University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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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

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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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Coloradois boom y 1981, it seemed as if the production of energy from oil shale in Colorado was finally going to begin on a massive scale, after years of false starts. To meet the nations needs, said C. C. Garvin of Exxon, north- western Colorado would have to be turned into a iinational energy zonei, in which the normal rules of environ- mental protection would not apply. The rationale: the world's largest reserves of kerogen-laden shale rock are in the state, mainly in the north- western quadrant. The problem: get- ting fuel out of the rock is a messy business, and trying to reach Con- gressi goal of a half million barrels a day by 1987 worried environmental- ists, who expected the area to be totally ruined. They feared that the energy boom would bring millions of temporary workers into the state, destroy the ecology of millions of acres of the nations most scenic terrain, and place unmanageable burdens on the states water resources. If Exxonls forecasts were right, the US. will be using 30 million barrels of oil per day by 2010, double its 1981 daily consumption. 981 was the year in which ten new skyscrapers began to be constructed in Denver. Thus, within a few years, the city which was being hailed as the nationls newest energy capital would really start to look the part. A sleepy Western town no more, Denver was already boasting the 36-story Amoco Building, the twin Great West Plaza towers and the 26-story Denver National Bank. Among the new buildings would be the one built to replace the historic old Republic building, torn down in 1981, the City Center, the United Bank Center, the Dominion Plaza, the Stellar Plaza, 17th Street Plaza and the Tabor Center. Rise of the religious right he religious organization which made the most news in the first half of 1980 was, by far, the Moral Majority, the fundamentalist sect led by TV evangelist Jerry Falwell. Having stumped for Reagan in the election of 1980, both in and out of the pulpit, Falwell made many ene- mies, including the ACLU tAmerican Civil Liberties Unionl, which ran ads early in the year saying, uIf the Moral Majority gets its way, yould better start praying. Television pro- ducer Norman Lear liiThe Jeffersons, iiAll In The Family? protested the New Christian Rightls labeling as a poor Christian anyone who disagreed with their views. Some- what surprisingly, the Rev. Billy Graham said he didn't wish to be identified with them, noting that iievangelists canlt be closely identified with any party or person However, he admitted that he hadn,t been faithful to his own advice in the past, and promised to do so in the future. Moral Majorityis Jerry F alwell Despite the criticism, the MM was enjoying great success in its self-appointed role as watchdog of American morals. Congress seemed partial to banning all federal aid for abortions except in cases where the mother's life was at stake. The Coalition for Better Television, a special TV monitoring group com- prised of the Moral Majority, the Rev. Donald Wildmon's National Federation for Decency and other organizations, was beginning to pres- sure US. corporations which spon- sored TV shows the groups polls found to be offensive to its members. Unless those firms did not act to clean up udirt, profanity, vulgarity and sexii on TV, their products and services would be boycotted; On the last day of June, just when it seemed that the campaign was about to begin, Wildmon announced that the boycott was off. He said his organ- ization was satisfied that advertisers' would in the future be more responsible in choosing shows for sponsoring. The announcement followed a series of se- cret meetings between Wildmonis or- ganization and representatives of major TV advertisers. 11 Mike Gallegos