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Saigon
April 30, 1975 was the fall of saigon. This was the end of the vietnam war and the last americans leaving vietnam. This is also the event that has the dramatic picture of the troops leaving off the top of the building. -
Apollo and Soyuz
July 17, 1975 was one of the first indications the cold war was ending. The US and the Soviets were cooperating through a manned space mission. While in space the two ships docked to each other and the astronauts and cosmonauts worked together for about a day. -
Nuclear Proliferation
May 28, 1976 is when the US and USSR signed the treaty for underground nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes. This marked the start of nuclear weapons being limited. The goal is to make sure nuclear weapons aren't spread to countries without them and to limit countries with them. -
Iranian Embassy
November 4, 1979 a group of Iranian students captured the Iranian-US embassy and took 53 American hostages. This caused president Carter to let the deposed leader to be treated for cancer in the US. This Capturing of the embassy showed Iran no longer wanted the US involved with it. -
Oil Crisis
The energy crisis in 1979 came in the wake of the Iranian revolution. Much of the oil the US used came from the middle east and Iran. Since Iran was rebelling from the US little oil started to come from there. Overall there was only about a 4% drop in how much oil the made, but it panicked people and made prices for gas grow higher. -
Boycott of Russian Olympics
March 21, 1980 president Carter announces that the US will boycott the Olympics in Russia. He also put an embargo on wheat being sent to the Russians. This was a response to Russia invading Afghanistan. Which was similar to our war in vietnam. -
Hostages
After 444 days the people that were held hostage in the Iran embassy were released. The US and Iran sign a treaty that unfreezes Iran's assets. Congress passed a budget bill that included a provision saying each of the 53 hostages to receive $10,000 for each day they were held captive. Spouses and children separately received a one-time payment of $600,000. -
Grenada
October 25, 1983 the US invaded Grenada. President Reagan ordered the operation because he said that the US and people in the Caribbean were at risk from the Marxist regimes there. 1000 troops were deployed, most of them being medical students on the island. In less than a week the US overthrew the government and made a more acceptable one. -
L.A. boycott
May 8, 1984, the USSR boycotts the L.A. Olympics. Just like the US did to the soviets, they boycotted the Olympics held in LA. The boycott was led by the USSR and had 14 other eastern block countries involved. This was obviously to get revenge for the US boycotting their Olympics. -
Gorbachev
March 11, 1985, Gorbachev is elected the president of the USSR. Gorbachev is less hardcore about being enemies with the US. November 19 and 20 Reagan and Gorbachev meet for the first time at the geneva convention. They had talks of peace and over the arms race. -
Iran-Contra
Iran had sent a secret offer to the US to buy weapons from us even though we had an embargo on them. Reagan was advised to send the weapons because it might help relations in the middle east and with Iran. It was discovered that there was a discrepancy of 18 million dollars. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North said he was diverting those funds to the contras in south America who were fighting communist regimes there. -
U.S. and Canada
The US and Canada make a free trade agreement. The trade agreement had many parts in it. It eliminated tariffs between us, it addressed trade in services, and it included a dispute settlement mechanism for the fair and expeditious resolution of trade disputes. -
Berlin Wall
November 9, 1989, the Berlin wall falls. After many peace talks between Gorbachev and Reagan, the USSR took the wall down. Many believe that this event was the start of the collapse of the USSR. When the wall was taken down thousands of people went to the wall to celebrate and rejoin family. The soviets also withdraw troops from Afghanistan. -
Kuwait
August 2, 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. Saddam had the idea to invade the oil rich country so he could pay off debts. This was the opposite what the U.N. and the world wanted. After he refused to retreat from the country the U.N. imposed sanctions on him. -
Persian War
January 16, 1991, the US with support from the U.N. launched an attack on Iraq. A month later a full ground assault was carried out. Saddam was quickly defeated. On April 11, 1991, the world declared the war to be over. -
Black Hawk Down
(October 3, 1993)Before president Bush left office he sent US troops to Somalia to bring food to those in need because of the raging civil war. Soon a special forces team was sent in to arrest 2 high profile targets. The mission got bad and two black hawk helicopters were taken down. 18 Americans died with 73 wounded. The battle of Mogadishu was the preface for the movie Black Hawk Down. -
Iraq attacks the Kurds
September 3, 1996, Iraqi troops fire on Kurdish military. Saddam urged his troops to resist the US and to defy the no-fly zones. In response, the US sent missiles at afghan’s air defenses and control facilities. Saddam said the attack was unwarranted and thought retaliation against the US was ok.
