March 23, 1983. President Ronald Reagan proposes, in a televised speech, a new missile defense system to protect the United Stats from Soviet attack. The media calls the new defense system, “Star Wars.”
April 4, 1983. First flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger, NASA’s second space shuttle. Columbia, launched in April, 1981, was the first space shuttle.
June, 1983. Thousands of people in Chile take part in nationwide protests against the rule of dictator General Augusto Pinochet.
June 9, 1983. Britain’s Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected by a landslide majority
July 23, 1983. Riots in Sri Lanka, known as Black July. These riots, in which Sri Lankan mobs attack Tamil rebels and other Tamil citizens, leave between 400 and 3,000 Tamils dead and millions of dollars worth of their property destroyed. The riots are the beginning of a deadly Sri Lankan civil war.
August 21, 1983. Benigno Aquino, Jr., Philippines opposition leader, is assassinated in Manila as he returns from exile in the U.S. His widow, Corazon Aquino, will be inspired by her husband’s life and death to run for President of the Philippines in 1986.
August 31, 1983. Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter near Moneron Island when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 passengers on board are killed, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.
October 23, 1983. Suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French and the United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.
October 25, 1982. United States troops invade Grenada at the request of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of American States.
October 30, 1983. Argentina holds its first democratic elections after seven years of military rule. In December, Raul Alfonsin will be inaugurated as the democratically elected president of Argentina.
