Selected happenings in 1982
January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself into 22 subdivisions.
February 1 - Senegal and Gambia form a loose confederation.
February 2 - The Hama Massacre begins in Syria.
February 3 - Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.
February 15 - The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.
February 24 - In South Africa, 22 National Party MPs led by Andries Treurnicht voted no confidence in P. W. Botha.
February 25 - The European Court of Human Rights ruled that teachers who caned, belted or tawsed children against the wishes of their parents were in breach of the Human Rights Convention.
March 10 - The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan support of terrorist groups.
March 10 - Syzygy: all 9 planets align on the same side of the Sun.
March 19 - The Falklands War approaches: Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war.
March 26 - A ground breaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, DC.
April 2 - Falklands War begins: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
April 4 - Falklands War: The British Falkland Islands government surrenders, placing the islands in Argentinean control.
April 5 - Falklands War: The Royal Navy task force sails to recapture the Falklands.
April 17 - By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada patriates its constitution, granting full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.
April 23 - Dennis Wardlow, Mayor of Key West, Florida, declares the independent Conch Republic for a day.
April 25 - Israel completes withdrawing from the Sinai peninsula per the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
May 2 - The Weather Channel (United States) airs on cable television for the first time.
May 4 - Falklands War: HMS Sheffield is hit by an Exocet missile, and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sank on May 10.
May 5 - A Unabomber bomb explodes in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University; secretary Janet Smith is injured.
May 12 - Braniff International Airways was declared bankrupt and ceased all flights.
May 24 - Iranian troops retake Khorramshahr.
May 24 - KGB head Yuri Andropov is appointed to the Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
May 26 - Kielder Water, an artificial lake in Northumberland, is opened.
May 30 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
May 30 - Cal Ripken starts the first game of what will eventually become his record-breaking consecutive games played streak of 2,632.
June 5 - The first Rubik's Cube World Championships is held in Budapest, Hungary.
June 6 - The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
June 6 - The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
June 8 - President Reagan becomes the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.
June 13 - Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
June 14 - The Falklands War ends: A formal surrender is agreed that day.
June 25 - The Institute for Puerto Rican Policy is founded in New York City to research and advocate for Puerto Rican and Latino community issues. (In 2006, it will change it name to the National Institute for Latino Policy.)
June 30 - The Equal Rights Amendment falls short of the 38 states needed to pass; Phyllis Schlafly and other leaders of the Religious Right take credit for its defeat.
July 4 - Four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped upon Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
July 16 - In New York City, The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
July 23 - The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985-1986.
August 4 - The United Nations Security Council votes to censure Israel because its troops are still in Lebanon.
August 12 - Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spread throughout Latin America.
August 20 - Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. French troops arrive August 21, U.S. Marines August 25.
September 14 - Lebanon President Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut.
September 18 - Lebanese Christian Militia kill hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in West Beirut.
September 21 - The first International Day of Peace (United Nations) ever
September 23 - Amin Gemayel is elected president of Lebanon.
September 29-October 1 - The Tylenol scare is sparked when 7 people in the Chicago area die after ingesting capsules laced with potassium cyanide.
October 1 - Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a Constructive Vote of No Confidence.
October 1 - The Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World opens to the public for the first time.
October 1 - Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
October 11 - The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised.
October 15 - The Garn - St Germain Depository Institutions Act deregulates the U.S. savings and loan industry.
November 12 - In the Soviet Union, former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid I. Brezhnev.
November 13 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.
November 29 - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: The United Nations General Assembly passes United Nations Resolution 37, stating that the Soviet Union should withdraw from Afghanistan.
December 1 - Thriller album by Michael Jackson is released, becoming the biggest selling album of all time in entertainment history.
December 2 - At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he will live for 112 days with the device).
December 3 - A final soil sample is taken from the site of Times Beach, Missouri. It is found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
December 4 - The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.
December 7 - The first U.S. execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas.
December 23 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination.
December 26 - Time Magazine's Man of the Year is given for the first time to a non-human, the computer.
Selected Deaths
March 2 - Philip K. Dick, American author (b. 1928)
March 6 - Ayn Rand, Russian-born author (b. 1905)
July 23 - Vic Morrow, American actor (b. 1929)
October 18 - Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (b. 1885)
November 10 - Leonid Brezhnev, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1906)
December 27 - John Swigert, American astronaut (b. 1931)
This info from Wikipedia, unverified
