as transplants and dialysis machines. They were ex-
acerbated, moreover, by the consistent downturn of
the American economy, an inflation spiral, the aging
of the baby-boom generation—which was living lon-
ger and required an unprecedented level of care
and medical services—and the perennial problem of
people refusing to change their unhealthy behavior.
Further Reading
Anderson, O., T. Herold, and B. Butler.HMO Devel-
opment: Patterns and Approaches. Chicago: Pluribus
Press, 1985. Required reading for those inter-
ested in the history of health care and its prob-
lems during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Harris, Louis, et al.American Attitudes Toward Health
Maintenance Organizations.New York: Louis Har-
ris, 1980. Interesting overview of the pros and
cons of HMOs from their inception.
Rodwin, Marc A.Medicine, Money, and Morals: Physi-
cians’ Conflicts of Interest. New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1993. Indictment of the medical pro-
fession, including doctors’ ambivalent attitudes
toward HMOs’ profit-driven philosophy.
Roemer, Milton I.The Countries.Vol.1inNational
Health Systems of the World.Oxford, England: Ox-
ford University Press, 1991. Comparative analysis of
the global health care system and a useful source
for assessing the U.S. system in relation to others.
Mario J. Azevedo
See also Alternative medicine; Health care in Can-
ada; Health care in the United States; Medicine.
Heat wave of 1980
The Event Severe heat and drought
Date June-September, 1980
Place Southern and southeastern United States
The high temperatures and low rainfall afflicting a large
part of the United States in the summer of 1980 cost many
human lives and led to enormous agricultural losses.
In late June, 1980, high atmospheric pressure devel-
oped over the southern plains, deterring rain and
driving seasonably high temperatures significantly
higher. On June 23, the temperature in Dallas/Fort
Worth reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and the tem-
perature reached at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit ev-
ery day thereafter through August 3. In Wichita Falls,
Texas, the high temperature each day from June 24
through July 3 was 110 degrees Fahrenheit or more,
with a maximum of 117 degrees Fahrenheit on June
28—the highest temperature ever recorded there. All
told, Wichita Falls had highs of 100 degrees Fahren-
heit or above for seventy-nine days in 1980.
The heat wave also hit Oklahoma and Kansas. Ok-
lahoma City recorded highs of at least 100 degrees
Fahrenheit fifty times that summer and, with an av-
erage July temperature of 88.3 degrees Fahrenheit,
tied the mark it had set in 1934 for the hottest July in
the city’s history. Tulsa had thirty days on which its
minimum temperature tied or set a high record,
with a low on July 16 of 87 degrees Fahrenheit, the
highest minimum ever for the city. Across the Kansas
state line, Wichita also had a severe summer, with
three highs of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and a high
on July 12 of 112 degrees Fahrenheit.
During July, the unusual heat spread east. The
high in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the seven days from
July 12 through July 18, was never less than 106
degrees Fahrenheit. In Tennessee, Nashville set a
record high for July 16 with a temperature of 104
degrees Fahrenheit. On the Gulf Coast, the temper-
ature in Pensacola, Florida, set record highs for the
days from July 7 through July 14, with a reading of
106 degrees Fahrenheit on the 14th. On the Atlantic
coast, Charleston, South Carolina, had a high of 100
degrees Fahrenheit on July 13.
Even areas north of those with the highest tem-
peratures fell victim indirectly to the heat wave be-
cause of the giant derecho—a cluster of thunder-
storms with strong winds—it produced from the
night of July 4 well into the afternoon of the next
day. This storm cluster moved from southwestern
Iowa and northwestern Missouri through several
states, until it reached the Virginia and Maryland on
the Atlantic coast. In all, it killed six persons and in-
jured sixty-seven others.Impact With the drought that accompanied it, the
heat wave produced enormous agricultural damage,
hurting such crops as corn, soybeans, and cotton
and killing or debilitating huge numbers of cattle
and chickens. In all, farms, ranches, and related
businesses lost twenty billion dollars. The direct hu-
man toll, however, was the worst effect. Although de-
termining the number of deaths produced by a heat
wave is difficult, estimates for the 1980 heat wave
range from 1,250 to 10,000 dead.The Eighties in America Heat wave of 1980 453