Feb 22, 1980 – Miracle on Ice
U.S. Hockey team defeats the Soviet Union during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The team from the Soviet Union, which had been playing together for many years, played against a group of college students from the United States. In an exhibition game three days before the Olympics began, the Soviet Union defeated the young Americans 10-3.
The United States and the Soviet Union were at crucial high point in the Cold War. The victory by the United States over the Soviet Union was a great boost in U.S. dominance in the world’s eyes.
June 23, 1980 – Mr. Tollefson’s Birth
Sept 25, 1981 – Gender Barrier Broken
Sandra Day O-Connor becomes the first female to be a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. She studied at Stanford for her law degree and received it in two years, one year sooner than the usual three. She graduated third in a class of one hundred and two. She became the 102nd member of the Supreme Court.
She proved that women were able to hold positions in government that previously had not been held. She surprised people by stating clearly that the Supreme Court’s responsibility was to interpret, not legislate, the law.
Dec 2, 1982 – Artificial Heart Transplantation
A permanent artificial heart is implanted in a human for first time in Dr. Barney B. Clark, age 61, at University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. He was not able to receive a real heart due to medical complications. This breakthrough, the Jarvik-7, was intended to last a lifetime. Mr. Clark only survived for 112 days after the transplant.
Inventions like the Jarvik-7 move doctors closer to their goal of keeping all patients alive. This invention also gives people the ability to survive where previously they would have not had a chance.
June 18, 1983 – First Woman in Space
Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space. On this mission, two communications satellites were deployed as well as a variety of experiments, including one studying affects of space on social behavior of an ant colony in zero gravity.
A new barrier is broken for women. Even though the space program is relatively young at this time, barriers between genders were still prevalent and this marked a step to tear them down.
Apr 23, 1984 – AIDS Virus Discovered
The groundbreaking discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), was announced in Washington by US Secretary of Health, Margaret Heckler. The earliest known case of any type of HIV in a human was from a blood sample collected in 1959 from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Scientists applauded the discovery of the virus as a major breakthrough in research on the deadly disease that was sweeping through the United States and the rest of the world.
There are several teams of scientists working on vaccines in different parts of the world. The results of some of the studies, including the South African Antiretroviral Vaccine Initiative (SAARVI) are very promising but it will be several years before a vaccine is likely to be available. Currently there is no cure for this deadly disease.
Mar 11, 1985 – Gorbechav Becomes Soviet Leader
After the death of Secretary General Cherenenko, Mikhail Gorbachev was named the new leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev represented a younger generations of Soviet leaders, and began a series of reforms aimed at invigorating the Communist system in the Soviet Union, while at the same time improving relations with the West.
The nuclear arms race between the US and Soviet Union as well as the Cold War begins to decline. The belief that the world will be a safe place becomes a reality.
Jan 28, 1986 – Challenger Explosion
The space shuttle Challenger and seven astronauts (including school teacher Christa McAuliffe) launched from the Kennedy Space Center. As millions of people around the world watched on TV, the Challenger exploded 73 seconds into the flight. The explosion was a result of a leak in one of the two Solid Rocket Boosters that ignited the main liquid fuel tank. Everyone on board died instantly.
The United States was filled with sadness as well as a concern over what could have caused such a tragedy. NASA needed to prove once again that its projects were appropriate for the large amounts of money needed as well as the possible cost of human life.
Dec 8, 1987 – US and USSR Meet
President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Washington D.C. for the signing of the I.N.F. (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) treaty marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. I.N.F. was the first treaty to eliminate a complete class of weapons. It was also the first treaty to include an in-depth verification program.
The I.N.F. treaty convinced many that it was possible to achieve a new set of agreements with the Soviets. As a result, Soviets were able to quicken the pace of what was known as "glasnost" (openness and reform). Glasnost would ultimately cause the end of the Soviet empire
Nov 8, 1988 – George H.W. Bush Elected President
Bush defeated Dukakis in the general election and became the first incumbent vice president to win election since Martin Van Buren in 1836. He set a record for the number of women appointed to top federal posts. His inaugural address called for a “kinder, gentler nation” and invoked a campaign image of a “thousand points of light.”
Bush had to deal with many new problems both foreign and domestic. Not only did troubles between the US and Iraq begin but also concerns of “new taxes” and raises in the minimum wage.
Nov 9, 1989 – Berlin Wall Falls
The Berlin Wall, which was the border separating Western and Eastern Germany, was torn down. The fall of the Berlin Wall will always be seen as a symbol for the end of the Cold War (the military rivalry that stopped short of full-scale war, between the United States and Soviet Union following World War II). Since August of 1961, the people of Eastern Berlin had been trapped by the Soviet Union and not allowed to leave the city.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fear of nuclear war that had plagued the world for almost 45 years was now at an end. People who had been separated from family for many years were able to start their lives over again.
Aug 2, 1990 – Hussein Invades Kuwait
More than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers backed up by 700 tanks invaded the Gulf state of Kuwait in the early hours of this morning. In recent weeks Iraq had accused Kuwait of flooding the world market with oil and has demanded compensation for oil produced from a disputed oil field on the border of the two countries. In 1961, Kuwait became
"independent", again because Britain declared it to be so, and Iraq massed troops at the border, backing down when the British dispatched their own forces. Subsequent Iraqi regimes never accepted the legitimacy of this state of affairs, making similar threats in the 1970s, even crossing a half-mile into Kuwait in 1976, but Baghdad was also open to a compromise with Kuwait under which Iraq would gain access to its former islands in the Gulf
The United States became involved in its first conflict with Iraq with an attempt to help maintain democracy and freedom for the people of Kuwait. The troubles with Iraq would continue into the new millennium where the U.S. would again send its army in to stop Saddam Hussein from harming the people of and around his country.
Mar 3, 1991 – Rodney King Beaten by Police
Rodney King, on parole for a robbery conviction, led police on a high speed pursuit. King had a record for drunk-driving but the officers involved testified that they believed him to be under the influence of the narcotic PCP. Four police officers were videotaped tasering and striking a prone King who was said to be “resisting arrest”.
The incident raised a public outcry among those who believed it was a racially motivated and gratuitous attack. The police officers were put on trial for the assault. The jury verdict of not guilty triggered massive rioting in Los Angeles, which lasted for 4 days. By the time the police, Soldiers, Marines and National Guard restored order, there was nearly $1 billion in damage, with "55 deaths; 2,383 injuries; more than 7000 fire responses; 3,100 businesses damaged." Smaller riots occurred in other U.S. cities.
June 29, 1992 – Supreme Court Reaffirms Abortion Rights
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms the core holdings of Roe v. Wade. The Court modifies it by discarding the trimester scheme, upholding certain restrictions on abortion, and adopting the "undue burden" test of abortion laws that requires opponents of an abortion regulation to prove the provision would create an "undue burden" on a woman's right to abortion in order for it to be declared unconstitutional. The vote is 6-3.
The right a woman has to her body and ability to terminate a pregnancy is upheld. With this decision the Supreme Court retains that individual rights are more important than the control of the government over life.
Feb 28, 1993 – Firefight in Waco, Texas
On February 28, 1993, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) launched the largest assault in its history against a small religious community in central Texas. Approximately eighty armed agents invaded the compound, purportedly to execute a single search and arrest warrant against David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound. The raid went badly; six Branch Davidians and four agents were killed, and after a fifty-one-day standoff, the United States Justice Department approved a plan to use tear gas against those barricaded inside. Tanks carrying the tear gas entered the compound. Later that day, fire broke out, and all seventy-four men, women and children inside perished.
Concerns of cultism begin to rise in the United States as well as if the government is overstepping its bounds because of its actions in Waco.
June 17, 1994 – O.J. Simpson Arrested for Murder
He was a suspect in double murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. His capture came after a strange low-speed chase by police on LA freeways, broadcast on live TV from helicopter cameras, with Simpson and Cowlings in a now-infamous white Ford Bronco. In a long and very public trial, Simpson was acquitted on Oct. 3, 1995 by a Los Angeles jury in criminal trial but forced to make financial reparations after losing wrongful death suit.
The acquittal of Simpson brought racial tensions to a new level in the United States as well as the belief that celebrity status has its perks when facing criminal charges. This case also brought the concern over domestic disputes to a more conscientious level from a legal standpoint.