The following events occurred in August 1981:
August 1, 1981 (Saturday) MTV, the Music Television cable network, went on the air at 12:01 AM from Fort Lee, New Jersey on cable systems in the United States, with John Lack's introductory words, "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll." Initially, MTV showed music videos 24 hours a day. The very first selection was "Video Killed the Radio Star" from Buggles. Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" was the second. When it launched, MTV reached 800,000 subscribers and cable television was still in only 25% of American homes. The MTV network would come under criticism in its first 19 months of existence because of its practice of featuring only songs from white musical artists in heavy rotation., noting that a non-white artist did not receive regular play until March 10, 1983, when Michael Jackson's song "Billie Jean" premiered. Abu Daoud, the PLO terrorist who had overseen the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics, was shot five times at close range while sitting in the coffee shop of the Victoria Hotel in Warsaw. Daoud survived his wounds and lived almost 30 more years until his death at the age of 72. Canadian serial killer Clifford Robert Olson Jr., who abducted and murdered 11 teenagers and children (mostly girls) over eight months in British Columbia, was stopped by police after he picked up two young girls who were hitchhiking. He was arrested after the name and address of one of his victims was found in a book in his van. After the government guaranteed to provide $110,000 ($343,885 as of 2023) to his wife, Olson showed police the location of the bodies of victims who had not yet been located and pled guilty to 11 counts of murder on January 11, 1982. He died in prison in 2011. In Mexico, a freight train derailment near San Luis Potosi ruptured a tanker car carrying chlorine gas, killing 29 people and sending another 1,000 to the hospital. Died: Paddy Chayefsky, 58, American screenwriter and 3-time Oscar winner
August 2, 1981 (Sunday) Mohammad Ali Rajai was sworn in as the second President of Iran. Lou Cannon of The Washington Post published the first description of U.S. President Ronald Reagan as "The Great Communicator". Variations of the nickname ("communicator-executive", "Communicator in Chief") had appeared earlier. Frederick Mellinger, owner of Frederick's of Hollywood, introduced thong underwear to the United States. The Hong Kong freighter MV Primrose, with a crew of 31, ran aground on a coral reef during a storm near North Sentinel Island in the Andaman Islands and soon had to radio for help when it came under attack by "spear-waving wild natives". Captain Liu Chung-long sent an SOS on August 10 with a cable saying "Wild island people carrying spears and arrows attempted to board the ship. All crew members' lives not guaranteed. Request assistance and protection urgently, otherwise please arrange air drop weapons for defense.""Ship Besieged By Spear Carriers", Pittsburgh Press, August 11, 1981, p.A-1 A Singapore tugboat and an Indian Navy landing craft arrived on August 11 to protect MV Primrose. A follow-up message estimated that more than 50 natives were "carrying various home-made weapons and are making two or three wooden boats" and added "Worrying that they will board us at sunset." Rough seas and monsoon winds prevented any possibility of an actual attack before the rescue ship arrived, and a spokesman for the Indian Navy said after the crew had been airlifted by helicopter that there was never any danger and that "It is perfectly normal for the Sentinelese to walk around with bows and arrows. It is part of their dress. At no time was the crew harmed and no time did the Sentinelese try to board the ship." After the crewmen were taken to Port Blair by helicopter, arrangements wer made for them to be flown to Kolkata."Shipwrecked captain 'panicked'— Armed natives were harmless", UPI report in El Paso Herald-Post, August 14, 1981, p.E4 Decades later, the story would be embellished on the internet as a "strange mystery". Died: Delfo Cabrera, 62, Argentine runner who won the 1948 Olympic marathon, was killed in a car accident in Buenos Aires.
August 3, 1981 (Monday) The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike at 7:00 am Eastern Time. The union's demand was for each employee to have a $10,000 annual wage increase, a 32-hour workweek (a four-day week and an eight-hour day combined) and increased benefits. President Reagan, citing the law that prohibited federal government employees from striking, ordered walkouts to return before 11:00 am EST Wednesday or be fired. Of the 16,395 Americans who guided airplane takeoffs and landings, 4,199 stayed on the job. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) responded by using a central control station to send clearances to the nation's airports, which operated at 50% capacity.
August 4, 1981 (Tuesday) U.S. Patent 4,282,233 was granted to the American pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough for the active ingredient in Claritin, loratadine, although the FDA would not approve the medicine's use until April 12, 1993. By 1999, Claritin would become the top selling antihistamine in America, with sales of $1.5 billion.Chris P. Miller and Mark J. Evans, The Chemist's Companion Guide to Patent Law (John Wiley and Sons, 2010) p195 U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, who in 1987 would become a central figure in the Iran-Contra Affair and then a conservative commentator, became a staffer on the National Security Council.Lisa Klobuchar, The Iran-Contra Affair: Political Scandal Uncovered (Compass Point Books, 2008) p45 In what was, at the time, the largest corporate merger in American history, the DuPont chemical company acquired majority ownership of the petroleum company Conoco Inc. for 7.8 billion dollars, buying up outstanding stock at 2:45 a.m."Du Pont Claims Conoco Victory", Pittsburgh Press, August 5, 1981, p1 A day after a rebellion broke out at Santa Cruz, General Luis Garcia Meza was forced to resign as President of Bolivia. He was replaced by a junta led by General Celso Torrelio."Bolivian president replaced by junta", Montreal Gazette, August 5, 1981, p14 Born: Marques Houston, American singer and actor; in Los Angeles Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; in Los Angeles Died: Melvyn Douglas, 80, American film actor and winner of two Academy Awards
August 5, 1981 (Wednesday) By a vote of 130–14, the Majlis elected Mohammad Javad Bahonar as the new Prime Minister of Iran.
President Reagan ordered the firing of 11,359 American air-traffic controllers who had ignored his 11:00 am deadline for returning to work. Another 875 who had walked out had come back before being fired. There was no negotiation with PATCO President Robert Poli, and the union was decertified on October 22. Poli himself resigned on December 31. The tall Percheron rocket, privately built by Space Services Inc., exploded on the launch pad at Matagorda Island in Texas. The company started over with a new rocket, Conestoga One, which was launched on a suborbital flight on September 9, 1982. Born: Carl Crawford, American MLB outfielder and stolen base champion; in Houston Rachel Scott, American student who was killed in the 1999 Columbine High School massacre Died: Jerzy Neyman, 87, Moldavian-born mathematician who introduced the confidence interval for testing in inferential statistics and revolutionized data sampling techniques.
August 6, 1981 (Thursday) President Reagan gave the go-ahead for U.S. production of the neutron bomb, with warheads for 380 Lance missiles and 800 on 150-mm howitzers for U.S. troops in Europe.Giriraj Shah, Encyclopaedia of International Terrorism, Volume 2 (Anmol Publications, 2002) p710 France's Communication Minister, Georges Fillioud, announced the end of the state radio monopoly in France and permitted privately owned stations for the first time. Within two months, 400 new stations were on the air.Paris Africain: rhythms of the African diaspora By James A. Winders p30 Died: Urban Tigner Holmes, 71, American theologian Corradino D'Ascanio, 70, Italian inventor
August 7, 1981 (Friday) The Washington Star published its final edition, with the headline "128 Years of Service Ending", and a letter from President Reagan noting, "There is a great silence today in Washington." The last masthead noted "129th year, No. 219" and the paper sold 640,000 copies, double its normal circulation and the largest run in the paper's history."A Star Burns Out In The Nation's Capital", The Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, FL), August 7, 1981, p2
August 8, 1981 (Saturday) The National Aquarium in Baltimore opened after three years of construction and development, becoming one of Maryland's most popular attractions, and spurring the development of other city aquariums.National Aquarium, Baltimore website General Ne Win, President of Burma since a military coup in 1962, told his followers at the Fourth Burma Socialist Programme Party Congress that he would retire from the presidency effective November 9, but would continue as head of the BSPP. Andrea Jaeger won her first major pro tennis title, beating Virginia Ruzici at the U.S. Clay Courts championship final in Indianapolis."U.S. Clay Court Jaeger's first major pro title", Tri City Herald, August 9, 1981, p32 Jaeger would go on to win the 1982 French Open and the 1983 Wimbledon title. Coincidentally, tennis star Roger Federer was born on the same day. Born: Roger Federer, Swiss professional tennis champion who won 20 Grand Slam tennis titles including five straight Wimbledon finals 2003 to 2007, five consecutive U.S. Opens 2004 to 2008, six Australian Opens between 2004 and 2018, and the 2009 French Open; in Basel.
August 9, 1981 (Sunday) Major League Baseball resumed after a 59-day-long strike and the cancellation of 713 games. The All-Star Game, originally set for July 14, opened in Cleveland, and regular games resumed the next day, with all teams at 0-0 for the second half of the season, and the four division leaders at the time of the strike getting playoff spots as first half pennant winners. Born: Li Jiawei, Chinese-American table tennis star, in Beijing
August 10, 1981 (Monday) Liberia's President, Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, who had taken power in a bloody coup d'état a year earlier, had five of his fellow members on the "People's Redemption Council" arrested on charges of plotting his assassination. Vice-president Thomas Weh-Syn and council members Harris Johnson, Nelson Toe, Robert Sumo and Henry Zuo, were part of the Doe's group of 17 officers and soldiers who had overthrown and killed President William R. Tolbert on April 12, 1980. Over the next few days, they were given a military trial, and executed on Friday."5 alleged plotters shot in Liberia", Anchorage Daily News, August 15, 1981, p a-11 Francisco Pinto Balsemão threatened to resign as Prime Minister of Portugal unless he received unanimous approval from the ruling Social Democratic Party for his economic reforms. His ultimatum was successful in implementing austerity measures.Jon V. Kofas, Independence From America: Global Integration And Inequality (Ashgate Publishing, 2005) p142 Born: Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player (Olympic gold 2004, World Champion 2005, in Bandung. Died: Jack Kiefer, 57, American mathematician, statistician, and pioneer of optimal design Dušan Popov, 79, Serbian-born Nazi spy who became a double agent for British intelligence
August 11, 1981 (Tuesday) The very first AIDS fundraiser took place at the New York City apartment of activist Larry Kramer. In that initial meeting, suggested by physician Dr. Alvin Friedman-Kien, $6,365 was raised, the first of billions of dollars set aside in the 30 years since.Larry Kramer, as told to Lawrence D. Mass, We Must Love One Another Or Die: The Life and Legacies of Larry Kramer (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999) p37
August 12, 1981 (Wednesday)