1980's Culture

The 1980s became the Me! Me! Me! generation. If you've got it, flaunt it and.... "You can have it all!" was a motto.   
Forbes' list of the 400 richest people became more important than its 500 largest companies.  

Binge buying and credit became a way of life and 'Shop Til you Drop' was the watchword. 

Labels were everything, even (or especially) for  children.  Video games, aerobics, minivans, camcorders, and talk shows became part of our lives.   

The decade began with President Reagan declaring a war on drugs and we lost many of our finest talents to AIDS. 

On the bright side, the US Constitution had its 200th birthday,ET phoned home, and in 1989 Americans gave $115,000,000,000 to charity.  

And, Internationally, at the very end of the decade the Berlin Wall was removed - making great changes for the decade to come!   

At the turn of the decade, though, many were happy to leave the spendthrift 80's for the 90's, although some thought the eighties TOTALLY AWESOME.

Check out this video on the 80's! 

Complete the worksheet: 
The Decade of the 1980’s

1980's Major Events

1. April 1, 1980 - The 1980 census shows a population in the United States of 226,542,203, an 11.4% increase since 1970. For the first time, one state had over 20 million people living within its borders, the state of California with 23.7 million. Due to a trend of western migration, Missouri now contained the geographic population center of the United States, one quarter mile west of De Soto in Jefferson County.
2. April 12, 1980 - The United States Olympic Committee, responding to the request of President Jimmy Carter on March 21, votes to withdraw its athletes from participation in the Moscow Summer Olympic Games due to the continued involvement of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
3. April 24-25, 1980 - The attempt to rescue the American hostages held captive in the U.S. Embassy in Iran fails with eight Americans killed and five wounded in Operation Eagle Claw when a mid-air collision occurs.
4. May 18, 1980 - The Mt. St. Helens volcano, in Washington State, erupts, killing fifty-seven people and economic devastation to the area with losses near $3 billion. The blast was estimated to have the power five hundred times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
5. April 12, 1981 - The first launch of the Space Shuttle from Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center occurs as Columbia begins its STS-1 mission. The Space Shuttle is the first reusable spacecraft to be flown into orbit, and it returned to earth for a traditional touch down landing two days later.
6. August 12, 1981 - IBM introduces the IBM-PC personal computer, the IBM 5150. It was designed by twelve engineers and designers under Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division. It sold for $1,565 in 1981.
7. September 21, 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is approved unanimously, 99-0, by the United States Senate to become the first female Supreme Court associate justice in history.
8. June 18, 1983 - Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to travel into space.
9. October 23, 1983 - A terrorist truck bomb kills two hundred and forty-one United States peacekeeping troops in Lebanon at Beirut International Airport. A second bomb destroyed a French barracks two miles away, killing forty there.
10. January 20, 1986 - Martin Luther King Day is officially observed for the first time as a federal holiday in the United States.
11. January 28, 1986 - The Challenger Space Shuttle explodes after lift off at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing seven people, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher.
12. May 25, 1986 - Five million people make a human chain across the United States in the Hands Across America campaign to fight hunger and homelessness.
13. December 8, 1987 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign an agreement, the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, to dismantle all 1,752 U.S. and 859 Soviet missiles in the 300-3,400 mile range.
14. March 24, 1989 - The Exxon Valdez crashes into Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, causing the largest oil spill in American history, eleven million gallons, which extended forty-five miles.
15. Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.

Cold War ends: Ronald Reagan

Watch a bio on Ronald Reagan bio.

There was an assassination attempt while Reagan was in office.

In November 1984, Ronald Reagan was reelected in a landslide. Reagan carried 49 of the 50 U.S. states in the election, and received 525 of 538 electoral votes—the largest number ever won by an American presidential candidate. 

During his second term, Reagan also forged a diplomatic relationship with the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev, chairman of the Soviet Union. In 1987, the Americans and Soviets signed a historic agreement to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. 

That same year, Reagan spoke at Germany's Berlin Wall, a symbol of communism, and famously challenged Gorbachev to tear it down. More than two years later, Gorbachev allowed the people of Berlin to dismantle the wall, ending Soviet domination of East Germany. After leaving the White House, 

Reagan returned to Germany in September 1990—just weeks before the country was officially reunified—and, with a hammer, took several symbolic swings at a remaining chunk of the wall. 

Interesting Facts:

• American hostages held in Iran for more than a year were finally released on the day of Reagan’s inauguration. They were on a plane out of Iran just minutes after he was inaugurated.

• In 1980, not only did Reagan win the election but the Republicans took the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1952.

• There was an attempted assassination on Reagan in 1981. He was shot in the chest, but he fully recovered. In 1985 Reagan experienced another life-threatening battle, this time with colon cancer. He recovered rapidly again.

• His first job was as a lifeguard. He used money from that job and a partial scholarship to put himself through college. After college, he worked as a sports announcer. After that, he was a famous actor!

• Both of Reagan’s presidential election victories were landslides.

Famous Firsts:
• Ronald Reagan was the first former film star to become president. He appeared in more than fifty feature films and several television shows.

• Reagan was the oldest man elected president.He was 69 at the time.

• He was the first to appoint a woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the Supreme Court.

• In 1994, he became the first former president to publicly announce a personal battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Complete the worksheet on Ronald Reagan.

Comment on the blog: 
What fact about Ronald Reagan did you find the most interesting? 

Collapse of the Soviet Union

The collapse of the Soviet Union started in the late 1980's and was complete when the country broke up into 15 independent states on December 25, 1991. 

Smaller Soviet countries regained their independence in 1991
and now this is what the map of Europe looks like today. 

This signaled the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Look at these photos! 

Easy explanation of the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Ten crazy facts about the Soviet Union.

Watch this video and comment on the Blog: 

What did you find interesting? 

Vietnam War 2

Vietnam 2

The jungles of Vietnam proved a tough place to fight a war. It was very difficult to find the enemy in the jungles and also difficult to determine who was the enemy. The troops had to deal with booby traps and constant ambushes from people they thought they were fighting for. 

When Richard Nixon became president he decided to end US involvement in the war. He first began removing troops from Vietnam in July of 1969.  In April of 1975 South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam. Soon the country became officially unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam was now a communist country. The US had lost the Vietnam War and also taken a major blow in the Cold War.

The United States lost the Vietnam War. It lasted for twenty years, something the US never expected when it joined in the fight. Not only did the US lose the war and the country of Vietnam to the communists, the US lost prestige in the eyes of the world. 

Have you ever heard about the Ho Chi Min Trail? 

Watch this video to learn about the booby traps used by the Vietnamese against Americans. 

Vietnam War

Vietnam War
Dates: November 1, 1955 - April 30, 1975

During the Cold War the United States and it's Allies were adamantly opposed to even ONE more country of the world falling into communism.

The Vietnam War was fought between communist North Vietnam and the government of Southern Vietnam. The North was supported by communist countries such as China and the Soviet Union. The South was supported by anti-communist countries, primarily the United States. 

President Lyndon Johnson had the plan to help the Southern Vietnamese get strong enough to fight the North rather than having the US win the war for them. 

Check out this video about the "road to war." 

The U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on trees and vegetation during the Vietnam War . See the side effects of this yucky stuff in these two videos.

Comment on the blog: what do you find interesting (or crazy) about these videos?

Cold War: Bay of Pigs

The Cold War

Bay of Pigs

 
Bay of Pigs in Cuba

In 1961 the United States sent trained Cuban exiles to Cuba to try and overthrow Fidel Castro's government. They failed miserably. The invasion is considered part of the Cold War because the United States was trying to prevent communism from taking hold in the Americas. 

Before the Invasion 

Fidel Castro helped to lead the Cuban Revolution in overthrowing the existing government of Cuba in 1959. He was an ardent communist and was allied with the Soviet Union. This deeply concerned the United States as this gave communism and the Soviet Union a foothold in the Americas. 

The CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency, was tasked with overthrowing Fidel Castro's government in Cuba. There were many people from Cuba, called exiles, who had fled the country when Fidel Castro had become leader. The CIA began to train these exiles in guerrilla warfare. The idea was that they would sneak back into Cuba and begin a guerrilla war against Castro. They would gather others and eventually overthrow Castro. 

The plan changed, however. The new plan was help the exiles to invade the island. The hope was that locals would join forces with them and they would quickly take over. 

Planning the Invasion 

The invasion was originally planned to occur at the city of Trinidad, but President Kennedy thought that they needed a more secluded place. The Bay of Pigs was chosen instead. The idea was that planes would fly in first and destroy the air force. Then the invasion force of 1500 soldiers would land. They hoped that the Cuban people would join them in rebelling against Castro. 

The CIA tried to plan the invasion in secret, however, too many people knew and word got out. The Cubans knew the invasion was coming. 

Watch this 3 minute video on The Bay of Pigs. 

The Invasion 

The invasion occurred on April 17, 1961. It did not go well. Although the Cuban air force was damaged by early air strikes, there were still planes left to attack the invaders. Once the invasion started, it took too long for the troops and ammunition to get off the ships. Before the ammunition could be unloaded, Cuban planes sunk the invader's ships. 

Many of the paratroopers, who were supposed to slow down Castro's forces on the ground, landed at the wrong place or in the swamps. Soon the invaders were surrounded by a much larger force and were running out of ammunition. They tried to retreat, but most were eventually captured and put into prison. 

Results 

The results were disastrous for the United States. The government looked weak and the CIA inept. It also seemed to strengthen Castro's government within Cuba and caused him to look to the Soviet Union as a military ally. 
Interesting Facts About the Bay of Pigs

• The Cuban exiles were trained by the CIA in the country of Guatemala.
• Jose Miro Cardona was set to become president of Cuba once Castro was overthrown.
• The invasion force was known as Brigade 2506.
• The invaders would have had a much better chance to escape into the hills if they had used the original landing site of Trinidad. However, they were surrounded by swamp at the Bay of Pigs and had nowhere to run.
• It is thought that some of the timing of the invasion got messed up due to people getting the time zones confused.

Watch this 3 minute video on the Bay of Pigs. 

Comment: What do you think the President should have done differently in this situation so that the invasion might have been successful?