October 30, 1983: Democracy Is Restored In Argentina

Raúl Alfonsín

October 30, 1983: Argentina holds a national election that ends its 8-year Fascist military dictatorship, which cast a pall over the 1978 World Cup.

The winner is the centrist Radical Civic Union (Unión Cívica Radical, or UCR). Coming in 2nd is the Justicialist Party (Partido Justicialista, or PJ), formerly the Perons' party, which, in the years of the Junta, had shifted back from right to left. The UCR got 51.7 percent of the popular vote, and, more importantly, 15 States plus the capital district, the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, for 317 Electoral Votes; the PJ, 40.1 percent and 8 States for 259.

The UCR's leader, Raúl Alfonsín, served as President for the next 5 years. His attempts at economic reform failed, and he was defeated by the Peronist Carlos Menem in 1989. He briefly returned to the national Senate, and lived until 2009.

Argentina, the 2nd-largest and 2nd-most-populous country in South America behind Brazil, and the 3rd-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world behind Mexico and Spain, has been free ever since, although not free of corruption. It's had conservative governments, but not Fascist ones. When they won the World Cup again in 1986, and reached the Final in 1990 and 2014 (both times losing to Germany), it was as a free country.

UPDATE: It won the World Cup in 2022, still free.

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October 30, 1983 was a Sunday. These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 38-20 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the San Francisco 49ers, 27-13 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 22-21 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Colts moved to Indianapolis the next season.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the New England Patriots, 24-13 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Los Angeles Rams, 30-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-21 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-12 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Houston Oilers, 25-19 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Green Bay Packers, 34-14 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears, 38-17 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Minnesota Vikings, 41-31 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-24 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 34-21 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Seahawks advanced to their 1st Conference Championship Game that year, but it was a rematch in L.A., and the Raiders won it.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Washington Redskins beat the San Diego Chargers, 27-24 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

Baseball season had ended 14 days earlier, when the Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Kansas City Kings, 121-116 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. Gus Williams led the Sonics with 31 points. Eddison Johnson scored 40 in defeat for the Kings. And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks, 123-101 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. George Gervin scored 35 points.

There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Edmonton Oilers, 5-4 at Madison Square Garden. Pat Hughes scored the winning goal with 3:42 left in overtime.

* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Hartford Whalers, 6-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary. Eddy Beers scored the winning goal with 58 seconds left in overtime.