West Seattle Bridge completed. The Reagan administration tries to trade arms sales with Iran for U.S. hostages in Lebanon. Seattle teachers stage a 19-day strike. Seattle's clam man, Ivar Haglund, dies. Oliver North and John Poindexter resign over the Iran-Contra scandal.
Meltdown occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
Space shuttle Challenger explodes. King County is renamed for Martin Luther King Jr. Microsoft stock goes public. Jessica McClure is rescued from a Texas well shaft. Television evangelist Jim Bakker resigns in sex scandal. A bomb destroys Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland.