Politics, World Events, Culture, & Sports

 Presidential Election of 1980
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Jimmy Carter v. Ronald Reagan
Reagan ran a campaign focused on lowering taxes to stimulate the economy, less government interference, state’s rights, and stronger national defense.
 Reagan won the 1980 election 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 49
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Reagan was 69 years old when he took office
In his inaugural address he said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

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69 days into Reagan’s first term there was an assassination attempt by John Hinckley outside the Washington Hilton Hotel and
Reagan, his press secretary and a
Washington police officer were all shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6CNRl
QG0mg
Reagan was close to death but was stabilized at the hospital and had surgery.
He was released 12 days later
His approval ratings went up to 73%
His assassin was charged not guilty by reason of insanity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Jid5u
RFo4

 Unemployment rate went from 7.5% down to 5.4%
 GDP growth of almost 8%
 Inflation was 12.5 when Reagan took office and when he left it was 4.4%
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He supported a free-market system
Cut taxes to help stimulate the economy-
”trickle down” theory
 He froze min. wage, cut govt. assistance programs, and cut rent subsidies in half.

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Built up US armed forces
Appointed the first female Supreme
Court justice
Cold War-predicted Communism would collapse
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Reagan Doctrine
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Strategic Defense Initiative
Election of 1984 v. Walter Mondale
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Reagan won 49 of the 50 states
 Immigration-Immigration Reform and Control Act
War on Drugs

 Election of 1988
 George H.W. Bush v.
Michael Dukakis
 Bush won 426 to 111
 Berlin Wall and collapse of Soviet Union
 Debt problem
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Panama
(we’ll talk more about him in the next section)

 Lebanese Civil War 1983
 Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada) 1983
 Challenger Explosion
 Libya bombing
 Iran-Contra affair
 Berlin Wall torn down 1989-end of Cold
War
 Panama

 Arcade games and video games growing in popularity
 Nintendo
 Personal computers-Windows
 Walkman and Boomboxes
 VHS

 80s film
 E.T., The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing,
Footloose, The Terminator, Rambo, Top
Gun
 TV
 Cable tv became much more popular
 Talk shows gained popularity (The
Tonight Show)
 Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Star
Trek, Saved by the Bell, The Simpsons

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MTV launched and music videos took off
Popular Artists of the 80s
 Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, Madonna,
Queen, Guns N’Roses, AC/DC
Rock and Heavy Metal Popular
Techno dance music took off
Hip Hop emerged
 Run DMC, LL Cool J, The Fresh Prince, Beastie Boys,
Public Enemy etc.
Musical Deaths
 John Lennon assassinated in 1980
 Marvin Gaye shot
 Bon Scott (AC/DC) alcohol poisoning
 Bob Marley from Melanoma

 Fashion trends
 teased hair, perms, flat tops, and mullets
 ripped jeans, neon clothes, shoulder pads, jumpsuits, jean jackets, leg warmers, off the shoulder shirts etc.
 Headbands, Aviators, slap bracelets

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1984 Olympics in L.A. were boycotted by the Soviet Union
Michael Jordan enters the NBA scene
Mike Tyson became the youngest boxing heavyweight champion at 20
San Francisco 49s won the
Super Bowl 4 times in the 80s led by Joe Montana
Pete Rose breaks record for most career hits in MLB but in
1989 is banned from baseball for gambling
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird

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Mt. St. Helen’s erupted killing 57 people
 Earthquake struck San Francisco Bay during the World Series 65 killed
 Titanic was discovered on the bottom of the North Atlantic floor