, Colonel Oliver North was fined US$ 150,000 and given a suspended prison sentence for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
(2) The TV series Seinfeld began.
14/6/1989, Ronald Reagan was given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth.
20/4/1989, A gun turret on US battleship Iowa exploded, killing 47 sailors.
24/3/1989, US Congress agreed to renew a US$ 40 million aid programme for the Right-wing Contra rebels fighting the Sandinista Government in Nicaragua. Funding ceased due to the Iran-Contra scandal.
14/3/1989, In the USA, the Bush administration announced a ban on the import of semi-automatic assault rifles.
3/3/1989, Robert McFarlane was fined $20,000, plus two years’ probation, for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
23/2/1989, The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee rejected, 11–9, President Bush's nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense.
22/2/1989, Death of Aldo Jacuzzi, American manufacturer of the eponymous baths.
20/1/1989. George Herbert Walker Bush was sworn in as 41st US President.
30/12/1988, In the USA, Colonel Oliver North subpoenaed Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to testify in the Iran-Contra trial.
6/12/1988, US rock star Roy Orbison died of a heart attack, aged 52.
26/7/1988, New York celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
25/6/1988, Virginia celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
21/6/1988, New Hampshire celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
23/5/1988, South Carolina celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
7/5/1988, Boston saw the first meeting of people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens.
6/2/1988, Massachusetts celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
3/2/1988, In the USA, the Democrat-controlled House of Democrats rejected President Reagan’s request for US$36.25 million to support the Nicaraguan Contras.
9/1/1988, Connecticut celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
2/1/1988, Georgia celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
18/12/1987¸ New Jersey celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
12/12/1987, Pennsylvania celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
8/12/1987. Gorbachev and Reagan signed an arms reduction treaty, to eliminate medium range nuclear missiles from Europe.
7/12/1987, Delaware celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.
29/9/1987, John M Poindexter resigned from the US Navy over the Iran-Contra affair.
3/8/1987, The US Irangate hearings ended.
8/4/1987, Francis C Denebrink, US naval officer, died aged 90
31/3/1987, In the ‘Baby M’ case, the US Supreme Court denied parental rights to surrogate mothers.
19/2/1987, The US lifted sanctions on Poland.
11/2/1987, The US tested an atom bomb in Nevada.
25/11/1986. US Vice-Admiral Pointdexter and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North were dismissed from the Security Council after revelations that money from arms sales to Iran had been channelled to Nicaraguan Contra guerrillas. Weapons were covertly sold to Iran to secure the release of 7 US hostages held by pro-Hezbollah groups in Lebanon, and the profits from the sales diverted to back Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
4/11/1986. Democrats won control of the US Senate.
15/4/1986. The USA launched air strikes against Libya, in retaliation for Libya’s alleged support of terrorism, and a bombing in a Berlin nightclub. Libya had also fired two missiles at the US radar base on Lampedusa; both missed. Benghazi and Tripoli were bombed, killing at least 100 people, including Gaddaffi’s 15-month-old adopted daughter, Hanna. The departure of the US planes from British airfields caused widespread protests in the UK. On 17/4/1986 two British hostages in Lebanon were killed in retaliation for the US raids.
27/2/1986, The United States Senate allowed its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
25/1/1985, In a case that divided American society, New York subway vigilante Bernard Goetze (born 7 November 1947) was told by a Grand Jury that he would not face charged of murder for shooting four Black youths at close range on 22 December 1984; he would be tried for illegal possession of handguns. 