In American politics the 1980s were the decade of Ronald Reagan, who was elected president in 1980 and succeeded by his vice president, George Bush, in 1989. Reagan's vision of the nation — and to a somewhat lesser extent his conservative agenda...

In the 1980s American culture was defined by a triumphant political and social conservatism. The election of Republican Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980 was the high-water mark of twentieth-century American conservatism, and his two terms as...

With the election of former California governor Ronald Reagan to the presidency, the country was entering a decade of change that was soon to become known as the Reagan revolution. During the period between 1981 and 1989 President Reagan and his...

The 1980s was a decade of consolidation in the media, as huge television networks were bought up by even bigger companies, small publishing firms were cobbled together into multimedia behemoths, and small-town newspapers were bought by nationwide...

In the early 1980s the educational policy catchword changed from equity to excellence. Battles had raged during the 1960s and 1970s over expanding educational equity and opportunity, and many Americans who had been excluded from the mainstream...

The decade of the 1980s was a great period of restructuring for the majority of religions in the United States. Coming off the turbulent eras of the 1960s and early 1970s many traditional religious groups in the United States attempted to refocus...

The general anxiety the American public felt toward science and technology in the 1970s deepened during the 1980s. In the 1970s many Americans began to doubt a long-standing faith that science and technology worked together to improve the human...

Many Americans perceived the 1980s as a prosperous and pleasant decade, especially in contrast to the 1970s. As the 1980s unfolded, however, others argued that the ailments of the nation had not been cured but instead were being pasted over and...

The turbulent, self-expressive era of the 1960s and 1970s evolved into the 1980s — in fashion, a decade marked by traditionalism, luxury, and consumerism. Many Americans were yearning for better times as the new decade began; they were wary of...

Italian semiotics professor Umberto Eco publishes his medieval detective novel, The Name of the Rose. Anthony Burgess publishes Earthly Powers. Nuns and Soldiers, by Iris Murdoch, is published. German motion-picture director Rainer Werner Fassbinder...

Special effects had begun to play a larger role in films in the 1970s, but it was in the 1980s that special effects began to be used to make a wide range of movies more exciting, spectacular, and, usually, violent. Although E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial...

The publishing industry was very much affected by the trends affecting other areas of popular culture in the 1980s—the concentration of power in large corporations and the public thirst for status through consumption. The concentration of power...

By the 1980s, American fashion recovered from polyester leisure suits and hot pants—the strange fashion trends of the 1970s—and became far more tasteful. Leading the way were the nation's president and first lady, Ronald Reagan...

The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. Particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom and United States, it was a period of renewed optimism and economic liberalization. During this time the word "yuppie" entered the lexicon in the United States...