AUGUST 1981 Release of the First Personal Computer International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation introduced their first personal computer in 1981. This was the first IBM machine targeted at household consumers rather than large businesses or research facilities. IBM introduced it at the Waldorf Hotel in New York with a price tag of $1,565 (about $5,700 in 2025 dollars). At purchase, the machine came with a Microsoft-designed operating system and two programs, a word processor and a tool for creating spreadsheets. Games and other programs followed. Consumer demand created a boom in technology design and other companies quickly joined the production and development market. Many of them built headquarters and factories on the West Coast, including in California. Macintosh released its personal computer in 1984. Marketplace competition and technical innovations continued to bring new computers to consumers and into more homes and offices. SEE FIGURE 68 SEPTEMBER 1982 Centers for Disease Control Uses the Term AIDS for the First Time In June 1981, physicians in Los Angeles diagnosed five young men with a new and unnamed illness that ravaged their immune systems. The illness quickly spread across the country and around the world. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) used the term “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” (AIDS) for the first time in 1982. Eventually, scientists identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the cause of AIDS. Tens of thousands of Americans died during the early years of the epidemic. Researchers began to develop treatments and search for a cure. Because many of the early transmissions were between gay men, there was a strong social stigma against the disease. Activists accused the government of inaction based on prejudice. Inspired by the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, LGBTQ+ community members rallied to support their own, creating organizations like the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP). Activists and organizers provided key social services, advocated for equitable health care, and helped change public dialogue around sexuality in the
Figure 67. Supreme Court justices, including Sandra Day O’Connor, pictured fifth from the right, pose with President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Image courtesy of National Archives .
AUGUST 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles The modern Olympic Games are named for athletic contests held in ancient Greece every four years beginning in 776 BC. Banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I as a pagan celebration in 394 AD, the games were revived in the late 19th century and grew to include athletes from nearly every nation. Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in 1984. Though the games were boycotted by 14 countries (including the Soviet Union, Cuba, and East Germany) in retaliation for the American-led boycott of the 1980 games in Moscow (organized to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan), 140 nations — the most ever — participated that year. The United States team was led by Carl Lewis, winner of the 100 and 200 meter races and the long jump and earned a record 83 gold medals. The Los Angeles Games of 1984 were the first to be financed privately. Moreover, organizers benefited from the experiences of the 1976 and 1980 games in Montreal and Moscow, which ran up expenses far in excess of revenues. Using existing facilities such as the Coliseum and the Forum helped control costs.
Figure 68. IBM personal computer, 1981. Image courtesy of Rama & Musée Bolo, Wikimedia Commons .
Figure 69. Participants at the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, 1993. Image courtesy of James Steakley, Wikicommons.
United States. SEE FIGURE 69
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