1981
- U.S. hostages in Iran are released on same day Ronald Reagan is inaugurated President
- Memorial Day weekend flooding in Austin; 13 killed
- Both President Reagan and Pope John Paul II wounded in assassination attempts
- Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
- "Fairy tale" wedding of Prince Charles of England and Lady Diana Spencer
1982
- Vietnam Memorial, designed by architecture student Maya Lin, built in Washington
- First successful heart transplant
- Falkland Islands conflict
- U.S. unemployment hits 10% for the first time since the Great Depression
- The Rev. Gordon Charlton, former Dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, becomes second Suffragan Bishop of Diocese of Texas
1983
- 240 U.S. Marines killed in bombing of U.S. embassy in Beirut
- Cabbage Patch dolls become latest toy trend
- U.S. invasion of Grenada
1984
- Macintosh personal computer released by Apple Computer Corp.
1985
- Return of Halley's Comet (1985-86)
1986
- Texas Sesquicentennial
- Desmond Tutu becomes Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa
- Devastating nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine
- Congressional investigation of Iran-Contra
- Space Shuttle Challenger explodes, killing all seven astronauts on board
1987
- tbd
1988
- Bomb explodes on Pam Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland; 270 killed
- Vice President George H. W. Bush wins presidential election
1989
- Berlin Wall comes down
- U.S. invades Panama
- Exxon Valdez tanker runs aground, causing massive oil spill along Alaskan coast
- Savings & Loan crisis
1990
- Austin musician Stevie Ray Vaughan dies in helicopter crash
- Nelson Mandela is released from prison in South Africa; apartheid crumbles
- "Operation Desert Shield" military action in Persian Gulf
- Space Shuttle Discovery deploys Hubble Space Telescope
- East and West Germany reunite
- John Major becomes British Prime Minister
- Austin population 465,622
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