University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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THE WORLD WE LIVED IN January to June 1981 he press, politicians, civic leaders and others called it a time of renewal for America. And if there was one special day when it all seemed to begin anew, it was the day the hostages came home and Ronald Reagan became the nation's fortieth president January 20th, 1981. The Reagan Administration began to reorganize the countryis priorities, both at home and abroad. The mood of the people grew conserva- tive. It was as if everyone had grown tired of the confrontation politics of the sixties and seventies. The street demo was iout'-at least for the time being. Guys with long hair cut it short and shaved their mustaches and beards. The neat look was iinf A tongue-in-cheek guide to social mo- bility, We Preppy Handbook? became a national bestseller. The change in fashion reflected a new, more sober approach to the new decade, in strong contrast to the wild party of the sixties and the long hangover of the seventies. uWerenit the seventies a drag? asked John Lennon, a few days before he was shot dead outside his home in New York in the last days of 1980. iiOh, no, ifs all happening again, we groaned, as we watched over and over again on TV the images of panic and confusion which erupted on a Washington sidewalk as a Colorado man, John Hinckley, shot at the President one dn'zzly afternoon in early April. Miraculously, the President was not too seriously wound- ed. A month later, this time on the streets of the Vatican, more shots were fired, and the man who fell was Pope John Paul H. Once again, although more badly hurt than Reagan, the victim of senseless violence survived. The world could scarcely believe its good fortune.

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Muln Um? DOH'IHUH'II Denver on an qfrernoon in late Spring, looking towards the northeast.

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hile Americans were redis- covering their self-esteem, and learning how to once more wave their flag with- out guilt, the rest of the world trudged on much as before. In Ireland, the death by starvation of hunger strikers Bobby Sands and other IRA members in pursuit of political-prisoner status fanned the flames of still more suffering and killing of innocent people in the northern provinces. Poland's labor unrest kept the country teetering on the brink of Soviet invasion, as their economic situation worsened. Spain,s fledgling democracy was challenged by a group of military officers, who held the parliament at gunpoint for several hours, but in the end failed to take over the country. A new president, a socialist, was elected in France. In the Persian Gulf the oil kept flowing as the stalemated war between Iraq and Iran dragged on. And in the Middle East, the Syrians created a new crisis by setting up Soviet missiles aimed at Israel, and Israel sparked new controversy by destroying a nuclear reactor plant in Iraq, claiming it was to be used for making nuclear weapons. a m, l. aw. S 0m eniwm Time's cover caplurea' Ihe moment. 10 January to June 1981 Space does not permit a compre- hensive review of everything of interest or importance which took place during 1980, but in the following pages we try to recap some of the major developments and trends which helped to shape our lives, and seemed to have the potential to change those offuture generations. Maybe twenty or thirty years from now, the reader of these columns will be amused by the issues we considered important; what is prob- ably more likely is that he or she will discover that our burning issues were not that differentfrom those being faced by the readeris own generation! Enter the RepubHcans 5 Jimmy Carter left the national stage and returned to private life to write his memoirs, the Democrats, who never really wholeheartedly supported his reelection campaign, were in tatters. For the first time in a quarter of a century, Republicans had a majority in the Senate. As the Democrats began their soul-searching and revamping of positions to woo again the voters who had deserted them, the Repub- licans, who had been in a similar situation after the Watergate scandal, reigned supreme. They seemed in tune with the national mood, their axes and scissors at the ready. To the horror of their opponents, Repub- licans said they were going to chop budgets, trim federal legislation and give the states more money to spend as their legislatures saw fit. To the Democrats this represented an un- doing of nearly every good program they had struggled to set up since New Deal times; to the Republicans, it was a long overdue streamlining of a governrnent bureaucracy they Saw as interfering too much in people's lives The main problem the Republican; faced was how to take away the federal largesse and leave smiling the people who were being deprived of it. They needed a leader who could make it seem a warm and friendly thing to do, since appeals for economic restraint usually lose out in battles with the Pocketbook, Ronald Reagan did not let them down. The man who had failed so often to get his partyis nominatiOn before, even losing to Gerald Ford in 1976, the man whom many considered a has-been, too old for the grind of campaigning and iicut and thrust of politics, the man whose ultra-patriotic line had seemed so out of touch with average American values in previous years, Ronald Reagan almost breezed through his campaign. In doing so he gave the lie to those who said he was too old,' too out of it to lead anything or anyone. The country was simply ready for him, and he ready for it. Despite his early career as a iBl movie actor who had starred in some fifty instantly forgettable films, Reagan proved that his camera training could be indispensable in a presidential campaign. His movie experience helped him more than it harmed him. The Reagan style. always cheerful, always with a good one-liner to whizz by the media boys leven when he had been shoti made him good TV material, and thus, many would argue, good presidential material. At any rate, his understand- ing of communication helped him avoid many, if not all, of the pitfalls which beset many a politician. zmlht'u- mimic. timid WM