Editing 1981 (section)

===March===
{{Main|March 1981}}
* [[March 1]] – [[1981 Irish hunger strike]]: [[Bobby Sands]], a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] member, begins a [[hunger strike]] for [[political status]] at [[HM Prison Maze]] (Long Kesh) in [[Northern Ireland]], dying on [[May 5]], the first of 7 IRA and 3 INLA hunger strikers to die.
* [[March 11]] – [[Chile]]an military dictator [[Augusto Pinochet]] is sworn in as [[President of Chile]] for another 8-year term.
* [[March 17]] – In Italy, the [[Propaganda Due]] [[Masonic lodge]] is discovered.
* [[March 19]] – Two or three workers are killed and four are injured during a ground test of [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']] at [[Kennedy Space Center]] in the United States.
* [[March 29]] – The first [[London Marathon]] starts, with 7,500 runners.
* [[March 30]] – [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan]]: U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by [[John Hinckley Jr.]]; two police officers and Press Secretary [[James Brady]] are also wounded.