1981 Snapshot
""
The Vibe
Pop Culture
Royal Wedding
Slang
"Like, totally"
Price Check
Gas: $1.31
Notable Deaths
Bob Marley, Anwar Sadat, Natalie Wood
Music & Style
MTV Launch
World Affairs
Air Traffic Strike
Central American
Year's Summary
- Global Events: Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer marry in a 'fairytale' wedding. President Reagan and Pope John Paul II both survive assassination attempts. The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, launches.
- Culture & Mood: MTV launches with the words 'Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,' changing the music industry forever. The mood is high-energy and visually driven.
- Fashion & Slang: Leg warmers and headbands. If you're excited, you say 'Radical!'
- Fun Fact: The first IBM Personal Computer (PC) is released, and Donkey Kong introduces the world to a character named 'Jumpman'—later known as Mario!
- 20 Jan: Inauguration of Ronald Reagan and Release of American Hostages in Iran – Following forty-four days of diplomatic negotiations, the Iranian government formally released fifty-two American hostages exactly as Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, concluding a protracted crisis that had dominated international relations and American domestic politics for over a year.
- 30 Mar: Assassination Attempt on US President Ronald Reagan in Washington – President Ronald Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and police officer Thomas Delahanty were wounded in an assassination attempt outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by mentally unstable gunman John Hinckley Jr., prompting widespread shock and heightened presidential security protocols.
- 12 Apr: NASA Successfully Launches First Space Shuttle Mission (STS-1) – The Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on the STS-1 mission commanded by John Young and piloted by Robert Crippen, marking humanity's first orbital flight of a reusable winged spacecraft and ushering in a revolutionary new era of space transportation.
- 10 May: François Mitterrand Elected President of France in Historic Shift – Socialist Party candidate François Mitterrand defeated incumbent President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in the French presidential election, securing the first victory for a leftist candidate under the Fifth Republic and initiating a decade of significant socialist-led domestic and economic reforms.
- 5 Jun: Centers for Disease Control Reports First Cases of Rare Pneumonia – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a modest morbidity and mortality weekly report detailing Pneumocystis pneumonia cases among five previously healthy young men in Los Angeles, marking the epidemiological recognition and initial public health documentation of what would become the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.
- 6 Oct: Assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat During Military Parade – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who had courageously signed the historic Camp David Accords with Israel, was assassinated by extremist military officers during an annual victory parade in Cairo, sending profound shockwaves throughout the Middle East and the international diplomatic community.
- 30 Nov: US and Soviet Union Begin Strategic Arms Reduction Talks in Geneva – Representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union formally commenced bilateral nuclear arms reduction negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, aiming to curb the deployment of intermediate-range ballistic missile systems and ease heightened Cold War tensions in Europe.