1980’s Greed &1990’s Optimism

1980 Presidential Election• Carter was steeped

in pessimism, deeming America’s problems complex and its resources limited

• Reagan was the candidate of optimism, confident that our Constitution could handle any test

1980 “Miracle on Ice”• 4-3 victory over

Russia actually came in the 1980 Olympic semifinals

• The U.S. would go on to defeat Finland in the Gold Medal game 4-2

• Victory over the Soviet Union gave the United States a symbol of hope

Olympic Protests

1980s Assassinations

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley tried to kill Ronald Reagan

On Dec. 8, 1980, in NYC, deranged fan Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon

1980s Assassinations

On October 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated

On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca

South Florida Unrest• The Mariel Boatlift

was a mass exodus from Cuba's Mariel Harbor, from April 15 to October 1980

• May 17, 1980, a three-day race riot breaks out after a jury acquits four white Miami police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie

Reaganomics• “Supply-side

economics” taught high taxes and regulations strangled the economy

• FBI created ABSCAM to catch U.S. Government officials trying to accept bribes from a Mid-East sheik

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

• Kaposi's sarcoma was discovered in gay men in NY and San Fran in the late 1970s

• AIDS became the official name in 1983, known as more than just a “gay disease”

1980’s Culture

1980’s Culture

December 7, 1979 August 1, 1981

January 1980

Native Americans• County of Oneida v.

Oneida Indian Tribe, 470 U.S. 226

• Supreme Court was asked to rule whether the Oneida Tribe could sue for treaty claims

• The court decided by a slim five-to-four vote that tribes could

Space Shuttle Challenger• On January 28, 1986,

the Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch

• Failure of an O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster caused a leak & chain reaction explosion

Iran-Contra Affair• July 1985 – Israelis

took their “arms for hostages” deal to Reagan

• December 1985 – Reagan authorizes the plan

• November 1986 – Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposes the plan

Fall of the Berlin Wall

perestroika

glasnost

Rodney King riots• On March 3, 1991,

Rodney King was struck 56 times with nightsticks

• Damage included 50 deaths, 2,000 injuries, $1 billion property damage, 3,600 fires, 1,100 buildings destroyed, 10,000 people arrested

Persian Gulf War• Saddam Hussein

invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990

• Claimed Kuwait was once the 25th province of Iraq

• 34 nation coalition attacked on January 17, 1991

• War ended on February 26, 1991

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow