Top News Stories from 1984

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize: Bishop Desmond Tutu (South Africa)
More World Statistics...

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Ronald W. Reagan
Vice President: George Bush
Population: 235,824,902
Life expectancy: 74.7 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 50.3
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 44.9
More U.S. Statistics...

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $3,902.40 billion
Federal spending: $851.85 billion
Federal debt $1564.7 billion
Consumer Price Index: $103.9
Unemployment: 7.5%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.20

Sports

Super Bowl
LA Raiders d. Washington
World Series
Detroit d. San Diego
NBA Championship
Boston d. LA Lakers
Stanley Cup
Edmonton d. NY Islanders
Wimbledon
Women: Martina Navratilova d. C. Evert Lloyd (7-6 6-2)
Men: John McEnroe d. J. Connors (6-1 6-1 6-2)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Swale
NCAA Basketball Championship
Georgetown d. Houston
NCAA Football Champions
BYU (13-0-0) 1984 Summer Olympics

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction:

Ironweed, William Kennedy

Music: Canti del Sole, Bernard Rands
Drama: Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet
Academy Award, Best Picture: Terms of Endearment, James L. Brooks, producer (Paramount)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Jaroslav Seifert (Czechoslovakia)
Record of the Year: "Beat It," Michael Jackson
Album of the Year: Thriller, Michael Jackson (Epic/CBS)
Song of the Year: "Every Breath You Take," Sting, songwriter
Miss America: Vanessa Williams (NY) / Suzette Charles (NJ)
More Entertainment Awards...

Events

  • The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. The sitcom is widely considered the most popular show of the 1980s.
  • The Supreme Court rules that taping television shows at home on VCRs does not violate copyright law.
  • Led by Bob Geldof, the band Band Aid releases "Do They Know It's Christmas," with proceeds of the single going to feed the starving in Africa.

Movies

  • Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, The Pope of Greenwich Village

Books

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: R. Bruce Merrifield (US), for research that revolutionized the study of proteins
Physics: Carlo Rubbia (Italy) and Simon van der Meer (Netherlands), for their role in discovering three subatomic particles, a step toward developing a single theory to account for all natural forces
Physiology or Medicine: Cesar Milstein (UK/Argentina), Georges J. F. Kohler (West Germany), and Niels K. Jerne (UK/Denmark), for their work in immunology
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
  • Joe W. Kittinger makes the first solo transatlantic balloon flight in the helium-filled Rosie O'Grady's Balloon of Peace. He travels 3,535 miles from Caribou, Maine to Savona, Italy. Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
  • Apple introduces the user-friendly Macintosh personal computer. Background: Computers and Internet

Death

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