On April 29, 1986, in a game against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park, Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox becomes the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game. Ten years later, Clemens repeats the feat, the only player in baseball […]
Continue ReadingMaria Shriver Marries Arnold SchwarZenegger
Almost a decade after they met at a celebrity tennis tournament, the television news reporter Maria Shriver marries the movie actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger on this day in 1986. Politically, it seemed an unlikely match: Shriver, then a co-anchor for the CBS Morning News in New York City, […]
Continue ReadingNuclear Disaster At Chernobyl
On April 26, 1986, the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union. Thirty-two people died and dozens more suffered radiation burns in the opening days of the crisis, but only after Swedish authorities reported the fallout did Soviet authorities reluctantly […]
Continue ReadingNuclear Explosion At Chernobyl
On this day in 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident to date occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in Ukraine. The full toll from this disaster is still being tallied, but experts believe that thousands of people died and as many as 70,000 suffered severe poisoning. In addition, […]
Continue ReadingOtto Preminger Dies
On this day in 1986, the director, producer and character actor Otto Preminger dies at the age of 80. Preminger, a Jew who fled Austria before World War II, more than once played Nazis on stage and screen. As a director, he earned a reputation as an exacting and often […]
Continue ReadingJordan Scores 63 Points In Playoff Game
On April 20, 1986, the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan scores 63 points in an NBA playoff game against the Boston Celtics, setting a post-season scoring record. Despite Jordan’s achievement, the Bulls lost to the Celtics in double overtime, 135-131. Boston swept the three-game series and went on to win the […]
Continue ReadingU.S. Bombs Libya
On April 14, 1986, the United States launches air strikes against Libya in retaliation for the Libyan sponsorship of terrorism against American troops and citizens. The raid, which began shortly before 7 p.m. EST (2 a.m., April 15 in Libya), involved more than 100 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, […]
Continue ReadingChallenger Lost After Liftoff
The space shuttle Challenger is lost just after liftoff on this day in 1986, killing the seven astronauts aboard. The Challenger was the second shuttle built by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It took its first flight into space on April 4, 1983, and made a total of […]
Continue ReadingChallenger Disaster
At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition […]
Continue ReadingBears Beat Patriots In Super Bowl XX
On January 26, 1986, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Chicago Bears score a Super Bowl record number of points to defeat the New England Patriots, 46-10, and win their first championship since 1963. Led by Coach Mike Ditka, a tight end for the Bears during their last Super Bowl win, […]
Continue ReadingRock Hudson Announces He Has AIDS
On this day in 1985, Rock Hudson, a quintessential tall, dark and handsome Hollywood leading man of the 1950s and 1960s who made more than 60 films during his career, announces through a press release that he is suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). With that announcement, Hudson became […]
Continue ReadingReagan’s Doctors Discover Possibly Cancerous Colon Polyp
On this day in 1985, while President Ronald Reagan is undergoing surgery to remove a benign polyp in his large intestine, doctors discover a second polyp and perform a biopsy to determine whether or not it is cancerous. Reagan’s 1985 surgery was performed at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland. […]
Continue ReadingLive Aid Is Held Simultaneously In London And Philadelphia And Broadcast Live Throughout The World
“This is your Woodstock, and it’s long overdue.” That was the introduction offered by 1960s folk icon Joan Baez at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the opening of the North American portion of Live Aid on this day in 1985. The biggest rock concert and charity event in the […]
Continue ReadingLive Aid Concert
On July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and at other arenas around the world, the 16-hour “superconcert” was globally […]
Continue ReadingThe Sinking Of The Rainbow Warrior
In Auckland harbor in New Zealand, Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior sinks after French agents in diving gear plant a bomb on the hull of the vessel. One person, Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira, was killed. The Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of international conservation group Greenpeace, had been preparing for a protest voyage […]
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