1980s Flashcards
The Iran hostage crisis
Iranian college students took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days, making Carter look weak, they were released when Reagan was being sworn in.
Canadian Caper
The joint U.S.-Canadian effort in 1980 to save a handful of hostages from the Iranian embassy, immortalized in the film “Argo.”
New Mexico State Penitentiary riot
A sickeningly violent 1980 prison riot.
Abscam
A 1980 FBI sting operation in which agents posed as rich oil sheiks and bribed members of Congress.
Miracle on Ice
The 1980 victory of the American men’s ice hockey team over their Soviet challengers.
1980 Olympics
Pres. Carter announced that the U.S. would boycott these Moscow-held games.
Silver Thursday
A steep fall in silver prices occurring in 1980.
Mariel boatlift
A mass exodus of Cuban immigrants to Florida occurring in the year 1980.
Operation Eagle Claw
A fatal flawed opperation planned by Pres. Carter in 1980 to try and rescue the Iranian hostages, but instead resulted in a number of deaths.
Arthur McDuffie
A black man whose death at the hands of four acquitted white officers resulted in the 1980 Miami riots.
Pac-Man
A phenomenally popular arcade game released in America in 1980.
1980 Democratic Primary
Sen. Ted Kennedy almost overtook incumbent Pres. Carter.
1980 United States heat wave
This deadly heat wave occurred during Carter’s presidency, furthering the depressed mood of the nation.
Soviet war in Afghanistan
After the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1980, Pres. Carter proclaimed that all 19-21 year old men must register for a peacetime draft.
Equal Rights Amendment
A proposed constitutional amendment that failed to be ratified in time as a result of the campaigning of antifeminist lawyer Phyllis Schlafly. In 1980, the Republican Party officially dropped its support for the amendment.
The Religious Right
A group which propelled Reagan into the White House by taking socially conservative positions.
Unabomber
Ted Kaczynski was the target of one of the FBI’s costliest investigations. He sent multiple bombs to locations killing 3 people and injuring 23 in all.
Ordinary People
A 1980 film depicting the disintegration of a middle class family.
Staggers Rail Act
1980 law that deregulated the railroads.
United States presidential election, 1980
Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in an electoral landslide, by attacking Carter’s failures in the Iran hostage crisis, as well as rising inflation and unemployment.
Reagan Revolution
The conservative realignment of American politics that took place in 1980, signalled by the Republicans taking control of the Congress for the first time in years.
Who shot J. R.?
A 1980 episode of the TV show “Dallas” that was a culturally significant moment.
Mark David Chapman
The assassin of John Lennon.
Superfund
1980 law which empowered the EPA to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances as well as broadly define “pollutants or contaminants.”