1984
Jan. 1-The break up of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.Jan. 6-Texaco offered $125 per share for Getty oil stock superceding the Pennzoil offer of $112.50 per share. It became the biggest merger on record.
Jan.10-Clara Peller first asked, "Where's the Beef?"
Jan.17-The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Sony and ruled, 5 to 4, that the private use of home video cassette recorders to tape television programs did not violate federal copyright laws.
Jan. 29-President Ronald Reagan announced that he would run for a second term.
Feb. 15-500,000 Iranian soldiers moved into Iraq.
Feb. 22-Britain and the U.S. sent warships to the Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.
March 16-William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen; he died in captivity.
April 10-Zoe, the 1st frozen-embryo child, was born in Melbourne, Australia.
April 21-The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said French researchers had discovered that a virus causes AIDS. Scientists identified a retrovirus named human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the cause of AIDS.
May 16-Andy Kaufman (35), comedian (Latka-Taxi), died of cancer.
June 4-DNA was successfully cloned from an extinct animal.
July 12-Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced he had chosen U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate.
Aug. 3-Some 365.7 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange.
Aug. 14-IBM released PC DOS version 3.0.
Sept. 17-Oil heir Gordon P. Getty, with a fortune of $4.1 billion dollars, was named the richest person in the US. There were a dozen billionaires in the US at the time.
Oct. 15-Central Intelligence Agency's Freedom of Information Act passed.
Nov. 6-President Ronald Reagan was reelected. Reagan beat Mondale in the landslide of 1984 with 97.6 percent of the Electoral College and over 58 percent of the popular vote.
1985
Jan. 1-The first U.S. mandatory seat belt law went into effect in New York.Jan. 25-"We are the World" was recorded.
March 12-The United States and the U.S.S.R. began arms control talks in Geneva.
April 23-The Coca-Cola Co. announced it was changing the secret formula for Coke. Negative public reaction soon forced the company to resume selling the original version.
May 1-President Reagan ended embargo against Nicaragua.
May 16-Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year.
Oct. 16-Intel introduced its 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip.
1986
Jan. 28-Just 73 seconds into its 10th launch, Americans watched in horror as the space shuttle Challenger (STS-51L) exploded in midair, killing its crew of seven - President Ronald Reagan spoke to the nation from the Oval Office that afternoon, explaining the tragedy to the nation's schoolchildren: "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave...." Space shuttle flights were suspended until 1988. An independent U.S. commission blamed the disaster on unusually cold temperatures that morning and the failure of the O-rings, a set of gaskets in the rocket boosters.
March 13-Microsoft Corp., an 11-year-old company, went public and rose from $21 to $28 on opening day. Its revenues for the year were $197 million and it employed 1,153 people.
1987
Jan. 8-For the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,000, ending the day at 2002.25.Feb. 6-No-smoking rules took effect in U.S. federal buildings.
March 4-President Reagan addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair. He took full responsibility for the affair acknowledging his overtures to Iran had "deteriorated" into an arms-for-hostages deal.
April 2-Microsoft announc-ed the MS OS/2 and Windows 2.0 computer operating systems.
April 2-IBM introduced PS/2 and OS/2 computers.
Oct. 14-A real-life drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day care center.
1988
March 8-Vice President George Bush was the big winner in the Super Tuesday Republican presidential primaries. Among Democrats, Michael S. Dukakis, Jesse Jackson and Al Gore split the lion's share of delegates.Aug. 21-A cease fire between Iran and Iraq took effect after 8 years of war.
Sept. 29-The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.
Nov. 8-Republican Vice President George Bush was elected the 41st president.
1989
Jan. 20-George Bush was sworn in as the 41st president of the United States; Dan Quayle was sworn in as vice president.March 24-The nation's worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude.
March 26-The first free elections took place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin was elected. Voters in the Soviet Union filled 1,500 of more than 2,000 seats in the new Congress of People's Deputies.
Sept. 7-By a vote of 76-8, the Senate approved the Americans with Disabilities Act, forbidding discrimination in employment, public accom- modations, transportation and communications.
1990
July 2-Imelda Marcos and Adnan Khashoggi were found not guilty of racketeering.Aug. 31-East and West Germany signed a treaty to join legal and political systems.
Sept. 10-Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with onetime enemy Iraq.
Nov. 15-President Bush signed the Clear Air Act.
1991
Jan. 16-The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.March 26-The Bush ad- ministration indicated it would not aid rebels seeking to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
April 1-The Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved.
May 6-U.S. Steel was removed as a component of the Dow Jones.
Dec. 21-Eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Dec. 25-Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a Communist superpower. He was ousted as Soviet leader Boris Yeltsin established his position. This effectively ended the cold war.
Dec. 26-The Dow Jones industrial average rose to a then-record high of 3082.96.
1992
Jan. 13-Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer pleaded guilty but insane in 15 of the 17 murders he confessed to committing.Jan. 26-Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect.
Feb. 27-Tiger Woods became the youngest PGA golfer in 35 years.
March 21-Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton sought to turn the tables on rival Jerry Brown by accusing the former California governor of hypocrisy on the issue of campaign contributions.
April 6-Microsoft announced Windows 3.1.
Aug. 11-The Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minn.
Aug. 12-The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was announced in Washington, D.C. after 14 months of negotiations between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Aug. 24-Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida causing record damage; 55 deaths in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas were blamed on the storm. It destroyed two-thirds of the Fairchild Tropical Garden.
Nov. 3-William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton, governor of Arkansas, was elected as the 42nd president of the United States, defeating President Bush.
1993
Industrial Finishing changed its name to Industrial Paint & Powder.It was also around this time that the Internet as we know it today came about. Although we cannot pinpoint an exact date for the birth of the World Wide Web, it was in 1993 and 1994 that the Web saw phenomenal growth and much higher press and media profile. Only a bit more than a decade later, we invite you to visit our home on the Internet (www.paintandpowder.com) to read the latest years' Timeline.
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