Events from the year 1987 in the United States.
Incumbents Federal government President: Ronald Reagan (R-California) Vice President: George H. W. Bush (R-Texas) Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts) (until January 3) Jim Wright (D-Texas) (starting January 6) Senate Majority Leader: Bob Dole (R-Kansas) (until January 3) Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) (starting January 3) Congress: 99th (until January 3), 100th (starting January 3)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governorsGovernors
Lieutenant governors
Events January January 5 – President Ronald Reagan undergoes prostate surgery, causing speculation about his physical fitness to continue in office. January 13 – New York mafiosi Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno and Carmine Peruccia are sentenced to 100 years in prison for racketeering. January 22 – Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer commits suicide by shooting himself during a press conference. The incident was captured by news cameras and later broadcast on television. January 27 – State of the Union Address. January 28 – The U.S. State Department invalidates US passports for travel to or through Lebanon due to security concerns. The ban was lifted in 1997. January 29 – William J. Casey ends his term as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. January 31 – The last Ohrbach's department store closes in New York City after 64 years of operation.
February February 9 – Brownsville, Texas, receives of rain in just two hours; flooding in some parts of the city is worse than that caused by Hurricane Beulah in 1967. February 11 – The United States military detonates an atomic weapon at the Nevada Test Site. February 20 – A second Unabomber bomb explodes at a computer store in Salt Lake City, injuring the owner. February 26 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security Council staff.
March March 2 – American Motors Corporation is acquired by the Chrysler Corporation. March 3 – Ruthless Records was founded by Eazy-E & Jerry Heller. 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. Jonathan Pollard is sentenced to life in prison on one count of espionage. March 11 – The Watsonville Cannery strike comes to an official end with companies agreeing to union protection of wage cuts, among other benefits. March 12 – AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, abbreviated to ACT UP, is formed at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City. March 18 – Woodstock of physics: The marathon session of the American Physical Society’s meeting features 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors. March 19 – In Charlotte, North Carolina, televangelist Jim Bakker, head of PTL Ministries, resigns after admitting an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn. March 29 – The World Wrestling Federation presents WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. Hulk Hogan retains the WWF World Heavyweight Championship defeating his former friend André The Giant. March 30 – The 59th Academy Awards, hosted by Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Paul Hogan, are held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Oliver Stone's Platoon wins four awards out of eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film is tied in nominations by James Ivory's A Room with a View.
April April 5 – The Fox Network makes its primetime debut. April 19 – The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. April 23 – L'Ambiance Plaza collapse: 28 construction workers are killed at a residential project under construction in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was one of the worst disasters in Connecticut history. April 27 – The United States Department of Justice declares incumbent Austrian president Kurt Waldheim an "undesirable alien". April 30 – NASCAR driver Bill Elliott sets the record for the all-time fastest lap at Talladega Superspeedway at .
May May 8 – U.S. Senator Gary Hart drops out of the running for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, amid allegations of an extramarital affair with Donna Rice. May 17 – The USS Stark is hit by two Iraqi owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles, killing 37 sailors. May 21 – Andrew Wyeth, with his "Helga Pictures," becomes the first living American painter to have a one-man show of his work in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. May 24 Approximately 800,000 people gather for a walk to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Five days before his 48th birthday, Al Unser became the oldest winner of the Indianapolis 500 and only the second driver to win the event four times.
June 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. June 16 – Bernhard Goetz is exonerated on 12 of 13 counts by a jury in the case against him stemming from the 1984 shootings of four youths in a New York subway car. 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. 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. June 28 – An accidental explosion at Hohenfels Training Area in West Germany kills 3 U.S. troopers.
July
July 1 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan nominates former Solicitor General Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. The nomination is later rejected by the Senate, the first and only nominee rejection to date. July 17 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04. July 25 – United States Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige Jr. dies in a rodeo accident at a California ranch.
August August 7–23 – Pan American Games are held in Indianapolis. 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 (among them Nick Vanos, a center for the Phoenix Suns). August 19 – ABC News chief Middle East correspondent Charles Glass escapes his Hezbollah kidnappers in Beirut, Lebanon, after 62 days in captivity. 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.
September September 17 – Televangelist Pat Robertson announces his candidacy for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination. September 25 – Varroa destructor, an invasive parasite, is found for the first time in the U.S.Varroa Jacobsonii/Destructor
October October – The unemployment rate drops below 6% for the first time since 1979. October 1 – The 5.9 Whittier Narrows earthquake affected the Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 200. October 10 – Reverend Jesse Jackson launches his second campaign for U.S. president. October 11 – The first National Coming Out Day is held in celebration of the second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. October 14–16 – A young child, Jessica McClure, falls down a well in Midland, Texas, and is later rescued. October 19 Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street and around the world. Operation Earnest Will: U.S. warships destroy two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf 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. October 25 – 1987 World Series: The Minnesota Twins defeat the St. Louis Cardinals despite having the worst regular season win–loss ratio for a winner, a record they hold until 2006. October 26 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average goes down 156.83 points; at the time it is the second largest decrease ever (trailing Black Monday).
November November 6 – Florida rapist Tommy Lee Andrews is the first person to be convicted as a result of DNA fingerprinting: he is sentenced to 22 years in prison. November 13–23 – Atlanta prison riots: Cuban Inmates at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary rioted over fears of Deportation back to Cuba, seizing hostages and setting fires, resulting in the death of one inmate and significant damage. November 18 – Iran–Contra affair: U.S. Senate and House panels release reports charging President Ronald Reagan with 'ultimate responsibility' for the affair. November 22 – The Max Headroom Incident: An unidentified person hijacks two television stations in Chicago, Illinois, and broadcasts video of them wearing a mask in the likeness of the character Max Headroom. November 23 – Frank Carlucci is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense, succeeding Caspar Weinberger.
December December – The unemployment rate drops to 5.7%, the lowest since July 1979. December 1 – NASA announces the names of four companies who were awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric's Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell. December 2 – Hustler Magazine v. Falwell is argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. December 7 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself. 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. December 10 – A squirrel closes down the Nasdaq Stock Exchange when it burrows through a telephone line.Gilpin, Kenneth N.Squirrel Shuts Down Nasdaq System, December 10, 1987, New York Times December 22–28 – Ronald Gene Simmons goes on a 6-day killing spree in Russellville, Arkansas, killing his wife, children, and grandchildren as they arrived to celebrate the holidays at his home. On the 28th he went on a shooting spree, killing an additional woman and wounding 5 others before surrendering to police. The final death toll was 16. He was tried and eventually executed. December 29 – Prozac makes its debut in the United States.
Date unknown The Silence=Death Project is launched in New York City by six gay rights activists, including Avram Finkelstein. Varroa destructor, an invasive parasite of honeybees, is found in the United States.
Ongoing Cold War (1947–1991) Iran–Contra affair (1985–1987)
Births
January
January 1 Will Brandenburg, Olympic alpine skier Gia Coppola, film director, screenwriter, and actress Meryl Davis, Olympic figure skater Ryan Perrilloux, football player January 2 Shelley Hennig, actress and model Syesha Mercado, singer Lauren Storm, actress and acting coach January 5 Dexter Bean, stock car racing driver Kristin Cavallari, actress Willie Mack, wrestler Jason Mitchell, actor January 6 Arin Hanson, internet personality, comedian, voice actor, songwriter, rapper, animator and cartoonist Ndamukong Suh, football player January 7 Brandon Bantz, baseball player Michael Callahan, soccer player Melanie Cruise, wrestler Alisha Edwards, wrestler Lyndsy Fonseca, actress January 10 – Perrish Cox, football player January 11 Scotty Cranmer, BMX rider Aisha Wahab, politician January 12 Deena Nicole Cortese, television personality