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This was the time period of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, who was the 40th president of the United States.
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On March 30, 1981, Reagan survived an assassination attempt by a mentally unstable young man named John Hinckley. Public support swelled for the hospitalized president.
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Few cable channels so captured the popular imagination as MTV, which debuted on August 1, 1981. Telegenic artists like Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson skillfully used MTV to boost their reputations and album sales.
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On November 30, 1982, pop singer Michael Jackson released Thriller, the best-selling album of all time.
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This was the time period of the presidency of George Bush, who was the 41st president of the United States.
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On December 25, 1991, soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his office, declaring that the Soviet Union no longer existed.
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This was the time period of the presidency of William Clinton, who was the 42nd president of the United States.
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On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen operatives of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked four passenger planes on the East Coast. They then crashed them into various locations and killed nearly three thousand Americans in a matter of hours.