Events from the year 1983 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: Ronald Reagan (R-California) Vice President: George H. W. Bush (R-Texas) Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts) Senate Majority Leader: Howard Baker (R-Tennessee) Congress: 97th (until January 3), 98th (starting January 3)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January January 1 – The New Jersey Transit Police Department is created in the state of New Jersey. January 2 – The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway, New York City. January 3 – Kilauea begins slowly erupting on the Big Island of Hawaii. On December 5, 2018, after 90 days of inactivity from the volcano, the eruption that started in 1983 was declared to be over. January 18 – The International Olympic Committee restores Native American athlete Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family. January 19 – Apple Inc. releases the Apple Lisa personal computer. January 25 – President Reagan delivers his second State of the Union Address to the 98th Congress. January 26 – Lotus 1-2-3 is released for IBM-PC compatible computers. January 30 – The Washington Redskins defeat the Miami Dolphins by a score of 27–17 in Super Bowl XVII.
February February 18 – Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington. February 23 The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intention to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri. Failure of automatic shut-down at Salem Nuclear Power Plant, New Jersey, USA. February 24 – A special commission of the Congress of the United States releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II. February 28 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, setting a new record for most-watched television broadcast in American history.
March
March 3 – Musician/TV host Peter Ivers is fatally bludgeoned by an intruder in his Los Angeles apartment. The perpetrator is never identified. March 8 – IBM releases the IBM PC XT. March 9 – Anne Burford resigns as head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency amid scandal. March 22 – Judith Neelley is convicted of the kidnap and murder of 13 year old Lisa Millican in Georgia and sentenced to death. Her sentence is later reduced to life imprisonment.Judith & Alvin Neelley, southern serial killers — Controversial Sentencing — Crime Library on truTV.com March 23 – Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars". March 25 Motown celebrates its 25th anniversary with the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, during which Michael Jackson performs Billie Jean and introduces the moonwalk. Rob Lowe's feature film debut The Outsiders is released.
April April 11 – The 55th Academy Awards, hosted by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau, are held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Richard Attenborough's Gandhi receives 11 nominations and wins eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Louis Gossett Jr. also becomes the first African-American actor to win Best Supporting Actor for his role in An Officer and a Gentleman. April 18 The April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut kills 63 people. The Disney Channel is initiated on American cable TV. April 25 – Manchester, Maine schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov, after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
May May 2 – The 6.2 Coalinga earthquake shakes central California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 94 injuries and $10 million in losses. May 17 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. May 25 National Missing Children's Day is proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan, exactly four years after Etan Patz's disappearance. Return of the Jedi, the 3rd of the projected 12 Star Wars films produced by George Lucas, is released in the United States. The original Star Wars was released 6 years to the day previously on May 25, 1977. May 27 – Benton fireworks disaster: A powerful explosion at an unlicensed fireworks factory in Benton, Tennessee kills 11 and injures one. May 28 – The 9th G7 summit begins in Williamsburg, Virginia. May 29 Tom Sneva wins the Indianapolis 500 motor race Neil Bonnett wins the 24th running of the world 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. May 31 – The Philadelphia 76ers sweep the Los Angeles Lakers in four games to win the championship for the 1982–83 NBA season. Philadelphia's Moses Malone is named NBA Finals MVP.
June June – Throughout the local summer, many Midwestern American states are affected by a severe drought that causes water shortages. June 4 – Fugitive tax protester Gordon Kahl, who has been on the run for four months, is killed in a shootout with police in Smithville, Arkansas, along with a local sheriff. June 5 – Irish rock band U2,performs a live recording concert of Under A Blood Red Sky at Red Rocks Amphitheatre as part of War(Tour) in Morrison, Colorado attended by 4,400 youths mostly university students. June 13 – Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the Solar System. June 16 – Cork Graham is caught off the Vietnamese island of Phú Quốc looking for treasure buried by Captain Kidd. He is convicted and imprisoned until 1984 for illegal entry. June 18 – STS-7: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
July July 7 – Samantha Smith flies to the Soviet Union (see April 25). July 11 – Reading Rainbow debuts on PBS. July 23 – Diana Ross's concert at The Great Lawn of New York City's Central Park, attended by 800,000 fans, is cut short by a massive lightning storm. July 25 – The world's first dedicated hospital ward for HIV/AIDS patients opens at San Francisco General Hospital.
August August 1 – America West Airlines begins operations in Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada. August 18 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage. August 24 – The Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson. August 30 – STS-8: Space Shuttle Challenger carries Guion S. Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, into space.
September September 1 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed, including U.S. Representative Larry McDonald. September 5 – Tom Brokaw becomes lead anchor for NBC Nightly News. September 15 – Huey Lewis and the News's album Sports is released. September 16 – President Ronald Reagan announces that the Global Positioning System (GPS) will be made available for civilian use. September 17 Vanessa Lynn Williams becomes the first African-American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, a TV series based on the Peanuts comic strip, premiered on CBS, as part of the CBS Superstar Saturday. September 18 – U.S. heavy metal band Kiss officially appears in public without makeup for the first time on MTV.
October October 4 Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. The first Hooters restaurant opens in Clearwater, Florida. October 16 – World Series: The Baltimore Orioles defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 5–0 in Game 5, to win the series 4 games to 1 for their 3rd World Championship. October 23 – Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French and the United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians. October 25 United States troops invade Grenada at the behest of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of American States. Microsoft Word is first released. October 28 – The 6.9 Borah Peak earthquake shook central Idaho with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing two deaths, three injuries, and $12.5 million in losses.
November November 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Day: At the White House Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It is first observed in 1986. Chrysler introduces the Dodge Caravan, the first "minivan". November 3 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic Party presidential nomination. November 7 – 1983 U.S. Senate bombing: A bomb explodes in the United States Senate with the intent to kill Republican senators however nobody was killed. The perpetrators were part of the May 19th Communist Organization. November 10 The anticancer drug etoposide is approved by the FDA, leading to a curative treatment regime in the field of combination chemotherapy of testicular carcinoma. Star 80 released: A film about the true story of Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her estranged husband Paul Snider on August 14, 1980. November 11 – Ronald Reagan becomes the first U.S. president to address the Diet, Japan's national legislature. November 13 – The first United States cruise missiles arrive at Greenham Common Airbase in England amid protests from peace campaigners. November 14 – The immunosuppressant cyclosporine is approved by the FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation. November 16 – A jury in Gretna, Louisiana acquits Ginny Foat of the murder of Argentine businessman Moses Chaiyo. November 20 – ABC showed the most watched and controversial TV movie of what a real nuclear war would look like called The Day After. November 18 – A Christmas Story is released.
December December 2 – Michael Jackson's music video for "Thriller" is broadcast for the first time. It becomes the most often repeated and famous music video of all time, increasing his own popularity and record sales of the album Thriller. December 4 – United States Navy aviator Lt's. Mark Lange and Bobby Goodman are shot down in an A-6 Intruder over Lebanon and captured by Syrians; Lt. Lange dies of his injuries; Lt. Goodman is released 30 days later after the intervention of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. December 13 – The Denver Nuggets and the visiting Detroit Pistons combine for an NBA record 370 points, with Detroit winning in triple overtime, 186–184. December 24 – Miles City, Montana sets the record for the highest mean sea level pressure in the contiguous US with a reading of 31.42 inHg (1064 mb).World and US High Barometric Pressure records December 27 – A propane explosion in Buffalo, New York kills five firefighters and two civilians. December 29 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson travels to Syria to secure the release of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman, who had been in Syrian captivity since being shot down over the country during a reconnaissance mission. December 31 – The Apple Macintosh television advertisement is released.
Undated McDonald's introduces the McNugget. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is launched. The economy begins a robust recovery following the early 1980s recession. Flashdance and Return of the Jedi are box-office hits. Kellogg's introduces Crispix cereal. Kary Mullis discovers polymerase chain reaction while working for Cetus. Chrysler starts production on the first minivans: the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager. The Cabbage Patch Kids dolls make their national debut, their popularity leads to the Cabbage Patch riots.