January 3 - Four non-cancerous polyps are removed from President Reagan's colon.
January 5 - The American Semiconductor Manufacturers plan to form a consortium to develop advanced technology as they fear they are falling behind the Japanese.
January 6 - Astronomers at the University of California see the first sight of the birth of a giant galaxy containing a billion stars.
January 8 - Nebraska inaugurates Kay A. Orr as the first female Republican governor.
January 9 - A study ranks the mathematical ability of American primary and high school students among the lowest of any industrialized country.
January 13 - AT&T bars pregnant women from making microchips to avoid the risk of miscarriage.
January 16 - A San Francisco television station, KRON, is the first major-market station to accept advertisements for condoms.
January 19 - Amy Carter, daughter of former President Jimmy Carter, is charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct in a demonstration at the University of Massachusetts.
January 22 - Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, convicted on corruption charges, takes his own life at a news conference.
February 5 - 438 people are arrested in a protest at the nuclear test site in Mercury, Nevada.
February 17 - A Japanese study says the loss of management effectiveness in basic industries is the one major reason for the American loss of competitiveness in world markets.
February 19 - President Reagan lifts economic sanctions on Poland, citing the release of political prisoners.
February 21 - Andy Warhol, pop artist, dies.
February 24 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds racial quotas for job promotions.
February 24 - Scientists link manic depression to a genetic defect.
February 25 - The NCAA bars football at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas because of improper payment to athletes.
March 6 - Georgia O'Keefe, famous American artist best known for her paintings of natural forms and objects, dies.
March 9 - Hundreds of lost Broadway manuscripts by Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern and Victor Herbert are found in a Warner Brothers warehouse.
March 11 - President Ortega of Nicaragua claims a U.S. plane downed was dropping aid to the contras.
March 13 - Goldsboro Christian School in North Carolina is ordered to re-admit Machelle Outlaw who was expelled for modeling swimsuits.
March 14 - International leaders meet in the first Eleanor Roosevelt International Caucus of Women Political Leaders in San Francisco, California.
March 16 - The U.S. is ranked the fifth most desirable place to live, according to a study by the Population Crisis Committee.
March 18 - A Gerber Company survey finds the most popular names for newborns are Jessica and Matthew.
March 20 - Soviet filmmakers arrive in Hollywood, California for an entertainment summit to limit Cold War stereotypes in films.
March 23 - The U.S. offers military protection to Kuwaiti ships in the Persian Gulf.
March 26 - President Reagan announces he will place a 100% duty on a wide range of Japanese electronic products.
April 3 - The rock group U2 opens a national tour in Tempe, Arizona and denounces Arizona governor's ban on Martin Luther King Day.
April 7 - The National Museum of Women in the Arts opens in Washington, D.C.
April 9 - The U.S. and Great Britain veto a plan to bar trade with South Africa for Namibia occupation.
April 9 - A study finds that Soviet children fear nuclear war far less than U.S. children do.
April 16 - Chrysler Corporation reports that Chairman Lee Iaccoca made $14 million in 1986.
April 19 - The last wild condor captured on a California wildlife reserve is named AC-9.
April 19 - The Milwaukee Brewers set a new American League record by winning the first 12 games of the baseball season.
April 19 - Skydiver Gregory Robertson goes into a 200-miles-per-hour free fall to save an unconscious skydiver.
April 20 - The U.S. deports Karl Linnas to the Soviet Union to face death for Nazi war crimes.
April 21 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average soars 66.47 in the second biggest one-day gain in history.
April 23 - Chrysler Corporation buys the Italian automaker, Lamborghini.
April 25 - 100,000 people line up between the White House and the Capitol to protest against U.S. involvement in Central America.
May 5 - A joint tribunal orders the U.S. to return $451.4 million in frozen assets to Iran.
May 7 - Stewart B. McKinney is the first Congressman to die of AIDS.
May 12 - Woody Allen and others testify in Washington, D.C. against black and white film colorization.
May 17 - The U.S. Navy frigate Stark is hit by an Iraqi missile.
May 17 - The FAA deploys a new computer to enhance air safety and to cut delays.
May 19 - Citicorp takes a $2.5 billion loss for the quarter due to Third World debt.
May 25 - 5,000,000 people joins hands to form a human chain across the U.S. in a fund-raising event called "Hands Across America," a cause which gives aid to the hungry and homeless.
May 26 - The U.S. Supreme Court holds that dangerous defendants may be held without bail.
May 28 - A deep sea robot recovers the Monitor, the first armored battleship.
June 2 - Amnesty International charges Cambodia with widespread use of arbitrary arrest and torture of political prisoners.
June 3 - Reverend Leon Sullivan calls for firms to pull out of South Africa.
June 8 - President Reagan lifts economic sanctions against Japan at the beginning of the Economic Summit held in Vienna.
June 12 - President Reagan goes to the Berlin Wall and challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear it down to prove he is really a man of peace.
June 16 - The last dusky seaside sparrow dies in Orlando, Florida and becomes the seventh bird type to die off in the U.S.
June 21 - A recent survey conducted by USA Today reveals that radio "shock jocks" have not cleaned up their acts after the recent new guidelines issued by the Federal Communications Commission for curbing indecent radio programming.
June 22 - Fred Astaire, American dancer and actor, dies.
June 24 - Jackie Gleason, American comedian, dies.
July 1 - 25,000 people in the U.S. over the age of 100 celebrate the first Centenarians Day.
July 5 - Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts hosts the first national conference of the American Green Movement.
July 6 - The U.S. fines Chrysler Corporation $1.5 million for 811 violations of worker safety regulations.
July 17 - A 50th Anniversary revival of the Disney movie Snow White takes place.
July 18 - U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposes a bill to overhaul welfare, transferring responsibility from government to parents.
July 20 - New York Yankee Don Mattingly ties the record for first baseman with 22 putouts in one game.
July 24 - Union Carbide agrees to pay a $408,500 fine for violating worker safety rules.
July 27 - Basi and Yuan Yuan, the only trained pandas in the U.S., go on display at the San Diego Zoo, California.
August 3 - Three days of talks between the U.S. and Vietnam end with no progress on recovering soldiers missing in action.
August 7 - The SEC issues a definition of insider trading.
August 13 - Fossil bones discovered in Texas in 1984 are proclaimed to be the remains of possibly the world's oldest birds.
August 14 - Mass deaths of bottle nose dolphins between New Jersey and Virginia puzzle scientists.
August 15 - U.S. Postal Service officials reveal a stamp dye was altered by the engraver to contain a small Star of David.
August 16 - A Northwest Airlines jet crashes near Detroit, killing 140 people.
August 23 - A Congressional panel says the MX missile has serious accuracy problems.
September 2 - People meters make a debut in the U.S. in an attempt to find a new way of monitoring television viewing.
September 3 - A study finds that Vietnam veterans have a higher death rate from cancer.
September 13 - Michael Jackson opens his world tour in Japan.
September 14 - Elizabeth Dole resigns as the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
September 14 - The Reynolds Corporation announces a new smokeless cigarette to be marketed in 1988.
September 15 - The Pope urges Hollywood, California film makers to shun violence, sex and fantasy in American films.
September 16 - Celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution are led by President Bush.
September 21 - The exclusive store Tiffany in New York City celebrates its 150th anniversary.
September 23 - The rose is voted by the House of Representatives, in agreement with the Senate, to become America's national flower.
October 2 - The U.S. imposes severe economic sanctions against South Africa for the racial policy of apartheid.
October 3 - The U.S. and Canada agree on a comprehensive trade pact that would eliminate all tariffs between the two countries before 1999.
October 4 - The U.S. Government Accounting Office announces that the State Department ran illegal propaganda operations to gain aid for the Contras.
October 6 - The Yale Club in New York City admits women for the first time.
October 8 - Clare Boothe Luce, American writer and first American woman to hold a diplomatic post, dies.
October 12 - The Forbes magazine list of "The 400 Richest Americans" ranks Sam Walton, founder of WalMart Stores, as the richest, being worth $8.5 billion.
October 13 - Los Angeles, California schools announce that they will begin a year-round schedule, beginning July 1989.
October 22 - The U.S. cuts exports to China because of reported arms sales to Iran by the Chinese.
October 26 - President Reagan bans all Iranian imports and curbs exports.
November 3 - Peking tells the U.S. it will halt the sale of arms to Iran.
December 8 - President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty which provides for the dismantling of all U.S. and Soviet missiles with ranges of 300 to 3,400 miles.
December 21 - 100 workers at the Okonite cable plant in New Brunswick, New Jersey are suspended for wearing Santa hats to work.
December 22 - U.S. scientists say a single gene may decide the sex of a baby.
