The history of the United States (1980–1991) includes the last year of the Jimmy Carter presidency, eight years of the Ronald Reagan administration, and the first two years of the George H. W. Bush presidency, up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Plagued by the Iran hostage crisis and mounting domestic opposition, Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Republican Reagan. In his first term, Reagan introduced expansionary fiscal policies aimed at stimulating the American economy after a recession in 1981 and 1982, including oil deregulation policies which led to the 1980s oil glut. He met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in four summit conferences, culminating with the signing of the INF Treaty. These actions accelerated the end of the Cold War, which occurred during the early part of the Bush presidency, and the removal of the Berlin Wall. The second largest stock market crash (percentage-wise) in United States history occurred in 1987, preceding another recession. The largest scandal of the years was the Iran-Contra affair, wherein weapons had been sold to Iran, and the proceeds used by the CIA to aid Contras in Nicaragua.
Read more about History Of The United States (1980–1991): Changing Demographics and The Growth of The Sun Belt, Reagan Administration, George H. W. Bush Administration
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“These anyway might think it was important
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“In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“Perhaps anxious politicians may prove that only seventeen white men and five negroes were concerned in the late enterprise; but their very anxiety to prove this might suggest to themselves that all is not told. Why do they still dodge the truth? They are so anxious because of a dim consciousness of the fact, which they do not distinctly face, that at least a million of the free inhabitants of the United States would have rejoiced if it had succeeded. They at most only criticise the tactics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)