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• The U.S. achieves the first moon landing
Apollo 11 achieves the first moon landing for the United States. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin. -
• Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to travel to China
1972 visit to the People's Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, who at that time considered the U.S. one of its staunchest foes. -
• Televised Senate hearings on Watergate begin
the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, begins televised hearings on the escalating Watergate affair. One week later, Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as special Watergate prosecutor -
• Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to resign
first President to resign the presidency, which he did after the House Judiciary Committee voted articles of impeachment against him in 1974. -
• Gerald Ford signs the Helsinki Accords on European security
), major diplomatic agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland, at the conclusion of the first Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE; now called the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). . -
• U.S. celebrates the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
Americans held a nationwide birthday party to mark the 4th, the 200th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence. -
• Jimmy Carter negotiates the Camp David Accords to promote peace in the Middle East
Carters commitment to finding ethical solutions to complicated problems was most viable in the east. Highl effective personal diplomacy to birdge the gap between Sadat and Begin. -
• American hostages held in Iran are set free
On November 4, 1979, radical Iranian students seized the United States Embassy complex in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The immediate cause of this takeover was the anger many Iranians felt over the U.S. President Jimmy Carter allowing the deposed former ruler of Iran, Shah Reza Pahlavi, to enter the U.S. for medical treatment. the hostages were allowed to fly out of Iran after 444 days of captivity. -
• U.S. boycotts the Moscow summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott of the Moscow Olympics was a part of a package of actions initiated by the United States to protest the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It preceded the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott carried out by the Soviet Union and other Communist friendly countries
