January •
January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of
Brunei gains full
independence from the
United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in
1888. •
January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). •
January 9 –
Van Halen releases their sixth studio album
1984 (
MCMLXXXIV), which debuts at number 2 on the
Billboard 200 albums chart, and will go to sell over 10 million copies in the
United States. •
January 10 • The United States and the
Vatican (
Holy See) restore full diplomatic relations. • The
Victoria Agreement is signed, institutionalising the
Indian Ocean Commission. •
January 24 –
Steve Jobs launches the
Macintosh personal computer in the United States. •
January 27 – American singer
Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire during the making of the
Pepsi commercial.
February •
February 3 •
John Buster and the research team at
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center announce history's first
embryo transfer from one woman to another, resulting in a live birth. •
STS-41-B:
Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the 10th
Space Shuttle mission. •
February 7 –
Astronauts
Bruce McCandless II and
Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered
space walk. •
February 8–
19 – The
1984 Winter Olympics are held in
Sarajevo,
Yugoslavia. •
February 13 –
Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late
Yuri Andropov as
General Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union. •
February 22 –
President of Bangladesh,
H M Ershad upgrades South Sylhet's sub-division status to a district and renames it back to
Moulvibazar. •
February 23 –
TED (conference) is founded. •
February 29 – Canadian prime minister
Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement.
March •
March 5 –
Iran accuses
Iraq of using
chemical weapons; the
United Nations condemns their use on
March 30. •
March 12 – The
National Union of Mineworkers strikes as tens of thousands of miners in the
United Kingdom stop working in protest over colliery closures, starting the
United Kingdom miners' strike that lasts a year. •
March 16 • The United States
Central Intelligence Agency station chief in
Beirut,
William Francis Buckley, is kidnapped by the
Islamic Jihad Organization and later dies in captivity. •
Gary Plauché shoots his son's rapist at
Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport •
March 23 – General
Rahimuddin Khan becomes the first man in
Pakistan's history to rule over two of its provinces, after becoming interim Governor of
Sindh.
April •
April 2 – Indian Squadron Leader
Rakesh Sharma is launched into space, aboard the
Soyuz T-11. •
April 12 –
Palestinian gunmen take Israeli bus number 300 hostage. Israeli special forces storm the bus, freeing the hostages (one hostage, two hijackers killed). •
April 13 – India launches
Operation Meghdoot, bringing most of the disputed
Siachen Glacier region of
Kashmir under Indian control and triggering the
Siachen conflict with
Pakistan. •
April 15 • The first
World Youth Day gathering is held in Rome, Italy. •
Pittsburgh Light Rail opens to the public. •
April 16 – More than one million people, led by
Tancredo Neves, occupy the streets of
São Paulo to demand direct
presidential elections during the
Brazilian military government of
João Figueiredo. It is the largest protest during the civil unrest, as well as the largest public demonstration in the history of Brazil. The elections are granted in
1989. •
April 17 –
Metropolitan Police officer
Yvonne Fletcher was fatally shot, during a demonstration outside the
Libyan embassy in London, leading to an eleven-day siege of the embassy, and the severing of
diplomatic relations between the
United Kingdom and
Libya. •
April 19 –
Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's
national anthem, and green and gold as the
national colours. •
April 24 – An X-class
solar flare erupts on the Sun. •
April 26 – Sultan
Iskandar of Johor becomes
Yang di-Pertuan Agong of
Malaysia, in succession to Sultan
Ahmad Shah, whose term ended the previous day.
May •
May 2 – South Africa,
Mozambique and Portugal sign an agreement on electricity supply from the
Cahora Bassa dam. •
May 5 • The Herreys' song "
Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" wins the
Eurovision Song Contest for
Sweden in
Luxembourg. It subsequently becomes a top-ten hit in five European countries. • The
Itaipu Dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay after nine years of construction, begins generating power; it is the
largest hydroelectric dam in the world at the time. •
May 8 – The
Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the
1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles. •
May 11 – A
transit of Earth from Mars takes place. •
May 12 – The
Louisiana World Exposition, also known as the 1984 World's Fair, opens. •
May 13 –
Severomorsk Disaster: an explosion at the Soviets' Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets' Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII. •
May 14 – The one-dollar coin is introduced in Australia. •
May 23 – A methane gas explosion at
Abbeystead water treatment works in
Lancashire, UK, kills 16 people. •
May 30 –
Liverpool beat
Roma 5–2 after penalties in the final of the
1984 European Cup football tournament.
June •
June 5 – The Indian government begins
Operation Blue Star, the planned attack on the
Golden Temple in
Amritsar. •
June 8 – An F5
tornado nearly destroys the town of
Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing nine people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage. •
June 10 – A Soviet soldier defects to
West Germany across the
inner German border, the first such defection since 1976. • June 14–16 – voting days for the
European Parliament election •
June 16 – The Canadian entertainment company
Cirque du Soleil is founded. •
June 19 – 17-year-old
Ricky Kasso murders Gary Lauwers in
Northport, New York, contributing to the
Satanic panic association of
heavy metal music and
satanism. •
June 22 –
Virgin Atlantic makes its inaugural flight. •
June 25 –
Hayim Association is founded by Prof.
Rina Zaizov Marx and
parents of
children with
cancer as
paediatric oncology department in
Israel. •
June 27 –
France beats
Spain 2–0 to win
Euro 84. •
June 30 –
John Turner becomes the 17th
Prime Minister of Canada.
July •
July 1 •
Liechtenstein becomes the last country in Europe to grant women the
right to vote. • Argentinian footballer
Diego Maradona is sold by
FC Barcelona (Spain) to
S.S.C. Napoli (Italy) for a world record fee at this date of $10.48M (£6.9M). •
July 14 – New Zealand Prime Minister
Rob Muldoon calls
a snap election and is defeated by opposition Labour leader
David Lange. , which opened on July 28 •
July 18 –
San Ysidro McDonald's massacre: 41-year-old James Huberty walks into a McDonald's in the
San Ysidro district of
San Diego, resulting in 21 deaths, with Huberty being killed by a sniper 77 minutes after the ordeal begins. •
July 25 –
Salyut 7: cosmonaut
Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a
space walk. •
July 28–
August 12 – The
1984 Summer Olympics are held in
Los Angeles, California.
August •
August 1 – Australian banks are
deregulated. •
August 4 • The African republic
Upper Volta changes its name to
Burkina Faso. • reaches a record submergence depth of 1,020 meters. •
August 11 – Barefoot South African runner
Zola Budd and
Mary Decker of the U.S. collide in the Olympic
3000 meters final, neither finishing as medallists. •
August 16 –
John DeLorean is acquitted of all eight charges of possessing and distributing
cocaine. •
August 21 – Half a million people in
Manila demonstrate against the regime of
Ferdinand Marcos. '' on
STS-41-D, its first mission •
August 30 –
STS-41-D: the
Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.
September •
September 2 – Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in the
Milperra massacre, a shootout between the rival motorcycle
gangs
Bandidos and
Comancheros in Sydney, Australia. •
September 4 – The
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by
Brian Mulroney,
wins 211 seats in the
House of Commons of Canada, forming the largest
majority government in Canadian history. •
September 5 •
STS-41-D: the
Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage at
Edwards Air Force Base in
California. • Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish
capital punishment. •
September 7 – An
explosion on board a Maltese patrol boat disposing illegal fireworks at sea off
Gozo kills seven soldiers and policemen. •
September 14 •
P. W. Botha is inaugurated as the first executive
State President of South Africa. •
Joe Kittinger begins his attempt to become the first person to fly a gas balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean. •
September 16 –
Edgar Reitz's film series
Heimat begins release in Germany. •
September 17 –
Brian Mulroney is sworn in as
Prime Minister of Canada. •
September 18 –
Joe Kittinger becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic, solo, in a
hot air balloon. •
September 20 –
Hezbollah car-bombs the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, killing 24 people. •
September 26 – The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return
Hong Kong to China in
1997. •
September 29 – In the early morning, police in
Sicily apprehend 366 people they suspect to be involved in the activities of
Cosa Nostra.
October •
October 2 -
John Schnatter founded
Papa John's in
Jeffersontown, Kentucky. •
October 4 –
Tim Macartney-Snape and
Greg Mortimer become the first Australians to reach the summit of
Mount Everest. •
October 5 –
STS-41-G:
Marc Garneau becomes the first
Canadian in space, aboard the
Space Shuttle Challenger. •
October 9 –
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends by
Britt Allcroft broadcasts its first two episodes in the United Kingdom. •
October 11 • Aboard the Space Shuttle
Challenger, astronaut
Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a
space walk. •
Aeroflot Flight 3352 crashes at
Omsk Airport into maintenance vehicles on the runway, killing 174 people on board and 4 on the ground. •
October 12 – The
Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attempts to assassinate
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the British
Cabinet in the
Brighton hotel bombing with an explosive device planted nearly a month earlier in their conference hotel. The terror attack kills five people and injures 31. •
October 14 – The
Detroit Tigers defeat the
San Diego Padres in game five of the
1984 World Series to win the franchise's 4th championship. •
October 19 • Polish
secret police kidnapped and assassinated Father
Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Catholic priest who
supported the
Solidarity movement. His body was found in a
reservoir 11 days later on
October 30. of Father
Jerzy Popiełuszko on 3 November 1984, 15 days after his
assassination. •
Wapiti Aviation Flight 402 crashes into terrain southeast of
High Prairie, Alberta, Canada. Six are killed including leader of the
Alberta NDP,
Grant Notley, while the four survivors are later rescued the next day. •
October 20 –
Monterey Bay Aquarium is opened to the public after seven years of development and construction. •
October 23 – The world learns from moving
BBC News television reports presented by
Michael Buerk of the
famine in Ethiopia, where thousands of people have already died of
starvation due to a
famine, and as many as 10,000,000 more lives are at risk. •
October 25 – The
European Economic Community makes £1.8 million available to help combat the famine in Ethiopia. •
October 26 – The
science fiction action film The Terminator premieres. It is the third film directed by
James Cameron, and stars
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Linda Hamilton, and
Michael Biehn. •
October 31 –
Assassination of Indira Gandhi:
Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her two Sikh security guards in New Delhi.
Anti-Sikh riots break out, leaving 10,000 to 20,000 Sikhs dead in Delhi and surrounding areas with the majority populations of Hindus.
Rajiv Gandhi becomes Prime Minister of India.
November •
November 1–
4 –
Anti-Sikh mass murder takes place in
Delhi and various parts of India following the
assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. •
November 3 – 600,000 to 1 million people were attending the
funeral of Father Jerzy at
St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in
Żoliborz following his assassination. •
November 4 – The
Sandinista Front wins the
Nicaraguan
general elections. •
November 6 –
1984 United States presidential election: Republican President
Ronald Reagan defeats Democratic former Vice President
Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since
Richard Nixon's 61%
popular vote victory in
1972. Reagan carries 49 states in the
electoral College; Mondale wins only his home state of
Minnesota (by a mere 3,761 vote margin) and the
District of Columbia. •
November 9–
11 – The first
Hackers Conference is held. •
November 11 – The
Louisiana World Exposition, also known as The 1984 World's Fair, and also the New Orleans World's Fair, and, to the locals, simply as "The Fair" or "Expo 84", closes. •
November 12 –
Western Sahara conflict:
Morocco leaves the
Organization of African Unity in protest at the admission of
Western Sahara as a member. •
November 14 –
Zamboanga City mayor
Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city. •
November 19 – A
series of explosions at the
Pemex Petroleum Storage Facility at
San Juan Ixhuatepec, in Mexico City, ignites a major fire and kills about 500 people. •
November 21 – Start of
Operation Moses, the evacuation of refugee
Beta Israel Ethiopian Jews from
Sudan to
Israel via Brussels. •
November 25 •
Band Aid (assembled by
Bob Geldof) records the charity single "
Do They Know It's Christmas?" in London to raise money to combat the
famine in Ethiopia. It is released on
December 3. • 1984 Uruguayan presidential election:
Julio María Sanguinetti is democratically elected President of Uruguay after 12 years of
military dictatorship. •
November 28 – Over 250 years after their deaths,
William Penn and his wife
Hannah Callowhill Penn are made
Honorary Citizens of the United States. •
November 30 –
Sri Lankan Civil War,
Kent and Dollar Farm massacres: the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam begin their first massacres of the
Sinhalese people, in North and East
Sri Lanka. 127 are killed.
December •
December 1 • A peace agreement between
Kenya and
Somalia is signed in the
Egyptian capital
Cairo. With this agreement, in which Somalia officially renounces its historical territorial claims, relations between the two countries begin to improve. • The
Light Rail Transit in
Manila begins service with the opening of its southern segment, as the first rapid transit service in Southeast Asia. •
December 2 –
1984 Australian federal election:
Bob Hawke's
Labor government is re-elected with a reduced majority, defeating the
Liberal/
National Coalition led by
Andrew Peacock. •
December 3 –
Bhopal disaster: A
methyl isocyanate leak from a
Union Carbide pesticide plant in
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 8,000 people outright and injures over half a million (with more later dying from their injuries the death toll reaches 23,000+) in the worst industrial disaster in history. •
December 4 •
Sri Lankan Civil War,
1984 Mannar massacre:
Sri Lankan Army soldiers kill over 200 civilians in the town of
Mannar. •
Hezbollah militants
hijack a
Kuwait Airlines plane and kill 4 passengers. •
December 19 – The People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom sign the
Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong. •
December 20 –
Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from
Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on 23 July 2019, located about southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head". •
December 22 • Four
African-American youths (
Barry Allen,
Troy Canty,
James Ramseur, and
Darrell Cabey) board an express train in the
Bronx borough of New York City. They demand five dollars from
Bernhard Goetz, who shoots them. The event starts a national debate about urban crime in the United States. • In
Malta, Prime Minister
Dom Mintoff resigns. •
December 28 – A
Soviet cruise missile plunges into
Lake Inari in Finnish
Lapland, known as the
Lake Inari missile incident. Finnish authorities announce the fact in public on January 3, 1985.
Date unknown •
1983–85 famine in Ethiopia intensifies with renewed drought by mid-year, killing a million people by the end of this year. •
Crack cocaine, a smokeable form of the drug, is first introduced into Los Angeles and soon spreads across the United States in what becomes known as the
crack epidemic. • The
Chrysler Corporation introduces the first vehicles to be officially labeled as "
minivans". They are branded as the
Chrysler Town & Country,
Dodge Caravan, and
Plymouth Voyager. == Births and deaths ==