1980
- Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran
- John Lennon Assassinated
- Mount St. Helens Erupts
- Rubik's Cube Becomes Popular
- Ted Turner Establishes CNN
1981
- Assassination Attempt on the Pope
- Assassination Attempt on U.S. President Reagan
- First Woman Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
- Millions Watch Royal Wedding on T.V.
- New Plague Identified as AIDS
- Pac-Man is Extremely Popular
- Personal Computers (PC) Introduced by IBM
1982
- E.T. Movie Released
- Falkland Islands Invaded by Argentina
- King Henry VIII's Ship the Mary Rose Raised After 437 Years
- Michael Jackson Releases Thriller
- Reverend Sun Myung Moon Marries 2,075 Couples at Madison Square Garden
1983
- Cabbage Patch Kids are Popular
- Reagan Announces Defense Plan Called Star Wars
- Sally Ride Becomes the First American Woman in Space
- Soviets Shoot Down a Korean Airliner
- U.S. Embassy in Beirut Bombed
1984
- Huge Poison Gas Leak in Bhopal, India
- Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister, Killed by Two Bodyguards
- PG-13 Movie Rating Created
- Vietnam War Memorial Opened in Washington, DC
1985
- Famine in Ethiopia
- Hole in the Ozone Layer Discovered
- Mikhail Gorbachev Calls for Glasnost and Perestroika
- New Coke Hits the Market
- Wreck of the Titanic Found
1986
- Challenger Space Shuttle Explodes
- Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
- Ferdinand Marcos Flees the Philippines
- Iran-Contra Scandal Unfolds
- U.S. Bombs Libya
- U.S.S.R. Launches Mir Space Station
1987
- DNA First Used to Convict Criminals
- Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Butcher of Lyons, Sentenced to Life in Prison
- New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge Drop on "Black Monday"
- West German Pilot Lands Unchallenged in Russia's Red Square
1988
- Pan Am Flight 103 Is Bombed Over Lockerbie
- U.S. Shoots Down Iranian Airliner
