October 1981 - October 8, 1981 (Thursday)

October 8, 1981 (Thursday)

• For the first and only time in history, three former Presidents of the United States flew together on the same airplane. Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, the 37th, 38th and 39th holders of the office, were greeted at the White House by the 40th, incumbent Ronald Reagan, before departing by helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base, where they departed at 7:45 pm for the funeral of Egypt's martyred President, Anwar Sadat.
• Bobby Unser was again declared the winner of the Indianapolis 500 after 4½ months. He had crossed the finish line first on May 24, but was disqualified the next day on a protest for passing during a yellow caution flag. Mario Andretti was then declared the winner, and Unser took it to the United States Auto Club appeals panel, which voted 2-1 to declare him the official winner. He was fined $40,000 but not penalized the lap. Andretti continued appealing, finally abandoning the case on March 4, 1982.
• OSO I, the first of the Orbiting Solar Observatory satellite series, re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, more than 18 years after its launch on March 7, 1962, and burned up on re-entry.
• Cagney & Lacey was first telecast as a made-for-TV movie, and attracted a Nielsen rating of 42.
• The Unabomber's (Ted Kaczynski) 5th bomb, planted at the University of Utah's Bennion Hall, was detected and defused before it could explosde.
• Died: Armando Bo, 66, Argentine film director