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Business

How the body politic has changed in 30 years

By Laura Finaldi | Globe correspondent

In 2013, the United States will hold an inauguration for a second-term African-American president, and Congress will have its first openly gay senator in Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, and historic female representation with a total of 99 women serving in the Senate and House.

But how much has changed since President Ronald Reagan? We decided to look back three decades to see for ourselves.

US PRESIDENT
1985
Ronald Reagan
2013
Barack Obama
US SENATE
Women
1985: 2
2013: 20
African-American
1985: 0
2013: 0
Asian-American
1985: 2
2013: 2
Hispanic
1985: 0
2013: 3
US HOUSE
Women
1985: 23
2013: 79
African-American
1985: 20
2013: 43
Asian-American
1985: 3
2013: 9
Hispanic
1985: 12
2013: 29
GOVERNOR OF MASS.
1985
Michael S. Dukakis
2013
Deval Patrick
BOSTON MAYOR
1985
Raymond L. Flynn
2013
Thomas M. Menino
BOSTON CITY COUNCILORS
1985
Female: 1
African-American: 2
Asian-American: 0
Hispanic: 0
2013
Female: 1
African-American: 3
Asian-American: 0
Hispanic: 1
MASS. POPULATION
Total
1980: 5,737,037
2010: 6,547,629
White
1980: 93.5%
2010: 80.4%
Black
1980: 3.9%
2010: 6.6%
Asian-American/Pacific Islander
1980: Less than 1 percent
2010: 5.4%
Hispanic
1980: 2.5%
2010: 9.6%

Whitehouse.gov, Senate.gov, Library of Congress Congressional Research Service report on the 99th Congress, CQ/Roll Call, Mass.gov, CityofBoston.gov, office of Councilor Charles C. Yancey, 1980 Census, 2010 Census.

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