Top News Stories from 1987

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize: Oscar Arias Sánchez (Costa Rica)
More World Statistics...
  • William Buckley, American hostage in Lebanon, reported slain (Jan. 20).
  • Iraqi missiles kill 37 in attack on US frigate Stark in Persian Gulf (May 17); Iraqi president Hussein apologizes (May 18).
  • Prime Minister Thatcher wins rare third term in Britain (June 11).
  • Klaus Barbie, 73, Gestapo wartime chief in Lyon, sentenced to life by French court for war crimes (July 4).

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Ronald W. Reagan
Vice President: George Bush
Population: 242,288,918
Life expectancy: 74.9 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 55.5
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 49.4
More U.S. Statistics...

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $4,692.30 billion
Federal spending: $1003.91 billion
Federal debt $2346.1 billion
Consumer Price Index: $113.6
Unemployment: 6.2%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.22

Sports

Super Bowl
NY Giants d. Denver
World Series
Minnesota d. St. Louis Cardinals
NBA Championship
LA Lakers d. Boston
Stanley Cup
Edmonton d. Philadelphia
Wimbledon
Women: Martina Navratilova d. S. Graf (7-5 6-3)
Men: Pat Cash d. I. Lendl (7-6 6-2 7-5)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Alysheba
NCAA Basketball Championship
Indiana d. Syracuse
NCAA Football Champions
Miami-FL (12-0-0)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction:

A Summons to Memphis, Peter Taylor

Music: The Flight Into Egypt, John Harbison
Drama: Fences, August Wilson
Academy Award, Best Picture: Platoon, Arnold Kopelson, producer (Orion)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Joseph Brodsky (US)
Record of the Year: "Higher Love," Steve Winwood
Album of the Year: Graceland, Paul Simon (Warner Bros.)
Song of the Year: "That's What Friends Are For," Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, songwriters
Miss America: Kellye Cash (TN)
More Entertainment Awards...

Events

  • Though African, Latin American and other genres of international music have been around for centuries, a group of small, London-based labels coin the term "world music," which helps record sellers find rack space for the eclectic music.
  • thirtysomething debuts on ABC and departs from typical dramas, featuring analytical, self-absorbed baby-boomer characters.

Movies

  • Moonstruck, Wall Street, The Last Emperor, Fatal Attraction

Books

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Donald J. Cram, Charles J. Pedersen (both US), and Jean-Marie Lehn (France), for wide-ranging research that has included the creation of artificial molecules that can mimic vital chemical reactions of the processes of life
Physics: K. Alex Müller (Switzerland) and J. Georg Bednorz (Germany), for their discovery of high-temperature superconductors
Physiology or Medicine: Susumu Tonegawa (Japan), for his discoveries of how the body can suddenly marshal its immunological defenses against millions of different disease agents that it has never encountered before
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
  • Prozac released for use in US by Eli Lilly & Company. Background: Health & Nutrition
  • AZT wins FDA approval for use in the treatment of AIDS.
  • An international treaty signed in Montreal calls for a 50% reduction in the use of CFCs by the year 2000 (Sept. 16). Background: environmentalism
  • Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand make the first transatlantic hot-air balloon flight. 2,790 miles from Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine, to Ireland Virgin Atlantic Flyer (July 2–4). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation

Death

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