Born in 1980

If you were born in 1980, Ronald Reagan won the presidency in November by an electoral landslide that surprised nearly everyone, and something shifted in the American political weather that would define the next decade. The Iranian hostages were released on Reagan's inauguration day—the timing made everyone suspicious—and after a year of national humiliation and Carter malaise, the country was ready for morning in America even before the slogan existed. John Lennon was shot outside the Dakota in December and the grief for a generation's favorite Beatle was immediate and uncontainable, radio stations playing "Imagine" on a loop.

The US hockey team beat the Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Olympics—"Do you believe in miracles?"—and the country erupted in a patriotism it hadn't felt in years. *The Shining* and *Raging Bull* and *9 to 5* were at the multiplex.

Cable television was just starting its revolution—CNN launched in June and Ted Turner got laughed at. MTV was a year away. The Rubik's Cube arrived in American stores and collective obsession was immediate.

Pac-Man in the arcades was eating every available quarter. The Walkman was in every teenage ear. The minimum wage was $3.

10. Shoulder pads in women's blazers were arriving. The country was brash and hopeful and about to spend rather a lot of money it didn't have.