1984

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1984 is an exciting year with many events, both tragic and exciting. Many new things were created and new records were created. Apple introduces a new slim Macintosh computer and the PG-13 film rating is established. A woman ran for vice president. New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman nominated by a major political party to run for Vice President of the United Stated.  Unfortunately not all the events were pleasant. Indira Ghandhi is assassinated by Sikh extremists, her own boy guards. More than 70 U.S. banks fail, yet a New York City subway ride only cost 75¢. U.S. funding of international birth control programs is halted by order of the Reagan administration after Reagan is reelected in the November election.

• Apple releases the Macintosh in January. This is a commercial from '84.

• The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins 38 to 9 in Tampa on January 22 in Super Bowl XVIII.

• The XIV Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.  US skier Bill Johnson takes the downhill and the Mahre brothers, Phil and Steve, finish 1–2 in the slalom.

• On April 5, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes the leading scorer in NBA history with a total of 3,419 points.

• The XXIII Summer Olympic Games open on July 28. The games are held in Los Angeles and are boycotted by the Soviet Union and other soviet block countries.

• Astronauts from the space shuttle Columbia make the first un-tethered space walk.

• The Cosby Show debuts September 20 on NBC with Bill Cosby.

• On October 14 the Detroit Tigers win the 1984 World Series, defeating the San Diego Padres 4 games to 1.

• On October 26, Baby Fae receives a baboon heart transplant. She lives for twenty days.

• Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two of her bodyguards on October 31.

• In November President Ronald Reagan is reelected with 525 electoral votes to 13. Reagan also wins 59 percent of the popular vote.

• A New York "subway vigilante" shoots four young black men on December 22. The shooter climbs off the train and disappears into a tunnel after telling a motorman that the teenagers had tried to rob him. The "subway vigilante," Bernhard Goetz, later turns himself in to New Hampshire police.

• Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during a Pepsi commercial.

• The PG-13 film rating is established.

• Popular songs in 1984 are What’s Love Got To Do With It by Tina Turner and Like a Virgin by pop singer Madonna. 

• Famine kills 300,000 Ethiopians as a drought worsens in sub-Sahara Africa. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by British songwriters Bob Geldof and Midge Ure brings American's attention to the Ethiopian famine.

• Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards for Thriller.

• Trivial Pursuit becomes so popular it helps revive the board game industry.

• Performers release BAND AID records album to raise money for famine relief in Africa. 

57th Annual Academy Award
Best Actor: F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus
Best Actress: Sally Field in Places in the Heart
Best Picture: Amadeus

Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy: The Cosby Show (NBC)
Outstanding Drama: Cagney and Lacey (NBC)

27th Annual Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: What's Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner
Album of the Year: Can't slow Down by Lionel Richie
Song of the Year: What's Love Got to With It by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten.
Best New Artist: Cyndi Lauper

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last updated 03/15/06