"Old times there are not forgotten"
The United States Marine Headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon was destroyed by a truck bomb resulting in 241 Marine and Navy fatalities. Other foreign policy failures played out in Lebanon, El Salvador and Nicaragua. The United States invaded Grenada, smallest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The number of Americans living in poverty increased as did the compensation of captains of industry and hospital costs.
New book titles: Ironweed, Ancient Evenings, The Cannibl Galaxy and In Search of Excellence.
At the movies: The Return of the Jedi, Terms of Endearment, Tender Mercies, The Year of Living Dangerously and Never Say Never Again.
On stage: Brighton Beach Memories, Glengarry Glenn Ross and The Real Thing.
Emmy Awards: Ed Flanders for St. Elsewhere, Tyne Daily for Cagney and Lacy, Hill Street Blues for Best dramatic series, Tommy Lee Jones for The Executioner's Song and Barbara Stanwyck for The Thornbirds.
March 2
The final episode of M*A*S*H, a situation comedy about U.S. medics in the Korean War was watched by 125,000,000 viewers.
April 18
The United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon was leveled by a car-bomb resulting in 63 fatalities.
June 18
Dr. Sally K. Ride became the first American female in outer space with the launch of the Challenger's second flight.
September 23
The largest employee buyout of a corporation to date took place at the Weirton Steel works in West Virginia. Workers at the plant voted to purchase it from National Steel Corporation to prevent it's closing.
December22
West Virginia University defeated the University of Kentucky by a score of 20-16 at the Hall of Fame Bowl played in Birmingham, Alabama.
December31
Classmate Johnnie Herbert Hoskins received a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration from the University of Arizona.