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The Presidential Election of 1980
Ronald Reagan, the actor, became the 40th president of the United States defeating Jimmy Carter in a landslide credited to the people being fed up with the Democratic big government.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/09/25/the-most-consequential-elections-in-history-ronald-reagan-and-the-election-of-1980 -
John Lennon Shot
Rock legend John Lennon was shot outside of his New York City apartment building by a crazy man, Mark David Chapman, causing worldwide vigils and mourning.
https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/ -
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Harrison Ford debuted in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark as an adventurous archaeologist on the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/ -
Michael Jackson's Thriller
Epic Records released Michael Jackson's Thriller album which would have 7 out of 9 songs reaching the top 10 Billboard Hot 100 and become the best selling pop album of all time.
https://wncmusicacademy.com/michael-jackson-releases-thriller-1982-november-30-2015/ -
Strategic Defense Initiative
President Ronald Reagan proposed a defense system, nicknamed Star Wars, to protect the U.S. against nuclear ballistic missiles.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/president-reagan-calls-for-launching-star-wars-initiative-march-23-1983-236259 -
Hurricane Alicia
The Gulf Coast was battered with 115 mph winds as Category 3 Hurricane Alicia touched down causing over $2 billion in damages and killing 21 people.
https://abc13.com/texas-hurricanes-hurricane-alicia-gulf-coast/1474417/ -
1984 Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, California with 6,829 participating athletes.
https://www.olympic.org/news/los-angeles-1984-an-indelible-legacy -
Apple Macintosh
The first Apple Macintosh personal computer was mass produced marketed with its user friendly operation.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/01/24/apple-launched-macintosh-on-january-24-1984-and-changed-the-world----eventually -
Presidential Election of 1984
President Ronald Reagan defeated former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale with 49 states and an approval rating of over 58% to claim the biggest win in presidential history.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/nation-world/walter-mondale-1984-election-one-state/507-e207a201-3c0d-4922-800c-90b9d22a97d6 -
Michael Jordan Rookie of the Year
Legendary basketball player, Michael Jordan, was named NBAs Rookie of the Year.
https://air.jordan.com/card/the-aji-rookie-of-the-year/#:~:text=On%20May%2016%2C%201985%2C%20a,short%20and%20to%20the%20point. -
Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson's comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" debuted featuring a 6 year old boy and his stuffed tiger.
https://theweek.com/speedreads/589621/read-first-ever-calvin-hobbes-comic-published-30-years-ago-today -
Space Shuttle Challenger
NASA's Shuttle Challenger had a booster engine fail just 73 seconds after take off and exploded killing all seven passengers.
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_gallery_2437.html -
Reagan at the Berlin Wall
U.S. President Ronald Reagan addressed Mikhail Gorbachev and demanded that he tear down the wall.
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/berlin.html -
Full House
The American sitcom "Full House" debuted featuring a widower father and his two buddies who live together to raise his 3 daughters.
https://fullhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Full_House -
Presidential Election of 1988
Campaigning on the Reagan legacy, Vice President George H. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis
https://www.politico.com/magazine/gallery/2013/11/how-bush-beat-dukakis-000005?slide=0 -
Flag Burning
The Supreme Court protected the rights of protestors who burned the flag with a controversial First Amendment decision.
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/blog/when-the-supreme-court-ruled-to-allow-american-flag-burning#:~:text=On%20June%2021%2C%201989%2C%20a,who%20had%20burned%20the%20flag. -
Recession of 1990
After the US deployed troops to Kuwait and oil prices rose, the government raised interest rates contributing in a recession.
https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/debt/1990srecession.html -
Start Treaty
A treaty was signed between the United States and the Soviet Union to control arms and remove nuclear weapons that existed.
https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/start1 -
Presidential Election of 1992
Ross Perot ran as an independent and stole votes that could have gone to incumbent President George H. Bush allowing Democratic candidate Bill Clinton to pull off the win.
https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/debt/1992presidentialelection.html -
Branch Davidians
Federal agents stormed the Waco Branch Davidian compound after a 51 day standoff and a fire broke out which killed 76 people.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/02/27/breaking-through-the-myths-surrounding-the-1993-branch-davidian-raid/ -
OJ Simpson Chase
Americans could not pull their eyes away from the tv to focus on the NBA finals as they were glued to watching OJ Simpson's white Ford Bronco being chased by the police as a suspect in his wife's murder.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/june-17-1994-o-j-simpson-car-chase-mesmerizes-nation/ -
Oklahoma City Bombing
A domestic terrorist attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols shocked Americans and killed 168 people.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/13/oklahoma-city-bombing-20-years-later-key-questions-remain-unanswered -
Presidential Election of 1996
President Bill Clinton won a second term defeating former senator Bob Doyle with a large margin campaigning on the successful recovering economy.
https://www.270towin.com/1996_Election/ -
Madeleine Albright
President Bill Clinton appointed Madeleine Albright to be the first woman to serve as Secretary of State.
https://fairygodboss.com/career-topics/first-female-secretary-of-state -
Exxon and Mobile Corp. Merge
Exxon-Mobile joined forces to become the largest corporation in the world.
https://money.cnn.com/1998/12/01/deals/exxon/ -
Columbine
Two high school students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, planned and carried out a horrific massacre gunning down their classmates before committing suicide.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2020/04/just-normal-kids-killed-13-people-the-columbine-high-school-shooting-in-1999.html -
Napster
Napster was released as a file sharing platform for music.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/24/napster-music-free-file-sharing -
Presidential Election of 2000
Texas Republican Governor George W. Bush led the electoral college to win the closest presidential election in history over Democratic opponent Al Gore.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1990s-america/a/the-election-of-2000 -
9/11
Islamic extremist terrorist group al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, attacked America by hijacking four airplanes and flew them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the terrorists.
https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks