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 Conjuring
up images of the 80s often leads to visions of spandex and outrageously
big hair, but the with the decade change there also dawned a new era of
conservatism that seemed to directly clash with the extreme pop culture
of the time. The swaggering screen-gem Ronald Reagan, President of the
United States for nearly the entire decade, ushered in Reaganomics. He
also sent some not-so-friendly bombs
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in
1986 to then-Libyan leader
Muammar al-Qaddafi, who quickly became known to children over the US as "Qa-goofy."
And Ronald (The Gipper) Reagan's beloved wife, Nancy, took charge of the
War on Drugs, thanks to the increasing accessibility of cocaine and
marijuana to the average American. By the end of the decade, if you
didn't "just say no" you were probably on crack.
The 80s were also home to the timeline marking the end of the
Cold War era. As the
race to arm outer space escalated, President Reagan began spending more
and more time with the enemy, Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the USSR.
Through diplomacy and a lot of not-so-veiled
threats, Communist Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, after much
pressure by world leaders, especially Reagan, throughout the 1980s.
And who can forget the lovely Princess Diana? After a fairy tale wedding
to Prince Charles in 1981, this statuesque stateswoman took
humanitarianism to a whole new level throughout the world, all the while
battling personal demons with eating disorders and a royal pain of a
marriage. While her beautiful but short life didn't come to an end until
1996, the 80s were truly the decade of the England's Rose.
