A Look Back: Summer 1985
Summer began with the news that Coca Cola was scrapping its old formula of 99 years in favor of a new taste – a taste conspicuously similar to Pepsi Cola. Though the actual announcement came in April 1985, it wasn’t until late May that new Coke hit the country by storm.
New Coke bombed and the very problem Coca Cola sought to fix – Pepsi’s growing share of the market – grew more severe.
In an unprecedented announcement, the Chairperson of the Coca Cola Company appeared on nation-wide television wielding a white flag and proudly boasting “We at Coca Cola care.”
On July 10, old Coke returned as Coca Cola Classic just as Cherry Coke and Coca Cola Clothes made their respective debuts.
Rambo-mania also infected the country in summer ’85. It wasn’t the first “First Blood” – it was better. Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo: First Blood, Part II” opened during the Memorial Day weekend and became an unexpected hit for Tri-Star Pictures. The movie spawned a line of Rambo merchandise – dolls, knives, and even Rambo gum made to resemble shrapnel.
On June 10, Claus von Bulow was acquitted of all charges regarding the attempted murder of his wife, Martha “Sunny” von Bulow. Even the thoroughly damaging testimony of his former lover, Alexandra Isles, wasn’t enough to convict the millionaire playboy.
America plunged into a hostage crisis on June 14. Trans World Airlines Flight 847 from Athens carrying 104 Americans and 49 others was taken over by a group of Shiite Muslims. President Ronald Reagan negotiated for the release of the 40 passengers eventually left on the plane. There was one casualty – Lieutenant Robert Dean Stethem. All the hostages were released on June 30.
Comic book fans everywhere mourned the death of Superman’s cousin, Supergirl, on June 14. The Girl of Steel, who had been flying since May 1959 and headlined a 1984 film starring Helen Slater, met an untimely end saving her cousin Superman during DC Comics’ 50th Anniversary event.
In El Salvador, 13 people – including four off duty Marines and two American businessmen – were shot dead by Salvadorian rebels. The shooting took place June 19 at an outdoor cafÃ?© in San Salvador. President Reagan swore the deaths of these Americans would not go un-avenged.
On June 22, experts from the United States, West Germany, and Brazil confirmed that the skeleton exhumed by Brazilian police on June 6 was indeed Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. Mengele, who had apparently been killed in a 1979 swimming accident, was traveling under an assumed name, Wolfgang Gerhard. Those who had come into contact with him recalled him as disturbed and paranoid and constantly fearing retaliation by the Jews.
The first of an unfortunate series of airline tragedies occurred on an Air India jet on June 23. The Boeing 747 Flight 182 from Toronto via Montreal to Bombay blew up and crashed off the Irish coast. All 329 people on board died.
In an unrelated event that same day, a container of suitcases exploded at New Tokyo International Airport in Narita, Japan killing two Japanese customs officials and wounding four others.
Also, Karen Ann Quinlan, the young woman who spent 10 years comatose and had sparked a national debate on euthanasia, died on June 12.
July began relatively uneventfully with the big news being President Reagan’s planned July 12 minor surgery. However, on July 16, it was revealed that the President’s large intestine was cancerous – more surgery in August removed the cancer.
July 13 was the day the world rocked and the cash rolled in. Sting. Bruce Springsteen. Phil Collins. U2. Madonna. These were just a few of the huge stars who performed at the behest of the now-knighted Sir Bob Geldof to draw attention and raise funds for the Ethiopian hunger crisis.
The second major airline catastrophe took place on August 2. Delta Airlines Flight 191 from Ft. Lauderdale was approaching the storm filled skies surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport when an overpowering downdraft of “wind shear” overtook the plane as it was landing. Bouncing off a nearby highway, the plane crashed into some water tanks and exploded. One motorist on the ground was killed. There were 132 passenger casualties on the flight – only 31 survived. The survivors were all seated in the rear smoking section of the plane and were saved when the tail section broke off during the crash.
AIDs became even bigger news in summer 1985 when legendary screen actor, Rock Hudson, contracted the disease. AIDs was chronicled the number one killer of young men in New York City.
A silence fell over America’s major league ball parks on August 5 when the players walked off the field for slightly more than a day. Players demanded more money for their pension funds while owners wanted a ceiling placed on salary arbitration. The strike ended August 7th with a raise in minimum player salaries to $60,000 (from $40,000) and an increase in the pension fund.
Also in the baseball world, legend Tom Seaver won his 300th game in August 1985 – joining at that time only 17 other pitchers who had ever achieved that milestone.
On August 6, 1985, America and Japan commemorated the opening of Pandora ‘s Box. Forty years earlier, the United States dropped a nuclear nightmare on Hiroshima, Japan, and brought an end to World War II. In Japan, thousands gathered at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima to mourn the anniversary while anti-nuclear activists world-wide used the day to remind the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons.
The worst plane crash of all time up to then took place on August 12th. Japan Air Lines Flight 123 from Tokyo to Osaka was carrying 509 passengers and 15 crew when it lost its tail section. The plane flew for another half hour until it crashed out of control in the mountains outside Tokyo. The tragedy killed 520 people and left only four survivors.
The bad girl of pop music (some things never change), Madonna, married Hollywood bad boy, Sean Penn, on August 16. Penn wore a black tuxedo and Madonna wore an off-white gown – like a virgin.
Bruce Springsteen ended his biggest World Tour to date – the “Born in the U.S.A.” tour – with a triumphant return to New Jersey’s Meadowlands on August 18th.
The situation in South Africa worsened in August with more bloodshed than ever before. Apartheid tore the entire region further apart. Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Bishop Desmond Tutu, continued his efforts to peacefully reunite the war-torn nation.
And that’s the way it was in the Summer of 1985.
