1984 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Ronald Reagan
• Vice President: George H. W. Bush
• Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill
• Senate Majority Leader: Howard Baker
• Congress: 98th

  Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

• January 1 - US 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 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 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.
• March 22 - Teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the schoolchildren.

  April

• April 4 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
• April 6 - The 56th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with Terms of Endearment winning Best Picture.
• 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 Morgan Hill earthquake shook central California and the South Bay area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII, 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.
• * 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 - 6 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 US. 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 8 - 1984 Barneveld, Wisconsin tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing 9 people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.
• June 16 - Ricky Kasso murders Gary Lauwers in Northport, Long Island, New York.

  July

• July 18 - 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 28–August 12 - 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 5 - STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
• September 20 - Hezbollah car-bombs the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, killing 24 people.

  October

• October 5 - STS-41-G: Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
• 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 - 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 22 - Four African-American youths 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.

  Undated

• Arlene Violet, until recently a religious sister, becomes Attorney General of Rhode Island, the first female Attorney General elected in the U.S.
• Ryan White, a student who contracted AIDS, is expelled from Western High School in Russiaville, Indiana because of his disease.
• Crack cocaine, a smokeable form of the drug, becomes widely used in the Los Angeles area and soon spreads across the United States in what becomes known as the Crack epidemic.

  Ongoing

• Cold War

  Births

• January 1 - Lance Brooks, discus thrower
• January 6
• * Kate McKinnon, actress, comedian
• * Eric Trump, businessman, philanthropist and reality TV personality, son of Donald Trump
• January 7
• * Caros Fodor, mixed martial artist, brother of Phoenix Jones
• * Jon Lester, baseball player
• January 28 - Stephen Gostkowski, American football player
• February 3 - Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos
• February 8 - Cecily Strong, actress and comedian
• February 12 - Tony Ferguson, mixed martial artist
• March 10 - Olivia Wilde, actress and model
• March 12 - Jaimie Alexander, actress
• March 20 - Marcus Vick, American football player
• March 24 - Chris Bosh, basketball player
• March 25 - Katharine McPhee, singer, songwriter and actress
• April 4 - Sean May, basketball player
• April 10 - Mandy Moore, singer, songwriter, actress and fashion designer
• April 11 - Kelli Garner, actress
• April 16 - Noah Fleiss, actor
• April 18 - America Ferrera, actress
• April 20
• * Anthony Fasano, American football player
• * Tyson Griffin, American mixed martial artist
• * Harris Wittels, actor, producer, and screenwriter
• April 24 - Tyson Ritter, singer and bassist
• April 26 - Emily Wickersham, actress
• April 27 - Patrick Stump, Singer/Songwriter
• April 29 - Taylor Cole, actress
• May 9 - Chase Headley, baseball player
• May 11 - John Bowie, American football player
• May 14 - Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook
• June 1 - David Neville, sprinter
• June 6
• * Shannon Stewart, model
• * Jason Trusnik, American football player
• June 8 - Torrey DeVitto, actress and fashion model
• June 26 - Aubrey Plaza, actress, comedian
• July 5 - Zack Miller, golfer
• July 8 - Alexis Dziena, actress
• July 18 - Allen Craig, American baseball player
• July 19 - Kaitlin Doubleday, actress
• July 27 - Taylor Schilling, actress
• July 28
• * DeMeco Ryans, American football player
• * John David Washington, American football player, actor and producer
• July 30 - Gina Rodriguez, actress
• August 28 - Sarah Roemer, actress
• September 3 - Garrett Hedlund, actor, model and singer
• September 18
• *Dashon Goldson, American football player
• *Anthony Gonzalez, American football player and politician
• October 1
• * Beck Bennett, actor and screenwriter
• * Matt Cain, baseball player
• October 2 - John Morris, actor
• October 25 - Katy Perry, singer-songwriter
• November 9
• *French Montana, Moroccan-American rapper
• *Joel Zumaya, baseball player
• November 12 - Benjamin Okolski, American figure skater
• November 13 - Sarah Rose Karr, actress
• November 22 - Scarlett Johansson, actress
• November 23 - Lucas Grabeel, actor
• November 28 - Mary Elizabeth Winstead, actress
• December 17 - Shannon Woodward, actress
• December 25 - Chris Richard, basketball player
• December 30 - LeBron James, American basketball player
• Date unknown - Patrisse Cullors, African American activist

  Deaths

• January 20 - Johnny Weissmuller, Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor
• February 24 - Tyrone Mitchell, murderer
• April 1 - Marvin Gaye, singer, songwriter, and musician
• April 26 - Count Basie, pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer
• May 19 - Michael Silka, spree killer
• August 25 - Truman Capote, writer
• August 26 - Julie Stevens, actress, b. 1916)
• September 24 - Neil Hamilton, actor
• September 28 - Roy Sullivan, park ranger, world record holder for lightning strikes survived
• October 1 - Billy Goodman, baseball player
• December - J. Roderick MacArthur, businessman and philanthropist