1985 in the United States
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Events from the year 1985 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
- President: Ronald Reagan (R-California)
- Vice President: George H. W. Bush (R-Texas)
- Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger (Minnesota)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts)
- Senate Majority Leader: Howard Baker (R-Tennessee) (until January 3), Bob Dole (R-Kansas) (starting January 3)
- Congress: 98th (until January 3), 99th (starting January 3)
Events
January
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- January 20
- President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush are privately sworn in for a second term in office (publicly sworn in, January 21).
- Super Bowl XIX: The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Miami Dolphins 38–16 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California.
- January 28 – In Hollywood, California, the charity single "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa. Like the enormously successful "Do They Know It's Christmas?" that was recorded by Band Aid in the UK two months prior, the single raises money to combat the ongoing famine in Ethiopia. The American act consists of high-profile performers, including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper and Diana Ross.
February
- February 5 – Australia cancels its involvement in United States-led MX missile tests.
- February 9 – U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena is kidnapped and murdered in Mexico (his body is discovered on March 5).
- February 13 – Bobby Knight throws a chair across a basketball court.
- February 14
- CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.[1]
- 21-year-old female singer Whitney Houston releases her debut album – Whitney Houston.[2]
March
- March 1 – The GNU Manifesto by Richard Stallman is published for the first time.
- March 4 – The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS, used since then to screen all blood donations in the United States.
- March 6 – Mike Tyson makes his professional debut in Albany, New York, a match which he wins by a first-round knockout.
- March 8 – A car bomb planted in Beirut by CIA mercenaries attempts to kill Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. He survives, but the bomb kills more than 80 people and injures 200.
- March 16 – Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut (he is eventually released on December 4, 1991).
- March 25 – The 57th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California with Amadeus winning Best Picture.
- March 31 – WrestleMania debuts at Madison Square Garden.
April
- The National Archives and Records Administration is established as an independent federal agency.[3]
- April 1 – Eighth-seeded Villanova defeats national powerhouse Georgetown, 66–64, to win the first 64-team field NCAA Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky.
- April 11 – The USS Coral Sea collides with the Ecuadorian tanker ship Napo off the coast of Cuba.
- April 12 – 1985 El Descanso bombing: A terrorist bombing attributed to the Islamic Jihad Organization in the El Descanso restaurant near Madrid, Spain, mostly attended by U.S. personnel of the Torrejon Air Force Base, causes 18 dead (all Spaniards) and 82 injured.
- April 19 – A four-day siege of white supremacist group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord begins in Arkansas.
- April 23 – Coca-Cola changes its recipe and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
May
- May 5 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan joins West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, which includes the graves of 59 elite S.S. troops from World War II.
- May 11 – The FBI brings charges against the suspected heads of the five Mafia families in New York City.
- May 13 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Wilson Goode orders police to storm the radical black American resistance group MOVE's headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing eleven members of MOVE and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire.
- May 15 – An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley.
- May 19 – John Anthony Walker Jr., is arrested by the FBI for passing classified Naval communications onto the Soviets.
- May 31 – Forty-one tornadoes hit in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, killing 76 people.
June
- June 9 – Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA championship, defeating the Boston Celtics.
- June 13 – In Auburn, Washington, police defuse a Unabomber bomb sent to Boeing.
- June 14 – TWA Flight 847, carrying 153 passengers from Athens to Rome, is hijacked by a Hezbollah fringe group. One passenger, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, is killed.
- June 17 – John Hendricks launches the Discovery Channel in the United States.
- June 20 – NeXT is founded by Steve Jobs after he resigns from Apple Computer.
- June 24 – STS-51-G: Space Shuttle Discovery completes its mission, best remembered for having Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
- June 26 – A Walt Disney World Monorail System train catches fire in Epcot around 9:00 p.m, due to friction caused by a flat tire.
- June 27 – U.S. Route 66 is officially decommissioned.
July
- July 3 – Back to the Future opens in American theaters and ends up being the highest-grossing film of 1985 in the United States, and the first film in the successful franchise.
- July 13
- Live Aid pop concerts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and London raise over £50,000,000 for famine relief in Ethiopia. The English rock band Queen performs at Wembley Stadium in London for over 20 minutes. Queen's performance at the event was recreated in the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody.
- Vice President George H. W. Bush serves as acting president for eight hours, while President Ronald W. Reagan undergoes colon cancer surgery.
- July 19 – Vice President George H. W. Bush announces that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe will become the first school teacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
- July 20 – The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found forty miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who begin to excavate $400,000,000 in coins and silver.
- July 24
- Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
- Walt Disney Feature Animation's 25th feature film, The Black Cauldron, is released. Considered one of the studio's darkest releases, it receives mixed reviews and results in a large revenue loss for Disney, putting the future of its animation department in jeopardy.
August
- August 2 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes near Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.
- August 4 – Major League Baseball player Rod Carew of the California Angels becomes the sixteenth player to achieve 3,000 hits in a career.
- August 25 – Samantha Smith, "Goodwill Ambassador" between the Soviet Union and the United States for writing a letter to Yuri Andropov about nuclear war, and eventually visiting the Soviet Union at Andropov's request, dies in the Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 plane crash. She was 13 years old.
- August 26 – Ryan White, who was expelled from Western High School in Indiana, is allowed to attend his first day of classes via telephone.
- August 31 – Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as the Night Stalker, is captured in Los Angeles.
September
- September 6 – Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9, crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31 people.
October
- October 4 – The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts.
- October 7
- The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists. One passenger, American Leon Klinghoffer, is killed.
- The Mameyes landslide in Puerto Rico kills close to 300 people in the worst ever landslide in North American history.
- October 18 – The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in U.S. stores.
- October 27 – The Kansas City Royals defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3, to win their first World Series Title.
November
- November 15 – In separate events, mail bombs kill two people in Salt Lake City, Utah; a third bomb explodes the next day, injuring career counterfeiter Mark Hofmann. The ensuing police investigation leads to the arrest of Hofmann for the two murders.
- November 18 – The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes debuts in 35 newspapers.
- November 19 – Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
- November 20 – Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0.
- November 26 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan sells the rights to his autobiography to Random House for a record US$3,000,000.
December
- December 1 – The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are released for sale to the public.
- December 12 – Arrow Air Flight 1285, a Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256, 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning to Fort Campbell, Kentucky from overseeing a peacekeeping force in Sinai.
- December 16 – In New York City, Mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead in front of Spark's Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino crime family.
- December 24 – Right wing extremist David Lewis Rice murders civil rights attorney Charles Goldmark as well as Goldmark's wife and two children in Seattle. Rice suspected the family of being both Jewish and Communist, and claimed his dedication to the Christian Identity movement drove him to the crime.
- December 27 – American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.
- December 31 – The last issue of The Columbus Citizen-Journal is circulated.
Undated
- "The Year of the Spy", name given by media to 1985 because of a large number of foreign spies arrested in the United States.
- The Tommy Hilfiger brand is established.
- The Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive species, is first found in Houston, Texas.
Ongoing
- Cold War (1947–1991)
- Iran–Contra affair (1985–1987)
Births
- January 1
- Juliana Harkavy, actress
- Fred the Godson, rapper and DJ (died 2020)
- January 2 – Greg Toler, American football cornerback
- January 3
- Nicole Beharie, actress and singer
- John David Booty, American football quarterback, USC
- January 4 – Al Jefferson, basketball player
- January 8 – Rachael Lampa, Christian singer
- January 11
- Lucy Knisley, comic artist and musician
- Aja Naomi King, actress[4]
- January 12 – Issa Rae, actress
- January 15 – Brandon Mebane, American football player
- January 16
- Ash Christian, actor and film director and producer (died 2020)
- Joe Flacco, American football player
- Renée Felice Smith, actress
- January 18 – Matt Hobby, actor and comedian
- January 25
- Hartley Sawyer, actor, producer and writer
- Michael Trevino, actor
- January 26 – Edwin Hodge, actor
- January 29 – Mikey Hachey, bass player
- January 30 – Trae Williams, American football player
- February 1 – Alex Clark, Youtuber/animator
- February 2 – Fontel Mines, American football player
- February 4 – Bug Hall, actor
- February 5 – Laurence Maroney, American football player
- February 6 – Crystal Reed, actress
- February 7 – Deborah Ann Woll, actress
- February 8
- Jeremy Davis, bassist (Paramore)
- Bob Morris, singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Hush Sound)
- Brian Randle, basketball player and coach[5]
- February 11 – William Beckett, singer and songwriter
- February 14 – Jake Lacy, actor
- February 16 – Stacy Lewis, golfer[6]
- February 17 – Zelda Harris, actress
- February 19
- Haylie Duff, actress, singer and songwriter
- Arielle Kebbel, actress
- February 22
- Zach Roerig, actor
- Sean Garballey, politician
- February 20 – TJ Kirk, YouTube personality
- February 25 – Joakim Noah, basketball player[7]
- February 26 – Shiloh Fernandez, actor
- February 27 – Nicole Linkletter, model
- March 1 – Cole Sanchez, voice actor and artist
- March 2
- Reggie Bush, American football player
- Robert Iler, actor
- March 6 – Chad Jackson, American football player
- March 7 – Guy Benson, columnist
- March 10 – Cooper Andrews, actor
- March 15 – Eva Amurri, actress
- March 21
- Ryan Callahan, hockey player
- Adrian Peterson, American football player
- Sonequa Martin-Green, actress and producer
- March 22 – James Wolk, actor
- March 24 – Jeremy James Kissner, actor
- March 26
- Matt Grevers, Olympic swimmer[8]
- Jonathan Groff, actor and singer[9]
- Francesca Marie Smith, actress, voice actress and writer
- March 27 – Blake McIver Ewing, singer-songwriter, actor, model and pianist
- March 28 – Mark Melancon, baseball pitcher
- March 31
- Peter Porte, actor[10]
- Jessica Szohr, actress
- April 1
- Daniel Murphy, baseball player
- Josh Zuckerman, actor
- April 4 – Todrick Hall, singer, songwriter, actor, director, choreographer and YouTuber
- April 9 – David Robertson, baseball player
- April 12 – Brennan Boesch, baseball player
- April 15
- Chris Cates, baseball player
- John Danks, baseball player
- Aaron Laffey, baseball player
- April 16 – Nate Diaz, mixed martial artist
- April 17 – Rooney Mara, actress
- April 20 – Curt Hawkins, wrestler
- April 26 – Bre Scullark, fashion model and actress
- April 28 – Brandon Baker, actor
- May 2 – Sarah Hughes, figure skater[11]
- May 7 – Andrew Carroll, American ice hockey player (died 2018)
- May 8 – Usama Young, American football player
- May 9
- Audrina Patridge, television personality and actress
- Chris Zylka, actor and model[12]
- May 12 – Tally Hall, soccer player
- May 17 – Matt Ryan, American football player
- May 21 – Cameron Van Hoy, actor, producer and writer
- May 22 – Chris Salvatore, actor, singer-songwriter, model, and gay rights activist[13]
- May 28
- Colbie Caillat, musician
- Emily Wilson, actress
- May 29 – Blake Foster, actor and martial artist
- May 30
- Sam Gifaldi, child actor
- Turk McBride, National Football League player
- May 31 – Navene Koperweis, progressive metal musician
- June 1 – Ari Herstand, singer-songwriter
- June 6
- Abbie Cobb, actress and author
- Chris Henry, American football player
- June 9 – Sebastian Telfair, basketball player
- June 10
- Celina Jade, actress
- Kristina Apgar, actress
- June 11 – Chris Trousdale, actor and recording artist (died 2020)
- June 12
- Dave Franco, television and film actor
- Blake Ross, software developer
- June 20
- Mark Saul, actor
- Matt Flynn, American football player
- June 21
- Kris Allen, 8th American Idol winner, rock musician
- Lana Del Rey, pop musician[14]
- June 23 – Marcel Reece, American football player
- June 24 – Justin Hires, actor and stand-up comedian
- June 25
- Annaleigh Ashford, actress and singer
- Daniel Bard, American former baseball pitcher
- June 29 – Steven Hauschka, American football player
- June 30
- Michael Phelps, swimmer
- Cody Rhodes, wrestler
- June 24 – Jandy Nelson, writer
- June 25 – Daniel Bard, baseball player
- June 27 – Martin Sensmeier, Alaska Native actor
- June 28 – Cory Blair, rugby player
- July 2 – Ashley Tisdale, actress, singer and producer
- July 5 – Megan Rapinoe, soccer player[15]
- July 12
- Jasper Brinkley, American football player
- Casper Brinkley, American football player
- July 16 – Rosa Salazar, actress
- July 30 – Mary Wiseman, actress
- August 9
- Anna Kendrick, actress and singer
- Hayley Peirsol, swimmer
- August 15 – Emily Kinney, actress, singer and songwriter
- August 16
- Agnes Bruckner, actress
- Arden Cho, actress, singer and model[16]
- Cristin Milioti, actress and singer[17]
- August 18 – Brooke Harman, actress
- August 19
- J. Evan Bonifant, actor
- David A. Gregory, actor and writer
- August 20 – Brant Daugherty, actor
- August 21 – Jake Pitts, singer-songwriter (Black Veil Brides)
- August 25 – Wynter Gordon, pop/dance singer-songwriter
- August 27 –
- Alexandra Nechita, artist
- Kayla Ewell, actress
- Sean Foreman, singer, songwriter and performer; member of electro hop group 3OH!3
- August 29
- Jeffrey Licon, actor
- Marc Rzepczynski, baseball player
- September 4 – Morgan Garrett, voice actress[18]
- September 6
- Lauren Lapkus, actress and comedian
- Mitch Moreland, baseball player
- September 7 – Alyssa Diaz, actress[19]
- September 23
- Brian Brohm, American football player
- Joba Chamberlain, baseball player
- Hasan Minhaj, comedian, political commentator, and actor
- October 8 – Bruno Mars, singer-songwriter, producer and actor
- October 11 – Michelle Trachtenberg, actress, producer and singer
- October 25
- John Robinson, actor
- Christopher Sean, actor
- October 28
- Anthony Fantano, music critic
- Troian Bellisario, actress
- November 12 – Arianny Celeste, model and actress
- November 15 – Charron Fisher, basketball player
- November 23 – Mike Tolbert, American football player
- November 25 – Dan Carpenter, American football player
- November 30
- Kaley Cuoco, actress
- Chrissy Teigen, model
- December 1
- John Coughlin, pair skater (d. 2019)
- Philip DeFranco, YouTube star and video blogger
- Janelle Monáe, African-American R&B/soul musician
- December 3 – Amanda Seyfried, actress, singer and songwriter
- December 5 – Frankie Muniz, actor, musician, writer, producer and racecar driver
- December 8
- Josh Donaldson, baseball player
- Dwight Howard, basketball player
- December 10
- Matt Forte, American football player
- T. J. Hensick, ice hockey player
- Raven-Symoné, actress, singer, and dancer
- December 12
- Chris Jennings, American football player
- David Veikune, American football player
- December 21 – James Stewart Jr., motorcycle racer
- December 26 – Beth Behrs, actress
- December 28
- Dan Amboyer, actor
- Taryn Terrell, professional wrestler
- December 29 – Alexa Ray Joel, singer, songwriter and pianist[20]
- December 30 – Anna Wood, actress
- December 31 – Jonathan Horton, gymnast
Deaths
- February 21 – John G. Trump, electrical engineer, inventor, and physicist (b. 1907)
- February 22 – Alexander Scourby, actor (born 1913)
- March 13 – Annette Hanshaw, singer (b. 1901)
- April 1 – Douglass Wallop, author and playwright (b. 1920)
- April 8 – J. Fred Coots, songwriter (b. 1897)
- April 22 – Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (b. 1900)
- April 23 – Kent Smith, American actor (b. 1907)
- April 24 – Mildred W. Pelzer, American artist (b. 1889)
- October 2 – Rock Hudson, actor (b. 1925)
- October 10
- Yul Brynner, Russian-born American actor (b. 1920)
- Orson Welles, actor and director (born 1915)
- November 16 – John Sparkman, United States Senator from Alabama from 1946 till 1979. (b. 1899)
- November 25 – Ray Jablonski, American baseball player (b. 1926)
See also
- 1985 in American television
- List of American films of 1985
- Timeline of United States history (1970–1989)
References
- ^ Kifner, John (1985-02-15). "U.S. TV Reporter Free In Lebanon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Milestones of the U.S. Archival Profession and the National Archives, 1800-2011". U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
- ^ "UPI Almanac for Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020". United Press International. January 11, 2020. Archived from the original on January 12, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
…actor Aja Naomi King in 1985 (age 35)
- ^ [🖉"Brian Randle International Stats". Basketball-Reference.com.
- ^ "Women's British Open 2014: Stacy Lewis glad of Michelle Wie rivalry". BBC Sport. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ "Joakim Noah". NBA. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ^ "Matthew Grevers". IOC. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
- ^ "Jonathan Groff". Playbill. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
- ^ McElwain, Julie (March 26, 2012). "Shades of Gray". Feature Interview. CBS Soaps In Depth. 16 (13). Bauer Media Group: 34–37.
- ^ "Sarah Hughes Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
- ^ Maloney, Maggie (November 19, 2018). "Everything You Need to Know About Paris Hilton's Former Fiancé Chris Zylka". Town & Country. Archived from the original on November 18, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
{{cite news}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch; May 18, 2019 suggested (help) - ^ Stevenson, Alexander (March 14, 2011). "The AfterElton.com Gay List". NewNowNext.com. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
- ^ Hiatt, Brian (July 18, 2014). "Lana Del Rey – The Saddest, Baddest Diva in Rock". Rolling Stone (1212): 44.
- ^ "Megan Rapinoe Stats, News, Bio". ESPN. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ Cho, Arden (2017-08-16). "Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!! Feeling like I'm 12 today, thank you babiespic.twitter.com/1Kwvj9SPW4". @arden_cho. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
- ^ Kaufman, Joanne (May 3, 2012). "A Cultural Conversation With Cristin Milioti: There Once Was a Girl", The Wall Street Journal, p. D4.
- ^ "Resumé". Morgan Lauré Garrett. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
- ^ "Alyssa Diaz". TV Guide. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
- ^ "Brinkley, Joel Parents of `Uptown Girl'". Los Angeles Times. December 30, 1985. p. 2.
External links
Media related to 1985 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
