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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 -
Fifty-two American hostages held in Iran released.
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between the United States and Iran. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage -
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 -
Reagan inaugurated
The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States.This was the first inauguration to be held on the building's west side -
Reagan shot
United States President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel -
Reagan and air-traffic controllers strike
On August 5, following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, 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. -
Military buildup (B-1 Bomber and MX missiles)
Strategic nuclear forces that dropped bombs -
Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act
was sponsored by Representative Pete Stark of California. After much deliberation, the final version was signed by President Ronald Reagan on September 3, 1982. -
Sanctions on Poland
when the government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an attempt to counter political opposition -
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 -
Social Security reform becomes law
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. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed the "Star Wars program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons -
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 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)
This glut, combined with a U.S. export decline of more than 20% between 1981 and 1983 (following the 1979 Soviet Union embargo), caused farm debt to hit a staggering $215 billion by 1984 – double of what it had been in 1978. -
Embargo on Nicaragua
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 -
Reagan, Gorbachev hold summit in Switzerland
The two leaders met to discuss the Cold War-era arms race, primarily the possibility of reducing the number of nuclear weapons -
Space Shuttle Challenger explosion
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a fatal incident in the United States' space program that occurred on January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard -
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
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 -
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 -
Democrats gain seats
Democrats gained a net eight seats, and recaptured control of the Senate from the Republicans with a 55–45 majority -
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 -
Tower Commission concludes report (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)
Gorbachev, tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin -
Gorbachev, Reagan sign treaty (1987)
Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles -
Reagan prohibits abortion assistance (1988)
President Reagan will soon announce rules prohibiting abortions and abortion counseling by family planning programs that receive Federal funds, White House officials said today. -
Reagan visits Soviet Union (1988)
On this day in 1988, President Ronald Reagan, while walking through Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow, declared that the Cold War with the Soviet Union had ended -
Reagan says farewell
Speech before Reagan departs from the white house