Reply #18: 1981 [View All]

[devilgrrl]

AUGUST


01 - MTV, television's first 24-hour music channel, premieres at 12:01 and changes the music business forever
01 - IRA hunger striker Kevin Lynch dies in Belfast prison; reaction on streets shows weakening support for strikers
02 - IRA hunger striker Kieran Doherty dies in Belfast prison
03 - 13,000 members of PATCO, the American air traffic controllers union, go on a nationwide strike. Reagan gives them two days to return to work or else lose their jobs
03 - Mafia chief Carlos Marcello convicted in FBI Brilab sting operation
04 - Reagan's plan to reduce income taxes is passed by Congress. The bill reduces income taxes by 5% as of October 1, 10% as of July 1, 1982 and a further 10% from July 1, 1983
05 - Reagan administration sends termination notices to all air traffic controllers on strike. PATCO union leaders are arrested
07 - Over one million Solidarity members strike in Poland over food shortages
08 - IRA hunger striker Thomas McElwee dies in Belfast's Maze Prison
10 - President Reagan authorizes production of the neutron bomb
12 - East German successfully escapes across Berlin Wall to West Germany
12 - IBM introduces PC (with 64k of RAM and a single floppy disk drive) and PC-DOS version 1.0 
15 - Fatalities result when a crane collides with an amusement park ride in Hamburg, West Germany
15 - Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Patrick Quinn agrees to end strike
16 - New Zealand's 13-0 defeat of Fiji sets record for highest score in World Cup soccer
19 - US aircraft shoot down two Libyan jets over the Gulf of Sidra after the planes open fire on the US Navy. Libya claim the Gulf is Libyan territory, while the US insist that the body of water 60 miles off the coast of Libya is international territory
20 - Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Michael Devine dies in Belfast, N. Ireland
21 - Family of jailed IRA hunger striker Patrick McGeown give authorities permission to save his life
24 - Mark Chapman is sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering John Lennon
24 - Church of England becomes the Anglican church in Australia
25 - Kings Cross (Australia) fire kills nine people
30 - Iranian President & Prime Minister assassinated in bomb blast