The Overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu

Overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu

After a brief show trial, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were summarily executed on December 25, 1989. The execution resulted in the demise of one of the last Stalinist administrations to emerge in Eastern Europe following WWII. Learn more about WWII here.  The fall of governments in Poland, Czechoslovakia, … Read more

The Tiananmen Square Massacre

Tiananmen Square Massacre

According to a publicly released British diplomatic cable, in 1989, at least 10,000 people were massacred during the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. This shocking event is one of the top political events in the 1980s. The paper was made public 28 years after the military clashed with students at a pro-democracy rally … Read more

The People Power Revolution in 1986

People Power Revolution

Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos converged on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue from February 22 to 25, 1986, to protest President Ferdinand Marcos’ claim that he had won re-election against Corazon Aquino. This historical event is regarded as one of the most significant political occurrences of the 1980s. What is the People Power … Read more

The Cold War Summit between Gorbachev and Reagan

Gorbachev and Reagan

A summit between the Soviet Union and the United States leaders was held. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan come face to face in Geneva but reached no ground-breaking agreements. On the other hand, the encounter appeared to promise well for the future, as the two men engaged in lengthy, intimate conversations and … Read more

The Assassination of Indira Gandhi

Portrait of Indira Gandhi

According to Professor Swaran Singh, Indira Gandhi, India’s Prime Minister, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. The killing prompted four days of rioting in which over 8,000 Indian Sikhs were killed in retaliation assaults. At the time, Professor Swaran Singh of Warwick Medical School was a trainee surgeon … Read more

The First Female Democratic Vice President: Geraldine Ferraro

portrait of Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Anne Ferraro served in the United States House of Representatives as a lawyer. In 1984, she broke with convention by running for vice president with presidential candidate Walter Mondale. She was the first woman to run on a national ballot for a major political party, running for the Democratic Party. Her … Read more

The Assassination of Benigno Aquino

Assassination of Benigno Aquino

Former senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr. was killed on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. His death was a watershed moment in Philippine history, motivating millions of people to take to the streets to oppose President Ferdinand Marcos’ regime, who would subsequently call for a tumultuous snap … Read more

The Death of Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev’s wake

The official narrative of Leonid Brezhnev’s death is that he died of abrupt heart arrest. Despite the Secretary General’s poor health, his untimely death has resulted in several misconceptions. And it’s no surprise: some of the circumstances surrounding Brezhnev’s death remain odd. His mysterious death is one of the top political events … Read more

The Assassination of Anwar Al-Sadat

The Assassination of Anwar Al-Sadat

Muslim radicals assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat during a military parade commemorating the 1973 Yom Kippur War against Israel on October 6, 1981. The CBS News Bureau in Cairo tries to make sense of contradictory reports on whether Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had dead in the hours after the shooting while Sadat … Read more

The War in the Falklands

Falklands war

Argentina attacked the British foreign territory of the Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982. Argentina had claimed sovereignty over the islands for many years, and the country’s governing military dictatorship did not believe Britain would try to reclaim them by force. Despite the enormous distance involved – the Falklands were 8,000 miles … Read more

The Maze Hunger Strike

The Maze Hunger Strike

After seven months and ten deaths, an Irish nationalist hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has been called off. Bobby Sands, the imprisoned Irish Republican Army or IRA leader who started the protest on March 1, 1981–the fifth anniversary of Britain’s “criminalization” of Irish political prisoners–was the first … Read more

Sandra Day O’Connor Appointed to Supreme Court

Sandra Day O’Connor

Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed in the Supreme Court by President Reagan on August 19, 1981, thereby fulfilling his 1980 campaign pledge to nominate the first woman to the highest court in the United States. At the time of her nomination, the fifty-one-year-old O’Connor was a judge in the Arizona Court of … Read more