1980s

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The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. In the United Kingdom particularly, this decade is often referred to as "the Me decade" and "the Greed decade", reflecting the economic and social climate. In the United States and UK, "yuppie" entered the lexicon, referring to the well-publicized rise of a new middle class within the upper economic strata. College graduates in their late 20s/30s were entering the workplace in prestigious office professions, holding more purchasing power in trendy, luxurious goods.

Much of the 1980s were characterized by social conservatism throughout the world. This was due to the rise in the cost of living in the wake of the previous decade's oil shock, the influence of Reaganomics in the USA and Thatcherism in the UK and the 1980s 'debt crisis' of the third world. However, the late 1980s played host to several dramatic events with an ethos of hope for change— in what came to be called as the Autumn of Nations and also as "the purple passage of the late 1980s". The Autumn of Nations led towards the withdrawal of Soviet troops at the conclusion of the Soviet-Afghan War, fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Cold War. The era was characterized by the blend of conservative family values alongside a period of increased telecommunications, shift towards liberal market economies and the new openness of perestroika and glasnost. This transitional passage also saw massive democratic revolutions such as the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China, the Czechoslovak velvet revolution, and the overthrow of the dictatorial regime in Romania and other communist Warsaw Pact states in Central and Eastern Europe. These changes continued to be felt in the 1990s and on into the 21st century.

The 1980s was also an era of tremendous population growth around the world, comparable only to the 1970s or 1990s to being among the largest in human history. This growth occurred not only in developing regions but also developed western nations, where many newborns were the offspring of the largely populated Baby Boomers.

Significant events

Several significant events occurred around 1980 which influenced the course of history and character of the 1980s:

• The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.
• The creation of a non state-sponsored, pan-Islamic Militancy (Jihadism), that was organized, trans-national, fundamentalist, and effective, in the Middle East and South Asia, that quickly followed.
• Saddam Hussein ascended to power as the 5th Iraqi President in the summer of 1979.
• The fall of the tyrannical Shah, who had been maintained in power by the United States, and then the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the Iran Hostage Crisis that followed.
• The election of Ronald Reagan as American President in 1980.
• The rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland in 1981.

Significant events that marked the passing of the decade include:

• The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
• The Tiananmen Square Massacre that brought about world popular opinion against communist China in June 1989.
• The release of Nelson Mandela from prison in February 1990 ushering in the fall of Apartheid.
• The US army invasion of Panama on December 1989.
• The Gulf War when Iraq invades Kuwait in August 1990.
• Margaret Thatcher's period as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom spanned the entire period, from 1979 to 1990.
• Ronald Reagan's presidency lasted from 1981, a year after the decade began, to 1989, a year before the decade ended.

Politics

Like the 1960s, this decade was an era of change, characterized by political and economic decentralization, especially in countries with mixed economies. Political events the 1980s culminated in the toppling of military governments and authoritarian regimes, as well as the downfall of the military juntas of Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. In most of the third world, the decade was characterized by debt crisis that began in 1982, with Mexico leading the developing world in poor economic health throughout the decade. Other third world powers like India began to experiment with free market economics, showing comparatively good results.

In the United States, the 1980s were symbolized by the presidency of Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989 (a period termed the "Reagan Years") as it epitomized the rise of conservatism as the dominant creed in American political and cultural life. This extended somewhat into the early 1990s, but the recession of the late-1980s and early-1990s caused significant backlash against then-president George H.W. Bush and the Republican Party. Some historians may feel the 1980s' economic policy of "Reaganomics" gave more power to corporate businesses while weakening the country's working-class and worsened conditions in US inner-cities under the illegal drug epidemic where rampant homelessness became a common sight on American streets.

War

• Cold War peaks; fall of the Iron Curtain. Roughly defined as Communism versus Capitalism, or USA versus USSR (via proxy war in third-world countries.)
• Jimmy Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow; most Eastern Bloc countries boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when the US Olympic team dominated, winning the most medals.
• Solidarity movement in Poland launched in 1981. It eventually topples the country's Communist regime.
• Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, derided as "Star Wars." Deploys Pershing missiles in Western Europe to counter the Soviet SS-20, to some protests, especially by anti-war and anti-nuclear activists in western Europe in 1983-1987.
• Three Soviet Premiers die in rapid succession: Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko.
• American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visits Russia after writing to Yuri Andropov and becomes involved in the growing peace movement between East and West before her death in 1985.
• Mikhail Gorbachev introduces Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union in 1986-1989 to eventually reform communism.
• Fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany in 1989, enabling German reunification the following year.
• Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia.
• Revolution in Romania; president Nicolae Ceauşescu is executed by firing squad.
• Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi tackles a growing Sikh insurgency and the Khalistan movement. She orders Operation Blue Star on the Holy Golden Temple. She is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
• Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the late Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
• Soviet fighter jets shoot down the civilian carrier Korean Air Flight 007 in 1983, leading to a high point in international tensions.
• U.S President Ronald Reagan decides to invade Grenada in 1983 and depose the nascent hard-line communist government.
• The United States launches a covert war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
• El Salvador suffers a 12-year civil war between the conservative government—aided heavily by the United States—and the leftist coalition of the FMLN. This period includes the El Mozote Massacre, in which some 900 civilians were killed, and the assassinations of Archbishop Óscar Romero and Herbert Ernesto Anaya, head of the Salvadoran Human Rights Commission.
• President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia dies on March 4, 1980.
• Over 120,000 flee Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift.
• An international human rights summit agreed to outlaw any use of torture and false imprisonment was ratified by over 120 countries, although unclear if the United States took part, in 1987.
• The continued rise of Islamic Fundamentalism following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and Ayatollah Khomeini rules for a decade until his death in June 1989.
• The Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988 causes an estimated one million deaths, while the US quietly took sides with Iraq under dictator Saddam Hussein, because of US opposition to Iran under Khomeini.
• Israel invades Lebanon in 1982; Israel drops bombs in Iraq in 1982 to destroy their chemical and nuclear weapons programs. A suicide bomber kills 241 U.S. marines stationed there as peacekeepers.
• In 1985, a radical Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) offshoot called the Palestine Liberation Front hijacks the Achille Lauro, a cruise ship, and shoots the wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, throwing him overboard.
• Middle-eastern terrorist groups such as Abu Nidal's Black September and Hezbollah rise to prominence in Western attention.
• The release of Americans held hostage in Iran occurs on January 20, 1981, the same day Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the president of the United States, as his negotiations with hostage leaders in the term's first hours.
• In 1988, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa urging the killing of author Salman Rushdie, whose book The Satanic Verses incensed hard-line Muslims in many countries.
• Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, United Kingdom. Two Libyan nationals indicted by a special court representing the UK but held in the Netherlands are finally extradited by Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2003.
• Several military dictatorships fell or faced destabilization attempts
• Large protests in the Philippines topples the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship in 1986; military rule ends after protests in Argentina in 1983, in South Korea in 1987, and in Peru in early 1990.
• Under George H. W. Bush, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and regular army invade Panama in 1989 to overthrow Manuel Noriega.
• The Reagan administration bombs Libya in 1986 in response to alleged Libyan support for attacks on U.S. servicemen in Europe. One of the casualties is Gaddafi's adopted infant daughter.
• King Juan Carlos of Spain prevents a military coup in 1981. Spain joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1982; it joined the European Union with Portugal in 1986.
• In Chile, dictator Augusto Pinochet forms a new constitution, holds a referendum on rule and loses. Democracy is restored by 1989 and a civilian president took office in March 1990.
• Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism dominate British politics.
• The "Reagan Revolution", beginning with the 1980 presidential election, introduces so-called neoconservatives to Washington.
• In 1981, François Mitterrand becomes France's President, the most politically successful Socialist in French history. His 14-year rule ends in 1995.
• Helmut Kohl is elected in West Germany in 1982, leading to the defeat of the anti-deployment movement; in the 1990s he becomes the longest serving Chancellor of Germany so far (Kohl's rule expired in 1998).
• The Falklands War is waged; Argentina invades and occupies the Falkland Islands in 1982 but is subsequently defeated by the United Kingdom.
• P.W. Botha suppresses anti-apartheid activists; international boycotts of South Africa continue, but reforms arrived in January 1990.
• The Soviet Union ends its disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan by July 1988.
• Vietnam continues its military occupation of Cambodia by March 1989, democracy slowly returns to Cambodia in 1990-1991.
• Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is exposed as a former Nazi.
• In Europe, especially in 1989, there was a rise of alleged neo-fascist politicians, such as (Le Pen in France, Schönhuber/Republikaner in Germany, Haider in Austria), parallel to a rise of Green parties and leftist anti-racist activism, such as SOS Racisme in France. Racist skinhead gangs emerged in the UK and North America, targeting racial minorities, homosexuals, leftists and immigrants.
• Violence culminated in Malta after the murder of Raymond Caruana. The entry of Nationalist supporters into the southern village of Zejtun was restricted.
• Sicily, Italy was swept by mafia violence in the mid-1980s, and Italian police stepped in to curtail the power of organized crime by 1993.
• The Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French secret service agents.
• The Samuel Doe regime took power in Liberia - 1980.
  • Provisional Irish Republican Army factions and terrorism continued in Northern Ireland.

Economics

• In developing countries the decade was charactized by a debt crisis of enormous magnitude that began in 1982 when Mexico declared that it cannot pay back its debts. Structural adjustment programs, driven by World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were another essential feature to developing countries, some are quite severe. Mexican and other third world immigration into the US grew in the 1980s as a result.

• Reaganomics, Thatcherism, and Rogernomics. Parts of the US economy grew from these newly-implanted economic policies that radically reshaped the way big business is done.
• Gordon Gecko, the fictitious villain from the 1986 drama Wall Street unfortunately became the icon of 1980s economic executives in a more deregulated corporate US economy.
• In the United States the longest bull market in history begins in 1983; Dow Jones Industrial Average passes 2000 point milestone January 8, 1987, but started to slow and decline in the late 1980s.
• OPEC controls slip; petroleum prices collapse below $10 per barrel by mid-1986, devastating oil-producing nations such as Mexico and Venezuela, but American consumers admired the $1 a gallon average price in the late 1980s, but increased after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
• U.S. Midwest Farm Crisis 1981–1985, especially affected the Midwest US and Southeast US regions.
• U.S. rust belt industrial cities are impacted by the fall of manufacturing demand, as thousands of factories and plants closed for good or shipped workers' jobs overseas to countries with lower business costs.
• California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Texas are the top five economic boom states in the 1980s, but California will be rocked by high state business taxes, the closure of vital aerospace and aviation plants and stagnant economic growth from 1988 to 1995.
• East Asian Tigers' share of world trade rises significantly, with China, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan leading the way.
• U.S. balance of trade falls into chronic deficit; populists criticize trade relations with Japan, which became a gigantic rival in global economic power.
• Stockmarkets across the world crash on Black Monday, October 19, 1987. The New York Stock Exchange suffers its largest one-day stock market drop in history. Not as harsh stock market drops have been called Black Tuesday and Black Thursday.
• Late 1980s recession, continued onto the early-1990s. It wasn't as severe like the early-1980s recession that began in the mid-1970s. In the US and Europe, unemployment claims and poverty rates jumped.

Technology

The 1980s are considered to be the transition between the industrial and information ages. The petroleum supply disruptions which had marked the 1970s were not repeated, and new oil-field discoveries boosted supply and helped keep energy prices relatively low during most of the decade. The 1980s saw rapid developments in numerous sectors of technology which defined the modern consumer world. Electronics such as personal computers, gaming systems, the first commercially available hand-held mobile phones, and new audio and data storage technologies such as the compact disc are all still prominent well into the 2000s. On the strength of their high-technology industries, the Japanese economy soared to record highs in the 1980s.

In personal computing and electronics, the bulletin board system (BBS) gained popularity, compact discs were introduced in 1983 and Walkmans, VHS videocassette recorders, and cassette players became popular in households in developed countries. Also in electronics, the first commercial hand-held mobile phone was released in 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. The Apple Macintosh was introduced in January 1984 and became the first commercially successful computer to use a graphical user interface. Several other computers were introduced in the 1980s including the IBM PC, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and BBC Micro. In software, Microsoft released the first versions of the Windows operating system, which would later dominate the operating system market into the 1990s and 2000s. New digital technology contributed to the popularity of synthesizers in electronic music.

In the United Kingdom, inventor Sir Clive Sinclair introduced the C5 transport vehicle in 1985, but it was a massive flop and a commercial disaster.

Interest in space exploration declined as the space shuttle takes precedence. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 pass Saturn in 1980 and 1981 respectively. Voyager 2 goes on to give the first up-close looks at Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989). Japan and Europe have their first ventures into interplanetary exploration with the launches of Giotto, Sakigake, and others in the "Halley Armada". The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, aboard USS Columbia launched in 1981; and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred in 1986, the same year the Soviet Union launched the space station Mir.

The accident at Chernobyl nuclear reactor occurs in April 1986, becoming the world's worst nuclear accident ever.

Science

• AIDS, detected in a group of American homosexual men, is first announced to global conscience in June 1981. By 1985-1986 it is declared a pandemic as it spreads across sub-saharan Africa.
• Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN.
• Development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Colin Mullins and Heinrich Rohrer.
• Discovery of the Carbon allotrope fullerene.
• Geneticist Dr Alec Jeffreys develops DNA fingerprinting, which becomes highly beneficial to crime-fighting.
• American chemist Kary Mullis discovered polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which became the basis of genetic fingerprinting and one of the key tools for all sorts of work with genetics.

Trends

• Political correctness becomes a concern in mainstream politics.
• American Conservatism peaks in 1984, but nearly declines in 1990.
• Social attitudes of the White American majority toward African Americans ease, showing more tolerance for people of color. This goes for every other ethnic, racial and national minority, probably the majority of people are baby boomers who changed these attitudes. The 1980s is a time when bigotry was passe and prejudice lost moral acceptance, and multi-culturalism became popularized.
• The rise of right-wing talk radio began by Rush Limbaugh from his flagship station, WABC in New York City in 1986, before he became nationally syndicated by 1989. Limbaugh and other conservative talk shows changed much of public opinion on divisive national politics to this day.
• Gay issues rise to public awareness through the tabloid talk show genre popularized by Oprah Winfrey which gave gays, bisexuals, and transvestites an unprecedented degree of high impact media visibility, the Bowers v. Hardwick Supreme Court decision, openly gay pop stars such as Boy George, Dead Or Alive and the Pet Shop Boys, and the increased consciousness of the AIDS epidemic and its perception as a "gay disease."
• Women's Liberation movement increases women's role in the workplace, and establishes new precedents for US women. As a carry-over from the 1970s, more and more women take to calling themselves "Ms." versus "Mrs." or "Miss." The same occurs in Germany, with women choosing "Frau" instead of "Fraulein" in an effort to remove marital status from title. In most western countries, women had the option to keep their maiden name after marriage, like Canada, where the law no longer automatically changes women's last names unlike in the US.
• Child abuse gains public attention as rampant child molestation brings great concern to parents and teachers.
• Social welfare for handicapped children, no longer forced into obscurity, teasing or mental institutions.
• No-Fault divorce laws pave the way for increased divorce rate, as depicted in the movie, Irreconcilable Differences and divorce is now widely acceptable in western countries. "Family values" conservatives respond by objecting to divorce, among other moral and cultural issues.
• National safety campaigns raise awareness of seat belt use to save lives in automobile accidents, helping to make the measure mandatory in most countries and US states by 1990. Similar efforts to push child safety seats and bike helmet use, mandatory in a number of US states and some countries, arise as well.
• Alcohol education and drug education expands, bringing about movements such as M.A.D.D., Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign and D.A.R.E.. By 1990, every state in the US officially declares the drinking age 21, the only country to ever do so.
• Rejection of smoking, perceived as unhealthy and deadly than in previous decades, increases amongst Americans following a 1984 reconfirmation by the US Surgeon General reinstating the 1964 warning of cigarettes. "Smoking" and "non-smoking" sections in American restaurants become common, state efforts to combat underage smoking intensify (the ban of cigarette sales to minors under age 18 being one such example), and acknowledgment of smoking-related birth defects becomes more common.
• Opposition to nuclear power plants further grows, especially after the catastrophic 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine, the USSR sending a cloud of radiation fallout across most of Eastern Europe, and the 1988 US government inspection of nuclear power facilities.
• Environmental concerns intensify. In the United Kingdom, environmentally-friendly domestic products surge in popularity. Western European countries adapt "greener" policies to cut back on oil use, recycling most of the nations' trash, and increased focus on water and energy conservation efforts. Similar "Eco-activist" trends appear in the US in the late 1980s.

Popular culture

• In the early 1980s, the first generation of computer graphics in arcade games produce the popular Space Invaders arcade game (first released in 1978), followed by Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger. Towards the end of the decade, home video game consoles begin to outstrip the arcade game. The Japanese Famicom is released to the American public as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985 and renews public interest in video games following a brief decline caused by the 1983 video game crash.
• Computer technology culture starts to enter the mainstream and appears in movies such as 1982's Tron and 1983's WarGames, using then-state of the art special effects that would go on to have major impact on movie making.
• Rubik's Cube, Cabbage Patch Kids, "Baby on Board" sign, Teddy Ruxpin, and Trivial Pursuit fads capture the interest of the American and British public.
  Image:Rubiks cube scrambled.jpg

  Rubik's Cube.
• The Karate Kid becomes a blockbuster hit. Ninja and martial arts mania sweeps North America due to the popularity of Kung Fu Theater and Ninja Movies. The cartoon characters Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles become a widely mass-marketed pop culture phenomenon. The emergence of self-styled martial arts experts gives rise to the so-called "McDojo" and "Bullshido" trends.
• "Cool shades" or sunglasses become popular "must-wear", as well as Nike sneakers, men's shorts and other athletic wear such sweats and jerseys for an active generation of young people.
• Aerobics surge in popularity. The fad reaches across exercise videos, fashion, and music trends as seen in Olivia Newton-John's music video (Let's Get) Physical, the 1983 movie Flashdance that inspired legwarmers as a fashion trend and the popular Jane Fonda workout videos.
• Americans become more health-conscious and seek lighter alternatives, with "Lose weight", "Low-Cal", "Low-Salt", "Sugar-free", "No cholesterol" and other phrases becoming common buzzwords for modified foods and beverages.
• Fad Diets became popular during the 1980s due to rise in health consciousness.
• Australian pop culture introduces new trends in the US throughout the 1980s: celebrities (Olivia Newton-John and Yahoo Serious), music (INXS and Men at Work), movies (Crocodile Dundee), fashion (Roos shoe brand and Koala Blue chain) and tastes ("shrimp on the barbies" with Foster's Lager) to enhance the continent's cultural image.
• Rap music begins to break into the mainstream, resulting in a string of breakdancing movies such as Beat Street, Breakin', and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Boom boxes become widespread amongst inner city music listeners and especially breakdancers, for which device became a vital element to the ritual. "Breakdance battles" show up as a more peaceful alternative to gang fights and become popular in music videos.
• In the US, Spanish-language television and radio stations build two major networks (Univision-1985 and Telemundo-1986) to carry shows and music to the US Latino audience, believed to have been left out of the mainstream media at the time.
• The De Lorean debuts in 1981, and is produced for three years before declaring bankruptcy in 1983. The car is later popularized in the 1985 film Back to the Future.

Fashion

See also: 1980s in fashion

1980s fashion incorporated distinct trends from different eras, including ancient Egypt, early 20th century English royalty, Victorian era buccaneers, and punk rockers from the 1970s. The most conservative, more masculine fashion look that was most indicative of the decade was the wide use of shoulder pads (similar to those worn in ice hockey). While in the 1970s the silhouette of fashion tended to be characterized by close fitting clothes on top with wider looser clothes on bottom, this trend completely reversed itself in the early 1980s as both men and women began to wear loose shirts and tight close fitting pants. Men wore power suits (which they sometimes jogged in to work since they were stiff when they were bought) as a result of the greater tendency for people to display their wealth. Brand names became increasingly important in this decade, making Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein household names. In the United States, Madonna was known as the "Material Girl" and many teenage girls looked to her for fashion statements. The popular movie Flashdance (1983) made ripped sweatshirts well-known in the general public. The television shows Dallas and Dynasty also had a similar impact.

Music

See also: Timeline of trends in music (1980-1989)

• In the United States, MTV is launched and music videos begin to have a huge effect on the record industry. Early eighties groups such as Devo and Haircut 100 are pioneers. Pop artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson master the format and turn it into big business.
• The sounds of new technology, synthesizers and electronic keyboards, along with drum machines, lend an electronic, distinct sound to many 1980s records.
• New Wave music, and Synthpop develop and become popular phenomenons throughout the decade, especially the early eighties.
• Hip hop and rap music, introduced by urban youths of predominantly African American descent, debuts in the pop cultural scene as early as 1979, by the Sugar Hill Gang's single release Rapper's Delight. MTV picks up on this movement with the "YO, MTV Raps!", a one-hour show dedicated to hip-hop music videos.
• The Hip hop scene evolves to become a powerful musical force, bringing with it several dance styles. As hip hop artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and N.W.A. gather mainstream attention, hip hop's influence begins to spread outside of