Mirabilis Member Years

There shall be initially 410 Mirabilis Members. Mirabilis is latin for miracle. The Mirabilis Members will each be unique in that they will adopt a year in the great American story.

1980

California Republican Ronald Reagan, elected 40th President of the United States.

The Iranian hostage crisis ended with their release on the day of President Reagan’s inauguration.

1981

President Ronald Reagan shot in the chest in an attempted assassination, by John Hinckly. He undergoes emergency surgery and survives with humor intact.

Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice.

1982

Vietnam Veterans Memorial unveiled in Washington D. C. Although controversial in artist and design, the powerful emotional impact of the wall containing all the names of the Americans killed in the Vietnam War became an accepted and beloved symbol of sacrifice.

1983

Korean Airlines Flight 007 was shot down by Russian jets over the Kamchatka Peninsula, killing all aboard, including Congressman Larry MacDonald of Georgia, the most outspoken Conservative and anti-communist in the Congress.

President Reagan signed a bill making the third Monday in January a national holiday in remembrance of the death of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

United States armed forces mounted a mission to rescue medical students trapped in Granada. They defeat the Cuban and Granadan communist forces and seized the island.

1984

Ronald Reagan reelected in a landslide, carrying 49 out of 50 states.

1985

President Regan met with Prime Minister Gorbachev of the Soviet Union for the first time.

1986

United States Space Shuttle, Challenger, broke up in flight, killing all aboard, including civilian school teacher.

Clandestine support given to anti-communist forces in Nicaragua by the United States government, and the connection to activities relating to Iran, scandalized Reagan foreign policy, the so-called arms for hostages deal.

1987

“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”

On a visit to Berlin, President Reagan called for Soviet Premier Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall and reunite East and West Germany.

The Democratic-dominated Senate rejected the Reagan nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, making it clear that candidates who accepted original intent will not get past the Senate.

1988

Texas Republican George H. W. Bush carried forty states and the election, running on a good economy and with the blessing of the popular President Reagan.

1989

President Bush banned “assault weapons.”

The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was the largest oil tanker disaster in history and the litigation lasted for years.