History of 1980's

The 8th decade of the 20th century was a decade of fear, disappointment, and a sign for new hope. The 1980’s brought many fears to the people of the U.S. with new drugs that could be easily bought in the American streets. Hope came to many Americans who waited eagerly on the sixty-three Americans who were taken hostage by Iranians. Later on disappointment struck down when the space shuttle “Challenger” exploded. However new hope was brought in the 1980’s to many Americans when President Ronald Reagan came to office.

One of a few historical events that occurred during the 80’s was the election of
1980. That campaign was really interesting to many Americans because most were irritated with the nation’s economic problems. Most Americans thought that the United States had weakened through this problem. During a speech given by Ronald Reagan he promised if elected he will take the economic problems into his own hands plus, cut back on taxes. Immediately on Election Day, Reagan won the popular vote and 489 electoral votes beating Jimmy Carter by a landslide. A short time after being elected Reagan had a decent idea to normalizing the economy, and returning “tax dollars” to the working class. But this wasn’t going to be cheap, to budget cut to better the economy was going to cost around $45 million. But he didn’t just look into individuals; he also took businesses tax totaling around $53.9 million. Not only would it cost money but budget cutting was going to “hurt million of people in the short run.” This was going to be a big task for President Reagan but luckily many Americans had hope in him. Disaster struck that left many Americans hopeless a short two months after Reagan’s inauguration, a man named John Hinckley tried to kill him. Luckily the president survived, even thought 2 bullets of the 6 fired got him. One in his ribs the other near his heart. The recovery was a long journey for President Reagan, but he was back on his feet doing his duty as a leader. But President Reagan was not yet aware of what was really going on the streets of America.

Two of many concerns during the 1980’s were the use of drugs and alcohol. This use was an on going problem that made many of the cities in America dangerous. Many of the crimes that where committed around the 80’s, which were about 20,000 and rising was blamed to the usage of drugs. Cocaine in particular, was a drug that was everywhere around American streets. Before crack was introduced in the early 80’s about 4.5 million American were already consuming it. Crack was one of the most addicting during that time. Around the mid 80’s the usage of crack went up to about 10 million consumers. It was known that crack made users aggressive and to drug dealers very protective over their territories. During this time, First Lady Nancy Reagan started her “Just Say No” campaign. This campaign was to encourage teens to not do drugs, but it didn’t make much of a difference at the time. Many teenagers still continued to consume drugs especially marijuana and heroin. Drugs ended up spreading even more, into a new filthy habit.

In addition to the concerns was also alcohol. A new concern spread to the young ones of the nation. Most teenagers were easily able to buy any kind of alcoholic beverages with fake ids. Even thought this decreased during the 80’s, many car accidents were involved with drunken young drivers. During the 1980’s an organization named Mother against Drunk Driving or (MADD) searched for an idea that will stop disasters with drunk driving. Around 1984, Congress stops donating highway funds to any state that didn’t pass a law that stated the legal drinking age 21. Without a doubt many states quickly made the legal age a must. This absolutely reduces car accidents with drunk driving.

With all the chaos that the United State was dealing with during the 1980’s, it seemed like nothing else could get worse. Well it did, during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Americans had experienced an unbearable situation. In Nov. 4 1979, 52 Americans were taken hostage by the militants in a sort of revenge to President Carter. For having an alliance with their Shah, their king. The decision that president Carter made, which was to let the Shah get medical treatment in the U.S enraged the Iranians. This led to the takeover of the embassy and holding 52 Americans for 144 days. President Carter was blamed for that by many Americans. It was said that every night in television stations it was reminded to every American of how many days the hostages were held captive. This crises led into the 1980's which made the difference when Reagan was elected and Carter was no longer president the hostages were simultaneously released minutes after Reagan became president.

Given these facts, the 1980's was fascinating decade because unexpected ups and downs happened. For instance good moments that happened were the election of 1980,the difference the President Reagan made and the hostages being released. Meanwhile major grief was shown when teens were in the habit of drugs and alcohol, which caused most deaths in the United States. In addition to the grief, there was also the explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger." Which was also a real learning experience that noted that going to space was a risk and a determination. Overall the 1980's made a change to the United States.