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Water Quality Control Act
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's -
Military buildup (B-1 Bomber and MX missiles)
Reagan initiated a large build-up of the American military with the intention of defeating the Soviet Union in an arms race. -
Soviet grain embargo lifted
The United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union was enacted by Jimmy Carter in January 1980 in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. It remained in effect until Ronald Reagan ended it in 1981 upon taking the office of president. -
Fifty-two American hostages held in Iran released.
An agreement having been made, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, minutes after the inauguration of the new U.S. president, Ronald Reagan. Former hostages arriving in the United States on January 25, 1981, five days after being released by their captors in Iran -
Reagan inaugurated
The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the first inauguration to be held on the building's west side. -
Spending speech (increase defense, decrease taxes)
"A Time for Choosing". In this televised speech Reagan stressed his belief in smaller government saying, "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. -
Reagan Shot
The Assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan happened on Monday, March 30, 1981, 69 days after becoming President. Ronald Reagan was leaving after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.. As Reagan left to enter his car, John Hinckley, Jr. fired his gun. -
Reagan and air-traffic controllers strike
the Reagan administration fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order, and banned them from federal service for life. -
Sandra Day O’Connor nominated to Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan on August 19, 1981, thus fulfilling his 1980 campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the highest court in the United States. -
Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act
TEFRA was created in order to reduce the budget gap by generating revenue through closure of tax loopholes, introduction of tougher enforcement of tax rules, rescinding some of Kemp-Roth's reductions in marginal personal income tax rates that had not yet gone into effect, and raising some rates, especially corporate -
Reagan addresses Parliament in England
On June 8, 1982, in the first speech by an American president to a meeting of both houses of the British Parliament, President Ronald Reagan presents his hope for a future that would "leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history." -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), nicknamed the "Star Wars program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). -
Social Security reform becomes law
Congress passed and President Reagan signed into law the 1983 Amendments. Under the '83 Amendments, up to one-half of the value of the Social Security benefit was made potentially taxable income. The specific rules adopted in 1983 were: ... Effective for taxable years beginning after 1983. -
Suicide bombers attack U.S. Marines in Lebanon (1983)
241 US service personnel – including 220 Marines and 21 other service personnel – are killed by a truck bomb at a Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon. ... This was the deadliest attack against US Marines since the battle over Iwo Jima in 1945. -
Invasion of Grenada
The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The U.S. and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days. -
Farm credit crises (Feb 1985)
The farm crisis was the result of a confluence of many things -- failed policy, mountains of debt, land and commodity price booms and busts. And add two droughts. -
Embargo on Nicaragua
The United States embargo against Nicaragua was declared by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan on May 1, 1985 and prohibited all trade between the U.S. and Nicaragua. In a strategy similar to the embargo against Cuba, it was intended to undermine the Sandanista government which came to power in 1979. -
U.S. illegally sells arms to Iran (Iran-Contra Affair)
Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. ... The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. -
Reagan, Gorbachev hold summit in Switzerland
the first meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, was held on November 19 and 20, 1985. The two leaders met to discuss the Cold War-era arms race, primarily the possibility of reducing the number of nuclear weapons. Hosted in Geneva, Switzerland, the meeting was the first American-Soviet summit in more than six years. -
Democrats gain seats (Midterm elections-Nov 1986)
Democrats gained a net eight seats, and recaptured control of the Senate from the Republicans with a 55–45 majority. They defeated seven incumbents, all but one of whom had been elected in 1980, and gained open seats held by retiring Republicans in Maryland and Nevada. -
Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (Reagan Speech)
“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives,” Reagan said. “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God. '”Jan 28, 2016 -
Reagan delivers his first State of the Union
The 1986 State of the Union Address was given by the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, on Tuesday, February 4, 1986, at 9 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 99th United States Congress. -
South African sanctions
The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 was a law enacted by the United States Congress. The law imposed sanctions against South Africa and stated five preconditions for lifting the sanctions that would essentially end the system of apartheid, which the latter was under at the time. -
Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Iceland
The Reykjavík Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 11–12 October 1986. -
Tower Commission concludes report (1987)
The Commission's report, published on February 27, 1987, concluded that CIA Director William Casey, who supported the Iran-Contra arrangement, should have taken over the operation and made the president aware of the risks and notified Congress as legally required. -
Berlin Wall Speech in West Berlin (1987)
Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -
Gorbachev, Reagan sign treaty (1987)
The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. -
Reagan prohibits abortion assistance (1988)
Despite the certainty of a legal challenge, President Reagan will soon announce rules prohibiting abortions and abortion counseling by family planning programs that receive Federal funds, White House -
Reagan visits Soviet Union (1988)
The Moscow Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. -
Reagan says farewell
Reagan says good bye to everyone and leaves office -
Sanctions on Poland
On 4 June 1989, the trade union Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in a partially free election in Poland, leading to the peaceful fall of Communism in that country in the summer of 1989. ... Albania and Yugoslavia abandoned Communism between 1990 and 1992.