What was a big news story when you were growing up that young people today wouldn't have heard of?

[Spinneret]

the queens mother passing

 

[sipnride]

Oliver North selling weapons to Iran in order to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua. At the time it was huge, the idea that someone with the rank of lieutenant colonel could sell arms to a declared enemy was, in and if itself, an outrageous scandal. That he did so with the intention of using the funds to support a war that congress had explicitly defunded was even more scandalous. That he was convicted and only got probation - I don't think our country has ever recovered. It proved that certain military and intelligence officials were above the law, above even congress and the president.

I'd be shocked if more than 1% of people under 30 know this even happened.

 

[nyy]

When Baby Jessica fell in the well.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Patty Hearst “kidnapping”.

 

[easyas123]

Move bombing.

 

[goofyernmost]

The Manson Family Massacre.

The Apollo I fire killing three Astronauts.

Lee Harvey Oswald killed on live TV by Jack Ruby.

The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station Meltdown.

 

[tvguy]

An F-86 Sabre Jet performing at an air show crashed into a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor across the street from the Sacramento Executive Airport killing 22 people, 12 of them children.

 

[wabbott]

Chappaquiddick

 

[GoingSince1990]

Whitewater was HUGE at the time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_controversy

 

[Liz]

This wasn’t when I was growing up, but in 1984 a baboon heart was transplanted into Baby Fae. That was a huge news story with protests and younger people likely wouldn’t know about it. I had no idea how our lives would be involved in a very personal way with the key players in this story just five years later.

 

[sheilafri]

Gary Powers being shot down in a U2 spy plane in Soviet airspace and being held captive until exchanged.

And, the first human heart transplant in 1967 (?).

 

[ncc1701]

Move bombing.

I was just a few years out of college when that happened. My Sis n I had taken our Grandpop out to dinner ( Mom & Dad were away). The "Indcindary Device " had just been dropped when we left him. By the time we ggot home, the whole block looked like a WW2 documentary film.

 

[nancipants]

When Baby Jessica fell in the well.

I was gonna say this one. It’s probably a common answer for 80s kids.

 

[OKW8297]

Patty Hearst “kidnapping”.

I was just going to type this!

 

[jeff_h]

Tylenol bottles being tainted and harming some people (I think this was 1983), leading to more tamper-proof measures on many products.

 

[Tattylou]

When Baby Jessica fell in the well.

That’s what I thought of too

 

[Allison Joy]

Add me to the Baby Jessica group. It's the first big news story I remember. And then big new stories are a bit of a blur for a few years... Gulf War, then OJ Simpson, and OK City Bombing were the big stories of my childhood/elementary years.

I remember we had an author visit our school, and we were supposed to create a "squib" character (the owl main charcter of the book series) and I came up with OJ Squibson....

 

[barkley]

very local to where i lived-zodiac.

international news-the birth of louise brown which was mind shattering at the time.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Killer Bees
Whatever happened to them

 

[Aladora]

John Lennon assassination.
Ronald Regan assassination attempt.