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Jimmy Carter Elected President
Jimmy Carter won the 1976 US presidential election against Gerald Ford, securing the Democratic nomination and becoming the 39th president. He was inaugurated on January 20, 1977. Carter won the election with 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes, while Ford had 48% of the popular vote and 240 electoral votes. He served one term, leaving office in 1981. -
Star Wars Movie Premier
The original Star Wars movie, now known as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, premiered on May 25, 1977. This marks the day the first movie in the iconic franchise was released in theaters -
Three Mile Island Meltdown
The Three Mile Island meltdown, or the TMI-2 accident, was a partial nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979, at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania. It involved Unit 2, one of the plant's two reactors. The accident was a result of a combination of mechanical failures and operator errors, leading to a loss of coolant in the reactor. -
Mount. St. Helens Eruption
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was a devastating event that killed 57 people, caused over $1 billion in damage, and led to significant changes in volcanology and disaster response. The eruption began with a massive landslide triggered by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, followed by a sideways pyroclastic blast and a towering ash cloud. -
Iran Hostages Released
The Iranian hostage crisis ended with the release of the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on January 20, 1981, just minutes after Ronald Reagan's inauguration as president. The hostages were held for 444 days after being seized on November 4, 1979. -
Assassination Attempt on President Reagan
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. during a speech in Washington, D.C. Hinckley, who was obsessed with the actress Jodie Foster, fired six shots, striking four people, including the White House Press Secretary, James Brady, and a Secret Service agent, Timothy McCarthy, who shielded Reagan. Reagan himself was wounded by a ricocheted bullet that hit him in the left underarm. Despite the severity of his injuries, Reagan recovered. -
Iran/ Contra Affair
In the Iran-Contra affair, the U.S. secretly sold weapons to Iran, a country under arms embargo, to help get American hostages released. The money from those sales was then illegally funneled to the Contras, rebel groups fighting against the government in Nicaragua, despite a congressional ban on aid to them. This secret operation, involving top government officials, ultimately exposed a breach of trust and raised questions about the separation of powers. -
Challenger Shuttle Explosion
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which occurred on January 28, 1986, involved the explosion of the shuttle orbiter Challenger shortly after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board. The explosion was caused by a failure of the O-ring seals on the right solid rocket booster, which allowed hot gases to escape and damage the external fuel tank. -
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) on April 26, 1986. A power surge during a safety test destroyed Unit 4 of the plant, releasing massive amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. This led to immediate deaths and long-term health consequences, as well as widespread environmental contamination. -
Launch of Google
Google was officially launched on September 4, 1998, when the company was incorporated with $100,000 in initial funding. This followed the company's founding by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who began working on a search engine named "BackRub" while at Stanford University in 1995. The name was later changed to Google, inspired by the mathematical term "googol," which represents the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. -
George H.W. Bush Elected President
Bush, a Republican from Texas and the incumbent vice president for two terms under President Ronald Reagan, took office following his landslide victory over Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989
The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first step towards German reunification. In 1989, political changes in Eastern Europe and civil unrest in Germany put pressure on the East German government to loosen some of its regulations on travel to West Germany. -
Start of the Persian Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) was a military conflict triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. It involved a U.S.-led coalition against Iraq, with the primary goal of liberating Kuwait and restoring its government. -
Rodney King Decision & L.A. Riots
Rodney King was a Black motorist whose beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991, caught on video, sparked national outrage and led to the L.A. Riots. The incident, which occurred on March 3, 1991, involved a high-speed chase after King, who was speeding and intoxicated, refused to pull over for California Highway Patrol officers. -
Original U.S.A. Olympic Basketball Dream Team
The "Dream Team," the original U.S. Olympic basketball team, was the first American team to feature active NBA players in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It consisted of 12 players and won a gold medal with a perfect 8-0 record. The roster included Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, John Stockton, Clyde Drexler, Christian Laettner, and Chris Mullin -
Bill Clinton Elected President
Clinton was elected president in the 1992 election, defeating the incumbent Republican Party president George H. W. Bush, and the independent businessman Ross Perot. He became the first president to be born in the Baby Boomer generation and the youngest to serve two full terms. -
Bill Clinton Impeached by the House of Representatives
Bill Clinton was impeached by the US House of Representatives in 1998, facing charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. These charges stemmed from his affair with Monica Lewinsky and his denial of it under oath during a sexual harassment lawsuit. The Senate later acquitted him of both charges. -
World Trade Center/Pentagon/Shanksville, PA Attacks
On September 11, 2001, four coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. Terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth into a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks had a profound impact on American culture, leading to a "War on Terror" and a shift in global security priorities.