Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tip O'Neill (D-Massachusetts)
Senate Majority Leader: Howard Baker (R-Tennessee)
Congress: 98th
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 25 – President Ronald Reagan announces in his State of the Union Address that the United States will begin development of a permanently crewed space station and invite international space agencies to the project – a concept initially known as Space Station Freedom, later evolved into the International Space Station.
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.
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 13 – Theta Kappa Pi sorority is founded at Penn State University.
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 of 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.
Gary Plauché fatally shoots his son Jody's sexual abuser, Jeff Doucet, at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport in Louisiana.
March 22 – Teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the schoolchildren (the charges are later dropped as completely unfounded).
April
April 4 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
April 9 – The 56th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with James L. Brooks' Terms of Endearment winning Best Picture and Best Director, as well as three other awards out of 11 nominations.
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 Mw Morgan Hill earthquake shook central California and the South Bay area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), 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.
Forces veteran Denis Lortie shoots and kills three government employees in the National Assembly of Quebec building in Quebec City. The National Assembly's sergeant-at-arms, René Jalbert, talks Lortie into surrendering.
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 – Six 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 3 – Ronald Reagan visits his ancestral home in Ballyporeen, the Republic of Ireland.
June 4 – Bruce Springsteen releases his 7th album Born in the U.S.A.. The CD of the album is the first CD to be manufactured in the U.S.
June 8
1984 Barneveld, Wisconsin tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing nine people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.
Ghostbusters and Gremlins are released.
June 16 – Ricky Kasso murders Gary Lauwers in Northport, Long Island, New York.
June 22 – The Karate Kid is released.
June 25 – Purple Rain, the sixth studio album by recording artist Prince, is released by Warner Bros. Records. The soundtrack to the film of the same name, it is the first album where his band The Revolution is billed.
June 28 – Richard Ramírez (the "Night Stalker") murders his first confirmed victim.
July
July 13 – Terry Wallis, a 19-year-old living in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, falls into a deep coma after a severe automobile accident; he will eventually awaken 19 years later on June 13, 2003.
July 18
Beverly Burns becomes the first female Boeing 747 captain in the world.
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 27 – Metallica releases a second studio album, Ride the Lightning.
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 17 – The Transformers debuts in syndication.
September 10 – Jeopardy! begins its syndicated version, with host Alex Trebek.
September 20 – Hezbollah car-bombs the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut, killing 24 people.
October
October 1 – American Movie Classics is initiated.
October 2 – John Schnatter opens the first Papa John's Pizza in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
October 5 – STS-41-G: Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
October 6 – Out of Control debuts on Nickelodeon.
October 7 – Barbara Walters hosts the first presidential debate between Walter Mondale and President Reagan in Kentucky.
October 11
Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
Geraldine Ferraro and George H. W. Bush participate in the 1984 vice presidential debate.
October 14 – World Series: The Detroit Tigers defeat the San Diego Padres to win in 5 games.
October 21 – The final presidential debate of the 1984 election takes place in Kansas.
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 1965, 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 8 – White supremacist and Order leader Robert Jay Mathews is killed in a gun battle and fire during an FBI siege on Whidbey Island.
December 22 – Four African-American youths (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, James Ramseur, and Darrell Cabey) 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.
Linsalata Capital Partners, a private equity firm is founded in Ohio.
Soul In Motion Players performing arts organization is founded in Maryland.
Babbage's, a video game retailer is founded in Dallas.
Ongoing
Cold War (1947–1991)
Births
January
January 1 – Lance Brooks, Olympic discus thrower
January 3
Carlina Rivera, politician
Shelby Starner, singer/songwriter (d. 2003)
January 4
Derek Brunson, mixed martial artist
Raphael Butler, boxer and mixed martial artist
Robin Sydney, actress
January 5 – Josh Alcala, soccer player
January 6
Hilaria Baldwin, yoga instructor, entrepreneur, podcaster, and author
Jimmy Barthmaier, baseball player
D.J. Bettencourt, politician
A.J. Hawk, football player and sports analyst
Kate McKinnon, actress and comedian
Eric Trump, businessman, philanthropist and reality TV personality, son of Donald Trump
January 7
Chris Ayer, singer/songwriter and guitarist
Caros Fodor, mixed martial artist, brother of Phoenix Jones
Jon Lester, baseball player
Mallory Snyder, model and television personality
January 8 – Jeff Francoeur, baseball player
January 9
Jesse Broadwater, archer
Drew Brown, musician and songwriter
January 11
Eddie Alvarez, mixed martial artist
Pennjamin Bannekar, music artist and songwriter
Melissa Ben-Ishay, founder and creator of Baked by Melissa
Kevin Boss, football player
Bradley Buckman, basketball player
January 12
Tyler Blanski, Roman Catholic author, musician, and record producer
Scott Olsen, baseball player
Sam Richardson, actor, comedian, writer, and producer
January 13
Nathaniel Motte, singer/songwriter, performer, music producer, composer, instrumentalist, and playwright
Adam Zimmer, football coach (d. 2022)
January 14 – Shagari Alleyne, basketball player
January 15
Megan Quann, Olympic swimmer
Victor Rasuk, actor
Ben Shapiro, political commentator and writer
January 17
Rickey D'Shon Collins, actor
Cassie Hager, basketball player
January 18
Seung-Hui Cho, Korean-born Virginia Tech massacre gunman (d. 2007)
Kristy Lee Cook, singer
Benji Schwimmer, dancer
January 19
Nate Bennett, football player
Lil Scrappy, rapper
January 21
Luke Grimes, actor
Amy Hastings, athlete
Haloti Ngata, soccer player
January 24
Nia Abdallah, Olympic Taekwondo practitioner
Justin Baldoni, actor, director, and filmmaker
Danny Baugher, football player
Ashley C. Williams, actress
January 25
Jay Briscoe, wrestler (d. 2023)
Kaiji Tang, voice actor
January 26
Prince Bagdasarian, director, screenwriter, and editor
Kelli Barrett, actress
January 27
Nomiki Konst, activist
Davetta Sherwood, actress and musician
January 28
Stephen Gostkowski, football player
Andre Iguodala, basketball player
January 29 – Jameson Bostic, American-born New Zealand boxer
January 30
Arthur Chu, columnist and Jeopardy! contestant
Kid Cudi, actor, rapper, record producer, and singer/songwriter
January 31
Paul Baccaglini, entrepreneur and investor
Vernon Davis, football player
February
February 1
Casey Ashley, bass fisherman
Abbi Jacobson, comedian, writer and actress
Lee Thompson Young, actor (d. 2013)
February 2 – David Pakman, political pundit
February 3
Elizabeth Holmes, convicted fraudster, founder of Theranos
Matthew Moy, actor
Phillipe Nover, mixed martial artist
February 5
Jonny Kim, Navy SEAL, physician, and astronaut
Nate Salley, football player
February 6
Dek Bake, football player
Mike Ballard, baseball player
Zered Bassett, skateboarder
February 7
Dominique Byrd, football player
Anna Kooiman, American-born Australian news anchor and television personality
February 8
Kevin Ara, soccer player
Cecily Strong, actress and comedian
February 9
Maurice Ager, basketball player
Logan Bartholomew, actor
Kourtney Brown, Bahamian-born actor, host, model, and visual artist
February 10
Kayla Ard, basketball coach
Courtney Brown, football player
February 11
Sril Art, visual artist, muralist, and entrepreneur
Matt Good, singer and guitarist for From First to Last
Aubrey O'Day, singer and actress
February 12
Tony Ferguson, mixed martial artist
Brad Keselowski, stock car driver
Peter Vanderkaay, Olympic swimmer
February 13
LaToya Bond, basketball player
Matt Buschmann, baseball player
Brina Palencia, voice actress
February 14
Janeshia Adams-Ginyard, actress, stunt woman, and wrestler
Matt Barr, actor
February 15
Mitchell Boggs, baseball player
Matt and Ross Duffer, twin screenwriters and directors
February 16 – Brent Bookwalter, cyclist
February 17
Calvin Bannister, football player
Jimmy Jacobs, wrestler
Drew Miller, ice hockey player
February 18
Brian Bogusevic, baseball player
Darrick Brown, football player
Buddy Nielsen, frontman for Senses Fail
Chris Richardson, contestant on American Idol (season 6)
February 19 – Marissa Meyer, novelist
February 20
Brenton Awa, news anchor and politician
Ben Lovejoy, ice hockey player
February 22
Kristen Soltis Anderson, political pollster and television personality
Juanita Brent, politician
February 23 – Andy Bronkema, basketball coach
February 24
Wilson Bethel, actor
Liz Bogus, soccer player
February 27 – James Augustine, basketball player
February 28
Quincy Black, football player
Sanders Bohlke, singer/songwriter
February 29
Mark Foster, singer and composer, frontman of Foster the People
Alicia Hollowell, softball player
Cullen Jones, Olympic swimmer
March
March 1 – Brandon Stanton, photographer and blogger
March 2
Chris Algieri, boxer and kickboxer
Blake Anderson, actor, comedian, producer, screenwriter, and fashion designer
John Bernecker, stunt performer (d. 2017)
Trent Garrett, actor and model
Ian Sinclair, voice actor
March 3
Curtis Brown, football player
Mike Gallagher, politician
Santonio Holmes, football player
March 4 – Zak Whitbread, soccer player
March 5 – Aarthi Agarwal, actress
March 6
Prescott Burgess, football player
Chris Tomson, musician, drummer for Vampire Weekend
March 7
Steve Burtt Jr., American-born Ukrainian basketball player
Brandon T. Jackson, stand-up comedian, actor and rapper
March 8
Fernanda Andrade, Brazilian-born actress and model
Jon Burklo, soccer coach
March 9
Priscilla Ahn, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
Kris Budden, sports reporter
Julia Mancuso, Olympic skier
March 10
Aaron Bates, baseball player
Olivia Wilde, actress and model
March 11
Rob Brown, actor
Eric Calderone, guitarist and YouTuber
March 12 – Jaimie Alexander, actress
March 13
Landon Ashworth, actor, producer, and writer
Rachael Bella, actress
March 14
Aric Almirola, Cuban-born stock car racing driver
Ambrosia Anderson, basketball player
Randor Bierd, baseball player
Travis Brody, football player
Ahmad Brooks, football player
Dan Crenshaw, politician and Navy SEAL
March 16
Robby Bostain, American-born Israeli basketball player
Levi Brown, football player
Salim Bullen, soccer player
March 17
Ryan Beaver, country singer/songwriter
Ryan Rottman, actor
March 18
Molly Gray, politician, 83rd Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
Vonzell Solomon, singer
March 20
Justine Ezarik, Internet celebrity and actress
Christy Carlson Romano, actress and singer
Marcus Vick, football player
March 21 – Megan Alderete, racing cyclist
March 22 – La'Tangela Atkinson, basketball player
March 23 – McKinley Belcher III, actor
March 24 – Chris Bosh, basketball player
March 25 – Katharine McPhee, singer-songwriter and actress
March 26
Eric Bellinger, singer/songwriter and producer
Sara Jean Underwood, model
Brady Walkinshaw, politician
March 27
Stefano Barberi, Brazilian-born cyclist
Stephen Rhodes, stock car driver
Jon Paul Steuer, actor and musician (d. 2018)
March 28
Stephen Amritraj, tennis player
Arliss Beach, football player
Sarah Benck, singer/songwriter
Stephen Bowen, football player
Bill Switzer, Canadian-born voice actor
March 29
Nate Adams, motocross rider
Nikki Blue, basketball player and coach
March 30
Justin Moore, country singer
Anna Nalick, singer
March 31 – Jack Antonoff, indie pop musician
April
April 1 – Johnny Baldwin, football player
April 2
Mariana Atencio, television host, author, and motivational speaker
Thomas Payne, U.S. Army Delta Force Veteran and Medal of Honor Recipient
Ashley Peldon, actress
April 3
Chrissie Fit, actress and singer
Joshua Safdie, actor and filmmaker
April 4
Brian Bell, football player
Sean May, basketball player
April 5
Marshall Allman, actor
Danny Baranowsky, electronic music composer
Phil Wickham, musician
April 6 – Max Bemis, singer and frontman for Say Anything
April 8
Matt Bassuener, football player
Ezra Koenig, musician
Brandon Scott, politician, mayor of Baltimore, Maryland (2020–present)
Taran Noah Smith, actor
Kirsten Storms, actress
April 10
Jeremy Barrett, pair skater
Natasha Melnick, actress
Mandy Moore, singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer
April 11
Colin Clark, soccer player (d. 2019)
Kelli Garner, actress
April 12
Michael Arceneaux, writer
brentalfloss, singer/songwriter, composer, and lyricist
April 13
Josh Abercrombie, wrestler
John Stefanski, politician
April 14
Raumesh Akbari, politician
Richard Boswell, stock car racing driver
Adán Sánchez, singer (d. 2004)
April 16
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, author
Teddy Blass, composer and record producer
Noah Fleiss, actor
April 18
Red Bryant, football player
America Ferrera, actress
April 20
Sophia Amoruso, businesswoman and founder of Nasty Gal
Garrett Bischoff, referee and wrestler, son of Eric Bischoff
Mihail Etropolski, fencer
Anthony Fasano, football player
Tyson Griffin, mixed martial artist
Rob Kersey, singer and frontman for Psychostick
Harris Wittels, actor, producer and screenwriter (d. 2015)
April 21 – Shayna Fox, voice actress
April 22
Danielle Bounds, beauty pageant contestant
Whitny Braun, bioethicist, professor, investigative researcher, documentary filmmaker, and podcaster
April 23 – Jesse Lee Soffer, actor
April 24
Alan Belcher, mixed martial artist
Stephen L. Brusatte, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist
Tyson Ritter, singer, bassist and frontman for The All-American Rejects