On this day July 8, 1982, an assassination attempt was carried out against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. The attack occurred as Hussein’s convoy passed through the predominantly Shiite area, where members of the Islamic Dawa Party opened
On this day July 7, 1983, American schoolgirl Samantha Smith was formally invited to visit the Soviet Union by Secretary General Yuri Andropov. The invitation came in response to a heartfelt letter she had written expressing her fears of nuclear war and asking why the
On this day July 6, 1988, an explosion on the Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea claimed the lives of 167 oil workers in what remains the world’s deadliest offshore oil disaster. Operated by Occidental Petroleum, the rig was located about 120 miles
On this day July 4, 1982, Ozzy Osbourne married Sharon Arden in a private ceremony in Hawaii. At the time, Sharon was not only his partner in life but also his manager, helping guide Ozzy’s solo career after he left Black Sabbath. Their relationship, often
On this day June 30, 1985, the 39 American hostages who had been held captive aboard TWA Flight 847 were freed in Beirut after 17 tense days. The plane had originally been scheduled to travel from Cairo, Egypt to San Diego, California, with stops along
On this day June 30, 1987, televisions across the United States were interrupted as the Iran Contra affair hearings were broadcast live to the public. Millions of Americans tuned in to witness the high-stakes investigation unfold in real time as top officials from the Reagan
On this day June 30, 1981, rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis was rushed to a hospital in Memphis after suffering a severe tear in his stomach. The situation was critical, and doctors initially gave him less than a 50 percent chance to survive.
On this day June 30, 1986, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in the case of Bowers v. Hardwick, ruling that states had the legal right to outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults. The 5 to 4 decision upheld a Georgia law
On this day June 29 1987, Vincent van Gogh’s painting Le Pont de Trinquetaille was sold at auction in London for 20.4 million dollars. The sale set a new record for one of his works at the time and highlighted the 1980s surge in interest
On this day June 27, 1988, Mike Tyson defended his undisputed heavyweight championship in dominant fashion by knocking out Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds. The highly anticipated bout took place in Atlantic City and was billed as one of the biggest heavyweight showdowns of