Overview of 80s Economy by Frankie Horne

·        The U.S. had suffered a decade of stagflation in the 70’s (the simultaneous increase of unemployment and inflation), so Ronald Reagan instituted new economic policies upon his 1981 Presidential election.  

·        It focused on supply-side economics, also known as trickle-down economics

·        Reaganomics had four main pillars:

1.     Reduce the growth of government spending

2.     Reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax

3.     Reduce government regulation

4.     Control the money supply in order to reduce inflation

·        Over Reagan’s two terms from 1981 to 1988, spending was a little above average and public debt increased greatly, but both the unemployment rate and the inflation rate decreased.

·        Before Reagan, the Republican Party was not partial to supply-side economics, but his implication of it made it very popular.

1986 US Bombing of Libya by Kierra Sewell

April 15, 1986, Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised air-strikes by the US against Libya. The US Air Force and Marine Corps attacked via air-strikes in response to the 1986 Berlin bombing by Libya. Libya was a strong priority for Ronald Reagan because Gaddafi was firmly anti-Israel and had supported extremist groups in other territories such as Palestine and Syria. It was reported that Libya was attempting to become a nuclear power, which posed threats to not only those around Libya, but the rest of the world, namely the US. The US took immediate action in order to deter a later larger crisis. Gaddafi’s occupation of Chad was an issue as well, as the country had large supplies of Uranium, a major fear for the US. Gaddafi readily surrounded himself with issues for the US, again aligning himself with the Soviet Union, an every present threat to the US. The United States could not handle so much pressure coming from one country and saw no option but to attack. After the nightclub bombing by Libya in West Berlin where three people were killed and 229 were injured, the US obtained cable transcripts from agents in East Germany. The US walked away with 227 hits, 5 misses and 48 homing missiles, ending the issue once and for all. 

Political Affairs of the 80s by Kierra Sewell

Attempted Assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981, May 13^th

The first attempted assassination of the Pope was in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Though the pope narrowly escaped assassination, he did walk away from the ordeal critically wounded by Mehmet Ali Agca, the attempted assassin. The pope was struck four time and suffered severe blood loss. Agca was sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The pope later forgave Agca, in a saint-like act and was then pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the pope’s request.

Assassination Attempt on US President Reagan

The pope was not the only powerful man in the year 1981 to be almost shot. President Reagan suffered a bullet wound only a few short weeks later at the Washington Hilton Hotel in D.C. Three others were shot and wounded by John Hinkley, Jr. Reagan suffered a punctured lung and heavy internal bleeding, but quickly received medical attention, recovering quickly. When it was sure that Reagan would survive the incident, Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington.

Leisure Activities of the 80s by Emily Albrecht

Broadway revivals were important during the 80s.  Revival musicals like West Side Story, The Music Man Brigadoon, Grand Hotel, Gypsy, and The King and I were popular.   Big Hits were La Cage aux Folles,  Sunday in the Park with George Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega hits Cats Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera.  Dramas included M. Butterfly and Walk in the Woods

Movies of the 80’s                                                                     

Hit movies of the decade included On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Arthur,  Stephen Spielberg Movies  like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Big Chill,  Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Out of Africa, Back to the Future, Cocoon, The Breakfast Club,Platoon,Star Trek, Good Morning Vietnam, Fatal Attraction, Rain Man, and Driving Miss Daisy.

Popular Food of the 80’s

Some popular food places were Mcdonalds and Taco Bell. Kids were constantly seen eating candies such as Nerds, Runts, Skittles, and Sweetarts.

Fads of the 80’s

Fads of the 80’s were Smurf’s, Cabbage Patch Dolls, video games, Barbie’s, and many more.

Events

Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman Supreme Court 

Music of the 1980’s

Pop, rock, new wave, punk, country, and rap or hip hop became popular in the 80s. Rap had started at block parties in New York City and an MC calling out complex rhymes.

Popular Songs

YEAR	TITLE	ARTIST
1980	Please Don't Go - single	K.C. and the Sunshine Band
1980	The Wall - album	Pink Floyd
1981	Woman in Love - single	Stevie Wonder
1981	Greatest Hits- album	Kenny Rogers
1982	Ebony & Ivory - single	Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder
1982	Tattoo You - album	Rolling Stones
1983	Let's Dance - single	David Bowie
1983	Flashdance - album	Sound Track
1984	To All the Girls I've Loved Before - single	Julio Iglesias, Willie Nelson
1984	An Innocent Man - album	Billie Joel
1985	Night Shift - single	The Commodores
1985	Born in the U.S.A.- album	Bruce Springsteen

In 1981, Music was going to be revolutionized when MTV was created. The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video to air on the new cable television channel,

Dances were also learned on MTV such as slam dancing, lambada, and break dancing.

Fashion

Foreign Affairs of the 1980s by Nick Ross

            Throughout the 1980s, there were many events that involved the United States and many other countries all together.  Certain events had the United States directly involved with other countries, and other events forced the United States to intervene and make their presence known.  One of these events that forced the United States to act was an attack on the La Belle discotheque, which is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany; this nightclub was a main attraction for U.S. soldiers during that time.  On April 5, 1986, the nightclub was bombed by an explosive that was place underneath the DJ’s table.  Through in depth investigation, the United States found out that Libyan terrorists were behind the attack after messages from the terrorists and the East Berlin Embassy of Libya were seized.  Reagan, the president of the U.S. at the time responded by sending in airstrikes on Tripoli, Libya’s capital city and on Benghazi, which resulted in the death of 15 civilians, but more than 2,000 people were severely injured.  The message was clearly sent across that the United States was not to be trifled with.

            Another foreign affair that took place in the 1980s, was the issue with the U.S. embassy in Iran.  In 1979, Iranian civilians overran the U.S. embassy and took 52 embassy members hostage.  Six other members escaped and snuck out of the country based on a fake movie that was made up called, “Argo.”  However, as for the rest of the 52 members of the embassy, there were held hostage for over a year.  Jimmy Carter, the president of the United States at the time, wanted to get the hostages out of Iran; however, with the election of 1980 coming up, he had his mind set on Ronald Ragan, who was running against him.  During the election, Reagan won clearly, winning a much superior number of electoral votes than Carter, making him president.  Later that day, Iran announced the release of the hostages, after being stuck in Iran for more than a year.  Interestingly enough, there was a conspiracy that was formed which said that the Reagan Administration gave Iran weapons, which they needed at the time, and allowing Iran to access their monetary assets in U.S. banks.  The connection was made the Reagan helped out Iran, and in return, Iran helped out Reagan by allowing him to get “brownie point” with the people of the United States, lifting him up on a pedestal for being the president to finally get the hostages out of Iran.

      One of the more interesting foreign affairs that went on in the 80s was the Iran-Contra situation.  Basically the Reagan Administration sold weapons to Iran in hope that Iran would free the American hostages, which is what the scandal was originally intended to entail.  Iran needed guns and weapons at the time, and they thought that they could get these weapons from the U.S. and in turn they would return the hostages to the U.S.  However, the mission quickly turned into a strictly arms-for-hostages action.  Reagan also wanted to use the money made from the Iran weapon selling to help the Contras in Nicaragua.  It doesn’t look good when you trade people for weapons; this would devalue the human race in America greatly and Reagan didn’t want this to happen.  This is exactly what ended up happening though, as most of the government officials who were convicted were eventually pardoned later on.

Technology Advancements by Greg Gilbert

The 1980’s was a time for great reform for technology. There were great improvements that made lives easier for Americans. One of the first inventions of the 1980’s was the personal computers introduced by IBM in 1981. They are the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It was created by a team of engineers and designers under the direction of Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca Raton, Florida. The idea originally came in summer of 1980 by Don Estridge. The scanning tunneling microscope is an instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. Another invention that made exchanging data easier was the CD-ROM. The CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc which contains data. It made it much easier to transfer data, but it wasn’t something would use to listen to music. The name is an acronym which stands for "Compact Disc Read-only memory". Computers can read CD-ROMs, but cannot write on them. CD-ROMs are popularly used to distribute computer software, including video games and multimedia applications, though any data can be stored. Another remarkable invention was the Apple Macintosh became the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface, rather than a command-line interface. Another life changing invention was when Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.  The system was called Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1. Taking pictures was very popular during the 1980’s and an easier way to take pictures on the go was using the first disposable camera that was introduced by Fuji. The camera is a simple box camera sold with a roll of film installed, meant to be used once. Some are equipped with an integrated flash unit, and there are even waterproof versions for underwater photography. When people were bored, they would watch TV and sometimes it got frustrating watching TV because the show was not in clear High Definition. Thanks to Panasonic, the first prototype HDTV was invented as a response to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation's. Panasonic's prototype could display up to 1,125 lines of pixels, while a standard-definition TV could show only 480 lines. 

The Berlin Bombing by Greg Gilbert

We interviewed a man who was there the night of the bombing in the night club in Berlin. The man’s name is Marlin Tain. He luckily survived the horrible bombing that happened because the Libyan terrorists bombed the night club in Berlin.

The questions we asked him:

Q: “What were your reactions to the night of the bombing?”

A: “I was so shocked and this explosion came from nowhere. I was having a great time talking with one of my old friends when suddenly a huge noise came from across the building. It was horrible trying to escape the building; so many dead bodies, so much smoke.”

Q: “How has your life changed since then?”

A: “I looked at life differently after that night because things happened so quickly and I am forever grateful that I was able to escape that night.”

Q: “Compare that night to a surprised bombing from a powerful country?”

A: “Although I have not been involved in a surprised attack by a foreign country, I can say that this was not as severe as that because it did wipe out a huge amount of people. It only killed 3 and injured 200, whereas a surprised bombing can wipe out thousands.”

Q: “If you could persuade the people who bombed that club that night, what would you say?”

A: “I would tell them that there is no need to bomb the club because Berlin has not caused any harm to Libya. Berlin has caused other country problems but they did not do anything wrong that makes them deserve another bombing at an innocent club where many American soldiers are. That was what I was curious to know is if they were bombing it to try to kill American soldiers or to try and prove something to Berlin.”

Q: “If you could change anything about that night, what would you change?”

A: “I would not have gone to that club because that night was the scariest night of my life so far. I am constantly checking my surroundings now because I fear the same thing will happen again.”