|
Issue Date: September 4, 2005
1985: THE YEAR THAT ROCKED OUR WORLD
We're celebrating our 20th anniversary! On Sept. 8, 1985, USA WEEKEND was born. As we looked back, we realized that particular year proved pivotal in several areas. We asked prominent historian GIL TROY to shed light on the year's key events.
Throughout 2005, we have looked back on the people and events of 1985, when our magazine debuted in U.S. newspapers. The auspicious year continues to influence our politics, entertainment, sports and public safety. Here's more on the lasting legacy of 1985:
IN THE BEGINNING
USA WEEKEND's Sept. 8, 1985, debut issue featured Miss America hopeful Lisa Davenport, Miss California. Inside stories: Phil Donahue on love, Tom Brokaw on exercising, and Priscilla Presley on her new book, "Elvis and Me."
USA WEEKEND FACTS
608: Number of newspapers that carry today's issue of USA WEEKEND, up from 225 in 1985.
49.4: In millions, the number of USA WEEKEND readers today.
14: Number of times USA WEEKEND's Make A Difference Day has taken place. This fall's event will be held Oct. 22. An estimated 3 million volunteers will participate.
SPORTS
Event: Michael Jordan wins the NBA Rookie of the Year award on May 16.
Impact: Jordan ushers in new era of gravity-defying play -- as well as corporate-partnered mass consumerism.
Off the court, Jordan became a successful brand.
|
With the award, the Jordan Era reached the point of no return: M.J. went on to lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships. He won MVP five times. He passed. He rebounded. He defended.
And Jordan took endorsements to another galaxy. He'd earn millions by endorsing Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and many other companies. Today, a player like LeBron James can command a $90 million shoe deal, thanks to Jordan's success.
Be Like Mike? You'll find there's more to it -- on and off the court -- than scoring points.
POLITICS
Event: Ronald Reagan is inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 21 after his "Morning in America" campaign.
Impact: A president's words speak to an optimism that restores confidence among the American people and helps bring down the Iron Curtain.
Reagan was on firm ground for this tone-setting event. The first time, critics dismissed him as a tough-talking right-winger who wouldn't last. But his second inauguration speech mirrored that of his upbeat re-election campaign, "Morning in America": "The American sound ... is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent and fair. That's our heritage; that's our song. ..." The speech laid a foundation: Two years later in West Berlin, Reagan urged in a speech, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." By 1989, it fell.
Even now, Reagan's second inaugural address influences our leaders, including Democrats. Look at how President Clinton believed in "a place called Hope." The current president was elected on a campaign theme of "compassionate conservatism." Is it a coincidence that these two leaders are, as Reagan was, two-term presidents? Not at all.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Event: On Jan. 1, New York state starts issuing fines under the first mandatory safety belt law.
Impact: The start of an era in which America puts safety above all.
When it came to safety belt use, New York led the way for the rest of the nation. Today, all states but New Hampshire have some kind of mandatory safety belt law. But it's about more than legislation; it's about changing mind-sets. These days, parents who drive without the family firmly buckled in are not only fined; they earn a collective scolding from society.
It was the harbinger of a new wave of public interest in what had been a matter of private choice. The seat-belt decision brought a new era of laws governing personal behavior on public roads, extending to bike helmets, child-safety restraints and, now, cellphone use at the wheel.
All of this has allowed decision makers to weigh in on the broader risks of human behavior -- on or off the road. Remember when you could smoke just about anywhere? Joe Camel is dead, and there are fewer places where you can puff away now. The seat-belt law helped to shed light on the potential to legislate safer living.
GLOBAL OUTREACH
Event: The first Live Aid concerts rock the world on July 13.
Impact: Mega-music events with mainstream stars make it easy for the Reagan generation to embrace a cause.
Two concerts -- one in London and one in Philadelphia. Dozens of stars. The event's participants read like a Who's Who of top 1980s talent (including the Who): U2, Madonna, Queen, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting and many others. The result was a cause-based event, organized by the Boomtown Rats' Bob Geldof, that appealed to a broad dynamic of audiences, regardless of politics.
Unlike Woodstock, there was more behind it than peace, love and music; Live Aid raised more than $100 million for famine relief in Africa. And many of the acts performing represented the heart of the FM-friendly mainstream: Daryl Hall and John Oates, the Beach Boys and Teddy Pendergrass were there. Even the Four Tops showed up! These acts were hardly in-your-face types who would alienate Reagan's middle America.
In the end, Live Aid set the template for the "safe" impact-seeking music event, followed by efforts such as Farm Aid and Geldof's recent follow-up, Live 8.
ENTERTAINMENT
Event: The Cosby Show wins its first Emmy as Outstanding Comedy Series on Sept. 22.
Impact: Americans embrace a charming, successful TV family that just happens to be black.
This first Emmy validated Bill Cosby's bold vision. After premiering in 1984, we watched Cosby and his fictional family, the Huxtables, because they were fresh and funny. They were endearing. The fact that they were African-American was an afterthought.
Before The Cosby Show, African Americans were portrayed as struggling in the 'hood, as in Good Times. Or, if they were successful, they were conveyed as buffoons, like George Jefferson. Bill Cosby refused to buy into this formula. He challenged national television audiences to embrace an African-American family that clearly was upper middle-class and urbane.
The series led the way for African-American-pioneered entertainment that made race a matter of secondary significance. In 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show debuted nationally, setting the stage for Winfrey's media juggernaut, one that reaps its success from audiences of all ethnic and racial backgrounds.
HEALTH
Event: Rock Hudson dies of AIDS on Oct. 2.
Impact: A matinee idol succumbs to the unthinkable and inspires awareness, acceptance and progress in battling the disease.
Imagine America's collective shock: The most handsome, masculine matinee idol of the 1950s and '60s was taken by a disease that was killing homosexuals by the thousands. Why, hadn't he recently kissed the beautiful Linda Evans on Dynasty!? How could Rock be gay?
But Hudson was gay. And his death greatly influenced the way we understood homosexuality and the AIDS plague. After Hudson's death, even President Reagan -- a conservative -- addressed AIDS as a public threat. In 1986, he described the disease as "the highest public health priority" as he increased government funding for AIDS research (many would say it was not enough). AIDS awareness increased, as more in the mainstream realized its devastating consequences.
In the 10 years after Hudson's death, the number of new HIV infections in the United States declined from 140,000 per year to 40,000. By 1991, another masculine icon, Magic Johnson, announced -- with courageous optimism and candor -- that he was HIV-positive. Without Hudson -- with all of his physical appeal and on-screen charm -- paving the path, the public response to such an admission may have been too intimidating for Johnson to consider.
Historian Gil Troy is author of "Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s" (Princeton; $29.95).
Go to top
COLORFUL QUOTES FROM 20 YEARS OF USA WEEKEND
Over the past 20 years, USA WEEKEND has talked to virtually everyone of interest. Here are excerpts -- some prescient, some poignant, all revealing -- from some of our favorite interviews.
Magic Johnson
Oct. 18-20, 1985
"I don't have any trouble with things like passing the time on the road. One thing I do is go to the movies a lot. ... Every city we go to I know where all the theaters are and all I have to do is pick up the paper and see what time the show starts." His company, established in 1994, now owns six multiplex "Magic Johnson Theaters," each with nine to 15 screens.
Dustin Hoffman
May 15-17, 1987
"I'm begging [Warren Beatty] to get married and have children. I'm begging him before his testosterone level drops, I'm begging him. Because he's wonderful with my children." Five years later, at age 55, Beatty and wife Annette Bening had the first of their four children.
Venus Williams
Aug. 2-4, 1991
She tapes Wimbledon every year and watches it over and over. "One day," she says matter-of-factly, "I hope to be playing in it." Williams, then 11, has since played at Wimbledon nine times, winning Ladies' Singles three times.
Eddie Murphy
May 13-15, 1994
On his duties as dad: "I read the books, 'cause I do voices and all the stuff. ... I start doing the voices, and I look at my kids, and it's funny." Murphy has voiced memorable roles in animated features such as "Mulan" (1998) and "Shrek" (2001).
Jennifer Aniston
July 25-27, 1997
"I have always been somebody that really wants to be married. And I don't know if that's just so I can do it differently than my parents did and prove marriage does work." Her divorce from Brad Pitt -- after five years of marriage -- soon will be final.
Madeleine Albright
Feb. 26-28, 1999
"You know, one of the hardest parts about what we're doing is there is no real address for Osama bin Laden," she says of the terrorist leader blamed for attacks on two U.S. embassies [in 1998]. Al-Qaeda attacked the USA 19 months later.
Peter Jennings
Nov. 21-23, 2003
"I was not running away from anything when I left Canada. ... I didn't come to America for economic opportunity, although I have certainly enjoyed it. But every fourth Thursday of November, I have given thanks ... because America has been virtually everything I hoped it would be." Jennings, who died last month, became a U.S. citizen in 2003.
|
