istoryworld
Events relating to north america
Francis Ford Coppola directs Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now
Partial meltdown of a US nuclear power station at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, spreads radioactive steam over a large surrounding area
20-year-old US tennis player John McEnroe wins the singles title in the US Open for the first of four times
The small firm of Microsoft wins the contract to provide the operating system of the IBM personal computer
The USA ends all aid to Nicaragua and provides funds to train and equip the Contras in neighbouring Honduras
A US helicopter mission fails disastrously in its attempt to rescue the embassy hostages in Tehran
US author Sam Shepard's play True West has its premiere in New York
Martin Scorsese directs Robert de Niro in Raging Bull
US choreographer Mark Morris founds his own company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, based in New York
Republican Ronald Reagan wins the US presidential election against the incumbent Jimmy Carter
Beatle John Lennon is murdered by a psychopath on the steps of his and Yoko Ono's apartment block in New York
Iran releases the US embassy hostages immediately after the end of Jimmy Carter's presidency
Henry and Jane Fonda, father and daughter, star with Katherine Hepburn in On Golden Pond
Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan share a common economic viewpoint, following the policy known as monetarism
President Reagan is shot outside a hotel in Washington by John W. Hinckley Jr, but survives
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is described for the first time in a US medical journal
The IBM PC 5150, the first Personal Computer, is launched with a chip by Intel and software by Microsoft
Raiders of the Lost Ark launches an ongoing series for director Steven Spielberg and actor Harrison Ford
Steven Spielberg directs E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, in which an alien is stranded on earth and is befriended by a young boy
Dustin Hoffman, in Tootsie, plays a man who becomes a star in the persona of an actress
Congress in Washington passes the Boland Amendment, banning US military aid to the Contras
Little Shop of Horrors, by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, opens in New York
Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church (or 'Moonies'), is convicted in the USA of tax fraud and imprisoned
8,000-year-old human remains are found in a waterlogged burial site at Windover, in Florida
