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Social Security reform becomes law
The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. In addition to several provisions for general welfare, the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement. -
Water Quality Control Act
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical -
Fifty-two American hostages held in Iran released
An agreement having been made, the hostages were released on January 20, 1981, minutes after the inauguration of the new U.S. president, Ronald Reagan -
Soviet grain embargo lifted
The United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union was enacted by Jimmy Carter in January 1980 in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. It remained in effect until Ronald Reagan ended it in 1981 upon taking the office of president. -
Military buildup (B-1 Bomber and MX missiles)
President Reagan proposed the largest peacetime military build-up in US history, 180 billion dollar expansion over a six year period. The build-up included the B-1 bomber, the B-2 stealth bomber and an array of conventional weapons programs. -
U.S. illegally sells arms to Iran (Iran-Contra Affair)
Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. -
Reagan shot
On March 30, 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. -
Sandra Day O’Connor nominated to Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Reagan on August 19, 1981, thus fulfilling his 1980 campaign promise to appoint the first woman to the highest court in the United States. -
Reagan and air-traffic controllers strike
On August 5, following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, the Reagan administration fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order, and banned them from federal service for life. ... PATCO was decertified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority on October 22, 1981. -
Reagan inaugurated
The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, at the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the first inauguration to be held on the building's west side. -
Reagan addresses Parliament in England
On June 8, 1982, in the first speech by an American president to a meeting of both houses of the British Parliament, President Ronald Reagan presents his hope for a future that would "leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history." -
Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act
The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, also known as TEFRA, is a United States federal law that rescinded some of the effects of the Kemp-Roth Act passed the year before. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "Star Wars program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). -
Suicide bombers attack U.S. Marines in Lebanon (1983)
Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon, a military peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War. -
Invasion of Grenada
The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The U.S. and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, 100 miles north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation within a few days. -
Farm credit crises
A farm crisis describes times of agricultural recession, low crop prices and low farm incomes. The most recent US farm crisis occurred during the 1980s. -
Embargo on Nicaragua
The United States embargo against Nicaragua was declared by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan on May 1, 1985, and prohibited all trade between the U.S. and Nicaragua. In a strategy similar to the embargo against Cuba, it was intended to undermine the Sandanista government which came to power in 1979. -
Reagan, Gorbachev hold summit in Switzerland
The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was held on November 19 and 20, 1985, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. -
Reagan delivers his first State of the Union
The 1986 State of the Union Address was given by the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, on Tuesday, February 4, 1986, at 9 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 99th United States Congress. -
Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (Reagan Speech)
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God." -
Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Iceland Democrats gain seats (Nov 1986)
Reykjavík summit of 1986, meeting held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on October 11 and 12, 1986, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. ... The Reykjavík summit almost resulted in a sweeping nuclear arms-control agreement in which the nuclear weapons of both sides would be dismantled. -
Tower Commission concludes report
The Commission's report, published on February 27, 1987, concluded that CIA Director William Casey, who supported the Iran-Contra arrangement, should have taken over the operation and made the president aware of the risks and notified Congress as legally required. -
Berlin Wall Speech in West Berlin (1987)
Gorbachev, tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin -
Gorbachev, Reagan sign treaty (1987)
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty. -
Reagan prohibits abortion assistance
In the first formal step of what promises to be a major legal battle, the Reagan Administration today prohibited most of the nation's family planning clinics from providing advice or other assistance that would help women obtain abortions. -
Reagan visits Soviet Union
The Moscow Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. -
Reagan says farewell
“We made the city stronger. We made the city freer. And we left her in good hands,” he said.