✦ History

Explore March 8, 1981

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Events

Cold War 1947-03-12 - 1991-12-26
Apartheid 1948-05-26 - 1994-04-27
Guatemalan Civil War 1960-11-13 - 1996-12-29
South African Border War 1966-08-26 - 1990-03-21
The Troubles 1968-10-05 - 1998-04-10
Lebanese Civil War 1975-04-13 - 1990-10-13
Western Sahara War 1975-11 - 1991-09-06
Angolan Civil War 1975-11-11 - 2002-04-04
Spanish transition to democracy 1975-11-20 - 1982-10-28
Islamist uprising in Syria 1976-05-31 - 1982-02-28
Mozambican Civil War 1977-05-30 - 1992-10-04
Cambodian–Vietnamese War 1978-12-21 - 1989-09-26
Soviet–Afghan War 1979-12-24 - 1989-02-15
Internal conflict in Peru 1980-05-17 - 2000
Iran–Iraq War 1980-09-22 - 1988-08-20
Siege of Abadan 1980-11-06 - 1981-09-27

People

Ronald Reagan age 70
President - United States
Elizabeth II age 54
Queen - United Kingdom
Fidel Castro age 54
President - Cuba
Saddam Hussein age 43
President - Iraq
Hirohito age 79
Emperor - Japan
Leonid Brezhnev age 74
General Secretary of the Communist Party - Soviet Union
Ruhollah Khomeini age 78
Supreme Leader - Iran
Anwar Sadat age 62
President - Egypt
Erich Honecker age 68
General Secretary - East Germany
Hafez al-Assad age 50
President - Syria
Baudouin of Belgium age 50
King - Belgium
Hua Guofeng age 60
Chairman - Communist Party of China
Abolhassan Banisadr age 47
President - Iran
Karl Carstens age 66
President - Germany
Chiang Ching-kuo age 70
President - Republic of China
José López Portillo age 60
President - Mexico
João Figueiredo age 63
President - Brazil
Lê Duẩn age 73
General Secretary - Communist Party of Vietnam
Nguyen Huu Tho age 70
President - Vietnam
Kim Il-sung age 68
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea - North Korea
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing age 55
President - France
Pol Pot age 55
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea - Cambodia
Kurt Waldheim age 62
Secretary-General - United Nations
Margaret Thatcher age 55
Prime Minister - United Kingdom
Indira Gandhi age 63
Prime Minister - India
Helmut Schmidt age 62
Chancellor - Germany
Menachem Begin age 67
Prime Minister - Israel
Wojciech Jaruzelski age 57
Prime Minister - Poland
Juan Antonio Samaranch age 60
President - International Olympic Committee
Zhao Ziyang age 61
Premier - People's Republic of China
Robert McNamara age 64
President - World Bank
P. W. Botha age 65
Prime Minister - South Africa
Raymond Barre age 56
Prime Minister - France
Zenkō Suzuki age 70
Prime Minister - Japan
Arnaldo Forlani age 55
Prime Minister - Italy
Nikolai Tikhonov age 75
Chairman of the Council of Ministers - Soviet Union
Gaston Thorn age 52
President - European Commission
Kaysone Phomvihane age 60
Prime Minister - Laos
Phạm Văn Đồng age 75
Prime Minister - Vietnam
Charles Haughey age 55
Taoiseach - Ireland
Joseph Luns age 69
Secretary General - NATO
Halfdan T. Mahler age 57
Director-General - World Health Organization
Sun Yun-suan age 67
Premier - Republic of China
Abdul Rauf al-Kasm age 49
Prime Minister - Syria
Warren E. Burger age 73
Chief Justice - US Judiciary
George H. W. Bush age 56
Vice President - United States
Salih Mahdi Ammash age 52
Vice President - Iraq
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri age 38
Vice President - Iraq
Deng Xiaoping age 76
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
Li Xiannian age 71
Vice Chairman - Communist Party of China
Nie Rongzhen age 81
Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China - People's Republic of China
David C. Jones age 59
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - United States
Alexander Haig age 56
Secretary of State - United States
Geoffrey Howe age 54
Chancellor of the Exchequer - United Kingdom
Donald Regan age 62
Secretary of the Treasury - United States
William French Smith age 63
Attorney General - United States
Edward C. Meyer age 52
Chief of Staff of the Army - United States
Caspar Weinberger age 63
Secretary of Defense - United States
William H. Webster age 57
Director of the FBI - Department of Justice
Hu Yaobang age 65
Secretariat - Communist Party of China
Thurgood Marshall age 72
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
William Rehnquist age 56
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
John Paul Stevens age 60
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
William J. Brennan Jr. age 74
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Potter Stewart age 66
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Byron White age 63
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Francis Pym age 59
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - United Kingdom
Lewis F. Powell Jr. age 73
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court - US Judiciary
Michael Foot age 67
Leader - Labour Party (UK)
David Steel age 42
Leader - Liberal Party (UK)
Oliver Tambo age 63
President - African National Congress
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh age 48
President - Sinn Féin
Ruth Bader Ginsburg age 48
US Court of Appeals - US Judiciary
Stephen Breyer age 42
US Court of Appeals - US Judiciary
Anthony Kennedy age 44
US Court of Appeals - US Judiciary
Jeff Sessions age 34
United States Attorney - Department of Justice
Joe Biden age 38
Senate - United States
Dan Quayle age 34
Senate - United States
Daniel Inouye age 56
Senate - United States
William Cohen age 40
Senate - United States
Lloyd Bentsen age 60
Senate - United States
Al Gore age 32
House of Representatives - United States
Dick Cheney age 40
House of Representatives - United States
John Major age 37
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Harold Wilson age 65
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
James Callaghan age 68
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Edward Heath age 64
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Leon Panetta age 42
House of Representatives - United States
George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen age 34
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Jack Straw age 34
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Nigel Lawson age 49
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Kenneth Clarke age 40
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Denis Healey age 63
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Les Aspin age 42
House of Representatives - United States
Douglas Hurd age 51
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Leon Brittan age 41
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Norman Lamont age 38
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
David Waddington age 51
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Joseph W. Barr age 63
House of Representatives - United States
Barber Conable age 58
House of Representatives - United States
Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking age 46
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Merlyn Rees age 60
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Neil Kinnock age 38
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
John Smith age 42
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Jo Grimond age 67
Member of Parliament - United Kingdom
Jerry Brown age 42
Governor of California - United States
Lamar Alexander age 40
Governor of Tennessee - United States
Hugh Carey age 61
Governor of New York - United States
George Busbee age 53
Governor of Georgia - United States
Brendan Byrne age 56
Governor of New Jersey - United States
Edward J. King age 55
Governor of Massachusetts - United States
Harry Hughes age 54
Governor of Maryland - United States
Frank D. White age 47
Governor of Arkansas - United States
Jim Rhodes age 71
Governor of Ohio - United States
John N. Dalton age 49
Governor of Virginia - United States
Robert D. Orr age 63
Governor of Indiana - United States
John Paul II age 60
Pope - Vatican City
Bhumibol Adulyadej age 53
King - Thailand
Ferdinand Marcos age 63
President - Philippines
Juan Carlos I of Spain age 43
King - Spain
Augusto Pinochet age 65
President of the Government Junta - Chile
Suharto age 59
President - Indonesia
Nicolae Ceaușescu age 63
President - Romania
Margrethe II of Denmark age 40
Queen - Denmark
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden age 34
King - Sweden
Beatrix of the Netherlands age 43
Queen - Netherlands
Qaboos bin Said Al Said age 40
Sultan - Oman
Mobutu Sese Seko age 50
President - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Julius Nyerere age 58
President - Tanzania
José Eduardo dos Santos age 38
President - Angola
Hussein I of Jordan age 45
King - Jordan
Habib Bourguiba age 77
President - Tunisia
Teodoro Obiang age 38
President - Equatorial Guinea
Hastings Banda age 91
President - Malawi
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir age 50
President - Iceland
Omar Bongo age 45
President - Gabon
Jorge Rafael Videla age 55
President - Argentina
Urho Kekkonen age 80
President - Finland
Hassan II age 51
King - Morocco
Kenneth Kaunda age 56
President - Zambia
Kenan Evren age 63
President - Turkey
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq age 56
President - Pakistan
Mengistu Haile Mariam age 43
President - Ethiopia
Sandro Pertini age 84
President - Italy
Olav V of Norway age 77
King - Norway
Alfredo Stroessner age 68
President - Paraguay
Ahmed Sékou Touré age 59
President - Guinea
Milton Obote age 55
President - Uganda
Samora Moisés Machel age 47
President - Mozambique
Chun Doo-hwan age 50
President - South Korea
Félix Houphouët-Boigny age 75
President - Ivory Coast
Daniel arap Moi age 56
President - Kenya
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco age 57
Prince - Monaco
Mathieu Kérékou age 47
President - Benin
Jigme Singye Wangchuck age 25
King - Bhutan
Siad Barre age 61
President - Somalia
Juvénal Habyarimana age 44
President - Rwanda
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan age 62
President - United Arab Emirates
João Bernardo Vieira age 41
President - Guinea-Bissau
Ahmadou Ahidjo age 56
President - Cameroon
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy age 67
President - India
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom age 43
President - Maldives
Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadéma age 45
President - Togo
Jean-Claude Duvalier age 29
President - Haiti
Konstantinos Karamanlis age 74
President - Greece
Ziaur Rahman age 45
President - Bangladesh
Abdou Diouf age 45
President - Senegal
Isaac Navon age 59
President - Israel
Ne Win age 69
President - Myanmar
Quett Masire age 55
President - Botswana
David Dacko age 50
President - Central African Republic
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg age 60
Grand Duke - Luxembourg
Canaan Banana age 45
President - Zimbabwe
Rudolf Kirchschläger age 66
President - Austria
Hassan Gouled Aptidon age 64
President - Djibouti
Sobhuza II age 81
King - Eswatini
Chadli Bendjedid age 51
President - Algeria
Aristides Pereira age 57
President - Cape Verde
Moussa Traoré age 44
President - Mali
Fernando Belaúnde age 68
President - Peru
Dawda Kairaba Jawara age 56
President - The Gambia
Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah age 54
Emir - Kuwait
Shehu Shagari age 56
President - Nigeria
Souphanouvong age 71
President - Laos
Didier Ratsiraka age 44
President - Madagascar
Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV of Tonga age 62
King - Tonga
Gaafar Nimeiry age 50
President - Sudan
António Ramalho Eanes age 46
President - Portugal
France-Albert René age 45
President - Seychelles
Manuel Pinto da Costa age 43
President - São Tomé and Príncipe
Patrick Hillery age 57
President - Ireland
Junius Richard Jayewardene age 74
President - Sri Lanka
Isa II of Bahrain age 47
Emir - Bahrain
Jean-Baptiste Bagaza age 34
President - Burundi
Hilla Limann age 46
President - Ghana
Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani age 48
Emir - Qatar
Amata Kabua age 52
President - Marshall Islands
Siaka Stevens age 75
President - Sierra Leone
Benjamin Sheares age 73
President - Singapore
Ahmed Abdallah age 61
President - Comoros