Timeline of the Ronald Reagan presidency (1987)

The following is a timeline of the presidency of Ronald Reagan from January 1, 1987, to December 31, 1987.

January January 2 – A memorandum by President Reagan on the general system of preferences is filed with the Federal Register Office during the afternoon. President Reagan sends a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill about his "intent to withdraw Romania and Nicaragua and suspend Paraguay from the list of beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) effective 60 days after the date of this letter." January 3 – President Reagan conducts his radio address from the Oval Office of the White House about the fiscal budget for the following year. January 5 – Letters are sent to Speaker O'Neill and Vice President George H. W. Bush for the 1988 budget. January 27 – President Reagan delivers the 1987 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress. January 30 – President Reagan awards Larry Speakes the Presidential Citizen Medal. President Reagan announces his appointments of Charles D. Hobbs for Assistant to the President, and Gary L. Bauer for Assistant to the President for Policy Development. January 31 – President Reagan delivers a radio address regarding the goals of his presidency from the Oval Office during the afternoon.

February February 2 – President Reagan discussed the upcoming economic summit in Venice, trade issues, arms control, and East-West scientific cooperation with Italian officials February 3 – President Reagan met with local townspeople to express gratitude for their assistance to the victims of the Amtrak train accident in Chase, Maryland. The accident resulted in sixteen fatalities and over 170 injuries. February 4 – President Reagan convened a meeting to address the refugee situation in Southeast Asia with key officials. February 5 – President Reagan held a meeting with Prime Minister Turgut Özal of the Republic of Turkey. February 7 – President Reagan delivers a radio address to the nation on welfare reform. February 9 – President Reagan participated in a welfare reform briefing for members of the Coalition for America at Risk, including members of the press. President Reagan addressed approximately 200 guests, including members of the press, at a ceremony to congratulate the Stars & Stripes on its victory in the America's Cup yachting race. President Reagan met with representatives of the Boy Scouts of America to receive their annual report. February 11 – President Reagan met with the Special Review Board for the National Security Council to review the Iran policy and the President's role in its development and execution.

March

April April 20 – United States Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel requests that Congress give approval to both oil and gas leasing while recommending the Arctic National Wildfire Refuge. Vice President Bush hosts the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. April 21 – The Senate grants limited immunity to former United States National Security Advisor John Poindexter. April 22 – President Reagan participates in the White House Correspondents' Dinner. April 23 – The Pentagon disputes a prior report that confirming the functioning of the laser and participle beams of the Strategic Defense Initiative would take a decade of research. April 24 – 15 members of the American white supremacist movement are charged by the federal government of violations of civil rights, sedition, and conspiracy. April 25 – During President Reagan's weekly radio address he says members of Congress advocating for protectionist trade legislation are risking America's prosperity "for the sake of sort term appeal [acquire popular support]."

May May 11 – President Reagan announces his nomination of Kenneth Y. Tomlinson for membership on the Board for International Broadcasting for a nearly three-year term. May 12 – President Reagan meets with Republican congressional leaders during the morning hours. May 23 – President Reagan designates May 25 as a national day of mourning for the victims in the USS Stark incident. President Reagan delivers a radio address from Camp David during the early afternoon, speaking on Memorial Day and the deficit of the budget.

June June 11 – President Reagan conducts the forty-first news conference of his presidency at the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Italy during the afternoon. President Reagan issues a statement expressing regret for "the necessity, temporarily, to withdraw the proposal to sell modified Maverick air-to-ground missiles to Saudi Arabia because of strong congressional opposition." President Reagan delivers an address to the Italian-American conference at the Palazzo Grassi during the afternoon. June 12 – President Reagan gives his "Tear down this wall!" speech. June 13 – President Reagan discusses world trade during his radio address from the Oval Office during the afternoon.

July July 1 – President Reagan nominates Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, starting a wave of controversy. July 16 – President Reagan delivers a speech at the Presentation Ceremony for the All-America Cities Awards in Room 450 of the Old Executive Office Building during the afternoon. President Reagan sends the annual environmental quality report, noting "programs and policies governing environmental protection and natural resource preservation are in need of change" in spite of positive trends within the report. President Reagan signs Executive Order 12603 "in order to increase the number of members of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic". July 17 – President Reagan meets with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher in the Oval Office of the White House, attending a luncheon with her afterward. President Reagan delivers a speech in the South Portico, during which he says he and the prime minister "reviewed the general prospects for peace in the Middle East" and their discussion was "highly successful." President Reagan announces his nomination of Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. for membership on the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation with a two-year term. July 22 – President Reagan signs the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act. July 27 – President Reagan delivers a speech to employees at the Broan Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Wisconsin during the morning. Over an hour later, President Reagan gives a speech to a Rotary Club Luncheon in the Old Settlers Room at the Old Washington Restaurant in West Bend during the afternoon.

August

September September 21 – President Reagan delivers a speech to the 42d Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York.Address to the 42d Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York. September 21, 1987. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved January 19, 2025.

October October 1 – President Reagan sends a message to Congress reporting "13 deferrals of budget authority totaling $1,776,737,627." President Reagan announces his choice to nominate Earl E. Gjelde for Under Secretary of the Interior, and Melvin N.A. Peterson for Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Department of Commerce. October 2 – President Reagan signs the Germany-American Day Proclamation. President Reagan announces his nominations, both in the Defense Department, of Robert Clifton Duncan for Director of Defense Research and Engineering, and Fred S. Hoffman for Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs). During an exchange with reporters, President Reagan says he is "going to continue working as hard as I can" to see that Bork is appointed to the Supreme Court. October 3 – President Reagan delivers a radio address from Camp David on volunteering and in support of Bork's nomination during the afternoon. October 9 – President Reagan attends a White House luncheon with members of the Volunteer International Council of the United States Information Agency in the East Room and thanks Bork supporters in the South Lawn during the afternoon. October 10 – President Reagan speaks on the Bork nomination in his national radio address during the afternoon. October 12 – President Reagan issues a statement on the death of Alfred M. Landon. October 23 – Full Senate rejects Bork as Supreme Court justice. October 29 – President Reagan nominates Douglas H. Ginsburg to be a Supreme Court associate justice.

November November 2 – William S. Sessions is sworn in as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the J. Edgar Hoover Building. President Reagan announces the nomination of Chandler L. van Orman for Administrator of the Economic Regulatory Administration at the Department of Energy, and the appointment of T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. for Governor of the Board of Governors of the American National Red Cross. November 3 – President Reagan announces his nomination of Ann McLaughlin for United States Secretary of Labor. November 4 – A recording of President Reagan speaking about relations between the US and the Soviet Union, produced the previous day in the Oval Office of the White House, is played during the morning. President Reagan announces his nominations of April Catherine Glaspie for Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq, and David C. Miller, Jr. for membership on the board of directors of the African Development Foundation. President Reagan announces the appointment of Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. for Assistant to the President. President Reagan states his intent to lift part of his sanctions made on Japanese products due to "improved Japanese compliance with the 1986 U.S.-Japan semiconductor agreement". November 5 – President Reagan announces his nomination of Frank C. Carlucci for United States Secretary of Defense. November 6 – President Reagan speaks with reporters in the Cabinet Room during the morning and delivers an address in favor of Supreme Court nominee Douglas Ginsburg in Room 450 of the Old Executive Office Building during the afternoon. President Reagan announces the nominations of Henry Anatole Grunwald for United States Ambassador to Austria, Richard Huntington Melton for United States Ambassador to Nicaragua, Linda J. Fisher for Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Bradley P. Holmes for membership on the Federal Communications Commission. November 7 – President Reagan delivers a radio address from Camp David on relations between the Philippines and the US as well as the current state of Central America during the afternoon. President Reagan issues a statement on Ginsburg withdrawing his nomination. November 9 – President Reagan delivers an address to volunteers and staff of the United Way of America in the film studio at United Way headquarters during the morning. President Reagan delivers a wide-ranging speech at the Jefferson Room luncheon in the Department of State during the afternoon. November 10 – The White House releases a statement rebuking the dollar issue discussed by The New York Times and citing unnamed sources with claimed ties to the White House as inaccurate. President Reagan hosts a welcoming ceremony for President of Israel Chaim Herzog in the East Room of the White House and speaks with reporters in the Cabinet Room during the morning. November 11 – President Reagan announces his nomination of Anthony M. Kennedy for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Briefing Room of the White House during morning. November 12 – President Reagan holds with Yunis Khalis and members of his delegation in the Roosevelt Room during the morning. President Reagan announces the appointment of Marion C. Blakey for Special Assistant to the President and Director of Public Affairs. President Reagan issues a proclamation designating November 15 through November 22 as "National Arts Week".