AM HIST 1980s
 The 1980s were defined by different types of ‘rebellion’ – why?
 Who experienced the Dark Ages of the 1980s?
 How did the economic struggles of the 1980s lead to the wealth of the 1990s?
1980
 Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington state.
 The popular video arcade game "Pac-Man" is released.
 President Jimmy Carter announces the embargo on sale of
grain and high technology to the Soviet Union due to the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
 The United States boycotts the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
 April 24-25, 1980 - The attempt to rescue the American
hostages held captive in the U.S. Embassy in Iran fails with
eight Americans killed and five wounded in Operation Eagle
Claw when a mid-air collision occurs.
1981
 The cable network MTV (Music Television) is launched. 
 The AIDS virus is identified in the United States by scientists. 
 Sandra Day O'Connor is nominated as the first female Supreme
Court Justice by President Reagan.
 January 20, 1981 - The inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the
40th president of the United States occurs in Washington, D.C.
It was followed by the release of the fifty-two Americans still
held hostage in Tehran. The Iranian hostage crisis, which
lasted four hundred and forty-four days, was negotiated for the
return of $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
 Tax cut legislation proposed by President Ronald Reagan, the
largest in history, is passed by both houses of the U.S.
Congress. It would reduce taxes by $750 billion over the next
five years.
 August 12, 1981 - IBM introduces the IBM-PC personal
computer, the IBM 5150. It was designed by twelve engineers
and designers under Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems
Division. It sold for $1,565 in 1981.
1982
 "The Computer" is named Time Magazine's Man of the Year.  
 Japan begins selling the first CD players.  
 The highest unemployment rate since 1940 is recorded at
10.4%. By the end of November, over eleven million people
would be unemployed.
1983
 Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
 Motorola introduces the first mobile phones to the United
States in 1983.
 October 25, 1983 - The United States invasion of Grenada
occurs at the request of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean
States to depose the Marxist regime.
1984
 India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, is assassinated.
1985
 The wreck of the Titanic was discovered.
 November 19, 1985 - The first meeting in six years between
the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States occurs
when Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan engage in a five
hour summit conference in Geneva, Switzerlan
1986
 The Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes in the USSR.
 The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster takes place when the
space shuttle disintegrates after being launched, killing all on
board.
 January 20, 1986 - Martin Luther King Day is officially
observed for the first time as a federal holiday in the United
States.
 May 25, 1986 - Five million people make a human chain
across the United States in the Hands Across America
campaign to fight hunger and homelessness.
 Mad Cow Disease (BSE - Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy) is identified in Britain for the first time.
 November 3, 1986 - The first reporting of the Iran-Contra
affair, diverting money from arm sales to Iran to fund
Nicaraguan contra rebels, begins the largest crisis in the
Reagan tenure.
1987
 Disposable contact lenses are first sold.
 October 19, 1987 - The stock market crash known as Black
Monday occurs on the New York Stock Exchange, recording a
record 22.6% drop in one day. Stock markets around the world
would mirror the crash with drops of their own.
1988
 George H.W. Bush is elected as the U.S. President after
defeating Michael Dukakis.
 Two years after the Challenger Disaster, NASA's Space Shuttle
program resumes.
The Iran-Iraq war ends.
Poverty Point National Monument in Louisiana is established
by President Ronald Reagan in order to preserve some of the
most extensive earthworks from prehistoric times in North
America.
1989
 The Berlin Wall is torn down at the end of the Cold War.
 The Exxon Valdez oil tanker spills 240,000 barrels of oil in the
Prince William Sound in Alaska.
 The Nintendo Game Boy portable video game system is
released.
 August 9, 1989 - The Savings and Loan Bailout is approved by
Congress and signed into law by President George Herbert
Walker Bush. The total cost of the bill would approach $400
billion over thirty years to close and merge insolvent Savings
and Loans.