Surviving the '80s: the decade's timeline

CONFRONTING AIDS By Diane Feinstein I WAS THE FIRST mayor to raise the subject of AIDS at the Conference of Mayors in 1984. No one wanted to talk about it. There was no treatment; fear was

widespread. San Francisco was the first city to devote major funds to research. The HIV/AIDS epidemic was one of the most formative, difficult experiences of my career in public service. We

took strong actions, some of which were controversial. But the epidemic was a key moment in the effort to achieve equality for LGBT Americans. The gay community came together to fight for

their dignity — and their lives. Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, left, Joseph "Run" Simmons and Jam Master Jay. Ebet Roberts/Getty Images _— Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

was the mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988._ 1985 THE FRIDGE RUNS “THE FRIDGE was a great athlete. He couldn’t run 40 yards worth a damn, but he could run five yards really good. We

first put him on offense as a fullback. I realized there was no way that with a guy the size of Fridge blocking upfront that they were going to stop us. And they didn’t. Then the thinking

was, well, if he can block, maybe he can run. So we gave him the ball and he scored. If he can block and run, maybe he can catch. He did that, too! What’s next, except maybe he can throw?

That he couldn’t do.”_ — Mike Ditka coached the 1985 Chicago Bears. William “Refrigerator” Perry scored the Bears’ final touchdown in the team’s 46-10 victory over the New England Patriots

in Super Bowl XX._ THE POWER OF PEE-WEE "AFTER THE PREMIRE of _Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,_ CBS approached me about doing a kids show. I immediately said yes. I always knew that if I was

going to have a kids show, it would be important to have a really great kids show. I never took that lightly. That all came out of my own childhood, of just loving the shows I grew up on.

Even when I was a kid watching them, I always felt, Thank goodness for this. I’m really proud of _Pee-wee’s Playhouse_. I meet young people almost every day who say, ‘I’m an artist because

of your show.’ ” _— Paul Reubens created Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which aired from 1986 to 1990. In 2016, he starred in the Netflix feature Pee-wee’s Big Holiday._ Hulk Hogan celebrates after

defeating André the Giant in Wrestlemania III. AARP via YouTube 1986 RUN DMC WALKS THAT WAY Candace Bergen, second from left, with the cast of "Murphy Brown" in 1988. “[PRODUCER

RICK [RUBIN] gives us this yellow notebook pad. He tells us, ‘Go down to D’s basement, put the needle on the record.’ We go down to my basement and put on the record, and then you hear

‘Backstroke lover always hidin’ ’neath the covers,’ and immediately me and Joe get on the phone and say: ‘Hell no, this ain’t going to happen. This is hillbilly gibberish.’ ” _— Darryl

“D.M.C.” McDaniels and Joseph “Run” Simmons recorded — reluctantly — their cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” in 1986. The single would go on to sell more than 1 million copies, paving the

way for other rap artists’ commercial success._ 1987 OLIVER NORTH TESTIFIES IN IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR  East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall in order to open a new

crossing point between East and West Berlin, near the Potsdamer Square. “REGAN WAS a polarizing figure for the media. This particular event crystallized a lot of that angst. You had pundits

and politicians on one side, and the American people on the other. If they picked me to go and try to indict Ronald Reagan, they picked the wrong guy. I understood what the words ‘_semper

fidelis’_ really meant, and I was not ashamed to say so.”   _—Oliver North helped engineer the scheme to sell arms to Iran and direct the profits to Contra rebels in Nicaragua; the ensuing

Iran-Contra scandal resulted in indictments for several figures in the Reagan administration, including North. He now hosts _War Stories With Oliver North _on Fox News._ “I’D WRITTEN THE

THING, BUT I THOUGHT, WOW, THAT’S MORE POWERFUL THAN I REALIZED.” _— Speechwriter Peter Robinson wrote the “Tear down this wall!” address delivered in West Berlin on June 12, 1987_ 1988 HULK

HOGAN SLAMS ANDRÉ THE GIANT “[WORLD WRESTLING Federation owner] Vince McMahon came to my hotel room the night before the match and asked me what I saw. I said, ‘I think this is classic

David vs. Goliath.’ Fight, fight, fight. He’s beating me down until I get one up on him and make this crazy Hulkamania comeback. André was so kind and so generous. Believe me, if he didn’t

want to get slammed, he wouldn’t have gotten slammed. He was 600 pounds.” _— Hulk Hogan (born Terry Bollea) defeated André the Giant in WrestleMania III._ INVENTING MURPHY BROWN “CBS ASKED

if I could change her from a recovering alcoholic to somebody who was coming back to work after being at a spa, because she was very stressed out. They also asked if, instead of turning 40,

she could be turning 30. Then the big 1988 writers strike hit, so I couldn’t touch that script. If they wanted to shoot that pilot, they had to shoot that first draft. And that’s what they

did. We let this woman carry the comedy, rather than be the person who reacts to funny things men are doing. You didn’t see much of that in the ’80s.” _— TV and film producer Diane English

won three Emmy awardsfor the CBS show _Murphy Brown_._ “WE THOUGHT IF WE LET THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO CHINA, AMERICA WOULD RESCUE US.” _—Chai Ling was a student

leader in the Tian’anmen Square protests of 1989.  _ 1989 THE BERLIN WALL FALLS By P.J. O'Rourke GOT THERE AS SOON as I could. I hadn’t missed the party. Party is the wrong word. Berlin

wasn’t littered with beer cans—it was littered with fruit peels. The greatest joys of freedom are basic. East Berliners were suddenly free to buy fresh fruit for the first time in their

lives. And West Berliners were free to attack the eyesore dividing the city, the nation, the world. It wasn’t a victory celebration. No one was vanquished. Sledgehammers smashed the Wall

until a crack opened. Through that crack came the hand of an East German border guard who, three days before, would have shot the hammerers. He was wiggling his fingers. He was waving hello.

The Cold War had been a fact of life in my world ever since I came into it in 1947. I’d thought I didn’t let it bother me. Duck-and-cover drills were a break from multiplication tables. But

those wiggling fingers snatched away a worry I didn’t know I had, lifted a weight I didn’t know I carried. And all of Berlin was floating carefree. Yes, there’d be new troubles soon. Evil

can’t be simply walled in or out. But when joy comes, enjoy it. _— Humorist and essayist P.J. O’Rourke covered foreign affairs at Rolling Stone during the 1980s. His most recent book is

Thrown Under the Omnibus._ David Dudley, Meg Grant, Christina Ianzito, Brennen Jensen, Kim Keister, Patrick Kiger, Amanda Robb and Jon Saraceno contributed to this report.