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April 12, 1980 - The United States Olympic Committee, responding to the request of President Jimmy Carter on March 21, votes to withdraw its athletes from participation in the Moscow Summer Olympic Games due to the continued involvement of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
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An earthquake followed by the eruption of Mt St Helen's kills 57 people in Washington. There was over $1 billion in damage and the eruption caused the land to be wasteland.
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Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice.
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By the end of November, over eleven million people would be unemployed.
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The first version of the Windows operating system for computers is released.
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President Ronald Reagan wins reelection
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Martin Luther King Day is officially observed for the first time as a federal holiday in the United States.
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The Challenger Space Shuttle explodes after lift off at Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing seven people.
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The United States and the Soviet Union sign an agreement, the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, to dismantle all 1,752 U.S. and 859 Soviet missiles in the 300-3,400 mile range.
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George H. W. Bush (R) became the 40th president. President Bush ended the Cold War and led the first war with Iraq.
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George H. W. Bush declares the Cold War to be over at the Malta Summit.
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U.S. Congress passes a resolution authorizing the use of force to liberate Kuwait.
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The 27th Amendment to the Constitution is passed two hundred and two years after its initial proposal.
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Democratic candidate Bill Clinton defeats President George H.W. Bush to become the 42nd President of the US.
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300 people are dead after one of the worst billzards in history hits the East Coast causing $6 billion in damages.
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With 168 killed, this marked the worst tragedy on US soil before 9/11.
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The bombing occurred during the 1996 summer olympics in Atlanta. 1 person was killed and 111 were injured.
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President Clinton is acquitted by the U.S. Senate in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
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Fourth deadliest school shooting in US history. Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, leaves 14 students and 1 teacher dead including 2 shooters and 23 others wounded.
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Certification of the Electoral College victory of the 2000 United States Presidential election in the U.S. Senate confirms George W. Bush's victory, with Dick Cheney as his Vice-President. He was in office on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked America.
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Islamic fundamentalist terrorists hijack four U.S. airliners and crash them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City.