Fourth Quarter of the 20th Century

1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Gerald Ford USA: James Carter (President) USA: Ronald Reagan (Pres.) USA: George H. W. Bush (Pres.) USA: William Clinton (Pres.)
Warren Berger (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) William Rehnquist (Chief Justice)
Carl Albert (Speaker) Thomas P. O'Neill (Speaker of the House) James Wright (Speaker) Thomas Foley (Speaker) Newt Gingrich (Speaker) Dennis Hastert
Mike Mansfield (Senate Maj.) Robert Byrd (Senate Majority Leader) Howard Baker (Senate Maj.) Robert Dole (Senate Maj.) Robert Byrd (Senate Maj.) George Mitchell (Senate Maj.) Robert Dole Trent Lott (Senate Maj.)
Canada: Pierre Trudeau Joseph Clark Canada: Pierre Trudeau John Turner Canada: Brian Mulroney Kim Campbell Canada: Jean Chrétien
Mexico: José _López Portillo Mexico: Miguel _de la Madrid_ Hurtado Mexico: Carlos _Salinas_ de Gortari Mexico: Ernesto Zedillo Ponce De Leon
UN: Kurt Waldheim UN: Javier _Pérez de Cuéllar UN: Boutros _Boutros Ghali UN: Kofi Annan
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Harold Wilson UK: James Callaghan UK: Margaret Thatcher UK: John Major UK: Anthony Blair
UK: Queen _Elizabeth_ II
France: Valery _Giscard d'Estaing France: François Mitterrand France: Jacques Chirac
BRD (West Germany): Helmut Schmidt BRD (West Germany): Helmut Kohl Deutschland: Helmut Kohl DE: Gerhard Schröder
DDR (East Germany): Erich Honecker
USSR: Leonid Brezhnev USSR: Yuri Andropov USSR: Konstantin Chernenko USSR: Mikhail Gorbachev Rossiya: Boris Yeltsin
Leonid Kravchuk Ukrayina: Leonid Kutchma
Bosnian War
Polska: Edward Gierek Polska: Wojciech Jaruzelski Polska: Lech Walesa Polska: Aleksander Kwasniewski
Romania: Nicolae Ceauescu Romania: Ion Iliescu Emil Ion Constantinescu
Pope _Paul VI _John Paul Pope _John Paul II
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
_Miki_ Takeo Nihon: _Fukuda_ Takeo Nihon: _Ohira_ Masayoshi Nihon: _Suzuki_ Zenko Nihon: _Nakasone_ Yasuhiro Nihon: _Takeshita_ Noboru _Uno_ Sosuke _Kaifu_ Toshiki Nihon: _Miyazawa_ Kiishi _Hosokaya_ Morihiro Nihon: _Murayama_ Tomiichi Nihon: _Hashimoto_ Ryutaro Nihon: _Obuchi_ Keizo
Nihon: (Showa Emperor) Hirohito Nihon: Emperor Akihito
Zhong Guo: _Mao_ Zedong Zhong Guo: _Deng_ Xiaoping Zhong Guo: _Jiang_ Zemin
NVN Vietnam: Le Duan Vietnam: Nguyen Van Linh Vietnam: Dô Mùói Vietnam: Lê Kha Phieu
SVN
2nd Indochinese War Cambodia: Vietnamese occupation
Kampuchea: Khmer Rouge Kampuchea: Heng Samrin Cambodia: Interim Kingdom of Kampuchea: Sihanouk
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Bharat: Indira Gandhi Bharat: Indira Gandhi Bharat: Rajiv Gandhi Bharat: P.V. Narasimha Rao
Pakistan: Zulfikar Bhutto Pakistan: Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto
Iran: Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Iran: Ruhollah Khomeini Iran: Islamic Republic
Iran-Iraq War Gulf War Chechen War
Ba'ath Party Iraq: Saddam Hussein
Afghanistan: Republic Afghanistan: Communist Govt. Afghanistan: Mujahadeen Govt. Afghanistan: Taliban Govt.
Soviet-Afghan War Civil War in Afghanistan
War in Lebanon
Israel: Yitzhak Rabin Israel: Menachem Begin Yitzhak Shamir Israel: Shimon Peres Israel: Yitzhak Shamir Israel: Yitzhak Rabin Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu
Philippines: Ferdinand Marcos Philippines: Corazon Aquino Philippines: Fidel Valdez Ramos
Australia: Malcolm Fraser Australia: Robert Hawke Australia: Paul Keating Australia: John Howard
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Zaire: Mobutu Sese Seko Congo: Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Uganda: Idi Amin War in the Sudan
South Africa: Balthazar Johannes Vorster South Africa: P. W. Botha South Africa: F. W. _de Klerk South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Falklands War Grenada Invasion Panama Invasion Rwandan Genocide
Argentina: Military Rule Argentina: Civilian Rule
Nicaragua: Anastazio _Somoza_ Debayle Nicaragua: Sandinista Front Nicaragua: Daniel _Ortega_ Saavedra Nicaragua: Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro Nicaragua: José Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo
Cuba: Fidel _Castro_ Ruz
Chile: Augusto _Pinochet_ Ugarte
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Smallpox eradicated in the wild Music Recording: CDs replace LPs Internet takes off
Videotaping: VHS overcomes Betamax
Altair home computer Floppy Disc Apple II personal computer Evidence that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs 3M Post-it notes MS DOS IBM Personal Computer Microsoft Windows Hewlett Packard LaserJet Printer High-temperature superconductor Hypertext Markup Language Mosaic Internet browser First spam, bulk e-mail advertizing Short-acting insulin, Humalog, for diabetes Pfizer Viagra for impotence
Lyme Disease identified Atenolol (Tenormin) for blood pressure Magnetic Resonance Imaging First test tube baby Sony Walkman Volcanic eruption: Mt. St. Helens AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome DNA Fingerprinting used to solve crime Eli Lilly Prozac for depression The World Wide Web B-2 Spirit stealth bomber Nationwide Caller ID (USA) Dolly the Sheep cloned from an adult cell
Legionaire's Disease identified Jumbo jet collision, Tenerife, Canary Is. 3.6 MYO fossil footprints, demonstrating upright hominids Artificial skin to treat 3rd degree burns Dinosaur killer Chicxulub crater in Yucatán Peninsula
B-1B Lancer bomber
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Jaws Earthquake: Tangshan, China Close Encounters of the Third Kind Maiasaurus fossils suggest dinosaur familes Accident: Three Mile Island (USA) Nuclear Plant F-117a Stealth fighter Chemical Spill: Bhopal India Wreck: US Space Shuttle Challenger Forrest Gump Independence Day
Star Wars Grease The Empire Strikes Back Raiders of the Lost Ark E.T. Return of the Jedi Ghostbusters Nuclear Meltown: Chernobyl, USSR Home Alone Jurassic Park The Lion King Titanic The Phantom Menace
TV: All in the Family TV: A Different World
Gunsmoke TV: Three's Company TV: Home Improvement
Marcus Welby, M.D. TV: Dallas TV: Friends
TV: Laverne & Shirley TV: The Cosby Show TV: Frasier
TV: The Waltons TV: Cheers TV: E R
TV: Sanford and Son TV: Family Ties TV: Seinfeld
TV: Happy Days TV: Roseanne
TV: 60 Minutes
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Contemporary Context:


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Last updated October 2001

Copyright © 2001 Matthew White