What happened onFebruary 23, 1981Monday Week 9

Today is September13, 2026 Sunday.

February 23 is a Monday again in 1987.

About February 23

February 23 Events On this day through the years

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In loving memoryFamous DeathsFebruary 23

The World in 1981 the year music got a channel

About 750 million people watched Charles and Diana marry on live television in July. That is close to one out of every six people on the planet at the time, all looking at the same church door.

Life back then

Cable homes woke up to MTV in August, and suddenly bands needed to look good, not just sound good. Everyone else taped songs off the radio and hoped the DJ would stop talking. Arcades were louder than ever thanks to a new game about a gorilla rolling barrels, and the first home computers, cheap ones like the VIC-20 and IBM's serious grey box, showed up in a few living rooms. News came at breakfast in a newspaper and again at dinner on TV.

The year in 8 events

• 🎗️Jan 20 Ronald Reagan is sworn in as president. Minutes later, 52 American hostages leave Iran after 444 days.
• 🚨Mar 30 A gunman shoots President Reagan outside a Washington hotel. Reagan survives.
• 🚀Apr 12 The space shuttle Columbia lifts off from Florida on the first shuttle flight.
• ⛪May 13 A gunman shoots Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Square in Rome. The pope survives.
• 🔬Jun 5 US health officials report a rare illness in five young men, the first published record of AIDS.
• 📺Aug 1 MTV goes on the air on US cable and plays music videos all day long.
• 🕯️Oct 6 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated at a military parade in Cairo.
• 🚩Dec 13 Poland declares martial law. Troops fill the streets, Solidarity is banned and its leaders are locked up.

Who Was in Charge?

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