University of Wisconsin Platteville - Pioneer Yearbook (Platteville, WI)

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Far Above: Unemployment hit a rate of 8.996 in December of 1984. Above: Superman II was one of The biggest selling movies of the year. Left: The Rubik's Cube became a popular pastime of young and old alike in 4981.

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24 CURRENTS A Time Of TransiTion We live in a Time of TransiTion, an uneasy era which is likely To endure for The resT of The cenTury. -Jimmy CarTer Jimmy CarTer, The 39Th presidenT of The UniTed STaTes, presenTed his farewell address on Jan- uary 44, 4984. The quoTe ciTed above reflecTs The unresT and anxieTy 4984 seemed To bring. While mosT news was bad raTher Than good, The American people mainTained Their hope and deTerminaTion To make The mosT of a Try- ing year. A sTrong sense of naTionaIism was evidenT as millions of Americans wiTnessed The reTurn of 52 American hosTages held capTive for 444 days in Iran. The 40Th presidenT of The UniTed STaTes was sworn in on The same day, January 20 4984, jusT one half hour before The firsT of Two Algerian airliners conTaining The hosTages de- parTed from a Tehran airporT. WiTh The new presidenT came a new word To describe The approach To gain conTroI of The ianaTionary monsTer - Reaganomics. We saw no big economic Turnarounds in 4984, as The unemploymenT raTe hiT 8.996 in December. A selecTion of consumer iTems cosTing $400 in 4967 had risen To $280.70 in November of 4984. Reaganomics wasn'T The only word which fre- quenTed The channels of The media. Assassina- Tion made headlines as aTTacks were made on The heads of church and sTaTe. On March 30, Ronald Reagan was sTruck by The buIIeTs of John Hinckley Jr. ouTside WashingTon's HiITon HoTeI. Six weeks IaTer Pope John Paul II fell vic- Tim To anoTher wouid-be assassin in ST. PeTer's square. In OcTober, EgypT's presidenT Anwar SadaT was viciously murdered by Muslim ma- chine gunners along wiTh seven oThers who were waTching a miIiTary parade in Cairo. Assassins didn'T Take all The blame for Tragic deaTh in 4984. Kansas CiTy's HyaTT Regency HoTel became The siTe of The worsT disasTer in The ciTy's hisTory. Hundreds of people were presenT ThaT July nighT, dancing on whaT They ThoughT were safe skywalks. As The highesT walkway Tore loose iT fell onTo The nexT, bring- ing Them boTh down To The lobby floor. The resuIT-444 dead and 490 injured. AnoTher di- sasTer, aIThough one wiThouT deaTh, occurred in Lynn, MA on November 28 as a fire raged in ThaT ciTy. The 46 hour blaze leveled four blocks, lefT more Than 400 persons homeless, 4,500 umemployed, and burned ouT 34 companies. 4984 was a year of sTrikes. A sTrike by air Traffic conTroIIers began AugusT 3. The 45,000 mem- ber Professional Air Traffic ConTroIIers Organi- zaTion violaTed federal law when They chose To walk ouT. AnoTher sTrike Took place in Ire- land as four members of The Irish Republican Army fasTed in BelfasT's Maze prison in hopes of winning poliTical prisoner sTaTus. Bobby Sands was The firsT To sTarve. AfTer seven monThs, The IRA called off The sTrike, buT nine oThers had succeeded Sands deaTh. Poland's indepen- denT Trade union, SolidariTy, was yeT anoTher organizaTion which sTruck. Because of The building unresT and diminishing auThoriTy, The Polish governmenT declared a sTaTe of emer- gency and implemenTed marTial law, revoITing civil righTs and suspending The operaTion of SolidariTy. These acTions followed The Soiidar- iTy's decision To call for a naTionwide referen- dum To decide wheTher To reTain or rejecT The communisT sysTem of governmenT. The longesT sTrike in The hisTory of professional sporTs came To an end on July 34, afTer 49 days of disagreemenT on The issue of free- agenT compensaTion by The baseball players of The Major League. A ToTaI of 742 games were cancelled. EIsewhere in sporTs, The Oak- land Raiders became The NaTional FooTbaII League Champions by defeaTing The Philadel- phia Eagles 27-40 in Superbowl XV. Wisconsin's own Olympic hero, Eric Heiden, received The Sullivan Award as The naTion's ouTsTanding amaTuer aTheleTe. The BosTon CeiTics became The NaTional BaskeTbaIl AssociaTion Champions wiTh a 402-94 vicTory over The HousTon Rock- eTs in The sixTh game of The besT-of-seven playoff series. In The world of fads and fashions, we saw The rise of The Lady Di haircuT, The hospiTal scrub suiT, aIIigaTor apparel and The new wave ap- proach To dressing. SixTeen-year-oid Brooke Shields was The cover girl of 4984 as she fiaunT- ed, among oTher Things, Calvin Klein Jeans. Pac-Man joined The ranks in The video game craze. For The less elecTronicaIIy orienTed There was Erno Rubik's cube. On The big screen, Superman ii and Raiders of The LosT Ark were among The big earners for 4984 BesT seller albums included Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie and REO Speedwagon's High InfideliTy . EnTerTainers and fans were moved by The deaThs of Harry Chapin and NaTalie Wood. DespiTe The failure To raTify The Equal RighTs AmendmenT, many women made headlines. Sandra Day O'Connor became The firsT female jusTice of The Supreme CourT. Carol BurneTT won a libel suiT againsT The NaTionaI Enquirer. Deborah FounTain, Miss New York, was ejecTed from The Miss USA pageanT for padding her bra. A new fronTier was reached as Columbia, The world's firsT space shuTTle, made iTs maiden voyage in April. IT's second Trip inTo space, which was The firsT ever by a reusable space crafT, was delayed for eighT days. WiTh prob- lems Taken care of H underTook iTs Third voy- age in November. While much of The unresT in 4984 was The resuIT of poliTical or economical affairs, MoTher Na- Ture goT inTo The ad as The year closed. Mud slides in California lefT hundreds homeless and bone chilling TemperaTures and record amounTs of snow hiT The MidwesT. 4984 wenT ouT like a lion. is There a year of The lamb in The fuTure?

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26 ENTERTAINMENT