1984

Events from the year **1984 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: George Wallace (Democratic)
* Governor of Alaska: Bill Sheffield (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Bruce Babbitt (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Bill Clinton (Democratic)
* Governor of California: George Deukmejian (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Richard Lamm (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: William A. O'Neill (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Pierre S. du Pont IV (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Bob Graham (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Joe Frank Harris (Democratic)
* Governor of Hawaii: George Ariyoshi (Democratic)
* Governor of Idaho: John V. Evans (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: James R. Thompson (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Robert D. Orr (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: Terry E. Branstad (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: John W. Carlin (Democratic)
* Governor of Kentucky: Martha Layne Collins (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: David C. Treen (Republican) (until March 12), Edwin W. Edwards (Democratic) (starting March 12)
* Governor of Maine: Joseph E. Brennan (Democratic)
* Governor of Maryland: Harry R. Hughes (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Michael Dukakis (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: James Blanchard (Democratic)
* Governor of Minnesota: Rudy Perpich (Democratic)
* Governor of Mississippi: William Winter (Democratic) (until January 10), William Allain (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Missouri: Kit Bond (Republican)
* Governor of Montana: Ted Schwinden (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Bob Kerrey (Democratic)
* Governor of Nevada: Richard Bryan (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John H. Sununu (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Thomas Kean (Republican)
* Governor of New Mexico: Toney Anaya (Democratic)
* Governor of New York: Mario Cuomo (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Jim Hunt (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: Allen I. Olson (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: Dick Celeste (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: George Nigh (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Victor G. Atiyeh (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Dick Thornburgh (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: J. Joseph Garrahy (Democratic)
* Governor of South Carolina: Richard Riley (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: William J. Janklow (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Lamar Alexander (Republican)
* Governor of Texas: Mark White (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: Scott M. Matheson (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Richard A. Snelling (Republican)
* Governor of Virginia: Chuck Robb (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: John Spellman (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Jay Rockefeller (Democratic)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Tony Earl (Democratic)
* Governor of Wyoming: Edgar J. Herschler (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Bill Baxley (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Alaska: Stephen McAlpine (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Winston Bryant (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Leo T. McCarthy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Nancy E. Dick (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Joseph J. Fauliso (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Michael N. Castle (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Florida: Wayne Mixson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Georgia: Zell Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii: John D. Waihee III (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: David H. Leroy (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: George H. Ryan (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: John Mutz (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Robert T. Anderson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Thomas R. Docking (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Steve Beshear (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Bobby Freeman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Maryland: J. Joseph Curran (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: John Kerry (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Martha W. Griffiths (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Marlene Johnson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Brad Dye (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Kenneth Rothman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: George Turman (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Donald F. McGinley (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Bob Cashell (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Mike Runnels (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Alfred DelBello (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: James C. Green (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Ernest Sands (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Myrl H. Shoemaker (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Spencer Bernard (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: William Scranton III (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Thomas R. DiLuglio (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Michael R. Daniel (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Lowell C. Hansen II (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: John S. Wilder (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: William P. Hobby Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Utah: David Smith Monson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Peter Plympton Smith (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Richard Joseph Davis (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: John Cherberg (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: James Flynn (Democratic)

## Events

### January

* January 1 – U.S. Bell System is broken up.
* January 3 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan meets with Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman and the Reverend Jesse Jackson at the White House, following Lieutenant Goodman's release from Syrian captivity.
* January 10 – The United States and the Vatican re-establish full diplomatic relations.
* January 22 – Super Bowl XVIII: The Los Angeles Raiders defeat the Washington Redskins 38–9 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
* January 25 – President Ronald Reagan announces in his State of the Union Address that the United States will begin development of a permanently crewed space station and invite international space agencies to the project, a concept initially known as Space Station Freedom, later evolved into the International Space Station.
* January 27 – Michael Jackson's hair catches on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.

### February

* February 3 – Dr. John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
* February 3 – *STS-41-B*: Space Shuttle *Challenger* is launched on the 10th Space Shuttle mission.
* February 11 – *STS-41-B*: Space Shuttle *Challenger* makes the first shuttle landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
* February 13 – Theta Kappa Pi sorority is founded at Penn State University.
* February 16 – Bill Johnson becomes first American male to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing.
* February 24 – Tyrone Mitchell kills two people at 49th Street Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles, California.
* February 26 – United States Marines pull out of Beirut, Lebanon.
* February 28 – Michael Jackson wins a record eight Grammy Awards.

### March

* March 16
	+ The CIA station chief in Beirut, William Francis Buckley, is kidnapped by Islamic Jihad and later dies in captivity.
	+ Gary Plauché fatally shoots his son Jody's sexual abuser, Jeff Doucet, at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport in Louisiana.
* March 22 – Teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the schoolchildren (the charges are later dropped as completely unfounded).

### April

* April 4 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
* April 9 – The 56th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with James L. Brooks' *Terms of Endearment* winning Best Picture and Best Director, as well as three other awards out of 11 nominations.
* April 23 – Margaret Heckler of the U.S. Public Health Service announces the identity of HTLV-III as the virus that causes AIDS.
* April 24 – The 6.2 Mw Morgan Hill earthquake shook central California and the South Bay area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (*Severe*), causing 21–27 injuries and $7.5–8 million in losses.

### May

* May 8
	+ 1984 Summer Olympics boycott: The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
	+ Forces veteran Denis Lortie shoots and kills three government employees in the National Assembly of Quebec building in Quebec City. The National Assembly's sergeant-at-arms, René Jalbert, talks Lortie into surrendering.
	+ The longest game in Major League Baseball history begins at 7:30 PM between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox. The game is played over the course of 2 days, lasting 25 innings, with a total time of 8 hours and 6 minutes.
* May 12 – The 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, a World's fair, opens in New Orleans.
* May 17 – Michael Silka kills nine people near Manley Hot Springs, Alaska.
* May 19 – The Edmonton Oilers defeat the New York Islanders to win their first Stanley Cup.
* May 27 – An overnight flash flood rages through neighborhoods in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nearly 15 inches of rain falls in some areas over a four-hour period. Fourteen people are killed.
* May 31 – Six death row inmates at Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, including James and Linwood Briley, escape, the only occasion this has ever happened in the U.S. All are eventually recaptured and executed.

### June

* June 1 – William M. Gibbons is released as receiver and trustee of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, after all of its debts and creditors are paid off by order of a federal bankruptcy court.
* June 3 – Ronald Reagan visits his ancestral home in Ballyporeen, the Republic of Ireland.
* June 4 – Bruce Springsteen releases his 7th album *Born in the U.S.A.*. The CD of the album is the first CD to be manufactured in the U.S.
* June 8
	+ 1984 Barneveld, Wisconsin tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing nine people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.
	+ *Ghostbusters* and *Gremlins* are released.
* June 16 – Ricky Kasso murders Gary Lauwers in Northport, Long Island, New York.
* June 22 – *The Karate Kid* is released.
* June 25 – *Purple Rain*, the sixth studio album by recording artist Prince, is released by Warner Bros. Records. The soundtrack to the film of the same name, it is the first album where his band The Revolution is billed.
* June 28 – Richard Ramírez (the "Night Stalker") murders his first confirmed victim.

### July

* July 13 – Terry Wallis, a 19-year-old living in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, falls into a deep coma after a severe automobile accident; he will eventually awaken 19 years later on June 13, 2003.
* July 18
	+ Beverly Burns becomes the first female Boeing 747 captain in the world.
	+ In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gunfire, killing 21 people before being shot and killed.
* July 23 – Vanessa L. Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign, when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appear in *Penthouse* magazine.
* July 27 – Metallica releases a second studio album, *Ride the Lightning*.
* July 28 – The 1984 Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California.

### August

* August 11 – United States President Ronald Reagan, during a voice check for a radio broadcast remarks, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
* August 30 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle *Discovery* takes off on its maiden voyage.

### September

* September 4 – *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends* is released, narrated by George Carlin, before *Shining Time Station* airing until next 5 years.
* September 5 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle *Discovery* lands after its maiden voyage.
* September 17 – *The Transformers* debuts in syndication.
* September 10 – *Jeopardy!* begins its syndicated version, with host Alex Trebek.
* September 20 – Hezbollah car-bombs the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, killing 24 people.

### October

* October 1 – American Movie Classics is initiated.
* October 2 – John Schnatter opens the first Papa John's Pizza in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
* October 5 – *STS-41-G*: Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle *Challenger*.
* October 6 – *Out of Control* debuts on Nickelodeon.
* October 11 – Aboard the Space Shuttle *Challenger*, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
* October 14 – World Series: The Detroit Tigers defeat the San Diego Padres to win in 5 games.

### November

* November 1 – The unemployment rate drops to 7.2%, the same rate it was when the early 1980s recession started in June 1981.
* November 2 – Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* November 6 – 1984 United States presidential election: Ronald Reagan defeats Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61% victory in 1972. Reagan carries 49 states in the electoral college; Mondale wins only his home state of Minnesota by a mere 3,761 vote margin and the District of Columbia.
* November 9 – Cesar Chavez delivers his speech, "What The Future Holds For Farm Workers And Hispanics", at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
* November 28 – Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.

### December

* December 1 – Controlled Impact Demonstration: NASA intentionally crashes a remote controlled Boeing 720.
* December 8 – White supremacist and Order leader Robert Jay Mathews is killed in a gun battle and fire during an FBI siege on Whidbey Island.
* December 22 – Four African-American youths (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, James Ramseur, and Darrell Cabey) board an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City. They attempt to rob Bernhard Goetz, who shoots them. The event starts a national debate about urban crime, which is a plague in 1980s America.

## Memoriam

* January 14 – Ray Kroc, businessman and founder of McDonald's (aged 81; San Diego, CA, USA)
* January 20 – Johnny Weissmuller, Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor (aged 79; Acapulco, Mexico)
* February 22 – David Vetter, plastic bubble patient (aged 12; Dobbin, TX, USA)
* February 24 – Tyrone Mitchell, murderer (suicide) (aged 28; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 18
	+ Charley Lau, baseball player (aged 50; Key Colony Beach, FL, USA)
	+ Paul Francis Webster, lyricist (aged 76; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* March 20 – Stan Coveleski, baseball player and member of the MLB Hall of Fame (aged 94; South Bend, IN, USA)
* March 23 – Shauna Grant, porn actress (aged 20; Palm Springs, CA, USA)
* March 28
	+ Ben Washam, animator (aged 69; Los Angeles County, CA, USA)
	+ Benjamin Mays, Baptist minister and civil rights leader (aged 89; Atlanta, GA, USA)
* April 1 – Marvin Gaye, singer-songwriter and musician (aged 44; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* April 14 – Anders Haugen, ski jumper (aged 95; Yucaipa, CA, USA)
* April 26 – Count Basie, pianist, organist, bandleader and composer (aged 79; Hollywood, FL, USA)
* April 28 – Glen H. Taylor, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1945 to 1951 (aged 80; Burlingame, CA, USA)
* May 19 – Michael Silka, spree killer (aged 25; Manley Hot Springs, AK, USA)
* June 30 – Lillian Hellman, playwright (aged 79; Oak Bluffs, MA, USA)
* July 27 – C. L. Franklin, Baptist minister and civil rights activist (aged 69; Detroit, MI, USA)
* August 25 – Truman Capote, writer (aged 59; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 26 – Julie Stevens, actress (aged 67; Wellfleet, MA, USA)
* September 24 – Neil Hamilton, actor (aged 85; Escondido, CA, USA)
* September 28 – Roy Sullivan, park ranger, world record holder for lightning strikes survived (aged 71; Dooms, VA, USA)
* October 1 – Billy Goodman, baseball player (aged 58; Sarasota, FL, USA)
* December 15 – J. Roderick MacArthur, businessman and philanthropist (aged 63; Chicago, IL, USA)