1983

Cabbage Patch kids are released.

"Just Say No" is the new tool to combat growing drug use in the US.

USSR shoots and destroys South Korean flight 007.

Camcorders are introduced.

US invades Grenada after coup on the island, more medals are handed out during the invasion than during the entire Vietnam war.

Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia nervosa at the age of 32, February 4th.

M*A*S*H (TV series) ends after 11 years and 251 episodes on CBS. The series finale, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, becomes the highest rated episode in TV history.

Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space, June 18th on the Challenger

Compact discs are first released.

Hackers invade sensitive military computers such as Los Alamos National Labratory.

The Tylenol Murders happen in Chicago.

Last DeLoreans produced

French scientist Dr. Luc Montagnier discovered HIV.

Björn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.

Lotus 1-2-3 is released for IBM-PC compatible computers.

United States playwright Tennessee Williams is found dead in his hotel room.

Swatch introduces their first watches.Pope John
Paul II retracts the ban on Galileo Galilei.

Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.

Vanessa Lynn Williams becomes the first African-American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Microsoft Word is first released.

Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Deaths:
Karen Carpenter, American singer (b. 1950)
Tennessee Williams, American playwright (b. 1911)
Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1897)
Jack Dempsey, American heavyweight champion boxer (b. 1895)
George S. Halas, American football player and coach (b. 1895)
Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)