September 10 in History: Rewind to 1986

Good morning.

Some years come back in a single sound: the click of a cassette door, the whir of a VCR, the soft static before a picture settled onto the television. Today we are tuning the dial to 1986—but first, September 10 has six stories waiting for us, including a barefoot finish that changed Olympic history.

1813 — Perry takes Lake Erie. During the War of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry's American squadron defeated and captured a British squadron on Lake Erie. The victory helped restore U.S. control of the lake and opened the way toward Detroit.

1846 — A sewing machine earns its patent. Elias Howe Jr. received U.S. Patent No. 4,750 for a practical lockstitch sewing machine. It was not the first attempt to mechanize sewing, but Howe's design became an important step toward changing how clothing was made.

1960 — Abebe Bikila wins barefoot. Running through the streets of Rome without shoes, Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon and became the first Black African Olympic champion. Four years later, he would win the marathon again.

1963 — School doors open in Alabama. Black students entered previously segregated public schools in Alabama amid court orders, federal protection, and fierce resistance. It was a meaningful step forward—not the end of the struggle to desegregate the state's schools.

2002 — Switzerland joins the United Nations. After voters approved membership earlier that year, Switzerland became the UN's 190th member state.

2008 — First beam at the Large Hadron Collider. Scientists at CERN successfully steered a proton beam around the full 27-kilometre ring of the Large Hadron Collider. It was a commissioning milestone; the machine's first particle collisions came later.

Now pull the curtains, let the television glow, and turn the calendar back forty years.

The living room had a VCR with a blinking clock. A stack of cassettes rode in the car. Home computers were becoming less exotic, mall storefronts doubled as weekend landmarks, and cable television kept adding more choices to the dial.

Ronald Reagan was in his second term. The Challenger disaster and the Chernobyl accident had already given the year a sobering edge. Yet the culture around them moved at full volume—big movies, polished pop, appointment television, and a growing feeling that technology was changing ordinary life.

Three days before our September 10 snapshot, Desmond Tutu was installed as Archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the first Black person to lead the Anglican Church of the Province of Southern Africa.

The ceremony carried meaning far beyond church administration. Tutu was already a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and one of apartheid's most recognizable opponents, insisting that resistance and reconciliation could belong in the same moral vocabulary. More than 10,000 people gathered for an open-air Eucharist after his installation—a public celebration in a country still governed by racial separation.

In 1986, that appointment did not end apartheid. It did place one of its clearest critics in a pulpit the government could not easily ignore.

For the domestic box-office week of September 5–11, Top Gun was back at No. 1.

By then, the movie had been in theaters since May, but its mix of aerial spectacle, romance, and pop music still had staying power. Nearby on the September marquee were Stand by Me, with its quieter coming-of-age pull, and the body-horror remake The Fly. One week, three very different reminders of how broad the 1986 moviegoing mood could be.

On the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 13, Berlin's “Take My Breath Away” sat at No. 1.

The song's slow, suspended mood was nearly the opposite of Top Gun's roaring aircraft—and that contrast was part of its appeal. A blockbuster could leave the theater and follow you home through the radio, until a film theme became a memory all its own.

The defending Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears opened their season on September 7 with a 41–31 win over the Cleveland Browns.

This was no sleepy first week for the famous Chicago defense. Cleveland put up 31 points, while Walter Payton supplied 113 rushing yards as the Bears found enough offense to answer. The final score felt less like a victory lap than a reminder: every champion starts the new season back at 0–0.

Wednesday night's national prime-time grid looked like this:

ABC — The Winds of War, Part 3, returning in a repeat presentation.

CBS — The Drug Knot, a new special, with a repeat of Magnum, P.I. also on the schedule.

NBC — Repeats of Highway to Heaven, Gimme a Break!, You Again?, and St. Elsewhere.

FOX — No prime-time lineup yet; the network's regular prime-time era had not begun.

As always in the broadcast age, local affiliates could shift programs, times, or clearances. Your hometown guide may have looked a little different.

Two days after our snapshot, Captain EO opened at EPCOT's Journey into Imagination pavilion on September 12.

The 3-D musical science-fiction attraction joined Disney Imagineering with filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola and star Michael Jackson. It was pure mid-1980s scale: music-video energy, theatrical effects, and a park experience built to feel like the future had arrived right in front of your seat.

Been sitting for a while? Stand up, let your shoulders drop, and take a brief walk if it feels comfortable. A tiny movement break does not have to become a workout to count as a good reset.

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Ashley Monroe turns 40 — born in 1986, the very year we are rewinding to today. The country singer-songwriter is known for her solo work and as one-third of Pistol Annies.

Colin Firth turns 66 — born in 1960. Many readers first fell for his reserved screen charm in Pride and Prejudice; he later won an Academy Award for The King's Speech.

Misty Copeland turns 44 — born in 1982. The dancer and author broke a major barrier when she became American Ballet Theatre's first Black woman principal dancer.

Arnold Palmer would have turned 97 — born in 1929. The seven-time major champion brought charisma, daring play, and an enormous following to golf's television age.

Do any of today's dates belong to your story—a birthday, an anniversary, or the first time a movie or song found you? Share this issue with someone who remembers the glow of 1986, and tell us what came rushing back.

Until tomorrow, keep looking backward with curiosity—and forward with a good story to tell.

Every day has a story. Discover yours.

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