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Ronald Reagan is Elected to His First Term
Running against James Earl Carter, Jr., Reagan, along with George H.W. Bush, won his first election.
Reagan-
Popular Vote: 50.7%
Electoral Vote: 489/538
James Earl Carl, Jr.-
Popular Vote: 41.0%
Electoral Vote: 49/538 -
Major Event 1
Americans that were held hostage in Iran were freed. Negotiations ran on for 444 before the Iran's people were finally willing to let them go. The people were released and 8 million dollars worth of Iran's frozen assets were as well. -
Major Events 2
AIDS was first identified among homosexual men and drug users in New York and California. After the discovery of AIDS in the US, we realized that many in Sub-Saharan Africa were also infected. -
Major Event 3
Operation Opera was led out as a surprise attack from the Israeli air force against an Iraqi nuclear plant. Iraq purchased the plant from the French in the 1970s. The Israeli's thought that this was to increase Iraq's plutonium number in order to further their nuclear weapons. The Iraeli's thought that the summer of 1981 would be the last time they could bomb the reactor before nuclear power surged through it. Thus, they led a F-16A fighter plane, protected by F-15As, and damaged the reactor. -
Major Event 4
The Labanon War was supposed to be a short lived war, it didn't end that way. Originally, the Israeli's only wanted to move Lebanese militry forces away from the border, instead; they tried to force them more north and out of their way completely. -
Major Event 5
The Falkland War occured between Great Britain and Argentina in 1982. The US had a securtiy relationship with Great Britain and was automatically backing them up. The Argentinian military surrendered to Great Britain at Port Stanley. Dusing the duration of the war, Britain captured 10,000 hostages (all were released). Greeat Britain lost 236 and left Argentina with a loss of 655. -
Major Event 6
Shitte Muslims bomb a car outside of the US Embassy killing 63 inside. Another bombing occured outside of the military base killing many more. This suicide bombing was brought on by Iran's Hezbollah, This all occured in Beirut, Lebanon. The total death toll was more than 247 people. -
Major Event 7
A Korean Air airliner was shot down by Soviet jet interceptors over the Sea of Japan,over prohibited Soviet airspace. 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed. Lawrence McDonald included. He was a member of the US Congress. -
Reagan Wins His Second Term
Reagan and Bush win their second election against Walter Mondale.
Reagan-
Popular Vote: 58.8%
Electoral Vote: 525/538
Mondale-
Popular Vote: 40.6%
Electoral Vote: 13/538 -
Major Event 7
Live Aid was a rock music concert. It was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Named the Global Jukebox, the event was held in Wembley Stadium in London and attended by 82,000 people. Another was at JFK Stadium, in Philadelphia and attended by 99,000 people. -
Major Event 8
Palestinian terrorists over took the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro after it left Alexandria, Egypt. The men, who belonged to the Palestine Liberation Front, were led by Abu Abbas. There was little to no security onbaord so the crew and its innocent were easily overtaken. -
Major Event 10
On January 28, the US Space Shuttle Challenger was supposed to take off and go to the moon. A quick 76 seconds after the shuttle took off, the Challenger exploded and the entire 7 member crew was killed. The frist female teacher to go into space and live her dream was among those brave souls. They are remebered every year and we will continue to remember. -
Major Event 11
US Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy bombs Tripoli and Benhgazi in Libya. At around 2:00p.m. on April 15, the United States bombed Libya. Reagan ordered many planes to fly over Libya and try to bomb 5 targets. France, Spain and England all said that the US could not fly over them so the manuever took longer than originally purposed. -
Major Event 9
The Chenobyl disaster occured in the Chenobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. It is considered the worst ever nuclear incident and the only one in history rated a 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. It let out a massive amount of radioactivity which later resulted in a massive power excursion. -
Major Event 12
Stock markets crash world wide. More commonly known as Black Monday, the stock market crash of 1987 was the largest one day loss in history. The DOW went down at leats 20.6% of its value. $500 Billion was lost on October 19. Companies believed that the more they bought out other companies, the more money they would make. The exact opposite was true. Instead, all of the prices went down and many lost jobs instaed of gaining. -
Major Event 13
US and USSR both signed INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty) banning short- and medium-range nuclear missels in Europe. It was signed by Ronald Reagan for the US and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev for the USSR. The treaty banned all land-based nuclear missels with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles. -
Major Event 14
Terroists blew up Pan American 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all aboard (243 civillians and 16 crew members) and 11 people on the ground. The plane was flying to JFK International Airport in New York from Heathrow Airport in London. 180 of the innocent were Americans. This terroist bombing was known as the greatest until September 11, 2001. It wasn't until 1991 that Abdel Basset Ali al-Magrahi was arrested and held contempt for the crime. -
Last Major Event
"Gorbachev tear down your wall!" This is one of Reagan's most famous lines and yet hardly anyone knows where it comes from. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to keep everyone in the place they are supposed to be. The fall of the wall came on November 7 in 1989. The Germans celebrated their newly found freedom. They even helped to tear down the wall with their bare hands! -
Reagan comes out of office
One of the best presidents in our history is finally done with his terms. He cannot run anymore and the entire world is in mourning. Although he has not died yet, they know that they are losing a great leader, and friend to their country. They are in hope that they're next president will be as great as Ronald Reagan.
