1987

January
January 1 - Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories, changes its name to Iqaluit. In 1999, it becomes the capital of Nunavut.
January 2 - Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
January 4 - Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route from Washington, D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts collides with Conrail engines, killing 16.
January 5 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan undergoes prostate surgery, causing speculation about his physical fitness to continue in office.
January 8 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,000 for the first time, gaining 8.30 to close at 2,002.25.
January 13 - New York mafiosi Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno and Carmine Peruccia are sentenced to 100 years in prison for racketeering.
January 16 - Leon Cordero, president of Ecuador, is kidnapped by followers of imprisoned General Frank Vargas, who successfully demand his release.
January 20 - Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).
January 22 - Budd Dwyer, Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, shoots and kills himself at a press conference after being found guilty on charges of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering.
January 24 - In Lebanon, gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh.[1]
January 25 - Super Bowl XXI: The New York Giants defeat the Denver Broncos, 39-20, to win the NFL Championship for the first time since 1956.
January 29 - William J. Casey ends his term as CIA Director.
January 31 - The last Ohrbach's department store closes in New York City after 64 years of operation.


February
February 9 - Brownsville, Texas is deluged with 7 inches (178 mm) of rain in just 2 hours, and flooding in some parts of the city is worse than that caused by Hurricane Beulah in 1967.
February 11 - British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
February 11 - The new Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect.
February 11 - The United States military detonates an atomic weapon at the Nevada Test Site.
February 20 - A second Unabomber bomb explodes at the Salt Lake City computer store, injuring the owner.
February 23 - Supernova 1987A (the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604) is observed.
February 26 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security staff.

March
March 2 - American Motors Corporation is acquired by the Chrysler Corporation
March 4 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran-Contra Affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had 'deteriorated' into an arms-for-hostages deal.
March 6 - Zeebrugge Disaster: A cross-channel ferry capsizes outside the harbor off Zeebrugge, Belgium; 180 drown.
March 9 - The Irish rock band U2 releases their studio album The Joshua Tree.
March 18 - Woodstock of physics: The marathon session of the American Physical Society’s meeting features 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors.
March 19 - In Charlotte, North Carolina, televangelist Jim Bakker, head of PTL Ministries, resigns after admitting an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn.


April
April 7 - Harold Washington is re-elected Mayor of Chicago.
April 13 - Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau will be returned to China in 1999.
April 19 - The Simpsons cartoon first appears on The Tracy Ullman Show.
April 20 - Professional cyclist and reigning Tour de France winner Greg LeMond is accidentally shot while turkey hunting.
April 27 - The United States Department of Justice declares incumbent Austrian president Kurt Waldheim an "undesirable alien".
April 30 - NASCAR driver Bill Elliott sets all time fastest lap at Talladega Superspeedway. 212.8 miles per hour (342.5 km/h)


May
May 5 - The Assemblies of God defrocks Jim Bakker.
May 8 - U.S. Senator Gary Hart drops out of the running for the Democratic presidential nomination, amid allegations of an extramarital affair with Donna Rice.
May 9 - A Soviet-made Il-62 airliner, operated by LOT Polish Airlines, crashes near the Kabacki forest in Poland, killing all 183 people on board.
May 11 - The first heart-lung transplant takes place in Baltimore, Maryland.
May 11 - Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
May 14 - Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka executes a bloodless coup in Fiji.
May 28 - Nineteen year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained (released on August 3, 1988).

June
June 3 - Trade unionists in Vanuatu found the Vanuatu Labour Party.
June 11 - United Kingdom general election, 1987: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wins for the third time.
June 12 - During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
June 16 - SDF-1 receives its first caller at 300 bit/s.
June 17 - With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.
June 19 - Teddy Seymour is officially designated the first black man to sail around the world, when he completes his solo sailing circumnavigation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, of the United States Virgin Islands.
June 19 - Edwards v. Aguillard: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution is taught is unconstitutional.
June 27 - A commercial HS 748 (Philippine Airlines Flight 206) crashes near Baguio City, Philippines, killing 50.
June 28 - An accidental explosion at Hohenfels Training Area in West Germany kills 3 U.S. troopers.
June 29 - South Korean president Roh Tae-Woo makes a speech promising a wide program of nationwide reforms, the result of the 6.10 Democratization Movement.

July
July 1 - The Single European Act is passed by the European Community.
July 1 - The first ever Edgefest festival takes place at Molson Park in Barrie, Ontario.
July 1 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan nominates former Solicitor General Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court.
July 3 - In the Soviet Union, Vladimir Nikolayev is sentenced to death for cannibalism.
July 3 - Greater Manchester Police recover the body of 16-year-old Pauline Reade from Saddleworth Moor, after her killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley helped them in their search, almost exactly 24 years since Pauline was last seen alive.
July 4 - A court in Lyon sentences former Gestapo boss Klaus Barbie to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
July 11 - Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke's government is re-elected for a third term.
July 11 - World population reaches 5 billion people in Zagreb, Croatia, according to the United Nations.[2]
July 17 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time, at 2,510.04.
July 21 - Guns N' Roses release their debut album, Appetite For Destruction, which would go on to sell over 28 million copies as of 2008.
July 22 - Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in London; he dies August 28.
July 25 - The East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway in the North West of England, is opened between Bury and Ramsbottom.
July 27 - Australian singer Kylie Minogue releases her first hit, a remake of Little Eva's The Loco-Motion.
July 31 - Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca.
July 31 - Docklands Light Railway, the first driverless railway in Great Britain, is formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
July 31 - A F4-rated tornado devastates eastern Edmonton, Alberta. Hardest hit were an industrial park and a trailer park. 27 people are killed and hundreds injured. Hundreds more are left homeless and jobless.

August
August 2 - Viswanathan Anand becomes the first Asian to win The World Junior Chess Championship.
August 4 - The World Commission on Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission, publishes its report, Our Common Future.
August 4 - The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine, which had required radio and television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues.
August 7 - The Colombian frigate Caldas enters Venezuelan waters near the Los Monjes Archipelago, sparking the Caldas frigate crisis between both nations.
August 9 - Hoddle Street Massacre: Julian Knight, 19, goes on a shooting rampage in Melbourne, killing 9 people die and injuring 17.
August 16 - Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan just West of Detroit killing all but 1 (4-year old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on-board (among them Nick Vanos, a center for the Phoenix Suns).
August 16 - The Harmonic Convergence is observed around the world.
August 17 - Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison. Hess, 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex, which is expected to be demolished.
August 19 - ABC News' chief Middle East correspondent Charles Glass escapes his Hezbollah kidnappers in Beirut, Lebanon, after 62 days in captivity.
August 19 - In London, The Order of the Garter is opened to women.
August 19 - Hungerford Massacre: Michael Ryan kills 16 with an assault rifle before committing suicide.

September
September 2 - In Moscow, the trial begins for 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust, who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May.
September 7–21 - The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
September 17 - At a small rally in Harlem, televangelist Pat Robertson announces his candidacy for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.

October
October 10 - The Reverend Jesse Jackson launches his second campaign for U.S. President.
October 11 - The first National Coming Out Day is held in celebration of the second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.
October 14–16 - The United States is caught up in a drama that unfolds on television as a young child, Jessica McClure, falls down a well in Midland, Texas, and is later rescued.
October 15–16 - Great Storm of 1987: Hurricane-force winds hit much of South England, killing 23 people.
October 19 - Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply on Wall Street and around the world.
October 19 - U.S. warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf
October 19 - Two commuter trains collide head-on on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia; 102 are killed.
October 23 - Champion English jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for 3 years after being convicted of tax evasion.
October 23 - On a vote of 58-42, the United States Senate rejects President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court.
October 25 - 1987 World Series: The Minnesota Twins win despite having the worst regular season win-loss ratio for a winner, a record they hold until 2006.
October 26 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average goes down 156.83 points.

November
November 7 - Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumes the Presidency of Tunisia.
November 8 - Enniskillen bombing: Eleven people are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.
November 17 - The Gulf of Alaska Tsunami hits.
November 18 - The King's Cross fire on the London Underground kills 31.
November 18 - Iran-Contra affair: U.S. Senate and House panels release reports charging President Ronald Reagan with 'ultimate responsibility' for the affair.
November 25 - Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 165 miles per hour (266 km/h) winds and a devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 1,036 deaths.
November 29 - Korean Air Flight 858 is blown up over the Andaman Sea, killing 115 crew and passengers (North Korean agents are suspected).

December