1979: Big Bang of the Present

Deng Xiaoping's economic and political opening in China. Margaret Thatcher's extreme economic measures in the United Kingdom. Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran. Pope John Paul II's visit to Poland. Saddam Hussein's rise to power in Iraq. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The nuclear accident at the Harrisburg power plant and the birth of ecological activism. The year 1979, the beginning of the future.

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  Charles Moore

  Self - Political Journalist (1979)
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  Michael Heseltine

  Self - Politician (1979)
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  Roy Hattersley

  Self - Politician (1979)
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  David Owen

  Self - Politician (1979)
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  Lech Wałęsa

  Self - Shipyard Worker (1979)
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  Helmut Schmidt

  Self - Politician (archive footage)
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  Jimmy Carter

  Self - Politician (archive footage)
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  Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

  Self - Politician (archive footage)
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  Ruhollah Khomeini

  Self - Politician (archive footage)
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  Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran

  Self (archive footage)