8.TT.1.2

The 1980”s Marissa Matthews 3-21-12 Core 2 Social Studies

The 1980's was a very interesting decade that will always be remembered. Even though the things in this article have nothing in common they all have something to do with the way America thinks and acts. The 1980's saw the terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 241 U.S marines,sailors & soldiers. After this happened people have up there level of security in public places. When the invention of the cabbage patch doll came out in store it sold millions. This changed the doll industry forever. This article will reveal in more detail the events and actions that happened over the decade of 1980's.2 that help contribute to the shaping of America.

In the year 1980 a man by the name of John Wayne Gacy was nicknamed “The Killer Clown” because he played with kids at parties as “Pogo the clown”.He was sentenced for killing 33 males between 1972 and to hes arrest 1978.He was sentenced to death by lethal injection. The first known account was after his marriage to Marilynn Myers. He was working at his father-in-law's restaurant when he lured a little boy into the back of the restaurant. When the little boy didn't want to perform oral sex with Gacy he tried to sodomize him. The little boy ran and told on Gacy which landed him in jail for 18 months on a sexual molestation charge. After Gacy got out of jail for his charge he was divorced and a disgrace to the commuity. Gacy buried his victims by there age's from 9 to there middle 20.They tore the house down after gutting it for more victims or evidence. 

The World soon saw the beginnings of an epidemic that was discovered in America in 1981. The disease is known today as A.I.D.S. (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).AIDS was first found in gay-American males but it wasn't known as AIDS at the time it was named GRID(gay-related immune deficiency).They changed the named due to the fact that anyone can have it and anyone can get it not just gay males. The 1st known case of AIDS was found in a (unidentified)man in the Congo in 1959. he had died from an unknown illness. Testing was complete and it was shown that he had been the first person to have AIDS.

Kids have a fun time playing with there adopted cabbage patch kids. The caddage patch kids was a great invention in 1982 by a man named Xavier Roberts. At first cabbage patch kids where called Little person dolls. Roberts started an babyland General hospital in Cleveland Georgia when he was just a teenager. At the hospital you could adopt a baby (at first hand sewn dolls but where never called dolls) and it came complete with adoption papers and the hole 9-yard's. The company Coleco Toy Company produced the frist Cabbage patch doll's. The Cabbage patch doll became a best seller they where selling them as fast as they made them.This busted the doll industry tremendously.

A massive BOOM took place at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut Ledanon in 1983. This event was a terrorist attack by a suicide bomer that killed 241 marines,sailor's,& soldier's. The terrorist hijacked a water truck that was on his way to Beirut.There was about 15,000 to 21,000 pounds of TNT in the truck.The boom was so big that even 256 feet away the nearest building 's (locked) door's got ripped off there hinges. Even tree's 370 feet away got shredded & completely came part. This event diffidently made Beirut have more security around.

A horrible thing happened on July 18th 1984 in California. A man shoots and kills 21 people and wounds 19.This massacre took place in a MacDonald's by a man named James Oliver Hurburty. The say's there was no reason as to why he killed all those people.His wife told police that he came home and got his gun and told her “im going hunting,hunting humans”.The victims he killed and wounded ranged from 8 months old to 74 years old. There was a big stand off cause Hurberty didn't want to go to the police. Then finally a police man with a SWAT sniper:chuck Foster shot and killed Hurburty.

A concert was held on july 13,1985 it was called live aid. Live aid was to help raise money for the relief famine stricken Africans. Live Aid was an 16-hour performance. The event was created by Bod Geldof is the singer of a Irish rock group called boom town rats.The way Geldof came up with the idea was he had traveled to Ethiopia when heard about the famine that killed hundreds and thousands of ethiopians and to kill many more.Geldof called Britians and Ireland's top artist's to calborate and sing s song called “Do they know it's Christmas?”.The Band called “band aid “ sang the song at the concert. The song was a big hit. They ended up raising 10 million dollars.This helped the Africans tremendously.

Hands across America has became an worldwide phenomenon in 1986.The brainchild of hands across America was Ken Kragen.He was an charity activist and a music promoter. Coca-cola gave 8 million dollars to help start hands. Alot of famous people came out to support like Bill Cosby,Kenny Rogers,Lily Tomin,& Pete rose(they where the chair men).Hands was created to help show awareness for the homelessness and hunger. They ended up raising 34 million but they had to pay the people that helped so they ended up with 15-16 million. Which wasn't as much as they had hoped for therefore the hands across America was not a success.

Robert Melias was the first criminal to be convicted using DNA evidence in England in 1987. Melias was convected of rape. He broke into a home of a 45 year old women that was unable to get around or defend herself. He stole her jewelry,and then raped her. Defense lawyers tried to say it wasn't Melias but someone else. Officer's collected samples of semen from the 45 year old lady's body. Then they went to a lab and tested the sample of semen to Melias's blood. He was convicted for rape and burglary. He spent 13 years in prison.

December 21,1988 a flight by the name of Pan Am 103 was bombed. The flight was heading to New York from London. The bomb went off in Scotland and killed 259 passengers and crew members where killed along with 11 people in Scotland where the bomb off. Investigators say that the explosive was plastic and was wired to a device that measured barometric pressure connected to a timer and when the barometric pressure fell beneath a certain level it went off. This bomb was placed in a plain looking suit case. No one knows was how the suit case got on the plain or who even made the bomb. Today it is still an unsolved mystery to this day.

A protest was started by young Chinese students in 1989. The reason for the protest is because they wanted democracy in Beijing,China. The demonstration started in April as an public demonstrations of mourning for former Communist Party Secretary General Hu Yaobang. In order to stop the students from protesting any further the Chinese government sent out tanks& troops to Tiananmen square. Many students where brutally massacred. By the time the Tiananmen Square Protests and Massacre was over less than two months later, 250 to 7,000 people were dead.

This paper proves that the events in the 1980's really shaped America into what it is today. From the cabbage Patch Doll Craze to AIDS becoming known to everyone across the world. Then you have the boming of Pan Am 103 that killed a lot of people along with the The 1st convicted person using DNA.These events not only changed the America but the world

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