On August 12, 1983, the former-Prime Minister of Japan, Tanaka Kakuei was convicted of accepting bribes while in office and sentenced to 4 years in jail. He came to be described as "the paragon of post war corruption" for taking money from the defense contractor Boeing in exchange for favorable contracts.

Also on this day, Nikita Kruschev famously banged his shoe on the table during a heated argument before the United Nations General Assembly.