Events

Beginning of the AIDS pandemic. Opposition to nuclear power plants grew, especially after the catastrophic 1986 Chernobyl accident. Rejection of smoking based on health concerns increased throughout the western world. The Lockerbie Disaster on 21 December 1988, when a Boeing 747-121 was blown up over the village of Lockerbie, Scotland while enroute from London's Heathrow Airport to New York's JFK. The bombing killed all 243 passengers, 17 crew members and 11 people on the ground, totaling 270 fatalities who were citizens of 21 nationalities. The bombing was and remains the worst terrorist attack on UK soil. Musician and former member of The Beatles John Lennon was assassinated in New York City on December 8, 1980. Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981 by John Hinckley, a mentally disturbed young man who also stalked Jodie Foster. Reagan's press secretary James Brady was also shot, along with a police officer and a Secret Service agent. The latter two recovered, along with Reagan himself, but Brady used a wheelchair thereafter and would become an advocate of gun control.