In May 1980 Maxie Anderson and his son Kris became the first balloonists to cross North America nonstop.

In 1989 twenty-year-old cadet Kristin M. Baker was selected as brigade commander and first captain of the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Baker was the first woman in West Point history to be chosen for the post, in which she would be overseeing all aspects of life for the academy's mostly male cadet corps.

In 1980 the Mattel toy company celebrated the twenty-first anniversary of its Barbie doll by unveiling the first "adult figure" Barbie; more than 115 million dolls had been sold since 1959.

Sharon Batts, a nine-year-old from Texas, became a singing star with her recording of "Dear Mr. Jesus" in 1987. The gospel song about child abuse was played by hundreds of radio stations throughout the country.

In 1981 Elizabeth Jordan Carr...