1985 in the United States explained
Events from the year 1985 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
Howard Baker (R-Tennessee) (until January 3)
Bob Dole (R-Kansas) (starting January 3)
Events
January
- 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.
February
- February 5 - Australia cancels its involvement in United States-led MX missile tests.
- February 6 - President Reagan delivers his fourth State of the Union Address to the Congress. The congress sings Happy Birthday to him afterwards.[1]
- 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
- February 15 – John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club is released in theaters
March
April
- The National Archives and Records Administration is established as an independent federal agency.[4]
- Cincinnati, Ohio–based Procter & Gamble ditches the moon & stars symbol from its packaging.
- April 1 - Eighth-seeded Villanova defeats national powerhouse Georgetown, 66–64, to win the first 64-team field NCAA Tournament in Lexington, Kentucky.
- April 7 - National Geographic Explorer debuts on Nickelodeon.
- 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.[5]
- 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.[6]
- 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.[7]
- 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 1
- Nick at Nite, a nighttime program service with an emphasis on classic television reruns, is launched in the United States, being broadcast on the same channel as Nickelodeon.
- A&E, which previously shared Nickelodeon's channel, begins broadcasting as its own 24-hour cable channel in January of that year on a separate satellite transponder.
- 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.
- Vice President George H. W. Bush serves as acting president for eight hours, while President Ronald Reagan undergoes colon cancer surgery under anesthesia.
- 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 shipwreck 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
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 20 - Iran–Contra affair: The first arms, 96 BGM-71 TOWs, are sent to Iran in exchange for hostages in Lebanon and profits for the Nicaraguan Contras without public knowledge.
- 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 28 - The first smoking ban for restaurants in the United States is passed in Aspen, Colorado.[8]
- August 31 - Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as the Night Stalker, is captured in Los Angeles.
September
- September 2 - Hurricane Elena makes landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast after reaching Category 3 status.
- September 4 - Catcher Gary Carter of the New York Mets ties a record with five home runs in two games.
- September 6 - Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9, crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31 people.
- September 9 - Laborers of two food processing facilities in Watsonville, California, organize a strike against recent wage and benefits reductions.
- September 11 - Pete Rose becomes the all-time hit leader in Major League Baseball, with his 4,192nd hit at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
- September 13 - Steve Jobs resigns from Apple Computer in order to found NeXT.[9]
- September 26 - Kalina, the first captive orca born at SeaWorld as well as the first to survive past infancy, is born at SeaWorld Orlando.
October
November
- November 13 - Xavier Suárez is sworn in as Miami's first Cuban-born mayor.
- November 18 - The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes appears for the first time, 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
Undated
Ongoing
Births
January
- January 1
- January 2
- January 3
- January 4 - Al Jefferson, basketball player
- January 5 - Luvvie Ajayi, Nigerian-born author, speaker, and digital strategist
- January 6 - Ian M. Anderson, founder of Afternoon Records
- January 8
- January 9
- January 10 - Alex Meraz, actor, dancer, and martial artist
- January 11
- January 12
- January 14
- January 15 - Brandon Mebane, football player
- January 16
- January 18 - Matt Hobby, actor and comedian
- January 19
- January 20
- January 21
- January 22
- January 23 - Shola Adisa-Farrar, singer and actress
- January 25
- January 26
- January 27 - Danial Ahmed, Pakistani-born cricketer
- January 28 - J. Cole, Hip-Hop musician and record producer
- January 29 - Mikey Hachey, bass player
- January 30
- January 31
February
- February 1
- February 2
- February 4 - Bug Hall, actor
- February 5
- February 6
- February 7
- February 8
- February 9
- February 11
- February 12 - Cuban-born mixed martial artist
- February 13
- February 14
- February 15 - Natalie Morales, actress
- February 16
- February 17 - Zelda Harris, actress
- February 19
- February 20 - TJ Kirk, YouTube personality
- February 21 - Ashley Costello, singer and vocalist for New Years Day
- February 22
- February 23 - Sam Chelanga, Kenyan-born marathon runner
- Larry Arnold, Chef, Artist, writer, legend, the GOAT
- February 24
- Gwen Araujo, murder victim (d. 2002)
- Priscilla Chan, philanthropist and co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms
- February 25 - Joakim Noah, basketball player
- February 26 - Shiloh Fernandez, actor
- February 27
March
- March 1
- March 2
- March 3
- March 5
- March 6
- March 7 - Guy Benson, columnist
- March 9
- March 10
- March 13
- March 15
- March 17
- March 18 - Kyle Alcorn, Olympic long distance runner
- March 19 - Esther Agbaje, politician
- March 20
- March 21
- March 22
- March 24
- March 25
- March 26
- March 27
- March 28
- March 30 - Russell Carter, basketball player
- March 31
April
- April 1
- April 2
- April 3 - Gerald Coleman, ice hockey player
- April 4 - Todrick Hall, singer-songwriter, actor, director, choreographer and YouTuber
- April 5 - Lastings Milledge, baseball player
- April 6 - Sinqua Walls, basketball player and actor
- April 7 - Joe Cook, basketball coach
- April 8 - Matt Antonelli, baseball player
- April 9 - David Robertson, baseball player
- April 10
- April 12
- April 13
- April 15
- April 16
- April 17
- April 19 - Zack Conroy, actor
- April 20
- April 21 - Rachel Lindsay, media personality
- April 22
- April 23
- April 26
- April 27 - Jamie Gray Hyder, actress and model
- April 28 - Brandon Baker, actor
- April 29
May
June
July
- July 1 - Spose, Hip-Hop artist
- July 2 - Ashley Tisdale, actress, singer and producer
- July 4 - Sean Cunningham, musician, singer/songwriter, and recording artist
- July 5 - Megan Rapinoe, soccer player[10]
- July 6
- July 7 - Craig Capano, soccer player
- July 8
- July 9 - Cris Cyborg, Brazilian-born mixed martial artist
- July 10 - B. J. Crombeen, American-born Canadian ice hockey player
- July 11
- July 12
- July 14 - Darrelle Revis, football player
- July 15 - David Carpenter, baseball player
- July 16 - Rosa Salazar, actress
- July 17 - Caitlin Van Zandt, actress
- July 18
- July 19 - LaMarcus Aldridge, basketball player
- July 20 - John Francis Daley, actor
- July 22
- July 23 - Scott Chandler, football player
- July 24 - Chad Cook, football player
- July 25
- July 26 - Matt Riddlehoover, filmmaker
- July 27
- July 28 - Monica Abbott, softball player
- July 29
- July 30
- July 31 - Shannon Curfman, blues-rock singer and guitarist
August
September
- September 1
- September 2 - Allison Miller, actress
- September 3
- September 4
- September 5 - Tyler Colvin, baseball player
- September 6
- September 7
- September 8
- September 9
- September 10
- September 11
- September 13 - Vella Lovell, actress
- September 14
- September 15 - Chris Clemons, football player
- September 16
- September 17
- September 18
- September 19
- September 21
- September 22
- September 23
- September 24
- September 27
- Jamar Butler, basketball player
- Grace Helbig, Youtube personality, podcast host and comedian
- September 28 - Martin Courtney, singer and frontman for Real Estate
- September 29
- September 30
October
- October 1
- October 2
- October 3
- October 4
- Brad Bell, television producer, screenwriter, actor, musician and comic book author
- Clef nite, Nigerian-born guitarist
- October 5 - Brooke Valentine, singer
- October 6
- October 7 - Evan Longoria, baseball player
- October 8
- October 9
- October 10
- October 11 - Michelle Trachtenberg, actress, producer and singer
- October 12
- October 14
- October 15
- October 16
- October 18
- October 19 - Ian Calderon, politician
- October 20
- October 21 - Quinton Culberson, football player
- October 22
- October 23
- October 24 - Donald Cowart, steeplechase runner
- October 25
- October 27
- October 28
- October 29 - Adam Cappa, Christian rock singer/songwriter
- October 31
November
- November 2
- November 3 - Tyler Hansbrough, basketball player
- November 4
- November 5
- November 6 - Shayne Lamas, reality television personality and actress
- November 7
- November 8
- November 10 - Pete Andrelczyk, baseball player
- November 11
- November 12 - Arianny Celeste, model and actress
- November 13
- November 14
- November 15
- November 18
- November 19 - Eve Carson, murder victim (d. 2008)
- November 20 - Dan Byrd, actor
- November 21 - Mark Cochran, politician
- November 22
- November 23
- November 25
- November 26 - Matt Carpenter, baseball player
- November 29 - Jamar Adams, football player
- November 30
December
- December 1
- December 2 - Samuel Charles, football player
- December 3 - Amanda Seyfried, actress and singer-songwriter
- December 4 - Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, TV personality
- December 5
- December 7
- December 8
- December 10
- December 11 - Samantha Steele, sportscaster
- December 12
- December 16 - Amanda Setton, actress
- December 17 - Jeremy McKinnon, singer/songwriter, record producer and frontman for A Day to Remember
- December 18
- December 19
- December 20 - Paul Wandtke, metalcore drummer
- December 21
- December 23 - Arcángel, reggaeton singer
- December 24 - Edward Aschoff, sports reporter (d. 2019)
- December 25 - Miro, Bulgarian-born wrestler
- December 26
- December 27
- December 28
- December 29 - Alexa Ray Joel, singer/songwriter and pianist
- December 30
- December 31
Full Date Unknown
- Khalik Allah, filmmaker and photographer
- Catrina Allen, disc thrower
- Jojo Anavim, contemporary visual artist
- Timo Andres, composer and pianist
- J. J. Anselmi, writer and musician
- Jennifer Arcuri, technology entrepreneur
- Alex Askew, politician
- Adam Brown, politician
- John Burris, politician
- Dorielle Caimi, artist
- Chris Campanioni, writer
- Alana I. Capria, writer
- Ana Caraiani, Romanian-born mathematician
- Charlene Carruthers, LGBT activist and author
- Greg Chevalier, soccer player
- Stephen Christy, producer, entertainment executive, and editor
- Alex Clark, comedian, animator, YouTuber, and juggler
- Travis Clark, singer/songwriter, guitarist, and frontman for We the Kings
- Telfar Clemens, fashion designer and founder of TELFAR
- Zinzi Clemmons, writer
- Stephanie Cmar, chef
- Kevin Michael Connolly, photographer
- Moogega Cooper, astronomer
- Kimberly Corban, rape survivor and rape victim advocate
- Jolene Creighton, journalist and media executive
- Kristan Hawkins, activist
Deaths
See also: Deaths in 1985.
- January 7 - Ruth Godfrey, actress (b. 1922)
- January 13 - Carol Wayne, actress (b. 1942)
- January 19 - Eric Voegelin, German-American philosopher (b. 1901)[11]
- January 20 - Gillis William Long, politician (b. 1923)
- January 21
- James Beard, chef, cookbook author, and television personality (b. 1903)
- Eddie Graham, professional wrestler (b. 1930)
- January 28 – Wade Nichols, actor (b. 1946)
- February 8 – Marvin Miller, actor (b. 1913)
- February 12 – Nicholas Colasanto, actor and director (b. 1924)
- February 16 - Mathew Beard, supercentenarian, last surviving person born in 1870 (b. 1870)[12]
- February 20 – Clarence Nash, voice actor and impressionist (b. 1904)
- February 21 - John G. Trump, electrical engineer, inventor, and physicist (b. 1907)
- February 22
- February 27
- March 8 – Edward Andrews, actor (b. 1914)
- March 12 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist (b. 1899)
- March 13 - Annette Hanshaw, singer (b. 1901)
- April 1 - Douglass Wallop, author and playwright (b. 1920)
- April 8 - John Frederick Coots, songwriter (b. 1897)
- April 22 – Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (b. 1900)
- April 23
- April 24 – Mildred W. Pelzer, American artist (b. 1889)
- April 30 – Jules White, film director and producer (b. 1900)
- May 9 – Edmond O'Brien, actor and film director (b. 1915)
- May 11 – Chester Gould, cartoonist (b. 1900)
- May 13 – Selma Diamond, Canadian-born American comedian, actress, and writer (b. 1920)
- May 16 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
- May 17 – Abe Burrows, humorist, author, and director (b. 1910)
- June 6 – Leonard Lake, American serial killer (b. 1945)
- June 11 – Vic Tanny, bodybuilder and physical culture advocate (b. 1912)
- June 21 – Ettore Boiardi (Hector Boyardee), Italian-American chef, founder of Chef Boyardee (b. 1897)
- June 25 – Pee Wee Crayton, guitarist and singer (b. 1914)
- July 8 – Phil Foster, actor and performer (b. 1913)
- July 23 – Kay Kyser, bandleader and radio personality (b. 1905)
- July 28 – Grant Williams, actor (b. 1931)
- August 8 – Louise Brooks, actress and dancer (b. 1906)
- August 13 – J. Willard Marriot, entrepreneur and businessman (b. 1900)
- August 20 – Ruth Gordon, actress and writer (b. 1896)
- September 2 - Jay Youngblood, wrestler (b. 1955)
- September 11 – Andrew C. Thornton II, narcotics officer, lawyer, and the head member of a drug smuggling ring in Kentucky (b. 1944)
- September 14 – Julian Beck, actor, director, poet, and painter (b. 1925)
- September 27 – Lloyd Nolan, actor (b. 1902)
- October 1 – E. B. White, writer (b. 1899)
- October 2 - Rock Hudson, actor (b. 1925)
- October 3 – Charles Collingwood, journalist and war correspondent (b. 1917)
- October 6 – Nelson Riddle, arranger, composer, bandleader, and orchestrator (b. 1921)
- October 8 - John Wesley Snyder, businessman and Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1895)
- October 10
- Yul Brynner, Russian-born American actor (b. 1920)
- Orson Welles, actor and director (born 1915)
- October 12
- October 15 – Ted Steele, bandleader and host (b. 1917)
- October 25 - Blair Lee III, politician, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (b. 1916)[13]
- November 1
- November 4 – Cus D'Amato, legendary boxing trainer who was a mentor to Hall of Fame boxers Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson and José Torres.
- November 13 – George Robert Vincent, sound recording pioneer (b. 1898)
- November 16
- November 19 – Stepin Fetchit, actor and comedian (b. 1902)
- November 25 - Ray Jablonski, American baseball player (b. 1926)
- December 7 – Potter Stewart, lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court associate judge (b. 1915)
- December 12 – Anne Baxter, actress (b. 1923)
- December 14 – Roger Maris, baseball player (b. 1934)
- December 22 – Richard P. Condie, conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (b. 1898)
- December 26 – Dian Fossey, primatologist and conservationist (b. 1932)
- December 31 – Ricky Nelson, musician and actor (b. 1940)
See also
Notes and References
- News: Reston . James . 1985-02-06 . Opinion WASHINGTON; REAGAN AT 74 . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-10-02 . 0362-4331.
- News: U.S. TV Reporter Free In Lebanon . The New York Times . 1985-02-15. 2009-10-15 . John . Kifner.
- Web site: WHITNEY - The Singer - WWW.WHITNEY-INFO.COM . 2011-07-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090717071643/http://www.whitney-info.com/whitney-the-singer/ . 2009-07-17 . dead .
- Web site: Milestones of the U.S. Archival Profession and the National Archives, 1800-2011 . 15 August 2016 . U.S. National Archives and Records Administration . 25 August 2016 .
- News: Stevens . William K. . Police Drop Bomb on Radicals' Home in Philadelphia . August 31, 2012 . New York Times . May 14, 1983 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120612050152/http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/MOVE-Phihladelphia-BombNYT14may85.htm . June 12, 2012 .
- Book: Miki Vohryzek-Bolden. Gayle Olson-Raymer. Jeffrey O. Whamond. Domestic Terrorism and Incident Management: Issues and Tactics. 2001. Charles C Thomas. 978-0-398-07225-4. 198.
- Book: United States Congress, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Communications. Media Ownership: Diversity and Concentration : Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, First Session ... June 14, 21, and 22, 1989. 1989. U.S. Government Printing Office. 218.
- Web site: Smoky or smoke-free?. Janet. Urquhart. 17 May 2005 .
- News: Apple's Jobs Starts New Firm, Targets Education Market . Spector . G . 109 . . September 24, 1985.
- Web site: Megan Rapinoe Biography, Equal Pay, & Facts Britannica . www.britannica.com . 17 December 2022 . en.
- Web site: Eric Voegelin, Philosopher, Author and Professor, Dies. January 23, 1985. New York Times. March 20, 2021.
- https://mindmaps.aginganalytics.com/reports/29/faces/793 Mathew Beard
- https://www.nndb.com/people/632/000168128/ Blair Lee III
- Book: The New York Times Biographical Service. July 1985. University Microfilms. 1317.
