-
Jimmy Carter Elected President
Carter, a Democrat from Georgia, took office following his narrow victory over Republican incumbent president Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election. His presidency ended following his landslide defeat in the 1980 presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan, after one term in office. -
Star Wars Movie Premier
Fox expected the film would be of limited financial success, and so it was given a relatively low budget, with production being moved to Elstree Studios in England to help save on cost. Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977, and first subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope in the 1979 book The Art of Star Wars. -
Three Mile Island Meltdown
On March 28, 1979, a cooling malfunction caused part of the core to melt in Reactor 2. Some radioactive gas was released but not enough to cause adverse health effects, as noted in numerous health studies. Reactor 2 was destroyed. The accident prompted additional safety measures and rigorous testing programs. -
Mount. St. Helens Eruption
Mount Saint Helens, volcanic peak in the Cascade Range, southwestern Washington, U.S. Its eruption on May 18, 1980, was one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America. Mount Saint Helens, named by the English navigator George Vancouver for a British ambassador, had been dormant since 1857. -
Iran Hostages Released
Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in the 1980 presidential election. Although Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher had completed negotiations under Algerian auspices to free the American hostages in Tehran, President Carter and Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie, suffered to their last day in office. On January 20, 1981, the hostages were finally freed—but only after Ronald Reagan had been sworn in as president. -
Assassination Attempt on President Reagan
On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as Reagan was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton hotel. -
Challenger Shuttle Explosion
On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 16:39:13 UTC (11:39:13 a.m. EST, local time at the launch site). It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight -
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
On April 26, 1986, the Number Four RBMK reactor at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine, went out of control during a test at low-power, leading to an explosion and fire that demolished the reactor building and released large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. -
Iran/ Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ماجرای ایران-کنترا; Spanish: Caso Irán-Contra), also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered around arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 to 1986 -
George H.W. Bush Elected President
Bush, a Republican from Texas and the incumbent vice president for two terms under President Ronald Reagan, took office following his landslide victory over Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first step towards German reunification. In 1989, political changes in Eastern Europe and civil unrest in Germany put pressure on the East German government to loosen some of its regulations on travel to West Germany. -
Start of the Persian Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War began on August 2, 1990 when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait, marking the start of the conflict under the leadership of Saddam Hussein; this invasion triggered a US-led coalition response to liberate Kuwait. -
Original U.S.A. Olympic Basketball Dream Team
Known as the Dream Team, USA Basketball's 1992 Men's National Team consisted of some of the most legendary players of the sport, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and Larry Bird. -
Rodney King Decision & L.A. Riots
On April 29, 1992, the seventh day of jury deliberations, the jury acquitted all four officers of assault and acquitted three of the four of using excessive force. The jury could not agree on a verdict for the fourth officer charged with using excessive force. -
Bill Clinton Elected President
Clinton was elected president in the 1992 election, defeating the incumbent Republican Party president George H. W. Bush, and the independent businessman Ross Perot. He became the first president to be born in the Baby Boomer generation. -
Launch of Google
Google was officially launched in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to market Google Search, which has become the most used web-based search engine. -
Bill Clinton Impeached by the House of Representatives
An impeachment inquiry was opened into Clinton on October 8, 1998. He was formally impeached by the House on two charges (perjury and obstruction of justice) on December 19, 1998. The specific charges against Clinton were lying under oath and obstruction of justice. -
World Trade Center/Pentagon/Shanksville, PA Attacks
On the morning of 11 September 2001, 19 terrorists from the Islamist extreme group al Qaeda hijacked four commercial aircraft and crashed two of them into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.