Explore 1930 historical events from 1980–1989.
Ray McAnally was an Irish actor. He was the recipient of three BAFTA Awards in the late 1980s: two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor, and a BAFTA Television Award for Bes…
Ray McAnally, Irish actor (born 1926)
Elisabet "Betti" Alver, was one of Estonia's most notable poets. She was among the first generation to be educated in schools of an independent Estonia. She went to grammar school …
Betti Alver, Estonian author and poet (born 1906)
A gun turret is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable we…
A gun turret exploded on board the United States Navy battleship Iowa, killing 47 sailors
The April 26 Editorial was a front-page article published in People's Daily on April 26, 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests. The editorial effectively defined the student m…
An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the growing unrest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing which woul
The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado was an intense tornado that occurred in Manikganj District, Bangladesh on April 26, 1989. While it was destructive and extremely deadly, there is grea…
A tornado struck the Manikganj District of Bangladesh and killed an estimated 1,300 people, making it the deadliest torn
Severe Tropical Storm Cecil was a deadly and destructive typhoon that caused devastating floods in central Vietnam which killed 751 people in May of 1989. The storm developed as a …
Tropical Storm Cecil dissipated over Laos after devastating Quảng Nam province, Vietnam, and causing the deaths of 751 p
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the primary armed forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of fo…
The People's Liberation Army suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, leaving hundreds of people dead and wo
Ruhollah Mostafavi Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the leader of …
Following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Assembly of Experts elected Ali Khamenei to be Supreme Leader of Iran
Tank Man is an unidentified individual, presumed to be a Chinese man, who stood in front of a column of Type 59 tanks on Chang'an Avenue near Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 5,…
An anonymous demonstrator, later dubbed "Tank Man", single-handedly stopped a column of Chinese tanks during the Tiananm
Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Surina…
Surinam Airways Flight 764 (pictured) crashed while approaching Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, in Zanderij, k
Maui is the second-largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of Maui County's four siz…
Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C
Illinois Bell Telephone Company, LLC is the Bell Operating Company serving Illinois. It is owned by AT&T through AT&T Teleholdings, formerly Ameritech.
A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the "w
Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the legislative branch of Australia's federal tier of government. The building also houses the core of the exe…
New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government an…
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The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikh…
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty comes into effect
Operation Praying Mantis was the 18 April 1988 attack by the United States on Iranian naval targets in the Persian Gulf in retaliation for the mining of a U.S. warship four days ea…
The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World
John Demjanjuk, was a Trawniki and Nazi camp guard at Sobibor extermination camp, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg. Demjanjuk became the center of global media attention in the 1980s, whe…
In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later o
On May 4, 1988, a fire followed by several explosions occurred at the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) chemical plant in Henderson, Nevada, United Stat…
The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire
Widerøe Flight 710, known as the Torghatten Accident, was a controlled flight into terrain into the mountain of Torghatten in Brønnøy Municipality, Norway. The Widerøe-operated de …
All thirty-six passengers and crew are killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashes into Mt
The Carrollton bus collision occurred on May 14, 1988, on Interstate 71 in unincorporated Carroll County, Kentucky, United States. The collision involved a former school bus in use…
Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a conve
The Ariane 4 was a European expendable launch vehicle, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It …
The Ariane 4 rocket is launched on its maiden flight
Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in t…
Pope John Paul II canonizes 117 Vietnamese Martyrs
Kyle Henry Erovre Okposo is an American former professional ice hockey right winger who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sa…
Kyle Okposo, American ice hockey player