a Gentleman, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Gandhi, Tootsie and Sophie's Choice.
On stage: Little Shop of Horrors, Nine, Cats and Torch Song Trilogy.
Emmy Awards: Mickey Rooney for Bill, Ingrid Bergman for A Woman Named Golda, Hill Street Blues for best dramatic series, and Michael Learned for Nurse.
January 8
An antitrust suit brought by the Justice Department against the American Telephone and Telegraph Company was resolved with AT&T agreeing to divest itself of 22 Bell Telephone Systems.
January 13
In the midst of record setting low temperatures Florida 90, an Air Florida flight taking off from Washington National Airport in Washington D.C. clipped a bridge during the evening rush hour and crashed into the Potomac River, resulting in 71 fatalities on the aircraft and 7 more on the bridge.
June 24
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the President of the United States is immune from lawsuits for damages for actions he takes while in office.
September 19
USA Today a new national newspaper produced by Gannett Newspapers began publication in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. market.
September 29
The first of seven deaths caused by cyanide placed in Tylenol capsules occurred in the Chicago area.
December 30
West Virginia University lost to Florida State by the score of 31-12 in the Gator Bowl, played in Jacksonville, Florida.