1981

Events

• January 17 - Martial law in the Philippines is lifted.
• January 20 - End of the Iran hostage crisis.
• March 21 - Michael Donald, a 19-year old African-American man, is kidnapped, beaten, and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, in one of the last recorded lynchings in the United States.
• March 29 - Jorge Rafael Videla steps down as President of Argentina, handing power to General Roberto Viola.
• March 30 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan survives an assassination attempt in Washington D.C. by John Hinckley, Jr., who also wounds Press Secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy.
• April 27 - Operation Red Dog takes place.
• May 13 - Pope John Paul II survives an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City by Mehmet Ali Ağca of the Grey Wolves.
• June 7 - Operation Opera: Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin orders an airstrike to be carried out on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor 11 miles southeast of Baghdad. The airstrike destroys the facility and also kills 10 Iraqi soldiers and 1 French civilian.
• July 6 - The Cuban American National Foundation is founded.
• July 16 - Mahathir Mohamad is elected Prime Minister of Malaysia.
• July 27 - Serial killer Ottis Toole abducts 6-year old Adam Walsh from the parking lot of the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, later raping him and decapitating him with a machete.
• October 6 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated in Cairo by Egyptian Islamic Jihad members Khalid Islambouli and Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj.
• October 14 - Hosni Mubarak is named President of Egypt.
• October 18 - Wojciech Jaruzelski is named First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party.
• October 20 - Black September bombs a Portuguese Jewish synagogue in the center of Antwerp, Belgium, killing 3 people and injuring 106.
• December 6 - The Communist Party of Kampuchea is dissolved.
• December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski, the head of state of Poland, declares martial law in response to protests by the Solidarity trade union. The Military Council of National Salvation is established to maintain order.
• December 22 - Roberto Viola is deposed as President of Argentina in a coup lead by Leopoldo Galtieri, who subsequently becomes president.
• Unknown - Beginning of the Contra insurgency in Nicaragua.

Births

Villain births

• February 2 - Salem al-Hazmi
• February 5 - Luke Woodham
• February 23 - Melissa Huckaby
• February 26 - Barry Loukaitis
• March 3 - Julius Malema
• April 9 - Eric Harris
• May 8 - Blake Leibel
• July 9 - Kimveer Gill
• July 24 - Steven Anderson & Nayib Bukele
• September 11 - Dylan Klebold
• September 19 - Ahmad Abousamra
• November 4 - Jho Low
• November 30 - War Machine

Victim births

• January 3 - Polly Klaas
• January 11 - Toshiya Kuge
• January 17 - Lauren Dawn Townsend 
• February 18 - Jasmine Fiore
• March 5 - Candace Lee Williams (9/11 Victim)
• April 8 - Deora Frances Bodley (9/11 Victim)
• August 5 - Rachel Joy Scott
• November 6 - Cassie René Bernall
• December 23 - Eric Samadikan Hartono

Deaths

Villain deaths

• February 8 - John Duddy
• February 15 - Mecislovas Gedvilas
• September 1 - Albert Speer
• October 6 - Anwar Sadat
• December 6 - Dr. Harry Harlow

Victim deaths

• March 21 - Michael Donald
• June 11 - Renée Hartevelt
• July 27 - Adam Walsh
• October 29 - Tina Harmon