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.
Pac-Man
A phenomenally popular arcade game released in America in 1980.
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.
John Hinckley, Jr.
The man who tried to shoot President-Elect Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster.
AIDS
A disease emerging in the 1980s that seemed to only affect gay men. It crippled the gay rights movement, empowered the homophobic right, and killed a whole generation of men. Pres. Reagan and the FDA were criticized for not doing enough during the 1980s.
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse
Over 200 died in this 1981 tragedy, which changed the way architecture is taught and practiced.
Adam Walsh
A figure in the missing children’s movement after he was murdered in 1981.
MTV
An influential TV channel which premiered in 1981, playing music videos.
The air-traffic controllers strike
In 1981 Pres. Reagan fired over 11,000 air-traffic controllers after they didn’t comply with his demand for them to go back to work.
Chicago Tylenol murders
A series of 1982 poisonings that lead to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws.
Thriller
Michael Jackson’s 1982 album that was the biggest selling of all time.
Artificial heart
A medical device first employed in 1982.
Star Wars
Pres. Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, plan proposed in 1983 to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons.
Sally Ride
In 1983, she became the first woman and LGBT person in space.
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
A commercial airliner shot down in 1983 by the USSR, killing a U.S. Congressman. The Soviet government claimed the plane was on a spy mission, but the American consensus was that the Soviets were trying to provoke a war. It was one of the tensest moments of the Cold War, caused the Reagan administration to allow worldwide access to the U.S. military’s GPS technology.
