1981

This page lists news articles and events for the year 1981.

Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed under News: entries. Events that only happened in fiction on the specified date are listed under Fiction: entries and are written in italics.

Centuries:	19th century		20th century			21st century
Decades:	1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000s	2010s
Years:	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984

Undated

• Event: Appearance of the Polybius video game.

January

• January 20
  • Event: Ronald Reagan inaugurated as President of the United States. Within minutes, 53 U.S. hostages are released from Iran. Coincidence?

February

March

• March 30:
  • Event: President Ronald Reagan and aide James Brady shot and wounded by would-be assassin John Hinckley. Secretary of Defense Al Haig claims to be in charge. The Academy Awards banquet, scheduled for that night, is postponed.

April

May

June

July

• July 2:
  • Event: The Austrian farmer Franz Gsellmann dies shortly after claiming that he has finished the Weltmaschine

August

September

October

• October 31:
  • Fiction: The Dark Wizard Voldemort attempts to kill the infant Harry Potter; he fails and is himself nearly destroyed and is believed my many to be dead.

November

December