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The 1980s was an era of tremendous population growth around the world, surpassing the 1970s and 1990s, and arguably being the largest in human history. During the 1980s, the world population grew from 4.4 to 5.3 billion people. There were approximately 1.33 billion births and 480 million deaths.
The 1980s have been called “the decade of decadence,” and one of the era’s most notable movie characters, Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko, famously declared that “greed is…good.” But the decade was about more than just excess. It was a period marked by defining events that continue to resonate.
- Reagan Revolution
- Reaganomics
- Reagan Doctrine
- Fall of Communism
- Yuppie Culture
- Movies in The 1980s
- Television in The 1980s
- Music in The 1980s
- Fashion in The 1980s
- Aids Crisis
The populist conservative movement known as the New Right enjoyed unprecedented growth in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It appealed to a diverse assortment of Americans including evangelical Christians, anti-tax crusaders, advocates of a more powerful American presence abroad, disaffected white liberals and defenders of a free market with few if ...
Reagan advocated for industrial deregulation, reductions in government spending and tax cuts for both individuals and corporations, as part of an economic plan he and his advisors referred to as “supply-side economics.” His economic and social agenda was largely shared by his across-the-pond friend, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The res...
Like many other American leaders during the Cold War, Reagan believed that the spread of communismanywhere threatened freedom everywhere. As a result, his administration was eager to provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments and insurgencies around the world. This policy, applied in nations including Grenada, El Salvador and N...
While Reagan and Thatcher trumpeted the march of conservative politics and capitalism, the foundations of communism grew increasingly shaky. In Poland, former electrician Lech Walesa led striking workers to form Solidarity, the first labor union to develop in a Soviet bloc nation. In 1980, representatives of the communist government of Poland agree...
In some respects, the popular culture of the 1980s reflected the era's political conservatism. For many people, the embodiment of the decade was the young, urban professional, or “yuppie,” a baby boomer with a college education, a good-paying job and expensive taste. Many people derided yuppies for being self-centered and materialistic, and surveys...
Unlike the 1970s, when hard-hitting movies addressed controversial subjects, lighthearted fare seemed to reign supreme in the 1980s. Films like “Ghostbusters,” “Die Hard,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” kept audiences enthralled and box office receipts high. The decade was also the era when blockbusters dominated: Movies li...
At home, millions watched family sitcoms like “The Cosby Show,” “The Simpsons,” “thirtysomething” “Family Ties,” “Roseanne” and “Married...with Children.” They also skipped broadcast network fare and watched rented movies on their new VCRs. By the end of the 1980s, broadcast networks realized they were in serious trouble as 60 percent of American t...
The music videos MTV played made stars out of bands like Duran Duran, R.E.M. and Culture Club and megastars out of artists like Madonna, Prince, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, whose elaborate "Thriller" video helped sell 600,000 albums in the five days after its first broadcast. Later, MTV became a forum for those who went against the grain o...
In addition to serving as a platform for music, MTV also influenced fashion: People across the country (and around the world) did their best to copy the hairstyles and fashions they saw in music videos. Soon, musicians like Madonna, MC Hammer and Boy George also became style icons. But behind the gloss of MTV, another influence grew in both music a...
In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources began reporting on an outbreak of unusual health conditions in otherwise healthy, young gay men in New York City, San Franciscoand other urban areas. Within a few years, an alarmed public learned about the spread of a deadly infectious disease now known as AIDS, or Acqu...
- 1980. Political Events in the Year 1980. Iran-Iraq war began on September 22, 1980. It is also widely known as the First Persian Gulf war. Ronald Reagan was elected as President of the United States.
- 1981. Political Events in the Year 1981. Hostages taken captive from the US embassy in Tehran were finally released by Iran on January 20, 1981 after a total of 444 days.
- 1982. Political Events in the Year 1982. Great Britain and Argentina were at war. Argentina invaded Falkland Islands. Canada gained complete independence. Reverend Sun Myung Moon married 2,075 couples at the Madison Square Garden.
- 1983. Political Events in the Year 1983. Hindu-Muslim riots in Assam, India claimed 1,500 lives. US Embassy was bombed in Beirut, Lebanon by a suicide bomber truck weighing 400 pounds.
- Jennifer Rosenberg
- 1980. The first year of the decade was memorable for political drama, cable TV, and games we couldn't keep our hands off of. Arcades were jammed with people playing a new video game called Pac-Man.
- 1981. By 1981, homes and offices were beginning to adapt to new technologies. If you had cable TV you probably were watching MTV after it began broadcasting in August.
- 1982. The big news in 1982 literally was the news when USA Today, with its colorful graphics and short articles, made headlines as the first nationwide newspaper.
- 1983. The year that saw the birth of the Internet also saw volcanic eruptions and aircraft tragedies; the first woman in space and that holiday season craze of the Cabbage Patch Kids.
The 1980s was an era defined by conservative politics, the rise of computer technology, the AIDS crisis and the end of the Cold War, as well as 1980s fashion and music.
1981. What Happened in 1981 History. Lady Diana Spencer and Charles the Prince of Wales are married. The cable network MTV (Music Television) is launched. The AIDS virus is identified in the United States by scientists. Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian President, is assassinated.
