1980-1989

     I think the main theme of the 80's was a kind of conservative revolution federally, but a time to have fun and try new things within the people.  We saw evidence of this when the amazingly popular President Ronald Reagan took communism head on with military programs like the Star Wars Initiative.  We saw the fall of communism in the USSR, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the end of the Cold War altogether.  We also saw a revival of moral values in the country, new kinds of flashy music, and wild hairstyles after the 70's.  These new things greatly effected Americans other ways too.  Like how President Reagan helped Americans find a lost sense of pride in their country, and a new hope for the presidential office after the embarrassing Watergate scandal in the 70's.  It also affected them with tax cuts, a shrinking of the federal government, and an even greater increase in defense spending.  There was the beginning of the huge market for home computers and the invention of the compact disc or CD.  These inventions would have even more of an effect on us now than they did then.

     So, some of the ways this main theme effect us now are that we are a huge military power now because of our great defense interests then.  The computer industry started then has become one of the most important industries today with giants like Microsoft leading the way.  There was George Bush who was elected in the 80's and brought us into the 90's.  He made the decision to involve us overseas in Iraq.  The fall of communism was also in the 80's because of the Soviet Union's inability to keep up with us in defense spending.   Because of this, they are now a capitalist economy and much more of an ally to us.  The 80's was an important time period that lead us into the present America.

  Events of This Decade
*Starred Events relate to the main theme.

  *January 4, 1980-President Carter announces punitive measures against the USSR including an embargo on high technology and the sale of grain in retaliation for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
  *April 12, 1980-The U.S. Olympic Committee votes against U.S. participation in the Moscow Summer Olympics.
    May 18, 1980-In Washington Mount St. Helens erupted in a violent blast estimated to be 500 times as powerful as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

  *1980-Republicans gain control of the U.S. Senate.
    December 8, 1980-Former Beatle member John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York City.

  *1981-The PC is launched by IBM.
    1981-AIDS is identified by scientists.
    January 20, 1981-The 52 Americans who had been held hostage in Iran for 444 days were flown to freedom following an arrangement in which the U.S. agreed to return to Iran $8 billion in frozen assets.
    March 30, 1981- President Reagan was shot in the chest by an unsuccessful assassin in Washington, DC as he was walking to his limousine following an address.

    April 12, 1981-The space shuttle Columbia, the world's first reusable spacecraft, was sent into space.
  *July 29, 1981-Congress passes President Reagan's tax cut legislation which was the largest tax cut in the the nation's history. It was expected to save the taxpayers $750 billion over the next five years.
    August 3, 1981-Federal air traffic controllers began an illegal nationwide strike.  Most of them defied a back-to-work order and were fired by President Reagan on August 5.
  *1982-Nearly one million people join an antinuclear demonstration in New York City.
    1982-The Equal Rights Amendment fails to be ratified by Congress.
    December 2, 1982-Dr. Barney B. Clark, a 61 year-old retired dentist, became the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart after a seven and a half hour operation.
  *1983-The compact disc or "CD" is launched.
    April 13, 1983-I was born in Pennsacola, Florida.  Not yet and important event in American History, but very important to me.
  *July 18, 1983-Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to travel in space on the space shuttle Challenger.
  *1983-President Ronald Reagan announces S.D.I.  (Star Wars Initiative.)
    1983-A group of Shiite Moslems bomb the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
    1983-U.S. troops invade in the caribbean island of Grenada.
    1984-The Macintosh computer with a mouse is launched.

    1984-French and U.S. teams discover the AIDS virus.
    1984-Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman to run for the vice presidency on a major party ticket.
  *1985-The great defense budget of the U.S. was being spent at a rate of half a million dollars per minute.
    January 20, 1986-The U.S. officially observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day for the first time.
    January 28, 1986-Moments after liftoff the space shuttle Challenger explodes killing six astronauts and a New Hampshire teacher on board named Christa McAuliffie.
    June 12, 1986-U.S. officials predict that AIDS cases and deaths will increase tenfold in the next 5 years.
    1986-Benghazi and Lybia are bombed by U.S. war planes.
    November 6, 1986-Press reports brake the first news of the Iran-contra scandal involving the secret U.S. sale of arms to Iran.
    May 17, 1987-An Iraqi warplane missile kills 37 sailors on the frigate U.S.S. Stark in the Persian Gulf.  Iraq calls it an accident, and the Stark's officers were found negligent.
    1987-A world stock market crash occurs.
    1987-The Senate decides to reject Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court.
  *December 8, 1987-President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev meet in Washington and sign an unprecedented agreement calling for the dismantling of all 1,752 U.S. and 859 Soviet missiles within a 300 to 3,400 mile range.
    1988-An internet virus jams more than 6,000 military computers.
    1989-Homelessness and other local problems start to increase.
    1989-U.S. military troops invade Panama and install a new government.
  *1989-The Berlin Wall falls uniting communist East Germany and capitalistic West Germany.  This was a great day for freedom and a celebration for the rest of the world.

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