THE 1980S
By: Allison Cho, Natalie Condo, Taylor Johnston,
Danny Kincaid, and Greg Tarby
TARGETS
I CAN…
Identify the economic theory of “Reaganomics”
 Evaluate whether “Reaganomics” was successful
in stimulating the economy
 Summarize President Reagan’s approach to
dealing with the Soviet Union
 Relate the 1980 Olympics to the events of the
Cold War and explain the boycott of the 1980
summer Olympics that was led by the US
 Explain the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
end of the Cold War
 Explain the Iran- Contra Affair and its impact on
President Reagan’s legacy

THE PRESIDENTS OF THE 80`S
Jimmy Carter (19771981)
 Ronald Reagan (19811989)
 George H. W. Bush
(1989-1993)

HISTORIC EVENTS AND PEOPLE
Challenger Explosion
 Just Say “No” Campaign
 Sandra Day O`Connor
 Medicare
 Vietnam Memorial
 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
 Drugs
 AIDS

CHALLENGER EXPLOSION
January 28th, 1986
 Around 11:40 am in the morning it launched
 73 Seconds into its journey it exploded killing
everyone on board
 The explosion was believed to be caused by a
rocket booster that had a leak and was ignited
after lifting off.

DRUGS
During the 1908s the US had one of its worst
drug scares.
 Drugs became available everywhere, but major
cities and heavily populated areas were affected
most by its existence (Ex- LA,NYC)
 In 1985 Crack started to be experimented with
more and people started to learn how bad the
affects of the drug were which prompted the Just
Say “No” Campaign

JUST SAY “NO” CAMPAIGN
Lead by first lady Nancy Reagan in the 80`s
 Taught people how to say “NO” to drugs and
what to do when presented with them
 Peer pressure was the #1 reason for the drugs
being used in the 80`s
 People who didn’t use drugs at the time felt left
out and the campaign helped them not start
using drugs
 Dr Richard Evans of University Of Houston
Social Physiology was also a leader in the
campaign

MEDICARE
In 1980 Coverage of health insurance is
broadened and 20 million people were affected
 1980 Hospitals began offering benefits with
health insurance and HMOs
 New prospective payment plans had been set in
place for people with health insurance and
Medicare and gained in popularity
 Numerous healthcare and Medicare bills have
been introduced and implemented ever since

SANDRA DAY O`CONNOR




She was the first woman
to serve on the Supreme
Court. She was elected
in 1981 and retired in
2006
During her time on The
Supreme Court she
weighed in on some of
the nations toughest
and most known cases.
She had received 60,000
letters from the public
in her first year (Most
on record)
Senate vote for her
election was 99-0
AIDS





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Began to emerge as a Cancer named Kaposi's
Sarcoma (cancer primarily found in elderly patients)
At first the break out was prevalent in New York and
California
At first it centered around men (40 known cases
began) and their sexuality was gay. An estimated 5-6
new cases of it came out per week.
People began making names for it (Ex-GRID Gay
Related Immune Deficiency and others)
After reports of gay men having the disease,
numerous states began sending reports that straight
men were also contracting the disease
In 1982 Aids was formally named Auto Immune
Deficiency Syndrome) There has been no cure found
VIETNAM MEMORIAL
officially accepted by President Ronald Reagan
on November 11, 1984
 250 feet walls 10 feet tall made of polished black
granite
 Has 58,000+ US names of people killed or
missing in the Vietnam War
 The Vietnam War was one of the most
controversial wars fought by the US and the US
felt like honoring those fallen and missing in the
war.

EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL
March 24th, 1989
 240,000 gallons of oil had spilled into Alaska`s
Prince William Sound
 Hundreds of miles of the sea coast was covered in
oil and completely destroyed
 Hundreds of Birds, Fish and other animals were
killed due to the oil spill.
 One of the worst oil spills in history

AIDS






Began to emerge as a Cancer named Kaposi's
Sarcoma (cancer primarily found in elderly patients)
At first the break out was prevalent in New York and
California
At first it centered around men (40 known cases
began) and their sexuality was gay. An estimated 5-6
new cases of it came out per week.
People began making names for it (Ex-GRID Gay
Related Immune Deficiency and others)
After reports of gay men having the disease,
numerous states began sending reports that straight
men were also contracting the disease
In 1982 Aids was formally named Auto Immune
Deficiency Syndrome) There has been no cure found
1980 SUMMER OLYMPICS
(XXII OLYMPIAD)
XXII OLYMPIAD (CULTURE TOPIC)

The summer Olympics of 1980 was an
international multi-spot event celebrated in
Moscow


First Olympic games to be held in east Germany
Almost 10,000 athletes were estimated to
participate in the games

A mere 6,000 athletes compared to the estimated 10,000
competed
XXII OLYMPIAD (CULTURE TOPIC)

The decrease in the number of athletes was
because of the boycott that the U.S. placed on the
Olympics
The USSR invaded Afghanistan
 The boycott greatly affected the Olympics in the number of
participants because many countries followed the U.S.’s
actions

USSR INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN


The Olympics were to be held in Moscow in 1980 and
countries from all over were supposed to participate
But a few years prior to the games being held, The
USSR invaded Afghanistan


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The USSR was supporting the supporting the MarxistLeninist government of the Democratic Republic of
Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen guerrilla
movement and foreign Arab–Afghan volunteers.
The mujahideen received unofficial military/financial support
from a variety of countries including the United States, Saudi
Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Indonesia and
China.
The USSR essentially invaded Afghanistan to to support an
ally that was battling a civil war
MAGIC JOHNSON
MAGIC JOHNSON

Considered to be one of the greatest basketball
players of all time

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Gave teamwork a new name in basketball


5 x NBA champion, 3 x NBA MVP, 12 x NBA all-star, #32 retired
on lakers
He really didn’t care how many points he scored, he just wanted to
help his teammates score
Contracted the HIV virus earlier in his life, but
found out he had it in the season of 1991


He abruptly retired, and dedicated his life to fighting the disease
and helping people become aware of it
He now has a foundation, Magic Johnson Foundation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Dm0lZTqCc
COLD WAR
The U.S. (western world) and the USSR
(communist world) have been at a state of
political and military tension since the end of
WWII
 In other words, both countries are not on good
terms

THE BOYCOTT OF THE OLYMPICS


With all of these things happening over the course of a couple years, the
U.S. decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics
President Jimmy Carter issued an ultimatum on Jan. 20, 1980
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Soviet troops must be removed from Afghanistan in one month
If not, the U.S. would boycott the Olympics
The USSR did not remove its forces from Afghanistan, so the U.S. went
through with the boycott
The U.S. was joined by Japan, West Germany, China, Philippines,
Argentina, & Canada
Some of these countries allowed their athletes to participate in the
Olympic Boycott Games in Philly
Other countries like France, Denmark, and the U.K. supported the
boycott, but allowed their athletes to participate in the Moscow Olympics

Marched under Olympic flag, instead of their countries flag
BOYCOTT OF THE OLYMPICS
 The
boycott did little to the USSR’s policy
in Afghanistan, but it did tarnish the
prestige of the Olympic Games in Moscow

“REAGANOMICS”
The President’s plan to boost the economy
HIS PLAN
Reagan proposed a 3 year plan (Supply-side economics)
to congress to fix the economic problems Americans
were facing
 Cut the federal income taxes from 70% to 25%
 Cut regulations and industries

THE RESULTS
Things will always get worse before they get
better
 The economy weakened at first and
unemployment rose
 Then…
 1988- Inflation dropped from 10.4% to 4.2%
 The unemployment rate dropped from 7% to 5.4%

PEOPLE BEGAN TO TRUST THE MARKET
AGAIN
People began to spend
more money
HOWEVER
The national debt tripled as the decreasing taxes
forced the government to take care of the debt to
sustain military spending
 Reagan did the best he could with the time he
had and it paid off for the economy
