1987

Events

January

• January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
• January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
• January 3 – Afghan leader Mohammad Najibullah says that Afghanistan's 1978 Communist revolution is "not reversible," and that any opposition parties will have to align with Communist goals.
• January 4 –
• * 1987 Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route from Washington, D.C. to Boston collides with Conrail engines at Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.
• * Televangelist Oral Roberts announces to his viewers that unless they donate $8 million to his ministry by March 31, God will "call home."
• January 15 – Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, is forced into retirement by political conservatives.
• January 16 – León Febres Cordero, president of Ecuador, is kidnapped for 11 hours by followers of imprisoned general Frank Vargas, who successfully demand the latter's release.
• January 17 – The Jumalan teatteri theatre students' group cause a huge scandal at the Oulu City Theatre in Oulu, Finland by throwing excrement, eggs and yoghurt on the audience during their two-minute performance.
• January 20 – Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut.
• January 24 – 1987 Forsyth County protests: About 20,000 protestors marched in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.
• January 28 – The United States establishes diplomatic relations with Mongolia.

  February

• February 6 – The Soviet oil tanker Antonio Gramsci suffers a minor shipwreck in Finnish waters en route to the Neste oil refinery in Porvoo, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 570–650 tons.
• February 11
• * British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
• * The new Constitution of the Philippines goes into effect. This new constitution adds Spanish and Arabic as optional languages of the Philippines.
• February 20 – A second Unabomber bomb explodes at a Salt Lake City computer store parking lot in the United States, injuring the owner's son.
• February 23 – SN 1987A, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604, is observed.
• February 25
• * Beginning of the Phosphorite War protest movement in the Estonian SSR.
• * The U.S. Supreme Court rules in United States v. Paradise that affirmative action is lawful if the organization in question has a history of pervasive racial discrimination in hiring practices; in this case, police departments in the state of Alabama. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. rules that the government is "justified by a compelling governmental interest in eradicating the Department's pervasive, systematic, and obstinate discriminatory exclusion of blacks."
• February 26 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security Council staff.
• February 28 – A Rüppell's vulture chick is hatched at the Milwaukee County Zoo, the first time the animal has been successfully bred in North America.

  March

• March 1 – The first Starbucks outside of the US is opened in Vancouver, Canada.
• March 4 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran–Contra affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had "deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal.
• March 6 – Zeebrugge disaster: Roll-on/roll-off cross-channel ferry capsizes off Zeebrugge harbor in Belgium; 193 people die.
• March 7 – 1987 Lieyu massacre: The Republic of China Army execute 19 unarmed Vietnamese refugees on Donggang beach, Lieyu, Kinmen off Mainland China.
• March 18 – Woodstock of physics: A marathon session of the American Physical Society's meeting features 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors.
• March 20 – AZT is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
• March 24 – Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and French Prime Minister and future President of France, Jacques Chirac, sign an agreement to construct the Euro Disney Resort and to develop the Val d'Europe area of the new town Marne-la-Vallée in Paris, France.
• March 28 – The 1987 Aegean crisis, which occurred near the Greek island of Thasos, was a confrontation between Greece and Turkey that was ultimately resolved peacefully. Turkey agreed to withdraw its vessels under the condition of Greece not pursue oil drills beyond its territorial waters.
• March 29
• * The World Wrestling Federation produces WrestleMania III from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game has an attendance of 108,713 at AT&T Stadium.
• * A hybrid solar eclipse is the second hybrid solar eclipse in less than one year, the first being on October 3, 1986. It is annular visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Somalia and totally visible in Atlantic Ocean, lasting just 7.57 seconds.
• March 30 – The 59th Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles, with Platoon winning Best Picture.
• March 31 – Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, conducts a 45-minute interview on Soviet television.

  April

• April 5 – Schoharie Creek Bridge Collapse: I-90 bridge collapse near Fort Hunter leaves 10 people dead. Investigators conclude that the bridge's piers had been weakened by structural flaws and significant scour. The accident leads to stricter safety standards in bridge design and inspection. The body of the 10th victim will ultimately be recovered from the Mohawk River more than two years later.
• April 13 – The governments of the Portuguese Republic and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau will be returned to China in 1999.
• April 14 – Turkey applied for membership to the European Economic Community.
• April 19 – The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.
• April 21 – In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Central Bus Station Bombing kills 113 civilians.
• April 27 – The United States Department of Justice declares incumbent Austrian president Kurt Waldheim an "undesirable alien".
• April 30 – Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the Provincial Premiers agree on principle to the Meech Lake Accord which would bring Quebec into the constitution.

  May

• May 4 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club of Duarte that local Rotary Clubs do not have a constitutional right to deny membership to women. Other clubs thereafter comply with the ruling: Lions International begins admitting women in June, and Kiwanis Club in July.
• May 8 – Loughgall ambush: A 24-man unit of the British Army Special Air Service ambushed eight members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army as they mounted an attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks. All IRA members were killed as well as one civilian.
• May 9 – A Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-62 airliner, operated by LOT Polish Airlines, crashes into a forest just outside Warsaw, killing all 183 people on board.
• May 11 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
• May 14 – Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka executes a bloodless coup in Fiji.
• May 17 – is hit by two Iraqi-owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles killing 37 sailors.
• May 22
• * The Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
• * The inaugural Rugby World Cup hosted by both New Zealand and Australia kicks off. In the opening match of the new tournament, New Zealand beat Italy in the pool stage.
• May 27
• * At the Prater Stadium of Vienna, Porto of Portugal defeats Bayern München of West Germany 2–1 and wins its first European Cup.
• * In one of the densest concentrations of humanity in history, a crowd of 800,000+ packed shoulder-to-shoulder onto the Golden Gate Bridge and its approaches for its 50th Anniversary celebration.
• May 28 – Eighteen-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained.

  June

• June 3 – The Vanuatu Labour Party is founded.
• June 8 – The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act is passed, the first of its kind in the world.
• June 11 – The Conservative Party of the United Kingdom, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected for a third term at the 1987 general election.
• June 12 – During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
• June 13 – At the Paris Air Show, Boeing announces the sale of their 1,842nd Boeing 737, making the 737 the best-selling airliner of all time.
• June 17 – With the death of the last known individual, the dusky seaside sparrow, a subspecies native to the US state of Florida, becomes extinct.
• June 19
• * Teddy Seymour is officially designated the first black man to sail around the world, when he completes his solo sailing circumnavigation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, of the United States Virgin Islands.
• * Edwards v. Aguillard: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools whenever evolution is taught is unconstitutional.
• * Hipercor bombing: the Basque terrorist group ETA perpetrate a car-bomb attack at an Hipercor market in Barcelona, killing 21 and wounding 45.
• June 20 – New Zealand wins the inaugural Rugby World Cup after beating France in the final.
• June 27 – A commercial HS 748 crashes near Baguio, Philippines, killing 50.
• June 28
• * Iraqi warplanes drop mustard-gas bombs on the Iranian town of Sardasht in two separate bombing rounds, on four residential areas. This is the first time a civilian town has been targeted by chemical weapons.
• * An accidental explosion at the Hohenfels Training Area in West Germany kills 3 U.S. troops.
• June 29 – South Korean politician, presidential candidate of the ruling party Roh Tae-woo makes a speech promising a wide program of nationwide reforms, the result of the June Democracy Movement.
• June 30 – Canada introduces a one-dollar coin, nicknamed the "Loonie".