By: Chris Sarcletti
* information and statistics from numerous resources
A 1980’s EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPoliticalDuring this decade, we saw our first black Presidential candidate (Jesse Jackson) in addition to our first woman vice-presidential candidate (Geraldine Ferraro). Our stock market tripled and was able to survive the massive crash of 1987. The sexual revolution encountered a major adversary when Rock Hudson died of AIDS in 1985. Prisons overflowed and violent crime rates continued to climb with the appearance of crack in 1985.
This was also the decade of cocaine as cocaine addiction was up 35% from 1985 to 1990. Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign had great influence. Toward the end of the decade, President Bush called for a kinder, gentler nation and volunteerism and contributions reached an all time high.
Families changed drastically during these years. The 80s continued the trends of the 60s and 70s - more divorces, more unmarried couples living together, more single parent families. The two-earner family was even more common than in previous decades. More women earned college and advanced degrees, married, and had fewer children.
Art, Books & LiteratureThe Eighties were a huge decade for art, art museums, and artists. Influential artists included Jasper Johns, Willem De Kooning, Keith Haring and Roy Lichtenstein. Veterans protested a Chicago Art Institute exhibit that had the flag draped on the floor. Auctions of famous art works brought record prices. Early in the decade Picasso's 'Yo' brought 5.4 million. By 1987, Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' brought $39.9 million while 'Irises" brought $53.9 million dollars!
American was reading. Popular fiction authors included espionage writers Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy. Scott Turow turned the legal thriller around and paved the way for the mega legal thrillers of the 90s, when he wrote Presumed Innocent. Of 13 books which sold over one million copies, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and Danielle Steele wrote 10 of them. Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison and John Irving, were among the most popular writers of the decade.
EducationA 1980 study by UCLA and the American Council on Education indicated that college freshmen were more interested in status, power, and money than at any time during the past 15 years. Business Management was the most popular major.
American education came under fire during the 1980s. Liberals cried out against budget cuts and rising student costs. School districts offered teachers exams and exit exams became a part of graduating for Education majors. An attempt was made to improve the teacher quality by raising salaries slightly. Efforts to censor books tripled in the eighties as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, and Catcher in the Rye were among books banned in New York State. Roget's Thesaurus banned sexist categories: mankind became humankind; countryman became country dweller. Columbia University, the last all male Ivy League school, began accepting women in 1983. President Reagan endorsed a constitutional amendment to permit school prayer. It was defeated.
Fads, Fashion & LifestyleTeam sports for kids were very popular as Eighties' mothers ran carpools after work to take their kids to cheerleading, baseball, football, soccer, gym, dance, jazz, you name it!
Nerd's became a hot commodity in the 1980s. Wealthy and brainy computer wizards like Stephen Wozniak helped as did movies like Revenge of the Nerds, Lucas and Stand by Me. TV joined the nerd ranks with ABC's hit series Head of the Class. Popular food items of the decade included popular fast food places like Taco Bell and McDonald's which introduced the McDLT and McRib sandwich during this decade. Kids loved Skittles, Nerds, Runts, Hubba Bubba Chewing Gum, and Five Alive.
Collectibles were big in the 80s. Smurf and E.T. paraphernalia, Cabbage Patch dolls, camcorders, video games (Nintendo, Pac Man, Game Boy), Rubik's Cube, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Barbies (now Hispanic, Black, Asian) were big. Also new to the 1980’s were discount air fares, light foods, aerobics, minivans and talk shows.
Major clothing influences from the 1980’s included Nancy Reagan’s elegance and Princess Diana’s love of fashion. The mini-skirt made a major revival and denim was very popular. Anne Klein, Perry Ellis, Donna Karan, and Calvin Klein were some of the big designers for the 80s. The Flashdance look had young and old in tank tops, tight-fitting pants or torn jeans, and leg-warmers. Teens not wearing designer clothes opted for Michael Jackson's glove or Madonna's fishnet stockings, leather, and chains. Image won over reality and tanning salons thrived. Sneakers were so popular and the price so high that the Los Angeles Police Department accused shoe companies of cashing in on the easy drug money picked up by inner city kids.
During the eighties, Americans continued to travel around their own country - using every mode of transportation. Trips to Colorado for a mountain vacation were popular in summer as well as winter. Traveling was often in RVs.
Music & MediaCable was born and MTV, originally intended to be promos for albums, had an enormous impact on music and young people. The digital compact disc (CD) revolutionized the music industry. Dances learned on MTV included slam dancing, lambada, and break dancing. Harlem's gay Black and Latino males imitated the beautiful jet set with their (then underground) Vogueing, a 'pose' dance popularized by Madonna incorporating the struts and stances of high fashion models.
Pop, rock, new wave, punk, country, and especially rap or hip hop became popular in the 80s. The 1980’s were undoubtedly a coming of age time period for rap and hip hop music. These types of music had started in prison 20 years earlier by jailed black inmates who, in the absence of instruments, turned poetic meter into musical rhythm and they gained massive popularity during this decade. The early rap heard on ghetto streets was abrasive and laced with hostility toward society. Early important rap artists include Grandmaster Flash, Run-D.M.C, Beastie Boys, L.L. Cool J, Curtis Blow, Ice-T, 2 Live Crew, Eric B. & Rakim, Slick Rick and N.W.A.
Theater, Film and TelevisionIn 1981, VCR sales rose 72% in 12 months. By 1989, 60 percent of American households with televisions received cable service. Huge or memorable movies of the decade included On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Arthur, E.T., The Big Chill, 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.
Broadway revivals were important during the 80s. Revival musicals like West Side Story, The Music Man, Anything Goes, Me and My Gal, Brigadoon, Grand Hotel, Gypsy, and The King and I all did well at the box office. Other memorable musicals that were popular in this decade include Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega hits Cats, Starlight Express, Les Miserables, and The Phantom of the Opera. In 1980, the American Ballet Theater turned 40 and Mikhail Baryshnikov became director.
TV innovations and trends included anti-family sitcoms like Roseanne and Married...with Children; tabloid TV with Geraldo, Phil, Sally, and Oprah; stand-up comics included Gary Shandling, Jane Curtin, George Carlin, Jackie Mason, Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, and Tracy Ullman; info-tainment included Nightline with Ted Koppel, CNN Cable News, and 20/20 with Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters. 60 Minutes which had first aired in 1968 was bigger than ever. It was a media decade with superstars.
GENERAL ECONOMIC FACTS & STATISTICSPresident
Jimmy Carter - 1980
Ronald Reagan - 1983
Ronald Reagan - 1986
George Bush - 1989
Population227,224,681 - 1980
233,791,994 - 1983
240,132,887 - 1986
246,819,230 - 1989
Life Expectancy73.7 years - 1980
74.6 years - 1983
74.7 years - 1986
75.1 years - 1989
Federal Debt
930 billion - 1980
1,410 billion - 1983
2,125 billion - 1986
2,857 billion - 1989
Inflation13.5% - 1980
7.6% -1983
1.9% - 1986
4.6% - 1989
Federal Spending
590.95 billion -1980
1371.7 billion - 1983
990.34 billion - 1986
1143.17 billion - 1989
Unemployment5.8% - 1980
9.7% - 1983
7.2% - 1986
5.5% -1989
Cost of a new Home$76,400 - 1980
$89,800 -1983
$111,900 - 1986
$148,800 - 1989
Median Household Income$17,710 - 1980
$20,885 - 1983
$24,897 - 1986
$28,906 - 1989
Cost of a regular gallon of gas$1.25 - 1980
$1.24 - 1983
$.93 - 1986
$1.12 - 1989
KEY EVENTS FROM EACH YEAR1980President Carter authorized the use of government land for the Viet Nam War Memorial.
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance resigned in opposition to a failed mission to rescue American hostages from Iran.
The doctor of the late Elvis Presley was indicted on charges of over-prescribing medication to Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Mt. St. Helens in southwest Washington erupted, killing 62 and spreading thick ash over an area of 250 square miles. A
geologist who barely escaped after monitoring the eruption said the blast was hundreds of times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The eruption toppled trees and stripped them of their bark in a national forest 20 miles from the explosion.
14 died in race riots in Miami following the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating death of a black man.
Ronald Reagan was
nominated as the Republican candidate for U.S. President. Reagan and running mate George Bush soundly defeated
Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale in the November election.
John Lennon was
murdered by a deranged fan outside his apartment building on New York's Central Park West.
Dallas was the top TV show and Hill Street Blues debuted on NBC.
1981After 444 days in captivity, 52 American hostages were released by Iran on the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president.
John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate President Reagan with a .22 handgun. The president quickly recovered from a wound to his left lung after surgery, but press secretary James Brady suffered severe brain damage.
The federal minimum wage was raised to $3.35 per hour.
President Reagan lifted a ban on commercial recycling of nuclear fuel, despite fears that the action could put weapons-grade plutonium in the hands of terrorists.
President Reagan issued an executive order giving the CIA its first full authority to conduct domestic covert operations.
The U.S. Navy shot down two Libyan jets that had fired upon them while conducting training exercises in the Gulf of Sidra.
Sandra Day O'Connor became the 1st female member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Columbia, the nation's first space shuttle, was launched April 12th.
The royal wedding of Prince Charles & Princess Diana drew more Americans to their TV sets than coverage of the assassination attempt on the president.
Walter Cronkite retired from The CBS Evening News.
The top-selling song of the year was Physical by Olivia Newton-John.
1982San Francisco banned the sale and possession of handguns.
President Reagan reinstituted draft registration for young men aged 18-21.
The president proposed a 26 billion dollar program to develop MX multiple-warhead missiles.
Seven deaths due to cyanide-filled Tylenol capsules led the government to impose new tamper-resistant packaging for over-the-counter drugs.
78 died when an Air Florida jet crashed into a bridge over the Potomac River in D.C.
154 died when a Pan Am jet crashed after takeoff in New Orleans.
22 died in flooding in Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.
The first successful artificial heart transplant took place at the University of Utah Medical Center.
Comedian John Belushi died of an overdose of cocaine and heroin.
Cats and the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors opened on Broadway.
Cheers debuted on NBC.
Elvis Presley's Memphis home, Graceland, was opened to the public.
1983The Justice Department launched an investigation of the Reagan presidential campaign's alleged 1980 theft of briefing books from President Jimmy Carter's staff.
General Motors announced a partnership with rival Toyota to produce fuel-efficient cars car for the U.S. market.
President Reagan challenged the country's weapons engineers to create a Star Wars system which would ward off a nuclear attack with armed satellites.
California's strongest earthquake in 12 years caused
massive destruction in Coalinga and western Fresno county
250,000 participated in a 20th anniversary recreation of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights March on Washington.
William Clark replaced Interior Secretary James Watt after Watt joked about minorities at a press briefing.
241 U.S. Navy and Marines personnel were killed in a suicide bombing attack in Beirut. Seven Americans were killed in embassy bomb attacks in Kuwait.
U.S. forces invaded Grenada to guard evacuations of U.S. citizens after a Marxist takeover.
As a crew member of the space shuttle Challenger,
Sally Ride became America's first woman in space.
1984President Reagan ordered the withdrawal of the U.S. Marines from Beirut.
Rev. Jesse Jackson negotiated the release of 22 Americans with Cuban premier Fidel Castro.
During an audio level check prior to his regular radio address, President Reagan joked that the U.S. had launched a nuclear attack on the Soviets. Although the remark was not broadcast on all U.S. radio stations, the Soviet Union went into a brief state of red alert because they were monitoring the White House's communications satellite channel.
For the first time, American astronauts walked un-tethered in space and repaired orbiting satellites during shuttle missions.
Singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father out of self-defense during a violent argument at the home they shared in Los Angeles. Gaye's last live performance had been his rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at the NBA All Star Game.
The U.S. re-established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican. They had been suspended in 1867.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale named Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate following his Democratic nomination.
In the largest landslide for Republicans in U.S. history, Ronald Reagan and George Bush were re-elected by winning 49 states.
The World Court labeled the U.S. as an aggressor nation as the CIA mined ports in Nicaragua.
25 died when winds raging over 100 miles per hour blew through Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota.
29 perished in 36 inches of blowing snow as fast-moving blizzards swept across Utah and Colorado.
Tornadoes in the Carolinas killed 71 and caused 400 million in damage.
Dow and several other chemical companies established the Agent Orange Fund for Viet Nam vets who had been exposed to the herbicide.
President Reagan dedicated the Viet Nam Memorial, a V-shaped wall of names designed by Yale student Maya Lang Yin.
Disneyland celebrated Donald Duck's 50th birthday.
Popular movies included Indiana Jones In the Temple of Doom and Beverly Hills Cop
Miami Vice debuted on NBC
# 1 Songs included Karma Chameleon by Culture Club, Jump by Van Halen, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!, Like A Virgin by Madonna, When Doves Cry by Prince and What's Love Got To Do With It? by Tina Turner.
1985Outdoor portions of the Reagan/Bush inauguration were canceled due to extremely cold weather. The bitter cold wave was responsible for at least 40 deaths, with record-breaking low temperatures near -25°F from the east coast to the Midwest.
13 people were charged with spying against the U.S. in the course of the year. Most were past or present members of the CIA, FBI or U.S. Navy.
Newport, Rhode Island millionaire Claus Von Bulow was found not guilty of attempting to murder his wife.
Coca Cola outraged its customers by introducing a reformulated version of the long-popular soft drink. 20 weeks later, the company announced it would bring back the old recipe under the name Coke Classic.
3 died and 300,000 were evacuated when hurricane Gloria ripped through coastal communities from North Carolina to Rhode Island.
Hurricane Juan killed 7 and created a billion dollars worth of damage along the Gulf Coast.
President Reagan and Communist Party Leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to work on a plan for strategic arms limitations at a summit meeting in Geneva.
After a long period of denial, Rock Hudson announced he was suffering from AIDS and died October 2nd. Mother Teresa dedicated an AIDS hospice in New York City on Christmas Eve.
Hit movies included Back to the Future and Cocoon.
The Cosby Show became America's #1 TV show.
From a musical perspective, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie co-wrote We Are The World, which became an all-star performance under the direction of Quincy Jones. The song and its video helped raise millions of dollars for starving children in famine-stricken Africa.
1986A sad day in our history was January 28, 1986, when space shuttle Challenger exploded 74 seconds after liftoff killing all seven astronauts, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe. The explosion was the result of reduced safety standards in an attempt to speed up the launch date.
Research money allowed for studies and new treatments for heart, cancer, and other diseases.
6 million people participated in Hands Across America, raising money for programs for the country's homeless.
25 died when a plane and helicopter collided over the Grand Canyon.
The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty took place on Independence Day. The statue had undergone a massive renovation before the event.
The surviving crewman of a plane shot down over Nicaragua confirmed that the CIA was running weapons to the Contras. Three weeks later, it was disclosed that the U.S. had been secretly selling arms to Iran. After Attorney General Ed Meece admitted that the arms proceeds were being diverted to arming the Contras, President Reagan fired security advisors Admiral John Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver North. The president insisted he had no knowledge of the operation.
President Reagan signed a relaxed gun control law which would allow interstate retail sales of rifles. Police associations had lobbied against the revised law. Former press secretary James Brady, who had been critically injured in the assassination attempt against the president in 1981, was appalled that Reagan signed the measure.
By a landslide vote, Republican Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, California.
1987During a visit to the Berlin Wall, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."
Incorrect track assignments resulted in the crash of an Amtrak passenger train into three Conrail engines in Maryland. 15 were killed and 180 were injured.
A freak blizzard blanketed the entire east coast — from Florida to Maine — with snow. Over 20 inches of snow fell in a 24-hour period in North Carolina. The storm caused 41 deaths.
7 died and 111 were injured when the Los Angeles area was rocked by a 6.1-Richter-Scale earthquake.
The worst Stock Market crash since 1929 took place on October 19th as the Dow slipped 508 points — down nearly 23%.
Congress overrode President Reagan's veto of the Clean Water Act.
The Tower Commission blamed President Reagan for failing to understand the impact of selling arms to Iran and diverting the proceeds to Contra rebels. The commission also laid blame on Chief of Staff Donald Regan, who the president fired the next day. After three months of Iran-Contra hearings conducted by a Congressional committee, Reagan was blamed for failing his constitutional duties as president in allowing aides to carry out the operations, whether or not they did so with his knowledge.
TV Evangelist Jim Bakker, who with his wife Tammy hosted the popular PTL Club, was convicted of 24 counts of fraud and resigned his role as minister within the Assemblies of God church.
28 died and 53 were injured when a Continental passenger jet broke into three pieces attempting to take off during a heavy snowstorm in Denver.
Greg LeMond became the first American to win the Tour De France
Popular movies included Fatal Attraction, Broadcast News, Moonstruck and The Last Emperor
The angst-ridden yuppie drama Thirtysomething debuted on ABC-TV. The Cosby Show was still the number one TV show.
Hit tunes included I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2, Faith by George Michael, At This Moment by Billy Vera & The Beaters (reissued after being featured in an episode of Family Ties) and Open Your Heart by Madonna.
1988Structural failure was blamed when a hole in the fuselage of a Boeing 737 over Hawaii caused a flight attendant to be sucked out of the jet.
Attorney General Ed Meece resigned after an investigation claimed he had attempted to take a bribe from a company in exchange for defense contracts.
The Puyallup Indians of Washington State were given $162 million in exchange for dropping their claim to the city of Tacoma.
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart
confessed his sins to Jesus on live TV after it was learned he had a tryst with a prostitute. His church banned him from preaching for a year.
The first shuttle since the Challenger exploded, the Discovery, was launched successfully.
John F. Kennedy, Jr. was named Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine shortly after delivering a
charismatic address to the Democratic National Convention. Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were nominated to the ticket.
On a platform which included a promise of "
no new taxes," George H. Bush won his party's nomination, with running mate Dan Quayle. A tearful
Ronald Reagan passed the torch to Bush upon his victory in November.
President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement to dismantle short-range nuclear missiles in Europe.
Eugene Mariho became the first African American bishop in the Catholic Church.
Top films included Rainman, A Fish Called Wanda and Die Hard.
The Cosby Show was the year's most popular TV show for the fourth straight year. CBS introduced Candice Bergen as Murphy Brown. Roseanne debuted on ABC and shot to number one in the weekly ratings.
Roy Orbison, enjoying a comeback as a member of the Traveling Wilburys and as a solo act, died of a heart attack at 52.
Number one musical hits included Got My Mind Set On You by George Harrison and Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin.
19893,980 were injured and 66 were killed when an earthquake measuring 6.9 shook the San Francisco-Oakland-Santa Cruz area, causing a double-tiered freeway bridge to collapse. The quake struck as the third World Series Game was about to begin at Candlestick Park. Damage to the region was estimated at 10 billion.
President Bush — who had campaigned with the promise of no tax raises — called for an increase in income taxes to help curb the deficit which had begun to snowball during the Reagan administration.
The Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound, creating the largest domestic oil spill in history. The tanker's captain, Joseph Hazelwood, was accused of drunkenness and negligence.
97% of the buildings in St. Croix were destroyed by Hurricane Hugo. The storm caused billions of dollars in damage to Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and portions of the east coast. Amazingly, only 25 lives were lost.
47 sailors died in an explosion aboard the U.S.S. Iowa.
Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry was arrested after being videotaped smoking crack cocaine in a motel room.
23 Americans were killed and over 300 were wounded after President Bush authorized an invasion of Panama in an attempt to arrest General Manuel Noriega. The invasion took place just before Christmas and Noriega surrendered just after the New Year. He was taken to the U.S. to stand trial for drug trafficking.
Baseball superstar Pete Rose was banished from the game for life by the Commissioner of Baseball. Rose had admitted to gambling on professional sports but denied the Commissioner's finding that he had bet on his own team.
Memorable Oscar Winners from the 80’sActor1980 – Robert DeNiro – Raging Bull
1982 – Ben Kingsley – Ghandi
1985 – William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman
1986 – Paul Newman – The Color of Money
1987 – Michael Douglass – Wall Street
1988 – Dustin Hoffman – Rainman
Actress1981 – Katharine Hepburn – On Golden Pond
1982 – Meryl Streep – Sophie’s Choice
1987 – Cher - Moonstruck
1988 – Jodie Foster – The Accused
1989 – Jessica Tandy – Driving Miss Daisy
Supporting Actor1980 – Timothy Hutton – Ordinary People
1982 – Louis Gosset Jr. – An Officer and a Gentleman
1983 – Jack Nicholson – Terms of Endearment
1985 – Don Ameche - Cocoon
1987 – Sean Connery – The Untouchables
1989 – Denzel Washington - Glory
Supporting Actress1982 – Jessica Lange – Tootsie
1985 – Anjelica Huston – Prizzi’s Honor
1986 – Dianne Wiest – Hannah and Her Sisters
1988 – Geena Davis – The Accidental Tourist
1988 – Dustin Hoffman - Rainman
Picture1980 – Ordinary People (over Raging Bull)
1981 – Chariots of Fire (over Raiders of the Lost Ark)
1982 – Gandhi (over E.T.)
1983 – Terms of Endearment (over The Big Chill and The Right Stuff)
1984 – Amadeus (over The Killing Fields)
1985 – Out of Africa (over The Color Purple)
1986 – Platoon (over Hannah and Her Sisters & Children of a Lesser God)
1987 – The Last Emperor (over Fatal Attraction & Broadcast News)
1988 – Rainman (over Mississippi Burning)
1989 – Driving Miss Daisy (over Born on the 4th of July & Dead Poets Society)
