Timeline 1980-2001 By emmadayton 1980 Ronald Reagan speaks to Detroit autoworkers 1980 Unemployment reaches 7.8 percent 1980 Republicans win the Senate 1980 Iraq invades Iran 1981 Congress approved a $675 billion tax cut 1981 United States experiences a severe economic recession 1981 Intermediate-range Nuclear Force (INF) Talks Mar 30, 1981 John Hinckley attempted to assasinate President Reagan 1982 Michael Jackson releases Thriller 1982 Reagan speaks to the British Parliament 1982 Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) 1982 Boland Amendment 1983 Philadelphia and Chicago elected Wilson Goode and Harold Washington- first black mayors 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) Oct 23, 1983 Suicide bomber kills 241 Marines stationed in Beirut 1984 Unemployment dropped to 7.5 percent 1984 Bernard Goetz shoots four black teenagers on a New York City subway car 1985 Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) formed 1985 Oprah Winfrey begins her talk show 1985 Neil Young and Willie Nelson organize Farm Aid 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the Soviet leader 1986 Democrats regain control of the Senate 1986 Tax Reform Act 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act 1987 Reagan nominates Robert Bork to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty 1987 President Reagan speaks at the Berlin Wall Oct 19, 1987 Stock market crashes 1988 Randall Terry founded Operation Rescue 1991 The Gulf War concludes 1991 The Soviet Union ceases to exist 1993 Clinton becomes President 1998 The House votes to impeach Clinton 2001 Bush elected president Sep 11, 2001 North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City attacked