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Trickle-Down Economics
refers to the economic proposition that taxes on businesses and the wealthy in society should be reduced as a means to stimulate business investment in the short term and benefit society at large in the long term. refers to the economic proposition that taxes on businesses and the wealthy in society should be reduced as a means to stimulate business investment in the short term and benefit society at large in the long term. -
Release of the American Hostages by Iran
The Iran hostage crisis negotiations were negotiations in 1980 and 1981 between the United States Government and the Iranian Government to end the Iranian hostage crisis. The 52 American hostages, seized from the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979, were finally released on 20 January 1981. -
1980 Election
Ronald Regan defeated Carter in the 1980 presidential election and became the 40th president along with his vice president George W. Bush -
Assassination attempt on Reagan
On March 30, 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had become obsessed. -
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) AKA Star Wars
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons. -
1984 Election
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. -
Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika
A political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s and is widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost policy reform. -
The “Reagan Doctrine”
Reagan began his foreign policy comments with the dramatic pronouncement that, “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few; it is the universal right of all God’s children.” America’s “mission” was to “nourish and defend freedom and democracy.” “Support for freedom fighters is self-defense.” -
Iran-Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. A secret operation in which the US government secretly sent weapons to a known enemy and sent financial aid to a rebel force. Both of those actions were illegal. -
AIDS
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the outbreak of HIV and AIDS swept across the United States and the rest of the world, though the disease originated decades earlier. January 16: The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that more people were diagnosed with AIDS in 1985 than in all earlier years combined. -
The Challenger Disaster
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a fatal incident in the United States space program that occurred on Tuesday, January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. -
1988 Election
The United States election of 1988 featured an open primary for both major parties. Ronald Reagan, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the Democrats nominated Michael Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts. Bush capitalized on a good economy, a stable international stage and on Reagan's popularity. -
Unraveling of the Soviet Bloc
The unraveling of the Soviet Bloc began in Poland in June 1989. ... By the fall of 1989, East and West Germans were tearing down the Berlin Wall with pickaxes. Communist regimes were ousted in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. -
Operation Desert Storm
The Gulf War, codenamed Operation Desert Shield for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm in its combat phase -
Collapse of the U.S.S.R
Dissolution of the Soviet Union into fifteen independent republics and numerous self-proclaimed states Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States Numerous military conflicts and ethnic clashes unfold during and after the dissolution Republics move to adopt free-market economies
