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The U.S. achieves the first moon landing
This goal was first accomplished during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969 when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. Five subsequent Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last in December 1972. In these six Apollo spaceflights, 12 men walked on the Moon. These are the only times humans have landed on another celestial body. -
Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to travel to China
U.S. President Richard Nixon's 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. The visit has become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician. -
Televised Senate hearings on Watergate begin
In Washington, D.C., 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
On August 9th, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. President to resign his office rather than become the first to be removed via impeachment. The night before he had made one of the most dramatic appearances in television history by announcing his intention to resign. -
Gerald Ford signs the Helsinki Accords on European security
President Ford leaves on his second trip to Europe, where he will sign the Helsinki Accords on European security and cooperation. -
U.S. celebrates the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic. The Bicentennial culminated on Sunday, July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. -
Jimmy Carter negotiates the Camp David Accords to promote peace in the Middle East
Updegrove started the conversation by asking Carter about current affairs in the Middle East. The former president negotiated the Camp David Accords in 1978, which set up a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. At the time Anwar al-Sadat was Egypt’s president, Menachem Begin Israel’s prime minister. -
American hostages held in Iran are set free
The Iran hostage crisis began November 4, 1979,
when a mob of Iranians seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran,
taking a large group of employees hostage.
Eleven months earlier, a revolution led by the
Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini
had overthrown Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran. -
U.S. boycotts the Moscow summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were boycotted in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. Then–U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced the boycott in February 1980, and Canada and dozens of other countries soon followed suit. In his state of the union address that year, Carter made the case against the Soviet war
