January

• Restaurant chain Wendy's begins a new ad campaign starring Clara Peller, whose tagline "Where's the beef?" becomes an instant hit. Peller, flanked by Mildred Lane and Elizabeth Shaw, go on to make 4 commercials and the series earns a Clio award.

• Beach Boy Dennis Wilson drowns at the age of 39.

January 10

• The United States resumes diplomatic ties with The Vatican after 117 years.

January 13

• An operating license was withheld from a nearly completed nuclear power plant in Illinois.

January 17

• The U.S. Supreme Court rules that it is legal for people to record TV broadcasts for home use.

January 21

• "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

January 25

• In a faux paux that would play a major role in his losing the Democratic nomination for president, Jesse Jackson refers to Jews as "hymies" and New York City as "Hymietown".

January 27

• A smoke bomb explodes during the filming of a Pepsi commercial, setting Michael Jackson's hair on fire. The fire causes 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his scalp and sends the joke "What did Michael Jackson do when his hair caught fire? Beat It" through junior high schools everywhere.

February 3

• A baby born in California was the first child conveived in one woman's womb and carried to term in another.

February 4

• Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

February 7

• President Reagan announces that the U.S. Marines in Beirut will be withdrawn.

• Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart on the space shuttle Challenger became the first humans to take an untethered spacewalk, using jetpacks.

February 13

• Stormie Jones, a 6-year-old Texas girl, becomes the first recipient of a heart-liver transplant.

February 29

• The last U.S. Marines in Beirut are withdrawn.

February 25

• Van Halen's "Jump" begins a 5-week reign as the number 1 song.

March 3

• Peter Ueberroth is elected the commissioner of baseball.

March 4

• A Television Hall of Fame is established with Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, William S. Paley, Paddy Chayefsky, and David Sarnoff its first inductees.

March 5

• The U.S. Supreme Court rules that nativity scenes may be included in city Christmas displays without violating the separation of Church and State.

March 20

• The U.S. Senate rejects 56-44 (2/3 majority required) a constitutional ammendment allowing organized school prayer.

March 30

• TV's "Lifestyles od the Rich and Famous", hosted by Robin leach, premieres.

March 31

• "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

April 1

• Just-hours-shy-of-45-year-old singer/songwriter Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father.

April 21

• "Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)" by Phil Collins begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

April 23

• It is announced that researchers have identified the virus believed to be responsible for AIDS.

• Director John Landis and 2 associates are indicted on 3 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the "Twilight Zone" accident that killed actor Vic Morrow and two children, My-ca Le and Renee Chen.

April 26

• David Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, is found dead in a hotel room.

May 7

• Dow Chemical and 6 other manufacturers of Agent Orange establishes a $180,000,000 fund to help Vietnam War veterans and families victimized by the chemical.

May 8

• The USSR withdraws from the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Many believe it is in revenge for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

May 9

• Big Crinkly, a 24-foot high mobile by sculptor Alexander Calder sets a US record at a price of $852,000.
• Ordination of non-celibate homosexuals was prohibited by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church.

May 12

• Lionel Richie's "Hello" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

May 16

• Comedian Andy Kauffman dies of lung cancer at the age of 35.

May 22

• President Reagan, upon being asked if money could be secretly sent to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, says "Nothing like that could take place without the knowledge of Congress."
• The Supreme Court ruled that law firms may not discriminate on the basis or sex, race, religion, or national origin in promoting associates to partnership.

May 23

• Graduating at the top of her class, Kristine Holderied became the first woman at the Naval Academy to do so.

May 26

• "Let's Hear It For the Boy" by Deniece Williams begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

May 30

• The development of a vaccine for chicken pox is announced.

June 4

• University of California researchers announced that they have successfully cloned DNA fragments from an extinct animal.

June 5

• Prince's "When Doves Cry" begins a 5-week reign as the number 1 song.

June 9

• Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

• Donald Duck's 50th birthday is celebrated.

June 11

• The U.S. Supreme Court rules that evidence obtained illegally may be used in a trial if it can be proven that the evidence would have been discovered regardless.

June 14

• Bloomingdale's begins selling rhinestone-studded white gloves, like the kind worn by Michael Jackson, at a price of $9.95 (for one, of course).
• A nonbinding resolution opposing the ordination of women was passed by the Southern Baptist Convention.

June 21

• A stock transaction of 10 million shares of Superior Oil were traded at a cost of 423.8 million, making it the largest single transaction in New York Stock Exchange history.

June 23

• "The Reflex" by Duran Duran begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

July 12

• Walter Mondale introduces geralddine Ferraro as his running mate. She becomes the first female from a major U.S. political party to run for vice-president.

July 16-19

• Walter Mondale is nominated as the Democratic candidate for president of the United States. He chooses Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his vice-presidential candidiate.

July 17

• President Reagan signs a bill into law requiring all states to raise their legal drinking age to 21 by October 1, 1986.

July 18

• San Diego Resident James Oliver Huberty, armed with a lot of guns and a boombox blasting "The Warrior" by Scandal, walks into a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro and opens fire. By the time the police kill him he has shot 40 people, killing 21 of them. (Incidently, this set the record for the most casualties inflicted in 1 day by 1 person with firearms in peacetime.)

July 20

• The first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams, is forced to step down after Penthouse published old nude pictures of her with another woman.

July 21

• James Fixx, fitness expert and author of "The Complete Book of Running", dies of a heart attack (while jogging) at the age of 52.

July 26

• The US government guaranteed loans of 4.5 billion by the Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Company, making it the largest federal loan guarantee in history.

August 11

• "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker, Jr. begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.
• During a souncd check, Ronald Reagan jokes, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in 5 minutes."
• President Reagan also signed a bill protecting student meetings for religious or political purposes outside of normal school hours.

August 13

• Actor Richard Burton dies at the age of 58. He has died, Horatio.

August 20-23

• Ronald Reagan is nominated by the Republican party for a second term as president of the United States. He will keep George Bush as his vice-presidential candidate.

August 30-September 5

• The third of four Space Shuttles, Discovery, makes its maiden voyage. The flight includes Judith Resnick, the second US woman in space after Sally Ride.

September 1

• Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It" begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

September 14-18

• "Rosy O'Grady's Balloon of Peace", piloted by Joe Kittinger, makes the first solo transatlantic balloon flight.

September 16

• TV's "Miami Vice" premieres.

September 20

• A suicide bomber attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people.

• TV's "The Cosby Show" premieres.

September 22

• "Missing You" by John Waite begins a 1-week reign as the number 1 song.

September 29

• "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and the Revolution begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 3

• Richard Miller, an FBI agent, is arrested on charges of espionage.

October 11

• Dr. Kathryn Sullivan becomes the first American woman to walk in space.

October 13

• "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

October 14

President Reagan signs a bill that introduces major changes to the US criminal code, including the ability to hold prisoners without bail for the first time in peacetime.

October 16

• Loma Linda University Medical Center's Dr. Leonard Bailey transplants a baboon heart into 12-day-old "Baby Fae".

• Actor Jon-Erik Hexum joking shoots himself in the head with a gun loaded with blanks (which unbeknownst to him can be lethal at close range), killing himself at the age of 26.

October 31

• Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, is assassinated by two of her bodyguards.

November 1

• Two Women, a painting by Willem de Kooning, sold for 1.98 million making it the highest price ever paid for a post WWII painting.

November 3

• Billy Ocean's "Carribean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 6

• Ronald Reagan is elected to a second term as president of the United States.

November 12

• The first salvage operation in space takes place.

November 15

• Baby Fae, recipient of a baboon heart on October 16, dies.

November 17

• "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham! begins a 3-week reign as the number 1 song.

November 25

• 52-year-olf William Schroeder becomes the second recipient of an artificial heart. He lives for 620 days after the operation.

December 3

• Approximately 2,000 people are killed overnight when a leak at the Union Carbide plant sends a cloud of toxic gas over Bhopal, India. The death toll eventually rises to 3,329.

December 8

• "Out of Touch" by Daryl Hall and John Oates begins a 2-week reign as the number 1 song.

December 10

• U.S. astronomers make the first discovery of a planet outside the Solar System, orbiting a star in the constellation Ophiuchus.

December 22

• "Like a Virgin" by Madonna begins a 6-week reign as the number 1 song.

• Bernhard Goetz, armed with an unlicensed gun, shoots four black teens on a subway after one of them asks him for five dollars. One of them is left paralyzed, and Goetz is known henceforth as "The Subway Vigilante".