- August 16
- Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, killing 155 people on-board. Second worst airline disaster in US history. [83] [868.44]
- August 17
- Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison in Berlin, Germany, where he served 46 years. Hess, age 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex. Hess served the Nazi Party as deputy Führer; he flew to England in 1941 hoping to convince Winston Churchill to join with Germany in the war. [37] [83] [384.21] [868.18]
- August 19
- ABC News Chief Middle East Correspondent Charles Glass escapes his Hizballah kidnappers in Beirut, Lebanon, after sixty-two days in captivity. [83]
- In London, The Order of the Garter is opened to women. [83]
- In Hungerford, Berkshire, England, 27-year-old Michael Ryan kills 16 and wounds 14 with a pistol, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, and a carbine rifle, before killing himself when surrounded in a school. [83] [384.21] [868.29] [905]
- August 24
- Announcement of possible Martian tornadoes. [1]
- September 2
- Donald Trump takes out a full page New York Times ad lambasting Japan. [1]
- West German pilot Mathias Rust, who flew a private plane to Moscow's Red Square, goes on trial in Russia. [1] [37] [83]
- September 7
- East German leader Erich Honecker visits Federal Republic of Germany. [37]
- (to September 21) The world's first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory. [83]
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- September 13
- A radiotherapy machine from an abandoned cancer treatment clinic in Goiânia, Brazil, is broken open, exposing cesium 137 blue powder to hundreds of people. Second worst nuclear accident in the world. [905.44]
- September 18
- Paramount releases the film Fatal Attraction to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $320 million (1st for 1987).) [948]
- October 1
- In Pasadena, California, a magnitude 5.9-6.1 earthquake occurs. Eight people killed, 100+ injured, about 2,200 homeless and more than 10,400 buildings damaged. Felt strongly in much of southern California. [1] [53] [851.49]
- October 2
- In Peru, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake occurs. [53]
- October 3
- Michael Pruffer of France skis 135.26 MPH at Portillo, Chile. [1]
- October 6
- Microsoft announces Microsoft Windows 2.0, and Microsoft Windows/386, priced at US$195. [4]
- Microsoft unveils the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software for Microsoft Windows 2.0, the first major application for Windows. [4]
- October 11
- 200,000 march in second National March on Washington, D.C. for Lesbian and Gay Rights. [1] [83]
- October 13
- First military use of trained dolphins (US Navy in Persian Gulf). [1]
- Costa Rican President Oscar Arias wins Nobel Peace Prize. [1]
- October 14
- In Midland, Texas, 1.5-year-old Jessica McClure falls 22 feet (7m) down a well. [1] [83]
- October 15
- US Treasury Secretary James Baker says the US may allow the dollar to drift lower versus other major currencies. [905.34]
- October 16
- Iran fires Silkworm missile at Kuwaiti Sea Isle City oil tanker in Kuwaiti waters. 18 crew are injured. [905.25]
- 175-kph winds cause blackout in London and much of southern England. [1] [83]
- Jessica McClure is rescued 58 hours after falling 22 feet into a well shaft. [1]
- October 19
- "Black Monday": stock markets around the world suffer an unexpected dramatic drop, with the American Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 22.6 percent (508 points), the largest one-day drop in recorded stock market history, and first financial crisis of the modern globalized era. Canada's TSX 300 index drops 407 points, a record 11.3 percent. England's FTSE index sdrops 250 points, representing value of US$107.5 billion. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index drops 420 points, an 11 percent drop. [8] [83] [105] [190.96] [905.26]
- Four US destroyers in the Persian Gulf fire 1000 5-inch rounds on the Iranian Rashadat offshore oil installation. [83] [905.25]
- October 20
- London's FTSE index drops another 12.2 percent ($92.5 billion value). [905.28]
- October 21
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 10.15 percent. [227]
- October 26
- Head of Salvadoran Human Rights Commission assassinated by death squads. [1]
- October 27
- South Korean voters overwhelmingly approve a new constitution. [1]
- October 30
- In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine. [5]
- November 5
- Iceberg twice the size of Rhode Island sighted in Antarctic. [1]
- November 8
- Eleven die as a bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army explodes at Ulster Remembrance Day Service at Enniskillen. [1] [83]
- November 11
- Van Gogh's Irises sells for record US$53.6 million at auction. [1]
- November 15
- 28 of 82 aboard Continental Airlines DC-9 die in crash at Denver, Colorado, USA. [1]
- November 17
- In the Gulf of Alaska, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurs. [53] [83]
- November 18
- 31 die in a fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station. [1] [83]
- U.S. Senate and House panels release reports charging President Ronald Reagan with 'ultimate responsibility' for the Iran-Contra affair. [83]
- November 24
- In Southern California, magnitude 6.5 and 6.7 earthquakes occur, about 12 hours apart. Felt throughout much of southern California from San Diego and Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada and Tempe, Arizona. Also felt at Tijuana and Ensenada, Mexico. [53]
- November 25
- Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 165 mph (266 km/h) winds and devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 1,036 deaths. [83]
- November 26
- Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 50-millionth guest. [6]
- November 28
- South African Airways Boeing 747 crashes into Indian Ocean, 159 die. [1]
- November 29
- Korean Air Boeing 707 Flight 858 disappears over the Andaman Sea off Myanmar, on route to Seoul. All 115 crew and passengers killed. [1] [83]
- November 30
- In the Gulf of Alaska, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurs. [53]
- December 1
- Digging begins to link England and France under the English Channel. [1] [83]
- Joh Bjelke-Petersen resigns as Premier of Queensland. He is replaced by Mike Ahern, the only premier never to contest an election as premier. [83]
- December 4
- IBM ships first copies of OS/2 Standard Edition 1.0. [4]
- December 7
- Pacific Southwest Airline Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself. [1] [83]
- Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in the USA for a summit meeting. [1]
- December 8
- US President President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles. [1] [83]
- In Melbourne, Australia, 22-year-old Frank Vitkovic kills eight and injures another five in an Australia Post office building on Queen Street, before committing suicide by jumping from the 11th floor. [83]
- The first Palestinian uprising against Israel begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. [1] [83]
- A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43. [83]
- December 9
- Microsoft ships Microsoft Windows 2.01. It features overlapping windows, and can use protected mode on the 80286 processor. [4]
- General Rahimuddin Khan retires from the Pakistan Army, as well as the cabinet of the country's military dictatorship. [83]
- December 10
- Nightline TV show is seen in the USSR for first time. [1]
- December 13
- Belgium Christian Democrats (CVP) lose parliamentary election. [1]
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 16
- Roh Tae Woo wins presidential election in South Korea. [1]
- December 17
- Czechoslovakian leader Gustáv Husák resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party. [1] [83]
- December 18
- Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language. [5] [83]
- Square Co., Ltd. releases the Final Fantasy video game in Japan for the Famicom video game system. [83]
- December 19
- Gari Kasparov becomes world chess champion. [1]
- December 20
- The ferry Doña Paz collides with the oil tanker Vector I in the Philippines, both ships burning and sinking. 1,500 confirmed deaths (reportedly closer to 4,000 due to unregistered passengers). Worst peacetime shipping disaster. [1] [720.95] (December 21 [83])
- December 27
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 29
- Prozac anti-depressant drug makes its debut in the United States. [83]
- December 30
- Premier Robert Mugabe elected President of Zimbabwe. [1]
- Pope John Paul II issues encyclical on Social Concern. [83]
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