1. Domestic Events
1.1. Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
1.1.1. explosion of the U.S. space shuttle orbiter Challenger, shortly after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 28, 1986
1.1.2. 7 people died, 6 astronauts and 1 teacher
1.1.3. The primary goal of shuttle mission 51-L was to launch the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
1.1.3.1. It also carried the Spartan Halley spacecraft, a small satellite that was to be released by Challenger
1.1.3.1.1. was to be picked up two days later after observing Halley’s Comet during its closest approach to the Sun.
1.1.4. Greatest visibility among the crew went to teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe of Concord, New Hampshire, the winner of a national screening begun in 1984.
1.1.4.1. McAuliffe was to conduct at least two lessons from orbit and then spend the following nine months lecturing students across the United States.
1.1.4.1.1. The goal was to highlight the importance of teachers and to interest students in high-tech careers.
1.1.5. The mission experienced trouble at the outset, as the launch was postponed for several days
1.1.6. All appeared to be normal until after the vehicle emerged from “Max-Q,” the period of greatest aerodynamic pressure.
1.1.7. The severe cold reduced the resiliency of two rubber O-rings that sealed the joint between the two lower segments of the right-hand solid rocket booster.
1.1.8. The incident immediately grounded the shuttle program.
1.1.8.1. An intensive investigation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a commission appointed by U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan and chaired by former secretary of state William Rogers followed.
1.1.8.1.1. Other members of the commission included astronauts Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride, test pilot Chuck Yeager, and physicist Richard Feynman.
1.1.9. On the morning of the accident, an effect called “joint rotation” occurred, which prevented the rings from resealing and opened a path for hot exhaust gas to escape from inside the booster.
1.1.10. As the vehicle ascended, the leak expanded, and after 59 seconds a 2.4-metre (8-foot) stream of flame emerged from the hole.
1.1.10.1. This grew to 12 metres (40 feet) and gradually eroded one of three struts that secured the booster’s base to the large external tank carrying liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for the orbiter engines.
1.1.11. The Challenger broke up in the explosion, but the forward section with the crew cabin was severed in one piece; it continued to coast upward with other debris, including wings and still-flaming engines, and then plummeted to the ocean.
1.1.11.1. It was believed that the crew survived the initial breakup but that loss of cabin pressure rendered them unconscious within seconds, since they did not wear pressure suits.
1.1.11.1.1. Death probably resulted from oxygen deficiency minutes before impact.
1.2. Goldwater-Nichols Act
1.2.1. "To reorganize the Department of Defense and strengthen civilian authority in the Department of Defense, to improve the military advice provided to the President, the National Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense, to place clear responsibility on the commanders of the unified and specified combatant commands for the accomplishment of missions assigned to those commands and ensure that the authority of those commanders is fully commensurate with that responsibility, to increase attention to the formulation of strategy and to contingency planning, to provide for more efficient use of defense resources, to improve joint officer management policies, otherwise to enhance the effectiveness of military operations and improve the management and administration of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes."
1.2.2. The Goldwater–Nichols Act was an attempt to fix problems caused by inter-service rivalry
1.2.3. Named after Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) and Representative William Flynt "Bill" Nichols (D-Alabama)
1.2.4. The bill passed the House of Representatives, 383–27, and the Senate, 95–0.
1.2.5. It was signed into law by President Reagan on October 1, 1986.
1.2.6. reworked the command structure of the United States military
1.2.7. It increased the powers of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and implemented some of the suggestions from the Packard Commission, commissioned by President Reagan in 1985.
1.2.8. Goldwater–Nichols streamlined the military chain of command
1.2.8.1. Which now runs from the president through the secretary of defense directly to combatant commanders (CCDRs, all four-star generals or admirals), bypassing the service chiefs.
1.3. Hands Across America
1.3.1. A public fundraising event on Sunday, May 25, 1986, when 5 to 6.5 million people held hands for 15 minutes to form a continuous human chain across the United States.
1.3.2. Many participants donated $10 each to reserve their place in line.
1.3.2.1. The proceeds were donated to local charities to fight hunger and homelessness and help those in poverty.
1.3.2.2. The event raised about $15 million for charities after operating costs.
1.3.3. Cities Involved:
1.3.3.1. New York City
1.3.3.2. Trenton, New Jersey
1.3.3.3. Philadelphia
1.3.3.4. Baltimore
1.3.3.5. DC
1.3.3.6. Pittsburgh
1.3.3.7. Youngstown
1.3.3.8. Cleveland
1.3.3.9. Toledo
1.3.3.10. Columbus
1.3.3.11. Cincinnati
1.3.3.12. Indianapolis
1.3.3.13. Champaigne
1.3.3.14. Chebanese, Illinois
1.3.3.15. Springfield, Illinois
1.3.3.16. St Louis
1.3.3.17. Memphis
1.3.3.18. Little Rock
1.3.3.19. Amarillo, Texas
1.3.3.20. Alberquerqe
1.3.3.21. Phoenix
1.3.3.22. San Bernadinho
1.3.3.23. Santa Monica
1.3.3.24. Long Beach
1.3.4. Many celebrities were involved
1.3.5. Occured on May 25th
2. Popular Culture
2.1. Movies:
2.1.1. Top Gun
2.1.1.1. starring Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards and Tom Skerrit
2.1.1.2. Top Gun is about Tom Cruise’s Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
2.1.2. Rocky IV
2.1.2.1. r
2.1.2.2. movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren
2.1.2.3. boxing movie pitting American vs Soviet
2.1.3. Heartbreak Ridge
2.1.3.1. war movie
2.2. Music
2.2.1. Burning Heart
2.2.1.1. part of the Rocky IV soundtrack
2.2.1.2. artist is Survivor
2.2.2. Christmas at Ground Zero
2.2.2.1. artist is Weird Al Yankovic
2.2.3. Everyone Wants To Rule The World
2.2.3.1. artist is Tears for Fears
3. Letter from the editor
3.1. The year 1986 has many influential events in the Cold War whether domestically in the United States like the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Hands Across America, the Goldwater-Atwater Act or international events like the launch of Soviet Mir Space Station, the Black Sea incident, Chernobyl, Reagen and Gorbachev meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, and reports on Iran-Contra affair revealed. 1986 is heavily dominated by space race affairs like the Challenger Disaster or the launch of the Soviet Mir Space Station. This was also the year of one of the first Reagen-Gorbachev summits. The Iran-Contra affair occurred in 1980 where the United States traded weapons with Iran to free the hostages, it was a secret until Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiaraa released the information regarding the affair.
4. International Events
4.1. Chernobyl
4.1.1. Came online between 1978-1983
4.1.2. Had four reactors each capable of reaching 100,000 megawatts
4.1.3. The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel.
4.1.4. The resulting explosion released at least 5% of radioactive reactive core into the environment.
4.1.5. Two plant workers died on night of explosion
4.1.6. Several explosions triggered a large fireball and blew off the heavy steel and concrete lid of the reactor.
4.1.7. Explosion occurred due to a poorly designed experiment
4.1.8. 28 more people died as a result of acute radiation syndrome
4.1.9. “The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident."”
4.1.10. Around 350,000 people were evacuated and relocation is still ongoing
4.1.11. “It was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture.”
4.1.12. Areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia were impacted
4.1.13. Gorbachev says Chernobyl was more impactful in the fall of the Soviet Union then his own liberal reform
4.1.14. Worst disaster in the history of nuclear disaster generation
4.1.15. This and the ensuing fire in the graphite reactor core released large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere, where it was carried great distances by air currents.
4.1.16. A cover-up was attempted, but on April 28 Swedish monitoring stations reported abnormally high levels of radioactivity and pressed for an explanation.
4.1.17. The Soviets admitted what occurred, which cause massive outcry due to radioactive emissions in the air
4.1.18. Soviets created an exclusion zone
4.2. Reykjavík Summit
4.2.1. Meeting held October 11 and 12th between United States President Ronald Reagen and Soviet Union Premier Mikhail Gorbachev
4.2.2. Was intended as a session to explore the possibility of limiting nuclear options in US and Soviet Union
4.2.3. Almost resulted in a sweeping nuclear arms-control agreement in which the nuclear weapons of both sides would be dismantled.
4.2.4. No agreement was reached, but many view it as the turning point in the Cold War
4.2.4.1. Including Gorbachev
4.2.5. The leaders agreed that nuclear weapons must be eliminated, and they nearly produced an agreement to eliminate the Soviet and American nuclear weapons stockpiles by 2000
4.2.6. What prevented such an agreement was the space-based missile defense system known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) under consideration by the United States.
4.2.7. President Reagan refused to limit SDI research and technology to the laboratory.
4.2.8. Gorbachev, however, would not accept anything less than a ban on missile testing in space.
4.2.9. Despite the failure to reach an agreement on that issue, both sides felt that the meeting was a success and that it opened the way for further progress.
4.3. Reveal of the Iran-Conta Affair
4.3.1. almost a dozen administration officials were convicted by an independent counsel in the biggest scandal to rock Ronald Reagan’s presidency
4.3.2. In 1981, President Reagan approved an operation in which the CIA would aid Nicaraguan rebel insurgents
4.3.3. Speaker of the House Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, was against the operation and in 1984 pushed through Congress the Boland Amendments—two laws banning such aid, whether direct or indirect.
4.3.4. To bypass these laws, officials—including National Security Council (NSC) staffer Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North—proposed an arms-for-hostages deal in which the US would sell weapons to Iran (despite an arms embargo) through Israel and then funnel the funds to aid the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, thus bypassing congressional approval.
4.3.5. Reagan also hoped the sale of arms might help win the release of US hostages in Lebanon who were taken by Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
4.3.6. Three shipments of missiles were sent to Iran in August, September, and November 1985, with no success in eliciting the hostages’ release.
4.3.7. Reagan signed a document authorizing the arms-for-hostages operation, and then another in January authorizing the transfer of arms to Iran through a third party.
4.3.8. It wasn’t until November 1986 that the operation went public, when Lebanon-based publication Al-Shiraa broke the news of the Tehran meeting
4.3.9. Reagan eventually went on television to tell the American people that it was not an arms-for-hostages deal, but was instead about improving relations with Iranians.
4.3.10. Secretary of State George Shultz—who, along with Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, had opposed the operation reminded the president that it was indeed an arms-for-hostage deal.
4.3.11. On 25 November 1986, President Reagan announced the creation of a committee to look into the matter; the following day, he appointed former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to serve as members.