For many people in the United States, the late 1970s were a troubled and troubling time. The radical and countercultural movements of the 1960s and early 1970s, the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War, uncertainty in the Middle East and economic crisis at home had undermined Americans' confidence in their fellow citizens and in their government. By the end of Jimmy Carter's presidency, the idealistic dreams of the 1960s were worn down by inflation, foreign policy turmoil and rising crime. In response, many Americans embraced a new conservatism in social, economic and political life during the 1980s, characterized by the policies of President Ronald Reagan. Often remembered for its materialism and consumerism, the decade also saw the rise of the "yuppie," an explosion of blockbuster movies and the emergence of cable networks like MTV, which introduced the music video and launched the careers of many iconic artists.

Rise of the New Right

The populist conservative movement known as the New Right enjoyed unprecedented growth in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It appealed to a diverse assortment of Americans, including evangelical Christians; anti-tax crusaders; advocates of deregulation and smaller markets; advocates of a more powerful American presence abroad; disaffected white liberals; and defenders of an unrestricted free market.

Historians link the rise of this New Right in part to the growth of the so-called Sunbelt, a mostly suburban and rural region of the Southeast, Southwest and California, where the population began to expand after World War II and exploded during the 1970s. This demographic shift had important consequences. Many of the new Sunbelters had migrated from the older industrial cities of the North and Midwest (the “Rust Belt”). They did so because they had grown tired of the seemingly insurmountable problems facing aging cities, such as overcrowding, pollution and crime. Perhaps most of all, they were tired of paying high taxes for social programs they did not consider effective and were worried about the stagnating economy. Many were also frustrated by what they saw as the federal government’s constant, costly and inappropriate interference. The movement resonated with many citizens who had once supported more liberal policies but who no longer believed the Democratic Party represented their interests.

The Reagan Revolution and Reaganomics

During and after the 1980 presidential election, these disaffected liberals came to be known as “Reagan Democrats.” They provided millions of crucial votes for the Republican candidate, the personable and engaging former governor of California, Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). Once a Hollywood actor, his outwardly reassuring disposition and optimistic style appealed to many Americans. Reagan was affectionately nicknamed “the Gipper” for his 1940 film role as a Notre Dame football player named George Gipp.

Reagan’s campaign cast a wide net, appealing to conservatives of all stripes with promises of big tax cuts and smaller government. Once he took office, he set about making good on his promises to get the federal government out of Americans’ lives and pocketbooks. He advocated for industrial deregulation, reductions in government spending and tax cuts for both individuals and corporations, as part of an economic plan he and his advisors referred to as “supply-side economics.” Rewarding success and allowing people with money to keep more of it, the thinking went, would encourage them to buy more goods and invest in businesses. The resulting economic growth would “trickle down” to everyone.

Reagan’s economic policies initially proved less successful than its partisans had hoped, particularly when it came to a key tenet of the plan: balancing the budget. Huge increases in military spending (during the Reagan administration, Pentagon spending would reach $34 million an hour) were not offset by spending cuts or tax increases elsewhere. By early 1982, the US was experiencing its worst recession since the Great Depression. Nine million people were unemployed in November of that year. Businesses closed, families lost their homes and farmers lost their land. The economy slowly righted itself, however, and “Reaganomics” grew popular again. Even the stock market crash of October 1987 did little to undermine the confidence of middle-class and wealthy Americans in the president’s economic agenda. Many also overlooked the fact that Reagan’s policies created record budget deficits: In his eight years in office, the federal government accumulated more debt than it had in its entire history.

The End of the Cold War

Like many other American leaders during the Cold War, President Reagan believed that the spread of communism anywhere threatened freedom everywhere. As a result, his administration was eager to provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments and insurgencies around the world. This policy, applied in nations including Grenada, El Salvador and Nicaragua, was known as the Reagan Doctrine.

In November 1986, it emerged that the White House had secretly sold arms to Iran in an effort to win the freedom of US hostages in Lebanon, and then diverted money from the sales to Nicaraguan rebels known as the Contras. The Iran-Contra affair, as it became known, resulted in the convictions–later reversed–of Reagan’s national security adviser, John Poindexter (1936-), and Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North (1943-), a member of the National Security Council

Popular Culture

In some respects, the popular culture of the 1980s reflected the era's political conservatism. For many people, the symbol of the decade was the "yuppie": a baby boomer with a college education, a well-paying job and expensive taste. Many people derided yuppies for being self-centered and materialistic, and surveys of young urban professionals across the country showed that they were, indeed, more concerned with making money and buying consumer goods than their parents and grandparents had been. However, in some ways yuppiedom was less shallow and superficial than it appeared. Popular television shows like thirtysomething and movies like The Big Chill and Bright Lights, Big City depicted a generation of young men and women who were plagued with anxiety and self-doubt. They were successful, but they weren't sure they were happy.

At the movie theater, the 1980s was the age of the blockbuster. Movies like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Beverly Hills Cop appealed to moviegoers of all ages and made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. The 1980s was also the heyday of the teen movie. Films like The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Pretty in Pink are still popular today.

At home, people watched family sitcoms like The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Roseanne, and Married...with Children. They also rented movies to watch on their new VCRs. By the end of the 1980s, 60% of American television owners got cable service–and the most revolutionary cable network of all was MTV, which made its debut on August 1, 1981. The music videos the network played made stars out of bands like Duran Duran and Culture Club and made megastars out of artists like Michael Jackson, whose elaborate "Thriller" video helped sell 600,000 albums in the five days after its first broadcast. MTV also influenced fashion: people across the country (and around the world) did their best to copy the hairstyles and fashions they saw in music videos. In this way, artists like Madonna became (and remain) fashion icons.

As the decade wore on, MTV also became a forum for those who went against the grain or were left out of the yuppie ideal. Rap artists such as Public Enemy channeled the frustration of urban African Americans into their powerful album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Heavy metal acts such as Metallica and Guns N’ Roses also captured the sense of malaise among young people, particularly young men. Even as Reagan maintained his popularity, popular culture continued to be an arena for dissatisfaction and debate throughout the 1980s.

Events

1980	Mount St Helens erupts. Military mission to rescue fifty-two hostages held at the US Embassy in Teheran fails. US boycotts summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Ronald R. Reagan is inaugurated the 40th President. John Lennon is shot and killed by Mark Chapman in New York. John Irving wins the National Book Award for Fiction for The World According to Garp.
1981	John Hinckley attempts to assassinate Ronald Reagan. The first space shuttle, Columbia, is launched. US hostages are released in Tehran. The New York Times publishes the first mainstream press article on HIV. The IBM Personal Computer goes on sale. The UN Convention on acid rain takes effect. The Reagan administration fires all striking members of the PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization), busting the union and encouraging other employers to avoid negotiating with their workers.
1982	The ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) fails to be ratified by 39 states by its deadline. The first successful artificial heart transplant is performed at the University of Utah Medical Center. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial opens in Washington DC. Time magazine’s Man of the Year is a computer. The Centers for Disease Control names a new disease “AIDS”: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
1983	241 US Navy and Marines personnel are killed in a suicide bombing attack in Beirut. The US invades Grenada to guard evacuations of US citizens after a Marxist takeover. Sally Ride is the first American woman in space. Alice Walker is awarded the National Book Award for Fiction for The Color Purple.
1984	Geraldine Ferraro is the first woman nominated on a major party ticket (as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate). Marvin Gaye is shot and killed by his father. Ronald Reagan is reelected in biggest Republican landslide in US voting history. The Agent Orange Fund for Vietnam veterans is started by chemical companies. The Soviet Union boycotts the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
1985	Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union. Reagan and Gorbachev meet. Rock Hudson dies from AIDS-related illnesses. The first commercial (.com) domain names are registered on the Internet Domain Name System. Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia provide support for famine relief in Africa.. Microsoft releases the first version of its Windows operating system. Don Delillo is awarded the National Book Award for Fiction for White Noise.
1986	The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after takeoff. Senior Reagan administration officials secretly facilitate the sale of arms to the government of Iran,—who held 52 Americans hostage less than a decade ago—and use the proceeds to fund right-wing rebel groups in Nicaragua. This becomes the Iran–Contra scandal. An accident occurs at the No. 4 nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history. Failure of nuclear arms reduction talks between US and Soviet Union.
1987	The Tower Commission Report published on the Iran–Contra scandal. The Single European Act is passed by the European Union. The stock market crashes as the Dow Jones experiences the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, known as Black Monday. Death of Andy Warhol. Prozac is released in the US.
1988	The Soviet Union begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The House of Representatives refuses Reagan’s request for financial support of the Contras in Nicaragua. The Iran–Iraq war ends after eight years. Space shuttle flights resume after the Challenger disaster. George H. W. Bush is elected the 41st President. Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York explodes over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. In 2003 the country of Libya wil claim responsibility for bombing the passenger flight. Toni Morrison is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Beloved.
1989	Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida. The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Alaska spilling 240,000 gallons of oil. Anti-government protests erupt in Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, China, and are brutally suppressed. Revolutions across Central and Eastern Europe see communist governments overthrown. Nintendo seels its first Game Boy.

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