Timeline 1984
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1984 Jan 1, The
break-up of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was
divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust
agreement. 8 new companies were formed including US West.
(AP, 1/1/98)(SFEC, 8/16/98,
p.A7)(www.corp.att.com/history/history4.html)
1984 Jan 1, The Caribbean Basin
Initiative (CBI), a unilateral and temporary United States program
initiated by the 1983 "Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act" (CBERA)
came into effect and aimed to provide several tariff and trade benefits
to many Central American and Caribbean countries.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Basin_Initiative)
1984 Jan 2, A record 281,981
dominoes were toppled at Furth, W. Germany.
(www.recordholders.org/en/records/domino-toppling.html)
1984 Jan 6, Texaco offered $125
per share for Getty oil stock superseding the Pennzoil offer of $112.50
per share. It became the biggest merger on record.
(SFC, 1/8/95, p.7)
1984 Jan 10, Clara Peller
(1902-1987) 1st asked: "Where's the Beef?," as part of a TV ad for
Wendy’s.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where's_the_beef%3F)(AH, 6/07, p.11)
1984 Jan 10, The United States and
the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in
117 years.
(AP, 1/10/98)(HN, 1/10/99)
1984 Jan 14, Ray Kroc (b.1902),
founder of MacDonalds and owner San Diego Padres, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc)
1984 Jan 15, Police raided the
vacation home of Paul and Linda McCartney (1941-1998) following a tip.
Both were arrested on possession of cannabis.
(http://leftofcentrist.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html)
1984 Jan 17, The US Supreme Court
sided with Sony and ruled, 5 to 4, that the private use of Sony’s
Betamax home video cassette recorders to tape television programs did
not violate federal copyright laws because they were “capable of
substantial non-infringing uses.”
(AP, 1/17/02)(SFC, 4/8/02, p.E1)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.57)
1984 Jan 19, In SF seven Municipal
Railway workers were arrested by police who saw them skimming money
from locked fare boxes at the Kirkland yard near Fisherman’s Wharf.
Estimates of losses for the year ran from $500,000 to $2 million.
(SSFC, 1/18/09, DB p.50)
1984 Jan 20, Johnny Weissmuller
(79), Romania-born US swimmer (Olympics-5 gold-1924, 28), movie actor
(Tarzan), died in Acapulco, Mexico. In 2002 his son (1940-2006)
published “Tarzan, My Father.”
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9076468)(SFC,
7/31/06, p.B4)
1984 Jan 24, Apple Computer Inc
unveiled its Macintosh personal computer. It included sound-sampling
technology that could play recorded sounds. The CPU had a speed of 8
MHz and 128k of RAM. It sold for $2,495.
(WSJ,11/14/94, p.R26)(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.B1)(SFC,
1/24/04, p.A12)
1984 Jan 25, President Reagan
endorsed the development of the first U.S. permanently manned space
station.
(HN, 1/25/99)
1984 Jan 29, President Ronald
Reagan announced that he would run for a second term.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1984 Jan 29, It was reported that
SF Muni administrators were rushing to implement a $1.9 million
security plan due to major losses from lax security at its maintenance
yards.
(SSFC, 1/25/09, DB p.50)
1984 Jan 29, The Soviets issued a
formal complaint against alleged U.S. arms treaty violations.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1984 Jan, The US stock market
began a 7 month decline of 15%.
(SFC,10/17/97, p.B2)
1984 Jan, An FBI lie detector test
was administered to Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos. He failed an
initial test to determine whether he had contact with foreign
intelligence services or inappropriately shared information. He passed
a 2nd test.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A1)
1984 Jan, In Nigeria Arthur Judah
Angel (21) was beaten and thrown behind bars when he went to visit a
friend who had been taken into custody at a neighborhood police
station. He failed to pay a bribe and was sentenced to death. During
his time in prison he made drawings and witnessed the hangings of over
450 fellow inmates. After a series of appeals he was released in
February 2000. Rights groups from around the world have used his
surviving 51 death row works to lobby for the abolition of the death
sentence.
(AP, 12/30/08)
1984 Feb 3, The Environmental
Protection Agency ordered a ban on the pesticide EDB for grain
products.
(HN, 2/3/99)
1984 Feb 7, Space shuttle
astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first
untethered space walk.
(AP, 2/7/97)
1984 Feb 8, Winter Olympics opened
in Sarajevo.
(HN, 2/8/98)
1984 Feb 9, Soviet leader Yuri V.
Andropov (69) died, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid
Brezhnev. He was succeeded by Konstantin U. Chernenko. US Pres. Ronald
Reagan said he wouldn’t go to any memorial for Andropov: “I don’t want
to honor that prick.”
(AP, 2/9/99)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.75)
1984 Feb 10, Kevin Andrew Collins
(9) was abducted from a SF street corner. The child’s picture was among
the 1st to appear on milk cartons across the country. By 2007 Kevin's
whereabouts were still unknown, and there were no new leads in the 23
year-old case. The strain of Kevin's disappearance and the search for
their son eventually led Kevin’s parents, David and Ann Collins, to
divorce.
(SFC, 2/10/06,
p.B6)(www.crimeandjustice.us/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t26.html)
1984 Feb 11, Mohammad Maqbool
Bhat, founder of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation
Front (JKLF), was hanged in New Delhi's Tihar jail for the murder of a
policeman. Ravindra Mhatre, India's deputy high commissioner in
Britain, had been murdered in Birmingham, England. A group calling
itself the Kashmir Liberation Army claimed responsibility and demanded
a ransom of 1 million pounds ($1.84 million) and the release of
political prisoners in India. The Indian government hanged Maqbool
Bhat, a leading Kashmiri dissident it had been holding in jail. In 2004
Mohammed Aslam (49) was charged with the kidnap, false imprisonment and
murder of Mhatre.
(AP, 11/4/04)(AFP, 2/11/07)
1984 Feb 13, Konstantin Chernenko
was chosen to be general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's
Central Committee, succeeding the late Yuri Andropov.
(HN, 2/13/98)(AP, 2/13/98)
1984 Feb 14, 6-year-old Stormie
Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient at
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She lived until November 1990.
(AP, 2/14/04)
1984 Feb 14, Jayne Torvill and
Christopher Dean of Britain won the gold medal in ice dancing at the
Sarajevo Olympics.
(AP, 2/14/04)
1984 Feb 14, In South Africa under
Apartheid rule the Black community at Mogopa was displaced in a "force
removal" action. Some 300 homes and a cluster of community buildings
were bulldozed over.
(WSJ, 3/10/00, p.A1)
1984 Feb 15, Ethel Merman (76),
singer, actress (Kid Million), died in her sleep.
(http://imdb.com/name/nm0581062/)
1984 Feb 19, The USSR
performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan, Semipalitinsk.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_10.htm)
1984 Feb 22, A 12-year-old Houston
boy known publicly only as "David," died 15 days after being removed
from the bubble for a bone-marrow transplant. He had spent most his
life in a plastic bubble because he had no immunity to disease.
(AP, 2/22/04)
1984 Feb 22-1984 Mar 16, Iran’s
offensive Operation Kheibar captured the Iraqi Majnoon Islands in the
Haur al-Hawizeh marshes. Britain and the US sent warships to the
Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.
(HN,
2/22/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War)
1984 Feb 23, Two oceanic
conservation groups reported that SF Bay Area fishermen have caught
only 10-12% of their 10,000 ton herring quota as they passed more than
halfway through the fishing season. Quotas had doubled since 1977 and
they were concerned that the herring stocks may be at the point of no
return. The herring was harvested primarily for their roe, which
fetched up to $500 a ton and was eagerly sought by Japanese consumers.
(SSFC, 2/22/09, DB p.54)
1984 Feb 25, In Cubatao, Sao
Paulo, Brazil, an explosion from a gasoline leak in a pipeline burned a
nearby shantytown with than 500 deaths.
(HSAB, 1994, p.46)
1984 Feb 26, Reverend Jesse
Jackson acknowledged that he had called NYC: "Hymietown."
(www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921581,00.html)
1984 Feb 26, Last US marines in
multinational peace-keeping force in Lebanon left Beirut.
(www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4791)
1984 Feb 28, New Hampshire held
its presidential primary. Ronald Reagan won with 86.1% of the total
vote. Gary Hart won the Democratic tally over Walter Mondale and John
Glenn.
(www.politicallibrary.org/TallState/1984rep.html)(SSFC, 1/25/04, p.A19)
1984 Feb 29, Liberace's palimony
suit was thrown out of court.
(SFC, 2/29/00,
p.A1)(www.bobsliberace.com/decades/1980s/1980s.html)
1984 Feb 29, Canadian Prime
Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he was stepping down after
more than 15 years in power.
(AP, 2/29/00)
1984 Feb 29-1984 Mar 1, In one of
the largest battles of the Iran-Iraq war, the two armies clashed and
inflicted more than 25,000 fatalities on each other.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Feb 29, In Switzerland a
court ruled that the villagers of Zermatt owned the Matterhorn.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A1)
1984 Mar 1, NASA launched
Landsat-D Prime (Landsat 5) to map the Earth.
(http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/landsat5.html)
1984 Mar 1, Jackie Coogan
(b.1914), actor (Uncle Fester-Addams Family), died.
(http://imdb.com/name/nm0001067/)
1984 Mar 2, One of the first
McDonald's franchises was closed in Des Plaines, IL.
(http://tinyurl.com/28tp6z)
1984 Mar 3, Peter Ueberroth
(b.1937) was elected baseball commissioner, effective Oct 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ueberroth)
1984 Mar 5, The US Supreme Court
ruled that cities have the right to display the Nativity scene as part
of their Christmas display.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1984 Mar 5, The US accused Iraq of
using poison gas against Iran. Iraq had used tabun against Iran. This
was the first use ever of a nerve agent in war.
(http://tinyurl.com/2jd895)(www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/cw/program.htm)
1984 Mar 5, Tito Gobbi (b.1923),
Italian baritone (Scarpia in Tosca), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tito_Gobbi)
1984 Mar 6, Martin Niemoller (92),
German U-boat captain, anti-Nazi minister, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller)
1984 Mar 12, Lebanese President
Gemayel opened the second meeting in five years calling for the end to
nine-years of war.
(HN, 3/12/98)
1984 Mar 15, The acquittal of a
Miami police officer on charges of negligently killing a ghetto youth
sparked a rampage by angry blacks in Miami; 550 people were arrested.
(http://tinyurl.com/39ow9d)
1984 Mar 16, William Buckley, the
CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen; he died in
captivity.
(AP, 3/16/97)
1984 Mar 16, Mozambique and South
Africa signed a pact banning support for one another's internal foes.
(HN, 3/16/98)
1984 Mar 17, Iraq used tabun
against Iran. This was the first use ever of a nerve agent in a
conventional battle.
(www.fas.org/irp/gulf/cia/970409/970409_cia_95224_95224_01.html)
1984 Mar 19, The TV show "Kate
& Allie" premiered.
(http://imdb.com/title/tt0086742/)
1984 Mar 19, The SS Mobil Oil
spilled 200,000 gallons of oil into the Columbia River near Longview.
(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/96596_timeline21.shtml)
1984 Mar 20, Denny McLain, former
Detroit Tiger pitching star, was indicted on various charges of
racketeering.
(http://tinyurl.com/35zuwx)
1984 Mar 21, A ground-breaking
ceremony was held as part of NYC’s Central Park was named Strawberry
Fields honoring John Lennon.
(www.centralpark.com/pages/attractions/strawberry-fields.html)
1984 Mar 21, A Soviet submarine
crashed into the USS Kitty Hawk off the coast of Japan.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1984 Mar 25, Jose Napoleon Duarte
(1925-1990), a Christian Democrat political moderate, was elected
president of El Salvador following 5 years of military rule.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvadoran_presidential_election,_1984)(SSFC,
3/15/09, p.A7)
1984 Mar 26, US Congress
established the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to distribute
funds for wildlife and environmental projects.
(SFC, 11/20/99,
p.A8)(www.fws.gov/laws/laws_digest/NATLFW.HTML)
1984 Mar 27, "Starlight Express,"
a techno musical, roller-skating venture by Andrew Lloyd Weber and
Richard Stilgoe, premiered at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London.
(SFC, 12/31/99,
p.C6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlight_Express)
1984 Mar 28, Zoe, the 1st
frozen-embryo child, was born in Melbourne, Australia. Scientists
reported the birth 2 weeks later.
(www.breedingbetterdogs.com/aging.html)
1984 Mar 29, The NFL Baltimore
Colts moved to Indianapolis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Colts)
1984 Mar, Hafez Assad, president
of Syria, appointed his brother Rifaat as one of Syria's three
Vice-presidents (a relatively powerless position) and issued a decree
transferring his command of the Defense Companies to another military
officer.
(www.meib.org/articles/0006_sd.htm)
1984 Apr 1, Stewart Brand and
Larry Brilliant launched the Well (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) in
Sausalito. In La Jolla, Ca., Larry Brilliant, physician and head of
Network Technologies Int’l. in Michigan, pitched the idea for a public
computer conferencing system to Stewart Brand, publisher of the Whole
Earth Catalog. Their meeting led to the 1985 founding of "The Well"
online service that operated as a collection of conferences. It used
the PicoSpan conferencing software. In 2001 Katie Hafner authored "The
Well: A Story of Love, Death and Real Life in the Seminal Online
Community."
(Wired, 5/97, p.100)(SSFC, 5/27/01, DB p.69)
1984 Apr 1, Marvin P. Gay Sr.
(d.1998 at 84) shot and killed his son, Motown singer Marvin Gaye
during an argument in Los Angeles. It was one day before the singer’s
45th birthday. Gaye’s hit songs included "I Heard It Through the
Grapevine," "What’s Going On," and "Let’s Get It On." Mr. Gay pleaded
voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 5 years probation.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1984 Apr 3, Coach John Thompson of
Georgetown University became the first African-American coach to win an
NCAA basketball tournament.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1984 Apr 5, Arthur Travers
("Bomber") Harris (b.1892), marshal of British RAF, died.
(www.ihr.org/jhr/v05/v05p431_Lutton.html)
1984 Apr 6, Pioneer Courthouse
Square opened in Portland.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A6)
1984 Apr 6, 1st time 11 people in
space.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records)
1984 Apr 6, In SF Joan Baldwin
(43) was killed and mutilated at an Earl Scheib paint shop at 555
Bryant St. In 2006 police arrested parolee Dwight Culton (57) based on
DNA evidence.
(SFC, 11/22/06, p.B4)
1984 Apr 7, Frank Church (b.1924),
Sen-D-Idaho, (1957-81), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Church)
1984 Apr 8, In the 4th Golden
Raspberry Awards: “The Lonely Lady” won.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Golden_Raspberry_Awards)
1984 Apr 10, The US Senate
condemned the January CIA mining of Nicaraguan harbors.
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jksonc/docs/US-mining-nicaragua-harbors.html)
1984 Apr 10, In San Francisco Mei
“Linda” Leung (9) was kidnapped, raped and killed. Her body was found
hanging over a pipe in the baxement of her apartment building at 765
O’Farrell St. In 2009 DNA evidence tied Richard Ramirez (b.1960), known
as the “Night Stalker,” to her murder. The evidence also indicated a
possible 2nd attacker.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A1)
1984 Apr 11, Konstantin U.
Chernenko (1911-1985) was named Chairman of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko)
1984 Apr 13, Pete Rose, playing
for the Montreal Expos, became the 1st NL baseball player to get 4,000
hits in a career, joining Ty Cobb to become only the second player to
enter the 4000 hit club.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4000_hit_club)
1984 Apr 13, Christopher Wilder,
FBI's "most wanted man," accidentally killed himself.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1984 Apr 15, William Empson
(b.1926), English literary critic and poet, died. His 1950 book, “Seven
Types of Ambiguity,” changed literary criticism. In 2005 John Haffenden
authored “William Empson: Volume I, Among the Mandarins.” In 2006
Haffenden completed Vol II, “William Empson: Against the Christians.”
(Econ, 6/4/05,
p.79)(www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1427)(WSJ,
12/23/06, p.P10)
1984 Apr 16, In San Francisco
nearly 200 people were arrested as some 1,000 demonstrators protested
the noon speech by Henry Kissinger as the SF Hilton Hotel. “I believe
that, within the next 12 to 15 months, there is every possibility that
significant negotiations with the Soviet Union will start.”
(www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/84/84-04kissinger-speech.html)(SSFC,
4/12/09, DB p.43)
1984 Apr 17, Yvonne Fletcher, a
British police officer, was killed from rifle shots fired from a window
of the Libyan embassy in London during a demonstration against Moammar
Khadafy. Diplomatic relations were soon severed and not restored until
1999. Libya later gave Fletcher’s family some compensation. In 2004 a
joint British-Libyan investigation into the murder was launched.
In 2009 Moamer Kadhafi officially apologized for the shooting.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A8)(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)(AP,
4/7/04)(AFP, 10/26/09)
1984 Apr 20, Julie Connell (18), a
senior at Arroyo High School, disappeared in Hayward. Her body was
found 5 days later in Palomares Canyon near Castro Valley. In 2000 DNA
evidence revealed that Robert Rhoades (47), a Yuba City man on death
row, had kidnapped, raped and stabbed her to death. Rhoades was
convicted in 2007.
(SFC, 1/26/00, p.A14)(SFC, 3/13/07, p.B3)(SFC,
4/11/07, p.B4)
1984 Apr 22, The US Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) said French researchers had discovered that a
virus causes AIDS. Scientists identified a retrovirus named human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the cause of AIDS.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A20)(www.avert.org/his81_86.htm)
1984 Apr 22, Ansel Adams (b.1902),
US photographer, died in Monterey, Ca. He was best known for his black
and white photographs of California's Yosemite Valley.
(www.leninimports.com/ansel_adams.html)
1984 Apr 23, US Health Secretary
Margaret Heckler said the AIDS-virus was identified as the cause of
acquired immune deficiency syndrome. [see Apr 21]
(http://tinyurl.com/yuvyv6)
1984 Apr 25, Richard Benedict
(b.1920), Italian-born TV and film actor, died of a heart attack.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Benedict)
1984 Apr 26, Pres. Reagan arrived
in China for the start of a 6-day visit.
(http://tinyurl.com/yvlwql)
1984 Apr 26, An earthquake hit the
SF Bay Area. It measured 6.2 on the Richter scale and was centered in
Morgan Hill.
(SSFC, 4/19/09, DB p.54)
1984 Apr 26, William "Count"
Basie, jazz piano great, died on his 80th birthday. Joe Williams
sang "Come Sunday," Duke Ellington’s prayer for the liberation of
Afro-American people, at the funeral. Conald "Tee" Carson replaced
Basie as the head of the Count Basie Orchestra.
(SFEM, 10/5/7, p.10)(SFC, 2/19/00, p.A21)(MC,
4/26/02)
1984 Apr 27, In Oregon Billy
Gilley Jr. (28) murdered his parents and sister (11) with a baseball
bat and ran away with his sister Jody (16). She soon contacted the
police and Billy was arrested. In 2008 Kathryn Harrison authored “While
They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family.”
(SFC, 6/17/08, p.E3)
1984 Apr 28, "La Tragedie de
Carmen" closed at Beaumont Theater in NYC after 187 performances.
(www.theatredb.com/QShow.php?sid=s0998)
1984 Apr 28, Silvia A. Warner
(b.1908), New Zealand-born writer, died. Her 1958 novel “Spinster” was
made into the 1961 film “Two Loves” (also known as The Spinster)
starring Shirley MacLaine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Ashton-Warner)
1984 Apr, Chinese launched renewed
attacks against Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War)
1984 Apr, India sent troops to
occupy the Siachen glacier following suspicious mountaineering
expeditions from Pakistan. Over the next 15 years some 10,000 Indian
and Pakistani casualties, largely due to frostbite and mountain
sickness, resulted.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A25)
1984 May 1, Gordon Jenkins
(b.1910), orchestra leader (NBC Comedy Hour), died of Lou Gehrig's
disease in Malibu, Ca.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkins)
1984 May 7, A $180 million
out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action
suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they had suffered injury
from exposure to the defoliant. A consortium of Dow Chemical and other
manufacturers paid $184 million to veterans from the US, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand but not South Korea.
(AP, 5/7/97)(SFC, 11/17/99, p.A18)
1984 May 8, The album "Legend,"
the greatest hits by Bob Marley (1945-1981) and the Wailers, was
released. It became the best-selling reggae record of all time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_(album))
1984 May 8, USSR announced it
would not participate in Summer Olympics planned for Los Angeles.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1984 May 9, In San Francisco a
5-alarm fire engulfed Piers 30 and 32 along the Embarcadero at the foot
of Bryant Street. Damages were estimated at $2.5 million.
(SSFC, 5/3/09, DB p.50)(SSFC, 5/10/09, DB p.50)
1984 May 10, The International
Court of Justice said the U.S. should halt any actions to blockade
Nicaragua's ports. The U.S. had already said it would not recognize
World Court jurisdiction on this issue.
(AP, 5/10/04)
1984 May 14, Jeane Sauve was
appointed as the 23rd governor-general of Canada. She was the first
woman to hold this position.
(CFA, '96, p.80)
1984 May 15, Thomas Albright (48),
art critic for the SF Chronicle, died. He had just completed his book
“Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980.”
(SSFC, 5/10/09, DB p.50)
1984 May 16, Andy Kaufman (35),
comedian, died of cancer. He played Latka Gravas in the TV sitcom Taxi.
(AP, 5/9/04)
1984 May 16, Irwin Shaw (b.1913),
US writer (Rich Man, Poor Man), died in Switzerland.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ishaw.htm)
1984 May 17, A federal bailout of
$4.5 billion kept the Continental Illinois Bank afloat. The 7th biggest
US bank’s loss of half its funds overnight led to America’s return to
strict capital requirements. Continental Illinois was later sold to
BankAmerica.
(WSJ, 9/24/98, p.A16)(Econ, 5/20/06, Survey
p.12)(http://tinyurl.com/358vwv)
1984 May 19, Michael Larson
(1949-1999) won $110,000 on the "Press Your Luck" Game Show. He had
memorized the generated game patterns.
(http://gscentral.net/larsen.htm)
1984 May 19, John Betjeman
(b.1906), British poet, died. In 2004 Bevis Hillier authored a 3-volume
biography of Betjeman. In 2006 A.N. Wilson authored a single volume
biography.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Betjeman)(WSJ,
12/2/06, p.P8)
1984 May 20, "On Your Toes" closed
at the Virginia Theater in NYC after 505 performances.
(www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4208)
1984 May 20, Peter Bull (72),
British actor (Dr Doolittle), died of a heart attack.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0119988/)
1984 May 25, Piet Ketting
(b.1904), Dutch pianist, conductor, composer, died.
(http://tinyurl.com/2tpeyt)
1984 May 26, A frisbee was kept
aloft for 16.72 seconds by Don Cain of Philadelphia.
(www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum30/HTML/000476.html)
1984 May 28, President Reagan led
a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery at the Tomb of the
Unknowns for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam
War. The remains were unearthed in 1998 for DNA testing and possible
identification. They were later identified as those of Air Force First
Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown
burial.
(AP, 5/28/97)(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(AP, 5/28/01)
1984 May 29, Eric Morecambe
(b.1926), British comedian (Morecambe & Wise), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Morecambe)
1984 May, Marta Healy, a
Nicaraguan exile, contacted George Morales, a champion power boat racer
and big-league drug trafficker under indictment in the US, to arrange a
meeting with contra rebels at her Miami home. Her aim was to broker a
deal to help the rebels financially. The rebels got an ok from the CIA
to accept airplanes and cash from the drug dealer while still receiving
CIA money under the table.
(SFC, 10/31/96,
p.A7)(www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/ch11p1.htm)
1984 May, Hafez Assad, president
of Syria, sent his brother Rifaat on a working visit to the USSR and
ousted Rifaat’s associates at home. Rifaat moved to Geneva and began
conspiring against the regime, reportedly meeting with Yasser Arafat,
his brother's arch enemy at the time. Rifaat spent most of his time in
France, Switzerland and Spain, though he retained the nominal position
of vice-president until February 1998. He returned to Syria in 1992
following the death of his mother and stayed there off and on until
1998, when he again went into exile.
(www.meib.org/articles/0006_sd.htm)
1984 Jun 1, "Tattletales" second
run, TV Game Show; last aired on CBS.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_in_television)
1984 Jun 1, President Ronald
Reagan visited Ireland.
(www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/84jun.htm)
1984 Jun 2, B.A. Skiff discovered
asteroid #3617.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._A._Skiff)
1984 Jun 3, In San Francisco the
cable cars on California Street returned to service after nearly 20
months and $58.2 million in re-design and construction costs.
(SSFC, 5/31/09, DB p.50)
1984 Jun 4, DNA was successfully
cloned from a quagga, an animal extinct since 1883.
(www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2003/jun4.htm)
1984 Jun 5, Indira Gandhi ordered
an attack on Sikh's holiest site, the Golden Temple.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Blue_Star)
1984 Jun 6, In India government
forces stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar in an effort to crush Sikh
extremists. At least 1,000 Sikhs and 200 soldiers were killed.
(AP, 6/6/04)
1984 Jun 7, George Givot (b.1902),
actor (Versatile Vaudeville), died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0321473/)
1984 Jun 12, In San Francisco the
Huntington Falls at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park was again turned on
after being rebuilt for $846,000 under a state grant. The 1893 falls
had collapsed in 1962 and were turned off for 22 years.
(SSFC, 6/7/09, DB p.46)
1984 Jun 18, Alan Berg, a Denver
radio talk show host, was shot to death outside his home. Two white
supremacists of the Aryan Nations Church were convicted of civil rights
violations in the slaying in 1987.
(AP, 6/18/97)(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A9)(SFC, 7/26/02,
p.A26)
1984 Jun 19, The first live TV
appearance by Chief Justice Warren Burger (Nightline).
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1984-6/1984-06-19-ABC-10.html)
1984 Jun 22, Richard Branson led
the inaugural flight of his Virgin Airlines from London to Newark, NJ.
(Econ, 6/16/07, SR p.10)
1984 Jun 24, In San Francisco the
12th annual Lesbian/Gay Freedom Parade drew an estimated 300,000
observers and participants.
(SSFC, 6/21/09, DB p.50)
1984 Jun 26, Carl Foreman
(b.1914), producer, writer (Born Free, High Noon), died of cancer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Foreman)
1984 Jun 26, Michel Foucault
(b.1926), French philosopher (History of Sexuality), died in Paris of
an AIDs-related illness.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault)
1984 Jun 27, The US Supreme Court
ended the NCAA monopoly on college football telecasts, ruling such
control violated antitrust law.
(AP, 6/27/04)
1984 Jun 29, In San Francisco
Hoffman’s Grill on Market Street closed to make way for a 19-story
office building.
(SSFC, 6/28/09, DB p.50)
1984 Jun 30, Lillian Hellman
(b.1905), writer, died in Massachusetts. Her work included the play
"The Little Foxes" (1939), and her memoirs "Scoundrel Time" and
"Pentimento." The 1977 film "Julia" was based on a chapter from
Pentimento which described Muriel Gardiner, an American medical student
at the Univ. of Vienna active in anti-Nazi resistance. In 2005 Deborah
Martinson authored “Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes and Scoundrels.”
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.A21)(WSJ, 4/26/99, p.A16)(WSJ,
5/24/99, p.A28)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.82)
1984 Jun 30, Hedayat Eslaminia, a
former government official under the Shah of Iran, disappeared while
living in exile in Belmont, Ca. The family had reportedly fled Iran
with a fortune in 1978. Hedayat (57) suffocated and died in a steamer
trunk. His son Reza (26), a member of the "Billionaire Boys Club," was
later charged with the abduction and murder. Reza was convicted and
sentenced to life. In 1992 Joe Hunt, head of the club, was also tried
for the killing of Eslaminia, but a hung jury forced a mistrial. In
1998 Rexa's conviction was overturned based on unfair evidence and a
new trial was scheduled. Arben Dosti’s conviction was reversed in 1998.
A new trial was scheduled for Oct. in San Mateo. In 2000 charges
against Reza Eslaminia were dismissed.
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A14)(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A24)(SFC,
11/7/00, p.A15)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.A28)
1984 Jun 30, John Turner, Liberal
Party, was sworn in as Canada's 17th prime minister, succeeding Pierre
Elliott Trudeau.
(CFA, '96, p.81)(AP, 6/30/04)
1984 Jun, In Nevada Gerald Gallego
was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death. Charlene
Williams, his former accomplice and mother of his child, testified
against Gallego. They were involved in sex-slave murders in the late
1970s. Charlene was released from prison in 1997.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A17)(SFC, 1/21/02, p.B2)
1984 Jul 1, Hollywood imposed its
PG-13 rating to cover the middle ground between "PG" for parental
Guidance and "R" for restricted movies.
(SFEC,11/2/97, DB p.55)(http://tinyurl.com/2o8j3o)
1984 Jul 3, The US Supreme Court
ruled that Jaycees may be forced to admit women as members.
(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=468&invol=609)
1984 Jul 3, Raoul Salan (b.1899),
French general, OAS leader (Algeria), died. Salan was one of the four
Generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation, and then
founded the Organization armée secrète (OAS) terrorist
group.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Salan)
1984 Jul 4, The NY Yankee Phil
Niekro became the 9th pitcher to strikeout 3,000 batters.
(www.thebaseballpage.com/players/niekrph01.php)
1984 Jul 5, The Supreme Court
weakened the 70-year-old "exclusionary rule," deciding that evidence
seized with defective court warrants could be used against defendants
in criminal trials.
(AP, 7/5/97)
1984 Jul 9, A fire destroyed the
roof in the south transept of the 12th century York Minster. Around
£2.5 million was spent on repairs. Restoration work was completed
in 1988, and included new roof bosses to designs which had won a
competition organized by BBC Television's Blue Peter program.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster)(http://tinyurl.com/353gfq)
1984 Jul 12, Democratic
presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced he had chosen U.S.
Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate; Ferraro
was the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.
(AP, 7/12/97)(HN, 7/12/98)
1984 Jul 12, Madonna's "Like a
Virgin" video premiered on MTV and became an instant hit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_a_Virgin_%28song%29)
1984 Jul 14, Al Schacht (91),
baseball player, died. He was known as the Clown prince of baseball.
The former Washington Senators pitcher turned top hat jester had
entertained the crowd before twenty-five World Series and eighteen
All-Star Games.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/yearly/yr1984a.shtml)
1984 Jul 18, Walter F. Mondale won
the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.
(AP, 7/18/99)
1984 Jul 18, James Huberty (41)
opened fire at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif.,
killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
(AP, 7/18/97)(SFC, 4/17/07, p.A8)
1984 Jul 19, U.S. Rep. Geraldine
A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president
at the party's convention in San Francisco. Pasqua Coffee sold 16,000
cups of premium coffee from a pushcart at the Moscone Center. Ferraro
soon found herself tarred by the controversial business relationships
of her husband, John Zaccaro.
(AP, 7/19/97)(SFEM, 8/1/99, p.8)(Econ, 3/11/06, p.54)
1984 Jul 20, James Fixx (b.1932),
jogger and writer, died of a heart attack while running in Vermont. His
books included “The Complete Book of Running” (1977).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Fixx)
1984 Jul 21, In Jackson, Michigan,
a male die-cast operator (34) was pinned by a hydraulic Unimate robot.
He died after 5 days. This was the 1st documented case of a robot
killing a human in US.
(www.cdc.gov/niosh/FACE/In-house/full8420.html)
1984 Jul 23, Vanessa Williams
became the first Miss America to resign her title, because of nude
photographs published in Penthouse magazine.
(AP, 7/23/98)
1984 Jul 24, In American Fort,
Utah, Ron and Dan Lafferty stabbed to death their sister-in-law, Brenda
Lafferty, and her daughter Erica, aged 15 months. In 2003 Jon Krakauer
authored "Under the Banner of Heaven," an account of the murder and the
Mormon background of the Laffertys.
(WSJ, 7/11/03, p.W15)
1984 Jul 25, Soviet cosmonaut
Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space. She
carried out more than 3 hours of experiments outside the orbiting space
station Salyut 7.
(AP, 7/25/97)
1984 Jul 26, Ed Gein
(b.1906), mass murderer (movie "Psycho" based on him), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein)
1984 Jul 28, The summer Olympics
were held in Los Angeles for the second time. The Russians along with
Cuba and Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 23rd modern Olympic
games. Iran and Libya also boycotted the games. Taiwan returned under
the name Chinese Taipei. China appeared for the first time since 1952.
The US won 83 gold medals, Romania was 2nd with 20. Women were allowed
to compete in the Olympic marathon for the 1st time. Joan Benolt of the
US won. The 1st Olympic Guide was published this year by David
Wallechinsky. The 5th edition came out in 2000.
(WSJ, 7/19/96, p.R6)(SFC, 7/14/96, Par p.4)(WSJ,
7/28/00, p.W9)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.F1)(NG, 8/04, Geographica)(WSJ,
4/12/08, p.R2)
1984 Jul 28, Bess Flowers
(b.1898), American film actress, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_Flowers)
1984 Jul 30, Holly Roffey (11 days
old) received a heart transplant in England. She died on Aug 17.
(www.camelotintl.com/365_days/july.html)
1984 Jul 30, The British tanker
Alvenus spilled 2.8 million gallons of oil at Cameron, La.
(http://ceprofs.tamu.edu/rhann/links/case.asp)
1984 Jul, In Australia Margaret
Tapp was strangled and her daughter Seana raped and later killed. In
2008 Melbourne police withdrew charges against Russell John Gesah,
accused in the murders, after DNA evidence used against him was found
to have been taken elsewhere and mistakenly tested with samples from
the Tapp murder scene.
(Reuters, 8/7/08)
1984 Jul-1985 May, Seven men,
three women and two children were tortured killed in Calaveras County,
Ca., at the home of Leonard Lake as part of "Project Miranda," inspired
by the John Fowles novel, "The Collector." Lake killed himself with
cyanide during a police interview. Charles Ng was arrested in Canada in
1985 for stealing and extradited to the US after 6 years for his role
in the murders.
(SFC,10/18/97, p.A13)(SFC, 10/25/98, p.A5)
1984 Aug 4, In Germany Robert
Brown (24), a former American soldier, struck Nicola Stiel (19) and
raped her, then strangled her to prevent her from reporting the rape.
In 2009 Brown was extradited to Germany to face charges that he raped
and murdered the woman near where he worked on a US military base in
Hesse state.
(AP, 8/17/09)
1984 Aug 5, Actor Richard Burton
(58) died at a hospital in Geneva, Switzerland.
(AP, 8/5/97)
1984 Aug 11, In LA, Ca., Carl
Lewis (b.1961) duplicated Jesse Owens' 1936 feat with 4 Olympic track
gold medals.
(www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/oldBios/1997/lewis.asp)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis)
1984 Aug 11, President Reagan
sparked controversy when he joked during a voice test for a paid
political radio address: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to
tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia
forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
(AP, 8/11/97)(www.yaf.com/Reagan.shtml)
1984 Aug 11, Alfred A. Knopf (91),
US publisher, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_A._Knopf_(person))
1984 Aug 11, Percy Mayfield
(b.1920), songwriter and blues artist, died. His songs included "Hit
the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Mayfield)
1984 Aug 12, In San Francisco a
driver on an apparent suicide mission smashed head-on into a packed
cable car climbing the Hyde Street hill. The driver, an Iranian alien,
was killed and at least 23 people were injured.
(SSFC, 8/2/09, DB p.42)
1984 Aug 14, IBM released PC DOS
version 3.0.
(www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/today/814.htm)
1984 Aug 16, A federal jury in Los
Angeles acquitted auto maker John Z. DeLorean of trafficking in cocaine
due to entrapment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_De_Lorean)
1984 Aug 18, A Triangle Oil Corp.
above-ground storage tank at Jacksonville, Fla., spilled 2.5 million
gallons of oil and burned after lightning sparked a fire.
(www.jacksonvillefiremuseum.com/history_1951.html)
1984 Aug 22, The Republican
convention in Dallas renominated Ronald Reagan.
(http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0329270-00)
1984 Aug 22, The VW plant at
Westmoreland, Pa., produced its last Volkswagen Rabbit.
(http://tinyurl.com/34j6lf)
1984 Aug 25, Truman Capote (59),
American novelist, playwright, and short story writer, died in the arms
and guest bedroom of Johnny Carson’s ex-wife, Joanne. His
autobiographical novella, "The Grass Harp," was made into a film
directed by Walter Matthau in 1996. He also authored "Other Voices,
Other Rooms," and "Breakfast At Tiffany’s." In 1997 George Plimpton
published his biography: "Truman Capote." In 2004 Gerald Clarke edited:
“Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote.”
(SFC, 10/11/96, p.C3)(WSJ, 12/11/97,
p.A21)(SFEC,12/14/97, p.D9)(AP, 8/25/99)(SSFC, 9/19/04, p.M3)
1984 Aug 25, The USSR
performed an underground nuclear test.
(www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/3_10.htm)
1984 Aug 27, President Reagan
announced the Teacher in Space project.
(www.challenger.org/teachers/history/index.cfm)
1984 Aug 30, In Florida NASA
launched the US space shuttle Discovery on its 1st mission.
(www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/discovery-info.html)
1984 Aug 31, San Francisco police
raided Lord Jim’s bar at 1500 Broadway and arrested the owner. Patrons
and employees were detained for up to 90 minutes as police checked for
warrants. Attorney William Barfield, one of those detained, later filed
5 of six damage claims totaling 375,000 against the city.
(SSFC, 9/20/09, DB p.50)
1984 Sep 1, Howland Chamberlain
(b.1911), American film actor, died in Oakland, Ca.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0150166/)
1984 Sep 2, "Zorba" closed at the
Broadway Theater in NYC after 362 performances.
(www.nodanw.com/shows_z/zorba.htm)
1984 Sep 4, Canada's Progressive
Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, won a landslide victory in
general elections over the Liberal Party of Prime Minister John N.
Turner.
(AP, 9/4/04)
1984 Sep 5, Robert S. Laurent
(1933-2004) received a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and was
kept alive for 8 days by the electric heart assist pump until a new
heart became available. Dr. Peer M. Portner (d.2009 at 69) of Stanford
Univ. pioneered the device.
(http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/02/09/daily110.html)(SFC,
2/25/09, p.B6)
1984 Sep 6, Lanford Wilson's play
"Balm in Gilead," written in 1965, premiered in NYC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balm_in_Gilead)
1984 Sep 9, Walter Payton of the
Chicago Bears broke Jim Brown's combined yardage record by reaching
15,517 yards.
(http://tinyurl.com/2sd85s)
1984 Sep 10, British scientist
Alec Jeffreys and colleagues discovered that x-ray images of bits of
DNA showed patterns unique to individuals. Jeffries, a geneticist at
Leicester Univ., and his research team found that DNA sequences,
specific to individuals, could be identified as visible bands. He
dubbed his findings DNA fingerprinting. This led to the use of DNA to
solve thousands of crimes.
(Econ, 3/13/04, TQ p.34)(SSFC, 9/13/09, p.A17,20)
1984 Sep 13, Simon Peres formed an
Israeli government with Likud. A national unity government (Likud and
Labor) was formed.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A17)(http://tinyurl.com/2vs7e2)
1984 Sep 14, Janet Gaynor (77),
the first actress to win an Academy Award (1929), died in San
Francisco. She had never fully recovered from a car crash in 1982. Her
34 movies included “Seventh Heaven” and the first “A Star Is Born.”
(SSFC, 9/13/09, DB p.46)
1984 Sep 15, Henry Charles Albert
David, Prince of Wales, 3rd in British succession, was born.
(www.princeofwales.gov.uk)
1984 Sep 17, Oil heir Gordon P.
Getty, with a fortune of $4.1 billion dollars, was named the richest
person in the US. There were a dozen billionaires in the US at the time.
(http://tinyurl.com/33chls)
1984 Sep 17, Progressive
Conservative leader Brian Mulroney took office as Canada's 18th prime
minister.
(AP, 9/17/99)
1984 Sep 19, Britain and China
completed a draft agreement on transferring Hong Kong from British to
Chinese rule by 1997.
(AP, 9/19/99)
1984 Sep 20, The TV sitcom "Cosby
Show" with Bill Cosby premiered on NBC-TV.
(SSFC, 2/11/01, BR
p.1)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0086687/)
1984 Sep 20, A suicide car bomber
attacked the US Embassy annex in north Beirut. 24 people were killed
including 2 US soldiers.
(AP, 9/20/97)(SFC, 9/12/01,
p.A7)(http://beirut.usembassy.gov/lebanon/beirut_memorial.html)
1984 Sep 21, In Cleveland, Ohio,
Romell Broom (28) raped a murdered Tryna Middleton (14) after abducting
her at knife-point as she walked home from a football game with
friends. His execution in 2009 was delayed as executioners failed to
find a good vein for lethal injection.
(www.associatedcontent.com/article/2185057/romell_brooms_execution_fails_over.html)
1984 Oct 1, Gary Trudeau's
Doonesbury comic strip resumed after a 2-year hiatus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doonesbury)
1984 Oct 2, Richard W. Miller
became the first FBI agent to be arrested and charged with espionage.
Miller was tried three times; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison,
but was released after nine years.
(AP, 10/2/04)
1984 Oct 8, Attorney Cherie
Barnard found Gary Grady, health club owner and drug dealer, shot to
death in Novato, Ca. Later the same day Barnard’s husband Robert Rogers
was found dead of an apparent suicide in the Berkeley Marina. In 2005
Barnard and Rogers were implicated in the 1979 murder of Robert Pfiel
(27) in Wisconsin.
(SFC, 10/17/05, p.A1)
1984 Oct 9, A cooperation
agreement between the European Community and the Yemen Republic was
signed in Brussels.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1984/index_en.htm)
1984 Oct 11, August Wilson's "Ma
Rainey's Black Bottom," premiered in NYC.
(http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/0,9130,1353603-content,00.html)
1984 Oct 11, Space shuttle
Challenger astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan (b.1951) became the first
American woman to walk in space.
(AP,
10/11/97)(www.astronautix.com/astros/sullivan.htm)
1984 Oct 12, The IRA bombed the
hotel where PM Margaret Thatcher was staying in Brighton. Thatcher
escaped but five people were killed. Patrick McGee was sentenced to 8
life sentences for his role in the bombing. McGee was freed in 1999 as
part of the Northern Ireland peace accord.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.7)(SFC, 6/23/99,
p.A10)(http://tinyurl.com/bxt64)
1984 Oct 14, In the Baseball World
Series the Detroit Tigers beat the San Diego Padres.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1984ws.shtml)
1984 Oct 15, The Central
Intelligence Agency's Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by
Pres. Reagan.
(www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=453)
1984 Oct 16, Desmond Tutu, black
Anglican Archbishop in South Africa, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his
decades of non-violent struggle for racial equality.
(SFC, 6/23/96, BR, p.32)(AP, 10/16/04)
1984 Oct 18, Jon-Erik Hexum
(b.1957), actor, died by a gun loaded with blanks. His films included
“The Bear” (1984).
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0382149/)
1984 Oct 18, Henri Michaux
(b.1899), Belgian poet and painter, died. In 1954 he became a citizen
of France, and he lived the rest of his life there along with his
family. In 1965 he won the National Prize of Literature, which he
refused to accept. His books included “Miserable Miracle” and “The
Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Michaux)
1984 Oct 19, Jerzy Popieluszko,
Polish priest and dissident, was kidnapped and murdered. [see Oct 30,
Dec 27]
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Jerzy_Popieluszko)
1984 Oct 19, In Palo Alto, Ca.,
Dennis Anderson (50) used a shotgun to kill Donald Mason, the former
boyfriend of his 20-day wife, and then beat and blasted his wife, Karen
Stoker-Anderson. He was convicted of double murder in 1985 but the
ruling was overturned on the basis of mental incompetence in 1995 and a
retrial began in 1997. Anderson was sentenced 17 years to life in
prison.
(SFC, 1/18/96, p.A20)(SFC, 10/16/09, p.D2)
1984 Oct 20, Paul Dirac (b.1902,
British physicist and Nobel Prize winner (1933), died in Florida. His
equations predicted the existence of antimatter. In 2009 Graham Farmelo
authored “The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac.”
(Econ, 1/24/09,
p.89)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac)
1984 Oct 21, Francois Truffaut
(b.1932), French film director (Fahrenheit 451), died of brain cancer.
In 1999 Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana published "Truffaut: A
Biography."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Truffaut)(SFEC, 5/9/99, DB
p.53)(SFEC, 6/27/99, BR p.4)
1984 Oct 23, Oskar Werner
(b.1922), Austrian actor (Fahrenheit 451), died of a heart attack.
(www.filmbug.com/db/330521)
1984 Oct 24, In NYC 11 members of
Colombo crime family were indicted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennaro_Langella)
1984 Oct 25, The genetic
organization of the Hepatitis B virus was published.
(www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=320225)
1984 Oct 26, "Baby Fae," a newborn
with a severe heart defect, was given the heart of a baboon in an
experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. Baby Fae lived 21 days
with the animal heart.
(AP, 10/26/99)
1984 Oct 30, Police in Poland
found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerzy
Popieluszko, whose death was blamed on four security officers.
(AP, 10/30/04)
1984 Oct 31, The Puerto Rican
tanker San Francisco exploded in the Gulf of the Farallones off the
coast of San Francisco spilling 2 million gallons of oil as the ship
caught fire.
(http://216.7.174.234/sandcrabs/oil.asp)
1984 Oct 31, In Decatur, Illinois,
2 young girls were assaulted and killed. In 2009 DNA evidence revealed
that Melvin Johnson (d.2003) was the murderer.
(SFC, 2/12/09, p.A4)
1984 Oct 31, Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi was assassinated near her residence in New Delhi by two
Sikh members of her bodyguard. This sparked Hindu-Sikh clashes across
the country. Four days of anti-Sikh rioting followed in India. The
government said more than 2,700 people, mostly Sikhs, were killed,
while newspapers and human-rights groups put the death toll between
10,000 and 17,000. In 2002 Katherine Frank authored the biography
"Indira."
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(AP,
10/31/97)(http://tinyurl.com/ypb6kl)(WSJ, 2/13/02, p.A18)
1984 Oct, In China the Communist
Party announced economic reforms, a plan to lift government price
subsidies and promised to relax party control over enterprises.
(SFC, 2/20/96, p.A4)
1984 Oct, Jaroslav Seifert of
Czechoslovakia won the Nobel Prize for literature.
(SFC, 3/30/02, p.A19)
1984 Oct, Richard Stone of Great
Britain, won the Nobel Prize in Economics for contributions to the
development of systems of national accounts.
(AP, 10/11/09)
1984 Nov 1, Norman Krasna
(b.1909), American writer and film producer, died of a heart attack.
The 1947 film “Dear Ruth” was based on his writings.
(www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ja-Kr/Krasna-Norman.html)
1984 Nov 2, Paul Cosner
disappeared from the SF Bay Area following a planned sale of a 1980
Honda Prelude at his Marin Motors. The car was identified Jun 2, 1985
in the hands of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng. As many as 25 people were
believed killed by Lake and Ng at a compound in Calaveras County, Ca.
(SFC, 10/25/98, p.A5)
1984 Nov 2, Velma Barfield
(b.1932), convicted of the fatal poisoning of her boyfriend, was put to
death by injection in Raleigh, N.C. She was the first woman executed in
the United States since 1962.
(AP,
11/2/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velma_Barfield)
1984 Nov 3, In India some 2,733
people died nationwide over the last 3 days from attacks on Sikhs after
Gandhi was shot dead. The bodyguards who killed her sought revenge for
her decision to send the army to flush Sikh separatists out of the
Golden Temple in Amritsar.
(AP,
10/31/04)(http://iref.homestead.com/Delhi84.html)
1984 Nov 4, Nicaragua held its 1st
free elections in 56 years; Sandinistas won by a margin of 63%. Daniel
Ortega won the presidency under the Sandinista Liberation Front. Sergio
Ramirez served as his vice-president until 1990.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-10)(WSJ, 10/9/96, p.A15)
1984 Nov 6, President Ronald
Reagan was re-elected. Reagan beat Mondale in the landslide of 1984
with 97.6% of the Electoral College and over 58% of the popular vote.
It almost matched the 1936 landslide of Roosevelt over Landon.
(HN, 11/6/98)(HNQ, 11/7/00)
1984 Nov 9, The Vietnam Veterans
statue, “Three Soldiers” by Frederick Hart (1943-1999), was unveiled in
Washington DC on Veterans Day.
(http://www.440.com/twtd/archives/nov09.html)(SFC,
8/18/99, p.C4)
1984 Nov 11, The Rev. Martin
Luther King Sr. (84), father of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther
King Jr., died in Atlanta.
(AP, 11/11/04)
1984 Nov 12, Space shuttle
astronauts Dale Gardner and Joe Allen snared a wandering satellite in
history's first space salvage. The Palapa B-2 satellite was secured in
Discovery's cargo bay for return to Earth.
(AP, 11/12/04)
1984 Nov 14, The Space Shuttle
Discovery crew rescued a second satellite.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1984 Nov 15, Baby Fae died 20 days
after receiving a baboon heart transplant in Loma Linda, California.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1984 Nov 18, The Soviets helped
deliver U.S. wheat during the Ethiopian famine.
(HN, 11/18/98)
1984 Nov 19, Near Mexico City,
Mexico, 5 million liters of liquefied butane exploded at a storage
facility killing some 500 people.
(HSAB, 1994, p.46)(AP, 11/19/07)
1984 Nov 20, McDonald's made its
50 billionth hamburger.
(http://tinyurl.com/2p8ua9)
1984 Nov 22, Fred Rogers
(1928-2003) of PBS' "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" presented his sweater
to the Smithsonian Institution.
(http://tinyurl.com/ys2f6w)
1984 Nov 25, William Schroeder of
Jasper, Ind., became the 2nd man to receive a Jarvik-7 artificial
heart, at Humana Hospital Audubon in Kentucky. He lived 620 days on the
device.
(AP, 11/25/04)
1984 Nov 26, US and Iraq resumed
diplomatic relations after Pres. Reagan met with Deputy PM Tariq Aziz.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1984 Nov 28, President Ronald
Reagan signed a document called Presidential Determination Act #85-2,
allowing private satellites to compete in the Intelsat market. Orion
Network Systems had nudged the US government for permission to launch a
private, international telecommunications satellite (private domestic
satellites are a separate and fairly common thing).
(www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/112884b.htm)
1984 Nov 28, Republican Robert
Dole was elected Senate majority leader.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1984 Nov 28, Hans Speidel
(b.1897), German general and NATO-supreme commander (1957-63), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Speidel)
1984 Nov, Commander Donnie Cochran
became the first African American to become the leader of the Navy’s
Blue Angels. He resigned from his position on May 28, 1996 after citing
personal training difficulties.
(SFC, 5/29/96, A3)
1984 Nov, The CIA told the US
Congress in 1987 that it had concluded in Nov., 1984, that it could not
resume aid to the Costa Rican-based Contras because "everybody around
Pastora was involved in cocaine."
(SFC, 10/31/96, p.A7)
1984 Dec 3, More than 4,000 people
died and 200,000 were injured after a gas escaped from a pesticide
plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India. 40 tons
of vaporous methyl isocyanate, hydrogen cyanide, monomethyl amine,
carbon monoxide and possibly 20 other chemicals were released after an
explosion. Over the years, according to the Indian government, some
15,000 people have died from effects of the gas.
(WSJ, 11/27/96, p.A1)(HN, 12/3/98)(SFEC, 3/5/00,
p.A23)(AP, 12/3/04)
1984 Dec 4, A five-day hijack
drama began as four armed men seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to
Pakistan and forced it to land in Tehran, where the hijackers killed
American passenger Charles Hegna.
(AP, 12/4/04)
1984 Dec 8, Robert Matthews
(b.1953), co-founder for the neo-Nazi called The Order, was shot and
killed by FBI agents on Whiebey Island, Washington. His “Silent
Brotherhood” was a small extremist far right group that engaged in a
multistate crime wave in this period. The group was also associated
with the Aryan Nations Church. His life was fictionalized in the TV
movie “Brotherhood of Murder” (1999).
(SFC, 2/20/98,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jay_Mathews)
1984 Dec 9, In Iran a five-day
hijack drama ended when Iranian commandos captured the Kuwaiti plane. 4
armed men had seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to Pakistan and forced
it to land in Tehran, where the hijackers killed American passenger
Charles Hegna.
(AP, 12/4/04)
1984 Dec 10, It was reported that
a creosote bush in California’s Mojave Desert was determined to be
11,700 years old.
(http://tinyurl.com/2ja5hn)
1984 Dec 10, South African
Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.
(SFC, 6/23/96, BR, p.32)(AP, 12/10/99)
1984 Dec 13, In Peru 123 people,
including men, women and children from area farming communities, were
slaughtered at Putis, in Ayacucho province. Army soldiers suspected the
farmers supported guerrillas with the Shining Path. According to a
later government-appointed truth commission, the military offered Putis
as a safe haven for people fleeing Shining Path rebels in the region.
Soldiers then tricked villagers into digging their own grave and killed
them on suspicion of ties to the guerrillas. In 2008 a Peruvian
forensics team began excavating a mass grave containing the remains of
123 men, women and children killed by the military at Putis. In 2009
DNA tests identified 28 of 92 bodies, including 15 women and five
children.
(AP, 5/25/08)(AFP, 5/30/08)(AP, 2/26/09)(AP, 8/30/09)
1984 Dec 14, Howard Cosell retired
from Monday Night Football.
(http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec14.htm)
1984 Dec 14, The maiden flight of
NASA’s X-29, a forward swept wing aircraft, took place.
(NPub, 2002, p.24)
1984 Dec 17, Gerd Heinrich
(b.1896), recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on the
subfamily Ichneumoninae (wasps), died. In 2007 his son Bernd Heinrich
authored “The Snoring Bird: My Family’s Journey Through a Century of
Biology.”
(www.zsm.mwn.de/hym/e/gishym_ich.htm)
1984 Dec 19, The NY Times reported
that 33 unknown Bach keyboard works had been found in the Yale
library and authenticated by Harvard professor Christoph Wolff.
(http://tinyurl.com/2jqj55)
1984 Dec 19, Near
Orangeville, Utah, 27 miners died in a coal mine fire due to a faulty
air compressor at the Wilberg Mine.
(SFC, 9/25/01, p.A14)(AP, 12/19/04)
1984 Dec 19, British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed an
accord to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on Jul 1, 1997. China
pledged to grant Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and permit it to
retain its capitalist system for 50 years.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.A14)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A8)(AP,
12/19/97)
1984 Dec 22, Bernhard Goetz shot
at four black teens who attempted to rob him in a New York subway. He
later claimed self-defense and was acquitted of attempted murder in
1987 in a trial where lawyer William Kunstler represented Darrel Cabey,
who was paralyzed in the shooting. 3 other wounded teens, James
Ramseur, Barry Allen, and Troy Canty went to jail.
(SFC, 4/8/96, p.A-3)(AP, 12/22/98)
1984 Dec 27, Geologist Roberta
Score found the Martian meteorite labeled Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 while
snowmobiling in the Antarctic. The 4.5 billion year old rock was
knocked of Mars by an asteroid some 16 million years earlier and landed
in Antarctica some 13,000 years before Score’s find.
(PacDis, Winter ’97, p.29)(SSFC, 2/19/06, p.M6)
1984 Dec 27, Four Polish officers
were tried for the slaying of Reverend Jerzy Popieluszko.
(HN, 12/27/98)
1984 Dec 29, Indian PM Rajiv
Gandhi claimed victory in parliamentary elections. The BJP entered the
parliament for the first time with 2 seats.
(http://tinyurl.com/338zok)(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A12)
1984 Dec 31, NYC subway gunman
Bernhard Goetz surrendered to police in NH.
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3709/is_199801/ai_n8770775)
1984 Dec, Zhang Ruimin took over
the helm of the Haier Group Co, a failing appliance manufacturer in
China’s port city of Qingdao. He turned the operation around with
modern refrigerator-making equipment from Germany. In 2004 Fortune
magazine rated Zhang Ruimin as one of the 25 most powerful business
people outside America.
(WSJ, 9/17/97, p.A1)(Econ, 3/20/04, p.72)
1984 Dec, In Spain the Socialist
government permanently shuttered its nuclear facilities.
(WSJ, 5/10/96, p.A-5D)
1984 A 60-by-13-foot tile mural
was created by Romare Beardon for a Pittsburgh subway station. In 2008
the mural was valued at $15 million as the station faced demolition.
(WSJ, 4/25/08, p.A2)
1984 In Chicago J.S.G. Boggs
(b.1955) exchanged the sketch of a dollar bill for a cup of coffee and
received 10 cents change. This began his career drawing money for a
living. In 1999 Lawrence Wechsler published "Boggs: A Comedy of Values."
(WSJ, 8/11/99, p.A16)(WSJ, 3/14/09, p.W8)
1984 Jonathan Borofsky, sculptor,
began his work "Hammering Man." It was completed in 1985 and stands
outside the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
(SFC, 10/26/96, p.B1)
1984 Frederick Hart (d.1999 at 56)
had his "Three Soldiers" sculpture erected at the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington DC.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C4)
1984 Martin Kippenberger, German
artist, made his oil, silicon on canvas "For the Life of Me, I Can’t
See Any Swastikas."
(SFEC, 2/1/98, BR p.6)
1984 Merrill Ashley, ballerina,
published her memoir: Dancing for Balanchine."
(WSJ, 12/10/97, p.A20)
1984 Deborah Berg, the daughter of
David Berg, authored "The Children of God: The Inside Story." David
Berg (d.1994) founded the Christian sect of sexual freedom in the 1960s
following years of travel as the "Berg Family Singers."
(SFC, 2/14/01, p.A1)
1984 Ray Coleman (1937-1996)
published "Lennon," a biography of the Beatle star John Lennon. He also
wrote biographies of Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Brian Epstein, Frank
Sinatra, the Carpenters, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, and Gerry and
the Pacemakers.
(SFC, 9/22/96, C12)
1984 Maynard Amerine (d.1998 at
74) published the "Univ. of California / Sotheby Book of California
Wine." It was co-edited with Bob Thompson and Doris Muscatine. Mr.
Amerine also wrote "Table Wines: The Technology of their Production,"
with M.A. Joslyn.
(SFC, 3/13/98, p.D2)
1984 Julian Barnes authored his
novel "Flaubert’s Parrot," a whimsical portrait of a Flaubert scholar.
(SSFC, 10/6/02, p.M2)
1984 Jeremy Bernstein wrote a book
on Bell Labs titled: "Three Degrees Above Zero." Here he described the
computerized chess program know as Belle.
(I&I, Penzias, p.151)
1984 English writer Anita Brookner
authored “Hotel du Lac.” It won the 1984 Booker Prize.
(www.volume5.com/dulac/hotel_du_lac_book_review.html)
1984 Bruce Chatwin published his
travel book "In Patagonia."
(SFEC, 8/10/97, BR p.3)
1984 Tom Clancey published "The
Hunt for Red October" through the Naval Institute Press.
(WSJ, 4/24/98, p.W14)
1984 Kate Coscarelli, aka Aunt
Kate (d.1999), published "Fame and Fortune," a best seller about 4
middle aged women in Beverly Hills.
(SFC, 8/27/99, p.D6)
1984 Harriet Doerr (1910-2002) won
the American Book Award for 1st fiction for "Stone for Ibarra."
(SFC, 11/28/02, p.A30)
1984 Prof. William A. Garnett
(1917-2006), pioneer aerial photographer, published “William Garnett
Aerial Photographs.”
(SSFC, 9/10/06, p.B6)
1984 Allen Ginsberg (d.1997)
published his massive "Collected Poems."
(SFEC, 5/9/99, BR p.3)
1984 William Hartman (d.1997 at
78) and Marilyn Fithian published "Any Man Can," a work about multiple
male orgasms. They also closed their Center for sexual and Marital
Studies in this year.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.A19)
1984 Ian Hibell (d.2008 at 74),
long-distance British cyclist, authored “Into Remote Places.”
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.96)
1984 Gerri Hirshey wrote the book
"Nowhere to Run," a history of soul-music.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.E1)
1984 George Jonas authored
“Vengeance,” an account of an Israeli hit squad ordered to track down
Palestinians responsible for the Sep 5, 1972, attack on Israeli
athletes in Munich.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.117)(http://tinyurl.com/aujcx)
1984 Dr. Jay Katz (1922-2008),
German-born American psychoanalyst and Yale law School professor,
authored “The Silent world of Doctor and Patient.”
(SFC, 11/24/08, p.B6)
1984 Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak
(1913-2008) authored “First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine
Corps,” which examined the history and culture of the US Marine Corps.
(SFC, 1/2/09, p.B5)
1984 Jay McInerney published his
novel "Bright Lights Big City." In 1999 it was produced as a rock
musical at the New York Theater Workshop.
(WSJ, 3/3/99, p.A17)
1984 Wallace Terry (d.2003 at 65),
journalist, authored "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by
Black Veterans. It detailed the experiences of 20 black soldiers and
was made into a 1986 PBS documentary.
(SFC, 6/2/03, p.B4)
1984 Diana Vreeland (d.1989) wrote
her biography "D.V." She had been a fashion editor for Harper’s Bazaar
and Vogue and went on to become the head of the Costume Institute at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 1998 play "Full Gallop" was based
on her life.
(SFEC, 2/22/98, DB p.33)
1984 Edward O. Wilson, Harvard
biologist, published his "Biophilia." In this book Wilson proposed that
humans "have an innate urge to focus on and affiliate with non-human
life, that our existence depends on this propensity, our spirit woven
from it, and that hope rises on its currents."
(PacDis, Spring/'94, p. 52)
1984 Maurice Valency (1903-1996),
playwright, wrote his first novel "Ashby." His plays included
Savonarola, Electra and The Thracian Horses. His novel "Julie" was
published in 1989.
(SFEC, 9/30/96, p.A23)
1984 Philip Ashforth Coppola
authored "Silver Connections," a compendium on the NYC subways.
(SFC, 9/2/02, p.D8)
1984 William Gibson wrote his
science fiction work "Neuromancer." Gibson is credited with coining the
term cyberspace. He envisioned chips plugged directly into the brain to
transfer information.
(SFC, 9/24/96, p.E1,3)(WSJ, 1/31/97, p.B1)
1984 Stephen Halbrook authored
"That Every Man Be Armed," a historical look at gun possession.
(WSJ, 5/25/99, p.A1,13)
1984 Harold McGee authored “On
Food and Cooking.” It became the standard authority on gastronomical
science, that area where science and art, technique, and aesthetics
intersect.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.140)(http://tinyurl.com/2numbb)
1984 Michael Moritz authored “The
Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer.”
(SSFC, 5/22/05, p.F1)
1984 Richard John Neuhaus authored
“The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America.”
(WSJ, 10/23/07, p.D8)
1984 Eudora Welty (b.1909)
published her best-selling remembrance "One Writer’s Beginnings."
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A26)
1984 Theodore Geisel (aka Dr.
Seuss) was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for children’s literature.
His nearly 50 books had sold more than 100 million copies in 17
languages.
(Hem., 2/97, p.13)
1984 The Ballet "Sergeant Early’s
Dream" was created by Christopher Bruce.
(SFC, 5/9/97, p.D9)
1984 German choreographer Pina
Bausch first brought her absurdist dance-dramas to New York.
(WSJ, 10/29/97, p.A20)
1984 The Broadway musical "Sunday
in the Park With George" by Stephen Sondheim starred Mandy Patinkin.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, DB p.33)
1984 Abba Eban helped
prepare a 13-part television series about Jewish history called
"Heritage: Civilization and the Jews." He later wrote a book by the
same name.
(AP, 11/17/02)
1984 The US television Hall of
Fame inducted its 1st class.
(SFC, 3/28/02, p.A15)
1984 The TV series "Murder, She
Wrote" began and ran through 1996.
(SFEC, 12/8/96, Par p.18)
1984 Flip Wilson hosted the TV
show "People Are Funny."
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.B9)
1984 The Transformers TV cartoon
show, aimed at boys, began.
(NW, 11/11/02, p.56)
1984 The US television Hall of
Fame inducted its 1st class.
(SFC, 3/28/02, p.A15)
1984 The TV series “Three’s
Company” ended after 8 seasons. The sex farce featured John Ritter as
Jack Tripper and Don Knotts as landlord Ralph Furley.
(SSFC, 2/26/06, p.B7)
1984 The song "Born In The USA,"
released by Bruce Springsteen, peaked at #9 in late 1984.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._%28song%29)
1984 Joe Seneca (d.1996) played
one of 4 musicians in the Broadway production "Ma Rainey’s Black
Bottom."
(SFC, 8/17/96, p.A24)
1984 French composer Oliver
Messiaen composed his 5-hour opera "Saint Francis d’Assise."
(SFC, 9/5/96, p.B1)
1984 Hip-hop music hit the
mainstream when Run-DMC made their version of Aerosmith’s "Walk This
Way."
(SFEM, 11/10/96, p.26)
1984 Ray Charles recorded “Seven
Spanish Angels” as a duet with Willie Nelson.
(USAT, 6/11/04, p.7A)
1984 Amy Ray and Emily Saliers
formed the "Indigo Girls" music group.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, DB p.7)
1984 R.E.M. released its album
"Reckoning." The cover was by Rev. Howard Finster (d.2001 at 84), a
self-taught artist of the "outsider movement." In 1985 Finster was
commissioned by the Talking Heads for their "Little Creatures."
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A25)
1984 A commission of the Roman
Catholic Church, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1980, concluded that
the Inquisition was in error in its 1632 condemnation of Galileo‘s
support of the Copernican Theory of the solar system. By 1611
Galileo had made a series of discoveries and observations with his
telescope that clearly confirmed the theory of Polish astronomer
Copernicus that the earth and planets revolved around the sun.
Controversy erupted when Galileo announced his support of Copernicus, a
theory in opposition to the accepted Church belief that the sun and
planets revolved around a stationary earth. Galileo‘s 1632 publication
of Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World led to condemnation
by the Inquisition, which forced him to renounce his views and live
under house arrest until his death in 1642 [see 1992].
(HNQ, 2/11/00)
1984 The US Methodist General
Conference passed a ban on “self-avowed practicing homosexuals.”
(SFC, 12/27/04, p.A3)
1984 Father Richard John Neuhaus
(b.1936) founded his Center for Religion and Society as part of the
Illinois-based, conservative Rockford Institute. He and the center were
"forcibly evicted" from the Institute in 1989.
(Econ, 11/3/07, SR
p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_John_Neuhaus)
1984 In Miami the First Union
Financial Center was completed. The 55-story building was designed by
architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.B10)
1984 The Monterey Bay Aquarium
opened in Monterey, Ca.
(AAM, 3/96, p.9)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A8)
1984 In Portland, Oregon, the
PacWest Center was completed. The 29-floor building was designed by
architects of Hugh Stubbins & Assoc.
(WSJ, 1/3/97, p.B10)
1984 In the US the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) was founded.
(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.C1)
1984 Share Our Strength, one of
the nation’s leading anti-hunger, anti-poverty organizations, began in
the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill. In the beginning, it
organized a handful of chefs to cook for fundraisers. By 2005 it
mobilized thousands of individuals in the culinary industry to organize
events, host dinners, teach cooking and nutrition classes to low-income
families, and serve as anti-hunger advocates.
(www.strength.org/about/)
1984 The private international
organization Sisterhood Is Global was founded to promote women’s rights
in conjunction with the publication of “Sisterhood is Powerful” by
Robin Morgan.
(SFC, 5/12/96,
p.A-12)(www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/inter/sisterhood.htm)
1984 John-Michael Olexy helped
found the first federal gay and lesbian employees group in SF.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.A6)
1984 In Bemidji, Minn., the first
low-power TV station began operating under special FCC license.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A1)
1984 Louisiana held a World
Exposition. Low attendance was blamed on the rain.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.A20)(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1984 The TED conference was held
its 1st session in Monterey, Ca. TED sprung from an observation by
Richard Saul Wurman of a powerful convergence between technology,
entertainment and design. The Sapling Foundation (b.1996), led by
Silicon Valley publisher Chris Anderson, bought the conference in 2001.
(SSFC, 2/07/04,
p.E5)(www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/andersonc.html)
1984 Zingaro, a French equestrian
troupe of actors and acrobats was founded by "Bartabas." In 1996 the
troupe’s popular show was called Chimere and consisted of 26 horses, 22
actor/acrobats, and a 10-piece Indian orchestra.
(WSJ, 9/25/96, p.A20)
1984 France-based Hermes
introduced its Birkin handbag, named after British actress Jane Birkin,
at a starting price of around $7,000. In 2008 Michael Tonello authored
“Bringing Home the Birkin.”
(WSJ, 4/25/08,
p.W5)(www.alphadictionary.com/business-tree/bags/bag%20birkin.html)
1984 Richard Lamm, later governor
of Colorado, was quoted as saying: the elderly "have a duty to die and
get out of the way."
(SFC, 7/21/96, Z1, p.9)
1984 The first US Synchronized
Skating championships were held in Bowling Green, Ohio, with 38 teams
competing.
(SFC, 2/23/09, p.E7)
1984 The Reagan administration,
spurred by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) ordered US states to
raise their drinking age to 21 or lose 10% of their federal highway
funds.
(Econ, 4/19/08, p.43)
1984 VP George H.W. Bush nominated
Pedro A. Sanjuan to be director of political affairs in the UN
Secretariat. His real job was to spy on the Soviet spies working for
the secretary-general. Sanjuan left the Secretariat in 1992. In 2005 he
authored “The UN Gang,” an account of UN operations from 1984-1992.
(WSJ, 9/13/05, p.D8)
1984 Craig Livingstone and Anthony
Marceca did opposition research in Gary Hart’s presidential campaign.
They gathered personal information that could seriously hurt the lives
and families of selected individuals. Both later turned up in the
Clinton White House and were responsible for obtaining and perusing
confidential FBI files.
(WSJ, 6/21/96, p.A14)
1984 The US Green Party began
organizing. It held its first presidential convention in 1996 in Los
Angeles with a reluctant Ralph Nader for president.
(USAT, 8/16/96, p.4A)
1984 US Sec. of State George
Shultz, on behalf of the Reagan administration, signed a letter that
resigned the US from UNESCO, the UN Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization. In 2001 efforts were made to rejoin.
(SFC, 12/6/01, p.E1)
1984 The CIA ran the Contra war in
Nicaragua as a covert operation until this year when Congress cut off
funds. The Reagan administration transferred the operation to Lt. Col.
Oliver North, a member of the White House National Security staff.
(SFC, 9/28/96, p.A5)
1984 The CIA equipped a plane
belonging to Barry Seal, a drug smuggler and informant, with cameras.
Seal flew the plane to Nicaragua and photographed an official of the
Sandinista government and a leader of a Colombian drug cartel loading
cocaine on the aircraft.
(SFC, 11/9/96, p.A2)
1984 The US Army School of the
Americas, a training center for Latin American military officers, was
moved from Panama to Fort Benning, Ga.
(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.B10)(SFC, 9/21/96,
p.A3)
1984 The Library of Congress
renamed the position of Consultant in Poetry to the title Poet Laureate
of the US Library of Congress. The title of the consultant's position
was officially changed by Public Law 99-194 to Poet Laureate Consultant
in Poetry on Dec 20, 1985.
(SFC, 4/6/99,
p.E5)(www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0411/poetry.html)
1984 The US Congress passed the
Sentencing Reform Act to standardize criminal sentences.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p. A4)
1984 Bills covering national
forests in 20 states added 8.3 million acres to the Federal Wilderness
System.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, Z1 p.6)
1984 The US State Dept. began its
Reward for Justice program to pay informants for information leading to
the arrest of terrorists.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A1)
1984 William P. Lear Jr., son of
business jet entrepreneur Bill Lear, Sr., engaged with a small group of
gun-running entrepreneurs in buying arms, ammunition and other Soviet
military equipment from the Warsaw Pact countries. In 2003 he authored
“Fly Fast… Sin Boldly: Flying, Spying & Surviving.”
(AH, 6/03, p.63)
1984 The California Smog Check
program was introduced. It required motorists to take responsibility
for pollution by maintaining their vehicles to meet state standards.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A10)
1984 Richard Sims (1933-2008) was
named chief of police for Daly City, Ca. Sims retired in 1990 following
a 34 year career in the city’s police department.
(SSFC, 2/10/08, p.B3)
1984 SF voters approved Prop. K,
which prohibited towers from casting new shadows on city parks.
(SSFC, 4/27/08, p.B3)
1984 Michael Ross, former
life-insurance salesman, was arrested in Connecticut. He had strangled
at least 6 girls and young women. He later pleaded guilty to 2 killings
in 1985 and was convicted of 4 killings in 1987. He was sentenced to
death in 1997 and signed a letter in 1998 to be executed. Ross was
executed May 13, 2005.
(SFC, 3/26/98, p.A6)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.31)(SSFC,
1/30/05, p.A10)(SFC, 5/14/05, p.A4)
1984 In Dade County, Fla., the
State Attorney office of Janet Reno began amassing sex-assault charges
against police officer Grant Snowden.
(WSJ, 10/14/97, p.A22)
1984 In Mass. District Attorney
Scott Harshbarger brought the first child-sex-abuse charges against the
Amiraults, owners of the Fells Acres Day School in Malden. A new trial
was ordered in 1998 due to flawed techniques in interviewing the young
accusers. Gerald Amirault served 18 years in prison and was released in
2004.
(WSJ, 10/14/97, p.A22)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A3)(WSJ,
5/28/04, p.A8)
1984 A mass death row prisoner
escape took place from the Mecklenburg prison in Virginia. In 2000 Joe
Jackson and William F. Burke Jr. authored "Dead Run: The Untold Story
of Dennis Stockton and America’s Only Mass Escape From Death Row."
(SFEC, 4/16/00, BR p.12)
1984 In the Rathskeller scandal 2
San Francisco police officers were fired for hiring a prostitute to
perform at a police graduation party.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.A22)
1984 Ron Levin, a con man who
swindled Joe Hunt, the leader of the Billionaire Boys Club, in a $4
million commodities scam, was reported killed. Members of the club, a
group of ambitious young men who put their money into get-rich-quick
schemes, were accused of the slaying. James Pittman, a Hunt cohort,
said in 1993 that he shot Levin in front of Hunt and helped bury the
body in the Angeles National Forest. Since 1984 a number of people have
claimed to have seen Levin alive. A woman said she spotted Levin on the
Greek island of Mykonos on Christmas day in 1987. Hunt was convicted of
1st degree murder in 1987.
(SFC, 5/3/96, A-11)(SFC, 7/13/96, p. A17)
1984 Chippewa Indians opened the
Kewadin Casino in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
(MT, Fall ‘96, p.20)
1984 John J. Phelan Jr. became
chairman of the NYSE. He ran the exchange to 1990.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A6)
1984 Standard Oil of California
(Socal), under George M. Keller (1923-2008), purchased Gulf Oil and its
extensive operations in Nigeria and changed its name to Chevron.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8)(SFC, 10/20/04, p.C6)(SFC,
10/18/08, p.B1)
1984 The Chicago Sun-Times was
bought by a group controlled by Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch who
also owned the New York Post. Columnist Mike Royko (1932-1997) quit and
joined the Chicago Tribune.
(SFC, 4/30/97, p.A6)
1984 GM and Toyota established a
joint venture to build cars in Fremont, California.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(WSJ, 12/22/08, p.B2)
1984 Chrysler introduced the Dodge
Caravan, its first Minivan.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(WSJ, 12/22/08, p.B2)
1984 GM helped originate a jobs
bank in which employees continued to be paid even though the company
did not need them. Volunteer activity or clocked-in presence in a
“rubber room” was required.
(WSJ, 3/1/06, p.A1)
1984 The Hearst Corp. became a
founding partner of the A&E and Lifetime Television cable networks.
Hearst also acquired Diversion, a magazine for physicians at leisure,
and a group of Texas newspapers.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1984 Rush Limbaugh, an unemployed
disc jockey from Kansas City, was hired by a Sacramento AM radio
station. In 1988 Limbaugh took his show national and moved to NYC.
(SFCM, 11/16/03, p.44)
1984 Boeing released its first 757
airplane. The medium range, twin turbofan plane was built for 180
passengers.
(SFC, 10/3/96, p.A8)
1984 The Biosphere project in
Oracle, Arizona, began and was designed to last 100 years.
(Wired, 2/98, p.172)
1984 Amstar Corp. [Domino sugar]
was taken private.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45)
1984 American Brands sold its
tobacco operations to B.A.T. Industries PLC.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, p. R-45)
1984 The Annapolis Basin tidal
power plant in Nova Scotia began to convert tidal friction to electric
power at a 20 megawatt peak.
(CFA, '96, p.82)
1984 Philip Anschutz, a Denver oil
and real estate mogul, picked up the Denver & Rio Grande Western
Railroad for $500 million.
(WSJ, 6/18/96, p.A17)
1984 Robert Brooks (1937-2006) and
a group of Atlanta investors bought expansion and franchise rights to
the Hooters restaurant chain. The 1st store had opened in Florida in
1983.
(www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/16/obit.hooters.ap/index.html)
1984 Michael Dell (19), a student
at the Univ. of Texas, founded Dell Computer in Austin, Texas.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.B9)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.I1)
1984 Marketplace Chaplains USA was
founded in Dallas, Texas, to provide corporations with chaplains. By
2007 it employed 2100 at 300 US companies in 46 states.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.60)
1984 Ted Waitt started Gateway
Computer at his grandmother’s Iowa farmhouse.
(SFC, 5/20/05, p.C2)
1984 Michael Eisner took over the
Disney Corp. In 2000 Kim Masters authored "The Keys to the Kingdom," a
business biography of Eisner.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.W10)
1984 Richard Scrushy founded
HealthSouth and took it public in 1986. His strategy was to combine
rehabilitation and surgery centers for a wide variety of procedures,
mostly outpatient, and provide services more cheaply than hospitals.
His salary and bonus approached $7 million in 1996.
(WSJ, 12/4/96, p.A1)
1984 Kraft Corp. bought Lender’s
Bagels, maker of frozen bagels, and launched a national ad campaign for
the brand.
(SFC, 10/16/96, zz1 p.6)
1984 Charles Keating, Arizona land
developer, bought Lincoln Savings & Loan. He then proceeded to loot
the institution’s federally protected deposits by booking phony profits
on sham land and securities transactions and fooled auditors and
investors about the failing health of Lincoln and its parent American
Continental Corp. He was convicted on state charges in 1991 and federal
charges in 1993. The federal charges were overturned in 1996.
(SFC, 6/22/96, p.A3)(SFC, 12/3/96, p.A1,15)
1984 Crazy Eddie Inc. went public.
The retail electronics chain grew rapidly and then burned out in 1989
in a scandal of missing inventory, stolen cash and bogus merchandise
bookings. In 1990 assets were frozen and founder Eddie Antar
disappeared under charges of bilking investors out of $74 mil. He was
nabbed in Israel in 1992 and sent to a US prison.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A1,8)
1984 Hewlett-Packard introduced
the HP Laser-Jet printer. Company sales passed $6 billion and the
number of workers approached 85,000. HP also introduced a printer using
its ground-breaking thermal inkjet printing technology.
{Computer, USA, Technology}
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.A11)(SFC, 2/22/06, p.C1)
1984 Mike Lazaridis, while a
student at the Univ. of Waterloo in Ontario, co-founded Research In
Motion (RIM) with Douglas Fregin. In 1997 Lazaridis came up with the
idea for a small thumb-using keyboard and RIM went on to produce the
hand-held Blackberry e-mail device.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.68)(Econ, 9/23/06, TQ p.36)
1984 Doug Lenat founded Cycorp to
develop the Cyc database in an effort to teach a computer common sense.
In 2002 a web link was established to gather data from the public:
www.cyc.com.
(SFC, 6/10/02, p.E1)
1984 Levi introduced its "501
Blues" ad to jump-start jeans sales under CEO Robert Haas, the
great-great-grandnephew of founded Levi Strauss.
(SFC, 4/29/03, B1)
1984 John Lasseter left his
animation job at Disney to join George Lucas’ special effects computer
group. The division was purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs and became
Pixar.
(SFC, 1/25/06, p.C1)
1984 Nike signed a 5-year contract
with Michael Jordan. The Air Jordan basketball shoe was released in
1985 for $65.
(WSJ, 11/11/03, p.B1)
1984 Motorola introduced a
brick-sized cell phone for $4,000. [see Apr 3, 1983]
(WSJ, 10/30/03, p.A1)
1984 Prodigy was founded as a
joint venture of CBS, IBM and Sears. CBS dropped out in 1986, two years
before the first service called Trintex went online. Its name was
changed to Prodigy in 1989 and went national in 1990. In 1996 it was
sold for less than $200 million to its management, a private group with
backing by the Mexican firm Grupo Carso.
(SFC, 5/13/96, p.A4)(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.B14)
1984 The US National Organ
Transplant classified human organs as a national resource and
prohibited their sale.
(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A9)
1984 The American Cancer Society
inaugurated October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
(SSFC, 10/22/06, p.D1)(http://tinyurl.com/q6teg9)
1984 CERN laboratory in Europe
showed evidence of a sixth quark.
(NG, May 1985, J. Boslough, p. 650)
1984 Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher
at CERN, envisioned a computer system for researchers to share
documents and databases. This grew to become the World Wide Web. In
2004 Lee won the 1st Millennium Technology Prize.
(WSJ, 10/1/99, p.W6)(SFC, 4/16/04, p.C1)
1984 Ray Ozzie left Lotus
Development and founded Iris Associates, which created Lotus Notes, a
collaborative software program. Iris was acquired by Lotus in 1994 and
Lotus was acquired by IBM in 1995. In 2006 Bill Gates named Ozzie to
succeed him as Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Ozzie)
1984 An oil industry ship was
modified as a scientific drilling vessel and named the JOIDES
Resolution, Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling.
The Resolution was in commemoration of James Cook’s 18th cent.
exploration ship.
(SFC, 6/18/96, p.D1)
1984 A new medium priced home in
the US was priced at $79,900.
(www.huduser.org/periodicals/USHMC/hsgmkt4.pdf)
1984 A landmark study on
cholesterol provided the first conclusive evidence that lowering blood
cholesterol can prevent heart attacks. Basil Rifkind (d.2008 at 73),
Scotland-born physician, co-chaired the NIH Consensus Conference on
Lowering Blood Cholesterol to Prevent Heart Disease.
(SFC, 7/1/08, p.B5)
1984 Dr. Daniel Peterson reported
1,700 cases of chronic fatigue syndrome in the town of Incline Village,
Nev.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.A4)
1984 The first triphasic birth
control pills were introduced. Later test showed that women who used
the pills reported greater sexual desire and satisfaction than those
using older formulations. The triphasics switch the dosage of estrogen
every week or ten days.
(WSJ, 7/11/96,
p.A3)(www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/CONSUMER/CON00027.html)
1984 In California cancer cases
began popping up in McFarland in the Central Valley. 21 people over 20
years were struck in the town of 8,000. A state study from 1985-1991
ended inconclusively and the EPA was petitioned to study the problem.
Residents suspected airborne pesticides.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A5)
1984 Kathelyn Steimer (1948-1996)
assisted in the first sequencing and cloning of HIV with colleagues
Dino Dina and Paul Luciv at Chiron Corp.
(SFC, 11/21/96, p.C7)
1984 Chiron Corp. discovered and
cloned hepatitis B antigens, a step toward the 1st genetically
engineered vaccine.
(SFC, 11/1/05, p.D1)
1984 AIDS was reported to have
been transmitted to a health care worker by an accidental needle stick.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A6)
1984 The deadly algae, Caulerpa
taxifolia, was accidentally introduced into the Mediterranean Sea. It
appeared to be a product of genetic mutation brought about by the use
of ultraviolet light in aquariums. By 1996 it had spread from Spain to
Croatia and slugs were being introduced that feed on the killer weed.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.A18)
1984 Scientists discovered the
alpha-defensin proteins, used by a class of white blood cells that kill
and eat bacteria. In 2002 they were believed to play a key role in
suppressing AIDS.
(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A14)(WSJ, 9/27/02, p.B1)
1984 The Santa Fe Institute in New
Mexico was founded as a nonprofit research and education center. It
specialized in the interdisciplinary study of complex systems.
(Wired, 2/98, p.174)
1984 Pan American Satellite
(PanAmSat) was founded in Greenwich, Connecticut, as part of Alpha
Lyracom under Rene Anselmo (1926-1995). The company orbited a series of
communications satellites providing television broadcast to the US and
Latin American markets. In 1996 it merged with Hughes Galaxy.
(www.astronautix.com/project/panamsat.htm)
1984 Peter Cartwright founded
Calpine Corp., an energy company, in San Jose, Ca. He stepped down as
CEO in 2005 as the company faced possible bankruptcy.
(SFC, 11/30/05, p.C1)
1984 Shuttle astronauts repaired
the Solar Maximum Mission satellite.
(NG, 5/88, p.644)
1984 The space shuttle Challenger
turned up images of Oman of what was thought to be the "lost city of
Ubar."
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A10)
1984 The oldest know shipwreck was
found off the southern coast of Turkey at Uluburun (Big Nose/Cape) by
Dr. George Bass. It dates to about 1300BC, the era of the fall of Troy
and reign of King Tut.
(MT, 3/96, p.2)
1984 In Oregon members of the
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh cult sprinkled Salmonella typhimurium bacteria
in supermarkets, salad bars and restaurant coffee creamers near
Portland. Over 750 people were sickened.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A9)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.R1)
1984 In Texas Karla Faye Tucker
and a male companion took a pick-ax to two people. She was convicted
and sentenced to die. She was executed on Feb 3, 1998.
(WSJ, 1/5/98,
p.20)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Faye_Tucker)
1984 Roberta "Bibi" Lee, the
college girlfriend of Bradley Page, was murdered. Page was convicted
for voluntary manslaughter in 1988 and was paroled in 1995.
(SFC, 4/20/00, p.C5)
1984 Salim Moussa Achi (b.1909),
aka Dr. Dahesh, Lebanese author and humanist, died. His art collection
later formed the core of the Dahesh Museum of Art in NYC.
(WSJ, 9/9/03, p.D6)(www.humanitiesweb.org)
1984 Richard Brautigan (49),
writer, died from self-inflicted gunshot wound in Bolinas, Ca. His work
included "Trout Fishing in America" and A Confederate General from Big
Sur." In 1989 Keith Abbott authored the biography: "Downstream from
Trout Fishing in America: A Memoir of Richard Brautigan." In 1999 Edna
Webster published "The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered
Writings." In 2004 Greg Keeler authored “Waltzing with the Captain:
Remembering Richard Brautigan.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.E1)(SSFC, 8/22/04, p.M3)
1984 Richard Burton,
Welsh-American actor, died.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.56)
1984 Julio Cortazar, Argentine
writer, died. His novels included "Final Exam" "Cronopios and Famas,"
and "Hopscotch." The English translation of Cronopios by Paul Blackburn
was published in 1962 and reissued in 2000.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, BR p.8)(SFEC, 8/6/00, BR p.12)
1984 Gyula Halasz, Hungarian born
photographer (aka Brassai), died. He was a friend of Picasso and Henry
Miller and was known as the "Eye of Paris" for his night time
photographs in the 1930s. His "Secret Paris of the 30s" was published
in 1976. He published 2 books on Henry Miller and "Conversations With
Picasso."
(WSJ, 1/15/98, p.W12)
1984 Black author Chester Himes
(b.1909) died in Paris. His work included "Cast the First Stone," a
somber tale of prison life written it in 1937 under the title
"Yesterday Will Make You Cry." He was best known for his crime novels
and settled in Paris in 1954. In 2001 James Sallis authored "Chester
Himes: A Life."
(SFEC, 3/1/98, BR p.7)(SSFC, 2/25/01, BR p.1)(WSJ,
4/6/01, p.W9)
1984 Lee Krasner, artist (b.1908),
died. She is one of 3 artists covered by Anne Middleton Wagner in
"Three Artists (Three Women): Modernism in the Art of Hesse, Krasner
and O’Keefe."
(HFA, '96, p.42)(SFC, 5/12/96, p.T-7)
1984 Ray Kroc, co-founder of
McDonald’s Restaurants, died.
(USAT, 9/24/98, p.3A)
1984 Mabel Mercer (84), New York
cabaret singer, died. A video of her work was made titled: "Mabel
Mercer: Cabaret Artist/ ‘Forever and Always.’"
(WSJ, 3/12/97, p.A16)
1984 Alice Neel (b.1900), humanist
painter, died. She did figure painting in New York when abstraction
dominated the scene. Her work included "Mother and Child" (1967), "Andy
Warhol (1970)," "Geoffrey Hendricks and Brian" (1978), and "Don Perlis
and Jonathon" (1982).
(SFEM, 9/15/96, p.6)(SFC, 9/28/96, p.E1)(WSJ,
7/12/00, p.A24)
1984 Gloria Swanson, actress,
died. She was an advocate of the sugar-free diet. In 1976 William Dufty
(d.2002) authored "Sugar Blues" and became Swanson’s 6th husband. He
was the ghostwriter of her 1981 autobiography: "Swanson on Swanson."
(SFC, 7/5/02, p.A24)
1984 Brooks Walker, lumberman and
inventor, died. He was the president of Shasta Forest Products and held
over 250 patents and invented such items as smog-control devices,
Venetian blinds and shock absorbers.
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.B2)
1984 UN sent investigators to
Afghanistan to examine reported human rights violations.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
1984 The Argentine Forensic
Anthropology Team was founded in Buenos Aires by the American Clyde
Snow to investigate human rights abuses and solve legal cases.
(SFC, 5/12/96, Z1p.4)
1984 Off the island of Bonaire,
Netherland Antilles, the Hilma Hooker, a 235 ton freighter, sank.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, T8)
1984 In Brazil the Landless Rural
Worker’s Movement (MST) was founded and began winning land by illegally
occupying unused areas. 3% of the nation’s 167 million people owned 66%
of the arable land.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A10)(SFC, 7/6/00, p.A12)(Econ,
4/28/07, p.41)
1984 The Turner Prize in art was
initiated by the Tate Gallery's Patrons of New Art. The members
included Charles Saatchi. Malcolm Morley was the first winner.
(WSJ, 12/1/99, p.A24)
1984 In Britain Ted Hughes was
appointed Poet Laureate.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)
1984 Britain enacted the Video
Recordings Act (VRA), which regulated the pornography industry, but
later failed to notify the European Commission of the existence of the
act.
(Reuters,
8/25/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Recordings_Act_1984)
1984 Britain’s Lord Carrington
(b.1919) began serving as Secretary-General of NATO and continued to
1988.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Carington,_6th_Baron_Carrington)
1984 British coal miners lost a
bitter strike against pit closings.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1984 Britain’s Johnson Matthey
Bankers was purchased by the Bank of England for one million pounds as
regulators judged it too big to allow to go bust.
(Econ, 3/22/08,
p.88)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7250668.stm)
1984 Glen Renfrew (d.2006 at age
71) led Reuters to an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Renfrew served
as CEO from 1981 to 1991. Born the son of a coal miner in Aberdare,
Australia, Renfrew attended the University of Sydney before moving to
England in the 1950s.
(AP, 7/4/06)
1984 British Telecom was
privatized under PM Thatcher.
(WSJ, 10/14/99,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT_Group)
1984 Brunei gained independence
from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1984 In Cameroon Lake Monoun
exploded spewing out carbon dioxide gas that asphyxiated 37 people in a
nearby villages. An int’l. team of scientists began venting the lake in
2003.
(AP, 2/15/03)
1984 The film "Next of Kin" was
directed by Canadian Atom Egoyan. It was about a lazy 23-year-old
living with his parents.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.C1)
1984 Guy Laliberte created The
Cirque de Soleil, a Canadian animal-free circus. Revenues in 2004
reached $550 million.
(SFC, 9/14/96, p.B4)(Econ, 2/5/05, p.61)
1984 In Canada responsibility for
security intelligence was taken away from the Mounties when a separate
intelligence agency was created.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.42)
1984 Canada established a tidal
research station in its eastern Bay of Fundy.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.71)
1984 Alpacas from Chile began
arriving in the US after the US lifted a ban.
(WSJ, 4/5/07, p.A10)
1984 The Southern Weekend
entertainment supplement was established by the Southern Daily, a
newspaper owned by the Communist Party Committee of Guangdong province.
In 1998 under Shen Hao (27) it began featuring real news and
investigative stories.
(WSJ, 7/21/98, p.A1)
1984 In China Deng Xiaoping moved
to streamline the military. He cut the ranks from 4 million to 3
million and ordered the military to find ways to pay for itself.
(SFEC, 5/4/97, p.A14)
1984 Shanghai Automotive Industry
Corp. (SAIC) with government support partnered with Volkswagen
and produced the Santana model sedan. VW was the first foreign carmaker
to establish operation in China.
(WSJ, 6/30/99, p.A19)(Econ, 11/15/08, SR p.4)
1984 Rabbit Calicivirus Disease
was 1st discovered among rabbits in China. It appeared in the US for
the 1st time in 2000.
(WSJ, 7/3/02, p.A1)
1984 In Colombia Pres. Belisario
Betancur sent emissaries to a FARC stronghold and established a
cease-fire.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A13)
1984 In Costa Rica there was an
assassination attempt on Eden Pastora Gomez, a Nicaraguan anticommunist
revolutionary, by Sandinistas. The government of Luis Alberto Monge
Alvarez failed to make a serious investigation.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A19)
1984 In Croatia, Yugoslavia, Radio
101, an 800 watt station in Zagreb, became the first commercial station.
(WSJ, 7/25/96, p.A1)
1984 Eriberto Mederos, aka El
Enfermero (the Nurse), joined the Cuban boat lift to America. He became
a US citizen in 1993. He had worked as the administrator of electric
shock therapy to political opponents of the Castro regime. In 2001 he
was arrested and faced deportation for lying about his former
occupation. In 2002 Mederos (79) was convicted in Florida for
concealing his past.
(SFC, 11/16/01, p.E3)(SFC, 8/2/02, p.A6)
1984 In Ecuador Abdala Bucaram was
elected mayor of Guayaquil, the country’s largest city. He left the
country shortly thereafter when an arrest warrant was issued for him
for insulting the armed forces. He had said that the army was useless
and wasted half the nation’s budget on marching in the country’s
independence day parade.
(WSJ, 7/3/96, p.A8)
1984 In Ethiopia the Ogaden
National Liberation Front (ONLF) was formed for the independence of
Ogaden, which Rebels claimed has been marginalized by Addis Ababa. The
region is suspected of holding large oil and natural gas reserves.
(AP, 7/25/07)
1984 The EU introduced milk
quotas. They were designed when low market prices and high subsidies
were filling EU warehouses with surplus “butter mountains” and mounds
of milk powder, at ever greater cost to the EU budget.
(www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10689170)
1984 French Pres. Francois
Mitterand appointed Laurent Fabius (38) as Prime Minister.
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A1)
1984 The French granted Polynesia
internal autonomy.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.T12)
1984 In Guatemala Cival, about 25
miles east of the much better known city of Tikal, was discovered.
Cival was abandoned about 100 CE. Artifacts at the site dated from
500-300 BCE.
(LAT, 5/5/04)
1984 In Guinea Lansana Conte
seized power in a coup after the death of his predecessor, Ahmed Sekou
Toure.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.D9)(AP, 9/29/09)
1984 The trading firm Jardine,
Matheson & Co., in Hong Kong since 1842, shifted its legal domicile
to Bermuda.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jardine_Matheson_Holdings)
1984 In Italy the Vatican paid
$244 million for its part in a bank scandal that saw the collapse of
another Italian bank.
(SFEM, 1/19/97, p.10)
1984 In Italy the Red Brigades
split into two movements: the majority faction of the Communist
Combatant Party (Red Brigades-PCC) and the minority of the Union of
Combatant Communists (Red Brigades-UCC). The second position later
morphed into the Politico-military Communist Party (PCPM). The same
year, four imprisoned leaders, Curcio, Moretti, Iannelli and
Bertolazzi, rejected the armed struggle as pointless.
(Econ, 2/17/07,
p.54)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Brigades)
1984 The Shas Party first ran for
the Knesset. This Israeli political party was founded prior to the
elections through the merger of regional lists established in 1983.
Shas, the religious party of Jews of Eastern descent, emerged as a
self-directed movement of Sephardic Jews. The name comes from the
Hebrew and means Sephardi Torah Guardians. It had begun as a small
faction on the Jerusalem City Council.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.A18)(SFC, 7/20/99,
p.A10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shas)(SFC, 7/20/99, p.A10)
1984 In Japan Kazuo Inamori,
founder of the Japanese technology group Kyocera, established the
annual Kyoto Prizes for achievements in advanced technology, basic
sciences, arts and philosophy. The Inamori Foundation administered the
awards.
(SFC, 6/9/06,
p.B3)(http://en.kyocera.de/kyocera_n/english/news/kyotoprize2004.html)
1984 The Japanese firm Suntory
purchased the Chateau St. Jean winery in Sonoma, Calif. They sold it in
1996.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A4)
1984 A team led by Richard Leakey
unearthed hominid bones at Nariokotome in West Turkana, in the far
northern reaches of Kenya. The skeleton of the 1.6 million year old
5-foot-3 Turkana Boy, who died at age 12, was preserved in marshland
before its discovery.
(AP, 2/6/07)
1984 In Liberia Samuel Doe allowed
the return of political parties under pressure from the US.
(AP, 7/1/03)
1984 In Lichtenstein women gained
the right to vote.
(SSFC, 9/2/07, p.D3)
1984 In Mauritania Maaoya
Sid'Ahmed Taya took power in a military coup and tried to legitimize
his rule in the 1990s through elections the opposition says were
fraudulent. He was ousted in a military coup in 2005.
(AP, 8/3/05)
1984 William Flanagan, head of
Arriba Ltd., signed a deal with Mexico’s Petroleum Worker’s Union for
at least 6 million barrels of slop oil. The union failed to deliver and
Flanagan won a suit in 1986. The judgement ballooned to nearly $250
million in 2002 with still no settlement.
(WSJ, 2/20/02, p.A1)
1984 In Mozambique the 415-mile
Sena Railway line was damaged and mined by RENAMO insurgents. After it
was sabotaged, not one train used it for more than 20 years.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
1984 In Nepal authorities began to
introduce 72 rhinos, also known as the Indian rhinoceros, in the Babai
Valley, 320 km southwest of Kathmandu, as part of a conservation drive.
By 2007 at least 23 had died due to poaching and other causes, and the
rest were missing.
(Reuters, 1/3/07)
1984 The Nicaragua Sandinistas
confiscated four farms that belonged to Juan Manuel Caldera. In 1996
Daniel Ortega promised Caldera control of 7 key economic ministries in
an electoral pact for the presidency.
(WSJ, 10/9/96, p.A15)
1984 In Panama Nicolas Ardito
Barletta was elected President.
(SFEC, 6/8/97, Z1 p.3)
1984 Hernando de Soto presented
the results of his study on Peru’s informal economy. He had mapped the
migration of mountain people to urban Lima, where they squatted on
undeveloped public land and created vibrant informal economies. In 1986
he published his results in the book: ”The Other Path.”
(WSJ, 10/9/00, p.A38)(Econ, 8/26/06, p.11)
1984 In Peru the Cuban-inspired
Tupac Amuru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took up arms.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.A1)
1984 In the Philippines the
volunteer National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) was
founded by business and church leaders disgusted with the corrupt
elections run by the Marcos government.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A10)
1984 In Russia Alexander Pajitnov,
a computer programmer at the Moscow Academy of Science, invented the
game "Tetris" on an old Electronica 60 computer. He gave up the rights
to the game to the State for ten years. In 1996 rights for the game
reverted back to Pajitnov. He and Henk Rogers soon founded Blue Planet
Software to manage the Tetris rights.
(SFC, 7/7/96, C5)(SFC, 6/3/09, p.C5)
1984 Dec, Spain’s Socialist
government permanently shuttered its nuclear facilities.
(WSJ, 5/10/96, p.A-5D)
1984 War rekindled in the Sudan. A
government official stated that: "The southerners were being used by
the Marxist Ethiopians and by Col. Qaddafi of Libya to cause trouble
for Sudan." Pres. Nimeiri set an edict to make Islamic law the code of
the land. The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army was led by John Garang
a former Sudanese army colonel with a Ph.D. in economics from Iowa St.
Univ.
(NG, May 1985, p.609)
1984 Syria began the production of
nerve gas.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1984 Abdullah Ocalan, founder of
the Kurdistan Worker’s party, PKK, turned the group toward armed
struggle against the Turkish government.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)(SFC, 11/14/98, p.A11)
1984 Upper Volta was renamed
Burkina Faso.
(WUD, 1994, p.1571)
1984 In Uruguay the military
regime fell.
(SFC, 8/17/00, p.A18)
1984-1985 Dynasty was the top ranking network show on
television with a ranking of 25%.
(WSJ, 4/24/95, p.R-5)
1984-1985 Severe famine hit Ethiopia and took an
estimated 100,000 lives.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A8,12)(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
1984-1985 Gen’l. Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the
Hausa tribe, ruled Nigeria.
(WSJ, 4/15/03, p.A14)
1984-1986 The Florida prison population rose from
26,471 to 30,000.
(SFEC,12/14/97, p.A2)
1984-1986 Earth’s cloud banks were monitored by
satellites of the ERBE (Earth Radiation Budget Experiment). Three
satellites monitored virtually all of the atmosphere.
(NOHY, 3/90, p.125)
1984-1987 George Sanchez, the "Ski Mask" rapist of
San Jose, Ca., attacked 26 women over this time before he was arrested.
(SFC, 8/23/97, p.A1)
1984-1993 Brian Mulroney, Progressive Conservative,
served as the 18th Prime Minister of Canada.
(CFA, '96, p.81)
1984 Sep-1993 Dec, In South Africa
some 19,000 people were killed in political violence during this period.
(SFC, 8/22/96, p.E1)
1984-1990 In Israel Ariel Sharon served as the trade
minister in the national unity government headed by Yitzhak Shamir of
Likud and Shimon Peres of Labor.
(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A8)
1984-1994 In California at least 5 elderly men were
suspected of being swindled and murdered by the SF Tene family in the
"foxglove" murder case. The family was related to the Tene-Bimbo Gypsy
clan of New York city. In 1997 5 indictments were issued on family
members. Three more suspects were still being sought.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A21)(SFC,11/8/97, p.A11)
1984-1996 In South Africa fighting between the
Inkatha and the ANC parties was believed to have killed 14,000 people
over this time.
(USAT, 6/25/96, p.10A)
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