08.02 The 1980s

Event name: 1980-1982 Recession
Type of event: This event is economic because during 1980, the economy suffered a very bad recession.
Cause: One cause was the monetary policy that was supposed to help inflation.
Course: Although the unemployment rate was at 10.8%, Reagan still tried to keep pushing by signing the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 which was a three year tax cut.
Consequences: The recession only got worse in 1982 which led people to stop believing in Reagan and caused the Republicans to step in.

Event Name: 1980 Election
Type of event: This was a political event because it caused a change in the government.
Causes: Americans wanted a firm, patriotic leader who had a plan to fix the economic problems carrying over from the 1970s.
Course: Jimmy Carter was running for reelection, and Americans overall were very unhappy with his leadership. Ronald Reagan emerged as his challenger, a former actor with great public skills and a plan.
Consequence: They elected Ronald Reagan in 1980 who had a controversial plan for fixing the U.S. economy, later dubbed “Reaganomics.”

Event name: Fall of the Berlin Wall
Event type: This event was social because it was the challenging between Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev.
Cause: The cause of the Berlin Wall coming down was Reagan's demand because it symbolized a divider and it was seen as a scar.
Consequence: The wall came down and Gorbachev resigned as president.

Event name: Reagan Doctrine
Type of event: This was a political event because it was related to a public affair. He supported anti-communist revolutions.
Causes: Lack of military strength which led to the Soviet Union increasing their bonds with other countries giving them an advantage.
Course: This policy led to to the United States getting involved with conflicts all around the world.
Consequences: The U.S. involvement around the world.

Event name: Reaganomics
Type of event: This event is economic because it was Ronald Reagan's plan to fix the people's economic issues.
Causes: The causes of the idea of Reaganomics was the cost of taxes, the size of the government, and the controls over certain businesses.
Course: The course was to use deregulation which would help put more money into people's pockets so they could buy more things and help the economy out.
Consequences: In 1983, the economy got better and people started investing in the stock market.

Event name: Reagan's nomination of Sandra O'Connor
Event type: This was a political event because she was the first woman in the supreme court.
Cause: President Reagan wanted to fulfill his 1980 campaign by appointing the first woman to the highest court in the United States.
Course: She went on to serve on the Supreme Court where she had major opinions and decisions to bring fourth.
Consequence: At the time she retired, she had inspired a generation of women to pursue their careers in law school. The percentage was 36, but she had risen it to 48.

Event name: Rock Hudson, a famous actor, dies at 60.
Event type: This event was social because he kept his illness a secret from the world and everyone was surprised when it happened.
Cause: Rock Hudson's cause of death was an AIDS related illness.
Course: Rock Hudson's course to go about this was to keep it a secret from people so he could travel and continue to find a cure or even slow down the progress of it growing.
Consequence: On October 2, 1985, Hudson died in his sleep due to the AIDS related illness and many rumors circled about him being actually homosexual even when he told people on July 25th that it was from one of the multiple blood transfusions that he needed for the heart bypass procedure.

Event name: Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion
Event type: This was a social event.
Cause: The O-ring failed which caused burning gas to reach the external fuel tank which then caused it to blow up, killing all seven people aboard the space shuttle.
Course: The course of the Space shuttle challenge was to launch into space, however, the weather that day was very cold and NASA was unsure if they should launch or not.
Consequence: NASA launched the space shuttle and had not known that the O-ring was going to fail. Since it failed, it caused the space shuttle to explode and kill the seven people on it.