HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Below are some of the events occurring during the particular year; around the country and around the world.
1968
USS Pueblo is captured by North Korea, Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, Robert Kennedy is assassinated, Boeing introduces the first 747 Jumbo Jet, Apollo 8 is first manned spacecraft to orbit moon.
1969
United States Apollo 11 spacecraft lands on the moon & Neil Armstrong takes the first human steps on the moon’s surface; in August more than a half million people gather for four days of music, merriment, and mischief at an outdoor music event at Woodstock; Dwight David Eisenhower – former president & hero of World War II – dies; Children’s Television Network introduces Sesame Street.
1970
The Beatles break up; Monday Night Football debuts on ABC with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith giving play by play; IBM introduces the floppy disk; Bar codes are introduced for retail and industrial use in England; earthquake kills over 50,000 in Peru.
1971
Twenty-sixth Amendment to US Constitution lowers voting age to 18; Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington & police and military units arrest as many as 12,000; All In The Family debuts on CBS; Intel introduces the microprocessor; Song of the year was “Bridge Over Trouble Water” by Simon & Garfunkel; Life expectancy in the United States was 71.1 years.
1972
President Richard Nixon makes unprecedented eight-day visit to Communist China; Time Inc. transmits HBO, the first cable network; M*A*S*H premiers on CBS; Atari introduces the arcade version of PONG the first video game; the compact disk is developed by RCA; Apollo XVII, the last manned moon landing to date, returns to earth with 250 pounds of lunar samples; former President Harry S. Truman dies.
1973
A cease fire is signed, ending involvement of American ground troops in the Vietnam war; US bombing of Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia; ‘Skylab’, the first American space station is launched; cost of a first-class stamp is $0.08; the technology behind MRI scanning is developed.
1974
House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment charging President Richard Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee. President Nixon announces he will resign the next day; Notable deaths include Bud Abbott, Duke Ellington, Charles Lindbergh, Dizzy Dean, and Ed Sullivan; Gerald R. Ford is sworn in as 38th President of the U.S.; Boston defeats Milwaukee for NBA championship.
1975
Home video systems (VCRs) are developed in Japan by Sony (Betamax) and Matsushita (VHS); Casey Stengel dies; Life expectancy in the US is 72.6 years; two of the top movies were JAWS and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’s NEST.
1976
Our nation celebrates its Bicentennial; Jimmy Carter is elected US President; Israeli airborne commandos attack hijackers of Air France plane at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, freeing 103 hostages; Air France and British Airways begin first regularly scheduled commercial supersonic transport flights; US Navy tests the Tomahawk cruise missile.
1977
It snows in Miami, Florida for the first time ever recorded, in the same year that creeks froze over in Hell, Michigan (whoa….); the neutron bomb is developed; Marquette University beats North Carolina for the NCAA Championship; STAR WARS hits theaters for the first time – and will go on to be one of the highest grossing films of all time; Notable deaths include Elvis Presley, Charles Chaplin, Bing Crosby, and Groucho Marx.
1978
“Framework For Peace” in the Middle East signed by Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin after 13-day conference led by President Jimmy Carter at Camp David; Sony introduces the Walkman, the first portable stereo; Balloon Angioplasty is developed to treat coronary heart disease; Record of the year is “Hotel California“ by the Eagles; A cardinal from Poland, Karol Wojtyla is named Pope of the Catholic Church – and is named John Paul II.
1979
Margaret Thatcher becomes British Prime Minister; Iranian militants seize US Embassy in Teheran and hold hostages; Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests; Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, releases radiation; Life expectancy is 73.9 years; Nobel Peace Prize to Mother Teresa of Calcutta; NCAA Football champions – Alabama.
1980
Ronald Regan is elected President; John Lennon of The Beatles is shot & killed in New York City ; CNN, the first all-news network debuts; Mount St. Helens erupts; Rubik’s cube debuts at the national Toy Fair; U.S. defeats Soviet Union in ice hockey at the Olympics in what was labeled as “The Miracle On Ice”; Jessie Owens dies.
1981
Ronald Reagan takes oath as 40 US President; President Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor as first woman on US Supreme Court; Air controllers strike, disrupting flights, and government dismisses all strikers; life expectancy is 74.1 years; AIDS is first diagnosed; IBM introduces its first personal computer running the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS); Joe Lewis dies.
1982
Disney opens EPCOT Center; the first issue of USA Today is published; the largest cash robbery in history occurs in New York when $9,800,000 is stolen from an armored car; the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC is dedicated; Michael Jackson releases the album THRILLER; the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is released; the first CD player is sold in Japan.
1983
The whole world’s population is estimated at 4.72 billion; unemployment in the US rises to 12 million – the highest figure since 1941; the first mobile phones are introduced to the public by Motorola; Sally Ride on June 18th becomes the first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger; the final episode of M*A*S*H airs with a record 125 million viewers; Microsoft WORD is first released.
1984
Year-end close of Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1211; interest rates year end Federal Reserve were 10.75%; average monthly rent was $350; the original Apple Macintosh personal computer goes on sale, priced at about $2,500; the first solo transatlantic flight in a helium balloon occurs; the first ever flight in space by humans un-tethered using jet backpacks takes place by US astronauts; the question – “Where’s The Beef?” is very popular.
1985
Live Aid pop concerts raise over 50 million dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia; Coca-Cola introduces “New Coke” in what many observers declare as the worst marketing blunder in history; Michael Jordan is named as the NBA’s rookie of the year; 8.1 Richter scale earthquake strikes Mexico City (more than 9000 are killed); a joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic;
1986
The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven aboard; The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts nationally; a Soviet nuclear reactor explodes at Chernobyl causing the release of radioactive material across much of Europe; Martin Luther King Jr Holiday is celebrated for the first time; The stage musical “Phantom of the Opera” debuts in London; the average price of a new car is $9,255;
1987
President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous “tear down this wall” speech at the Berlin Wall; the SN 1987A supernova became the first observable by the naked-eye supernova to be seen from Earth since 1604 when the light from the exploding star began reaching Earth in February; Aretha Franklin is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; US Stock Market crashes on Monday, October 19th with a 508 point drop or 22.6%; the first criminal is convicted by using DNA evidence.
1988
NASA scientist James Hansen warns congress of the dangers of the global warming and the greenhouse effect; Pan-Am 747 explodes from terrorist bomb and crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground; 98% of US households have at least one television set; CD’s outsell vinyl records for the first time; the US stealth bomber is unveiled.
1989
After 28 years, The Berlin wall is open to the West; George Herbert Walker Bush inaugurated as 41st US President; Ruptured tanker Exxon Valdez sends 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound; Army General Colin R. Powell is first black Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff; America’s beloved comedian, Lucille Ball dies at age 87; the first world wide web server and browser is developed; Life expectancy in the U.S. is 75.1 years.
1990
East and West Germany are reunited; Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, setting off the Persian Gulf War; the Hubble Space Telescope is launched; the first in-car navigation system goes on sale from Pioneer; cost of a gallon of gas $1.34; famous quote by President George H.W. Bush: “I do not like broccoli. I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United State, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.”
1991
Cease fire ends Persian Gulf War; the movie “The Silence of The Lambs” wins all of the big five academy awards; a first printing of the Declaration of Independence is found inside of a $4 painting bought at a flea market – it sold at auction for $2.4 million; the Calloway Golf Company’s ‘Big Bertha’ club is introduced; cannibal serial killer Jeffery Dahmer was captured; 60 Minutes television show is the top-rated program on TV.
1992
Bill Clinton is elected President of the United States; there are 900 million television sets in use around the world – with 201 million located in the United States; compact discs surpass cassette tapes as preferred medium for recorded music; the year end close of the Dow Jones Industrial average is 3301; cost of a gallon of gas $1.05; the largest shopping mall in the US – The Mall of America – opens in Minnesota; And……a shipping container filled with 28,000 rubber ducks was lost in the Pacific Ocean. To this day, they’re still being found in tubs all over the world.
1993
The big summer blockbuster movie was Jurassic Park; Bill Clinton is officially sworn in as US President making him the third youngest and the first baby boomer to hold that office ;terrorists drive a bomb-filled truck into the north tower of the World Trade Center; on March 12, 1993 a massive snow storm enveloped the eastern US, dumping over 40 inches of snow in some areas; the Pentium microprocessor is introduced; the first episode of “The X-Files” airs.
1994
Major League Baseball Players Association begin 232-day strike causing 1994 season to be cancelled; OJ Simpson flees police in his white Ford Bronco; the Channel Tunnel, 31 miles long, joining France and England, opens after 7 years of work involving 15,000 workers; the journal “Nature” reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (look it up); Sony Play Station is launched.
1995
168 killed and more than 680 injured as a domestic terrorist’s car bomb blows up Federal building in Oklahoma City – Timothy McVeigh is arrested; An estimated 150 million people watch as a not guilty verdict is read in the OJ Simpson trial; The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame opens in Cleveland; the first TOY STORY movie is released; the world’s population is 5,674,380,000; on January 20th American Rapper Joey Badass is born……Apparently each of his parents was a Badass too.
1996
President Clinton is re-elected, defeating Bob Dole in November; Clinton appoints Madeleine Albright as first female US Secretary of State; Jazz great Ella Fitzgerald dies; Approximately 45 million people are using the internet, with roughly 30 million of those in North America; Major league soccer debts in the United States; Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Princes of Wales, get divorced; DVD’s are launched in Japan; Dolly the sheep is the first mammal to be cloned….some think it’s a baaaaaad idea.
1997
The Green Bay Packers defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl; The movie THE TITANIC becomes the most expensive film of all time – costing between 250 to 300 million dollars to produce; the Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars and the little rover sends back pictures from the planet’s surface; HARRY POTTER is published; Mother Theresa of Calcutta dies a week after Princess Diana dies in a car crash; Pokémon the major kids game is introduced in the US.
1998
Denver defeats Green Bay in Super Bowl; An estimate 76 million viewers watch the last episode of SEINFELD; 77-year-old Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, returns to orbit in the Space Shuttle Discovery; Frank Sinatra dies; the search engine GOOGLE is incorporated as a private company; The movie SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is released; Milk (nonfat) was $2.29 a gallon.
1999
The world prepares for the new millennium – and computers around the world run tests for the “millennium bug” which could cause wide spread havoc to business and infrastructure if not fixed…….a Y2K fear; the popular children’s cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants” premiers; Ownership of the Panama Canal is returned to Panama; Wisconsin beats UCLA in the Rose Bowl 38-31; The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas. (????)
2000
The U.S. population is 281,421,906; George W. Bush wins the presidential election in the closest election in U.S. history; U.S. sailors on Navy destroyer Cole die in Yemen terrorist explosion; Charles Schulz, the cartoonist who created the “Peanuts” comic strip, dies in his sleep; the Confederate submarine the H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 year on the ocean floor; U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years; and a couple of interesting newspaper headlines from 2000: “ Police Begin Campaign To Run Down Jaywalkers”, “Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge”, “Astronaut Takes Blame For Gas in Space”.
2001
On September 11, 2001, terrorists, using hijacked passenger planes crash into the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center, and into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes 80 miles outside of Pittsburg. More than 3200 people were killed or missing as a result of the terrorist attacks. America declares war on terrorism and invades Afghanistan where the leader of al-Qaeda was believed to be hiding; California suffers from rolling black outs and electricity rate hikes of up to 46%; the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years of repairs to stop it from falling over; Remains of what may be the oldest ancient human are found in Ethiopia estimated to be 5.5 million years old; A man in Australia is arrested for farting in front of a police officer – the judge said the arrest smelled all wrong, and threw the stinking charge out.
2002
U.S. and Russia reach landmark arms agreement to cut both countries’ nuclear arsenals by up to two-thirds over the next 10 years; the XIX Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah; Kmart Corp becomes the largest retailer in American history to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy; Tornadoes strike a number of southern states from Louisiana to Pennsylvania on Veterans Day, killing 36; former United States President Jimmy Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; One of the biggest films of the year was The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.
2003
The Space Shuttle Columbia explodes shortly after launch, killing all 7 astronauts; The United State launches a war against Iraq – siting evidence that the regime of Saddam Hussein is building weapons of mass destruction and is imminent threat to world security; Sky marshals are introduced on US airlines in an attempt to prevent hijackings; Fred Rogers, the beloved host of the children’s television show MR ROGERS NEIGHBORHOOD, dies at age 74; And some of the more interesting newspaper headlines include:
“Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop & Find Weapons “
“Safety Meeting Ends In Accident.”
“Alton Attorney Accidently Sues Himself”
“Nuclear Plant Gets Glowing Report”
2004
The 60th anniversary of D-Day is remembered by world leaders; The Boston Red Sox win the World Series in baseball for the first time since 1918; President George Bush is re-elected for a second term; The strongest earthquake in 40 years originates in the Indian Ocean close to Indonesia, measuring 9.3 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake creates multiple tsunami waves across coastlines of many countries – with the result that at least 290,000 people are confirmed to have died from South Asia to as far away as South Africa; In February Mark Zuckerberg launches what was then called Thefacebook.com at Harvard University.
2005
Cancer replaces heart disease as the #1 cause of death for people ages 85 and under; deaths of note include Johnny Carson, Peter Jennings, Rosa Parks; Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on the Gulf coast to include flooding approximately 80% of the City of New Orleans; the video-sharing website ”YouTube” was founded; Winter ice storms leave nearly 1 million without power on the Atlantic coast; And if you needed proof that , with some people, the elevator does not go all the way to the top: Police in Twin Falls, Idaho, confiscated almost $1 billion in counterfeit money in October in a doomed scheme in which the loot consisted only of bills of the denomination of $1 million (which does not legally exist).
2006
Internet giant Google buys the popular video-sharing website YouTube for 1.65 billion despite the fact that YouTube had only been established on the Spring of 2005; the US Energy Department releases a report that there are about a trillion barrels of oil in the form of Oil shale reserves in the Green River basin; California suffers its worst heat wave in recent history, with temps reaching 115 degrees and lasting for two weeks; the one billionth song is purchased from Apple iTunes.
2007
The Apple Computer Company announces the release of the very first iPhone; the US housing bubble bursts (defaults on subprime mortgages – high and adjustable interest rates on home loans for people who did not qualify, were up 92% from the year before) ; the minimum wage increases from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour; the American bald eagle is removed from the endangered species list; One of the deadliest tornadoes in Kansas history destroys the town of Greensburg as it takes the brunt of the 200 mph winds.
2008
Barack Obama is elected President of The United States; Citigroup the nation’s largest bank, joins a number of high profile financial institutions and reported a fourth-quarter loss of 9.83 billion caused by the sub-prime mortgage problems; By the end of 2008 the stock market was down 34%, closing at 8,816.62; Oil hits an all- time high of $147 per barrel; The price of a movie ticket was $7; American Idol is the #1 TV show (FOX); and in the realm of “what are the chances of this happening”: Two children from neighboring states were born at 8:08 a.m. on 8/8/08, each weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces.
2009
Unemployment in the U.S. reaches 8.1% in February – the highest it has been since 1983; Bernard Madoff who admitted to operating a giant Ponzi Scheme defrauding many clients out of billions of dollars over 20 years, pleads guilty to 11 counts of fraud; Michael Jackson, pop singer and superstar dies at age 50; Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, a fixture in the US Senate for 46 years dies of brain cancer at age 77; US Airways jet crash lands in Hudson River in New York City – all 155 people on board survive and pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is hailed as a hero.
2010
On January 12th a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, killing 230,000 people and leaving more than one million people homeless; an explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf Of Mexico, killed 11 workers and caused one of the worst oil spills in history (in excess of 5 million barrels of oil) ; Google announces it was the target of a cyber-attack from China; the New Orleans Saints win their first Super Bowl; The Medal Of Honor is awarded to US Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta for his actions during the War in Afghanistan; Construction (coupled with several vehicle collisions) resulted in a 10-day traffic jam in Beijing, China – the traffic jam affected up to 60 miles of road and is widely considered the worst traffic jam in history.
2011
US Navy Seal kills Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan in a daring night-time raid by US forces; Kate Middleton marries Prince William in a lavish royal wedding at Westminster Abbey in London; State employees and teachers stage protests in Madison, Wisconsin, over a plan by Governor Walker to cut bargaining rights and benefits of public workers; A magnitude 9.0 earth quake off the cost of Japan triggered deadly tsunami waves that were as high as 133 feet tall and reached 6 miles inland at some points (16,000 deaths with thousands missing); Arizona Representative Gabrielle Gifford’s is among 17 shot by a gunman who opened fire at the congresswoman’s constituent meeting outside a grocery store; the Green Bay Packers defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
2012
20 children and 6 staff members are killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, by a deranged gunman with an assault rifle; President Barack Obama wins a second term in office; the 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, England, where Michael Phelps of the USA wins his 19th Olympic medal; Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker easily wins a recall election; the Space Shuttle Endeavor is retired after flying 25 missions totaling a staggering 123 million miles; a three-year-old frozen chicken nugget bearing the slightest resemblance to US President George Washington attracted 70 bids on eBay – unfortunately the highest bidder chickened out of the deal.
2013
Nelson Mandela dies at age 95; Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina becomes the first Catholic Pope from Latin America – and chooses the name Francis; Multiple bombs explode near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 170 – one suspect is shot, and the other captured and ultimately sentenced to life in prison without parole; Debris from a 10 ton exploding meteor, travelling at over 40,000 miles per hour, hits Siberia and more than 1000 people are killed; the City of Detroit files for bankruptcy; a 64-year-old car jacker was arrested after he could not get his walker into the car he was trying to steal……the victim told the 911 operator that the police could take their time getting to the scene.
2014
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, with 239 people on board vanishes in the Indian Ocean, and even to this day there are no traces of any wreckage of that flight; For the first time ever, a spacecraft lands on a comet, located 310 million miles from Earth; A ferry, carrying 459 people – mostly high school students, sinks off the southern coast of South Korea; an avalanche sweeps down a climbing rout on Mount Everest, killing at least 13 Nepalese guides and leaving 3 missing in the deadliest disaster on the world’s highest peak; Two 20th century popes became saints as Pope Frances honors John XXIII and John Paul II; Two Japanese Scientists and a Japanese-born American win the Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing a new kind of light-emitting diode or LED that promises to revolutionize the way the world lights its offices and homes.
2015
It was truly a “Remember where you were when…” kind of Division 1 State football championship game, as Kimberly High School rallied from a 42-21 deficit to defeat Arrowhead 49-42 in one of the best and most exciting championship games the state has ever seen; Star Trek’s Spock – Leonard Nimoy- died at age 83; the first Apple Watch goes on sale; the US Supreme Court struck down gay marriage bans as unconstitutional; after nearly a 3 billion mile – 9 year journey, NASA’s New Horizon’s space craft flew past the planet Pluto, and took pictures of our far-flung cosmic cousin; the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team wins its first World Cup since 1999; a plane part that washed ashore on Reunion Island turned out to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. No other debris has been found since; By September, over 920,000 refugees from the middle east have arrived in Europe by sea; the strongest hurricane ever recorded (Hurricane Patricia) slams into Mexico’s western coast at an astonishing-maximum-sustained winds of 200 miles per hour; AND……A former meerkat expert at the London Zoo was ordered to pay compensation to a monkey handler she attacked with a wine glass in a love spat over a llama-keeper ( you can’t make this stuff up).
2016
Donald Trump is elected 45th President of the United States; The United Kingdom votes by 52% to leave the European Union – it is called the “Brexit” vote; President Barack Obama eased travel restrictions to Cuba, and the 1963 Cold War-era trade embargo was lifted after more than 50 years; the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern; the Cubs won the World Series for the first time since 1908; music icon David Bowie, Boxing legend Muhammad Ali and American hero John Glenn, who became the first U.S. citizen to orbit Earth – all pass away in 2015; and some of the more unique 2016 Newspaper Headlines: “Statistics Show That Teen Pregnancies Drops Significantly After Age 25”, and “Marijuana Issue Sent To Joint Committee”, and “Homicide Victims Rarely Talk To Police” , and “Worker Suffers Leg Pain After Crane Drops 800-Pound Ball On His Head”, and “Bugs Flying Around With Wings Are Flying Bugs”, and finally “ Parents Keep Kids Home To Protest School Closure.”
2017
Donald Trump is sworn in as President of the United States; Robert Mueller is appointed as a special counsel to conduct an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign; on October 1, a lone gunman unleashed a barrage of bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, on a crowd of concertgoers, killing 59 people, and injuring more than 500; the President declares America’s opioid epidemic a National Emergency; there was a hurricane season unlike any other, devastating those who were impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria; The nation was captivated by the first total solar eclipse to cross the USA since 1918; In China, there is a zoo full of inflatable animals, and one lonely tortoise (aww).
2018
President Trump becomes the first US President to meet with a North Korean Leader when he meets with Kim Jong Un in Singapore; American war hero and senator- John McCain – dies at age 82; the Queen of Soul – Aretha Franklin – dies at age 76; President George H.W. Bush dies at 94; Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed after contentious hearings; California wild fires left 88 dead and 9 billion dollars of property destroyed; there are record cold temperatures in the Midwest and Eastern states; There is a continuing crisis at our southern border over illegal immigration; There are over 300 mass shootings in the US in 2018; On March 24th in Washington, D.C. approximately 200,000 people participated in the student-led March For Our Lives demonstration in support of tighter gun control ( if you are reading this 50 years from now – did we ever get it right?)….; and finally, some Canadian Zoo owners took a bear out of the zoo, in a car, to go for ice cream…..the owners got in trouble but you gotta know that the animal was partial to Blue Beary .