February 19 - Artificial-heart patient William Schroeder becomes the first such patient to leave hospital.
March 3 - Censorship: Women Against Pornography award their "Pig Award" to Huggies Diapers for claiming that their television ads had "crossed the line between eye-catching and porn."
March 4- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since on U.S'. blood supply.
May 13 - Philadelphia's mayor orders police to storm the radical group's MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents in the resulting fire.
July 10 - After a storm of controversy surrounding a change in its cola's formula (see New Coke), Coca-Cola re-introduces the old formula as "Coca-Cola Classic."
July 20 - The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver.
August 6 - In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
November 6 - In Colombia, leftist guerrillas of the April 19 Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá. By the next day 115 people are dead, 11 of them Supreme Court justices).
November 15 - In separate events, mail bombs kill two people in Salt Lake City, Utah; a third bomb explodes the next day, injuring Mark Hoffman. The ensuing police investigation leads to the arrest of Mark Hoffman for these murders, as well as forgery.
November 19 - Pennzoil wins a US$10.53 billion verdict from Texaco in the largest civil verdict in US history (Texaco established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty).
November 21 - United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested for spying (he was caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison).
December 27 - American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.
November 23 - Gunmen hijack Egypt Air Flight 648 while en route from Athens to Cairo (when the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos stormed the hijacked jetliner but 60 people die in the raid).
December 16 - In New York City, mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead when exiting from Sparks Steak House, making hit organizer, John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.
August 19 - David Letterman interupts the Today Show with a megaphone while both shows are on the air. Letterman leaned out the window of his building and announced "My name is Larry Grossman (then president of NBC News) and I'm not wearing any pants!". The Today Show was taping an interview several stories below.
NBC becomes the first commercial television network to use satellite interconnection for its stations.