Allan Dwan ( April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981 ) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.

* 1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aviation industrialist ( d. 1981 )

* 1892 – Lowell Thomas, American writer ( d. 1981 )

* 1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Zambian-Welsh footballer

* 1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player and agent

* 1981 – Kari Jobe, American singer and songwriter ( Gateway Worship )

* 1981 – Alex Suarez, American bassist ( Cobra Starship and This Is Ivy League )

* 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle ( Columbia ) takes place-the STS-1 mission.

* 1981 – Nicolás Burdisso, Argentine footballer

* 1981 – Grant Holt, English footballer

* 1981 – Brian Vandborg, Danish cyclist

* 1981 – John O ' Shea, Irish footballer

* 1981 – Emma Pierson, English actress

* 1981 – Kunal Nayyar, Indian-English actor

* 1895 – Andreas Alföldi, Hungarian historian and archaeologist ( d. 1981 )

* 1933 – Joke Smit, Dutch activist and politician ( d. 1981 )

* 1981 – Maxwell Cabelino Andrade, Spanish footballer

* 1981 – Alessandro Gamberini, Italian footballer

* 1981 – Demetria McKinney, American actress

* 1981 – Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italian race car driver

* 1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper and songwriter ( Gym Class Heroes )

* 1981 – Diána Póth, Hungarian figure skater

* 1981 – Jarvis Hayes, American basketball player

* 1981 – Li Jiawei, Singaporean table tennis player

* 1981 – Claire Dames, American porn actress

In 1981, she became an attorney-adviser to Clarence Thomas who was then the Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

* Cumings, Bruce The Origins of the Korean War ( 2 vols., 1981 – 90 ), friendly to North Korea and hostile to U. S.

The group had no major hits in 1980, but by 1981 they released two Top Ten hits with " Oh No " (# 4 U. S .) and their first upbeat single in almost five years, " Lady ( You Bring Me Up )" (# 8 U. S .)

By December 1981, however, the U. S. had already begun to support armed opponents of the Sandinista regime.

East-West tensions increased during the first term of U. S. President Ronald Reagan ( 1981 – 1985 ), reaching levels not seen since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis as Reagan increased US military spending to 7 % of the GDP.

" The decision to change the name Datsun to Nissan in the U. S. was announced in the autumn ( September / October ) of 1981.

Other chart hits during this period included Parton's chart-topping cover of the 1969 First Edition hit " But You Know I Love You " and " The House of the Rising Sun " ( both 1981 ), " Single Women ", " Heartbreak Express " and " Hard Candy Christmas " ( 1982 ) and 1983's " Potential New Boyfriend ", which was accompanied by one of Parton's first music videos, and which also reached the U. S. dance charts.

Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1981.

It was only after the record became a success overseas that it was released in the U. S. The single hit # 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981.

After a drop-off in such seizures for some years, several U. S. tuna boats were again detained and seized in 1980 and 1981.

Between 1979 and 1985, under John Negroponte's appointment as U. S. diplomat from 1981 to 1985, U. S. military and economic aid to Honduras jumped from $ 31 million to $ 282 million.

Finland and Europe: The Period of Autonomy and the International Crises, 1808-1914 ( U. of Minnesota Press, 1981 )

In June 1981, the Army awarded AM General a contract for development of several more prototype vehicles to be delivered to the U. S. government for another series of tests, and the company was later awarded the initial production contract for 55, 000 HMMWVs to be delivered in 1985.

In September 1981, Elger was renamed " Hoshino U. S. A .", retaining the company headquarters in Bensalem, Pennsylvania as a distribution and quality-control center.

* 1981 – U. S. President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O ' Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

* 1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U. S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

* 1981 – In a private meeting with U. S. President Ronald Reagan, French Prime Minister François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing that the Soviets had been stealing American technological research and development.

Doe quickly established good relations with the United States, especially after U. S. President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.

In May 1981, the U. S. government closed the Libyan " people's bureau " ( embassy ) in Washington, D. C. and expelled the Libyan staff in response their conduct generally violating internationally accepted standards of diplomatic behavior.

In August 1981, in the first incident of the Gulf of Sidra, two Libyan jets fired on U. S. aircraft participating in a routine naval exercise over international waters of the Mediterranean Sea claimed by Libya.

11 On December 1981, the State Department invalidated U. S. passports for travel to Libya ( a de facto travel ban ) and, for purposes of safety, advised all U. S. citizens in Libya to leave.