WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO JUNE 1987
Find out what all happened January to June 1987

Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (23. February 1987)

The Central African Republic's former Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule. (12. June 1987)

Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon. (20. January 1987)

The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit. (15. May 1987)

American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by U.S.-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua. (28. April 1987)

The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem. (16. February 1987)

Pennsylvania politician R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself during a televised press conference, leading to debates on boundaries in journalism. (22. January 1987)

The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people. (21. April 1987)

Hashimpura massacre in Meerut, India. (22. May 1987)

Southern Methodist University's football program is the first college football program to receive the Death Penalty by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions. It was revealed that athletic officials and school administrators had knowledge of a "slush fund" used to make illegal payments to the school's football players as far back as 1981. (25. February 1987)

Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, a bomb explodes in a computer store. (20. February 1987)

The 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. He is immediately detained and will not be released until August 3, 1988. (28. May 1987)

Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff. (26. February 1987)

The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT. (20. March 1987)

The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. (27. April 1987)

Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000–15,000 demonstrators at Malacañan Palace, Manila, killing 13. (22. January 1987)

Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. (1. May 1987)

The 1987 Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people. (4. January 1987)

The Royal Canadian Mint introduces the $1 coin, known as the Loonie. (30. June 1987)

Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II. (11. May 1987)