istoryworld
USA timeline
Milos Forman directs the screen version of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus
US poet Robert Pinsky publishes an acclaimed verse translation, The Inferno of Dante
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the title role, that of an almost silent killing machine, in The Terminator
US sprinter and long-jumper Carl Lewis wins four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics
Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone) releases her second album, Like a Virgin, that goes on to sell millions
The opera Akhnaten, by US composer Philip Glass, has its first performance in Stuttgart
Ronald Reagan is elected for a second presidential term, defeating the Democrat Walter Mondale
US author Don DeLillo publishes a novel of weird disasters, White Noise
The first Oprah Winfrey Show is broadcast in the USA, beginning a very long open-ended series
The Human Genome Project begins in the US Department of Energy, with the aim of sequencing the whole of human DNA
The US Space shuttle Challenger explodes with seven on board less than two minutes after lift-off
20-year-old US boxer Mike Tyson knocks out Trevor Berbick to become the youngest ever world heavyweight champion
Details of the Iran-Contra affair spark a Washington scandal and the criminal prosecution of Oliver North
The Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill becomes the first rap (or hip hop) album to top the US chart
The US Congress begins an investigation of the Iran-Contra affair, eventually clearing President Reagan of direct involvement
Timberlake Wertenbaker bases her play Our Country's Good on Thomas Keneally's novel The Playmaker
US author Toni Morrison publishes her novel Beloved, loosely based on a real incident among freed slaves after the Civil War
US author Tom Wolfe gives a bleak view of contemporary New York in his novel The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Dow-Jones index loses 30% in a dramatic US stock-market collapse
John Adams' opera Nixon in China is performed in Houston
Barry Levinson directs Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in the film Rain Man
US athlete Carl Lewis sets a new world record for the 100 metres, winning gold at the Seoul Olympics
A woman is consecrated as Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts, becoming the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion's historic line of succession from St Peter
US architect Frank Gehry builds a strikingly unconventional house for his family in Santa Monica
Leading New York Graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat dies of an overdose
