1986 News Headlines
Our collection of 1986 newspaper articles features firsthand accounts of the year’s most captivating events. Understanding history is the key to understanding the present. It was during this year that the Space Shuttle “Challenger” disintegrated in mid air, and killed the crew of 7 astronauts on board.
The most devastating event of this year was the Chernobyl disaster. Read all the coverage of this event that impacted the whole of Europe through newspaper articles reporting on the events as they happened. It was the world’s worst nuclear disaster, and caused much of Ukraine and Belarus to become uninhabitable. Read about these and other 1986 headlines in an original 1986 newspaper from our archive.
January 20, 1986
The first federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
January 24, 1986
The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus.
January 28, 1986
The STS-51-L Space Shuttle ‘Challenger’ disintegrates seventy-three seconds after launch, killing the entire crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
January 28, 1986
President Ronald Reagan postpones the State of the Union address that was supposed to take place that evening to address the nation on the Challenger disaster. The State of the Union address would be given a week later.
February 19, 1986
The Soviet Union launches the ‘Mir’ space station.
February 19, 1986
The United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide, after waiting 37 years.
February 27, 1986
The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
March 9, 1986
United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.
April 17, 1986
British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut and three other people are also found dead. McCarthy is eventually released in August 1991.
April 17, 1986
A treaty ends the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
April 26, 1986
One of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes in Ukraine, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Thirty-one people are killed directly by the incident and many more die from cancer in later years. Several thousand people are exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, making vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus uninhabitable.
April 29, 1986
Roger Clemens sets a new record for the most number of strikeouts in a 9-inning Major League Baseball game, striking out 20 batters.
May 16, 1986
The action film featuring Tom Cruise, Top Gun, debuts in cinemas. It becomes the highest-grossing film of the year, netting nearly $177 million in America alone.
May 25, 1986
Hands Across America takes place, with approximately 6.5 million people forming a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.
June 29, 1986
Argentina defeats West Germany 3-2 to win the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
July 23, 1986
Prince Andrew of England, Duke of York, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
September 7, 1986
Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.
October 12, 1986
The Queen of England and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visit the People’s Republic of China.
October 28, 1986
The centennial of the Statue of Liberty’s dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.
November 6, 1986
A British International Helicopters’ Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport, killing forty-five people. This is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.
November 22, 1986
Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.
December 23, 1986
‘Voyager’ completes the first non-stop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling. The journey is completed in nine days, three minutes and forty-four seconds.
December 26, 1986
The final episode of daytime drama Search for Tomorrow is aired on NBC, ending 35 years on the airwaves and holding the title of the longest-running non-news program on network television.
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