Valparaiso University - Beacon / Record Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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F W? Hostages: a year and counting 4 , W On Nov. 4, fifty American men marked a year as hos- tages of Iranian militants. De- spite an aborted rescue mis- sion and dealings between the U.S. government and the Ayatollah Khomeini, no easy answers were in sight at press time. A quiet period in a busy year During a quiet period at Washington state's Mt. St. Helens volcano, gases are the only indications of the eruptions which covered the Northwest with ash and lava during 1980. Saturn: a new look NASAis Voyager I took this picture on Sept. 17, while 47 million miles away from its Nov. 12 encounter with the planet. m i x m M ' iwndawe A smile from the new guy President-elect Ronald Reagan - actor turned politician e holds aloft a newspaper announcing the Reagan-Bush triumph. News 17

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Campus Lifemews US. economy takes dip President Carter's llNew Economics weren't in time to save the American economy from one of the worst slumps in recent history. Nearly everything went bad. The Federal gov- ernment was forced to bail out the Chrysler Corporation after the worst quarter in the company's history. And just a few months after that, General Motors, which supposedly goes like the nation , chalked up its worst finan- cial quarter. All the major steel companies reg- istered huge declines and sent large numbers of employees home. Unemployment ap- proached 140A, and everyone from presiden- tial candidates to workers cried out for a tax cut. Gold took its place along the Dow Jones in- dustrial average and commodity prices in the standard list of economic indicators. The price of an ounce of that precious metal e which once stood at $43 in 1971 and $100 in 1976 - remained at the inflated sum of nearly $700 1 during most of 1980. Nature takes charge Mother nature made her presence known in two ways this year: the continuing eruption of Mt. St. Helens and the summer heat wave in the Southwest. Mt. St. Helens, in Washington's Cascade Mountains, erupted first on May 18, killing over 75 persons and leaving hundreds home- less. The volcano remained active throughout the year, periodically erupting or spewing lava and ash over the state. Meanwhile in the Southwest eleven states suffered through a devastating drought and heat wave. Temperatures hit 1000 in Dallas for 33 consecutive days. Over 1200 humans died in the scorching heat, and the toll in animal lives was nearly uncountable. The loss of many farm crops sent some consumer prices soaring in the fall. The yeafs best quote Sometimes when I look at my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have stayed a vir- gin. e Lillian Carter 16 News Memories of the year ' - After The Brethren -set the nation buzzing with stories of the Supreme Court's inner workings, the Court moved to the'right on several key issues. For example, it ruled that states can refuse to pay for abortions performed on poor women. , e The still-new Pope John Paul II continued his quest of world peace, visiting South America. - Although the 1980 census' preliminary findings showed a loss of population in America's large cities, two major urban areas tried for comebacks - Detroit by hosting the Republican national convention, Cleveland as the site of the Carter-Reagan presidential debate. .. Presiderit Carter and the US. Olympic Committee agreed to boycott the summer games in Moscow as a pro- test of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. - The president re-instituted draft registration for males in the face of mounting world unrest. Signs reading Hell no, we won't go and post-oftice protests brought back memories of the 60ls. - The new census also led to speculation that Los Angeles would overtake Chicago as the second largest American city. ' - The Shah of Iran finally died of cancer in Egypt - an ironic end to the Iranian militants' demand for his return home. - President Carter received the lowest approval rating ever given to amodern chief executive. - The ever-unpopular Susan B. Anthony dollar became a thing of the past. The federal government discontinued production, to the delight of store owners who had com- plained that the dollars looked and felt more like quar- ters. - Some 120,000 Cuban refugees were allowed to enter the United States and were relocated in camps across the country. - Raquel Welch, Fred Astaire, Angela Davis and Bjorn Borg were married .. Anita Bryant and Jerry Lewis di- vorced their spouses ... and Peter Sellers, Steve McQueen and the Cisco Kid died. - On the international scene Prime Minister Begin almost lost control of lsrael, Japan witnessed a smooth tran- sition of power after its prime minister's death, and in Poland a labor strike ended in a victory for the workers, as suits Communist rhetoric. e And just to prove that the rebellious 6015 were over, Abbie Hoffman wrote a book and gave up the life of a tugitive, while Jerry Rubin accepted a position as a securi- ties analyst on Wall Street.

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Election 80 9G0 right, Americaii - Reagan leads GOP to stunning Victory In the end, it was Ronald Reagan who led the pack. It was a long, grinding marathon that included Republicans George Bush, John Anderson, Bob Dole, John Connally, How- ard Baker, Philip Crane, and Reagan. On the Democratic side there were Jerry Brown, Ted Kennedy and, of course, Jimmy Carter. There were many others, too, who received only token ink in their efforts to win, place or show in America's quadren- nial electoral race. When it was all over, the former California governor and movie actor captured 489 electoral votes and 51 percent of the popular-vote tally. Carter could garner but 49 of the former and 41 percent of the latter. Independent John Anderson re- ceived no electoral votes and seven percent of the popular vote. As Reagan crossed the finish line, a host of other Republicans hung onto his coat tails. Indeed, those coat tails were long enough to play a big role in giving the Grand Old Party its first majority in the Us. Senate since 1954. Gone were famous liberal Democrats George McGovern, Birch Bayh and Frank Church; Replacing them would be names like James Abdnor, Dan Quayle and Steven Symms. The elections for the House of Representatives also favored the GOP, as over 30 seats fell from Democratic control. Four governors' mansions similarly went to the Republicans. Because of this overwhelming Republican victory, many po- litical observers called Election '80 a realignment election, 1 , j which in layman's terms means that the nation has significantly changed its political direction. The last realignment election occurred in 1932, when, in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal took the country by storm. Adding fuel to the idea of a realignment election was the preponderance of conservative political action groups in the 1980 campaign. The National Conservative Political Action Committee alone poured millions of dollars into defeating lib- eral legislators. Right-wing religious groups, like Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority also jumped into the political arena. Although many experts doubt the importance of these New Right groups, their presence was felt in a symbolic way, if nothing else. It is somewhat early to judge whether this country has truly taken a long-term shift to the Right. Many of the signs were there, but one must remember recent history. After all, it was only in 1974 that the Republican Party was given up for dead after Watergate. The possibility remains that 1980 was simply a spontaneous voter protest against high inflation and rising un- employment, and the Democrats the convenient scapegoat. Of course, time will tell all. In a short time, the contestants will begin linging up for the 1982 mini-marathon. And probably sooner than we think, even more candidates will prepare for the 1984 race. By then we should know for sure if America has paved herself a path to the Right. - David Yamada Presidentaelect Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy wave in triumph after surprisingly strong victory in the 1980 presidential sweepstakes 18 Election '80