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President Carter announces
that U.S. athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan. -
Abscam
FBI's undercover bribery investigation, code named Abscam, implicates a U.S. senator, seven members of the House, and 31 other public officials. -
Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president.
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U.S. hostages held in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity.
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Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice.
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Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes.
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U.S. invades Caribbean island of Grenada after a coup by Marxist faction in the government.
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Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program.
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Iran-Contra scandal breaks when White House is forced to reveal secret arms-for-hostages deals.
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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.
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George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st president.
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Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, spilling more than 10 million gallons of oil. It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
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Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, leading to the Persian Gulf War.
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Persian Gulf War: U.S. leads international coalition in military operation (code named “Desert Storm”) to drive Iraqis out of Kuwait.
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Iraq accepts terms of UN ceasefire, marking an end of the war.
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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.
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President Bush authorizes sending U.S. troops to Somalia as part of UN relief effort.
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Bill Clinton is inaugurated as the 42nd president.
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President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush.
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President Clinton signs North American Free Trade Agreement into law.
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Bombing of federal office building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people.
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Clinton's second inauguration.
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President Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.
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NATO wages air campaign against Yugoslavia over killing and deportation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
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School shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., leaves 14 students (including the 2 shooters) and 1 teacher dead and 23 others wounded.
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U.S. and China sign historic trade agreement.
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George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd president.
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U.S. and Britain launch air attacks against targets in Afghanistan after Taliban government fails to hand over Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Two hijacked jetliners ram twin towers of World Trade Center in worst terrorist attack against U.S.; a third hijacked plane flies into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in rural Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people die in the attacks.