Social Movements and Political Events of the 1980s

In the late 1980s, the Cold War came to an end. The economies of soviet nations were poor. The trillions of dollars that the U.S.S.R. spent on nuclear arms and conventional armies had caused the economic crisis. The demand for freedom in the citizens living behind the Iron Curtain had increased. In 1990 Russia elected Mikhail Gorbachev as the leader of the U.S.S.R. The new leader loosened the repression on liberties that the old governments had used to keep people in line. The old USSR was gone and a new nation was formed.

In 1980, the American economy and government hit rock bottom. Jan 20, 1981 Ronald Reagan was elected into office. He said that the government has become too big and needs to be trimmed down to size.

Taxes were insanely high and need to be cut to stimulate growth and investment.

Military spending should be increased repair the Nation’s fighting forces. The United States is still the largest superpower in the world with the best system of government.

No president, Republican or Democrat, had attempted to reduce the size of the federal government since Franklin Roosevelt initiated his New Deal. The tax cut that was handed to the American people benefited wealthy Americans most, with the hope that their increased income would trickle down to poorer Americans. His plan had worked

• 20 million new jobs were created
• Inflation dropped from 13.5% in 1980 to 4.1% by 1988
• Unemployment fell from 7.6% to 5.5%
• Net worth of families earning between $20,000 and $50,000 annually grew by 27%
• Real gross national product rose 26%
• The prime interest rate was slashed by more than half, from an unprecedented 21.5% in January 1981 to 10% in August 1988

On Aug. 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired 11,345 air traffic controllers after a two-day strike .Seven months into his administration, Reagan faced his first political crisis. 13,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike. With their federal contracts expired, the air traffic controllers walked off the job on Aug. 3, 1981. The air traffic controllers played a key role in America's defense system,When the 48 hours had expired on Aug. 5, Reagan remained true to his word and fired the striking controllers. Reagan said, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry for them. I certainly take no joy out of this.”

Additionally, the fired controllers were banned from federal employment, though eventually this order was rescinded.

Some former striking controllers were allowed to reapply after 1986 and were rehired.

Ronald Reagan's “ Star wars” Defense plan. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. This program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries. With the tension of the Cold War still strong, the Strategic Defense Initiative was the United States’ response to possible nuclear attacks from afar.

The nickname “Star Wars” caught on due to the fact the plan used lasers in space. The weapons required included space- and ground-based nuclear X-ray lasers, subatomic particle beams, and computer-guided projectiles fired by electromagnetic rail guns—all under the central control of a supercomputer system. However, there was a large power requirement for these types of weapons, the power requirements were so massive that nuclear power was the method of choice. With the demand for all the materials required and the lack of the technology "Star wars" never began and was dropped.

Social Movements and Political Events of the 1980s

Ronald Reagan

End of the USSR and the Cold War

What is AIDS?

• AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
• Victims of AIDS most often die from opportunistic infections that take hold of the body because the immune system is severely impaired.
• By the 1980s, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causing AIDS had already been in humans for nearly 100 years. Prior to the 1980s, AIDS was effectively hidden because AIDS had existed only in remote areas at low levels in populations or was misdiagnosed as other diseases.
• During the 1980s AIDS began to spread and was very misunderstood by much of the population .

The First American Women Goes to Space.

Impacts Of Ronald Reagan's Tax Cuts

• On June 18, 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space when the space shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-7.
• As one of the three mission specialists on the STS-7 mission, she played a vital role in helping the crew deploy communications satellites, conduct experiments and make use of the first Shuttle Pallet Satellite.
• She's written several books and founded Sally Ride Science

John Lennon Assassinated

AIDS Movement in America

Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981

• John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the founder members of The Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism.
• He was shot by a man posing as a fan, Mark David Chapman, at the entrance to The Dakota, in New York City on 8 December 1980.
• Lennon's murder triggered an outpouring of grief.
• Over 225,000 people mourned on New York's Central Park, for ten minutes every radio station in NY went off air, and at least three fans killed themselves.

• AIDS was associated with a high level of stigma and discrimination. This prejudice arose in part because AIDS was linked to groups, such as gay men and intravenous drug users
• Many were upset by the governments lack of recognition of the epidemic.
• A number of non-governmental organisations were founded in the most affected areas of the USA such as The Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation in San Francisco (later renamed the San Francisco AIDS Foundation) and, in New York, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC).

Americans ACT UP

"Star Wars"

ACT UP’s first demonstration took place on 24th March on Wall Street in New York. The group demanded access to treatment for AIDS, public education to stop the spread of AIDS, an end to AIDS discrimination and the establishment of a national policy on AIDS.

By 1988 the group had almost 3,000 members, many of them were infuriated that little was being done while many were dying from the disease.

In 1988 107 million brochures titled “Understanding AIDS” were mailed to every household across the country. By this point, nearly 83,000 cases of AIDS had been identified in the USA, and over 45,000 people had died.

46 other nations had set up similar leaflet campaigns before the USA chose to do so.