Groveton High School - Tigerama Yearbook (Alexandria, VA)

Page 24 text:

The hostage situation, the aborted U.S. rescue mission in Iran, and growing Soviet militarism caused increased concerns about American weakness. In this atmosphere, a new conservative tide swept the nation. The Moral Majority and other right wing groups called for a return to traditional American values and a greater emphasis on military strength. When students returned to Groveton in the fall, many reflected this new conservatism in their style of dress as fashions became more traditional. Blue oxford shirts, V-necked swearers, and tweed jac¬ kets appeared all over the school. Yes, the upper middle class “establishment” look was back — with every girl desperately trying to fit into her new pair of designer jeans (two sizes too small) and iiordes of students attempting to re¬ structure their lives around the tenets of The Official Preppy Handbook. Boys haircuts continued to be shorter and girls tried to look business-like without forsaking the feminine look. As parents applauded this departure from the faded jeans and tee shirt look, many students grumbled about increasing conformity (true, at least half the school has at least one pair of Topsiders boat shoes tucked away in their closets.) 20

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Photo by Delma Studios The year began with the hostage crisis in its second month, and national politics soon made big news as more than a dozen candidates hit the campaign trail in the year-long quest for the presidency. As the candidates came and went, millions of dollars were poured into campaign coffers and spent on packaging the candidates as perfect combinations of John F. Kennedy, Abe Lincoln, and F.D.R. In this flurry of political activity, John Anderson came to prominence as the favorite candidate of many students. As the summer progressed, the eyes of the world were focused on a little known mountain in the state of Washington — Mt. Saint Helen’s, which suddenly ended one hundred years of inactivity with a series of fiery eruptions. Meanwhile, in Po¬ land, the communist economic system was hit by a stormy political eruption. Union leader. Lech Walesa organized his co-workers in unprecedented strikes, shaking up the Polish economy. This made many in the U.S. fearful of a Soviet invasion of Poland. American relations with the U.S.S.R., already strained by a grain embargo imposed to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, remained chilly.

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Photo by Delma Studios As 1980 turned to 1981, the hostages came home and Americans went into the voting booths and pulled Republican levers, bringing Ronald Reagan and a more conservative congress into office. We replaced our bags of peanuts with bowls of jelly beans and proceeded through life as usual. The ex-actor faced his new responsibility boldly, with proposals for balancing the budget, increasing defense spending and cutting taxes. His job was not easy, restructuring an economy where prime interest rates were hitting above 2(X7c and the big three automakers were on the verge of becoming the big two. Reagan and his advisors set their sights on cutting the fat out of welfare and dismantling the Department of Education in an attempt to concentrate on the government’s basic functions. 21