1987 World History Margaret Thatcher (1925– ) British Information Service 1987 William Buckley, U.S. hostage in Lebanon, reported slain(Jan. 20).Supreme Court rules Rotary Clubsmust admit women(May 4).Iraqi missiles kill 37 in attack on U.S. frigateStarkin Persian Gulf(May 17);Iraqi president apologizes(May 18).Prime Minister Thatcherwins rare third term in Britain(June 11).Supreme Court justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., retires(June 26).Klaus Barbie, 73, Gestapowartime chief in Lyon, sentenced to life by French court for war crimes(July 4). Oliver North, Jr., tells congressional inquiry higher officials approved his secret Iran-Contraoperations(July 7–10).Admiral John M. Poindexter, former National Security Adviser, testifies he authorized use of Iran arms sale profits to aid Contras(July 15–22).Secretary of State George P. Shultztestifies he was deceived repeatedly on Iran-Contra affair(July 23–24).Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger tells inquiry of official deception and intrigue(July 31, Aug. 3).Reagan says Iran-Contra arms policy went astray and accepts responsibility(Aug. 12).Severe earthquakestrikes Los Angeles, leaving 100 injured and six dead(Oct. 1).Senate, 58–42, rejects Robert H. Borkas Supreme Court justice(Oct. 23).

1984 World History Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) The Permanent Mission of India to the UN 1984 Bell System broken up(Jan. 1).France gets first deliveries of Soviet natural gas(Jan. 1).Syria frees captured U.S. Navy pilot, Lieut. Robert C. Goodman, Jr.(Jan. 3).U.S. and Vatican exchange diplomats after 116-year hiatus(Jan. 10).Reagan orders U.S. Marines withdrawn from Beirut international peacekeeping force(Feb. 7). Yuri V. Andropovdies at 69; Konstantin U. Chernenko, 72, named Soviet Union leader(Feb. 9).Italy and Vatican agree to end Roman Catholicism as state religion(Feb. 18).Reagan ends U.S. role in Beirut by relieving Sixth Fleet from peacekeeping force(March 30).Congress rebukes President Reagan on use of federal funds for mining Nicaraguan harbors(April 10).Soviet Union withdraws from summer Olympic games in U.S., and other bloc nations follow (May 7et seq.). José Napoleón Duarte, moderate, elected president of El Salvador(May 11).Three hundred slain as Indian Army occupies Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar(June 6).Thirty-ninth Democratic National Convention, in San Francisco, nominates Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine A. Ferraro(July 16–19).Thirty-third Republican National Convention, at Dallas, renominates President Reagan and Vice President Bush(Aug. 20–25). Brian Mulroneyand Conservative party win Canadian election in landslide(Sept. 4).Indian prime minister Indira Gandhiassassinated by two Sikh bodyguards; 1,000 killed in anti-Sikh riots; son Rajivsucceeds her(Oct. 31).President Reagan re-elected in landslide with 59% of vote(Nov. 6).Toxic gas leaks from Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killing 2,000 and injuring 150,000(Dec. 3).

1985 World History 1985 Ronald Reagan, 73, takes oath for second term as 40th president(Jan. 20).General Westmorelandsettles libel action against CBS(Feb. 18).Prime Minister Margaret Thatcheraddresses Congress, endorsing Reagan's policies(Feb. 20).USSR leader Chernenko dies at 73 and is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev, 54(March 11).Two Shi'ite Muslimgunmen capture TWA airliner with 133 aboard, 104 of them Americans(June 14);39 remaining hostages freed in Beirut(June 30).Supreme Court, 5–4, bars public school teachers from parochial schools(July 1).Arthur James Walker, 50, retired naval officer, convicted by federal judge of participating in Soviet spy ring operated by his brother, John Walker(Aug. 9). P.L.O.terrorists hijackAchille Lauro,Italian cruise ship, with 80 passengers, plus crew(Oct. 7);American, Leon Klinghoffer, killed(Oct. 8); Italian government toppled by political crisis over hijacking(Oct. 16).John A. Walker and son, Michael I. Walker, 22, sentenced in Navy espionage case(Oct. 28).Reagan and Gorbachev meet at summit(Nov. 19);agree to step up arms control talks and renew cultural contacts(Nov. 21).Terrorists seize Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner after takeoff from Athens(Nov. 23);59 dead as Egyptian forces storm plane on Malta(Nov. 24).U.S. budget-balancing bill enacted(Dec. 12).

1980 World History Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) The Republican National Committee 1980 Six U.S. embassy aides escape from Iran with Canadian help(Jan. 29).F.B.I.'s undercover operation “Abscam” (for Arab scam) implicates public officials(Feb. 2).U.S. breaks diplomatic ties with Iran(April 7).Eight U.S. servicemen are killed and five are injured as helicopter and cargo plane collide in abortive desert raid to rescue American hostagesin Tehran(April 25).Supreme Court upholds limits on federal aid for abortions(June 30). Shah of Irandies at 60(July 27). Anastasio Somoza Debayle, ousted Nicaragua ruler, and two aides assassinated in Asunción, Paraguay capital(Sept. 17).Iraq troops hold 90 square miles of Iran after invasion; 8-year Iran-Iraq warbegins(Sept. 19). Ronald Reaganelected president in Republican sweep(Nov. 4).Three U.S. nuns and lay worker found shot in El Salvador(Dec. 4). John Lennonof the Beatles shot dead in New York City(Dec. 8).Smallpox eradicated.

1981 World History Sandra Day O'Connor (1930– ) U.S. Supreme Court 1981 Ronald Reagantakes oath as 40th president(Jan. 20).U.S.-Iran agreement frees 52 hostages held in Tehransince 1979(Jan. 20);hostages welcomed back in U.S.(Jan. 25).President Reagan wounded by gunman, with press secretary and two law-enforcement officers(March 30).Pope John Paul IIwounded by gunman(May 14).Reagan nominates Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, 51, of Arizona, as first woman on Supreme Court(July 7).More than 110 die in collapse of aerial walkways in lobby of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City; 188 injured(July 18).Air controllers strike, disrupting flights(Aug. 3);government dismisses strikers(Aug. 11). AIDSis first identified.