The investiture of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
April 30, 1980
Today Queen Beatrix (age 75) abdicated in favor of her son Willem-Alexander.
"I would go to West Point again if I wasn’t in the first class of women, but if I were going to be in the first class again, I wouldn’t. It was too hard. It’s difficult to explain what all of us went through, unless you’re standing on our side of the fence… My fiancé loved it here, and when I try to explain to him how bad it was for me, it just flies by him. That is one of the tough, sticky points in our relationship. It’s so hard to get across to someone—even someone as close as he is to me—what it was like."
—
Brynnen Sheets, age 22, one of the first female graduates of West Point.
People Magazine, April 21, 1980.
(Source: people.com)
On September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to be sworn in as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
President Reagan had nominated O’Connor earlier that summer, and he wrote in his White House diary, “Called Judge O’Connor in Ariz. and told her she was my nominee for Supreme Ct. Already the flack is starting and from my own supporters… I think she’ll make a good Justice.”
O’Connor helped inspire a generation of women to pursue careers in law—when she was appointed, thirty-six percent of law school students were women; by the time she retired from the court in 2006 that percentage had risen to forty-eight percent.
Last year, O’Connor spoke to a group of high school students at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley and told them:
“It was exciting to be the first, but I did not want to be the last.”
Photo: Sandra Day O’Connor being sworn in as Supreme Court Justice by Chief Justice Warren Burger. Her husband, John O’Connor looks on. 9/25/81.
More from the Center for Legislative Archives
Valerie Brisco-Hooks shows off her Olympic medals at her alma mater, West Athens Elementary. In her arms is her son, Alvin Jr.
Valerie won three gold medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles: 200 m, 400 m, and the 4 x 400 m relay. In 1988 she won a silver medal in Seoul in the 4 x 400 m relay. Today, Valerie is a track coach in the Los Angeles area.
Canadian Lori Fung’s ribbon routine at the 1984 Olympics. Lori won the first ever individual all around gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics. (The Eastern Bloc countries who normally excel in the sport stayed home rather than compete in Los Angeles)
The 1980 Moscow Olympics were boycotted by countries such as the US, Japan, China, Argentina, and Canada. This left room in the competition for teams who would not otherwise be invited to compete.
One such team was the Zimbabwe’s all white field hockey team who went on to win gold. The BBC interviewed team member Liz Chase about this experience.
Until 1984, the Olympic program for women did not include running events longer than 1,500 meters, in part because of the outdated belief that they were too “fragile” for such distances. In the inaugural women’s marathon, Joan Benoit put an end to such talk as she raced away from her chief rival, Norway’s Grete Waitz. Spectators lined the 26.2-mile route to cheer on the competitors, the exception being a three-mile stretch along the Marino Freeway that was closed to the public.
Joan is featured as one of the congratulatory voices on the Nike+iPod.
After winning the 100 meters in the Los Angeles Olympics, Evelyn Ashford (right) hugs teammate Jeanette Bolden. August 6, 1984.
In addition to the 100 m, Evelyn won the 4 x 100 m relay in 1984. She returned to the Olympics in 1988 and 1992, winning two gold medals in the 4 x 100 m relay and a silver medal in the 100 m.
Jeanette only won one gold medal, her career ended when she ruptured her Achilles tendon at the 1988 Olympic trials. Today she is a track and field coach at UCLA.
