a few 80's landmarks:

Shuttle blew up

Irangate

Reagan was shot and injured. Jim Brady was shot at the same time and nearly killed, left in a wheelchair, and later sponsored the Brady Bill, which established a 7 day waiting period to buy a gun.

Iranian hostages were released (1980 - -- Jimmy Carter actually did the work, but Reagan got the credit)

The national debt skyrocketed thanks to Reagan's voodoo economics.

George Bush made Dana Carvey's career.

the first woman vice presidential candidate ran (with Mondale in 84)

The first man made entirely of plastic ran for president (Dukakis in 88)

The Honda CRX was rolled out in 1984 (well it's significant to me 'cause I drive one ;)

The Apple Macintosh, which paved the way for the Windows operating system, and thus Bill Gates' fortune, was invented.

The Atari 2600 began a multibillion dollar home videogame industry

The US invaded Grenada in 1983

there's lots more, but it's too late to go on :)