U.S. History Timeline | 1974-1999

End of Vietnam War | Iran Hostage Crisis | Gulf War | End of Cold War and Other Events

CONTENTS:

• Presidency of Gerald Ford
• Presidency of Jimmy Carter
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan
• Presidency of George H. W. Bush
• Presidency of Bill Clinton

U.S. History Timeline | Presidency of Gerald Ford

1974, August 9: Nixon resigns to become the first U.S. president to step down; he is succeeded in office by his vice president, Gerald Ford.
1974, September 8: Nixon is granted an unconditional pardon by President Ford.
1974, October 15: Five former Nixon aides go on trial for their involvement in the Watergate cover-up; H. R. Haldeman, John D.Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell eventually serve time in prison.
1974, December 19: Nelson Rockefeller is confirmed and sworn in as vice president.
1975, April 4: Bill Gates and Paul Allen founds Microsoft.
1975, April 30: South Vietnamese government surrenders to North Vietnam, after the Fall of Saigon. US embassy Marine guards and last US civilians are evacuated.
1975, July 15: Apollo-Soyuz Test Project becomes the first international space mission.
1975, July 30 - August 1: President Ford signs Helsinki Accords.
1976, April 1: Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer Company) is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
1976, July 4: Celebration of Bicentennial of the US. ends with Independence Day, observed throughout the nation from April 1, 1975.
1977, January: Comodore PET, the first home personal computer is released to retail sales.

U.S. History Timeline | Presidency of Jimmy Carter

1977, January 20: Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th president.
1977, May 25: The first science fiction movie Star Wars is released.
1977, July 13-14: The New York City Blackout.
1977, August 16: Elvis Presley dies.
1977, September 7: President Carter signs treaty agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999.
1977, September 11: The first successful home video game system Atari 2600 is released.
1978, September 6: President Carter meets with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David.
1978 September 17: Sadat and Begin sign Camp David Accord, ending 30-year conflict between Egypt and Israel.
1979, January 1: US establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949.
1979, March 28: Malfunction at Three Mile Island Nuclear Reactor in Pennsylvania causes near meltdown. Thus becomes the most catastrophic nuclear power plant accident in the U.S. history.
1979, May 25: American Airlines Flight 191 crashes, killing 271 abroad and 2 on ground.
1979, October 1: Panama takes control of the Canal Zone, formerly administered by U.S.
1979, November 4: Iranian students storm US embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people hostage. The incident is known as Iran Hostage Crisis.
1979, November 19–20: 13 of the hostages are released.
1980, January 20: President Carter announces that US athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan.
1980, February 2: FBI's undercover bribery investigation, code named Abscam, implicates a US senator, seven members of the House, and 31 other public officials.
1980, March 17: Refugee Act of 1980 is enacted.
1980, March 27: Mount St. Helen eruption in Washington starts.
1980, April 25: US mission to rescue hostages in Iran is aborted after a helicopter and cargo plane collide at the staging site in a remote part of Iran and 8 servicemen are killed.
1980, July 19-August 3: US boycott Summer Olympic in Moscow against Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
1980, December 8: John Lennon is murdered.

U.S. History Timeline | Presidency of Ronald Reagan

1981, January 20: Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president.
1981, January 20: US hostages held in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity.
1981, March 30: President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr.
1981, April 12: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched.
1981, July 17: A walkway of Hyyatt Regency Kansa City Hotel collapses as a result of contemporary corporate culture of profound neglect, killing 114.
1981, August: Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, formed in 1968 is decertified.
1981, August 13: Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 is enacted as a measure to minimize the effects of Early 1980s Recession (1980-1985).
1981, September 25: Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice.
1982, June 30: Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes.
1983, October 23: Beirut Barrack Bombing, a suicide attack is done leaving 241 US Marines dead.
1983, October 25-29: U.S. invades Caribbean island nation of Grenada after a coup by Marxist faction in the government, resulted in the restoration of former government and removal of Cuban military presence.
1984, July 28: Summer Olympics starts in Los Angeles, which is boycotted by most of the Eastern Block nations.
1985, January 21: Reagan's second inauguration.
1985, March 31: With the inaugural launch of WrestleMania, professional wrestling hits mainstream entertainment worldwide.
1985, August 20: Iran-Contra Affair breaks.
1985, October 2: Death of Rock Hudson raises AIDS awareness.
1986, January 28: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes killing all seven abroad, resulted in the termination of US space programmes for 2 and ½ years.
1986, April 14: US bombs military bases in Libya in effort to deter terrorist strikes on American targets.
1986, October 21: Marshall Islands becomes an independent country.
1986, November: Iran-Contra scandal breaks when White House is forced to reveal secret arms-for-hostages deals.
1987, May 5-August 3: Congress holds public hearings in Iran-Contra investigation.
1987, June 12: In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform.
1987, December 8: Reagan and Gorbachev sign Intermediate-Range Force Nuclear Treaty, the first arms-control agreement to reduce the superpowers' nuclear weapons.
1988, June 14-November 18: Yellowstone Fires of 1988.

U.S. History Timeline | Presidency of George H. W. Bush

1989, January 20: George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st president.
1989, March 24: Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, spilling more than 10 million gallons of oil into wildlife habitat. It is the largest oil spill in US history.
1989, August 9: President Bush signs legislation to provide for federal bailout of nearly 800 insolvent savings and loan institutions.
1989, December 20: US forces invade Panama in an attempt to capture General Manuel Noriega, who previously had been indicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.
1990, April 24: Hubble Space Telescope is launched.
1990, December 25: World Wide Web (www.) service is released.
1990, August 2: Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, leading to the Persian Gulf War.
1991, January 16–February 28: US leads international coalition in military operation (code named “Desert Storm”) to drive Iraqis out of Kuwait.
1991, April 6: Iraq accepts terms of UN ceasefire, marking an end of the war.
1991, July 31: US and Soviet Union sign Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) , agreeing to further reduce strategic nuclear arms.
1991, October 11–13: Senate Judiciary Committee conducts televised hearings to investigate allegations of past sexual harassment brought against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas by Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma.
1991, November: Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1991, December 26: U.S.S.R. is dissolved, marking the end of Cold War.
1992, February 1: Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in Dec. 1991, President Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin meet at Camp David and formally declare an end to the cold war.
1992, April 29: Los Angeles Riots is started when four white police officers charged in the 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King are acquitted. It ends on May 4 after rioting, leading to 60 deaths, thousands of injuries and arrests, and $1 billion in property damage.
1992, August 16-29: Hurricane Andrew kills 65 people.
1992, September 5-13: Hurricane Iniki, the strongest hurricane ever to hit Hawaii kills 6 persons.
1992, December 4: President Bush authorizes sending U.S. troops to Somalia as part of UN relief effort.
1992, December 24: President Bush grants pardons to six officials convicted or indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, leading some to suspect a cover-up.

U.S. History Timeline | Presidency of Bill Clinton

1993, January 20: Bill Clinton is inaugurated as the 42nd president.
1993, February 26: Bomb explodes in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6, injuring over 1,000, and causing more than $500 million in damage.
1993, March 12: Storm of the Century strikes.
1993, April 19: After 51-day standoff with federal agents, Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, burns to the ground, killing 80 cult members. The incident is known as Waco Siege.
1993, June 26: President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush.
1993 October 3-4: Eighteen US soldiers are killed in ambush by Somali militiamen in Mogadishu.
1993, December 8: President Clinton signs North American Free Trade Agreement into law.
1994, February 28: ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is enacted.
1994, May 6: Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, files a federal lawsuit against President Clinton for sexual harassment.
1995, April 19: Oklahoma City Bombing kills 168 people.
1995, July: Chicago Heat Wave kills 739.
1995, July 11: US establishes full diplomatic relation with Vietnam.
1995, December: President Clinton sends first 8,000 of 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia for 12-month peacekeeping mission.
1995, December 16- 1996, January 6: Budget standoff between President Clinton and Congress results in partial shutdown of U.S. government.
1996, June 25: Khobar Towers Bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 US servicemen.
1996, July 17: TWA Flight 800 explodes killing all 230 aboard.
1996, July 27: Centennial Olympic Park Bombing at Summer Olympics in Atlanta leaves 1 dead and 111 injured.
1997, January 20: Clinton's second inauguration.
1998, January 17: President Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. The incident is known as Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal.
1998, February 2: President Clinton releases 1999 federal budget plan; it is the first balanced budget since 1969.
1998, August 17: In televised address, President Clinton admits having had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
1998, August 20: US launches missile attacks on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan following terrorist attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
1998, December 16: US and Britain launch air strikes against weapons sites in Iraq.
1998, December 19: House of Representatives votes to impeach President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
1999, February 12: Senate acquits Clinton of impeachment charges.
1999, March 24-June 10: NATO wages air campaign against Yugoslavia over killing and deportation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
1999, April 20: School shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, leaves 14 students (including the 2 shooters) and 1 teacher dead and 23 others wounded.
1999, May 2-8: Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak kills 50 people.
1999, October 31: EgyptAir Flight 990 crash kills 217 people.
1999, November 15: U.S. and China sign historic trade agreement.

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