Also Within This Year in History:
1986
1986 was a year of tragedy, with the explosion of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, killing all seven crew members, and the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, killing two instantly and many thousands over time. But it also had brighter moments: Hands Across America united 5 million people from coast to coast, Oprah Winfrey debuted her iconic talk show, Halley’s Comet made a triumphant return after 76 years and the Voyager completed the first around-the-world flight without refueling.
On May 27, 1986, the U.S. Patent Office grants a patent to African American inventor Lonnie Johnson for his toy design simply titled ”Squirt Gun.” After a few name changes…
The U.S. Court of Appeals upholds the conviction of writer R. Foster Winans for securities fraud. Winans, author of the “Heard on the Street” column for the Wall Street Journal,…
Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top‑secret U.S. military intelligence information to Israel. The former Navy intelligence analyst sold enough classified documents to fill a medium‑sized room. Pollard…
On June 7, 1986, the Kansas City Royals draft football star Bo Jackson, the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner out of Auburn University, in the fourth round of the Major League…
At the end of a controversial campaign marked by allegations that he had participated in Nazi atrocities during World War II, former United Nations Secretary‑General Kurt Waldheim is elected president…
The hit John Hughes‑directed teen comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” released on this day in 1986, stars a young Matthew Broderick as a popular high school student in suburban Illinois…
Bishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Peace, meets with South African President P.W. Botha to discuss the nationwide state of emergency declared by Botha in response…
On this day in 1986, driving legend Richard Petty makes the 1,000th start of his National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) career, in the Miller American 400 in Brooklyn,…
On this day in 1986, Argentine midfielder Diego Maradona scores two goals to lead Argentina past England and into the semifinals of the World Cup. The game was watched the…
On July 7, 1986, former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter spend a hot summer day in Chicago, celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary while building a home in…
Raymond Loewy, the hugely influential industrial designer who put his mark on the American automobile industry with groundbreaking vehicles such as the Studebaker Champion, Starliner and Avanti, dies on this…
Johnny Cash’s 50‑year country music career reaches a low point on July 15, 1986, when Columbia Records drops him from its roster after more than a quarter‑century of history‑making partnership,…
On July 18, 1986, new close‑up videotapes of the sunken ocean liner Titanic are released to the public. Taken on the first manned expedition to the wreck, the videotapes are…
On August 8, 1986, actor, writer and director Spike Lee’s first feature‑length movie, She’s Gotta Have It, opens in theaters around the United States. Made on a shoestring budget, She’s…
In a This Day in History video, host Russ Mitchell takes us through the history of August 16th. On this day in 1829, Chang and Eng Bunker, a pair of…
An eruption of lethal gas from Lake Nyos in Cameroon kills nearly 2,000 people and wipes out four villages on August 21, 1986. Carbon dioxide, though ubiquitous in Earth’s atmosphere,…
On August 26, 1986, 18‑year‑old Jennifer Levin is found dead in New York City’s Central Park less than two hours after she was seen leaving a bar on the city’s…
Bishop Desmond Tutu becomes the archbishop of Cape Town, two years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid in South Africa. As archbishop, he was…
On September 8, 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show is broadcast nationally for the first time. A huge success, her daytime television talk show turns Winfrey into one of the most…
On September 8, 1986, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Yutaka Kume, the president of the Nissan Motor Company, officially open Nissan’s first European manufacturing plant in Sunderland, Britain. Sunderland…
