Directory

1987 CE

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by the United States and Soviet Union; the First Intifada begins; the Singing Revolution grows across the Baltic states; the June Democratic Struggle brings democratic reforms to South Korea; the USS Stark incident kills 37 U.S. sailors; Ronald Reagan delivers the Tear down this wall! speech; Black Monday triggers a major stock market crash; the King's Cross fire kills 31 people; and the Great Storm of 1987 devastates southern England.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 15 – Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is forced into retirement by political conservatives.source
  • February 11 – The new Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect. This new constitution adds Spanish and Arabic as optional languages of the Philippines.source
  • February 25 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in United States v. Paradise that affirmative action is lawful if the organization in question has a history of pervasive racial discrimination in hiring practices; in this case, police departments in the state of Alabama. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. rules that the government is "justified by a compelling governmental interest in eradicating the Department's pervasive, systematic, and obstinate discriminatory exclusion of blacks."source
  • March 4 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran–Contra affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had "deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal.source
  • April 13 – The governments of the Portuguese Republic and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau will be returned to China in 1999.source
  • April 27 – The United States Department of Justice declares incumbent Austrian president Kurt Waldheim an "undesirable alien".source
  • April 30 – Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the Provincial Premiers agree in principle to the Meech Lake Accord which would bring Quebec into the constitution.source
  • June 11 – The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected for a third term at the 1987 general election.source
  • July 1 – The Single European Act is passed by the European Community.source
  • July 11 – 1987 Australian federal election: Bob Hawke's Labor government is re-elected with an increased majority, defeating the Liberal Party led by John Howard and the National Party led by Ian Sinclair.source
  • July 15 – Martial law in Taiwan ends after 38 years.source
  • August 22 – The Parliament of Zimbabwe votes to eliminate the 20 seats reserved for the white minority.source
  • August 23 – The Hirvepark meeting is organized as the first unsanctioned political meeting in Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, in commemoration of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.source
  • September 23 – The United States and Poland agree to exchange ambassadors after a four-year break in relations.source
  • October 7 – Sikh nationalists declare the independence of Khalistan from India.source
  • October 8 – Gaddafi announces that Algeria and Libya have "agreed in principle" to a proposed union of the two states, which Gaddafi suggests should be named "Algibya."source
  • October 23 – On a vote of 58–42, the United States Senate rejects President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.source
  • November 7 – Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumes the Presidency of Tunisia.source
  • November 16 – The Parlatino Treaty of Institutionalization is signed.source
  • December 8 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It expired in 2019.source
  • December 9 – General Rahimuddin Khan retires from the Pakistan Army, along with the cabinet of the country's military dictatorship.source
  • December 17 – Gustáv Husák resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.source
  • December 21 – Turgut Özal of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (46th government).source
  • December 22 – In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.source
  • January 3 – Afghan leader Mohammad Najibullah says that Afghanistan's 1978 Communist revolution is "not reversible," and that any opposition parties will have to align with Communist goals.source
  • January 24 – 1987 Forsyth County protests: About 20,000 protestors marched in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.source
  • February 25 – Beginning of the Phosphorite War protest movement in the Estonian SSR.source
  • February 26 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security Council staff.source
  • March 7 – 1987 Lieyu massacre: The Republic of China Army execute 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees on Donggang beach, Lieyu, Kinmen off Mainland China.source
  • April 15 – An insurrection in Sri Lanka by the Marxist–Leninist group, JVP, begins.source
  • May 17 – Iran–Iraq War: is hit by two Iraqi-owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles killing 37 sailors.source
  • May 22 – The Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.source
  • June 12 – During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.source
  • June 19 – Hipercor bombing: the Basque terrorist group ETA perpetrate a car-bomb attack at an Hipercor market in Barcelona, killing 21 and wounding 45.source
  • July 31 – Four hundred pilgrims are killed in clashes between demonstrating Iranian pilgrims and Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.source
  • August 9 – Hoddle Street massacre in Australia: Julian Knight, 19, goes on a shooting rampage in the Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill, Victoria, killing 7 people and injuring 19 before surrendering to police.source
  • August 14 – Angolan Civil War: The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale begins in Angola and further intensifies the South African Border War.source
  • August 19 – Hungerford massacre: Sixteen people die in an apparently motiveless mass shooting in the United Kingdom, carried out by Michael Ryan.source
  • August 24 – Mozert v. Hawkins decision: The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the class readings assigned by public schools in Hawkins County, Tennessee do not violate Christian students' First Amendment rights.source
  • September 2 – In Moscow, USSR, the trial begins for 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.source
  • September 7 – Erich Honecker makes a visit to Bonn, the first (and last) visit by an East German head of state to West Germany.source
  • September 11 – Chadian–Libyan War: Chad and Libya sign a ceasefire under supervision of the Organisation of African Unity, officially ending the 14-year territorial conflict. Sporadic fighting will continue.source
  • October 15 – In Burkina Faso, a military coup is orchestrated by Blaise Compaoré against incumbent President Thomas Sankara.source
  • October 19 – Operation Earnest Will: US warships destroy two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.source
  • November 12 – The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mainland China opens in Beijing, near Tiananmen Square.source
  • November 15 – In Brașov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime led by Nicolae Ceaușescu.source
  • December 8 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • June 19 – Teddy Seymour is officially designated the first black man to sail around the world, when he completes his solo sailing circumnavigation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, of the United States Virgin Islands.source
  • August 7 – American Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim the Bering Strait, crossing from Little Diomede Island to Big Diomede in 2 hours and 5 minutes.source

Religion & Belief

  • August 26 – Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County decision: The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturns the earlier ruling of a lower court which found that certain public school textbooks promoted the "religion" of secular humanism; in this final ruling, the court finds that the plaintiffs have not proven that the state is presenting secular humanism as a religious ideology.source
  • December 30 – Pope John Paul II issues the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern).source

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.source
  • February 11 – British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.source
  • March 24 – Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and French Prime Minister and future President of France, Jacques Chirac, sign an agreement to construct the 4,800 acre km2 Euro Disney Resort (now called Disneyland Paris) and to develop the Val d'Europe area of the new town Marne-la-Vallée in Paris, France.source
  • June 3 – The Vanuatu Labour Party is founded.source
  • July 17 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04.source
  • October 3 – The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement is reached but still requires ratification. This agreement would be a precursor to NAFTA.source
  • October 19 – Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street and around the world.source
  • December 15 – Production I.G is founded by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and Takayuki Goto.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 4 – Televangelist Oral Roberts announces to his viewers that unless they donate $8 million to his ministry by March 31, God will "call [him] home."source
  • March 31 – Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, conducts a 45-minute interview on Soviet television.source
  • April 19 – The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.source
  • May 27 – In one of the densest concentrations of humanity in history, a crowd of 800,000+ packed shoulder-to-shoulder onto the Golden Gate Bridge and its approaches for its 50th Anniversary celebration.source
  • June 13 – At the Paris Air Show, Boeing announces the sale of their 1,842nd Boeing 737, making the 737 the best-selling airliner of all time.source
  • July 25 – The East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway in the North West of England, is opened between Bury and Ramsbottom.source
  • July 31 – Docklands Light Railway in London, the first driverless railway in Great Britain, is formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II.source
  • August 4 – The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine, which had required radio and television stations to present alternative views on controversial issues.source
  • August 11 – Apple introduces Hypercard, a precursor to the World Wide Web.source
  • August 15 – Great Basin National Park is dedicated; it is the 49th national park in the United States and the first in the state of Nevada.source
  • September 1 – Honda announces plans to build a second U.S. assembly plant, the East Liberty Auto Plant.source
  • November 1 – The InterCity 125 breaks the world speed record for a diesel-powered train, reaching 238 km/h (147.88 mph).source
  • November 7 – Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in Singapore opens for passenger service.source
  • November 22 – Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion – unknown perpetrators hijack the signal of WGN-TV for about 20 seconds, and WTTW for about 90 seconds, and displays a video of a man in a Max Headroom mask.source
  • December 1 – NASA announces the names of 4 companies awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric's Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 23 – SN 1987A, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604, is observed.source
  • March 1 – The first Starbucks outside of the US is opened in Vancouver, Canada.source
  • March 18 – Woodstock of physics: A marathon session of the American Physical Society's meeting features 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors.source
  • March 29 – A hybrid solar eclipse is the second hybrid solar eclipse in less than one year, the first being on October 3, 1986. It is annular visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (part of the path of annularity crossed today's South Sudan), Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Somalia and totally visible in Atlantic Ocean, lasting just 7.57 seconds.source
  • May 28 – Eighteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained (released on August 3, 1988).source
  • June 8 – The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act is passed, the first of its kind in the world.source
  • June 19 – Edwards v. Aguillard: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution is taught is unconstitutional.source
  • June 30 – Canada introduces a one-dollar coin, nicknamed the "Loonie".source
  • August 4 – The World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, publishes its report, Our Common Future.source
  • August 16 – The followers of the Harmonic Convergence claim it is observed around the world.source

Health & Medicine

  • February 28 – A Rüppell's vulture chick is hatched at the Milwaukee County Zoo, the first time the animal has been successfully bred in North America.source
  • March 20 – AZT is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.source
  • April 21 – In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Central Bus Station Bombing kills 113 civilians.source
  • July 11 – World population is estimated to have reached five billion people, according to the United Nations.source
  • July 23 – The United States Census Bureau reports the biggest population gains in metropolitan U.S. areas of over 1 million people since 1980: Phoenix (population increase of 26%); Dallas-Fort Worth (+25%); Atlanta (+20%); San Antonio (+19%) Tampa-Saint Petersburg (+19%); San Diego (+18%); Sacramento (+17%); and Houston (+17%). The largest population losses were in Rust Belt cities: Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.source
  • September 13 – Goiânia accident: Metal scrappers open an old radiation source abandoned in a hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, causing the worst radiation accident ever in an urban area.source
  • October 7 – The U.S. Department of Education announces new guidelines for teaching about AIDS in public schools, emphasizing the importance of abstinence and "appropriate moral and social conduct."source
  • December 23 – Nikki Sixx, Mötley Crüe's bassist overdoses on heroin and is declared clinically dead for two minutes before a paramedic revives him with two syringes full of adrenaline.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 16 – León Febres Cordero, president of Ecuador, is kidnapped for 11 hours by followers of imprisoned general Frank Vargas, who successfully demand the latter's release.source
  • January 20 – Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).source
  • May 11 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.source
  • July 3 – Greater Manchester Police in England recover the body of 16-year-old Pauline Reade from Saddleworth Moor, after her killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley help them in their search, almost exactly 24 years since Pauline was last seen alive.source
  • July 4 – A court in Lyon sentences former Gestapo boss Klaus Barbie to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.source
  • August 14 – All the children held at Kai Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.source
  • August 17 – Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison. Hess, 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex, which is soon to be demolished.source
  • August 19 – ABC News' chief Middle East correspondent Charles Glass escapes his Hezbollah kidnappers in Beirut, Lebanon, after 62 days in captivity.source
  • September 4 – In a village in Rajasthan, an 18-year-old widow, Roop Kanwar is burned alive on her husband's funeral pyre, in a banned practice known as Sati. Though the woman's father-in-law is arrested by authorities, thousands of Hindu pilgrims travel to the cremation site in support of the act.source
  • October 23 – British champion jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for three years after being convicted of tax evasion.source
  • November 8 – Enniskillen bombing: Twelve people are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 4 – 1987 Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route from Washington, D.C. to Boston collides with Conrail engines at Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.source
  • January 17 – The Jumalan teatteri ("The theatre of God") theatre students' group cause a huge scandal at the Oulu City Theatre in Oulu, Finland by throwing excrement, eggs and yoghurt on the audience during their two-minute performance.source
  • February 6 – The Soviet oil tanker Antonio Gramsci suffers a minor shipwreck in Finnish waters en route to the Neste oil refinery in Porvoo, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 570–650 tons.source
  • February 20 – A second Unabomber bomb explodes at a Salt Lake City computer store parking lot in the United States, injuring the owner's son.source
  • April 5 – Schoharie Creek Bridge Collapse: I-90 bridge collapse near Fort Hunter leaves 10 people dead. Investigators conclude that the bridge's piers had been weakened by structural flaws and significant scour. The accident leads to stricter safety standards in bridge design and inspection. The body of the 10th victim will ultimately be recovered from the Mohawk River more than two years later.source
  • May 9 – A Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-62 airliner, operated by LOT Polish Airlines, crashes into a forest just outside Warsaw, killing all 183 people on board.source
  • June 27 – A commercial HS 748 (Philippine Airlines Flight 206) crashes near Baguio, Philippines, killing 50.source
  • July 8 – A Delta Air Lines L-1011 strays 60 miles off course and nearly collides with a Continental Airlines 747 over the Atlantic Ocean. The two planes are carrying nearly 600 total passengers and may have come within 100 feet of each other.source
  • July 27 – Salvage dives begin on the wreck of the Titanic; survivor Eva Hart likens the salvage teams to "vultures."source
  • August 16 – Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, just west of Detroit, killing all but one (4-year-old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on board.source
  • October 19 – Two commuter trains collide head-on on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia; 102 are killed.source
  • October 22 – The pilot of a British Aerospace BAE Harrier GR5 registered ZD325 accidentally ejects from his aircraft. The jet continues to fly until it runs out of fuel and crashes into the Irish Sea.source
  • November 18 – The King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31 people and injures a further 100.source
  • November 28 – South African Airways Flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean off Mauritius, due to a fire in the cargo hold; the 159 passengers and crew perish.source
  • November 29 – Korean Air Flight 858 is blown up over the Andaman Sea, killing 115 crew and passengers. North Korean agents are responsible for the bombing.source
  • December 7 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, United States, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots.source
  • December 8 – Alianza Lima air disaster: A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43.source
  • December 20 – In history's worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry MV Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).source

Climate & Environment

  • March 6 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs in Napo Province in northeast Ecuador, killing roughly 1,000 people.source
  • March 28 – The 1987 Aegean crisis, which occurred near the Greek island of Thasos, was a confrontation between Greece and Turkey that was ultimately resolved peacefully. Turkey agreed to withdraw its vessels under the condition of Greece not pursue oil drills beyond its territorial waters.source
  • July 31 – An F4-rated tornado devastates eastern Edmonton, Alberta; hardest hit are an industrial park and a trailer park. 27 people are killed and hundreds injured, with hundreds more left homeless and jobless.source
  • October 15–16 – The Great storm of 1987 strikes southern Great Britain and northwestern France. It is one of the strongest storms to affect the region in the past 200 years.source
  • November 17 – A tsunami hits the Gulf of Alaska.source
  • November 25 – Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 265 km/h mph winds and a devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 812 deaths.source

Culture & Society

  • March 29 – The World Wrestling Federation (later WWE) produces WrestleMania III from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game has an attendance of 108,713 at AT&T Stadium.source
  • March 30 – The 59th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles, with Platoon winning Best Picture.source
  • May 4 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte that local Rotary Clubs do not have a constitutional right to deny membership to women. Other clubs thereafter comply with the ruling: Lions International begins admitting women in June, and Kiwanis Club in July.source
  • May 22 – The inaugural Rugby World Cup hosted by both New Zealand and Australia kicks off. In the opening match of the new tournament, New Zealand beat Italy in the pool stage.source
  • May 27 – At the Prater Stadium of Vienna, Porto of Portugal defeats Bayern München of West Germany 2–1 and wins its first European Cup.source
  • June 20 – New Zealand wins the inaugural Rugby World Cup after beating France in the final.source
  • June 29 – South Korean politician, presidential candidate of the ruling party Roh Tae-woo makes a speech promising a wide program of nationwide reforms, the result of the June Democracy Movement.source
  • August 19 – The Order of the Garter is opened to women.source
  • August 31 – Michael Jackson releases Bad, his first studio album since Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. The album would produce five number one singles in the US, a record which has not been broken.source
  • September 7–21 – The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.source
  • October 8–November 8 – The 1987 Cricket World Cup is held in India and Pakistan with Australia defeating England in the final.source
  • October 25 – The Minnesota Twins won 4 games to 3 in the 1987 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.source
  • November 7 – The Soviet Union celebrates the 70th Anniversary of The October Revolution with a Parade on Moscow's Red Square.source

Births

  • January 12 – Naya Rivera, American actress and singer (d. 2020)source
  • January 17 – Oleksandr Usyk, Ukrainian boxersource
  • January 24 – Luis Suárez, Uruguayan football playersource
  • January 30 – Becky Lynch, Irish professional wrestlersource
  • February 1 – Ronda Rousey, American martial arts expert, actress and professional wrestlersource
  • February 11 – Ellen van Dijk, Dutch road and track cycling world championsource
  • February 13 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballersource
  • February 16 – Jon Ossoff, American politician, senior senator from Georgiasource
  • May 22 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis playersource
  • July 3 – Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver, 4-time champions in Formula Onesource
  • July 9 – Rebecca Sugar, American animator and creator of Steven Universesource
  • August 18 – Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Polish mixed martial artist and kickboxersource
  • September 28 – Hilary Duff, American actress, businesswoman, singer, songwriter, producer, and writersource
  • December 9 – Hikaru Nakamura, Japanese born-American chess grandmastersource

Deaths

  • June 17 – With the death of the last known individual, the dusky seaside sparrow, a subspecies native to the US state of Florida, becomes extinct.source
  • July 22 – Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28.source