1986 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: Ronald Reagan
• Vice President: George H. W. Bush
• Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger , William Rehnquist
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill
• Senate Majority Leader: Bob Dole
• Congress: 99th

  Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

• January 12 – STS-61-C: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz.
• January 20 – The first federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed.
• January 23 – The first group of artists are inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included Elvis Presley, James Brown, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
• January 24 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus.
• January 26 – Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots 46–10 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• January 28
• * STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
• * President Ronald Reagan postpones for one week the State of the Union address that had been scheduled for the evening and instead addresses the nation on the Challenger disaster.
• January 31 – Two earthquakes affected northeastern Ohio causing minor damage and 17 injuries. The shocks in this doublet earthquake occurred almost six hours apart with both having a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI.

  February

• February 19 – After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
• February 25 – People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president. Salvador Laurel becomes her Vice President.
• February 27 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.

  March

• Halley's Comet reaches the closest point to the Earth during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th century. The next time it will be seen is predicted for 2061.
• March 9 – United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.
• March 25 – The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California, with Out of Africa winning Best Picture.
• March 26 – An article in The New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II.

  April

• April 4 – Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. is founded at University of Iowa.
• April 5 – 1986 West Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discothèque, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing three and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
• April 15 – Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region.
• April 17 – British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut and three others are found dead; Revolutionary Cells claims responsibility in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya.
• April 29
• * Roger Clemens sets the record for the most strikeouts in a 9-inning Major League Baseball game, striking out 20 batters.
• * A major fire at Los Angeles Public Library caused by arson destroys 400,000 volumes.

  May

• May 16 – Top Gun, an action film featuring naval aviation and starring Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer and Kelly McGillis, debuts in cinemas. It goes on to become the highest-grossing film of the year, netting nearly $177 million in America alone.
• May 25 – Hands Across America: approximately 6.5 million people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.

  June

• June 4 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
• June 5-11 – Excedrin cyanide tampering crisis.
• June 8 – The Boston Celtics defeat the Houston Rockets in six games to win the NBA Championship.
• June 9 – The Rogers Commission Report is released on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
• June 19 – American college basketball player Len Bias suffers a fatal cardiac arrhythmia from a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after being selected 2nd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Draft.

  July

• July 5 – The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing.
• July 8 – The 6.0 North Palm Springs earthquake shook Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing 29–40 injuries and $4.5–6 million in losses.
• July 13 – The 5.8 Oceanside earthquake shook the south coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI, causing $700,000 in losses and one death.
• July 21 – The 6.2 Chalfant Valley earthquake shook eastern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI, causing $2.7 million in losses and two injuries.

  August

• August 6 – In Louisville, Kentucky, William J. Schroeder, the second artificial heart recipient, dies after 620 days.
• August 20 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
• August 31
• *Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground.
• *The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It wanders the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo.

  September

• September 5 – Pan Am Flight 73, a flight from Bombay, India, to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, is hijacked. Forty-three passengers are injured or killed during the hijacking, including nationals from India, the United States, Pakistan, and Mexico.
• September 8 – The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts nationally. The show was an instant success, making Oprah one of the most influential people in the world.

  October

• October 1 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater-Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.
• October 9 – United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
• October 11 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
• October 22 – In New York City, WNBC Radio's traffic helicopter crashes into the Hudson River, killing traffic reporter Jane Dornacker. The last words heard on-the-air were Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"
• October 27
• * World Series: The New York Mets defeat the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. This is the second world series title in the Mets franchise. It is also remembered for Game 6, when Bill Buckner lets an easy ground ball hit by Mookie Wilson roll through his legs, letting the Mets win and pull even with the Red Sox in the series.
• * Great Basin National Park is established.
• October 28 – The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.

  November

• November 3 – Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
• November 4 – Democrats regain control of the United States Senate for the first time in six years. In California, Chief Justice Rose Bird and two colleagues are removed by voters from the Supreme Court of California for opposing capital punishment.
• November 21 – Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them in selling weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• November 22 – Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas, becoming the youngest heavyweight champion ever at age 20.
• November 25 – Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• November 26 – Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces that as of December 1, former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will serve as members of the Special Review Board looking into the scandal. Reagan denies involvement in the scandal.

  December

• December – The unemployment rate drops to 6.6%, the lowest since March 1980.
• December 20 – Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
• December 26 – After 35 years on the airwaves and holding the title of longest-running non-news program on network television, NBC airs the final episode of daytime drama Search for Tomorrow.
• December 31 – A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

  Ongoing

• Cold War
• Iran–Contra affair

  Births

• January 1 - Glen Davis, basketball player
• January 2 - Trombone Shorty, trumpet player and composer
• January 4 - Steve Slaton, American football player
• January 5 - J. P. Arencibia, baseball player
• January 6 - Mike Teel, American football player
• January 14 Gary Brolsma Musician and Singer
• January 15 - Jessy Schram, actress
• January 18 - Eugene Lee Yang, filmmaker, actor and internet celebrity
• January 20 - Derek Fathauer, golfer
• February 1 - Lauren Conrad, TV personality, fashion designer and author
• February 4 - Vin Gerard, wrestler
• February 13 - Aqib Talib, American football player
• February 15 - Amber Riley, actress, singer and author
• March 9 - Brittany Snow, actress
• March 16 - Alexandra Daddario, actress
• March 28 - Lady Gaga, pop singer and songwriter
• April 3 - Amanda Bynes, actress
• April 9 - Leighton Meester, actress
• April 22 - Amber Heard, actress
• April 25 - Gwen Jorgensen, triathlete
• April 26 - Sean Evans, YouTuber and producer
• April 28 - Jenna Ushkowitz, South Korean-born actress, singer and podcast host
• April 30 - Dianna Agron, actress, singer and dancer
• May 1 - Cassie Jaye, actress and film director
• May 9 - Grace Gummer, actress
• May 16 - Megan Fox, actress and model
• May 17 - Tahj Mowry, actor
• May 20 - Louisa Krause, actress
• June 2 - Curtis Lofton, American football player
• June 6 - Justin Allgaier, American race car driver
• June 11 - Shia LaBeouf, American actor
• June 13
• * Kat Dennings, actress
• * Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, actresses and fashion designers
• June 25 - Charlie Davies, soccer player
• June 27 - Drake Bell, actor, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
• July 2 - Lindsay Lohan, actress, pop singer and model
• July 6 - Derrick Williams, American football player
• July 9
• * Dominic Cervi, soccer player
• * Katie Stam, Miss America 2009
• July 17 - Brando Eaton, American actor
• August 5 - Paula Creamer, golfer
• August 29 - Lea Michele, actress, singer and author
• September 3 - Shaun White, professional snowboarder
• September 30 - Ki Hong Lee, South Korean-born actor
• October 6 - Olivia Thirlby, actress
• October 7 - Holland Roden, actress
• October 22 - Kyle Gallner, actor
• October 23
• * Briana Evigan, actress and dancer
• * Jessica Stroup, actress
• November 1 - Penn Badgley, actor
• November 8 - Aaron Swartz, computer programmer and internet activist
• November 10 - Josh Peck, actor, voice actor, comedian
• November 15 - Coye Francies, American football player
• November 25 - Katie Cassidy, actress
• December 8 - Kate Voegele, musician and actress
• December 10 - Elaine Welteroth, journalist
• December 23 Noel Wells guitar

  Full date unknown

• Andrea Lo, Internet entrepreneur

  Deaths

• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction author, founder of Scientology
• January 28 - crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L:
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, writer
• March 6 - Georgia O'Keefe, American artist
• March 28 - Virginia Gilmore, actress and wife of Yul Brynner
• March 30 - James Cagney, actor
• May 25 – Chester Bowles, American politician
• May 26 – Gian-Carlo Coppola, American film producer
• May 30 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer
• July 3 - Rudy Vallée, radio show host, bandleader, singer, actor
• September 27 - Cliff Burton, former Metallica bassist
• November 29 – Cary Grant, British actor
• December 2 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, musician and television producer; co-founder of Desilu Productions