1980 Events Ice Hot (Feb. 24): During the Winter Olympics, the youthful American ice hockey team beats the Soviets, the defending champions, in the semifinals and then defeats Finland in the final. The victory electrifies the United States during a time of increasing tensions with the Soviet Union. Cuba Debacle (April): The Mariel boat lift, an exodus of 125,000 Cubans to Florida, begins after Cuban leader Fidel Castro invites exiles in the United States to retrieve friends and relatives. But when the expatriates arrive in Cuba, they find they also have to transport passengers handpicked by Castro -- many of them criminals or mentally ill. Castro's ploy undercuts U.S. immigration policy. President Carter, reneging on a promise to greet outcasts with open arms, declares the boat lift illegal. Failed Rescue (April 24): A U.S. hostage-rescue mission in Iran ordered by Carter ends in disaster. After three helicopters break down, the mission is aborted. During the withdrawal, one of the remaining helicopters collides with a C-130 transport plane, killing eight soldiers and injuring five. Rude Awakening (May 18): Dormant since 1857, Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupts, setting off fires, mudslides and floods, and killing nearly 60 people. Olympic Boycott (July 19): The Summer Olympics open as scheduled in Moscow. But a boycott of the Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan keeps athletes from the United States and several other countries from attending. Abscam (Oct. 2): In its first expulsion since 1861, the House of Representatives expels Rep. Michael Joseph Myers, D-Pa., who was convicted of bribery and conspiracy in connection with a sting operation in which FBI agents posed as Arabs and offered members of Congress cash in return for political favors. One for the Gipper (Nov. 4): Ronald Wilson Reagan, 69, is elected as the nation's 40th president. Reagan, a former film actor, TV show host and Republican governor of California, is the oldest president ever elected. Mystery Solved (Nov. 21): More than half the nation's TV audience tunes in to find out "Who shot J.R.?" That "Dallas" episode became the most-watched program in TV history. Lennon is Dead (Dec. 8): Former Beatle John Lennon, 40, is fatally shot five times in front of his home in Manhattan by a crazed fan, Mark David Chapman, 25. What's Hot Popular Puzzler The Rubik's Cube, designed in 1974 by Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik, is marketed in America in 1980. Over the next year and a half, much of the nation becomes obsessed with the puzzle. The multicolored cube has six sides, each with nine squares. The object is to align the cubelets so each side of the big cube is one color. Mathematicians calculate that this can be done 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways. Births Macaulay Culkin, actor (Aug. 26) Isaac Hanson, musician (Nov. 17) Deaths Jimmy Durante, comedian (born 1893) Alfred Hitchcock, filmmaker (born 1899) Jesse Owens, Olympic track star (born 1913) Steve McQueen, actor (born 1930) Peter Sellers, actor (born 1925) Mae West, actress (born 1890)

1981 Events Assassination Attempt (March 30): President Reagan is shot while leaving the Washington Hilton. Reagan is rushed to a hospital, where he walks in and collapses. Doctors remove a bullet from Reagan's left lung. Press secretary James Brady suffers a wound to the head that will leave him permanently disabled. A Secret Service agent and a police officer are also shot but will recover. On June 21, 1982, gunman John W. Hinckley Jr. will be found not guilty by reason of insanity. He had believed that shooting the president would impress actress Jodie Foster. Shuttle Soars (April 12): The space shuttle Columbia is launched on its maiden flight. Tuning In: MTV, the first 24-hour music channel, aimed at 12- to 34-year-olds, launched by Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Co. to 2.5 million subscribers in 48 states. Targeting the Pope (May 13): Pope John Paul II is shot twice by escaped Turkish convict Mehmet Ali Agca, 23. The pontiff undergoes more than five hours of surgery to remove portions of his intestine. New Plague (June 5): The official announcement of what will become known as the AIDS epidemic appears in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, issued by the Centers for Disease Control. It reports five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia among homosexual men in Los Angeles. A month later, The New York Times reports that 41 young men, most of them gay, have contracted Kaposi's sarcoma. The disease, usually not fatal, has quickly killed eight of the men. Doctors initially call the disease "gay-related immunodeficiency" (GRID). But its spread to other groups leads to a broader term -- acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. A Peacemaker Killed (Oct. 6): As thousands look on, men in Egyptian army uniforms open fire during a military parade, assassinating Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader who made peace with Israel. What's Hot A Right Royal Do In a fairy-tale wedding with a global audience, His Highness Charles Philip Arthur George, the 32-year-old Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, marries Lady Diana Frances Spencer, a 19-year-old kindergarten teacher. They wed July 29, amid pomp and pageantry in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. An estimated 750 million people around the world watch the event on television, and a million well-wishers line the route to St. Paul's. After the hourlong ceremony, the newlyweds ride in a gilded horse-drawn carriage back to Buckingham Palace to begin their doomed marriage. Deaths Joe Louis, heavyweight boxing champ (born 1914) Bob Marley, reggae music star (born 1945) Natalie Wood, actress (born 1938)

1982 Events Rise & Shine (Jan. 4): NBC sportscaster Bryant Gumbel, 33, replaces Tom Brokaw as co-anchor of "Today," becoming the morning news show's first black co-host. Bell Breakup (Jan. 8): American Telephone & Telegraph Co. agrees to divest its 22 Bell Telephone operating systems. The agreement ends an eight-year antitrust suit by the Justice Department that charged AT&T with monopolizing U.S. telephone service. No Match (April 2): Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, the new leader of Argentina's military junta, orders his troops to seize the Falkland Islands. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher mobilizes more than 100 ships to retake the south Atlantic islands. Britain loses four warships to air attacks, but Argentina's negligible navy is heavily outgunned. Argentine forces surrender June 14. The junta loses credibility, Galtieri resigns, and the way is paved for a return to civilian government. Starting a Streak (July 3): Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert Lloyd to win the first of six consecutive women's singles tennis championships at Wimbledon. Tylenol Scare (Oct. 5): Tylenol recalls 264,000 bottles of the pain reliever after seven people die after taking capsules laced with cyanide. The killer is never found. Promising Transplant (Dec. 2): The first successful artificial heart transplant is completed at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Barney Clark, 62, will die on March 23, 1983. What's Hot Mass Marriage The Rev. Sun Myung Moon presides over the simultaneous marriage of 2,075 couples July 1 in New York's Madison Square Garden. Moon later is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 after being convicted of tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Birth Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor, first child of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (June 21) Deaths Leroy "Satchel" Paige, first black American League pitcher (born 1906) Ingrid Bergman, actress (born 1915) Grace Kelly, princess of Monaco (born 1929)

1983 Events Goodbye, Hawkeye (March 2): The final episode of "M*A*S*H" is watched by 125 million people, the largest television audience for any program other than a sports event. Space Woman (June 18-24): Sally K. Ride becomes the first female U.S. astronaut in space. Renewed Effort (Aug. 27): An estimated 250,000 civil rights activists parade in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a similar march led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. Flying High (Aug. 30): Air Force Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford becomes the first black astronaut in space. Passenger Plane Downed (Sept. 1): Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is torn apart by two Soviet missiles, killing all 269 people on board. The Soviets contend the plane was on a spy mission. The plane was indeed in Soviet airspace. A plausible explanation is that a crew member punched a wrong coordinate into the navigation system, sending the Boeing 747 hundreds of miles from its intended flight path. Cup Down Under (Sept. 14-26): A scrappy crew from Australia captures the most prestigious prize in yachting, the America's Cup. For 132 years, the cup has resided in Manhattan. Dethroned (Sept. 17): Vanessa Williams is the first black woman to be crowned Miss America. Her reign will end the next year in scandal when Penthouse announces plans to publish nude pictures of her. Williams will become the first Miss America to resign. Massacre of Marines (Oct. 23): The U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut is destroyed when a truck blows up outside the building. The driver of the truck is killed in the blast, which takes the lives of 241 Marine and Navy personnel who are in Lebanon as part of a peacekeeping force. Going to Grenada (Oct. 25): Fearing that the Caribbean nation of Grenada may become a communist outpost, President Reagan dispatches an invasion force after a bloody coup by pro-Cuban Marxists. The action is taken partly to protect the 1,000 citizens, mostly students, on the island. By Nov. 2, the hostilities are over. King for a Day (Nov. 2): A federal holiday honoring civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is designated for observance on the third Monday in January. What's Hot Cabbage Patch Craze Kids go wild for the cheeky dolls that come with birth certificates. A shortage of the popular Cabbage Patch Kids has parents standing in long store lines at Christmastime, some literally fighting each other to get a doll for their child. Birth Taylor Hanson, musician (April 14) Deaths Karen Carpenter, singer (born 1951) Tennessee Williams, playwright (born 1911) George Balanchine, dancer, choreographer (born 1904) Jack Dempsey, heavyweight boxing champ (born 1895) Muddy Waters, blues musician (born 1914) Harry James, band leader, trumpet virtuoso (born 1916) Ira Gershwin, lyricist (born 1897)

1984 Events Take a Byte (Jan. 22): During Super Bowl XVIII, Apple introduces its new computer, the Macintosh, and throws the home-computing revolution into high gear. Spurred by the rivalry and the increasing "user-friendliness" of the machines, the home-computer industry does a booming business in 1984. Isolation (Feb. 22): A boy known only as David, and dubbed "the boy in the bubble" because he had spent virtually all of his life in sterile isolation because of a defective immune system, dies at age 12. Thrilling Music (Feb. 28): Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards for his album "Thriller," which goes on to become the best-selling pop album of all time. Indian Unrest (June 6): Indian troops storm a temple held by Sikh extremists, killing about 1,000 people. The militants retaliate on Oct. 31, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, 66, is assassinated. Rajiv Gandhi, her son, 48, takes her place amid continued violence. Growing Clout (July 19): In a major victory for American women, Democrat Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman vice presidential candidate nominated by a major political party. Close Call (Oct. 12): British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher barely escapes injury when a bomb explodes in a Brighton, England, hotel where she is staying during a political convention. The Irish Republican Army claims responsibility for the attack, which kills at least two people and injures 34. A Primate's Heart (Oct. 26): A baboon heart transplant to a human, the first of its kind, is performed on a 15-day-old baby girl in California. Baby Fae, who was born with a heart defect, dies Nov. 15. Toxic Killer (Dec. 3): Disaster strikes India when a toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide insecticide plant kills more than 3,000 people and prompts the evacuation of tens of thousands of nearby residents. Blow to Apartheid (Dec. 10): Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for his nonviolent efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. Self-Defense? (Dec. 22): A gunman later identified as Bernhard Goetz opens fire on four black youths on a New York subway, leaving them alive but injured. The gunman says that the youths were trying to rob him, but two of the youths say they were not trying to harass the gunman. A month later a grand jury indicts Goetz only on illegal-weapons charges; however, by March 1985 he will be indicted on four counts of attempted murder. He is later acquitted but loses a $43 million civil case to one of the shooting victims. What's Hot Oprah Debuts It took only one month for Oprah Winfrey to take a Chicago talk show to the top of the local ratings in 1984. Two years later, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is syndicated nationally, and a one-name celebrity is born. In quick fashion, Oprah overtakes the daytime talk-show king, Phil Donahue, and establishes the highest-rated talk show in TV history. Birth Prince Henry "Harry" Charles Albert DavidWindsor, second child of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (Sept. 15) Deaths Ray A. Kroc, builder of the McDonald's hamburger franchise (born 1902) Ansel Adams, photographer (born 1902) William "Count" Basie, jazz pianist/band leader (born 1904) Richard Burton, actor (born 1925) Truman Capote, author (born 1924) Francois Truffaut, director (born 1932) Ethel Merman, singer (born 1909)

1985 Events Last Soviet Leader (March 11): Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is elevated to the Soviet Union's highest post. Gorbachev promises to revitalize the Soviet bureaucracy, but instead he unleashes forces that will bring down the Soviet Union and shake the world's political order. Taken Hostage (March 16): Terry Anderson, a correspondent for The Associated Press in Beirut, is kidnapped by Arab terrorists. He will be held hostage until Dec. 4, 1991. Shooting Star (May 16): Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls is named rookie of the year. Her Last Breath (June 11): After a decade in a comatose vegetative state, Karen Ann Quinlan dies of pneumonia, ending the nation's first major right-to-die battle. Titanic Discovery (Sept. 1): The luxury liner Titanic, which has lain on the ocean floor for 73 years, is found in 13,100 feet of water south of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. Unpaid Bills (Sept. 16): The Commerce Department announces that the United States has become a debtor nation for the first time since 1914. Publicizing AIDS (Oct. 2): Rock Hudson dies at age 59. The actor had disclosed in July that he had the virus that causes AIDS, making AIDS a household word. Hijack (Oct. 7): Four members of the Palestine Liberation Front hijack a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. The terrorists fatally shoot a wheelchair-bound American, Leon Klinghoffer, 69, before surrendering in Egypt on Oct. 9. The next day, as an Egyptian airliner flies the hijackers out of the country, U.S. fighter jets force it to land in Italy. The men are convicted on Nov. 19. U.S.-Soviet Summit (Nov. 20-21): President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Geneva, agree to work toward strategic arms reduction and plan another summit meeting for 1986. Down With Deficit (Dec. 12): President Reagan signs into law an act that aims to eliminate the deficit by 1991. What's Hot The Real Thing -- Not! Coca-Cola introduces New Coke, a sweeter version of its flagship cola that is aimed at winning over Pepsi loyalists. But soda drinkers of all types reject it. Embarrassed Coca-Cola executives would quickly bring back the original recipe as Coke Classic and phase out their flop. Birth Zac Hanson, musician (Oct. 22) Deaths Marc Chagall, artist (born 1887) Laura Ashley, fashion designer (born 1925) Yul Brynner, actor (born 1920) Orson Welles, actor, filmmaker (born 1915)

1986 Events Challenger Explosion (Jan. 28): It is bitterly cold by Florida standards. Icicles hang from the gantry adjoining the shuttle Challenger on its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. The crew includes a high school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who is to become the first typical citizen to travel in space. After a two-hour delay to allow the ice to melt, the launch proceeds. For the first minute, it looks like every other launch. Then, after 73 seconds, disaster. "Uh-oh," says co-pilot Michael J. Smith, the last word from the spacecraft. Giant plumes of smoke shoot out as the explosion paints history against a bright blue sky. A presidential commission concludes the explosion was caused by faulty O-ring seals on the solid fuel rocket booster. Tests had shown the seals to be unreliable in cold weather. But NASA failed to heed warnings because of pressure to meet an "overambitious" launch schedule, the commission reports. Abdication to Aquino (Feb. 27): After defeat at the polls, Ferdinand Marcos agrees to hand over the presidency of the Philippines to Corazon Aquino and flies to Honolulu. Making His Day (April 8): Movie star Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel, Calif. Chernobyl Catastrophe (April 28): Scientists in Sweden detect high radiation levels over Stockholm. Finland, Norway and Denmark report similar findings. After first denying an accident, Soviet officials confirm a "mishap" at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine. Soviet bureaucrats downplay the damage, but it soon becomes clear that the reactor is not only damaged but on fire. It releases a radiation cloud 10 times more potent than that unleashed by the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima in 1945. More than 200,000 people are evacuated, but only after a 36-hour delay. American in Paris (July 27): Greg LeMond becomes the first American bicyclist to win the Tour de France race. Sticking to His Guns (Oct. 13): A summit in Iceland ends in disappointment when President Reagan refuses to accept a Soviet demand that he scrap development of the so-called Star Wars missile defense system. Operation Uncovered (Nov. 13): President Reagan acknowledges that arms were sold to Iran but denies any exchange for American hostages in Lebanon. On Nov. 25, the White House discloses that some profits from the arms sales were diverted to support the Contras in Nicaragua, sidestepping congressional action to cut aid to the rebels. Reagan says he "was not fully informed," and Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North is fired. Attorney General Ed Meese asks for an investigation by an independent counsel, and Iran-Contra, as it becomes known, is born. What's Hot Hand in Hand Nearly 6 million people link hands on May 25 in a chain that stretches 4,150 miles from New York to Long Beach, Calif., broken only along a few desert stretches. Sponsors of Hands Across America hoped to raise $50 million to aid the hungry and homeless. Deaths Georgia O'Keeffe, artist (born 1887) Donna Reed (born 1921) James Cagney, actor (born 1899) Benny Goodman, bandleader (born 1909) Cary Grant, actor (born 1904)

1987 Events Train Wreck (Jan. 4): A 12-car Amtrak passenger train collides with three Conrail engines near Chevy Chase, Md., killing 15 and injuring more than 175. It is the worst accident in Amtrak's history. Bakker Tryst (March 19): Jim Bakker resigns from his ministry and says that he had an extramarital "sexual encounter" with a church secretary, later identified as Jessica Hahn. Baby M Battle (March 31): After a grueling legal fight, custody of Baby M, a child born to a surrogate mother, is awarded to the biological father. Saying he is creating law, the judge upholds the legality of such an agreement and strips the mother of all parental rights. The dispute will work its way through the courts in the coming year. The Hart Affair (May 8): Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, drops out of the race after The Miami Herald discloses that he had an affair with model Donna Rice. AIDS Advances: To help stop the AIDS epidemic, condom commercials are allowed on television. AZT, a promising drug designed to treat but not cure AIDS, wins FDA approval. And in a victory for children with AIDS, the New Jersey Supreme Court requires schools to admit students who suffer from the disease. Dead Air (Sept. 11): Anchorman Dan Rather walks off the set of the "CBS Evening News" over a disagreement with management. The screen stays blank for five minutes. Trapped Toddler: An 18-month-old girl tumbles into a 22-foot-deep well in her back yard in Midland, Texas. Jessica McClure remains trapped for 58 hours. Baby Jessica captures the hearts of worried Americans -- crying for her mother and singing Winnie-the-Pooh songs -- until paramedic Steve Forbes emerges with the tiny bundle in his arms. Market Bust (Oct. 19): On a day that will become known as "Black Monday," the Dow Jones industrial average plummets 508 points and closes at 1738.34. The 22.6 percent decline is the worst in U.S. history, double that of the 1929 crash that ushered in the Great Depression. The collapse wipes out an estimated $870 billion in stock values and signals an end to the freewheeling 1980s. What's Hot Borking The Senate Judiciary Committee collects enough damaging information to thwart the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of highly conservative appellate court judge Robert Bork. The rejected nominee had become well known in the 1970s for firing the Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre." Deaths Liberace, entertainer (born 1919) Andy Warhol, artist, filmmaker (born 1928) Rita Hayworth, actress (born 1918) Fred Astaire, dancer/actor (born 1899) Jackie Gleason, comedian (born 1916) John Huston, director (born 1906)

1988 Events Too Much Swagger (Feb. 21): After reports that he had committed lewd acts with a prostitute, the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart publicly confesses to "moral failure" and is directed to stop preaching for a year. But on May 22, he will preach without ministerial credentials and later be defrocked. Black Archbishop (March 15): Pope John Paul II appoints Eugene Antonio Marino as the first black Roman Catholic U.S. archbishop. Mistaken Identity (July 3): An Iranian jetliner is shot down by a U.S. Navy warship in the Persian Gulf when it is mistaken for an Iranian F-14 fighter plane, killing 290. The cruiser at the time was fighting off attacks by Iranian gunboats. Up the Ladder (Nov. 8): Promising a "kinder, gentler" America, George Herbert Walker Bush is elected the 41st president of the United States. She's in Charge (Dec. 2): Benazir Bhutto, 35, takes the oath of office as prime minister of Pakistan, becoming the first female prime minister of a Muslim country. Terror in the Sky (Dec. 22): Pan Am Flight 103 erupts into a fireball. The blazing Boeing 747 jetliner comes crashing down on Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people aboard the plane die. Eleven are killed on the ground. Within a week, investigators pin the explosion on a bomb. Several terrorist organizations are suspected. What's Hot Olympic Moments Memorable scenes mark the 1988 Winter and Summer Olympics. In Calgary, Canada, heartstrings are pulled by speed skater Dan Jansen, who learns hours before his first race that his sister has died of leukemia. He falls in both of his attempts for a medal. At the Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea, American diver Greg Louganis hits his head on the board but still wins the gold medal. Carl Lewis is awarded the gold medal for the 100-meter dash after the apparent winner, Ben Johnson of Canada, is stripped of his victory when he tests positive for steroids. Lewis takes a second gold in the long jump. Deaths Roy Orbison, rock 'n' roll pioneer (born 1936) Max Robinson, 1st black network news host (born 1939) Divine (Harris Milstead), drag artist, actor (born 1945)

1989 Events Killer Killed (Jan. 24): Serial killer Theodore Robert Bundy is executed in the electric chair at the Florida State Prison in Starke for slaying a 12-year-old girl from Lake City, Fla. Investigators believe Bundy may have killed several dozen women. Political Strides (Feb. 10): Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first black to lead a major American political party. Soviet Retreat (Feb. 15): The last Soviet troops pull out of Afghanistan after nine years of war against anti-communist Muslim rebels. A Big Spill (March 24): The supertanker Exxon Valdez runs into a reef in Alaska's ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound. Eleven million gallons of oil gush from the vessel, spoiling more than 1,000 miles of extraordinary shoreline. Close to 600,000 birds and 5,500 otters are killed from the worst spill in U.S. history. Taking the Fall (May 4): Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a national security aide to President Reagan, is convicted in federal court on three of 12 counts related to the sale of arms to Iran so the money could be given to rebels in Nicaragua. His conviction will be thrown out on appeal. Speaker Silenced (May 31): For the first time in 200 years of democracy, a House speaker resigns. Jim Wright steps down over a yearlong ethics investigation. He is accused of improperly accepting use of an apartment, a condominium and a job for his wife. Wright denies the charges, although he later says he made "errors in judgment." Protest on the Square (June 3): The Chinese army rolls into Tiananmen Square to break up a pro-democracy demonstration that started in April. The gathering had begun with students asking for political reform, but the crowd swelled to 2 million. After martial law is imposed, the crowd thins. But several thousand students remain when they are attacked with automatic weapons and tanks. The death toll is estimated at 2,500. Let It Burn (June 21): The Supreme Court rules, 5-4, that burning the American flag is an expression of free speech protected by the Constitution. S&L Crisis (Aug. 9): President Bush signs landmark legislation to bail out the ailing savings and loan industry, a $166 billion rescue plan. Banned for Life (Aug. 24): Pete Rose, who in 1985 set a major-league baseball record of 4,192 career hits, is banned from the sport for life for gambling on baseball games. Bay Area Quake (Oct. 17): An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale rocks the San Francisco area. Almost 70 die, half of them crushed when freeways collapse. What's Hot Fall of Berlin's Wall For 28 years, it stood as the Cold War's most visible divide -- a barrier of concrete and barbed wire separating the people and ideals of the East and West. So it is a stunning event when, on a chilly Nov. 9, the Berlin Wall comes tumbling down -- at the hands of thousands of East and West Germans who then clamber atop the rubble to celebrate. Communism in Europe collapses quickly, one country following another. Deaths Hirohito, Japanese emperor (born 1901) Salvador Dali, surrealist painter (born 1904) Lucille Ball, actress, comedienne (born 1911) Mel Blanc, voice of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig (born 1908) Irving Berlin, composer (born 1888) Bette Davis, actress (born 1908) Andrei Sakharov, physicist, dissident, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (born 1921) Samuel Beckett, writer (born 1906) Laurence Olivier, actor (born 1907) Daphne du Maurier, author (born 1907)

Related Links Editor's note: These links will take you to Web sites with content we do not control or endorse. The Century Century Links http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/History/20th_Century/ Links that look at events, wars, politics, economics and people that shaped the 20th century, from Yahoo! 20th Century History http://history1900s.miningco.com/education/history/history1900s/index.htm Variety of topics in 20th century history, from About.com Story of Our Times http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/ Excerpts from a 26-part television series on the 20th century, from PBS Shrinking World http://www.eurekanet.com/%7Efesmitha/h2/ Text on 20th century attitudes, from Frank E. Smitha The History Net http://www.thehistorynet.com/ American and world history, from Cowles History Group The History Channel http://www.historychannel.com/ Information, quizzes, speeches, from A&E Television Networks The Decade Berlin Wall http://www.solutions.ibm.com/talkingwalls/berlinwall/bwmain.htm See how you might have felt as an East Berliner when the wall was built, from IBM Challenger Report http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/table-of-contents.html Read a presidential commission's findings on the space shuttle accident, from NASA Oprah at Home http://www.oprah.com/ Health, fitness and cooking advice and more, from Oprah Winfrey AIDS Information http://www.thebody.com/basics.html Learn the basics of AIDS and how to prevent it, from The Body From the Cabbage Patch http://www.cabbagepatchkids.com/playground/index.asp Computer fun for small children, from Mattel

Sources National Geographic Eyewitness to the 20th Century; Chronicle of the 20th Century; Facts on File; What Happened When: A Chronology of Life & Events in America; Who's Who in America; Our Times: The Illustrated History of the 20th Century; "Panati's Parade of Fads, Follies and Manias: The Origins of Our Most Cherished Obsessions," by Charles Panati; Information Please Almanac; "Shadow," by Bob Woodward; "Den of Thieves," by James. B. Stewart; Almanac of Famous People; American Decades: 1980-1989; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Chicago Tribune; Los Angeles Times; The Washington Post; Reuters; The New York Times; USA Today; Time; Newsweek; U.S. News & World Report; Infoplease.com; Internet Movie Database; Starpages.net; Amazon.com; Associated Press; Take Ten Years -- the 1980s; "Total Television," by Alex McNeil; "The Target is Destroyed: What Really Happened to Flight 007 & What America Knew About It," by Seymour Hersh; Encyclopedia Americana; "The Complete Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows," by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh; The Rolling Stone Album Guide; "Encylopedia of Rock Stars," by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton; The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events From Prehistory to the Present Credits Producer: Michelle Buzgon/KRT Designer: Ron Coddington/KRT Photography: William Snyder of The Dallas Morning News/KRT; Leonard Ortiz of The Orange County Register/KRT; NBC via KRT; Harry Hamburg of New York Daily News/KRT; Ron T. Ennis of Fort Worth Star-Telegram/KRT; John Kringas of Chicago Tribune/KRT; Phil Valesquez of Chicago Tribune/KRT; Pauline Lubens of Detroit Free Press/KRT; Ken Cedeno/KRT; Reagan Library; Akira Suwa of The Philadelphia Inquirer/KRT; Jeffrey Scales of HBO via KRT; Tim Broekema of Chicago Tribune/KRT KRT is a joint venture of Knight Ridder and the Tribune Co. Limitations on use of material in this Web package: This content is owned by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services and contains material that is derived in whole or in part from material supplied by KRT or its contributors. The entire Web package and all material in it are protected by international copyright and trademark laws. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit or distribute in any way any material from this Web package, including code and software without our permission.