1983 in the United States
Encyclopedia

January

  • January 1 – The New Jersey Transit Police Department
    New Jersey Transit Police Department
    The New Jersey Transit Police Department is a transit police force for the New Jersey Transit Corporation in the state of New Jersey...

     is created in the state of New Jersey
    New Jersey
    New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

    .
  • January 2 – The musical Annie
    Annie (musical)
    Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...

    is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Alvin Theatre
    Neil Simon Theatre
    The Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway venue built in 1927 and located at 250 West 52nd Street in midtown-Manhattan....

     on Broadway, New York City.
  • January 3 – Kilauea
    Kilauea
    Kīlauea is a volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, and one of five shield volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaii. Kīlauea means "spewing" or "much spreading" in the Hawaiian language, referring to its frequent outpouring of lava. The Puu Ōō cone has been continuously erupting in the eastern...

     begins slowly erupting on the Big Island
    Hawaii (island)
    The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...

     of Hawaii
    Hawaii
    Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

     and is still flowing as of 2009.
  • January 19 – Apple Inc. releases the Apple Lisa
    Apple Lisa
    The Apple Lisa—also known as the Lisa—is a :personal computer designed by Apple Computer, Inc. during the early 1980s....

     personal computer.
  • January 26 – Lotus 1-2-3
    Lotus 1-2-3
    Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.-Beginnings:...

     is released for IBM-PC compatible computers.

February

  • February 18 – Wah Mee massacre
    Wah Mee massacre
    The Wah Mee massacre was a mulitiple homicide on February 18, 1983, in which Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, Wai-Chiu "Tony" Ng, and Benjamin Ng gunned down 14 people in the Wah Mee gambling club. Thirteen of their victims lost their lives, but one survived to testify against the three in the high-profile...

    : 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery
    Robbery
    Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

     in Seattle, Washington.
  • February 23 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency
    United States Environmental Protection Agency
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

     announces its intention to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri
    Times Beach, Missouri
    Times Beach, Missouri was a small town of 2,240 residents in St. Louis County, Missouri, 17 miles southwest of St. Louis and 2 mi east of Eureka, Missouri. The town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to a dioxin scare that made national headlines...

    .
  • February 23 – Failure of automatic shut-down at Salem Nuclear Power Plant
    Salem Nuclear Power Plant
    The Salem Nuclear Power Plant is a two unit pressurized water reactor nuclear power station located in Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey, in the United States. It is owned by PSEG Nuclear LLC and Exelon Generation LLC....

    , New Jersey
    New Jersey
    New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

    , USA.
  • February 24 – A special commission of the Congress of the United States releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment
    Japanese internment
    Japanese internment is a term generally used to refer to one or both of the following events:*Japanese American internment, the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II...

     during World War II
    World War II
    World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

    .
  • February 28 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, setting a new record for most-watched television broadcast in American history.

March

  • March 8 – IBM
    IBM
    International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

     releases the IBM PC XT.
  • March 9 – Anne Burford resigns as head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
    United States Environmental Protection Agency
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

     amid scandal.
  • March 23 – Strategic Defense Initiative
    Strategic Defense Initiative
    The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...

    : U.S. President Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

     makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars".
  • March 23 – Michael Jackson
    Michael Jackson
    Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

     performs the dance move that will forever be known as the "moonwalk
    Moonwalk (dance)
    The moonwalk or backslide is a dance technique that presents the illusion of the dancer being pulled backwards while attempting to walk forward. A popping move, it became most popular around the world after Michael Jackson executed the dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25:...

    " at Motown 25.

April

  • April 18 – The April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut
    Beirut
    Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

     kills 63 people.
  • April 25 – Manchester, Maine
    Manchester, Maine
    Manchester is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States, located at . The population was 2,465 at the 2000 census. In the early 19th century, the town was known as "The Forks".-Geography:...

     schoolgirl Samantha Smith
    Samantha Smith
    Samantha Reed Smith was an American schoolgirl and child actress from Manchester, Maine, who became famous in the Cold War-era United States and Soviet Union...

     is invited to visit the Soviet Union
    Soviet Union
    The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

     by its leader Yuri Andropov
    Yuri Andropov
    Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...

    , after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war
    Nuclear warfare
    Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...

    .

May

  • May 17 – Lebanon
    Lebanon
    Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

    , Israel
    Israel
    The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

    , and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
  • May 28 – The 9th G7 summit
    9th G7 Summit
    The 9th G7 Summit was held at Williamsburg, Virginia, United States during the 28th to 30th of May 1983. The venue for the summit meetings was Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia....

     begins at Williamsburg, Virginia
    Williamsburg, Virginia
    Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...

    .

June

  • June 13 – Pioneer 10
    Pioneer 10
    Pioneer 10 is a 258-kilogram robotic space probe that completed the first interplanetary mission to Jupiter, and became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System. The project was managed by the NASA Ames Research Center and the contract for the construction of the...

    becomes the first man-made object to leave the solar system
    Solar System
    The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

    .
  • June 18 – STS-7
    STS-7
    STS-7 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Challenger deployed several satellites into orbit. The shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center on 18 June 1983, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 24 June. STS-7 was the seventh shuttle mission, and was Challengers second...

    : Sally Ride
    Sally Ride
    Sally Kristen Ride is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman—and then-youngest American, at 32—to enter space...

     becomes the first American woman in space, on the Space Shuttle Challenger
    Space Shuttle Challenger
    Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...

    .

August

  • August 1 – America West Airlines
    America West Airlines
    America West Airlines corporate offices were in Tempe, Arizona and the main hub was at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The airline became part of the US Airways Group after a merger in 2005....

     begins operations out of Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • August 18 – Hurricane Alicia
    Hurricane Alicia
    Hurricane Alicia was the costliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Alicia was the third depression, the first tropical storm, and the only major hurricane of the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season...

     hits the Texas
    Texas
    Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

     coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.
  • August 24 – The Old Philadelphia Arena
    Philadelphia Arena
    The Philadelphia Arena was an arena used mainly for sporting events located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The building, originally named the Philadelphia Ice Palace and Auditorium, was located at 4530 Market Street, next to what would become the WFIL TV Studio which broadcast American Bandstand. ...

     is destroyed by arson.
  • August 30 – STS-8
    STS-8
    STS-8 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission which launched on 30 August 1983 and landed on 5 September; it conducted the first night launch and night landing of the program, and flew the first African-American astronaut, Guion Bluford...

    : Space Shuttle Challenger
    Space Shuttle Challenger
    Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...

    carries Guion S. Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, into space.

September

  • September 1 – Cold War
    Cold War
    The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

    : Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union
    Soviet Union
    The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

     jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald
    Larry McDonald
    Lawrence Patton McDonald, M.D. was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the seventh congressional district of Georgia as a Democrat...

    .
  • September 5 – Tom Brokaw
    Tom Brokaw
    Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...

     becomes lead anchor for NBC Nightly News
    NBC Nightly News
    NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...

    .
  • September 17 – Vanessa Lynn Williams
    Vanessa L. Williams
    Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...

     becomes the first African-American to be crowned Miss America
    Miss America
    The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

    , in Atlantic City, New Jersey
    New Jersey
    New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

    .
  • September 24 – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
    Red Hot Chili Peppers
    Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

     launch their first, self-titled album
    Red Hot Chili Peppers (album)
    The Red Hot Chili Peppers is the debut studio album by American funk rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 10, 1984 on EMI America Records. The album was produced by Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, and is the only album to feature guitarist Jack Sherman.-Background and recording:Red...

    .

October

  • October 4 – Richard Noble
    Richard Noble
    Richard Noble, OBE was the holder of the land speed record between 1983 and 1997, and was the project director of ThrustSSC, the vehicle which holds the current land speed record, set at Black Rock Desert, Nevada in 1997....

     sets a new land speed record
    Land speed record
    The land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a wheeled vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C flying start regulations are used, officiated by regional or national organizations under the auspices of the Fédération...

     of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert
    Black Rock Desert
    The Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...

    , Nevada
    Nevada
    Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

    .
  • October 16 – World Series
    World Series
    The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...

    : The Baltimore Orioles
    Baltimore Orioles
    The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...

     defeat the Philadelphia Phillies
    Philadelphia Phillies
    The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

     5–0 in Game 5, to win the series 4 games to 1 for their 3rd World Championship.
  • October 23 – Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings
    1983 Beirut barracks bombing
    The Beirut Barracks Bombing occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen...

     destroy both the French
    French Army
    The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

     and the United States Marine Corps
    United States Marine Corps
    The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

     barracks in Beirut
    Beirut
    Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

    , killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.
  • October 25 – United States troops invade Grenada
    Grenada
    Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

     at the behest of Eugenia Charles
    Eugenia Charles
    Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, DBE was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. She was Dominica's first, and to date only, female prime minister, as well as the nation's longest serving prime minister...

     of Dominica
    Dominica
    Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

    , a member of the Organization of American States
    Organization of American States
    The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...

    .
  • October 25 – Microsoft Word is first released.

November

  • November 2 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: At the White House
    White House
    The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

     Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

     signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
  • November 3 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

     announces his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic Party
    Democratic Party (United States)
    The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

     presidential nomination.
  • November 10
  • The anticancer drug etoposide
    Etoposide
    Etoposide phosphate is an anti-cancer agent. It is known in the laboratory as a topoisomerase poison. Etoposide is often incorrectly referred to as a topoisomerase inhibitor in order to avoid using the term "poison" in a clinical setting...

     is approved by the FDA
    Food and Drug Administration
    The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

    , leading to a curative treatment regime in the field of combination chemotherapy of testicular carcinoma.
  • Star 80
    Star 80
    Star 80 is a 1983 American film about the true story of Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her estranged husband Paul Snider in 1980...

     is a film about the true story of Playboy
    Playboy
    Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

    Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten
    Dorothy Stratten
    Dorothy Stratten was a Canadian model and actress. Stratten was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1979, Playmate of the Year in 1980 and was the second Playmate born in the 1960s. Stratten appeared in three comedy films and at least two episodes of shows broadcast on US network...

    , who was murdered by her estranged husband Paul Snider
    Paul Snider
    Paul Leslie Snider was the estranged husband and manager of Playboy model Dorothy Stratten, whom he murdered before killing himself the same day.- Biography :...

     in August 14, 1980.
  • November 11 – Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

     becomes the first U.S. President to address the Diet
    Diet of Japan
    The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...

    , Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

    's national legislature.
  • November 13 – The first United States cruise missile
    Cruise missile
    A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...

    s arrive at Greenham Common Airbase in England amid protests from peace campaigners.
  • November 14 – The immunosuppressant
    Immunosuppressant
    An immunosuppressant is any substance that performs immunosuppression of the immune system. They may be either exogenous, as immunosuppressive drugs, or endogenous, as ,e. g., testosterone...

     cyclosporine is approved by the FDA
    Food and Drug Administration
    The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

    , leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.
  • November 16 – A jury in Gretna, Louisiana
    Gretna, Louisiana
    The city of Gretna is the parish seat of Jefferson Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. Gretna is on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just east and across the river from uptown New Orleans. It is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area...

     acquits Ginny Foat
    Ginny Foat
    Virginia "Ginny" Foat is an American politician and feminist. Foat was acquitted in 1983 of having participated in a 1965 murder committed by her then-husband, but the publicity derailed her activist career at the time...

     of the murder of Argentine businessman Moses Chaiyo.

December

  • December 2 – Michael Jackson
    Michael Jackson
    Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

    's music video for "Thriller
    Thriller (music video)
    Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson....

    " is broadcast for the first time. It becomes the most often repeated and famous music video of all time, increasing his own popularity and record sales of the album "Thriller".
  • December 4 – Lt. Bobby Goodman
    Bobby Goodman
    Robert O. Goodman is a former A-6 Intruder Bombardier Navigator and class of 1978 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He was shot down over Lebanon on December 4, 1983. Captured upon ejection from his stricken plane, he was held captive for 30 days...

     of the United States Navy
    United States Navy
    The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

     is shot down over Lebanon
    Lebanon
    Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

     and captured by the Syrians.
  • December 13 – The Denver Nuggets
    Denver Nuggets
    The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...

     and the visiting Detroit Pistons
    Detroit Pistons
    The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...

     combine for an NBA
    National Basketball Association
    The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

     record 370 points, with Detroit winning in triple overtime, 186–184.
  • December 27 – A propane
    Propane
    Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...

     explosion in Buffalo, New York
    Buffalo, New York
    Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

     kills 5 firefighters and 2 civilians.
  • December 29 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Jackson
    Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

     travels to Syria
    Syria
    Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

     to secure the release of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman, who has been in Syrian captivity since being shot down over the country during a reconnaissance mission.
  • December 31 – Apple Macintosh advertisement is released.

Undated

  • McDonald's
    McDonald's
    McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

     introduces the McNugget.
  • The Drug Abuse Resistance Education
    Drug Abuse Resistance Education
    Drug Abuse Resistance Education, better known as DARE, is an international education program that seeks to prevent use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior. D.A.R.E., which has expanded globally since its founding in 1983, is a demand-side drug control strategy of the U.S....

     (DARE) program is launched in the U.S.
  • The economy begins a robust recovery following the early 1980s recession
    Early 1980s recession
    The early 1980s recession describes the severe global economic recession affecting much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations through at least 1985...

    .
  • Flashdance
    Flashdance
    Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...

    and Return of the Jedi are box-office hits.
  • Kellogg's introduces Crispix cereal.
  • Kary Mullis
    Kary Mullis
    Kary Banks Mullis is a Nobel Prize winning American biochemist, author, and lecturer. In recognition of his improvement of the polymerase chain reaction technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and earned the Japan Prize in the same year. The process was first...

     discovers polymerase chain reaction
    Polymerase chain reaction
    The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....

     while working for Cetus.
  • Chrysler
    Chrysler
    Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

     starts production on the first minivans: the Dodge Caravan
    Dodge Caravan
    The Dodge Caravan is a family minivan manufactured by Chrysler Group LLC and sold under its Dodge brand. Along with its nameplate variant, the Plymouth Voyager, the Caravan was introduced for the 1984 model year. In 1987, the Dodge Grand Caravan long-wheelbase model was introduced and sold...

     and Plymouth Voyager
    Plymouth Voyager
    In 1984, the Voyager name was applied to Plymouth's variant of Chrysler's all new minivan. This Voyager used the Chrysler S platform, which was derived from the K-platform . In addition to using a derived platform, the Voyager shared many components with the K-cars, most notably the interior...

    .
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